14034 Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 52 / Wednesday, March 18, 2015 / Proposed Rules 

Gallagher; telephone: 301–415–3463; 

email: Carol.Gallagher@nrc.gov. For 

technical questions, contact the 

individual listed in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

document. 

• Email comments to: 

Rulemaking.Comments@nrc.gov. If you 

do not receive an automatic email reply 

confirming receipt, then contact us at 

301–415–1677. 

• Fax comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission at 301– 

415–1101. 

• Mail comments to: Secretary, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001, ATTN: 

Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff. 

• Hand deliver comments to: 11555 

Rockville Pike, Rockville, Maryland 

20852, between 7:30 a.m. and 4:15 p.m. 

(Eastern Time) Federal workdays; 

telephone: 301–415–1677. 

For additional direction on obtaining 

information and submitting comments, 

see ‘‘Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments’’ in the 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of 

this document. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Cardelia Maupin, Office of Nuclear 

Material Safety and Safeguards, U.S. 

Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Washington, DC 20555–0001; telephone: 

301–415–2312; email: 

Cardelia.Maupin@nrc.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Obtaining Information and 

Submitting Comments 

A. Obtaining Information 

Please refer to Docket ID NRC–2009– 

0279 when contacting the NRC about 

the availability of information regarding 

this document. You may obtain 

publicly-available information related to 

this document by any of the following 

methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Web site: Go to 

http://www.regulations.gov and search 

for Docket ID NRC–2009–0279. 

• NRC’s Agencywide Documents 

Access and Management System 

(ADAMS): You may obtain publiclyavailable documents online in the 

ADAMS Public Documents collection at 

http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/

adams.html. To begin the search, select 

‘‘ADAMS Public Documents’’ and then 

select ‘‘Begin Web-based ADAMS 

Search.’’ For problems with ADAMS, 

please contact the NRC’s Public 

Document Room (PDR) reference staff at 

1–800–397–4209, 301–415–4737, or by 

email to pdr.resource@nrc.gov. The 

ANPR document is available in ADAMS 

under Accession No. ML14183B023. 

• NRC’s PDR: You may examine and 

purchase copies of public documents at 

the NRC’s PDR, Room O1–F21, One 

White Flint North, 11555 Rockville 

Pike, Rockville, Maryland 20852. 

B. Submitting Comments 

Please include Docket ID NRC–2009– 

0279 in your comment submission. 

The NRC cautions you not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

you do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in your comment submission. 

The NRC will post all comment 

submissions at http://

www.regulations.gov as well as enter the 

comment submissions into ADAMS. 

The NRC does not routinely edit 

comment submissions to remove 

identifying or contact information. 

If you are requesting or aggregating 

comments from other persons for 

submission to the NRC, then you should 

inform those persons not to include 

identifying or contact information that 

they do not want to be publicly 

disclosed in their comment submission. 

Your request should state that the NRC 

does not routinely edit comment 

submissions to remove such information 

before making the comment 

submissions available to the public or 

entering the comment submissions into 

ADAMS. 

II. Further Information 

On July 25, 2014 (79 FR 43284), the 

NRC published for comment an ANPR 

to obtain input from members of the 

public on the development of a draft 

regulatory basis. The draft regulatory 

basis would identify potential changes 

to the NRC’s current radiation 

protection regulations. The potential 

changes, if implemented, would achieve 

a closer alignment between the NRC’s 

radiation protection regulations and the 

recommendations in ICRP Publication 

103 (2007). The ANPR identifies 

specific questions and issues with 

respect to a possible revision of the 

NRC’s radiation protection 

requirements. Comments, including 

responses to the specific questions, will 

be considered by the NRC staff when it 

develops the draft regulatory basis. 

The Part 20 of Title 10 of the Code of 

Federal Regulations (10 CFR) ANPR 

public comment period was originally 

scheduled to close on November 24, 

2014, after a 120-day comment period. 

In response to several requests from 

members of the public received 

throughout November 2014, the NRC 

extended the public comment period on 

the ANPR, by an additional 120 days, to 

March 24, 2015 (79 FR 69065; 

November 20, 2014). 

In response to a second request, dated 

February 18, 2015, from several 

members of the public, the NRC is now 

extending the public comment period 

by an additional 90 days. The deadline 

for submitting comments is now 

extended from March 24, 2015, to June 

22, 2015. 

