Air Plan Partial Approval and Partial Conditional Approval; South Carolina; Control of Oxides of Nitrogen and Source Testing Requirements
Key claim: EPA is proposing to accept some of South Carolina’s updated air rules that limit nitrogen oxide emissions from factories and other stationary sources and change how those sources must test emissions, while making other parts of the plan depend on further state fixes.
Abstract
(Proposed Rule · Environmental Protection Agency) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is proposing to partially approve and partially conditionally approve changes to South Carolina’s State Implementation Plan (SIP) to revise source testing requirements and regulations prescribing control requirements for certain stationary sources of nitrogen oxides (NOX) submitted by the State of South Carolina, through the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (SC DES), on October 1, 2007; July 27, 2016; September 5, 2017; April 24, 2020; and February 4, 2022. This action is being proposed pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
Why this matters
State Implementation Plan actions like South Carolina’s NOx and source-testing update are the routine mechanism by which Clean Air Act emission requirements get translated into enforceable state rules affecting industrial facilities’ compliance costs and testing burden. The partial/conditional structure signals EPA sees gaps requiring further state fixes, so full federal enforceability of some provisions remains contingent.