June 28, 2011 

Air Pollution Control Board 

800 South Victoria Avenue 

Ventura, CA 93009 

SUBJECT: PUBLIC HEARING REGARDING ADOPTION OF PROPOSED NEW RULE 

26.13, NEW SOURCE REVIEW - PREVENTION OF SIGNIFICANT 

DETERIORATION, AND REPEAL OF RULE 26.10, NEW SOURCE REVIEW 

- PREVENTION OF SIGNIFICANT DETERIORATION 

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

1. Approve and Adopt the proposed CEQA Notice of Exemption for the adoption of new 

Rule 26.12 and the repeal of existing Rule 26.10 (Attachment 1). 

2. Approve and Adopt statutorily-required findings for new Rule 26.13 and the repeal of 

Rule 26.10. (Attachment 2) 

3. Adopt new Rule 26.13 and repeal Rule 26.10 (Attachments 3 and 4). 

3. Direct the Clerk of the Board to forward two certified minute orders, and an affidavit of 

publication of the public hearing notice, for all proposed actions to the Air Pollution 

Control District within twenty days. 

4. Direct Air Pollution Control Officer or his designee to file a CEQA Notice of Exemption 

pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15062. 

STATEMENT OF MATTER FOR BOARD CONSIDERATION:

Background

Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) is a federal pre-construction permitting program 

for facilities located in areas that either comply with federal ambient air quality standards for 

particular air pollutants (classified as attainment) or are unclassifiable for any criteria air 

pollutant. PSD applies to new major stationary sources and existing major stationary sources 

where a significant modification to those stationary sources will occur. In Ventura County, the 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IX administers the PSD permitting program 

instead of the Ventura County APCD. At this time, no stationary source facility in Ventura 

County requires a PSD permit. 

The recent addition of greenhouse gases (GHG) to the list of federally-regulated air pollutants via 

the Clean Air Act (CAA) makes GHG emissions subject to PSD permitting requirements. To 
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June 28, 2011 

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prevent an overwhelming influx of PSD permit applications to EPA, EPA has encouraged local 

air pollution control regulators to take responsibility for processing any PSD permit applications 

within their jurisdiction. The most straightforward way for an air pollution control district to 

take PSD permitting responsibility is to adopt a rule that incorporates the federal CAA PSD 

requirements by reference. To that end, EPA staff, ARB staff, and the California Air Pollution 

Control Officers Association Engineering Managers Committee cooperatively developed a model 

rule. 

Ventura County Air District staff proposes adoption of a PSD rule based on this model rule. 

Certain changes have been made to accommodate specific situations in Ventura County. In 

addition, existing PSD Rule 26.10, which requires a source operator to obtain a PSD permit from 

EPA, is proposed for repeal. 

Proposed Rule Revisions

New Rule 26.13, Section A, Purpose, establishes the context of the rule with respect to new 

source review. Ventura County is "non-attainment" for the federal NAAQS for ozone but is 

"attainment" for all other air pollutants. A list of applicable attainment pollutants appears in the 

Staff Report, Table 1, page 2. 

Section B specifies that Rule 26.13 shall apply to stationary sources subject to federal regulation 

(40 CFR Part 52.21). Section C incorporates by reference federal PSD permitting regulations (40 

CFR Part 52.21). In Section C, Subsections 1, 2 and 3, exclusions and amendments to the 

federal PSD regulations are specified. These changes are detailed in Staff Report Appendix A 

and Appendix B. 

Section D specifies that a facility owner or operator must obtain the required PSD permits prior 

to construction of applicable projects. The District shall issue the permit and the applicant shall 

pay the fees specified in Rule 42. Section E specifies that the public notice requirements in Rule 

26.7, New Source Review – Notification, shall apply. Rule 26.7 requires a published public 

notice in both a newspaper of general circulation and the District newsletter and provides a 30 

day public comment period before a final decision. EPA and the California Air Resources Board 

are also notified. 