Dated at Rockville, Maryland, this 11th day 

of March 2015. 

For the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, 

Laura A. Dudes, 

Director, Division of Material Safety, State, 

Tribal and Rulemaking Programs, Office of 

Nuclear Material Safety and Safeguards. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06244 Filed 3–17–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 7590–01–P 

SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION 

13 CFR Part 107 

RIN 3245–AG68 

Small Business Investment 

Companies—Early Stage 

AGENCY: U.S. Small Business 

Administration. 

ACTION: Advance Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking (ANPRM). 

SUMMARY: The U.S. Small Business 

Administration (SBA) is seeking input 

and comments on its Early Stage Small 

Business Investment Company (SBIC) 

initiative, promulgated in the final rule 

on April 27, 2012. The intent of the 

initiative was to license and provide 

SBA leverage to SBICs over a 5-year 

period (fiscal years 2012 through 2016) 

that would focus on making investments 

in early stage small businesses. 

Although 58 investment funds applied 

to the program, to date SBA has only 

licensed 5 Early Stage SBICs. SBA is 

seeking input from the public to 

determine whether existing market 

conditions warrant SBA continuing to 

license Early Stage SBICs past fiscal 

year 2016 on an ongoing basis and, if so, 

what changes should be made to the 

program to attract qualified early stage 

fund managers. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before May 18, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments, 

identified by RIN 3245–AG68, by any of 

the following methods: 

• Federal Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Please follow the 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Mail, Hand Delivery/Courier: Javier 

Saade, Associate Administrator for the 

Office of Investment and Innovation, 

U.S. Small Business Administration, 

409 Third Street SW., Washington, DC 

20416. 


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SBA will post comments on this 

Advance Notice of Proposed 

Rulemaking on http:// 

www.regulations.gov. If you wish to 

submit confidential business 

information (CBI) as defined in the User 

Notice at http://www.regulations.gov, 

please submit the information to 

Theresa Jamerson, Office of Investment 

and Innovation, 409 Third Street SW., 

Washington, DC 20416. Highlight the 

information that you consider to be CBI 

and explain why you believe this 

information should be held confidential. 

SBA will review your information and 

determine whether it will make the 

information public. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Theresa Jamerson, Office of Investment 

and Innovation, (202) 205–7563. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background Information 

Early Stage Small Business 

Investment Company Initiative. In the 

Small Business Investment Act of 1958 

(the Act), Congress created the Small 

Business Investment Company (SBIC) 

program to ‘‘stimulate and supplement 

the flow of private equity capital and 

long-term loan funds which smallbusiness concerns need for the sound 

financing of their business operations 

and for their growth, expansion, and 

modernization, and which are not 

available in adequate supply. * * *’’ 15 

U.S.C. 661. Congress intended that the 

program ‘‘be carried out in such manner 

as to insure the maximum participation 

of private financing sources.’’ Id. In 

accordance with that policy, the U.S. 

Small Business Administration (SBA), 

through the SBIC program, does not 

invest directly in small businesses, but 

provides leverage to SBICs, privatelyowned and professionally managed forprofit investment funds licensed by 

SBA, by guaranteeing the payment of 

debentures issued by SBICs 

(Debentures). These SBICs in turn make 

loans to, and investments in, qualifying 

small businesses. 

Since Fiscal Year (FY) 2000, the SBIC 

Debenture program has operated at zero 

subsidy cost, meaning that expected 

losses to the program’s portfolio must be 

fully recouped through the collection of 

SBIC leverage fees in order to keep the 

program at zero subsidy cost to the 

taxpayer. By statute, SBIC leverage fees 

include a 1% commitment fee, a 2% 

draw fee, and an annual charge set at 

the time of commitment and paid on 

outstanding leverage in conjunction 

with interest payments. 15 U.S.C. 683(i). 

The annual charge is formulated each 

year to keep the program at zero subsidy 

cost, but may not, by statute, exceed 

1.38%. 15 U.S.C. 683(b). Because the 

standard Debenture (Current Pay 

Debenture) requires semi-annual 

interest payments, most SBICs structure 

their investments as loans or mezzanine 

debt to finance later stage small 

businesses with positive operating cash 

flow so that they can meet requisite 

interest payments. 

