Jeffrey Robinson
Jeff Robinson, Branch Chief
Air Permits, Air Monitoring & Grants
EPA Region 6
Robinson.Jeffrey@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Robinson:
Thanks very much for the attached letter. To follow up on our request to the Administrator, we
are enclosing:
1. A copy of Administrator Barbara Blum’s Notice of Final Determination of Applicability
regarding Exxon’s Platform Hondo offshore California; and
2. Copies of some of the submissions which we have filed in an effort to obtain similar due
process in connection with EPA’s determination to assert Clean Air Act jurisdiction over
offshore deepwater ports.
As you will note, Administrator Blum concluded that:
Because this is a question of first impression, and because the decision as to the Exxon
Hondo facility is based on a determination of national scope and effect, the decision is
being made by the Administrator. It is my intent that the same legal principles will be
applied to all future activities on the Outer Continental Shelf. In the future, decisions as
to the applicability of the requirements discussed below to facilities on the Outer
Continental Shelf will be made by the EPA Regional Administrators, as are other
routine applicability determinations.
It is our view that the Sheehan letter dealt with a matter of first impression (extraterritorial
application of the Clean Air Act pursuant to the DWPA — rather than OCSLA) and, since it was
a matter of national scope and effect and a substantial departure from decades of prior precedent,
the matter should have been addressed by the Administrator. Further, even if it could be
characterized as a “routine applicability determination”, which it obviously cannot, it must be
decided by the Regional Administrator in a proceeding subject to public review and
comment. This has always been true as a matter of Administrative Law. EPA’s recent Guidance
regulations confirm this.
Because the Sheehan letter policies were never subjected to public review and comment, it was
wrong for Region VI to publish them as Guidance and correct to withdraw that Guidance. It no
longer has the force or effect of law and it would be wrong to continue to give it any effect.
729 15th St NW Suite 600, Washington, DC 20005; Tel: 202.776.0990; Email: rebecca@cg-la.com
As you are likely aware, since the Region appears to us to be proceeding in a number of
instances as if the Sheehan letter policies were still in effect, we have been working for some
time to convince either the Region or the Administrator to conduct a proper proceeding subject
to review, comment and appeal before taking any further actions in accordance with the Sheehan
letter policies. Our petition of April 8, 2020 seeking initiation of an appropriate proceeding, has
not yet been responded to.
The situation in which critical infrastructure decisions and expenditures have been seriously
impacted by policies which have never been legally adopted cannot be justified and must be
ended. Please grant the relief which we have requested.
Best Regards,
Norman F. Anderson
President & CEO
CG/LA Infrastructure, Inc.
Founder, Blueprint 2025
Cc Andrew Wheeler; Wheeler.andrew@Epa.gov
David Garcia; Garcia.David@epa.gov
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