Any business that intends to apply for a Clean Air Act prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) permit for particulate matter 2.5 (PM-2.5) should consider the benefit of doing so before the EPA finalizes its proposed revisions to the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for that pollutant. The reason is that permit applications that are publicly noticed before promulgation of the revised PM-2.5 NAAQS would be grandfathered to the PM-2.5 standards in place at the time of the public notice, not the more stringent revised standards.
In its June 2012 proposal, the EPA is seeking to lower the annual primary PM-2.5 standard from the current 15 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3) to within a range of 12.0 to 13.0 µg/m3. The Agency is also proposing to revise the suite of secondary PM standards by adding a distinct standard for PM-2.5 to address PM-related visibility impairment.
Reasonable transition
Under the PSD program, new major sources and major modifications of existing sources must apply best available control technology (BACT) for each applicable pollutant and conduct an air quality analysis to demonstrate that the proposed construction will not cause or contribute to a violation of any NAAQS or PSD increments. But the EPA says it believes it is appropriate to provide for a “reasonable transition” into the new PSD permitting requirements.
The EPA states:
“To avoid unreasonable delays in permit processing and issuance, and based on basic principles of fairness and equity, we believe that it is appropriate to allow pending permit applications that have reached the notice and comment period on a proposed permit (that is, a notice has been issued for public comment on the proposed permit action) by the effective date of the revised PM NAAQS to continue being processed in accordance with the PM NAAQS requirement in place at the time of the public notice on the proposed permit.”
Repeat modeling avoided
Current and future permit applicants should consider the implications of missing the grandfathering cutoff day. Specifically, if a proposed permit is not issued for public comment before the PM NAAQS become effective, the applicant may have to provide an analysis showing that its facility will not cause or contribute to a violation of the revised standard for PM. Compliance demonstrations for PM-2-5 typically involve dispersion modeling.
The majority of PSD permits are issued by authorized states. The EPA proposed that states have the “discretion” to grandfather proposed PSD permits in the same manner the EPA is proposing for itself. In other words, states may choose to not adopt the grandfathering provision and require PSD permit applicants to demonstrate compliance with the revised PM-2.5 NAAQS even if the draft permit has been publicly noticed before finalization. Of course, by doing so, state permitting agencies would be adding to their workload by being compelled to conduct a second review of a permit application.
The EPA’s discussion of its grandfathering provision for PM-2.5 PSD permit applications is on pages 39023 to 39024 of the proposed revisions, which were published in the June 29, 2012, FR.