Opinion ID: 1354519
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The EPA followed its four-step process.

Text: The EPA has created a four-step process to determine BACM for a particular area: (1) developing an inventory of the sources of PM-10 and PM-10 precursor emissions; (2) evaluating, via modeling, the effect of PM-10 concentrations of various sources to determine which are significant; (3) evaluating the technological and economic feasibility of the potential control measures; and (4) evaluating the costs and energy and environmental impacts of potential BACM. 59 Fed.Reg. at 42,012.13. Those four steps emphasize the need for flexibility and variability within particular plans. For example, the first step, establishing an inventory of sources of PM-10 and its precursors, specifies that the BACM applicable in a nonattainment area must be determined on a case-by-case basis since the nature and extent of a nonattainment problem may vary within the area and from one area to another. Id. at 42,012 (emphasis added). The EPA further explains that [n]onattainment problems range from reasonably well-defined areas of violation caused by a specific source or group of sources to violations over relatively broad geographical areas due predominantly to large numbers of small sources widely-distributed over the area. Id. With regard to the third step, evaluating alternative control techniques, the EPA recognizes that the technological feasibility of reducing emissions from area sources depends on the ability to alter the characteristics that affect emissions from the sources. Id. at 42,013. The characteristics to which the EPA refers have to do with the size or extent of the sources, their physical characteristics[,] and the operating procedures. Id. Petitioners argue that the EPA failed to follow its own four-step process in determining BACM before approving Rule 4550. We are not persuaded. The administrative record shows that the District developed a detailed emissions inventory of source categories for PM-10 and PM-10 precursors, as required by the first step, in 2004 as part of its revisions to the San Joaquin Valley SIP. The EPA reviewed that inventory when it was submitted to it as part of the total revisions to the SIP. 69 Fed.Reg. at 30,035. By approving all of the revisions to the SIP in 2004, the EPA necessarily approved of the inventory of source categories submitted by the District. Id. The record also shows that the EPA reviewed the District's de minimis analysis, as required by the second step, when it proposed to approve the San Joaquin Valley SIP in 2004. 69 Fed.Reg. at 5,418. In that review, the EPA concluded that the commitments and rules for the significant source categories below meet the RACM/ BACM requirements of 42 U.S.C. § 7513a(b)(1)(B). Id. The third step for determining BACM is the evaluation of the technological and economic feasibility of the control measures. 59 Fed.Reg. at 42,012. The record demonstrates that the District, together with the AgTech Committee, conducted a thorough process in developing the CMP Program, in which the feasibility of potential control measures was evaluated. Further, recognizing that new practices will become available with the advent of technology, the District built into the CMP Program a means for upgrading the CMP list as necessary. The District has committed to review the CMP list every three years. The District's staff stated in 2004 that it is committed to using the best available research and to continue to work with the EPA to ensure that thorough evaluations and assessments of possible new practices will be conducted. The EPA noted the possibility of new practices in its approval of Rule 4550, stating that BACM might change over time to a progressively tighter or more ambitious program at later dates. The fourth and final step in determining BACM is to evaluate the economic feasibility of implementing the control measures. 59 Fed.Reg. at 42,013. The record contains detailed analyses of the CMPs and an assessment of the costs, feasibility, and effects associated with them. 71 Fed.Reg. at 7,685. Those analyses were included in the Staff Report that the EPA reviewed. 70 Fed.Reg. at 16,208. The District evaluated the costs of the CMP Plans to the agricultural industry in its own Cost Effectiveness Analysis and Socioeconomic Analysis. Additionally, the District's Staff Report, on which the EPA relied when it approved Rule 4550, includes a detailed chart that lists the potential CMPs, describes each, states the benefits of each, and sets forth examples. [2] That Staff Report provides the District's rationale for selecting the various options included in Rule 4550 as BACM. We have reviewed the EPA's approval of a similar SIP for compliance with 42 U.S.C. § 7513a(b)(1)(B). In Vigil, the petitioners challenged the EPA's approval of a SIP submitted by Arizona to regulate a PM-10 serious nonattainment area. 381 F.3d at 830. The SIP contained a list of 34 potential control measures divided among three categories of farm activities. Id. at 835. The regulation required commercial farmers to implement at least one control measure per category. Id. at 836. The petitioners in that case argued that the SIP did not meet BACM requirements because the state ought to require farmers to implement more than one control measure in each category. Id. We observed that the [p]etitioners' argument would be compelling if the [Clean Air] Act required a state to reduce its emissions to the maximum extent possible, regardless of cost. Id. But the EPA had defined BACM to mean the maximum degree of emissions reduction that would be determined on a case-by-case basis. Id. We thus held that the EPA properly concluded that Arizona had provided for the maximum degree of emissions reduction, all things considered, because of the variability within the area and the impossibility that a single control measure would work equally well for all agricultural operators. Id. at 837. We also acknowledged that the EPA had reviewed the process by which Arizona arrived at its SIP, a process that included assembling representatives from agriculture, state, and federal agencies and the University of Arizona meeting over several years, holding public hearings, and receiving public comments. Id. at 838. We concluded that the EPA's approval of Arizona's general permit rule as BACM was not arbitrary and capricious because of the uncertainties involved in prescribing agricultural rules, the measures that Arizona adopted, and the process by which Arizona had arrived at its BMPs. Id. The EPA's approval process in this case was much like the process used in Vigil. First, the District recognized that Rule 4550 must provide flexibility to the agricultural operator in choosing which control measures to use because of the immense variability of agricultural sources. The EPA noted the need for such flexibility in its evaluation. 71 Fed.Reg. at 7,684; 69 Fed.Reg. at 30,014. Indeed, in Vigil, we recognized the need for flexibility with regard to agricultural sources of PM-10 emissions because [a]gricultural sources are unlike other stationary sources and unlike sources such as automobiles that have common design features and may be subjected to a common or uniform control measure. 381 F.3d at 838. Due to the variability of weather and market conditions, as well as the diversity among the agricultural operators that fall under Rule 4550, it is reasonable to provide agricultural operators the flexibility to choose whichever methods of PM-10 reduction will be feasible for their individual properties. Second, the measures adopted here reasonably advance the goal of reducing PM-10 emissions. The CMP list contains more than 100 practices that are divided among 18 CMP categories. Each agricultural operator must adopt a minimum of one CMP from every applicable category. Relying on the conclusions reached by the District and the AgTech Committee, the EPA concluded that Rule 4550 and the CMP list provide the maximum degree of PM-10 emission reductions achievable from agricultural sources in the San Joaquin Valley. [3] Third, the process used by the District and approved by the EPA is very similar to the one we accepted in Vigil: A committee composed of representatives from the government, agricultural industry, and academia convened over a two-year period, held public hearings, and received public comments. Rule 4550 and the CMP list grew out of that collaborative effort. There is no evidence in the record that the process was improper in any way. Petitioners attempt to distinguish Vigil by asserting that we face a different issue than the one presented in Vigil: whether the EPA demonstrated that the controls included in the rule's menu meet the stringency requirements of BACM. Although the context is different, our inquiry into whether the EPA properly followed the procedures set forth by the Act remains the same. And, just as we held in Vigil, there is no evidence here that the process which led to the creation and adoption of Rule 4550 was improper.