Under this section a State may seek approval of State requirements which differ from a Federal section 112 rule for which they would substitute, such that the State requirements do not qualify for approval under §63.92.

(a) Approval process.

(1) After receiving a complete request for approval under this section and making a preliminary determination on its equivalence, the Administrator will seek public comment on the State's request for a minimum of 30 days through a Federal Register notice. The Administrator will require that comments be submitted concurrently to the State.

(2) If, after review of public comments and any State responses to comments submitted to the Administrator, the Administrator finds that the criteria of this section and the criteria of §63.91 are met, the Administrator will approve the State requirements under this section, publish the approved requirements in the Federal Register, and incorporate them directly or by reference, in the appropriate subpart of part 63. Requirements approved under §63.95 will be incorporated pursuant to requirements under part 68 of this chapter.

(3) If the Administrator finds that any of the requirements of this section or §63.91 have not been met, the Administrator may partially approve or disapprove the State requirements. For any partial approvals or disapprovals, the Administrator will provide the State with the basis for the partial approval or disapproval and what actions that State can take to make the requirements approvable.

(4) Requirements submitted for approval under this section shall include either: State rules, title V permits, title V general permits, Federal new source review permits, board and administrative orders, permits issued pursuant to permit templates, or State operating permits. Permits must already be issued to be used under this section.

(5) If the State uses a permit as the basis of alternative requirements under this section, the relevant permit terms and conditions must remain applicable to the source even if it takes steps that would otherwise release it from an obligation to have a permit.

(6) Within 180 days of receiving a complete request for approval under this section, the Administrator will either approve, partially approve, or disapprove the State request.

(b) Criteria for approval. Any request for approval under this section shall meet all of the criteria of this section and §63.91 before approval. The State shall provide the Administrator with detailed documentation that the State requirements contain or demonstrate:

(1) Applicability criteria that are no less stringent than those in the respective Federal rule;

(2) Levels of control (including associated performance test methods) and compliance and enforcement measures that result in emission reductions from each affected source or accidental release prevention program requirements for each affected source that are no less stringent than would result from the otherwise applicable Federal rule;

(3) A compliance schedule that requires each affected source to be in compliance within a time frame consistent with the deadlines established in the otherwise applicable Federal rule; and

(4) At a minimum, the approved State requirements must include the following compliance and enforcement measures. (For requirements addressing the accidental release prevention program, minimum compliance and enforcement provisions are described in §63.95.)

(i) The approved requirements must include monitoring or another method for determining compliance.

(ii) If a standard in the approved rule is not instantaneous, a maximum averaging time must be established.

(iii) The requirements must establish an obligation to periodically monitor for compliance using the monitoring or another method established in paragraph (b)(4)(i) of this section sufficient to yield reliable data that are representative of the source's compliance status.

[65 FR 55841, Sept. 14, 2000]