EPA approves revisions to California’s refinery emission regulations

The US Environmental Protection Agency has issued a final rule approving revisions to portions of California’s state implementation plan (SIP) that govern emissions of certain air pollutants from the state’s refineries.

The approval covers revisions to California’s SIP by South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) and Ventura County Air Pollution Control District (VCAPCD) that concern volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from petroleum coking operations, as well as primary emissions of sulfur dioxide from stationary combustion sources in the regions, EPA said in a Jan. 20 Federal Register notice.

The revision to SCAQMD Rule 1114, which is designed to minimize VOC emissions generated during the delayed coking process at a refinery, will now require that coke drums be depressurized to less than 2 psig before it can be allowed to vent into the atmosphere.

A revised VCAPCD Rule 54, which aims to limit emissions of sulfur compounds from fossil fuel combustion at stationary sources in Ventura, will now include a 1-hr average National Ambient Air Quality Standard sulfur dioxide concentration limit of 75 ppb, or 0.075 ppm, at the property line of the emitting source.

While the agency said it has finalized the rule without prior notice amid its beliefs that the revisions fully satisfy all relevant requirements under the Clean Air Act and that their approval unlikely would receive any objections, EPA will accept any adverse comments on the action by Feb. 19.

If no adverse comments on the final rule are received by the February deadline, the direct final approval of revisions will become effective and incorporated into California’s SIP without further notice from EPA as of Mar. 23, the agency said.