January 15, 1999

Dear Participants:

This is to announce a meeting of stakeholders who are interested in the applicability provisions of New Source Review (NSR) Reform, a preconstruction review permitting program under the Clean Air Act. The meeting will be held on February 2 - 3, 1999 at the J.W. Marriott Hotel (1331 Pennsylvania Avenue, Northwest) in Washington, D.C., beginning at 10:00 a.m., on Tuesday, February 2, and at 9:00 a.m., Wednesday, February 3, and ending no later than

12:00 noon on Wednesday, February 3.

The purpose of this meeting will be to discuss a new approach to NSR applicability. Attached is a 1-page outline of conceptual requirements and associated issues that have been suggested to date (Attachment 1). Interested stakeholders are invited to present, at this meeting, an approach for implementing the concept. We would also encourage presenters to include consideration of the questions (Attachment 2) that have been identified in internal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) discussions.

The EPA is willing to pursue such an approach if it has promise. We will evaluate the approaches discussed by early March and decide whether we will sustain the effort on the new approach or resume work on the current final NSR Reform rulemaking package. In concert with this decision, we will also evaluate options for obtaining further stakeholder input.

Plans for how the meeting will be run are still under discussion within EPA. There is uncertainty as to how many attendees will be present, and there are constraints as to the size of the meeting room. Initial thoughts are that at the table, which will seat about 40-45 people, an equal number of seats will be made available to representatives from: (1) the industrial sector, (2) the public interest groups, (3) State and local governments, and (4) the Federal government. We do not anticipate that we will be able to provide more than one seat at the table for each industrial sector. There will be additional seating, theater style, in the meeting room, available on a first come first served basis, for about 50 people. To the extent possible, everyone who wishes to speak will have an opportunity.

An address list of persons who are being sent this letter is also attached (Attachment 3) and an annoucement will be published in the Federal Register. It is also being placed on the Office of Air and Radiation's Internet website: (http://www.epa.gov/oar/oarnew.html) and the

NSR website (http://www.epa.gov/ttn/nsr/rule_dev.html). If you know of someone who may not have received this letter but is interested in participating in such an effort, feel free to contact them.

Due to the unavailability of sleeping rooms at the J.W. Marriott, a block of rooms has been reserved at the Hotel Washington (515 15th Street, Northwest), which is a short distance away from the J.W. Marriott Hotel. The telephone number at the Hotel Washington is

(202) 638-5900 and mention should be made of the EPA Clean Air Act meeting when reserving a room.

If you wish to attend the meeting, please E-mail or call Pam Smith, at E-mail address "smith.pam@epa.gov" or telephone number (919) 541-0641, by January 28. It would also be helpful if you indicate whether you plan to give a presentation. If you have further questions regarding the stakeholder meeting on February 2 - 3, you may call Dennis Crumpler at

(919) 541-0871 or Karen Blanchard at (919) 541-5503.

Sincerely,

/s/

John S. Seitz

Director

Office of Air Quality Planning

and Standards

Attachments (3)

1. 1-Page Outline

2. Questions

3. Addressee List