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

General Notice
General Notice - State Implementation Plan Proposed Revisions - Air Quality Plans: Nonattainment New Source Review (Rev. B19) and Ozone Implementation (Rev. C19)
Date Posted: 6/30/2020
Expiration Date: 8/19/2020
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 plan to attain and maintain the national ambient air quality standard for ozone. The Commonwealth intends to submit the plan as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP) in accordance with the requirements of §110(a) of the federal Clean Air Act. The SIP is the 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.

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

Public comment period: July 20 to August 19, 2020.

Public hearing: A public hearing will 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 proposed revision consists of two separate regulation revisions related to the control of ozone. Revision B19 enables offset requirements for emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) to be met by offsetting reductions in actual emissions of either of those precursors as established by a case-specific permit ratio for ozone. Revision C19 adds a new section listing the localities that comprise the Northern Virginia Ozone nonattainment area, which is classified as marginal for the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). Both of these revisions are necessary in order to conform state regulations to federal regulations and thus meet the state's obligations under the Clean Air Act.

Federal information: This notice is being given to satisfy the public participation requirements of federal regulations (40 CFR 51.102). Except as noted below, 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.

Revision B19 contained, in addition to the offset provisions, a correction to the definition of "significant." This correction restores state language to correctly reflect federal requirements; thus, no SIP revision is needed, and this provision will not be submitted to EPA.

Revision C19 contained several provisions related to previous ozone implementation requirements which were subsequently vacated in federal court. The current revisions were made to restore state language to correctly reflect federal requirements; thus, no SIP revision is needed, and those provisions will not be submitted to EPA. Only the revisions to 9VAC5-20-204 and 9VAC5-30-55D will be submitted as SIP revisions.

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 on the last day of the comment period. All faxes must have a cover page that lists the intended recipient. All materials received are part of the public record.

To review proposal: 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 schedule an appointment to 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) DEQ Main Street Office, 22nd Floor, 1111 E. Main St, Richmond VA, 804-698-4249 and 2) Northern Regional Office, 13901 Crown Court, Woodbridge VA, 703-583-3800.


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)698-4178    TDD: ()-