Proposed Rule2025-22530
Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District
Primary source
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Published
December 11, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD or "District") portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning two rules submitted to address section 185 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the "Act") with respect to the 2008 and 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or "standards"). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 236 (Thursday, December 11, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 236 (Thursday, December 11, 2025)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57414-57416]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-22530]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2025-1938; FRL-13058-01-R9]
Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution
Control District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
approve a revision to the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control
District (SJVAPCD or ``District'') portion of the California State
Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning two rules submitted to address
section 185 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the ``Act'') with respect to
the 2008 and 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS
or ``standards''). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to
follow with a final action.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 12, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2025-1938 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. For comments submitted at
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>, follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio,
video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written
comment is considered the official comment and should include
discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not
consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary
submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For
additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public
comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and
general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>. 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: Tom Kelly, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne
St., San Francisco, CA 94105, telephone number: (415) 972-3856, email
address: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#fb909e979782d58f9394969a888bbb9e8b9ad59c948d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="6f040a030316411b0700020e1c1f2f0a1f0e41080019">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
C. Proposed Action and Public Comment
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal with the dates
that they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted to the EPA
by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Table 1--Submitted Rules
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Local agency Rule No. Rule title Adopted Submitted
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SJVAPCD.................................... 3172 Federally Mandated Ozone 12/21/23 03/13/24
Nonattainment Fee--2008 8-
Hour Standard.
[[Page 57415]]
SJVAPCD.................................... 3173 Federally Mandated Ozone 12/21/23 03/13/24
Nonattainment Fee--2015 8-
Hour Standard.
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On September 13, 2024, the submittal for SJVAPCD Rules 3172 and
3173 was deemed by operation of law to be complete. We have reviewed
the submittal to ensure it meets the completeness criteria in 40 CFR
part 51, appendix V.
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
There are no previous versions of SJVAPCD Rule 3172 or 3173 in the
SIP. These rules address the CAA section 185 fee requirement for the
2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS. SJVAPCD has previously issued a rule
addressing the 1-hour ozone NAAQS, Rule 3170 which the EPA has approved
into the SIP,\1\ and the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, Rule 3171 which the
EPA has proposed to approve into the SIP.\2\
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\1\ 77 FR 50021 (August 20, 2012).
\2\ 90 FR 44155 (September 12, 2025).
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C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?
Under sections 182(d)(3), (e), (f) and 185 of the Act, states with
ozone nonattainment areas classified as Severe or Extreme are required
to submit a SIP revision that requires major stationary sources of
volatile organic compounds (VOC) or oxides of nitrogen (NO<INF>X</INF>)
emissions in the area to pay a fee if the area fails to attain the
standard by the attainment date. The required SIP revision must provide
for annual payment of the fees, computed in accordance with CAA section
185(b). SJVAPCD Rule 3172 is intended to satisfy the requirements for
the 2008 ozone NAAQS and Rule 3173 is intended to satisfy the
requirements for the 2015 ozone NAAQS.
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
Rules in the SIP must be enforceable (see CAA section 110(a)(2))
and must not interfere with applicable requirements concerning
attainment and reasonable further progress or other CAA requirements
(see CAA section 110(l)). The EPA is also evaluating the rule for
consistency with the statutory requirements of CAA section 185.
Guidance and policy documents that we used to evaluate
enforceability, revision/relaxation, and rule stringency requirements
include the following:
1. ``State Implementation Plans; General Preamble for the
Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 57
FR 13498 (April 16, 1992); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 11,
1990).
3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
This rule meets CAA requirements and is consistent with relevant
guidance regarding enforceability and SIP revisions. The rules are also
consistent with the requirements of section 185. As required by section
185, these rules apply to all major sources of VOC or NOx, and
calculate the fees to be paid as specified in section 185(b). The rules
will become applicable if and when the EPA finalizes a finding that the
San Joaquin Valley Air Basin has failed to attain either the 2008 ozone
NAAQS (for Rule 3172) or the 2015 ozone NAAQS (for Rule 3173) by the
applicable attainment date for that NAAQS. The EPA's technical support
document for this rulemaking has more information on our evaluation.
C. Proposed Action and Public Comment
As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA proposes to
approve the submitted rules because they fulfill all relevant
requirements. We will accept comments from the public on this proposal
until January 12, 2026. If we take final action to approve the
submitted rules, our final action will incorporate SJVAPCD Rules 3172
and 3173 into the federally enforceable SIP.
III. Incorporation by Reference
In this rule, the EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by
reference SJVAPCD Rule 3172, Federally Mandated Ozone Nonattainment
Fee--2008 8-Hour Standards and Rule 3173, Federally Mandated Ozone
Nonattainment Fee--2015 8-Hour Standards, both adopted on December 21,
2023, and described in more detail in section I.A. The EPA has made,
and will continue to make, these materials 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).
IV. 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
proposed action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed 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 proposes to approve a state program;
[[Page 57416]]
<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).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: November 24, 2025.
Michael Martucci,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2025-22530 Filed 12-10-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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