Rule2025-19228
Air Plan Approval; GA; Removal of Emissions Statements Requirement and Updates To Permit by Rule
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 2, 2025
Effective
November 3, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving changes to the Georgia State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD), on June 27, 2024, to revise a source monitoring and reporting regulation by, among other things, removing the requirement for emissions statements in counties formerly designated as nonattainment for ozone and to revise the permit by rule regulation. EPA is approving these revisions pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 189 (Thursday, October 2, 2025)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 189 (Thursday, October 2, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47615-47617]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-19228]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2025-0045; FRL-12937-02-R4]
Air Plan Approval; GA; Removal of Emissions Statements
Requirement and Updates To Permit by Rule
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving changes
to the Georgia State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Georgia
Department of Natural Resources Environmental Protection Division (GA
EPD), on June 27, 2024, to revise a source monitoring and reporting
regulation by, among other things, removing the requirement for
emissions statements in counties formerly designated as nonattainment
for ozone and to revise the permit by rule regulation. EPA is approving
these revisions pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
DATES: This rule is effective November 3, 2025.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket
Identification No. EPA-R04-OAR-2025-0045. All documents in the docket
are listed on the <a href="http://regulations.gov">regulations.gov</a> website. Although listed in the
index, some information may not be publicly available, i.e.,
Confidential Business Information 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 either electronically through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> or in hard
copy at the Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and
Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia
30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the
person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to
schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of
business are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding
Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Weston Freund, Air Regulatory
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and
Radiation Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61
Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is
(404) 562-8773. Mr. Freund can also be reached via electronic mail at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#87e1f5e2f2e9e3a9f0e2f4f3e8e9c7e2f7e6a9e0e8f1"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="15736770607b713b627066617a7b557065743b727a63">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. This Action
EPA is approving changes to the Georgia SIP submitted by the State
of Georgia through a letter dated June 27, 2024, to revise a source
monitoring and reporting regulation and the permit by rule
regulation.\1\ Specifically, the changes address Rules 391-3-
1-.02(6)(a), Specific Monitoring and Reporting Requirements for
Particular Sources, and 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7, Coating and/or Gluing
Operations.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ On July 9, 2025, EPA received a letter from GA EPD
clarifying that the changes to 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7.(i). do not
include the language, ``or enforceable as a practical matter
limiting the source to below Part 70 or Part 63 major source
thresholds.'' This phrase was originally submitted to EPA on
December 15, 2011, and was subsequently included in a partial
withdrawal letter dated January 8, 2019.
\2\ The June 27, 2024, submittal also contains changes to Rules
391-3-1-.02(1), General Requirement; 391-3-1-.02(2)(nnn), NOX
Emissions from Large Stationary Gas Turbines; 391-3-1-.03(1),
Construction (SIP) Permit; 391-3-1-.03(6)(j), Construction Permit
Exemption for Pollution Control Projects; 391-3-1-.03(8), Permit
Requirements; and 391-3-1-.03(13), Emission Reduction Credits. EPA
will address these changes in a separate rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM), published on August
21, 2025, (90 FR 40795), EPA proposed to approve the June 27, 2024,
changes to Georgia Rules 391-3-1-.02(6)(a), Specific Monitoring and
Reporting Requirements for Particular Sources, and 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7,
Coating and/or Gluing Operations.
[[Page 47616]]
Comments on the August 21, 2025, NPRM were due on or before September
11, 2025. EPA received two comments, one in support and one potentially
adverse. EPA addresses the potentially adverse comment in the following
section.
II. Response to Comments
EPA summarizes and responds to the potentially adverse comment
below.
The commenter ``recommend[ed] under no circumstance that the rules
be changed or plans approved that endanger the air and water quality
Georgians have a God given right to have. The governement [sic] should
not be allowing companies to pollute the air we breathe and the water
we drink, and then leave Georgian taxpayer the bill for clean up.''
