UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION IX AIR DIVISION

Technical Support Document 

for

EPA’s Direct Final Rulemaking

for the

California State Implementation Plan

Feather River Air Quality Management District’s 

Rule 3.21, Industrial, Institutional, and Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators, 

and Process Heaters

Prepared by: Kevin Gong

November 1, 2014
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Agency: Feather River Air Quality Management District 

(FRAQMD)

SIP Approved Rule: There is no previously SIP approved Rule 3.21

Superseded Submittals: There is no previously submitted Rule 3.21

Subject of this TSD: FRAQMD Rule 3.21, Industrial, Institutional, and 

Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators, and Process 

Heaters

 Adopted June 5, 2006

 Submitted to California ARB April 18, 2013 and to US 

EPA February 10, 2014

RULE SUMMARY

Under Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA designated portions of 

Yuba and Sutter counties nonattainment for the following three National Ambient 

Air Quality Standards (NAAQS): 1-hour ozone, 1997 8-hour ozone and 2008 8-

hour ozone. These areas are regulated by the Feather River Air Quality 

Management District (FRAQMD).

Rule 3.21 establishes oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emission limits from boilers, steam 

generators and process heaters.

This rule applies to boilers, steam generators, and process heaters with heat input 

capacities greater than or equal to 1 million BTU per hour (MMBTU/hr), used in all 

industrial, institutional, and commercial operations. and outlines allowable NOx

control measures.

The rule includes exemptions for smaller units operating below a threshold of 

90,000 therms of annual heat inputs, definitions, requirements for compliance and 

metering equipment, acceptable test methods, and recordkeeping.

The rule’s emissions limits differ based on location. Part of the FRAQMD lies 

within the Sacramento Federal Nonattainment Area (SFNA), and has more 

stringent limits. The rule limits for criteria pollutants are detailed below, in pounds 

per million BTUs or parts per million by volume.
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Type of Fuel Used North FRAQMD SFNA Part of

FRAQMD

Only Gaseous Fuel Firing 

Units

0.08 lbs/MMBTU, or

70 ppmv at 3% O2

0.036 lbs/MMBTU, or

30 ppmv at 3% O2

Gaseous & Non-Gaseous 

Fuel Co-Firing Units Heat Input Weighted Average Fuel Limits

Non-Gaseous Firing Units 0.15 lbs/MMBTU, or

115 ppmv at 3% O2

0.052 lbs/MMBTU, or

40 ppmv at 3% O2

EVALUATION CRITERIA

The following criteria were used to evaluate the submitted rule. 

1. Enforceability - Section 110(a)(2)(A) of the Clean Act Act requires that the 

rule be enforceable. The Bluebook (Issues Relating to VOC Regulation 

Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations, EPA, May 25, 1988) and the Little 

Bluebook (Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule

Deficiencies, EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001) were used to help evaluate 

compliance with this requirement. 

2. Stringency - Section 172(c)(1) of the CAA requires nonattainment areas to 

implement all reasonably available control measures (RACM), including 

such reductions in emissions from existing sources in the area as may be 

obtained through the adoption, at a minimum, of reasonably available

control technology (RACT), as expeditiously as practicable. 

Ozone nonattainment areas classified as moderate or above must require 

RACT for all major sources of NOx (CAA section 182(f); 40 CFR section 

51.912(a)). As mentioned earlier, the FRAQMD regulates an ozone 

nonattainment area that is classified as severe for the 1997 and 2008 8-

hour ozone standards. FRAQMD defines this severe nonattainment area as 

“SFNA Portion of FRAQMD” for the purposes of regulation.

