Finding of Failure To Attain the 2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Standards; California; San Joaquin Valley; Error Correction
Key claim: EPA is correcting its 2020 error by denying California’s attainment date extension for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS in the San Joaquin Valley and finalizing a failure-to-attain determination, requiring California to submit a revised state implementation plan.
Abstract
(Rule · Environmental Protection Agency) In response to a court decision, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is correcting our July 22, 2020 final action erroneously granting a Clean Air Act (CAA) section 188(e) attainment date extension for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or “standards”) in the San Joaquin Valley from December 31, 2019, to December 31, 2024, and is now denying California’s extension request. The EPA is also finalizing our determination that the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area failed to attain the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS by the December 31, 2019 unextended attainment date. This determination is based on monitored air quality data from 2017 through 2019. As a result of this final determination, the State of California will be required to submit a revision to the California state implementation plan (SIP) that, among other elements, provides for expeditious attainment of the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS and for a five percent annual reduction in emissions of direct PM2.5 or a PM2.5 plan precursor pollutant.
Why this matters
The San Joaquin Valley remains one of the nation’s most persistent PM2.5 nonattainment areas, and the failure-to-attain determination locks in additional SIP obligations and control measures that affect agricultural, industrial, and mobile sources across the region. The correction also illustrates how court decisions can reverse prior EPA extensions of Clean Air Act deadlines, tightening compliance timelines with direct public-health and permitting consequences.