Rule2025-16466
Air Plan Approval; California; Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District; Internal Combustion Engines
Primary source
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Published
August 28, 2025
Effective
September 29, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NO<INF>X</INF>) from internal combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the "Act"). The EPA is also making additional administrative updates to the MDAQMD portion of the California SIP by correcting text in the Code of Federal Regulations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 165 (Thursday, August 28, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 165 (Thursday, August 28, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 41895-41897]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-16466]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2023-0202; FRL-10873-02-R9]
Air Plan Approval; California; Mojave Desert Air Quality
Management District; Internal Combustion Engines
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final
action to approve a revision to the Mojave Desert Air Quality
Management District (MDAQMD) portion of the California State
Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NO<INF>X</INF>) from
internal combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that
regulates these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the
``Act''). The EPA is also making additional administrative updates to
the MDAQMD portion of the California SIP by correcting text in the Code
of Federal Regulations.
DATES: This rule is effective September 29, 2025.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2023-0202. All documents in the docket are
listed on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. Although listed in
the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g.,
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket
materials are available through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, or please
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section for additional availability information. If you need assistance
in a language other than English or if you are a person with a
disability who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you,
please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: La Kenya Evans-Hopper, EPA Region IX,
75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; telephone number: (415) 972-
3245; email address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#93f6e5f2fde0fbfce3e3f6e1bdfff2f8f6fdeaf2d3f6e3f2bdf4fce5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="157063747b667d7a656570673b79747e707b6c74557065743b727a63">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action
On April 7, 2023 (88 FR 20788), the EPA proposed to approve the
following rule into the California SIP.
[[Page 41896]]
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Local agency Rule No. Rule title Amended Submitted
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MDAQMD................................ 1160 Internal Combustion 01/23/23 03/03/23
Engines.
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We proposed to approve this rule because we determined that it
complies with the relevant CAA requirements. Our proposed action
contains more information on the rule and our evaluation.
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
The EPA's proposed action provided a 30-day public comment period.
During this period, we received one anonymous comment and one comment
from MDAQMD. The full text of these comments is available in the docket
for this rulemaking. The anonymous comment was supportive of the rule
as a tool to address air pollution, particularly NO<INF>X</INF>
emissions, and human health. After reviewing this comment, the EPA has
determined that the comment is supportive of our proposed action and
does not raise issues that change our assessment of MDAQMD Rule 1160.
The comment from MDAQMD did not address the EPA's evaluation of the
submitted rule, or whether the EPA should approve it into the SIP. The
MDAQMD comment requests that the EPA remove the previous versions of
Rule 1160, amended October 26, 1994 (61 FR 56470) and amended January
22, 2018 (86 FR 50643), and South Coast Air Quality Management District
(SCAQMD) Rule 1110, adopted November 6, 1981 (47 FR 18822) from the
MDAQMD portion of the SIP and replace these rules with the final
approval of Rule 1160. Our proposed action stated that the previous
version of Rule 1160 will be removed and replaced with the version of
Rule 1160 adopted on January 23, 2023. Accordingly, the January 22,
2018 version of the rule will be removed from the SIP with this final
action.
The EPA notes that the version of Rule 1160 that was amended on
October 26, 1994, has already been removed from the SIP. In our
September 10, 2021 (86 FR 50643) limited approval and limited
disapproval, we added text at 40 CFR 52.220(c)(207)(i)(D)(5) specifying
that this version of Rule 1160 has been removed with replacement.
However, this provision contained an incorrect cross reference to 40
CFR 52.220(c)(518)(i)(A)(6) instead of 40 CFR 52.220(c)(518)(i)(A)(7).
We are correcting this cross reference in this final rule.
The version of SCAQMD Rule 1110 that is in the MDAQMD portion of
the SIP is a 1981 program to demonstrate the effectiveness of
NO<INF>X</INF> reduction technologies for stationary internal
combustion engines. Although the rule is structured differently from
Rule 1160, it applies to the same general category of sources. Rule
1110 had a ten-year time horizon and thus does not establish any
currently applicable requirement on sources in the MDAQMD. The rule
originally applied in parts of what is now the SCAQMD, Antelope Valley
Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD), and the eastern portion of
Riverside County (Palo Verde) of the MDAQMD. It has since been removed
from the SCAQMD and AVAQMD portions of the California SIP, with both
actions explaining that the rule was a fixed-term demonstration program
that was no longer in use and had no sources subject to it.\1\ Because
SCAQMD Rule 1110 does not establish any currently applicable emission
controls in the MDAQMD, removing it from the MDAQMD portion of the SIP
is a purely administrative revision and would not weaken the SIP in any
way or otherwise interfere with any requirements of the CAA.