On April 27, 2012, SBA published a 

final rule (77 FR 25042) to define a new 

sub-category of SBICs as part of 

President Obama’s Start-up America 

initiative. SBA’s intent was to license 

over a 5-year period (fiscal years 2012 

through 2016) venture funds focused on 

early stage businesses and to guarantee 

Debentures in an amount up to one-half 

of each fund’s total capitalization. SBA 

allocated $1 billion of its SBIC 

Debenture leverage authorization over 

these years to this effort. 

Although SBA has received 58 

applications to the Early Stage SBIC 

program, to date, SBA has only licensed 

5 Early Stage SBICs due to the quality 

of the application pool and SBA’s 

rigorous licensing standards. SBA is 

seeking input on whether a market need 

for the program remains and, if so, what 

changes should SBA consider in order 

to attract Early Stage fund managers 

with successful track records. 

Early Stage SBIC Key Requirements 

Summary. Current regulations identify 

special requirements for Early Stage 

SBICs to manage the risk associated 

with these funds investing in seed and 

early stage businesses, including the 

following: 

(1) Licensing Process—§ 107.310: SBA 

uses a call process rather than accepting 

rolling applications as in the regular 

SBIC program. 

(2) Required Investments— 

§ 107.1120(k): Early Stage SBICs must 

invest at least 50% of aggregate 

financing dollars into Early Stage 

companies, as defined in § 107.50, but 

generally defined as companies that 

have not yet achieved positive operating 

cash flow as of the date of the initial 

investment. 

(3) Minimum Regulatory Capital— 

§ 107.210(3): Early Stage SBICs must 

have at least $20 million in Regulatory 

Capital (qualifying Private Capital as 

defined in § 107.50). 

(4) Leverage: 

(a) Maximum Leverage—§ 107.1150: 

Early Stage SBICs may qualify for 

leverage up to 100% of Regulatory 

Capital (also called ‘‘one tier of 

leverage’’), not to exceed $50 million. 

(b) SBA Leverage Fees—§ 107.1130: 

All SBICs issuing Debentures, including 

Early Stage SBICs, must pay 3% in upfront fees (1% at commitment and 2% 

at draw) and an additional SBA fee, not 

to exceed 1.38 percent per annum, on 

outstanding Debentures paid at the same 

time as interest. 

(c) Type of Leverage: Early Stage 

SBICs may choose from two types of 

leverage both with ten year maturities 

and subject to Early Stage Distribution 

rules: 

(i) Early Stage Current Pay Debenture: 

Requires quarterly payments for interest 

and SBA annual fees. Early Stage SBICs 

choosing to use the Current Pay 

Debenture are required to maintain a 5- 

year interest reserve per § 107.1181. The 

interest reserve may include unfunded 

commitments or cash reserves which 

could be funded from Debenture 

proceeds. The interest reserve is 

intended to provide a pool of funds 

from which Early Stage SBICs can pay 

interest and annual fees while their 

investments mature. 

(ii) Discounted/Accruing Debenture: 

Debenture issued at a discount of 5 

years of annual fees and interest 

charges, so that the amount owed 

accrues over a 5-year period to face 

value. After the 5-year period, quarterly 

payments for interest and annual fees 

must be paid on an ongoing basis. 

(5) Distribution Rules—§ 107.1180: 

Before an Early Stage SBIC with 

outstanding leverage may distribute to 

its investors, it must first pay all 

required SBA interest and charges and 

any leverage principal due at maturity. 

After those payments are made, if the 

Early Stage SBIC’s capital impairment 

percentage, defined in § 107.1840, is 50 

percent or more, and the SBIC’s leverage 

ratio (defined as outstanding leverage to 

Leverageable Capital) exceeds 0.5, it 

must repay all outstanding SBIC 

Debentures before distributing to private 

investors. Otherwise, the Early Stage 

SBIC must repay SBA leverage, at a 

minimum, pro rata (in proportion) with 

any distributions returned to private 

investors on a cumulative basis. 

(6) Restrictions on Third-Party Debt— 

§ 107.565: Early Stage SBICs must seek 

SBA’s prior written approval before 

incurring any third-party debt, except 

for accounts payable from routine 

business operations. 

