EPA Publishes Final Ozone Reclassification Rules in the Federal Register

On October 7^th, the ozone reclassification final rules for the 2008 and 2015 ozone standards were published in the Federal Register.

Under these rules, several ozone nonattainment areas will be reclassified, including areas in Texas and Colorado.

• The Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (“HGB”), Dallas Ft. Worth (“DFW”), and Denver-Boulder-Greeley-Ft. Collins-Loveland Ozone Nonattainment Areas will be reclassified from “serious” to “severe” under the 2008 Ozone NAAQS.

• The HGB, DFW, Denver Metro/North Front Range, and San Antonio (Bexar County, Texas) Ozone Nonattainment Areas will be reclassified from “marginal” to “moderate” under the 2015 Ozone NAAQS.

Some of the big takeaways to consider:

• For the 2008 ozone nonattainment areas, the definition of a major source will be reduced from 50 tons per year (“tpy”) (of either Nitrogen Oxide [“NO_x”] and/or volatile organic compounds [“VOC”]) to 25 tpy (of either NO_x and/or VOC).
• Should you trigger ozone nonattainment review in a severe ozone nonattainment area, the offset ratio increases from 1.2:1 to 1.3:1.
• You can become a major source without having a nonattainment major source permit (source status is based on total emissions of either NO_x and/or VOC).
• Major sources are subject to Title V permitting.
• For the 2015 ozone standard, the definition of a major source will remain the same (100 tpy of either NO_x and/or VOC); however, the offset ratio increases from 1.1:1 to 1.15:1.

Finally, air authorization applications/registrations submitted prior to the effective date of the final rules may be required to reevaluate major new source review applicability using severe ozone nonattainment applicability criteria (check with your state program to be sure).

If you have any questions related to nonattainment review type items (for example: baseline actual emissions, what triggers netting?, what is netting?, contemporaneous windows, major sources or major modifications, etc.), or you would like to discuss any of these concepts further, feel free to contact the environmental professionals at Spirit Environmental and we’ll be happy to assist you.

The effective date for these rules is November 7, 2022, and links to the final rules can be found here:

2008 Ozone Reclassification Rule:  Determinations of Attainment by the Attainment Date, Extensions of the Attainment Date, and Reclassification of Areas Classified as Serious for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard

2022-20458.pdf (govinfo.gov)

2015 Ozone Reclassification Rule:  Determinations of Attainment by the Attainment Date, Extensions of the Attainment Date, and Reclassification of Areas Classified as Marginal for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard

2022-20460.pdf (govinfo.gov)