A Notice of Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking was published in the District of Columbia Register on November 8, 2024 for a 30-day public notice and comment period. See 71 DCR 013612. The public comment period ended on December 9, 2024, as December 8, 2024 was Sunday, and the Department of Energy and Environment ("DOEE") received one comment letter in support of the rulemaking.
The comments and the ammendments to the regulations may be viewed in the links in the Attachments section below.
Summary of Final Rulemaking
This final rulemaking addresses issues preventing sources from implementing controls for nuisance odors as expeditiously as practicable by finalizing two of the three provisions from the Notice of Emergency and Proposed Rulemaking dated November 8, 2024. See 71 DCR 013612. This rulemaking removes the requirement that sources have a professional engineer sign off on an Odor Control Plan ("OCP") because the Department of Energy and Environment ("DOEE") has specialists in the field who review proposed OCPs.
DOEE also finalizes the updates to definitions in section 903.2. This rulemaking updates the definition of cannabis operations to reflect statutory amendments and clarifies that odor regulations apply to cannabis operations required to be licensed under District law. The rulemaking also corrects the language defining painting operations that are subject to OCPs.
