42504
. (a) No air quality management district or air pollution
control district may amend or revise its new source review rules or
regulations to be less stringent than those that existed on December
30, 2002. If the state board finds, after a public hearing, that a
district's rules or regulations are not equivalent to or more
stringent than the rules or regulations that existed on December 30,
2002, the state board shall promptly adopt for that district the
rules or regulations that may be necessary to establish equivalency,
consistent with subdivision (b).
(b) (1) In amending or revising its new source review rules or
regulations, a district may not change any of the following that
existed on December 30, 2002, if the amendments or revisions would
exempt, relax or reduce the obligations of a stationary source for
any of the requirements listed in paragraph (2):
(A) The applicability determination for new source review.
(B) The definition of modification, major modification, routine
maintenance, or repair or replacement.
(C) The calculation methodology, thresholds or other procedures of
new source review.
(D) Any definitions or requirements of the new source review
regulations.
(2) (A) Any requirements to obtain new source review or other
permits to construct, prior to commencement of construction.
(B) Any requirements for best available control technology (BACT).
(C) Any requirements for air quality impact analysis.
(D) Any requirements for recordkeeping, monitoring and reporting
in a manner that would make recordkeeping, monitoring, or reporting
less representative, enforceable, or publicly accessible.
(E) Any requirements for regulating any air pollutant covered by
the new source review rules and regulations.
(F) Any requirements for public participation, including a public
comment period, public notification, public hearing, or other
opportunities or forms of public participation, prior to issuance of
permits to construct.
(c) In amending or revising its new source review rules or
regulations, a district may change any of the items in paragraph (1)
of subdivision (b) only if the change is more stringent than the new
source review rules or regulations that existed on December 30, 2002.
(d) Notwithstanding subdivisions (a), (b), and (c), a district may
amend or revise a rule or regulation if a district board, at the
time the amendments or revisions are adopted, makes its decision
based upon substantial evidence in the record, the amendments or
revisions are submitted to and approved by the state board after a
public hearing, and each of the following conditions is met:
(1) The amended or revised rule or regulation will do one of the
following:
(A) Will replace an existing rule or regulation that caused a risk
to public health or safety from exposure to a toxic material, a
dangerous condition, or an infectious disease with a rule or
regulation that provides greater protection to public health or
safety.
(B) Will replace an existing rule or regulation that has been
found to be unworkable due to engineering or other technical problems
with a rule or regulation that is effective.
(C) Will allow an amendment to an existing rule or regulation that
otherwise will cause substantial hardship to a business, industry,
or category of sources, if all of the following criteria are met:
(i) The amendment is narrowly tailored to relieve the identified
hardship.
(ii) The district provides equivalent reductions in emissions of
air contaminants to offset any increase in emissions of air
contaminants.
(iii) All reductions in emissions of air contaminants are real,
surplus, quantifiable, verifiable, enforceable, and timely. For the
purposes of this clause, reductions are timely if they occur no more
than three years prior to, and no more than three years following,
the occurrence of the increase in emissions of air contaminants.
(iv) Information regarding the reductions in emissions of air
contaminants is available to the public.
(D) Is a temporary rule or regulation necessary to respond to an
emergency consisting of a sudden, unexpected occurrence and demanding
prompt action to prevent or mitigate loss of or damage to life,
health, property, or essential services and the temporary rule or
regulation does not extend beyond the reasonably anticipated duration
of the emergency.
(E) Will not, if the district is in attainment with all national
ambient air quality standards, impair or impede continued maintenance
of those standards or progress toward achieving attainment of state
ambient air quality standards.
(2) The amended or revised rule or regulation will not exempt,
relax, or reduce the obligation of any stationary source under the
rules or regulations of the district, as those rules or regulations
existed on December 30, 2002, to obtain a permit or to meet best
available control technology requirements. This paragraph only
applies to a source that constituted a major source under the rules
or regulations of a district that existed on December 30, 2002, and
does not apply to any individual best available control technology
determination.
(3) The amended or revised rule or regulation is otherwise
consistent with this division.
(4) The amended or revised rule or regulation is consistent with
any guidance approved by the state board regarding environmental
justice.