EPA’s Alternative Control Technique (ACT) titled, “Alternative Control 

Techniques Document – NOx Emissions from 

Industrial/Commercial/Institutional (ICI) Boilers” (EPA-453/R-94-022 

1994/03), CARB’s RACT/BARCT guidance titled, “Determination of 

Reasonably Available Control Technology and Best Available Retrofit 

Control Technology for Industrial, Institutional, and Commercial Boilers, 

Steam Generators, and Process Heaters” (July 18, 1991), and other state 

and local rules for this category were used to help evaluate the RACT 

requirements of CAA §182(b)(2) and §182(f). 
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3. SIP Relaxation - CAA Section 110(l) prohibits EPA from approving any SIP 

revision that would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning 

attainment and reasonable further progress (RFP) or any other applicable 

requirement of the CAA. In addition, CAA §193 prohibits the modification of 

any SIP-approved control requirement in effect before November 15, 1990, 

in a nonattainment area.

EPA EVALUATION - A summary of our evaluation of the three criteria follows.

1. The rule requirements and applicability are clear, and the monitoring, 

recordkeeping, reporting and other provisions sufficiently ensure that 

affected sources and regulators can evaluate and determine compliance 

with Rule 3.21 consistently. 

Rule 3.21 requires compliance demonstration every 8,760 hours or every 

two calendar years (whichever is more frequent), instead of once every 

calendar year as set out in SMAQMD Rule 411 (Section 403) and PCAPCD 

Rule 231 (Section 500, via annual tuning reports and source tests). 

Comments from CARB indicated that this was preferable to the original 

language which required testing every three calendar years. Our 

recommendations in the following section on the frequency of testing do not 

affect our assessment of the rule. 

2. We have determined that the requirements for the Federal nonattainment 

SFNA Portion of the FRAQMD in this rule fulfil RACT requirements because 

they are as stringent as CARB’s RACT/BARCT guidance and other 

California District rules for this category, including Placer County Air 

Pollution Control District (PCAPCD) Rule 231 and Sacramento Metropolitan 

Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD) Rule 411, and more stringent 

than EPA’s 1994 ACT. 

3. There is no previous Rule 3.21 in the California SIP. We propose to 

determine that our approval of the submittal would comply with CAA 

§§110(l) and 193 because (1) the proposed SIP revision would not interfere 

with the on-going process for ensuring that requirements for RFP and 

attainment of the NAAQS are met, and (2) the emission limits in the 

submitted rule are more stringent than the existing SIP-approved control 

requirements.

RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEXT RULE REVISION - The following 

revisions are not currently the basis for rule disapproval, but are recommended for 

the next time the rule is amended.
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1. Revise Section C.1 “Annual Heat Input” defined to correct a typographical 

error.

2. Delete the reference to permit limits for CO in Section D.3.

3. Amend Section F.2 to require testing every calendar year.

4. Section E.1 should be written as an “and/or” provision to ensure all units 

are covered. Currently, a unit that is only subject to either Section B or 

Section D could interpret the rule to not require the installation of 

monitoring equipment.

5. Amend section H.1 to require records are kept for 5 years. 

EPA ACTION

The submitted Rule 3.21 strengthens the SIP, and the associated California ARB 

rule evaluation projects it will reduce NOx emissions by 5.47 tons/year from 2008 

inventory levels in the Northern Part of FRAQMD. EPA staff recommends the 

approval of Rule 3.21 into the California State Implantation Plan.

REFERENCES 

1. Feather River Air Quality Management District Rule 3.21, adopted June 5, 

2006

2. Staff Report for FR Rule 3.21, Comments Attachment, and other SIP 

submittal documents

3. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Rule 411

(Adopted 8/23/07) and Placer County Air Pollution Control District 231.

(Adopted 10/9/97)

4. “Alternative Control Techniques Document – NOx Emissions from 

Industrial/Commercial/Institutional (ICI) Boilers” (EPA-453/R-94-022 

1994/03).

http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/SIPToolkit/ctg_act/199403_nox_epa

453_r-94-022_ici_boilers.pdf

5. “Determination of Reasonably Available Control Technology and Best 

Available Retrofit Control Technology for Industrial, Institutional, and 

Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators, and Process Heaters” (California 

Air Resources Board, July 18, 1991). 

http://www.arb.ca.gov/ractbarc/boilers.pdf