Air Plan Approval; Reconsideration and Repeal of Air Plan Partial Approval and Partial Disapproval of North Dakota's Regional Haze State Implementation Plan for the Second Implementation Period

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) is proposing to repeal a final rule published in the Federal Register on December 2, 2024, partially approving and partially disapproving North Dakota's 2022 regional haze State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission for the second implementation period. As a result, the EPA is proposing to approve the portions of North Dakota's 2022 SIP submission for the second implementation period that were disapproved in the EPA's 2024 partial approval/partial disapproval. In the December 2024 final rule, the EPA determined that North Dakota submitted a regional haze SIP that did not meet all the statutory and regulatory requirements for the regional haze second implementation period. On January 31, 2025, and February 6, 2025, EPA received petitions for reconsideration from the State of North Dakota, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Lignite Energy Council (LEC), Rainbow Energy Center, and the Coyote Station Co-Owners. On January 31, 2025, the State of North Dakota, Montana-Dakota Utilities Company, NACCO Natural Resources Corporation, Basin Electric Power Cooperative, Rainbow Energy Center, and Lignite Energy Center filed petitions for review in the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals. EPA granted reconsideration on April 30, 2025, sending letters to the State of North Dakota, Basin Electric, LEC, Rainbow Energy Center, and Coyote Station Co-Owners. The petitions for review were held in abeyance by the Eighth Circuit on June 4, 2025 pending the administrative reconsideration process.