EPA Proposes to Correct 2020 PM2.5 Attainment Date Extension Error and Find San Joaquin Valley Failed to Meet 2006 Air Quality Standards

The EPA is proposing to reverse and correct its July 22, 2020 final rule, which had erroneously granted California's San Joaquin Valley a Clean Air Act Section 188(e) extension to meet the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), pushing the attainment deadline from December 31, 2019 to December 31, 2024. This proposal comes in direct response to a court decision that found the extension was improperly granted. The EPA is now proposing to formally deny California's original extension request and to determine that the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area failed to attain the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS by the unextended deadline of December 31, 2019. This finding is based on monitored ambient air quality data collected from 2017 through 2019, which demonstrated that the area did not achieve compliance within the required timeframe. If this proposed determination is finalized, California will be legally required to submit a revised State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the San Joaquin Valley. The revised SIP must include a plan for expeditious attainment of the 2006 PM2.5 standards and must provide for at least a five percent annual reduction in direct PM2.5 emissions or emissions of a PM2.5 plan precursor pollutant, as mandated under the Clean Air Act's failure-to-attain consequences.

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