Accordingly, pursuant to the request of the MDAQMD in both the
submitted staff report and comment, the EPA in this final action is
removing the 1981 version of SCAQMD Rule 1110 from the Riverside County
portion of the MDAQMD portion of the SIP as an administrative revision
to the SIP.
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\1\ 79 FR 40675, July 14, 2014, and 80 FR 60040, October 5,
2015, respectively.
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After reviewing the comments, the EPA has determined that the
comments do not raise issues that change our assessment regarding the
approvability of the January 23, 2023 version of MDAQMD Rule 1160 into
the California SIP.
III. EPA Action
No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the rule
as described in our proposed action. Therefore, as authorized in
section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is approving this rule into the
California SIP. The January 23, 2023 version of Rule 1160 will replace
the previously approved version of this rule in the SIP. As described
in our proposal, this approval resolves all deficiencies forming the
basis for our September 10, 2021 (86 FR 50643) limited disapproval of
the prior version of Rule 1160. Our April 7, 2023 proposal (88 FR
20788) was accompanied by an interim final determination (88 FR 20776)
deferring the imposition of sanctions (pursuant to CAA section 179 and
40 CFR 52.31) stemming from our September 10, 2021 limited disapproval.
This final action now permanently terminates all sanctions clocks and
federal implementation plan clocks triggered by our September 10, 2021
limited disapproval action. This final action also corrects regulatory
text to clarify the applicable requirements for the MDAQMD portion of
the California SIP.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR
51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of the
Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District Rule 1160, Internal
Combustion Engines, amended on January 23, 2023, which regulates
NO<INF>X</INF> and VOC emissions from internal combustion engines. The
EPA has made, and will continue to make, these documents available
through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> and at the EPA Region IX Office
(please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section of this preamble for more information).
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable
federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state
law. For that reason, this action:
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58
FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
<bullet> Is not subject to Executive Order 14192 (90 FR 9065,
February 6, 2025) because SIP actions are exempt from review under
Executive Order 12866;
[[Page 41897]]
<bullet> Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
<bullet> Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
<bullet> Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
<bullet> Does not have federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
<bullet> Is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997) because it approves a state program;
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
<bullet> Is not subject to requirements of section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the CAA.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian Tribe
has demonstrated that a Tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of
Indian country, the rule does not have Tribal implications and will not
impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal
law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9,
2000).
This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act (CRA), and
the EPA will submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to
the Comptroller General of the United States. This action is not a
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for
the appropriate circuit by October 27, 2025. Filing a petition for
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect
the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor
does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may
be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or
action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to
enforce its requirements (see section 307(b)(2)).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide,
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen
oxides, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
Dated: August 18, 2025.
Joshua F.W. Cook,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental
Protection Agency amends part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart F--California
0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by:
0
a. Adding paragraph (c)(121)(i)(G);
0
b. Revising paragraph (c)(207)(i)(D)(5); and
0
c. Adding paragraphs (c)(518)(i)(A)(12) and (c)(628).
The additions and revision read as follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan-in part.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(121) * * *
(i) * * *
(G) Previously approved on May 3, 1984, in paragraph (c)(121)(i)(C)
of this section and now deleted without replacement for implementation
in the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District: Rule 1110.
* * * * *
(207) * * *
(i) * * *
(D) * * *
(5) Previously approved on November 1, 1996, in paragraph
(c)(207)(i)(D)(3) of this section and now deleted with replacement in
paragraph (c)(518)(i)(A)(7) of this section: Rule 1160, adopted on
October 26, 1994.
* * * * *
(518) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) * * *
(12) Previously approved on September 10, 2021, in paragraph
(c)(518)(i)(A)(7) of this section and now deleted with replacement in
(c)(628)(i)(A)(1) of this section: Rule 1160, ``Internal Combustion
Engines,'' amended on January 22, 2018.
* * * * *
(628) The following regulation was submitted electronically on
March 3, 2023, by the Governor's designee as an attachment to a letter
dated February 17, 2023.
(i) Incorporation by reference.
(A) Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District.
(1) Rule 1160, ``Internal Combustion Engines,'' amended on January
23, 2023.
(2) [Reserved]
(B) [Reserved]
(ii) [Reserved]
[FR Doc. 2025-16466 Filed 8-27-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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