Discussion

A pre-construction PSD permit is required for any new major source or significant modification 

of an existing major source for any the pollutants in Staff Report Table 1 except pollutants for 

which an area has been classified non-attainment. In general, a major source is a facility that 

emits 250 tons or more per year of an applicable pollutant, except for GHGs, for which the 

threshold is 100,000 tons per year of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e). There are 28 types of 

industries where a major source is defined as 100 tons per year of an applicable pollutant (see 

Staff Report, Appendix C), with the same exception for GHGs. None of these affected stationary 

source types are likely to be constructed in Ventura County. The thresholds for major 
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Page 3 

modifications appear in Table 1. No new or existing PSD sources are expected in Ventura 

County. 

There are several benefits to District-level PSD permit processing. The primary benefit is a 

shorter permit processing time. Currently, obtaining a PSD permit from EPA can take several 

years. With District responsibility for PSD permitting, it is expected that permit processing will 

occur much more quickly in part because federal Endangered Species Act requirements, as well 

as other project environmental impacts typically reviewed by EPA, are considered in the 

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) environmental review process. In addition, any 

PSD permit appeals are handled locally (through the APCD Hearing Board) rather than by the 

Environmental Appeals Board in Washington, D.C. 

However, Rule 26.13 will have a financial impact on a new or modified PSD source because the 

source will be required to pay the District for additional PSD permit processing. Currently, EPA 

does not have a fee mechanism to defray their costs for processing PSD permit applications. The 

District proposes to charge for PSD permit processing as specified in Rule 42. Largely due to the 

requirement for computer modeling, actual labor hours required to process a PSD permit by 

District staff could be significantly greater than those required for a CAA Title V permit. Also, 

PSD permitting costs could vary considerably depending on the level of participation by both the 

public and EPA. Staff estimates that the cost of a PSD permit could range from $15,000 to 

$100,000 depending on these variables. District, however, believes that the benefit of obtaining 

a PSD permit in a timely manner will outweigh the cost of permit processing. 

Public Participation

A duly noticed public workshop for these proposed District rule revisions was held on September 

21, 2010; there were no attendees. On April 26, 2011, the Advisory Committee recommended 

unanimously approval of proposed new Rule 26.13 and the repeal of Rule 26.10. No written 

comments have been received at this time. 

PROPOSED FINDINGS:

Health and Safety Code Sections 40703, 40727, 40727.2, 40728.5 and 40920.6(a) direct that, 

prior to adopting proposed new Rule 26.13, your Board adopt findings of necessity, authority, 

clarity, consistency, non-duplication, reference, cost-effectiveness, incremental costeffectiveness, and socioeconomic impacts, based upon relevant information presented at the 

hearing. Health and Safety Code Section 40727.2 requires a written analysis, comparison, and 

consideration of existing air pollution regulations that apply to the same type of source. 

Therefore, if your Board decides to approve proposed new Rule 26.13, District staff recommends 

that your Board approve and adopt the proposed findings that address these statutory 

requirements set forth in Attachment 2. 

Proposed new Rule 26.13 has been determined by District staff to be exempt from the 

requirements of the CEQA under Section 15308 of the CEQA Guidelines, Actions by Regulatory 
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Agencies for Protection of the Environment. A Notice of Exemption with respect to this CEQA 

exemption is included as Attachment 1. 

This proposal has been reviewed by County Counsel. If you have any questions, please contact 

Mike Villegas at 645-1440 or Don Price at 645-1407.

MICHAEL VILLEGAS 

Air Pollution Control Officer 

Attachments: 

 1. Proposed CEQA Notice of Exemption - Rules 26.13, 26.10 

 2. Proposed Legislative Findings – Rules 26.13, 26.10 

 3. Proposed New Rule 26.13 (Strikeout/Underline version, 2/2/11) 

 4. Proposed for repeal Rule 26.10 (Strikeout/Underline version, 3/25/11) 

 5. Final Staff Report (4/27/11) 

 6. Advisory Committee Voting Record (4/26/11)