Prevention of Significant Deterioration, Nonattainment New Source Review, and Title V: Treatment of Certain Ethanol Production Facilities Under the “Major Emitting Facility” Definition

This final rule finalizes proposed changes made to the definition of "major emitting facility" in the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD), Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR) and Title V regulations. Two of the regulatory changes proposed addressed the major source threshold for PSD sources. The remaining proposed regulatory changes finalized in this action address when fugitive emissions are counted for purposes of determining whether a source is a major source under the PSD, nonattainment NSR or Title V programs. The proposal solicited comment on whether wet and dry corn milling facilities that produce ethanol for fuel should continue to be considered a part of the chemical process plants source category, and whether other types of facilities that produce ethanol fuel should be considered for exclusion from the definition of chemical process plants. Based on comments received and evaluated, we have included additional changes to this final rule that exclude other facilities that produce ethanol by natural fermentation and are classified in North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code 325193 or 312140 from the definition of "chemical process plants."