ADEM proposes adopting updated federal air standards; hearing receives no public comment

The Alabama Department of Environmental Management held a public hearing in Montgomery to solicit comment on proposed amendments to state air rules that would incorporate federal new source performance standards and national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants through Jan. 10, 2025, and make several state-level procedural changes.

ADEM designated hearing officer Geraldine Hanson opened the hearing and summarized the proposal, which would add and make technical amendments to chapter 335-3-10 (standards of performance for new stationary sources) and chapter 335-3-11 (national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants). The proposed rules would incorporate by reference changes in 40 CFR part 60 and 40 CFR part 63 through Jan. 10, 2025, which ADEM says would allow the department to assume primary enforcement of those federal regulations in Alabama.

The department also proposed revising chapter 335-3-14 (air permits) rule .03 and chapter 335-3-15 (synthetic minor operating permits) rule .05 to reinstate provisions relating to violations of emission limits during startup, shutdown and malfunction of equipment. A revision to chapter 335-3-16 (major source operating permits) rule .11 was proposed to remove provisions relating to emergencies. ADEM additionally proposed amending the state plan for control of air emissions for municipal waste combustors to incorporate changes to the Huntsville Solid Waste Authority's Title V permit.

Hanson said the department published notice of the hearing in the Call News, the Tuscaloosa News, the Coleman Times and the Montgomery Advertiser on May 21, 2025, and published notice in the Alabama Administrative Monthly (vol. 43, issue 8) on May 30, 2025. The department also sent the notice on May 21, 2025, to approximately 3,516 individuals and organizations who requested advance notice of rule changes, and filed the proposed rules with the administrative procedure division of the legislative service agency and the joint committee on administrative regulation review on May 19, 2025. Hanson said copies of proposed rules and supporting materials have been available at ADEM offices and on ADEM's website and that exhibits C1–C6 and B1–B2 are submitted for the hearing record.

The hearing was open for oral and written testimony. Hanson noted the hearing is not a question-and-answer session; speakers may be asked clarifying questions only by the hearing officer or department representatives. No one present at the hearing completed a registration card to give oral testimony, and no oral testimony was recorded. Hanson closed the hearing and said the final hearing record will include the transcript, written submissions, exhibits and ADEM’s responses to relevant comments; if conflicting views are submitted, the department will include a concise statement of principal reasons for and against adoption for the Environmental Management Commission's consideration and possible adoption.

Because no public testimony was presented at the hearing, the hearing record will consist of the transcript and any written comments or exhibits that are submitted before the record is closed. The department will forward the completed hearing record and any recommended revisions to the Environmental Management Commission for its review and possible action.