Determination To Defer Sanctions; Arizona Department of Environmental Quality; PM2.5

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making an interim final determination that the State of Arizona has corrected a deficiency in its Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) state implementation plan (SIP) provisions concerning air permitting. Specifically, based on a proposed conditional approval published elsewhere in this Federal Register, and based on a prior proposed approval, previously published in the Federal Register, EPA is making an interim final determination that the State of Arizona (State) has satisfied the requirements of part D of the CAA permitting program for areas under the jurisdiction of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) with respect to fine particular matter (PM<INF>2.5</INF>) precursors. The effect of this interim final determination that the State has corrected the deficiency in the permitting program is that the imposition of sanctions that were triggered by a previous limited disapproval action by EPA in 2016 is now deferred. If the State meets its commitment that is the basis for the conditional approval, relief from these sanctions will become permanent upon the EPA's full approval of the State submission. If the EPA determines that the State has not met its commitment and the conditional approval is converted to a disapproval, these sanctions will no longer be deferred.