However, it is not clear whether the comment is adverse because the
commenter does not explain why the changes EPA proposed to approve to
the Georgia SIP in the August 21, 2025, NPRM would ``endanger'' air or
water quality. As explained in the August 21, 2025, NPRM, the change to
remove the emissions statement requirement merely removes an emissions
reporting requirement that is only applicable in areas designated as
``nonattainment'' for the ozone NAAQS. As explained in the NPRM, the
Atlanta Area was redesignated to ``attainment/unclassifiable'' for the
2015 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) in an
October 17, 2022, action (87 FR 62733), and no other part of the State
is designated ``nonattainment'' for the 2015 standard or any other
NAAQS. Thus, this reporting obligation is no longer required pursuant
to the CAA. This change to the SIP to remove the reporting requirement
does not impact any air emissions and is not related to water quality
regulations. Further, the changes made to the permit by rule
regulations are minor and clarifying in nature and do not relax the
existing rule. Therefore, EPA is finalizing approval of the changes to
the Georgia SIP transmitted in the June 27, 2024, submittal.
III. Incorporation by Reference
In this document, EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR
51.5, and as discussed in Section I of this preamble, EPA is finalizing
the incorporation by reference of Rules 391-3-1-.02(6)(a), Specific
Monitoring and Reporting Requirements for Particular Sources, and 391-
3-1-.03(11)(b)7, Coating and/or Gluing Operations,\3\ state effective
on June 19, 2023. EPA has made, and will continue to make, these
materials generally available through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> and at the
EPA Region 4 Office (please contact the person identified in the ``For
Further Information Contact'' section of this preamble for more
information). Therefore, these materials have been approved by EPA for
inclusion in the State implementation plan, have been incorporated by
reference by EPA into that plan, are fully federally enforceable under
sections 110 and 113 of the CAA as of the effective date of the final
rulemaking of EPA's approval, and will be incorporated by reference in
the next update to the SIP compilation.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Except that EPA is not proposing to incorporate by reference
into the SIP the phrase ``or enforceable as a practical matter
limiting the source to below Part 70 or Part 63 major source
thresholds'' within Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7., Coating and/or Gluing
Operations.
\4\ 62 FR 27968 (May 22, 1997).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Final Action
EPA is approving the aforementioned Georgia SIP revision consisting
of changes to Rules 391-3-1-.02(6)(a), Specific Monitoring and
Reporting Requirements for Particular Sources, and 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7,
Coating and/or Gluing Operations,\5\ state effective June 19, 2023, for
the reasons discussed above.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ Except that EPA is not proposing to incorporate by reference
into the SIP the phrase ``or enforceable as a practical matter
limiting the source to below Part 70 or Part 63 major source
thresholds'' within Rule 391-3-1-.03(11)(b)7., Coating and/or Gluing
Operations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
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 CAA and applicable
Federal regulations. See 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, 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;
<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 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, and 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 December 1, 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, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations,
[[Page 47617]]
Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic
compounds.
Dated: September 22, 2025.
Kevin McOmber,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, EPA amends 40 CFR part 52
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 (L)--Georgia
0
2. In Sec. 52.570(c), amend Table 1 to Paragraph (c) by revising the
entries for ``391-3-1-.02(6)'' and ``391-3-1-.03(11)''.
The revisions to read as follows:
Sec. 52.570 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
Table 1 to Paragraph (c)--EPA-Approved Georgia Regulations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State
State citation Title/subject effective EPA approval date Explanation
date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
391-3-1-.02(6).................. Source Monitoring.. 8/1/2013 7/28/2017, 82 FR Except paragraph (a),
35108. which was approved on
10/2/2025 with a state
effective date of 6/19/
2023.
* * * * * * *
391-3-1-.03(11)................. Permit by Rule..... 7/23/2018 11/22/2019, 84 FR Except section (b)(7),
64427. which was approved on
10/2/2025 with a state
effective date of 6/19/
2023; sections (a)-
(b)(5) and (b)(8)-
(b)(10), which were
approved on 2/9/2010
with a state effective
date of 7/20/2005;
section (b)(6), which
was approved on 3/13/
2000 with a state
effective date of 12/
25/1997; the phrase
``or enforceable as a
practical matter'' in
section (b)(11)(i),
which is not in the
SIP; and the phrase
``or enforceable as a
practical matter
limiting the source to
below Part 70 or Part
63 major source
thresholds'' within
(b)(7)(i), which is
not in the SIP.
* * * * * * *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2025-19228 Filed 10-1-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 2, 2025.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.