Title V Petitions

What are title V petitions?

A title V petition allows anyone to raise concerns to EPA and to ask the Agency to object to the issuance of a new operating permit, or the modification or renewal of an existing permit for a facility if the concerns with the permit were raised to the permitting authority during the notice and comment period for the permit action. The Agency will only consider issues raised in comments on the proposed permit unless the petitioner can demonstrate that it was impracticable to comment on the issue during the comment period for the permit or unless the grounds for EPA to object to the issuance of the permit arose after the comment period. 

If you believe that a title V permit issued by a state, local, or tribal permitting authority does not comply with the Clean Air Act or the EPA's Title V permit implementing regulations (40 C.F.R. part 70), you may petition EPA to object to the permit. If EPA grants a petition and objects to the issuance of a permit, the permitting authority must correct or rectify issues with the permit.

If your concern is related to compliance with the permit or its terms rather than the content of the permit itself, please report it through the Enforcement and Compliance History Online website.

When can I submit a petition?

EPA has 45 days to review a title V permit proposed by a permitting authority.  If the Administrator does not object to a permit during that time, the public has 60 days to petition the Administrator to object to the permit. The diagram below illustrates this timeline: 

EPA is developing a centralized website that will display the deadline for filing a petition on each permit. Until then, please check the appropriate EPA Regional Office webpage or contact the appropriate EPA Regional Office to determine the relevant petition deadline. Air permitting contacts are available on the Permitting Under the Clean Air Act webpage. The Central Data Exchange (CDX) system where petitions are submitted is set to Eastern Standard Time (EST), petitions are considered timely based on the timestamp in CDX so be aware when submitting a petition from a different time zone. 

Where do I file a petition?

Preferred Method: Please file title V petitions electronically through the Central Data Exchange. [The title V submission portal in CDX is currently experiencing technical difficulties, please submit title V petitions as outlined in the backup method below] 

Backup Method: If you are unable to use the Central Data Exchange to file your petition, please send your petition and associated attachments to the following e-mail address:  [email protected].

If you are unable to successfully submit your petition electronically, please submit a hardcopy of your petition to the following address:

Only submit petitions through one of the methods described above, please do not send your petition directly to the Administrator. 

Note: You must also provide copies of your petition to the permitting authority and the permit applicant. Contact information for the permitting authority should be available in the public notice for the permitting action.  Contact information for the permit applicant should be available in the draft permit, or from the permitting authority.

What content is required in a petition?

This is a summary of the required content, please refer to 40 CFR 70.12 for a full description of required petition content. Including all of the required content does not necessarily result in a petition being granted. EPA is required to grant a petition only if the petitioner demonstrates to the EPA Administrator that the permit does not comply with the Act or part 70.

• Identify the permit on which the petition is based.
  • This includes the permit number, version number or other information needed to identify the permit
  • The petition must also specify if the permit action is
    • Initial issuance
    • Renewal
    • Modification/revision (including minor modification/revision)
• Identify the petition claims
  • Clearly identify which specific aspects of the permit, permit record, or permit process are not in compliance with the CAA, requirements under part 70, or the approved title V program.
  • For a claim to be considered by the EPA, the issue must be raised in the body of the petition
    • If the issue is raised in an attachment, the petition must provide a specific citation to the referenced information in the attachment
  • Citations should also be used to support claims, along with an explanation of how the cited material supports the claim. Find an example claim here. 
• Identify where the issue in the claim was raised during the public comment period (unless it was impracticable to raise the claim during the public comment period).
  • Identify where the permitting authority responded to the public comment and explain how the permitting authority’s response is inadequate.
  • If the permitting authority did not address the public comment, the petition should state that.
• The information you provide in the petition and the analysis of the permit and record should be accurate.

Where can I find more information?

• If you have a question about how to file a petition,  please send us an email at [email protected]. 
• If you have a question about a specific permit or a specific due date for a petition, please contact the EPA Regional air permitting office for the state in which the source is located. Air permitting contacts are available on the Permitting Under the Clean Air Act webpage.
• All petitions submitted to the EPA are posted on the Agency’s title V petition database. This database also has PDF files of the Agency’s responses to petitions.

Note: If your petition includes any personal information such as an address, e-mail address, phone number etc…, that information will not be redacted by the EPA prior to posting of the petition on the EPA’s petition database. If you do not want that information posted, it should not be included in your petition and can be included separately as part of a cover letter instead. The cover letter will not be posted on the EPA website, but could be made available through requests under the Freedom of Information Act.