California must impose fees on stationary polluters in four air quality districts after portions of those regions failed to attain the hourly air quality standard for ozone, the Environmental Protection Agency said in a final rule published in the Federal Register Dec. 30 (76 Fed. Reg. 82,133). The final rule finds the South Coast, the San Joaquin Valley, and the Southeast Desert ozone nonattainment areas in California continue to exceed the hourly national ambient air quality standard for ozone after their deadlines for attainment have passed. That finding requires the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District, the Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District, and the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District, which oversee the three nonattainment areas, to take steps to meet the standard, including imposing fees on large stationary sources of ozone precursors such as nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds.
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