Appendix V to Part 51 - Criteria for Determining the Completeness of Plan Submissions

Appendix V to Part 51 - Criteria for Determining the Completeness of Plan Submissions

1.0. Purpose

This appendix V sets forth the minimum criteria for determining whether a State implementation plan submitted for consideration by EPA is an official submission for purposes of review under § 51.103.

1.1 The EPA shall return to the submitting official any plan or revision thereof which fails to meet the criteria set forth in this appendix V, and request corrective action, identifying the component(s) absent or insufficient to perform a review of the submitted plan.

1.2 The EPA shall inform the submitting official whether or not a plan submission meets the requirements of this appendix V within 60 days of EPA's receipt of the submittal, but no later than 6 months after the date by which the State was required to submit the plan or revision. If a completeness determination is not made by 6 months from receipt of a submittal, the submittal shall be deemed complete by operation of law on the date 6 months from receipt. A determination of completeness under this paragraph means that the submission is an official submission for purposes of § 51.103.

2.0. Criteria

The following shall be included in plan submissions for review by EPA:

2.1. Administrative Materials

(a) A formal signed, stamped, and dated letter of submittal from the Governor or his designee, requesting EPA approval of the plan or revision thereof (hereafter “the plan”). If electing to submit a paper submission with a copy in electronic version, the submittal letter must verify that the electronic copy provided is an exact duplicate of the paper submission.

(b) Evidence that the State has adopted the plan in the State code or body of regulations; or issued the permit, order, consent agreement (hereafter “document”) in final form. That evidence shall include the date of adoption or final issuance as well as the effective date of the plan, if different from the adoption/issuance date.

(c) Evidence that the State has the necessary legal authority under State law to adopt and implement the plan.

(d) A copy of the actual regulation, or document submitted for approval and incorporation by reference into the plan, including indication of the changes made (such as redline/strikethrough) to the existing approved plan, where applicable. The submission shall include a copy of the official State regulation/document, signed, stamped, and dated by the appropriate State official indicating that it is fully enforceable by the State. The effective date of any regulation/document contained in the submission shall, whenever possible, be indicated in the regulation/document itself; otherwise the State should include a letter signed, stamped, and dated by the appropriate State official indicating the effective date. If the regulation/document provided by the State for approval and incorporation by reference into the plan is a copy of an existing publication, the State submission should, whenever possible, include a copy of the publication cover page and table of contents.

(e) Evidence that the State followed all of the procedural requirements of the State's laws and constitution in conducting and completing the adoption/issuance of the plan.

(f) Evidence that public notice was given of the proposed change consistent with procedures approved by EPA, including the date of publication of such notice.

(g) Certification that public hearing(s) were held in accordance with the information provided in the public notice and the State's laws and constitution, if applicable and consistent with the public hearing requirements in 40 CFR 51.102.

(h) Compilation of public comments and the State's response thereto.

2.2. Technical Support

(a) Identification of all regulated pollutants affected by the plan.

(b) Identification of the locations of affected sources including the EPA attainment/nonattainment designation of the locations and the status of the attainment plan for the affected areas(s).

(c) Quantification of the changes in plan allowable emissions from the affected sources; estimates of changes in current actual emissions from affected sources or, where appropriate, quantification of changes in actual emissions from affected sources through calculations of the differences between certain baseline levels and allowable emissions anticipated as a result of the revision.

(d) The State's demonstration that the national ambient air quality standards, prevention of significant deterioration increments, reasonable further progress demonstration, and visibility, as applicable, are protected if the plan is approved and implemented. For all requests to redesignate an area to attainment for a national primary ambient air quality standard, under section 107 of the Act, a revision must be submitted to provide for the maintenance of the national primary ambient air quality standards for at least 10 years as required by section 175A of the Act.

(e) Modeling information required to support the proposed revision, including input data, output data, models used, justification of model selections, ambient monitoring data used, meteorological data used, justification for use of offsite data (where used), modes of models used, assumptions, and other information relevant to the determination of adequacy of the modeling analysis.

(f) Evidence, where necessary, that emission limitations are based on continuous emission reduction technology.

(g) Evidence that the plan contains emission limitations, work practice standards and recordkeeping/reporting requirements, where necessary, to ensure emission levels.

(h) Compliance/enforcement strategies, including how compliance will be determined in practice.

(i) Special economic and technological justifications required by any applicable EPA policies, or an explanation of why such justifications are not necessary.

2.3. Exceptions

2.3.1. The EPA, for the purposes of expediting the review of the plan, has adopted a procedure referred to as “parallel processing.” Parallel processing allows a State to submit the plan prior to actual adoption by the State and provides an opportunity for the State to consider EPA comments prior to submission of a final plan for final review and action. Under these circumstances, the plan submitted will not be able to meet all of the requirements of paragraph 2.1 (all requirements of paragraph 2.2 will apply). As a result, the following exceptions apply to plans submitted explicitly for parallel processing:

(a) The letter required by paragraph 2.1(a) shall request that EPA propose approval of the proposed plan by parallel processing.

(b) In lieu of paragraph 2.1(b) the State shall submit a schedule for final adoption or issuance of the plan.

(c) In lieu of paragraph 2.1(d) the plan shall include a copy of the proposed/draft regulation or document, including indication of the proposed changes to be made to the existing approved plan, where applicable.

(d) The requirements of paragraphs 2.1(e)-2.1(h) shall not apply to plans submitted for parallel processing.

2.3.2. The exceptions granted in paragraph 2.3.1 shall apply only to EPA's determination of proposed action and all requirements of paragraph 2.1 shall be met prior to publication of EPA's final determination of plan approvability.

3.0. Guidelines

The EPA requests that the State adhere to the following voluntary guidelines when making plan submissions.

3.1 All Submissions

(a) The State should identify any copyrighted material in its submission, as EPA does not place such material on the web when creating the E-Docket for loading into the Federal Document Management System (FDMS).

(b) The State is advised not to include any material considered Confidential Business Information (CBI) in their SIP submissions. In rare instances where such information is necessary to justify the control requirements and emissions limitations established in the plan, the State should confer with its Regional Offices prior to submission and must clearly identify such material as CBI in the submission itself. EPA does not place such material in any paper or web-based docket. However, where any such material is considered emissions data within the meaning of Section 114 of the CAA, it cannot be withheld as CBI and must be made publicly available.

3.2 Paper Plan Submissions

(a) The EPA requires that the submission option of submitting one paper plan must be accompanied by an electronic duplicate of the entire paper submission, preferably as a word searchable portable document format (PDF), at the same time the paper copy is submitted. The electronic duplicate should be made available through email, from a File Transfer Protocol (FTP) site, from the State Web site, on a Universal Serial Bus (USB) flash drive, on a compact disk, or using another format agreed upon by the State and Regional Office.

(b) If a state prefers the submission option of submitting three paper copies and has no means of making an electronic copy available to EPA, EPA requests that the state confer with its EPA Regional Office regarding additional guidelines for submitting the plan to EPA.

[55 FR 5830, Feb. 16, 1990, as amended at 56 FR 42219, Aug. 26, 1991; 56 FR 57288, Nov. 8, 1991; 72 FR 38793, July 16, 2007; 80 FR 7340, Feb. 10, 2015]