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ARTICLE · 26 OCTOBER 2026

EPA’s New SSM Memo: What Industrial Operators Should Do Now

Baker Botts L.L.P.
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EPA's September 2026 memorandum establishes a new framework for evaluating state implementation plan provisions related to startup, shutdown, and malfunction events following two pivotal D.C. Circuit decisions. The guidance introduces a rebuttable presumption of continuity for emission limitations while clarifying how alternative emission limitations and affirmative defenses may provide operational flexibility under the Clean Air Act.

United StatesEnvironment
Matthew Morrison
Matthew Morrison
Mark Talty
Mark Talty
Natalie Buechler
Natalie Buechler

How Florida Electric and SSM Litigation Group reshaped EPA’s perspective on SIP reviews and whether emission standards need to be met during all periods of operation.

EPA’s September 1, 2026 SSM memorandum gives air agencies a framework for reviewing SIP provisions after two D.C. Circuit decisions reset the agency’s approach to startup, shutdown, malfunction, and affirmative defenses. The memorandum supersedes EPA’s December 19, 2024 memorandum on the same subject, but does not itself amend a SIP, permit, or enforcement rule. It does, however, signal how EPA may evaluate future SIP submissions and how operators should assess existing limits, SSM provisions, and compliance strategies before a state submits revisions or EPA opens a notice-and-comment proceeding.

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