Virginia Regulatory Town Hall
Agency
Department of Environmental Quality
Board
Air Pollution Control Board

General Notice
General notice - Air State Implementation Plan Revision
Date Posted: 1/10/2018
Expiration Date: 3/7/2018
Submitted to Registrar for publication: YES
No comment forum defined for this notice.

Notice of action: The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on a proposed revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP). The SIP is a plan developed by the Commonwealth in order to fulfill its responsibilities under the federal Clean Air Act to attain and maintain the ambient air quality standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Act. The Commonwealth intends to submit the regulation amendments to EPA as a revision to the SIP in accordance with the requirements of § 110(a) of the federal Clean Air Act.

Regulations affected: The regulation of the board affected by this action is Part I, NOX Budget Trading Program, 9VAC5-140 (Regulation for Emissions Trading).

Purpose of notice: DEQ is seeking comment on the issue of whether the regulation amendments should be submitted as a revision to the SIP.

Public comment period: February 5 to March 7, 2018.

Public hearing: A public hearing may be conducted if a request is made in writing to the contact listed below. In order to be considered, the request must include the full name, address and telephone number of the person requesting the hearing and be received by DEQ by the last day of the comment period. Notice of the date, time, and location of any requested public hearing will be announced in a separate notice, and another 30-day comment period will be conducted.

Public comment stage: The regulation amendments are exempt from the state administrative procedures for adoption of regulations contained in Article 2 of the Administrative Process Act by the provisions of § 2.2-4006 A 4 c of the Administrative Process Act because they are necessary to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act and do not differ materially from the pertinent EPA regulations. Since the amendments are exempt from administrative procedures for the adoption of regulations, DEQ is accepting comment only on the issue cited above under "purpose of notice" and not on the content of the regulation amendments.

Description of proposal: The transport of nitrogen oxides (NOX) across state lines, which contributes to the formation of ozone, was first addressed by EPA's NOX Budget Trading Program as implemented via the NOX State Implementation Plan (SIP) Call.  This program controlled NOX emissions primarily from electric generating units (EGUs) as well as certain types of non-EGUs. In turn, the State Air Pollution Control Board implemented these federal requirements under its own NOX SIP Call Rule (Part I of 9VAC5-140).   Subsequently, EPA's NOX SIP Call Rule was superseded by the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which was in turn superseded by the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR). Although the state is now subject to CSAPR, and both the NOX SIP Call Rule (with respect to EGUs) and CAIR are no longer in effect, non-EGUs cannot be brought into the Transport Rule trading programs, and the NOX SIP Call regulations applicable to non-EGUs must be retained.  The purpose of this action is to remove unnecessary federal requirements while retaining those requirements needed to control emissions from non-EGUs. This will ensure that Virginia is properly meeting federal requirements for the control of NOX.

Federal information: This notice is being given to satisfy the public participation requirements of federal regulations (40 CFR 51.102) and not any provision of state law.  The proposal will be submitted as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia SIP under § 110(a) of the federal Clean Air Act in accordance with 40 CFR 51.104.

How to comment: DEQ accepts written comments by email, fax, and postal mail. In order to be considered, comments must include the full name, address and telephone number of the person commenting and be received by DEQ by the last day of the comment period. All comments, exhibits and documents received are part of the public record.

To review regulation documents: The proposal and any supporting documents are available on the DEQ Air Public Notices for Plans web site (http://www.deq.virginia.gov/Programs/Air/PublicNotices/airplansandprograms.aspx). The documents may also be obtained by contacting the DEQ representative named below. The public may review the documents between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm of each business day until the close of the public comment period at the following DEQ locations: 1) Main Street Office, 1111 East Main Street, Suite 1400, Richmond VA, 804-698-4070, 2) Southwest Regional Office, 355 Deadmore St, Abingdon VA, 540-676-4800, 3) Blue Ridge Regional Office, 3019 Peters Creek Rd, Roanoke VA, 540-562-6700, 4) Valley Regional Office, 4411 Early Rd, Harrisonburg VA, 540-574-7800, 5) Piedmont Regional Office, 4949-A Cox Rd, Glen Allen VA, 804-527-5020, 6) Northern Regional Office, 13901 Crown Court, Woodbridge VA, 703-583-3800, and 7) Tidewater Regional Office, 5636 Southern Blvd, Virginia Beach VA, 757-518-2000.


Contact Information
Name / Title: Karen G. Sabasteanski 
Address: 1111 East Main Street, Suite 1400
P.O. Box 1105
Richmond, 23218
Email Address: karen.sabasteanski@deq.virginia.gov
Telephone: (804)698-4423    FAX: (804)698-4319    TDD: ()-