Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule
§ 01 Summary
EPA rescinds its 2023 rule that removed emergency-related affirmative defense provisions from Title V operating permit regulations. The action reinstates the pre-2023 federal regulatory provisions allowing permitted sources to assert an affirmative defense for qualifying emergency exceedances, following a D.C. Circuit decision reversing the 2023 rule.
§ 02 Why this matters
The rule substantively changes compliance and enforcement posture by restoring emergency affirmative defense provisions in 40 CFR Title V operating permit regulations. This affects whether regulated sources may avoid penalties for certain emergency-related permit exceedances.
§ 03 Topics
§ 04 Affected entities
- agency: EPA
- industry: title-v-permit-holders
- statute: Clean Air Act
- other: U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
§ 05 Matching feeds
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§ 06 Source document
Read the full Federal Register entry on federalregister.gov.
Show classifier input (what GPT-5.5 saw)
Type: Rule
Agencies: Environmental Protection Agency
Citation: 91 FR 32357
Title: Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule
Abstract: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is rescinding a 2023 final rule titled "Removal of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Provisions From State Operating Permit Programs and Federal Operating Permit Program" ("2023 Affirmative Defense Rule"). The 2023 Affirmative Defense Rule removed emergency-related affirmative defense provisions from Federal regulations governing title V operating permit programs. The EPA is taking this final action in response to a September 5, 2025, decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC) Circuit which reversed the EPA's 2023 Affirmative Defense Rule. This rescission is necessary to carry out the court's mandate and reinstates the emergency-related affirmative defense provisions as they existed in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) before promulgation of the 2023 Affirmative Defense Rule.
Classified Jun 2, 2026 by gpt-5.5. Fetched Jun 2, 2026.
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