U.S. EPA FACT SHEET Final Approval of San Joaquin Valley Contingency Measures for the 1997 PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) April 28, 2014 Summary • The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires states to adopt and submit for the EPA's approval contingency measures that will be triggered in the event that an area fails to meet reasonable further progress (RFP) milestones or fails to attain the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by the required date. • The EPA is approving fine particulate matter (PM2.5) contingency measures for the San Joaquin Valley in California. These contingency measures-which include reductions from California's clean car program, the San Joaquin Valley Air District's residential woodburning rule, and incentive grant programs-will assure continued progress toward clean air should the San Joaquin Valley fail to meet the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS in 2015. • This rule is the first time the EPA is approving the use of emission reductions generated through California's incentive grant programs to meet Clean Air Act requirements in the San Joaquin Valley. • This approval corrects the EPA's 2011 disapproval of the contingency measure provisions in the San Joaquin Valley's plan for attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS and terminates the Clean Air Act sanctions and sanction clocks that resulted from the disapproval. Background • In 1997, the EPA promulgated annual and 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS of 15 micrograms per cubic meter (|ig/m3) and 65 |ig/m3, respectively. In 2005, the San Joaquin Valley was designated "nonattainment" for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. • In 2008, the State of California submitted a PM2.5 State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the San Joaquin Valley and in November 2011 (effective January 9, 2012), the EPA approved all elements of this SIP except for the contingency measures, which the EPA disapproved. The EPA disapproved the contingency measures because they did not provide for sufficient emission reductions. • In July 2013, the State submitted a contingency measure SIP to correct this disapproval. The contingency measure SIP contains a demonstration that the area has met its 2012 RFP milestone emissions targets and quantifies additional reductions from a number of adopted measures and from incentives funds. Under EPA policy, contingency measures should provide emission reductions approximately equal to one year's worth of progress towards attainment. ------- • The EPA proposed approval of the revised contingency measures in August 2013 and received comments in both support and opposition to the proposal. The final rule includes the EPA's responses to these comments. • The EPA's disapproval of the contingency measures started an 18-month new source review off-set sanction clock and 2-year highway sanction and FIP clocks. The off-set sanctions began on July 9, 2013 and the highway funding sanctions would have begun on January 9, 2014. These sanctions are currently stayed/deferred and will be terminated permanently 30 days after the final approval of the contingency measures is published in the Federal Register. For More Information: Please see the EPA's website at: http://www.epa.gOv/region9/air/actions/ca.html#siv ------- |