UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

REGION IX 

75 Hawthorne Street 

San Francisco, CA 94105 

May 25,2006 

Kurt Karperos, Chief 

Air Quality & Transportation Planning Branch 

California Air Resources Board 

P.O. Box 2815 

Sacramento, CA 958 12-28 1 5 

Subject: Sample Language for Negative Declaration for use with 8-hour Ozone Reasonably 

Available Control Technology -State Implementation Plan (RACT SIP) Certification 

Dear Mr. Karperos; 

My March 9,2006 letter discussed the general requirements for the RACT SIP submittal, and 

offered to provide additional information to assist the Districts. On April 4, 2006 I provided a 

list of Control Technique Guideline (CTG) documents. This letter provides suggested text for 

Districts to use where they have no sources and do not anticipate any sources subject to a CTG 

category (i.e., a 'hegative declaration" for RACT SIP certification). 

Districts should submit a negative declaration regardless of whether such negative declarations 

were made for an earlier SIP. This is necessary since there may now be sources in the 

nonattainrnent area that previously did not exist. 

If you have any questions or if there is other assistance EPA can provide to help CARB and the 

Districts fulfill their obligation, please feel free to contact me (415) 947-41 15 or Stanley Tong at 

(415) 947-4 122. 

~nYdrew Steckel 

Chief, Rulemaking Office 

cc: Air Pollution Control Officers for Amador, Antelope Valley, Bay Area, Butte, Calaveras, 

El Dorado, Feather River, Imperial, Kern, Mariposa, Mojave, Northern Sierra, Placer, 

Sacramento, San Diego, San Joaquin, South Coast, Tuolumne, Ventura, and Yolo Solano 

Air Pollution Control DistrictsIAir Quality Management Districts. 

Enclosure 
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 

The federal Clean Air Act (CAA) requires certain sources in ozone non-attainment areas to 

implement control methods called reasonably available control technology (RACT). 

EPA defines RACT as the lowest emission limitation that a particular source is capable of 

meeting by the application of control technology (i.e., devices, systems, process 

modification, or other apparatus or techniques that reduce air pollution) that is reasonably 

available considering technological and economic feasibility. 

The RACT requirement is meant to ensure that all moderate and above nonattainment areas, 

have in place all RACT for source categories covered by a Control Techniques Guideline 

(CTG) document and for major sources that are not subject to a CTG. A local air agency 

adopts the control methods if it has a source in its area subject to a CTG. Alternatively, the 

local agency may declare that there are no sources in its area subject to a RACT requirement, 

and then the requirement to adopt a rule for those sources is no longer applicable. 

This Board action declares that the [Air District] does not have any sources, and does not 

anticipate any sources, subject to a CTG. 

DISCUSSION 

1. Background 

Sections 182(b)(2) and 182(f) of the federal CAA requires the [Air District] to submit a 

revision to the State Implementation Plan to implement RACT for each category of volatile 

organic compound (VOC) sources covered by a CTG document and for any major1 

stationary source not covered by a CTG document. 

Alternatively, areas may adopt a negative declaration documenting that the air district has no 

stationary sources or emitting facilities subject to the U.S. EPA CTG documents. 

States and Air Districts shall submit negative declarations for those source categories for 

which they are not adopting CTG-based regulations (because they have no sources above the 

CTG recommended threshold) regardless of whether such negative declarations were made 

for an earlier SIP. This is necessary since there may now be sources in the nonattainment 

area that previously did not exist, or in areas where the boundaries of the nonattainment area 

have expanded, there may be sources in the new portion of the nonattainment area which 

should not be overlooked. 

The negative declaration must go through the same public review requirements as any other 

SIP submittal. 

The definition of a major source is dependent on the severity of the air quality problem in a region. For [Air 

District], [a moderate/serious/extreme] non attainment area, the major source threshold is the potential to emit [50 / 

25 / 101 tons per year of VOC or NOx. 

Enclosure (1) 

1 
2. Findings and Staff Recommendation 

The District has reviewed its permit files and the emission inventory for its federal Clean Air 

Plan, [include any other information sources searched such as SIC Codes and telephone 

yellow pages], and has determined that there are no stationary sources or emitting facilities 

for the following CTG categories. The District also does not anticipate these sources in the 

future. 

I GUIDANCE DOCUMENT TITLE I DOCUFT I DOCUMENT 

NUMBER 

1 Control of Refinery Vacuum Producing Systems, ( CTG I EPA-45012-77-025 I 

Wastewater Separators, and Process Unit Turnarounds 

Enclosure (1)