(7) Capital Impairment Percentage 

(CIP) §§ 107.1830–1850: CIP is the 

primary financial metric SBA uses to 

evaluate an SBIC’s ability to repay its 

leverage. CIP measures the losses 

incurred by an SBIC relative to its 

Regulatory Capital. If an SBIC exceeds 

its maximum allowable CIP, SBA has 

the right to, among other things, declare 

the entire indebtedness of the SBIC’s 

Debentures immediately due and 

payable; and institute proceedings for 

the appointment of SBA as receiver of 

the SBIC. Because Early Stage SBICs are 


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limited to one tier of leverage, the 

maximum allowable CIP ranges from 

45% to 70%, depending on the 

percentage of equity. If the percentage of 

equity investments at cost exceeds 67%, 

the maximum allowable CIP would be 

70%. 

II. Market Gap 

(1) Market Need. According to data 

from PricewaterhouseCoopers 

Moneytree (https:// 

www.pwcmoneytree.com/), financings to 

seed and early stage companies by 

venture funds has grown from $2.16 

billion in the first quarter of calendar 

year 2012 to over $4 billion in the 

second quarter of calendar year 2014, 

the highest amount in any quarter since 

2000. As a federal credit program, SBA 

seeks to direct capital to gaps in the 

marketplace. Given the growth in early 

stage financings since 2012, SBA is 

trying to determine whether it should 

continue to license Early Stage SBICs 

past 2016. SBA is seeking input from 

the public with regard to the following 

questions: 

(a) Are there barriers preventing 

promising early stage small businesses 

from being financed, and, if so, what are 

the barriers? 

(b) Are there gaps in the financial 

markets with regard to financing early 

stage or seed companies in the United 

States? If so, what evidence exists to 

identify and verify these gaps? 

(c) If there are no or limited gaps in 

the financial markets for early stage and 

seed companies in the United States, 

should SBA continue the Early Stage 

SBIC program past 2016, but issue a call 

for Early Stage SBIC applications only if 

and when identifiable market gaps 

occur? If so, what evidence should SBA 

use to identify declining market 

conditions or gaps in the market? 

(2) Targeted Early Stage SBIC 

Participants. The Early Stage SBIC 

initiative focused on more established 

and traditional early stage venture funds 

to participate in the program because 

these funds’ investment strategy 

effectively utilizes SBA’s leverage to 

finance small businesses. SBA 

recognizes that many early stage and 

seed businesses may obtain capital from 

other sources than traditional early 

stage/seed venture funds. Accelerator 

funds, incubators, angel investment 

funds or other types of similar funds— 

venture capital funds that generally 

make a substantial number of relatively 

small-dollar equity investments in seed 

and early stage businesses—have not 

demonstrated significant interest in 

SBA’s Early Stage SBIC initiative. Could 

these funds effectively utilize Debenture 

leverage as part of their investment 

strategy in a way that would not 

increase the risk profile of the SBIC 

program. What changes to the Early 

Stage SBIC program would SBA need to 

make in order to attract qualified funds 

that use this investment strategy? Would 

the minimum regulatory capital need to 

be changed? Would the leverage terms 

need to be changed? What data is 

available to assess the risk associated 

with these types of funds? 

III. Early Stage SBIC Program Structure 

(1) Fund-Level Debt Versus Equity. 

Based on discussions with early stage 

fund managers and limited partners, 

SBA understands that most early stage 

funds would prefer equity rather than 

fund-level debt. However, SBA is only 

authorized to guarantee SBIC 

Debentures for its licensed funds. SBA 

also recognizes the potential mismatch 

between Debenture leverage and early 

stage portfolio company cash flows. 

Because most early stage portfolio 

companies do not have the cash flow to 

service debt, most early stage financings 

are structured as equity. SBA tried to 

compensate for this in the Early Stage 

SBIC program by implementing a 

discounted debenture in which leverage 

is issued at a discount and interest and 

charges accrue for 5 years before the 

fund would be required to make 

payments on a quarterly basis. 

Alternatively, Early Stage SBICs could 

use the Current Pay Debenture and pay 

interest and charges on a quarterly basis 

using the required interest reserve. 

SBA has heard from members of the 

venture capital industry that many early 

stage funds are not interested in 

leverage. SBA seeks input from the 

public on whether fund-level debt is of 

use to early stage fund managers or 

whether concerns exist with regard to 

current SBIC Early Stage Debenture 

leverage terms. 

