Clean Air Act Redesignation for Houston Ozone Nonattainment Area

Waid Environmental News
The EPA is proposing to approve a re-designation substitute and make a finding of attainment for the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria ozone nonattainment area (HGB area). The re-designation substitute demonstration indicates that the area has attained the revoked 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS due to permanent and enforceable emission reductions and that it will maintain that NAAQS for ten years from the date of the EPA’s approval of this demonstration. Final approval of the re-designation substitute will result in the area no longer being subject to any remaining applicable anti-backsliding requirements and the nonattainment new source review (NNSR) requirements associated with the revoked NAAQS.

In general, final approval of the re-designation substitute would allow Texas to seek to revise the Texas SIP for the area to remove anti-backsliding measures from the active portion of its SIP if it can demonstrate, pursuant to Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(1), that such revision would not interfere with attainment or maintenance of any applicable NAAQS, or any other requirement of the CAA. However, the EPA believes that in this instance, Texas does not need to revise its SIP to alter certain provisions for NNSR effective in the HGB area.

The comment period for this ruling (TX177.01) closed on June 24, 2016. To see a full summary of this ruling, and all comments on this proposal visit Regulations.Com