


                                       
                 UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
                            REGION IX AIR DIVISION




                          Technical Support Document 
                                      for
                              EPA's Rulemaking
                                    for the
                     California State Implementation Plan
                                       
           Butte County Air Quality Management District's Rule 300
            Open Burning Requirements, Prohibitions and Exemptions




                              
                            Prepared by: Kevin Gong
                                 June 20, 2016





RULE IDENTIFICATION  
Agency
Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD)

SIP Approved Rule
Rule 300  -  Open Burning Requirements, Prohibitions and Exemptions
Amended  -  February 24, 2011
Submitted - September 21, 2012
EPA Action- Limited Approval and Limited Disapproval, July 8, 2015 (80 FR 38966)

Subject of this TSD
Rule 300  -  Open Burning Requirements, Prohibitions and Exemptions
Amended  -  August 27, 2015
Submitted - March 11, 2016

Completeness Finding
Determination of Completeness letter: April 19, 2016



RULE SUMMARY 
Rule 300 is designed to minimize the impacts of smoke and other air pollutants generated by open burning conducted within Butte County and to assure that it is managed consistent with state and federal law. Rule 300 allows open burning on permissive burn days, provided a permit is obtained; details the types of open burning that can be authorized; sets burn hours, drying-time, and ignition requirements; establishes burn plan requirements for prescribed burns; limits burn acreage for agricultural burning; and lists exemptions to rule requirements. 

Changes from the approved SIP rule include the following:

1.	Expand the definition of "Open Burning" to also include Open Outdoor Fires or Open Fires as used in this rule at 5.31.

2.	Remove the definition for "Variance" at 5.53 and renumber subsequent terms accordingly.

3.	Remove the option to burn garbage under a variance at 6.5.

4.	Remove the option for the APCO to waive drying times at 8.24. 

EVALUATION CRITERIA 
The following criteria were used to evaluate the submitted rule. 

1.	Enforceability: The Bluebook (Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations, EPA, May 25, 1988) and the Little Bluebook (Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule Deficiencies, EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001) were used to help evaluate compliance with the CAA §110(a)(2)(A) requirement for enforceability. 

      2.	Stringency: Open burning emits particulate matter (PM), including particulate matter of ten microns or less (PM10) and particulate matter of 2.5 microns or less (PM2.5) directly, as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are precursors to ozone and PM2.5.
      
      	BCAQMD regulates an ozone nonattainment area, which is classified as Marginal under the 1997 and 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone (40 CFR § 81.305). CAA §182(a) exempts ozone nonattainment areas classified as marginal from the requirement to submit an attainment demonstration. Because EPA interprets the reasonably available control measures (RACM) requirement of CAA §172(c)(1) in the context of the requirement to demonstrate attainment as expeditiously as practicable, EPA does not require marginal areas to meet the RACM test (77 FR 28438; 78 FR 34196). Therefore, BCAQMD is not required to implement RACM for ozone.
      
      	BCAQMD is currently designated attainment for PM10 (40 CFR § 81.305). Accordingly, BCAQMD is not subject to the requirement to implement RACM or Best Available Control Measures (BACM) for PM10 and PM10 precursors in CAA§ 189(b) and (e). Therefore, we are not evaluating Rule 300 for compliance with RACM or BACM requirements with respect to PM10.
      
      	Effective December 14, 2009, EPA designated the Chico nonattainment area, in Butte County, which is under BCAQMD jurisdiction, as nonattainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS (74 FR 58688, November 13, 2009). As a result, the area was required to implement RACM for PM2.5. On September 10, 2013 (78 FR 55225), EPA issued a determination that the area had attained the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 standard based on complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2010 - 2012 monitoring period. Under EPA's Clean Data Policy and the regulations that embody it (40 CFR 51.1004(c) for PM2.5), an EPA determination that an area is attaining the relevant standard suspends the area's obligations to submit RACM for as long as the area continues to attain. Therefore, BCAQMD is not currently required to implement RACM for PM2.5. If the Chico nonattainment area is redesignated to attainment, RACM requirements for PM2.5 will no longer apply.

      3.	SIP Relaxation: CAA §110(l) prohibits EPA from approving any SIP revision that would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress (RFP) or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. In addition, CAA §193 prohibits the modification of any SIP-approved control requirement in effect before November 15, 1990, in a nonattainment area.
      
EPA EVALUATION 
A summary of our evaluation of the three criteria follows.

      1. 	EPA finalized a limited approval and limited disapproval of the current SIP-approved version of Rule 300 at 80 FR 38966. EPA finalized the limited approval because we found that most of the provisions and requirements of the rule were sufficiently enforceable. However, two instances of Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO) discretion (allowing the burning of garbage under discretionary variance at 6.5, and allowing discretion to waive drying times at 8.24) did not meet enforceability criteria, and precluded full approval of the rule. These provisions allowed the APCO to independently interpret the SIP without explicit and replicable procedures within the rule to define how the discretion is exercised in order to assure equivalent emission reductions, and without explicit approval of such discretion provisions by the EPA. As a result, EPA also finalized a limited disapproval which triggered sanctions and Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) clocks.
      
      	BCAQMD's new submittal was submitted in response to these EPA-identified deficiencies. The new rule language removes these instances of APCO discretion, resolving the previous enforceability concerns. As a result, Rule 300's requirements and applicability now ensure that sources and regulators can evaluate and determine compliance consistently.
      
      2. 	As noted above, BCAQMD is not currently required to implement RACM for PM2.5. EPA's Technical Support Document (TSD) assessing the previous version of this rule found that this rule was generally as stringent as other California District rules for this category, but that "some areas were implementing more stringent requirements that may be technologically and economically feasible for implementation in Butte County." We recommend reviewing the other recommendations made in that TSD for implementation in the next revision of this rule.
      
      3. 	We propose to determine that our approval of the submittal would comply with CAA §§110(l) and 193 because (1) the proposed SIP revision would not interfere with the on-going process for ensuring that requirements for RFP and attainment of the NAAQS are met, and (2) the emission limits in the submitted rule are more stringent than the existing SIP-approved control requirements that they would replace.

EPA ACTION 
The submitted Rule 300 strengthens the SIP by resolving previously identified deficiencies. The rule largely fulfils the relevant CAA §110 and part D requirements. Therefore, EPA staff recommends approval of Rule 300 pursuant to CAA §110(k)(3) and §301(a). EPA's approval of this submittal would terminate the FIP and sanctions clocks started in our previous final action at 80 FR 38966.

REFERENCES

 "Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations," (a.k.a., Bluebook) EPA OAQPS, May 25, 1988.
 "Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule Deficiencies," (a.k.a., Little Bluebook), EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001.
 "Technical Support Document for EPA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking for the California State Implementation Plan, Butte County Air Quality Management District Rule 300, Open Burning, Prohibitions and Exemptions," Prepared by Rynda Kay, October 2014.
