CARB’s revised discussion draft removes a previously proposed de minimis exemption for owners of SF6 GIE.
By Aron Potash and Christopher C. Antonacci
On August 15, 2019, California Air Resources Board (CARB) staff published a revised discussion draft (Revised Draft) of potential changes to the Regulation for Reducing Sulfur Hexafluoride Emissions from Gas Insulated Switchgear (SF6 Regulation). The Revised Draft takes into account comments received from stakeholders in the past several months. Notably, it proposes several significant changes to the SF6 Regulation, including removing a previously proposed de minimis exemption to compliance with the SF6 Regulation emissions limit and revising the phase-out schedule for SF6 gas-insulated equipment (GIE). Latham & Watkins examined the previous discussion draft in this March 4, 2019, blog post.
CARB held a workshop in Sacramento the same day it released the Revised Draft, during which staff presented an overview of the changes, answered stakeholders’ questions, and solicited any questions or concerns stakeholders may have. CARB is accepting public comments on the Revised Draft through August 29, 2019.
The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
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