# 2026-08372: EPA Excuses Utah's Ozone Fail with Blame on Foreign Pollution 2026-08372, Utah; Northern Wasatch Front; 2015 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards; Reconsideration and Repeal of Finding of Failure To Attain and Reclassification to a Serious Nonattainment Area; Determination of Attainment by the Moderate Attainment Date But for International Emissions, is a Federal Register proposed rule from Environmental Protection Agency published 2026-04-30, effective Written comments must be received on or before June 1, 2026.; PRIA reads it as touching household money (as of 2026-06-11). - Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-08372 - As of: 2026-06-11 - Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts. ## Facts - Document number: 2026-08372 - Title: Utah; Northern Wasatch Front; 2015 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards; Reconsideration and Repeal of Finding of Failure To Attain and Reclassification to a Serious Nonattainment Area; Determination of Attainment by the Moderate Attainment Date But for International Emissions - Type: Proposed Rule - Agencies: Environmental Protection Agency - Citation: 91 FR 23209 - Published: 2026-04-30 - Effective: Written comments must be received on or before June 1, 2026. - Comments close: not stated - Significant: no - Touches household money: yes - Regulation identifier numbers: none - Last updated: 2026-06-11 ## In one line EPA Excuses Utah's Ozone Fail with Blame on Foreign Pollution ## Summary The EPA is proposing to undo a recent decision that said Utah’s Northern Wasatch Front area didn’t meet air quality rules for ozone pollution by the deadline. They now believe the area actually met the standards on time, but for pollution coming from outside the U.S. This means the area won’t be bumped up to a stricter pollution category, keeping things moderate and avoiding tougher rules and costs for local communities. ## Abstract The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to repeal the December 9, 2024, final rule in which the Agency determined that the Northern Wasatch Front (NWF) nonattainment area (NAA) in Utah failed to attain the Clean Air Act (CAA) 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by the August 3, 2024, Moderate area attainment date, and reclassified the area by operation of law to Serious nonattainment (the "December 2024 Final Rule"). The EPA is also proposing to determine that the NWF ozone NAA would have attained the 2015 ozone NAAQS by the Moderate area attainment date but for emissions emanating from outside the United States (U.S.). If the EPA finalizes this proposed action, the NWF ozone NAA would no longer be subject to the CAA requirements pertaining to reclassification to Serious nonattainment upon failure to attain and would remain classified as Moderate for the 2015 ozone NAAQS. ## Effects PRIA read - Northern Wasatch Front Keeps Moderate Status: benefit, medium. If you live or work in Utah's Northern Wasatch Front (which includes Salt Lake City), the EPA is proposing to repeal its December 9, 2024 finding that the area failed to meet the 2015 ozone standard by the Moderate attainment date of August 3, 2024. If finalized, the area would remain classified as… - No Contingency Measures If 179B Approved: benefit, medium. The EPA is proposing to determine that the NWF area would have attained the 2015 ozone standard but for emissions from outside the U.S. under CAA section 179B(b). If the EPA finalizes that 179B(b) determination, contingency measures for failure to attain and Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) contin… - Wildfire Smoke Excluded from Modeling: benefit, low. The EPA is proposing to exclude atypical air quality data impacted by wildfire smoke from the modeling used in the 179B(b) evaluation. That modeling uses air quality data for 2021–2023 (the design value period tied to the December 31, 2023 data cut-off for the August 3, 2024 Moderate attainment dat… - EPA Lowers Burden for 179B Approval: benefit, medium. The EPA proposes it will no longer require States to show they could not have attained the ozone standard by implementing on-the-books controls (for example, RACM/RACT) to obtain approval of a retrospective CAA section 179B(b) demonstration. The EPA says approval still does not relieve a State of a… - NAA Expanded to Include US Magnesium Facility: cost, low. On January 6, 2026, the EPA approved Utah's request to expand the NWF ozone nonattainment area to add 12 townships in Tooele County and include the US Magnesium, LLC facility within the NAA boundary. If you live or operate in those added townships in Tooele County, your location is now part of the… ## Related documents - [2026-19071](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-19071): Partial Repeal of the Carbon Pollution Standards for Fossil Fuel-Fired Electric Generating Units, 2026-09-17 - [2026-19072](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-19072): Rescission of the Greenhouse Gas Findings for Fossil Fuel-Fired Power Plants and Repeal of Regulations for Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Emiss…, 2026-09-17 - [2026-18317](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-18317): Updated Definition of “Waters of the United States”, 2026-09-09 - [2026-14112](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-14112): Amendments and Nonconformance Penalties for Model Year 2027 and Later Heavy-Duty Highway Engines and Amendments to Inducement Provisions fo…, 2026-07-14 - [2026-13667](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-13667): Minor New Source Review Program Air Permitting Public Participation Requirements for State Implementation Plans, 2026-07-07 - [2026-13263](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-13263): Revisions To Establish the Sixth Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule (UCMR 6) for Public Water Systems, 2026-07-01 ## Sources - [2026-08372 on federalregister.gov](https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/04/30/2026-08372/utah-northern-wasatch-front-2015-8-hour-ozone-national-ambient-air-quality-standards-reconsideration) - [2026-08372 as published (PDF)](https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2026-04-30/pdf/2026-08372.pdf) ## Related - [Previous: 2026-08364, Air Plan Approval; Maryland; Reasonably Available Control Technology for Munici…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-08364) - [Next: 2026-08373, Air Plan Approval; Delaware; Excess Emissions Provisions Pertaining to Periods…](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-08373) - [All Federal Register documents](https://policyrisk.com/federal-register) Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/federal-register/2026-08372 (as of 2026-06-11).