Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Texas; Revision to the Texas State Implementation Plan Regarding a Negative Declaration for the Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing Industry Batch Processing Source Category in El Paso County

Section 172(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires areas that are not attaining a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to reduce emissions from existing sources by adopting, at a minimum, reasonably available control technology (RACT). EPA has established source categories for which RACT must be implemented. If no major sources of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in a particular source category exist in a nonattainment area, a State may submit a negative declaration for that category. Texas submitted a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision which included negative declarations for certain source categories in the El Paso 1-hour ozone standard nonattainment area. EPA previously approved the State's declaration that no major sources existed for 9 source categories in the El Paso area. In the approval EPA neglected to approve the negative declaration for the synthetic organic chemical manufacturing industry (SOCMI) batch processing category in the El Paso area. EPA is approving this negative declaration for the El Paso 1-hour ozone standard nonattainment area.