Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule

What it does

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.

The Environmental Protection Agency's summary, as published in the Federal Register.

What changed in the regulation

2 parts of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations:

40 CFR 70, 40 CFR 71

Wording on eCFR: the day before it took effect and from the day it took effect (first part listed).

Compared with

The Environmental Protection Agency has published 243 final rules in 2026 so far, compared with 263 in all of 2025.

Counted by the Tribune from Federal Register records since Jan. 1, 2025.

Before this

No earlier Federal Register document under regulation identifier 2060-AX05 since Jan. 1, 2025.

Since then:

• Sept. 29, 2026 Correcting amendments. Rescission of Title V Emergency Affirmative Defense Rule; Corrections

What happens next and when

This final rule is effective on June 1, 2026.

The agency's dates, word for word.

Check it yourself

• The document in the Federal Register
• Docket EPA-HQ-OAR-2016-0186 on Regulations.gov
• Title 40 on eCFR

The record as published

Source: the Federal Register (public domain). The document in the Federal Register