* * * PUBLIC NOTICE * * * 

RIO BRAVO POSO 

ANNOUNCEMENT OF PROPOSED PERMIT AND REQUEST FOR PUBLIC COMMENT 

ON PROPOSED CLEAN AIR ACT PREVENTION OF SIGNIFICANT DETERIORATION 

PERMIT APPLICATION NO. SJ 85-06 

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) provides notice of, and requests 

public comment on, EPA’s proposed action relating to a modification of the Prevention of 

Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit for the Rio Bravo Poso Cogeneration facility (Poso). 

Poso is a 36 MW solid fuel-fired power plant that employs a Combustion Engineering- Lurgi 

circulating fluidized bed boiler. EPA is issuing a proposed PSD permit modification that would 

grant conditional approval, in accordance with the PSD regulations in 40 Code of Federal 

Regulations (CFR) 52.21, to allow the Rio Bravo facility to include clean cellulosic biomass as a 

part of its permissible fuel. All existing air emissions limitations at the facility will remain the 

same, despite the addition of clean cellulosic biomass for fuel use. The mailing address for Rio 

Bravo is 19100 Von Karman, Suite 570, Irvine, CA 92612. The facility is located at 16608 

Porterville Highway in Bakersfield, California. The city of Bakersfield is located within the San 

Joaquin Air Pollution Control District (District). 

The additional fuels to be added shall conform to the definition of clean cellulosic biomass as 

defined in 40 CFR 241.2. In particular, clean cellulosic biomass means those residuals that are 

akin to traditional cellulosic biomass such as forest-derived biomass (e.g., green wood, forest 

thinnings, clean and unadulterated bark, sawdust, trim, and tree harvesting residuals from 

logging and sawmill materials), corn stover and other biomass crops used specifically for energy 

production (e.g., energy cane, other fast growing grasses), bagasse and other crop residues (e.g., 

peanut shells), wood collected from forest fire clearance activities, trees and clean wood found in 

disaster debris, clean biomass from land clearing operations, and clean construction and 

demolition wood. Clean biomass is biomass that does not contain contaminants at concentrations 

not normally associated with virgin biomass materials. 

The emissions of air pollutants for which the area is not meeting the National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard (and precursors that lead to the formation of such pollutants), are regulated by 

the District, which implements the Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting 

program for this area. 

Any interested person may submit written comments on EPA’s proposed PSD permit 

modification for Poso. All written comments on EPA’s proposed action must be received by 

EPA via email by April 3, 2012, or postmarked by April 3, 2012. Comments must be sent or 

delivered in writing to Omer Shalev at one of the following addresses: 

E-mail: R9airpermits@epa.gov

U.S. Mail: Omer Shalev (AIR-3) 

U.S. EPA Region 9 
75 Hawthorne Street 

San Francisco, CA 94105-3901 

Phone: (415) 972-3538 

Pursuant to 40 CFR 124.12, EPA has discretion to hold a Public Hearing to provide the public 

with further opportunity to comment on the proposed permit. 

All information submitted by the applicant is available as part of the administrative record. The 

proposed air permit, ambient air quality impact report, and other supporting information are 

available on the EPA Region 9 website at http://www.epa.gov/region09/air/permit/r9-permitsissued.html#pubcomment. The administrative record may also be viewed in person, Monday 

through Friday (excluding federal holidays) from 9:00 AM to 4:00 PM, at the EPA Region 9 

address above. Due to building security procedures, please call Omer Shalev at (415) 972-3538 

at least 24 hours in advance to arrange a visit. Hard copies of the administrative record can be 

mailed to individuals upon request in accordance with Freedom of Information Act requirements 

as described on the EPA Region 9 website at http://www.epa.gov/region9/foia/. 

All comments that are received will be included in the public docket without change and will be 

available to the public, including any personal information provided, unless the comment 

includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Information that you consider CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly 

identified as such and should not be submitted through e-mail. If you send e-mail directly to the 

EPA, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the public 

comment. Please note that an e-mail or postal address must be provided with your comments if 

you wish to receive direct notification of EPA’s final decision regarding the permit. 

EPA will consider all written and oral comments submitted during the public comment period 

before taking final action on the PSD permit application and will send notice of the final decision 

to each person who submitted comments and contact information during the public comment 

period or requested notice of the final permit decision. EPA will respond to all substantive 

comments in a document accompanying EPA’s final permit decision that will be made available 

to the public. 

EPA’s final permit decision will become effective 30 days after the service of notice of the 

decision unless: 

1. A later effective date is specified in the decision; or 

2. The decision is appealed to EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board pursuant to 40 

CFR 124.19; or 

3 There are no comments requesting a change to the proposed permit decision, in 

which case the final decision shall become effective immediately upon issuance. 

If EPA issues a final decision granting the PSD permit application for the Project, and there is no 

appeal, then the modification may commence, subject to the conditions of the PSD permit and 

other applicable permit and legal requirements. 
If you have questions, please contact Omer Shalev at (415) 972-3538 or email at 

R9airpermits@epa.gov. If you would like to be added to our mailing list to receive future 

information about this proposed permit decision or other PSD permit decisions issued by EPA 

Region 9, please contact Omer Shalev at (415) 972-3538 or send an email to 

R9airpermits@epa.gov, or visit EPA Region 9's website at 

http://www.epa.gov/region09/air/permit/psd-public-guidelines.html. 

Please bring the foregoing notice to the attention of all persons who would be interested in this 

matter.