[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 159 (Thursday, August 18, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-20167]


[[Page Unknown]]

[Federal Register: August 18, 1994]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 75

[FRL-5040-3]

 

Acid Rain Program: Continuous Emissions Monitoring

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: Title IV of the Clean Air Act (the Act), as amended November 
15, 1990, requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or Agency) 
to establish an Acid Rain Program to reduce the adverse effects of 
acidic deposition. On January 11, 1993, the Agency promulgated final 
rules implementing the program, including the General Provision and 
Permit rule and the Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEM) rule (58 FR 
3590-3766). Technical corrections were published on June 23, 1993 (58 
FR 34126) and July 30, 1993 (58 FR 40746-40752). This notice of direct 
final rulemaking contains an extension to the certification compliance 
deadline for NOX and CO2 emissions monitoring of gas-fired 
units and oil-fired units affected under title IV. EPA believes that 
this compliance deadline extension will give the regulated community 
more time to meet their obligations under title IV and will allow more 
thorough Agency review of certification application submissions, 
resulting in the likelihood of higher quality data. EPA believes this 
deadline extension is non-controversial and therefore is publishing 
this notice of direct final rulemaking.

DATES: If no adverse comments are received by September 19, 1994, the 
effective date of these revisions will be October 17, 1994. If the 
effective date is delayed, timely notice will be published in the 
Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Any written comments on these rule revisions must be 
identified with the document control number ``A-94-16'' and must be 
submitted in duplicate to: EPA Air Docket (6102), Environmental 
Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sharon Saile, CEM Section Chief, Acid 
Rain Division (6204J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M 
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460. (202) 233-9180.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the Proposed Rules Section of this 
Federal Register, EPA is proposing to revise the Continuous Emission 
Monitoring provisions. The Agency views these revisions as 
noncontroversial and anticipates no adverse comments. However, if EPA 
does receive adverse comments, EPA will publish a document in the 
Federal Register withdrawing the direct final rule. All public comments 
received will be treated as comments on the proposed rule as published 
in the Proposed Rules Section of this Federal Register and will be 
addressed in a subsequent final rulemaking notice. The EPA will not 
institute a second comment period on the document in the Proposed Rules 
Section of this Federal Register or on any subsequent final rule 
addressing withdrawn portions of this final rule. Any parties 
interested in commenting on these revisions to Part 75 should do so at 
this time.

I. Acid Rain Program Background

    On January 11, 1993, EPA promulgated the ``core'' regulations that 
implemented the major provisions of Title IV of the Clean Air Act 
Amendments of 1990 (CAAA or the Act), including the Continuous Emission 
Monitoring (CEM) Regulation at 40 CFR Part 75 authorized under section 
412 and 821 of the Act. The CEM rule specifies how each affected 
utility unit must install a system to continuously monitor the 
emissions and to collect, record, and report emissions data to ensure 
that the mandated reductions in SO2 and NOx emissions are 
achieved, that opacity and CO2 emissions are measured, and that 
SO2 emissions are accurately measured so that the allowance system 
functions in an orderly manner.
    Since the CEM rule was promulgated, the operation of Phase I 
utility units have essentially completed the first stage of 
implementation of the rule, having submitted monitoring plans, 
conducted certification testing, submitted certification applications, 
and submitted their first quarterly reports. In addition, many Phase II 
utility units have also begun implementation. As a result of issues 
arising during implementation of part 75, EPA is revising part 75 to 
extend the monitoring certification deadline for certain classes of 
units for some pollutants.