(2) Early Stage SBIC Leverage Terms. 

Early Stage SBICs are expected to have 

significantly higher losses than regular 

SBICs, due to the risk associated with 

their portfolios. SBA structured the 

Early Stage SBIC program so that it 

could be run with minimum impact to 

the regular SBIC Debenture program. 

This includes limiting the amount of 

Early Stage leverage as a percentage of 

the overall SBIC portfolio. Key Early 

Stage SBIC requirements are 

summarized in Section I of this 

ANPRM. SBA seeks input from the 

public to identify how Early Stage SBIC 

requirements could be improved 

without increasing SBA’s credit risk. In 

particular, SBA has the following 

questions: 

(a) Minimum Regulatory Capital: 

Currently, Early Stage SBICs must have 

at least $20 million in Regulatory 

Capital. Should SBA modify this 

Regulatory Capital requirement in order 

to improve the number of qualified 

applicants to the program? 

(b) Maximum Leverage: SBA set the 

maximum leverage for Early Stage SBICs 

at $50 million based on its overall 

allocation of $200 million per year, in 

order to provide some level of portfolio 

diversification. Should SBA increase the 

maximum leverage available to Early 

Stage SBICs, for example, to $100 

million, approximately half of any 

year’s allocation? 

(c) Maximum Leverage Ratio: 

Currently, SBA provides up to one tier 

of leverage, not to exceed the maximum, 

in order to limit its credit risk. Should 

SBA lower the maximum leverage ratio 

to help further reduce its credit risk? 

What maximum leverage ratio is 

appropriate? 

(d) Interest Reserve: If Early Stage 

SBICs use the Current Pay Debenture, 

they must maintain a 5-year interest 

reserve to make interest and annual 

charge payments. SBA set this interest 

reserve to make sure that Early Stage 

SBICs would have sufficient funds to 

make required interest payments for the 

first 5 years and to lower the overall loss 

rate. Would removing the interest 

reserve attract more qualified 

applicants? If so, since the interest 

reserve was put in place to mitigate 

SBA’s risk and limit the increase to the 

SBIC Debenture annual charge, what 

actions should SBA consider to help 

mitigate SBA’s risk? 

(3) Other Early Stage SBIC 

Regulations. SBA invites comments on 

other aspects of Early Stage regulations, 

including the following: 

(a) Licensing Process: Would a rolling 

licensing process (where SBA accepts 

applications throughout the year) versus 

the Early Stage Call process, identified 

in § 107.310, be preferred and/or attract 

more qualified applicants to the 

program? 

(b) Third-Party Debt: Do third-party 

debt restrictions identified in § 107.565 

detract from the program and what 

changes could be made to achieve the 

same credit risks for SBA? 

(4) Other SBIC Regulations and 

Guidelines. SBA also invites comments 

on other SBIC regulatory requirements 

as identified in 13 CFR part 107 that 

may be of particular concern to Early 

Stage SBIC applicants. For example, 

some Early Stage SBICs and potential 

applicants have indicated concerns with 

SBA’s Valuation Guidelines (http:// 

www.sba.gov/content/valuationguidelines-sbics). SBA is interested in 

feedback as to what those concerns are 


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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 52 / Wednesday, March 18, 2015 / Proposed Rules 14037 

and what changes industry members 

would recommend. 

Dated: March 11, 2015. 

Maria Contreras-Sweet, 

Administrator. 

[FR Doc. 2015–06182 Filed 3–17–15; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 8025–01–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 70 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2015–0119; FRL–9924–56– 

Region 3] 

Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit 

Program Revision; Pennsylvania 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve 

a revision to the Pennsylvania Title V 

Operating Permit Program submitted by 

the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on 

February 11, 2014. The Pennsylvania 

Operating Permit Program is 

implemented through its Title V 

Operating Permits Rule, codified at 

Subchapter G of Chapter 127 of Title 25 

of the Pennsylvania Code. The February 

11, 2014 revision amends the title V fee 

program that funds the Pennsylvania 

Title V Operating Permit Program. 

These changes resulted in substantial 

revisions to Pennsylvania’s Title V 

Operating Permit Program. EPA is 

proposing to approve these revisions. 

