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Announcement of Draft General Permit, Request for Public Comment, and Public Hearing under the

Clean Air Act Federal Indian Country Minor New Source Review Program

Proposed Action: The United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9 (EPA) provides notice of, and 

requests public comment on, the EPA’s draft general permit for use in Indian country within California pursuant 

to the Clean Air Act (CAA) Federal Indian Country Minor New Source Review (NSR) program for new and 

modified minor sources at 40 CFR 49.151 through 49.161. The draft general permit is for a single source 

category, gasoline dispensing facilities (GDFs), and would be available in certain areas of Indian country that are 

within the geographical boundaries of California. This includes areas located in an Indian reservation or in 

another area of Indian country (as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1151) over which an Indian tribe, or the EPA, has 

demonstrated that the tribe has jurisdiction and where there is no EPA-approved minor NSR program in place. 

The EPA is proposing this general permit as an option for CAA minor NSR preconstruction permitting to help 

streamline the EPA’s permitting of certain minor sources that construct or modify in Indian country and belong 

to the GDF source category. 

A gasoline dispensing facility, or GDF, is any stationary source, such as a gas station, that dispenses gasoline into 

the fuel tank of a motor vehicle, motor vehicle engine, nonroad vehicle or nonroad engine. Types of GDFs 

potentially subject to this general permit include, but are not limited to, facilities that dispense gasoline into onand off-road, street, or highway motor vehicles, lawn equipment, boats, test engines, landscaping equipment, 

generators, pumps, and other gasoline-fueled engines and equipment. New or modified GDF sources with the 

potential to emit regulated NSR pollutants over thresholds specified in the Federal Indian Country Minor NSR

program regulations at 40 CFR 49.153, and located within the geographic boundaries of California and on an 

Indian reservation or in another area of Indian country over which an Indian tribe or the EPA has demonstrated 

that the tribe has jurisdiction, are currently subject to permitting requirements under this EPA minor NSR 

program. 

The general permit that is the subject of this notice is intended to provide a streamlined permitting option for 

owners and operators of qualifying GDFs to use to meet the requirements of this EPA minor NSR program. 

However, owners and operators of such GDFs may instead choose to apply to the EPA for a traditional sourcespecific permit to meet the preconstruction requirements of this permitting program rather than requesting 

coverage under the general permit. 

The primary pollutant of concern for GDFs that may use this general permit is volatile organic compounds (VOC), 

which are emitted from storage tanks and gasoline dispensing units at GDFs. Some GDFs may also have 

emergency engines, but only those sources with emergency engines that are exempt from minor NSR permitting 

requirements may use this general permit. Emissions of all other regulated NSR pollutants from new or 

modified GDF sources that may use the general permit are expected to be below the minor NSR permitting 

thresholds in 40 CFR 49.153. 

This draft general permit regulates VOC emissions from GDFs, and includes emission limitations that require 

each GDF to control emissions from storage tanks during unloading of the gasoline cargo from the tanker truck,

using what are known as Stage I controls. In addition, the draft general permit requires GDFs in ozone 

nonattainment areas to limit VOC emissions caused from vehicle refueling by recovering vapors displaced from 

the vehicle fuel tank, using pump-based controls known as Stage II controls. There are also limits on the amount 

of gasoline each GDF can dispense in a 12-month period: 25,000,000 million gallons in ozone attainment areas, 

marginal ozone nonattainment areas, and moderate ozone nonattainment areas; and 15,000,000 gallons in 

serious, severe, and extreme ozone nonattainment areas. The emission limitations in the draft general permit 
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are expected to limit emissions of VOC from a new or modified GDF to less than 30 tons per year (tpy) in 

attainment areas and marginal or moderate ozone nonattainment areas and 8 tpy in serious, severe, and 

extreme ozone nonattainment areas. The detailed emission limitations are included in the draft permit and 

discussed in detail in our Technical Support Document for this draft permit, and are available for review here:

https://www.epa.gov/caa-permitting/california-tribal-gasoline-permits.

