SECTION 3. ENERGY COMMUNITY

APPENDICES

This notice provides new Appendices 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 to update relevant features of the Statistical Area Category eligibility, list additional counties that satisfy the Fossil Fuel Employment threshold, list counties that satisfy both the Fossil Fuel Employment and the unemployment rate criteria for eligibility as an energy community, and list additional census tracts that satisfy the Coal Closure Category for eligibility as an energy community.

1 Notice 2023-29, 2023-29 I.R.B. 1 (July 17, 2023), clarified by Notice 2023-45, 2023-29 I.R.B. 317 (July 17, 2023), and modified by Notice 2024-30, 2024-16 I.R.B. 878 (April 15, 2024).

2 Unless otherwise specified, all “section” or “§” references are to sections of the Code.

3 Notice 2023-47, 2023-29 I.R.B. 318 (July 17, 2023).

4 Notice 2024-48, 2024-26 I.R.B. 1749 (June 24, 2024).

July 7, 2025 14 Bulletin No. 2025–28

Appendices 1, 2, and 3 to this notice contain two “vintages” of delineations of MSAs and non-MSAs used for determination of Statistical Area Category eligibility. The first, termed “Vintage 1,” reflects groupings of county and county-equivalents into MSAs and non-MSAs generally based on the 2010 Decennial Census. Appendix A to Notice 2023-29 contains these Vintage 1 initial delineations of MSAs and non-MSAs used for determination of Statistical Area Category eligibility in Notice 2023-29, Notice 202345, Notice 2023-47, Notice 2024-30, and Notice 2024-48. The second, termed “Vintage 2,” reflects groupings of county and county-equivalents into MSAs and non-MSAs generally based on the 2020 Decennial Census.

(1) Appendix 1: Appendix 1 is a list of county and county-equivalents that incorporates MSAs and non-MSAs that are newly relevant to the Statistical Area Category based on updated information from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) regarding the 2020 Decennial Census. Appendix 1 lists each county or county-equivalent as well as its MSA or non-MSA, as applicable, for both Vintage 1 and Vintage 2. Counties may have changed MSA or non-MSA, as applicable, between the two vintages.

(2) Appendix 2: Appendix 2 is a list of counties that have met the Fossil Fuel Employment threshold as of the Census Bureau’s publication of the 2022 County Files of the County Business Patterns (CBP) as part of Vintage 1, Vintage 2, or both. Along with Appendix 2 to this notice, Appendix 1 to Notice 2024-30, Appendix 1 to Notice 2023-47, and Appendix B to