UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION IX AIR DIVISION

Technical Support Document 

for

EPA’s Direct Final Rulemaking

for the

California State Implementation Plan

Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District 

Rule 417, Wood Burning Appliances

Prepared by: Rynda Kay

November 2012

 
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RULE IDENTIFICATION 

Agency: Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District 

(SMAQMD)

SIP Approved Rule: There are no previous versions of this rule in the SIP

Superseded Submittals: There are no previous submittals of this rule

Subject of this TSD: Rule 417 - Wood Burning Appliances

Adopted - October 26, 2006

Submitted - September 21, 2012

Determined Complete - October 11, 2012

RULE SUMMARY 

Rule 417 is designed to minimize the impacts of smoke and other air pollutants generated during 

the use of wood burning devices within SMAQMD. The rule establishes the following 

requirements:

1. No person shall sell, offer for sale, supply, install or transfer a wood burning appliance 

unless it is a U.S. EPA Phase II wood burning heater, a pellet fueled or masonry heater, or 

an appliance or fireplace that meets the emission standard set forth in 40 CFR Part 60 

Subpart AAA and is approved by the Air Pollution Control Officer (APCO).

2. No person shall advertise, sell, supply, or transfer ownership of a used wood burning 

device, unless it has been deemed permanently inoperable or meets criteria above.

3. Retailers of wood burning devices must provide public awareness materials on 

operation/maintenance, fuel use, weatherization methods, and health effects. 

4. The burning of materials not intended for use in a fireplace/heater is prohibited. 

5. Wood sold within the District as “seasoned” or “dry” must have a moisture content of 20 

percent or less by weight.

EVALUATION CRITERIA - The following criteria were used to evaluate the submitted rule. . 

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 Revisions - 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.
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3. Rule Stringency – Effective December 14, 2009, EPA designated SMAQMD as 

nonattainment for the 2006 24-Hour PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard 

(NAAQS). 40 C.F.R. § 81.305 (2010); 74 FR 58688, 58705-58706 (November 13, 2009). 

For nonattainment area, a State Implementation Plan (SIP) submittal addressing 

implementation of all Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACM) as expeditiously as 

practicable, including Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for existing 

sources, was due December 14, 2012. CAA § 172(b) & (c)(1), 74 FR at 58689. On October 

26, 2012, EPA published a proposed determination that the Sacramento nonattainment area 

had attained the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS based upon complete, quality-assured and certified air 

monitoring data, showing that this area had monitored attainment of the 2006 PM2.5

NAAQS based on the 2009-2011 monitoring period. See 77 FR 65346. If EPA finalizes 

the determination of attainment, the requirement of this area to submit an attainment 

demonstration, together with RACM, a reasonable further progress plan (RFP) and 

contingency measures for failure to meet RFP and attainment deadlines would be 

suspended for as long as the area continues to attain the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS. 

If EPA does not finalize the determination of attainment for the Sacramento nonattainment 

area, the SMAQMD will need to adopt as RACM/RACT any potential PM2.5, SO2, or NOx 

control measures that are reasonably available considering technological and economic 

feasibility and that would, considered collectively, advance the attainment date by one year 

or more in the SMAQMD nonattainment area. Id. For purposes of implementing the 2006 

PM2.5 NAAQS, EPA recommends that states evaluate potential RACM/RACT control 

measures for sources of direct PM2.5 (including condensable PM), SO2, and NOx in the 

specific nonattainment area, consistent with the approach to evaluating RACM/RACT 

provided in EPA’s implementing regulations for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS at 40 CFR part 

51, subpart Z. See Memorandum from Stephen D. Page, Director, EPA Office of Air 

Quality Planning and Standards to Regional Air Directors, Regions I-X, “Implementation 

Guidance for the 2006 24-Hour Fine Particle (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards (NAAQS).” 

If RACM is required, because Rule 417 regulates direct PM2.5 emissions from residential 

wood-burning devices, the SMAQMD would need to consider whether RACM for these 

emission sources could, in combination with other RACM, advance attainment of the 2006 

PM2.5 NAAQS in the area by at least one year. 