Request for Public Comment: Any person may submit written comments on the draft permit during the public 

comment period. These comments must raise any reasonably ascertainable issue with supporting arguments by 

the close of the public comment period (including any public hearing). All written comments on the draft general 

permit must be received or postmarked by November 30, 2016. While the EPA has scheduled a public hearing 

for this action, as detailed below, anyone may request an additional public hearing. Requests for an additional

public hearing must be submitted in writing by November 16, 2016, and must state the nature of the issues 

proposed to be raised at the hearing. Comments and any requests for public hearings must be sent or delivered 

in writing to Lisa Beckham at one of the following addresses:

E-mail: R9airpermits@epa.gov

Online Docket: www.regulations.gov, Docket ID: EPA-R09-OAR-2016-0580

U.S. Mail: Lisa Beckham (AIR-3)

U.S. EPA Region 9

75 Hawthorne Street

San Francisco, CA 94105-3901

Public Hearing: The EPA will hold a public hearing, pursuant to 40 CFR 49.157(c), to provide the public with 

further opportunity to comment on the draft permit. At the public hearing, any interested person may provide 

written comments or oral comments, and relevant data pertaining to the draft permit.

The date, time, and location of the public hearing is as follows:

Date: November 30, 2016

Time: 2:00pm – 3:30pm 

Location: U.S. EPA Region 9

EPA Conference Center, 1st Floor

75 Hawthorne St

San Francisco, CA 94105

If you require a reasonable accommodation, please contact Stacy Johnson, EPA Region 9 Reasonable 

Accommodations Coordinator, by November 21, 2016 at (415) 947-4500, or johnson.stacyd@epa.gov.

Additional Information: The draft general permit and other supporting information, including the Technical 

Support Document and a Request for Coverage form, are available through the EPA Region 9 website at

https://www.epa.gov/caa-permitting/california-tribal-gasoline-permits.The administrative record for this draft 

general permit 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 Lisa Beckham at 

(415) 972-3911 at least 24 hours in advance to arrange a visit. Lisa Beckham can also be reached through the

EPA Region 9’s toll-free general information line at (866) 372-9378.

All comments that are received via email or through www.regulations.gov will be included in the public docket 

without change and will be available to the public, including any personal information provided. Comments 
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submitted to the EPA through U.S. Mail or other another non-electronic delivery method will also 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 the

disclosure of which is restricted by statute. Information that is considered to be CBI or otherwise protected 

should be clearly identified as such and should be submitted only through U.S. Mail or a non-electronic delivery 

method; such information should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. If a commenter 

sends e-mail directly to the EPA, the 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 comments if the 

commenter wishes to receive direct notification of the EPA’s final decision regarding the draft general permit

following the public comment period. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or 

multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit 

http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

The EPA’s Final Action on the Draft Permit: Before issuing a final decision on the draft permit, the EPA will 

consider all written comments submitted during the public comment period. The EPA will send notice of our 

final permit decision to each person who submitted comments and contact information during the public 

comment period or requested notice of the final permit decision. The EPA will summarize the contents of all 

substantive comments and provide written responses in a document accompanying the EPA’s final permit 

decision. 

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

decision, unless: 

1. A later date is specified in the permit, or

2. Review of the final permit decision by the EPA’s Environmental Appeals Board is requested under 40 CFR 

49.159(d), or

3. The EPA elects to make the permit effective immediately upon issuance if no comments request a 

change in the draft permit or a denial of the permit.

Issuance of the final general permit decision, after any administrative review under 40 CFR 49.159(d), is 

considered final agency action with respect to all aspects of the general permit except its applicability to an 

individual source. The sole issue that may be appealed after an individual source is approved to construct under 

a general permit is the applicability of the general permit to that particular source. The letter notifying an 

individual source of approval or denial under a general permit is considered a final agency action for purposes of 

judicial review and is not subject to administrative review. All comments related to the proposed permit 

conditions must be submitted as part of this action, and will not be reconsidered at the time an individual source 

seeks coverage under the general permit.

If you have questions, or if you wish to obtain further information, please contact Lisa Beckham at (415) 972-

3811, toll-free at (866) 372-9378, via email at R9airpermits@epa.gov, or at the mailing address above. If you 

would like to be added to our mailing list to receive future information about this draft permit decision or other 

permit decisions issued by the EPA Region 9, please contact Lisa Beckham, or visit the EPA Region 9's website at 

http://www2.epa.gov/caa-permitting/tribal-nsr-permits-region-9.

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