UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION IX AIR DIVISION

Technical Support Document 

EPA’s Direct Final Rulemaking

for the

California State Implementation Plan

BUTTE COUNTY AIR QUALITY MANAGEMENT DISTRICT

Rule 101, Definitions

Prepared by: Arnold Lazarus

Reviewed by: Andrew Steckel

March 2015
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RULE IDENTIFICATION

Agency: Butte County Air Quality Management District (BCAQMD)

SIP Approved Rules: Rule 101 – Title

Adopted – August 6, 1985 

Submitted – February 10, 1986

EPA Approved - February 3, 1987 (52 FR 3226)

Rule 102 – Definitions

Adopted – August 6, 1985 

Submitted – February 10, 1986

EPA Approved - February 3, 1987 (52 FR 3226)

Subject of this TSD: Rule 101 – Definitions

Amended – April 24, 2014 

Submitted – November 6, 2014

BACKGROUND – According to the BCAQMD Staff Report associated with the 2014 

rule revision, “The District’s definitions rule currently in the SIP is Rule 102 which was 

adopted in 1985 and accepted into the SIP in February, 1987 (52 FR 3226).”

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 “The 

District also recodified the Definitions rule and renumbered it from Rule 102 to Rule 101. 

Since many District rules in the SIP rely on these definitions, the District is proposing to 

amend this rule to organize and update the definitions.”2

RULE SUMMARY 

Rule 101, Definitions, sets forth definitions applicable to all District rules and regulations 

unless a more specific definition is included in a rule or regulation. The major changes 

from Rule 102, which it is replacing, are numbering the definitions, creating an acronym

section, the inclusion of a “Global Warming Potentials” Table (updated by EPA in 2013), 

inclusion of the current “Exempted VOCs table,” defining PM10, PM2.5, and defining the 

“PM2.5 Nonattainment Area” in the BCAQMD. Many new definitions have been added, 

some deleted and a few expanded. 

SPECIFIC REVISIONS to Rule 101

Changes from the approved SIP rule include:

1. Recodification: The original SIP approved Rule 101, “Title,” adopted 

August 6, 1985, was changed to Rule 101, “Definitions,” and the contents 

of the original SIP approved Rule 102 “Definitions” adopted August 6, 

1985, was transferred to Rule 101. Rule 101 was expanded as described 

by the following revisions as seen below in 2, 3, 4 and 5. There is no 

 

1

“Staff Report for Board Adoption Hearing, Rule 101,” BCAQMD, March 25, 2014. 6

2

Ibid. 6.
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longer a BCAQMD Rule 102. The language in the previous Rule 101, 

“Title,” is not replaced in the SIP and is not needed to comply with the 

Clean Air Act.

2. Adding the following sections:

Purpose, Applicability, Acronyms, Severability, and References.

3. Adding the following new definitions:

Above Ground Storage Tank, Aeration, Affected Pollutant, Affected

Pollutant, Ambient Air Quality Standards, Backfire, Burn Permit or Air

Quality Burn Permit, California Air Resources Board (CARB), California

Clean Air Act (CCAA), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Equivalent (CO2e), Class

I Area, Clean Air Act (CAA), Common Operations, Compliance Schedule, 

Construction, Control Equipment, Daily Acreage Allocation, Disposal, 

Dwelling, Emission Unit, Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR), 

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Excavation, Executive Officer, 

Exempt Compound, Existing Retail Service Station, Facility, Fossil Fuel, 

Fugitive Dust, Greenhouse Gases (GHGs), Hazardous Air Pollutant

(HAP), Health and Safety Code (HSC), Leak Free, Major Source, Motor

Vehicle, Multi-Unit Dwelling, National Emissions Standards for Hazardous

Air Pollutants (NESHAPs), Non-Agricultural Burning, Open Burning, 

Phase I Vapor Recovery System, Phase II Vapor Recovery System, 

PM2.5 Nonattainment Area, PM2.5, PM10, Populated Area, Prohibited

Materials, Reactive Organic Compound (ROC), Reid Vapor Pressure

(RVP), Residence or Residential, Residential Burning, Rice Equivalent

Acre, Rubbish, Sacramento Valley Air Basin, School, Single- and TwoFamily Dwellings, Source Test Method or CARB Source Test Method, 

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code, Toxic Air Contaminants, 

Underground Storage Tank (UST), Upset or Breakdown Condition, Vapor 

Extraction System or Soil Vapor Extraction (SVE), Vapor Tight, 

Variance, Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs), Volatile Organic 

Compound Vapor Analyzer.

4. Deleting the following definitions: 

Approved Ignition Devices, Brush Treated, Open Out-Door Fire, 

Permissive Burn Day, Range Improvement Burning, Regulation, 

Submerged F i l l Pipe, Timber Operations, Vapor Recovery System,

and Wood Fired Boiler.

5. Modified or updated the following Definitions: 

Modification, Pathological Waste, and Standard Conditions.

EPA EVALUATION 

There will be no effect on air pollution emissions from Rule 101 since the changes 

are mostly administrative. 
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However, these revisions improve clarity and enforceability of other BCAQMD

Rules which do reduce emissions. 

EPA’s general criteria for rule approval are satisfied by the following:

1. The definitions in Rule 101 are clear and help make other provisions enforceable, 

so the rule is consistent with enforceability requirements of the federal Clean Air 

Act (CAA) §110(a)(2)(A). 

2. Because these definitions do not establish emission controls but provide 

clarification to requirements found elsewhere, we have determined that they will 

not interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and 

reasonable further progress (RFP) or any other applicable requirement of the Act 

(CAA §110(l)) or modify, in a nonattainment area, any SIP-approved control 

requirement in effect before November 15, 1990 (CAA §193).

3. The rule does not directly establish emission controls, so it is not relevant to 

evaluate it regarding stringency.

RECOMMENDED ACTION

EPA staff recommends approval of BCAQMD Rule 101 under CAA §110(k) as meeting 

the requirements of CAA §110(a) and Part D. Approval of BCAQMD Rule 101 would 

supersede existing SIP BCAQMD Rules 101 (“Title”) and 102 (“Definitions”), approved at 52 

FR 3226 (February 3, 1987), in the applicable California SIP, except for the following 

definitions from existing SIP BCAQMD Rule 102: “approved ignition devices,” “open out-door 

fire,” “permissive burn day,” “range improvement burning,” “submerged fill pipe,” and “vapor 

recovery system.” While these terms from existing SIP BCAQMD Rule 102 (“Definitions”) are 

no longer included in BCAQMD’s definitions rule (i.e., Rule 101), they are relied upon by 

certain existing SIP prohibitory rules, such as existing SIP BCAQMD Rules 213, 215, 302, 313, 

317, and 323, and thus must be retained. Approval of the definitions should not be 

interpreted as EPA approval of the other rules in which these definitions are used. 

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEXT RULE REVISION - The 

following recommendations are not currently the basis for rule disapproval.

1. The definition, “4.54 Installation” should follow definition, “4.55 Incinerator” 

which would correct the alphabetical order.

2. Definition 4.62 cites “Each NESHAP is published as an individual Subpart 

to Title 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 60 or 63.” It should be 

“(CFR) Part 61 or 63.”

3. Please correct spelling of the word “earthern” in definition 4.1 to “earthen.”

4. Please correct spelling of the word “aveage” in definition 4.9 to “average.”

5. Please correct spelling of the word “Volative” in definition 4.83 to “Volatile.”
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6. Please correct spelling of the word “commbustible” in definition 4.89 to 

“combustible.”

7. Please correct spelling of the word “signifcantly” in definition 4.107 to 

“significantly.”

8. Please correct spelling of the word “compentent” in section 5 to 

“competent.”

REFERENCES 

1. BCAQMD Rule 101, “Title,” adopted August 6, 1985.

2. BCAQMD Rule 102, “Definitions,” adopted August 6,1985

3. “Staff Report for Board Adoption Hearing, Rule 101,” BCAQMD, March 25, 

2014.

4. BCAQMD Rule 101 Definitions, Clean Copy, Definitions, November 6, 

2014.