The intended effect of this action is to 

improve the Commonwealth’s title V 

operating permit program. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before April 17, 2015. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID Number EPA– 

R03–OAR–2015–0119 by one of the 

following methods: 

A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

B. Email: Campbell.Dave@epa.gov. 

C. Mail: EPA–R03–OAR–2015–0119, 

David Campbell, Associate Director, 

Office of Permits and Air Toxics, 

Mailcode 3AP10, U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 

Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

19103. 

D. Hand Delivery: At the previouslylisted EPA Region III address. Such 

deliveries are only accepted during the 

Docket’s normal hours of operation, and 

special arrangements should be made 

for deliveries of boxed information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R03–OAR–2015– 

0119. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change, and may be 

made available online at 

www.regulations.gov, including any 

personal information provided, unless 

the comment includes information 

claimed to be Confidential Business 

Information (CBI) or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI, or otherwise 

protected, through www.regulations.gov 

or email. The www.regulations.gov Web 

site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, 

which means EPA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.regulations.gov, your 

email address will be automatically 

captured and included as part of the 

comment that is placed in the public 

docket and made available on the 

Internet. If you submit an electronic 

comment, EPA recommends that you 

include your name and other contact 

information in the body of your 

comment and with any disk or CD–ROM 

you submit. If EPA cannot read your 

comment due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your 

comment. Electronic files should avoid 

the use of special characters, any form 

of encryption, and be free of any defects 

or viruses. 

Docket: All documents in the 

electronic docket are listed in the 

www.regulations.gov index. Although 

listed in the index, some information is 

not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Certain other 

material, such as copyrighted material, 

is not placed on the Internet and will be 

publicly available only in hard copy 

form. Publicly available docket 

materials are available either 

electronically in www.regulations.gov or 

in hard copy during normal business 

hours at the Air Protection Division, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

Copies of the State submittal are 

available at the Pennsylvania 

Department of Environmental 

Protection, Bureau of Air Quality 

Control, P.O. Box 8468, 400 Market 

Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Gerallyn Duke, (215) 814–2084, or by 

email at Duke.Gerallyn@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

EPA granted full approval of the 

Pennsylvania Title V Operating Permits 

Program on July 30, 1996. See 61 FR 

39597. Under 40 CFR 70.9(a) and (b), an 

approved state title V operating permits 

program must require that the owners or 

operators of part 70 sources pay annual 

fees, or the equivalent over some other 

period, that are sufficient to cover the 

permit program costs and ensure that 

any fee required under 40 CFR 70.9 is 

used solely for permit program costs. 

The fee schedule must result in the 

collection and retention of revenues 

sufficient to cover the permit program 

costs. 

Pennsylvania’s initial title V permit 

emission fee, established in 1994 at 25 

PA Code 127.705, was $37 per ton of 

regulated pollutant per title V facility. 

Pennsylvania’s fee has been increased 

each year since 1994 by the percentage, 

if any, by which the Consumer Price 

Index (CPI) for the most recent calendar 

year exceeded the CPI for the previous 

calendar year. Under that regulatory 

framework, the annual emission fee for 

emissions occurring in calendar year 

2012 was $57.50 per ton of regulated 

pollutant for emissions of up to 4,000 

tons of each regulated pollutant. The fee 

structure has not been revised since 

1994. 

Pennsylvania has determined that 

title V annual emission fee revenues 

collected are no longer sufficient to 

cover title V program costs. Installation 

of air pollution control technology over 

the past two decades on major 

stationary sources, the retirement or 

curtailment of operations by major 

sources, and the conversion at many 

major facilities from burning coal or oil 

to burning natural gas have resulted in 

decreased emission of regulated 

pollutants that are subject to annual 

emission fees, and revenues collected 

have been decreasing as a result. The 

decline in interest rates paid on savings 

account balances used by the 

Commonwealth to manage permit fees 

collected also has affected the funds 

available to Pennsylvania, as the 

investments earn less interest in the 

current economy compared to the early 

years of the title V program. Pursuant to 

40 CFR 70.4(i)(2), when EPA receives a 

title V program revision, EPA will 

publish its proposed approval or 

disapproval in the Federal Register and 

provide opportunity for comment. 

II. Summary of Program Revision 

In the February 11, 2014 program 

revision, Pennsylvania has included 

revised 25 PA Code 127.705 which 

Pennsylvania has amended to increase 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS