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 regulations of the board affected by this action are as follows: (i) 9VAC5-30, Ambient Air Quality Standards; (ii) Article 9 (Permits for Major Stationary Sources and Major Modifications Locating in Nonattainment Areas or the Ozone Transport Region) of 9VAC5-80, Permits for Stationary Sources; and (iii) 9VAC5-160, Regulation for General Conformity.

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: September 4 to October 4, 2017.

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 proposed revision will consist of amendments to existing regulation provisions concerning the national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for very fine particulate matter (PM2.5) based on the August 24, 2016 (81 FR 58010) EPA rule that addresses a range of nonattainment area SIP requirements for the 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS. The major provisions of the proposal are as follows: (i) the 1997 PM2.5 ambient air quality standard is revoked; (ii) the applicability section of Rule 8-9 is amended to indicate that different pollutants are not summed to determine applicability of a major stationary source or major modification; (iii) the definition of "regulated NSR pollutant" in Rule 8-9 is amended to specify precursors of PM2.5; (iv) the definition of "significant" in Rule 8-9 is amended to specify precursors of PM2.5; and (v) the applicability section of the Regulation for General Conformity is amended to specify PM2.5 precursors in the list of emissions applicability rates.

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.  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. It is planned to submit all provisions of the proposal as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia SIP.

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, 8th Floor, 629 E Main St, 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.