Appendix V to Part 51 - Criteria for Determining the Completeness of Plan Submissions
40:2.0.1.1.2.25.11.20.37 : Appendix V
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]