UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION IX AIR DIVISION

Technical Support Document

For

EPA’s Notice of Direct Final Rulemaking

For the

California State Implementation Plan

Feather River Air Quality Management District

Rule 3.17 – Wood Heating Devices

Christine Vineyard

September 16, 2014
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Agency: Feather River Air Quality Management District (FRAQMD or the 

District)

Rule 3.17: Wood Heating Devices

SIP-approved version: None

Adopted by FRAQMD: June 1996

Amended by FRAQMD: October 5, 2009

Submitted by CARB: July 25, 2014

Background

FRAQMD Rule 3.17 was adopted in June of 1996 and amended in October 2009 to 

reduce emissions from residential wood heating devices. When the Rule revision was 

adopted by the FRAQMD Board in October 2009, the resolution did not specifically 

direct the District to submit it to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a 

revision to the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The District adopted 

Resolution 2014-02 on February 3, 2014, directing staff to send the Rule to EPA as a 

SIP revision with minor changes discussed below.

Based on prior discussions with EPA and the California Air Resources Board (ARB), the 

District excluded portions of Rule 3.17 from the SIP submittal because they provide for 

improper director’s discretion or voluntary measures that would interfere with their 

enforceability under the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) . Specific provisions of the

following sections of the Rule would still be in effect locally, but would not be included in 

the federally enforceable SIP:1

1. E. 8. “....or other method approved by the Air Pollution Control Officer” - 

unseasoned wood definition allows the Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO)

discretion to approve test methods other than the recommended ASTM method 

D4442-92 to determine percent moisture in unseasoned wood. Exclusion of this 

portion of the definition is not expected to affect emissions or enforcement of the 

rule because the District has never used this compliance option.

2. F.2. e. (Requirements) – provides a compliance option when selling, supplying, 

installing, or transferring a new or used wood heating device, but does not list a 

test method to determine emission standards. The District requested exclusion 

of this provision until such time as Rule 3.17 is revised and can provide a list of 

approved test methods. Exclusion of this section is not expected to affect 

emissions or enforcement of the rule because the District has never implemented 

this compliance option.

 

1

Please refer to the SIP submittal, available in the docket for this action, for the exact rule provisions being 

excluded from the SIP.
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F.4 (Requirements) – This is a voluntary program and emission reductions from this 

measure are not relied on for attainment purposes, but will remain in the rule. The 

requirement in this section allows the APCO to issue an advisory recommending actions 

for the use of wood heating devices whenever conditions within the District are 

projected to cause an exceedance of a State or national ambient air quality standard. 

All portions of the Rule would still be in effect as a local rule, but the three specific 

provisions listed above would not be federally enforceable.

Rule Summary

A. The purpose of Rule 3.17 is to reduce inhalable particle emissions from residential 

wood heating devices, to achieve the same emission limits as other wood 

appliances, and to increase public awareness regarding air pollution from residential 

wood burning in Yuba and Sutter Counties.

B. The rule defines key terms such as “unseasoned wood”.

C. The rule contains requirements for new and used wood heating devices used for the 

first time in existing buildings and new buildings constructed after the rule adoption 

date. It further requires that any new or used wood heating device be an EPAcertified wood heating device.

D. The rules prohibits burning of unseasoned wood, any other material not intended by 

the manufacturer for use as a solid fuel in a wood heating device and prohibited 

material as described in District Rule 2.0, Open Burning.2

EVALUATION CRITERIA –

1. Enforceability - 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 the CAA 

§110(a)(2)(A) requirement for enforceability.

2. SIP Relaxation - CAA §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.

3. Stringency – Wood burning emits PM10 and PM2.5 directly, as well as volatile 

organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx), which are precursors to 

ozone and PM2.5. 

 

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ARB submitted Rule 2.0 to EPA for inclusion into the California SIP on August 7, 2014.
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FRAQMD regulates a portion of the Sacramento Metro ozone nonattainment area, 

which is classified as Severe-15 under the 1997 and 2008 National Ambient Air 

Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ozone (40 CFR § 81.305). CAA §172(c)(1) requires 

nonattainment areas to implement all reasonably available control measures (RACM) 

as expeditiously as practicable. Therefore, FRAQMD must implement RACM for 

residential wood heating devices if those measures will advance attainment of the 

NAAQS for ozone, when considered collectively with other reasonable measures. 