On March 18, 2002, EPA officially determined that Sacramento County had attained the 

PM-10 NAAQS by the attainment deadline based on PM-10 air quality monitoring data 

recorded during 1998 to 2000 (67 FR 7082). Accordingly, SMAQMD is not currently 

subject to the requirement to implement Best Available Control Measures (BACM) for 

PM-10 and PM-10 precursors in CAA § 189(b) and (e). Therefore, we are not evaluating 

this rule for compliance with BACM requirements.

EPA EVALUATION 

1. Enforceability - The rule requirements and applicability are clear, and the monitoring, 

recordkeeping, reporting and other provisions sufficiently ensure that affected sources and 

regulators can evaluate and determine compliance with Rule 417 consistently. 

2. SIP Revisions – We propose to determine that our approval of the submitted rule would 

comply with CAA §110(l) because the SMAQMD portion of the California SIP does not 

contain any control requirement for wood-burning devices, and our approval of Rule 417 
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into the SIP would neither alter any existing SIP requirement nor interfere with the ongoing 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 SIP-approved control requirement in effect before 

November 15, 1990, in a nonattainment area.

3. Rule Stringency – We believe the current rule requires all control measures that are 

“reasonably available” considering technologic and economic feasibility. We have 

compared the control requirements in Rule 417 with analogous rules in other local districts 

and states and believe that they are as stringent as or more stringent than those other rules.1

As necessary, in separate rulemakings, EPA will take action on the State’s RACM demonstration 

for PM2.5 and ozone based on an evaluation of the control measures submitted as a whole and their 

overall potential to advance the applicable attainment dates in the SMAQMD. See 40 CFR §§ 

51.1010, 51.912(d).

ADDITIONAL RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THE NEXT RULE REVISION 

The following revision is not currently the basis for rule disapproval, but is recommended as an 

improvement the next time the rule is revised: 

 We recommend requiring the replacement of non-approved devices upon home sale (e.g., 

PCAPCD Rule 225, Section 303 and SJVAPCD Rule 4901, Section 5.2).

RULE DEFICIENCIES 

No deficiencies with Rule 417 were identified that would be sufficient for EPA to propose less 

than full approval.

EPA ACTION

We propose to determine that SMAQMD Rule 417 fulfils the applicable CAA §110 requirements. 

Therefore, under section 110(k) of the CAA, EPA staff recommends full approval of SMAQMD 

Rule 417. 

REFERENCES 

1. “Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations,” (a.k.a., 

Bluebook) EPA OAQPS, May 25, 1988 (web citation).

2. “Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule Deficiencies,” (a.k.a., 

Little Bluebook), EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 

(http://www.epa.gov/region09/air/sips/littlebluebook2001.pdf).

 

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See, e.g. Butte County Air Quality Management District Rule 207 (Amended December 11, 2008); Bay 

Area Air Quality Management District Rule 6-3 (Adopted July 9, 2008); Placer County Rule 225 (Amended 

December 13, 2007); South Coast Air Quality Management District Rule 445 (Adopted March 7, 2008); San 

Joaquin Unified APCD Rule 4901 (October 16, 2008). Note: provisions regarding episodic curtailment of 

residential wood burning activity are detailed in SMAQMD Rule 421 (Amended September 24, 2009), 

submitted to EPA September 21, 2012. This rule will be addressed in a separate, future rulemaking. 
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3. “Memorandum from Stephen D. Page, Director, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and 

Standards to Regional Air Directors, Regions I-X, “Implementation Guidance for the 2006 

24-Hour Fine Particle (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).

4. “Technical Information Document for Residential Wood Combustion Best Available 

Control Measures”, EPA-450/2-92-002, September 1992.

5. “General Preamble”, Appendix C2--Available Residential Wood Combustion Control 

Measures, 57 FR 18072, April 28, 1992.

6. “Strategies for Reducing Residential Wood Smoke”, EPA Document # EPA-456/B-09-

001, October 2009.

7. Butte County AQMD Rule 207 (December 11, 2008).

8. Bay Area AQMD Regulation 6, Rule 3 (July 9, 2008).

9. Placer County APCD Rule 225 (December 13, 2007).

10. South Coast AQMD Rule 445 (March 7, 2008).

8. San Joaquin Valley Unified AQCD Rule 4901 (October 16, 2008).

.