Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is removing the "emergency" affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's title V operating permit program regulations. These provisions established an affirmative defense that sources could have asserted in enforcement cases brought for noncompliance with technology-based emission limitations in operating permits, provided that the exceedances occurred due to qualifying emergency circumstances. These provisions, which have never been required elements of state operating permit programs, are being removed because they are inconsistent with the EPA's interpretation of the enforcement structure of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) in light of prior court decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The removal of these provisions is also consistent with other recent EPA actions involving affirmative defenses and would harmonize the EPA's treatment of affirmative defenses across different CAA programs. Through this document, the EPA is also providing guidance on the implementation process resulting from the removal of the emergency affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's regulations, including the need for some state, local, and tribal permitting authorities to submit program revisions to the EPA to remove similar title V affirmative defense provisions from their EPA-approved title V programs, and to remove similar provisions from individual operating permits.
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Environmental Protection Agency 40 CFR Parts 70 and 71 [EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0186; FRL-8961-02-OAR] RIN 2060-AV39 AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Final rule. SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is removing the “emergency” affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's title V operating permit program regulations. These provisions established an affirmative defense that sources could have asserted in enforcement cases brought for noncompliance with technology-based emission limitations in operating permits, provided that the exceedances occurred due to qualifying emergency circumstances. These provisions, which have never been required elements of state operating permit programs, are being removed because they are inconsistent with the EPA's interpretation of the enforcement structure of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) in light of prior court decisions from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit. The removal of these provisions is also consistent with other recent EPA actions involving affirmative defenses and would harmonize the EPA's treatment of affirmative defenses across different CAA programs. Through this document, the EPA is also providing guidance on the implementation process resulting from ( printed page 47030) the removal of the emergency affirmative defense provisions from the EPA's regulations, including the need for some state, local, and tribal permitting authorities to submit program revisions to the EPA t…
Other Federal Register documents from the same docket.
Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule; Corrections
Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule
Removal of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Provisions From State Operating Permit Programs and the Federal Operating Permit Program
Removal of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Provisions From State Operating Permit Programs and Federal Operating Permit Program
Citation: 88 FR 47029