Additional control measures may be required pursuant to CAA §172(c)(1) if both: (1) 

additional measures are reasonably available; and (2) these additional reasonably 

available measures will advance attainment in the area when considered collectively. 

EPA acts on the State’s RACM demonstrations separately based on an evaluation of 

the control measures submitted as a whole and their overall potential to advance the 

applicable attainment dates. Below, we identify additional control options that may be 

reasonably available (see “Additional Recommendations for the Next Rule Revision”).

FRAQMD is currently designated attainment for PM10 (40 CFR § 81.305). 

Accordingly, FRAQMD is not subject to the requirement to implement RACM or Best 

Available Control Measures (BACM) for PM10 and PM10 precursors in CAA § 189(b) 

and (e). Therefore, we are not evaluating Rule 2.0 for compliance with RACM or 

BACM requirements with respect to PM10.

Effective December 14, 2009, EPA designated the Yuba City-Marysville area, which 

is under FRAQMD jurisdiction, as nonattainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS 

(74 FR 58688, November 13, 2009). As a result, the area was required to implement 

RACM for PM2.5. On January 10, 2013 (78 FR 2211), EPA issued a determination 

that the area had attained the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 standard based on complete, 

quality-assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2009–2011 

monitoring period. Under EPA's Clean Data Policy and the regulations that embody 

it, 40 CFR § 51.1004(c) (for PM2.5), an EPA determination that an area is attaining 

the relevant standard suspends the area's obligations to submit RACM for as long as 

the area continues to attain. As a result, we are not evaluating Rule 2.0 for 

compliance with RACM requirements for PM2.5 at this time. In addition, on May 23, 

2013, CARB requested that EPA redesignate the Yuba City-Marysville PM2.5 

nonattainment area to attainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. If the Yuba 

City-Marysville area is redesignated to attainment, RACM requirements for PM2.5 will 

no longer apply.

EPA EVALUATION: A summary of our evaluation of the three criteria:

1. Enforceability - The rule requirements and their applicability are clear and 

sufficiently ensure that affected sources and regulators can evaluate and determine 

compliance with Rule 3.17 consistently. 
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2. SIP Relaxation - We propose to determine that our approval of the submitted rule 

would comply with CAA §110(l) because the FRAQMD portion of the California SIP 

does not contain any control requirement for wood-burning devices, and our 

approval of Rule 3.17 into the SIP only adds new SIP requirements and does not

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

attainment of the NAAQS are met. Section 193 of the Act does not apply to our 

proposed action because this is a new rule to the SIP and does not modify any SIPapproved control requirement in effect before November 15, 1990, in a 

nonattainment area.

3. Stringency – This rule largely implements reasonably available control

requirements because it is generally as stringent as other California District rules for 

this category. However, some areas are implementing more stringent requirements 

that may be technologically and economically feasible for implementation in Yuba 

and Sutter Counties (see “Additional Recommendations for the Next Rule 

Revision”). EPA will act on the State’s RACM demonstrations separately based on 

an evaluation of the control measures submitted as a whole and their overall 

potential to advance the applicable attainment dates.

Additional Recommendations for the Next Rule Revision

a) Add an opacity or visible emission limit;

b) Add mandatory winter burning curtailment; and

c) Add a provision to require the replacement of non-EPA certified wood burning 

devices upon home sale.

EPA Action 

We propose to determine that FRAQMD Rule 3.17 fulfils all the applicable CAA 

requirements. Therefore, under §110(k) of the CAA, EPA staff recommends full 

approval of FRAQMD Rule 3.17 as submitted by CARB on July 25, 2014 without 

paragraphs E.8 “..or other method approved by the Air Pollution Control Officer” and

F.2.e.

Attachments

1. FRAQMD Rule 3.17 – Wood Heating Devices, October 5, 2009.

2. “Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations,” 

USEPA, May 28, 1988 (cover only).