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 3.22, Stationary Internal Combustion Engines

Prepared by: Kevin Gong

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

(FRAQMD)

SIP Approved Rule: A previous version of this rule was included into the 

SIP with a limited approval and limited disapproval 

action on March 1, 2012 in 77 FR 12493.

Subject of this TSD: FRAQMD Rule 3.22, Stationary Internal Combustion 

Engines

 Adopted October 6, 2014

 Submitted to California Air Resources Board (CARB)

October 24, 2014 and to US EPA November 06, 2014

 Determined complete on December 18, 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 3.22 regulates oxides of nitrogen (NOx), volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 

and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions from internal combustion engines with a 

rated brake horse power of 50 or greater.

This rule applies to all stationary internal combustion (IC) engines used in 

industrial, institutional, and commercial operations. The rule includes exemptions 

for IC engines in emergency use, low use, and certain types of agricultural use 

conditions. 

The rule includes sections for exemptions, definitions, operating and compliance 

requirements, test methods, and recordkeeping and reporting requirements.

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

within the Sacramento Federal Nonattainment Area, and has more stringent limits. 

The rule limits for criteria pollutants are detailed below, in parts per million by 

volume at 15% O2.
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Engine Type Pollutant North FRAQMD South FRAQMD

Spark-Ignited Rich Burn

NOx 90 25

VOC 250 250

CO 4,000 4,000

Spark Ignited Lean 

Burn

NOx 150 65

VOC 750 750

CO 4,000 4,000

Compression Ignited

NOx 600 80

VOC 750 750

CO 4,000 4,000

EPA EVALUATION

EPA primarily evaluates rules in three criteria: the enforceability of the rule, the 

stringency of the rule as required by the NAAQS, and the rule’s compliance with 

Clean Air Act sections 110(l) and 193 on SIP relaxation. Our evaluation of Rule 

3.22’s compliance with these criteria follows.

Enforceability

Section 110(a)(2)(A) of the Clean Act requires that the rule be enforceable. The 

Bluebook (Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 

Deviations, EPA, May 25, 1988), the Little Bluebook (Guidance Document for 

Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule Deficiencies, EPA Region 9, August 21, 

2001), US EPA’s Alternative Control Techniques Document NOx Emissions from 

Stationary Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines (EPA-453/R-93-032, July 

1993), and CARB’s Determination of Reasonably Available Control technology 

and Best Available Retrofit Control Technology for Stationary Spark-Ignited 

Internal Combustion Engines (November 2001) were used to help evaluate 

compliance with this requirement. 

EPA previously acted in a limited approval of a version of Rule 3.22 in 2012. In 

our November 2011 Technical Support Document associated with this action, we 

noted that a provision allowing portable analyzers to be used in place of 

appropriate source testing measures undermined the enforceability of this rule. 

The 2014 version of this rule does not include this provision, and thus corrects the

deficiency that barred full approval.

Other requirements found in Rule 3.22 are clear and comprehensive. The

monitoring, recordkeeping and reporting sections sufficiently ensure that affected 

sources and regulators can evaluate and determine compliance with Rule 3.22 

consistently.

Stringency
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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 “South FRAQMD” for the purposes of 

regulation.

We have determined that the NOx requirements for South 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 242 and Sacramento 

Metropolitan Air Quality Management District (SMAQMD) Rule 412, and more 

stringent than EPA’s 1993 ACT. The Northern portion of the FRAQMD is not 

required to meet specific stringency requirements due to their attainment status. 

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 section 193 prohibits the modification of any SIP-approved control 

requirement in effect before November 15, 1990, in a nonattainment area.

We propose to determine that our approval of the submittal would comply with 

CAA sections 110(l) and 193 because the submitted SIP revision would not 

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

attainment of the NAAQS are met. The emission limits in the submitted rule have 

not changed, and are therefore as stringent as the current applicable SIP.

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.

1. Consider lower emissions limits consistent with South Coast Air Quality 

Management District’s Rule 1110.2 (2010). 

EPA ACTION
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The submitted Rule 3.22 corrects deficiencies found in existing Rule 3.22. EPA 

staff recommends the approval of Rule 3.22 into the California State 

Implementation Plan.

REFERENCES 

1. Feather River Air Quality Management District Rule 3.22, adopted 10/6/14

2. Staff Report for FRAQMD Rule 3.22, Comments Attachment, and other SIP 

submittal documents, received November 6, 2014

3. Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Rule 412 

(Adopted 6/1/95) and Placer County Air Pollution Control District 242.

(Adopted 4/10/03)

4. “Alternative Control Techniques Document – NOx Emissions from 

Stationary Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines” (EPA-453/R-93-

032, July 1993).

http://www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone/SIPToolkit/ctg_act/199307_nox_epa

453_r-93-032_internal_combustion_engines.pdf

5. “Determination of Reasonably Available Control Technology and Best 

Available Retrofit Control Technology for Stationary Spark-Ignited Internal 

Combustion Engines” (California Air Resources Board, November, 2001). 

http://www.arb.ca.gov/ractbarc/rb-iceall.pdf