Monterey Bay Air Resource District (MBARD) adopted amendments to Rule 218: Title V Federal Operating Permits on August 21, 2024. The purpose of Rule 218 is to implement the Federal Operating Permits (FOPs) which include all federally enforced requirements
for stationary sources as required under the provision of Title V of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and amendments. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made (3) three revisions to the Title V operating permit program that impact the
authority and implementation of MBARD’s Rule 218. These 3 EPA revisions require MBARD to revise Rule 218. In addition, MBARD improved wording and coherence of Rule 218. These revisions apply to Title V facilities within MBARD’s jurisdiction,
currently 15 facilities.
Summary of Adopted Revisions
The following list includes EPA’s revisions to the Title V operating permit program that impact the authority and implementation of MBARD’s Rule 218 and the corresponding revisions to MBARD’s Rule 218:
- EPA rescinded parts of the 2010 Title V Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Tailoring Rule which established the Title V major source permitting threshold for GHG at 100,000 tons.
- MBARD removed the 2010 Rule 218 revisions that added GHGs to the Title V program. The revision redefines what qualifies a facility as a major source by no longer defining a facility as a major source solely based on its GHG emissions. The
current 15 MBARD major facilities all emit under 100,000 tons of GHGs per year and therefore will not be impacted by this revision. However, this revision applies to any new or modified source, by allowing these facilities to emit more
than 100,000 tons of GHGs per year and not qualifying as a major source. A facility can only be defined as a major source if it exceeds the Title V thresholds for one or more regulated pollutants. The definitions of “carbon dioxide
equivalent emissions (CO2e)” and “greenhouse gases (GHGs)” were accordingly removed from Rule 218 and the definition of “major source” in Rule 218 was modified to remove facilities that emit 100,000
tons or more per year of GHGs. The GHG exemption threshold, exempting facilities that produce less than 100,000 tons of GHGs per year from the provisions of Rule 218, was also removed. These revisions do not result in a change in GHG emissions
as MBARD Rule 218 does not impose substantive requirements on facilities to limit their emissions.
- EPA revised the public notice rule in the Clean Air Act (CAA) permitting program to allow electronic noticing in place of newspaper noticing.
- MBARD revised Section 3.5.3 of Rule 218 to allow for electronic noticing in place of newspaper noticing as well as revised additional provisions related to public noticing requirements. These revisions remove the mandatory newspaper notice.
Permitting authorities are now required to adopt one consistent and reliable noticing method, such as electronic noticing, for all public permit notices. An electronic notice requires the draft Title V permit notice to be available for
30 days on the MBARD publicly accessible website and emails sent to MBARD mailing list subscribers.
- EPA removed emergency affirmative defense provisions from the Title V operating permit program. Emergency affirmative defense provisions allowed sources to deem any emission exceedances as “emergency” if there were any deviations from
permit limits and avoid enforcement actions. - MBARD removed the definition of “emergency” from Rule 218 and the emergency provisions in Section 4.2.15 of Rule 218, which required permittee to keep a log or documentation to demonstrate each emergency. Title V facilities within
the MBARD’s jurisdiction are required to update their operating permits to remove any Title V emergency affirmative defense conditions. MBARD will implement the permit revisions for the 15 Title V facilities within its jurisdiction
and the permit revisions will occur during renewal, revisions, or reopening for any other reasons.
Revisions to MBARD Rule 218 listed above are required by the EPA so that the EPA can approve MBARD’s Title V program under the CAA. Adoption of the revised MBARD Rule 218 is exempt from CEQA under Class 8 Categorical Exemption and has no fiscal
impact on MBARD’s 15 Title V facilities. Additional information including the final regulation text, and the staff report may be found on the MBARD Board of Directors Page.
If you would like to discuss MBARD Rule 218 revisions and how it may impact your facility, please contact Trinity Consultants’ Oakland office at 510.285.6351.
