More than 20 years after first issuing rules governing the process by which parties can petition the EPA to consider possible Clean Air Act (CAA) infractions contained in Title V operating permits, the Agency is proposing a new set of requirements pertaining to such petitions and the overall petition process. The stated intent of the proposal is to benefit all Title V permit stakeholders—the applicants, permitting authorities, petitioners, and the EPA itself—by minimizing permit deficiencies and making the petition process clearer and the petitions themselves more transparent.
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According to the EPA, after 20 years of experience in implementing the Title V petition process, the Agency has become aware of general trends in petition content and aspects of the petition review process, which pose challenges for potential petitioners in preparing petitions and for the EPA in providing an efficient response to petitions. These factors include the lack of administrative requirements for petition submittals, which results in a variety of inconsistent methods used by petitioners; the lack of specific rules regarding petition content, which results in considerable inconsistency in the format and content of petitions; and the need to often deal with numerous and highly complex issues that arise in Title V petitions given that Title V permits must address many applicable requirements.