150 SOUTH NINTH STREET 

EL CENTRO, CA 92243-2850 

July 10,2012 

Gerardo Rios 

Chief, Air Permits Office 

EPA Region IX 

75 Hawthorne Street 

San Francisco, CA 94105 

Dear Mr. Rios: 

TELEPHONE: (760) 482-4606 

FAX: (760) 353-9904 

Your office has requested that the District provide certain clarifications regarding 

District Rule 904, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Permit Program, and 

explain how the District will implement its rules to ensure that its PSD program 

satisfies the requirements of 40 CFR 51.166 and that the District provide further 

confirmation and explanation concerning the District's authority, personnel, and 

funding to implement the PSD. 

The District is providing the attached details about its intentions with respect to 

implementation of the PSD program in Imperial County upon EPA's approval of 

District Rule 904 into the SIP. 

Should you have any questions please do not hesitate to call the office at (760) 482-

4606. 

Brad Poiriez 

Air Pollution Control Officer 

AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY I AFFIRMATIVE ACTION EMPLOYER 
Imperial County APCD -Rule 904 -Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Permit 

Program 

1. Requested Clarifications Concerning Certain Requirements of 40 CFR 51.166 

a. Permit Processing Procedures and Public Participation 

District Rule 201, Section A specifies that any person const:J.ucting, erecting, installing, 

modifYing, or replacing any article, machine, equipment or cont:J.·ivance, the use of which 

may emit or control air contaminants, shall frrst obtain written authorization for such 

construction from the Air Pollution Control Officer; therefore, any source required to 

comply with Rule 904 is also required to obtain an Authority to Construct permit from 

this office and comply with District's rules and regulations. The guidelines for 

processing an Authority to Construct application are specified in Rule 206. Both District 

rules are SIP approved. 

Below are clarifications of specific provisions in the District Rules that assure that public 

participation and the permit processing requirements for PSD programs contained in 40 

CFR 51.166( q) - Public Participation and other procedural commitments are adequately 

addressed. 

A 40 CFR 51.166(q)(l)- The reviewing authority shall notifY all applicants within 

a specified time period as to the completeness of the application or any deficiency 

in the application or information submitted. In the event of such a deficiency, the 

date of receipt of the application shall be the date on which the reviewing 

authority received all required information. 

These requirements are met by District Rule 206, Section A.2 which is a SIPapproved rule that specifies that the APCO shall determine whether an application 

is complete not later than 30 days after receipt of the application and requires the 

APCO to notifY the applicant in writing when the application is determined 

complete. 

B 40 CFR 51.166(q)(2)- Within one year after receipt of a complete application, 

the reviewing authority shall meet the requirements of 40 CFR 51.166(q)(2)(i) 

through (viii). 

This requirement is met by District Rule 206, Sections C.4, which is a SIPapproved rule that applies to permit applications in the District and requires the 

APCO to take final action with 180 days of a complete application, or within 180 

days (or one year if the District is the lead agency) after the designated lead 

agency has approved the Project under the California Environmental Quality Act. 

b. Additional Reguirements 

40 CFR 51.166(p )(1) requires the reviewing authority to provide to EPA a copy of each 

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permit application relating to a major stationary source or major modification and notice 

of every action related to the consideration of a PSD permit. 

40 CFR 51.166(p)(l) - Notice to EPA. The plan shall provide that the reviewing 

authority shall transmit to the Administrator a copy of each permit application relating to 

a major stationary source or major modification and provide notice to the Administrator 

of every action related to the consideration of such permit. 

This requirement is met to a certain extent by Section F of Rule 904, which requires the 

District to provide EPA notice of the preliminary determination and to make the 

application and final determination materials available for public review, which 

presumably includes EPA. 

This letter is confirmation that the District commits to provide EPA a copy of each permit 

application relating to a PSD major stationary source or PSD major modification, and to 

provide EPA notice of every action related to the consideration of such permit, as 

required by 51.166(p )(1 ). Additionally, the District commits to incorporate the 

provisions in 40 CFR 51.166(p )(1) the next time Rule 904 is open for revisions. 

2. Program Transfer 

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Pursuant to Section 110(a)(2)(E)(i) of the Clean Air Act, below is a written statement and 

citations to demonstrate that the District has adequate personnel, funding, and authority 

under State and/or local law to implement the PSD program within the District. 

The District has the primary responsibility for regulating air pollution from all stationary 

sources within Imperial County (see California Health & Safety Code (H&SC) sections 

39002 and 40000). The California Air Resources Board oversees the District activities 

and regulates mobile sources of air pollution. Under State law, the District is required to 

adopt rules to achieve ambient air quality standards and to enforce the provisions oflocal, 

State and federal air quality laws (see H&SC section 4000l(a)). 

The District's permitting program (which is authorized by H&SC section 42300 and must 

meet the requirements of section 42301), as approved by EPA, currently implements 

requirements from both the California and federal Clean Air Acts. District Rule 201, 

Permits Required, was approved by EPA on May 9, 2011. Rule 201 specifies that any 

person constructing, erecting, installing, modifYing, or replacing any article, machine, 

equipment or contrivance, the use of which may emit or control air contaminants, shall 

first obtain a preconstruction permit from the District. Rule 207, New Source Review, 

requires new stationary sources and modifications to be constructed utilizing the Best 

Available Control Technology (BACT) and to provide emissions offsets. Rule 207 was 

approved by EPA on November 10, 1980,45 Fed Reg. 74480. 

The District is not delegated by EPA to implement the PSD program. However, on 

December 20, 2011, the District adopted Rule 904, PSD Permit Program which, if 
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approved by EPA, will allow the District to administer the PSD permit program for 

sources located in Imperial County. The PSD permit program was developed by the 

United States Congress to prevent significant environmental impacts on attainment or 

unclassified areas from major industrial sources of air pollution. Upon approval of the 

PSD program, the District is authorized by state law to enforce its rules, regulations and 

orders, including conditions that will be contained on District-issued PSD permits (see 

H&SC §§ 40752(b); 41513; 42402-42403). 

The District's personnel is comprised of approximately 25 allocated positions which 

includes experienced and capable engineers, and field inspectors. The District staff has 

experience processing applications for Major facilities and Title V sources, as well as 

enforcing all conditions in these permits. The District currently has approximately 800 

facilities under permit, this includes thirteen Title V sources and a wide range of minor 

source types such as: manufacturing, service stations, hay compressing, dry cleaning, 

milling, sandblasting, aggregate, combustion, and waste disposal, to name a few. There 

are currently no stationary sources in Imperial County holding a PSD permit. However, 

there is a potential for new sources to be subject to PSD permitting requirements in the 

future due to Greenhouse Gas emissions. The District has adequate personnel to 

accommodate a potential incremental increase in workload. According to Regulation III 

rules, the District will charge the applicants of all PSD permits an hourly fee which could 

be used to hire additional engineering staffto help process these applications, in the event 

that we underestimated the associated workload. 

Accordingly, the District has adequate legal authority, personnel and funding to 

implement and enforce the PSD program.