DHEC Bureau of Air Quality Regulatory Stakeholders,
1. Notice of Final Rulemaking: 2018 General Assembly Package Revision – On April 24, 2020, the Department of Health and Environmental Control’s (Department) Bureau of Air Quality published a Notice of Final Regulation amending Regulation 61-62, Air Pollution Control Regulations and Standards, and the South Carolina Air Quality Implementation Plan (State Implementation Plan or SIP) in the State Register. Specifically, the Department amended Regulation 61-62 and the SIP, as follows:
- Regulation 61-62.1, Definitions and General Requirements, Section II, Permit Requirements, to expand and improve consistency in language regarding general and registration permits.
- Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 2, Ambient Air Quality Standards, to remove the sentence in the introductory paragraph, describing the test method for Gaseous Fluorides, to improve the accuracy and clarity of the regulation’s text.
- Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 5.2, Control of Oxides of Nitrogen (NOX), to update applicability and exemptions, as well as to propose corrections for internal consistency, punctuation, codification, and spelling.
- Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 7, Prevention of Significant Deterioration, to update applicability and exemptions, as well as to propose corrections for consistency with federal regulations, internal consistency, punctuation, codification, and spelling.
- Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 7.1, Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR), to improve the overall clarity and structure of the regulation, as well as to propose corrections for consistency with federal regulations, internal consistency, punctuation, codification, and spelling.
- Regulation 61-62.1, Definitions and General Requirements; Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 7, Prevention of Significant Deterioration; Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 7.1, Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR); and Regulation 61-62.70, Title V Operating Permit Program, to update public participation procedures.
The Department also amended Regulation 61-62, Air Pollution Control Regulations and Standards, to provide definitional updates, clarification of certain permitting provisions, and other changes and additions deemed necessary, as well as corrections for internal consistency, clarification, reference, punctuation, codification, formatting, and spelling to improve the overall text of R.61-62 as necessary.These amendments were not mandated by federal law and required legislative review (granted on March 17, 2020). These amendments became effective upon publication in the State Register.
Please contact Marie Brown at brownmf@dhec.sc.gov if you have any questions. This notice can be found at: http://www.scstatehouse.gov/
2. EPA Proposed Decision to Retain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Particulate Matter – On April 14, 2020, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator, Andrew Wheeler, signed a proposal to retain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter (PM). The proposal retains the current standards without revision.
The pre-publication version of the proposed rule is available here:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/
A fact sheet summarizing the proposal is available here:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/
The EPA will accept comments on this proposed rule for 60 days following publication in the Federal Register. The EPA anticipates a final decision by the end of the year.
3. Notice of Public Comment Period: 2020-2021 South Carolina Annual Ambient Monitoring Network Plan – The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (Department) published a Notice of General Public Interest to provide opportunity to comment on the proposed 2020-2021 South Carolina Annual Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan (Network Plan) to meet obligations to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and provides documentation of the establishment and maintenance of an air quality surveillance system that consists of a network of state or local air monitoring stations(SLAMS) that includes federal reference method (FRM) and federal equivalent method (FEM) monitors that are part of SLAMS, national core multipollutant monitoring stations (NCore), chemical speciation network (CSN), and special purpose monitor (SPM) stations. The proposed Network Plan includes a statement of whether the operation of each monitor meets the requirements of Appendix E of 40 CFR Part 58, Ambient Air Quality Surveillance. As part of this Network Plan, the Department is also including an annual assessment as required under 40 CFR 51.1205(b) for those facilities that demonstrated attainment with the 1-hr Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) as part of the Data Requirements Rule (DRR) using modeled emission rates that were less than the maximum permit allowable rates.
The Department is also providing the interested public with the opportunity to request a public hearing on the issue. If requested, the Department will hold a public hearing on June 4, 2020, at 10:00 a.m., in Room 2151 of the Sims Building, 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, South Carolina. In the event that a requested public hearing cannot be held in person due to the COVID-19 guidelines restricting in-person meetings, the public hearing will be held using an alternative method that provides the public the ability to participate remotely.
Pursuant to 40 CFR 51.102, if the Department does not receive a request for a public hearing by the close of the comment period, 5:00 p.m. on May 26, 2020, the Department will cancel the public hearing. If the public hearing will be held remotely using an alternative method, or if the Department cancels the public hearing, then the Department will notify the public and provide instructions for accessing any remote public hearing (if a hearing is requested) at least one week prior to the scheduled hearing via the Department’s Public Notices webpage: http://www.scdhec.gov/
You can follow DHEC Bureau of Air Quality Regulation Development at the following page: http://www.scdhec.gov/