II. Changes to Part 75--Certification Deadlines for Gas-Fired and 
Oil-Fired Units

    Affected units under title IV of the Clean Air Act Amendments are 
required to install and operate continuous emission monitoring systems 
or alternative monitoring systems approved by the Administrator. Part 
75 specifies that all monitoring systems must be tested and approved 
through a certification process. In the January 11, 1993 final rule, 
EPA specified that required monitoring systems for units with emission 
limitations beginning January 1, 1995 (Phase I units) must be 
installed, operated, certified, and maintained by November 15, 1993 [40 
CFR 74.4(a)(1)]. Similarly, units with emission limitations beginning 
January 1, 2000 (Phase II units) must be installed, operated, 
certified, and maintained by January 1, 1995 [40 CFR 75.4(a)(3)].
    During the process of implementing part 75, the Agency learned that 
many utilities with Phase II units were having difficulty planning and 
performing certification testing early. Many utilities found the 
testing procedures in Appendix E sufficiently confusing that they were 
delaying testing for gas-fired and oil-fired peaking units. In other 
cases, software vendors were still assisting their Phase I unit clients 
and did not focus on the problems of Phase II units, causing further 
delays. In addition, both utilities and stack emission testing firms 
expressed concern that there might be a shortage of stack testers 
because of the large number of unit all requiring stack testing at the 
same time. There will be a total of approximately 1000 oil-fired and 
gas-fired units submitting certification applications in Phase II, 
compared to 5 oil-fired units in Phase I and 1300 Phase II coal-fired 
units compared to 263 coal-fired units in Phase I. If review of all 
these applications were done at the same time, the review might be 
severely limited because of the resources required and the short time 
period for review.
    As a result of these concerns, the Agency is postponing the 
certification deadline for two categories of monitoring: NOX and 
CO2 monitoring of gas-fired and oil-fired Phase II units. Although 
these units must monitor NOX and CO2 emissions [40 CFR 
75.10], they do not have NOX emission limitations under Title IV 
of the Act. Gas-fired and oil-fired units are being monitored for 
NOX and CO2 to provide quality-assured NOX and CO2 
emissions data for informational purposes. This data will also allow 
the Agency to assess progress toward the NOX emission reduction 
goals of the Act. Furthermore, the Act requires EPA to establish a 
public database of CO2 emissions data. EPA believes that delaying 
the certification of NOX and CO2 CEMS and Appendix E and G 
monitoring for these units still meets these purposes, and helps to 
ensure higher quality NOX and CO2 emission data than might be 
obtained if the January 1, 1995 deadline were still required because a 
phased schedule for certifications submissions will allow more thorough 
and complete review of the submissions for each time period. The 
revised deadline does not apply to coal-fired units or to monitoring of 
SO2, opacity, or heat input for gas-fired and oil-fired units.
    EPA believes that it is reasonable for utilities to begin to 
monitor the NOX emissions in ozone nonattainment areas and the 
ozone transport region of the northeast U.S. earlier than in other 
areas. An accurate account of NOX emissions is environmentally 
significant in such areas because NOX helps ozone to form (see 
docket item ``Title IV Affected Utility Plants in Nonattainment Areas 
or in OTR''). As a result, EPA is extending the certification deadline 
for NOX monitoring of gas-fired and oil-fired units in ozone 
nonattainment areas and ozone transport regions by six months only, 
until July 1, 1995. Other gas-fired and oil-fired units that are not in 
these environmentally critical areas may postpone their certification 
testing until one year after the original deadline, until January 1, 
1996. By instituting this phased-in approach, two purposes are 
accomplished--certification applications will receive thorough review 
and NOX information will be available first for the areas with the 
greatest need for that information.
    EPA has also included a delayed certification deadline for CO 
monitoring from oil-fired units and gas-fired units in today's revision 
to part 75. A CO2 monitor may be used both as a CO2 diluent 
monitor in a NOX continuous emission monitoring system and as a 
CO2 continuous emission monitoring system. If the NOX 
monitoring deadline were extended but the CO2 monitoring deadline 
were not extended, then the owner or operator of a gas-fired unit or 
and oil-fired unit would still be required to install the CO2 
monitor and stack test it before its certification as part of the 
NOX monitoring system. In effect, an owner or operator would need 
to go through stack testing and certification twice for the same 
CO2 monitor. In order to make the NOX monitoring 
certification deadline extension more useful and to avoid unnecessary 
duplication of testing and certification activities, EPA is also 
extending the certification deadline for CO2 monitoring.
    Gas-fired and oil-fired peaking units may choose to use the 
procedures in Appendices E and G of part 75 to estimate NOX and 
CO2 emissions using means other than continuous emission 
monitoring. Appendix E requires a utility to develop a correlation 
between unit load and NOX emission rate. Appendix G allows any 
utility, not just peaking units, to estimate CO2 mass emissions 
from a unit using fuel sampling and analysis and fuel usage data. Both 
of these methods require the development of software that is different 
from that already developed and implemented for use under Phase I of 
the program. In contrast, software programmers have already developed 
software for units with continuous emission monitoring systems and for 
units using Appendix D of part 75 for determination of SO2 
emissions from oil-fired or gas-fired units. In order to allow software 
programmers more time to develop software to implement Appendices E and 
G of part 75, EPA is extending the certification deadline for NOX 
monitoring and CO2 monitoring from these methods, as well as for 
CEMS.
    EPA is not extending the certification deadlines for coal-fired 
units. Phase I utilities overwhelmingly were able to meet the statutory 
deadline for monitoring with CEMS--95% of Phase I units completed 
testing by the deadline of November 15, 1993. There are no class-wide 
issues delaying implementation for coal-fired units using CEMS. 
Therefore, EPA expects that all Phase II coal-fired units will meet the 
certification deadline of 1/1/95. Furthermore, coal-fired units have 
emission limitations for SO2 and NOx under the Acid Rain 
Program. Coal-fired units emit large amounts of SO2 and NOx.
    EPA also is not extending the certification deadlines for SO2 
and opacity monitoring for gas-fired units and oil-fired units. Gas-
fired and oil-fired units have SO2 emission reduction obligations 
under title IV of the Act. Oil-fired units, in particular, have 
significant SO2 emissions. Many of these units have the 
opportunity to implement Appendix D of part 75 (an optional SO2 
emissions estimation protocol using fuel sampling and analysis), 
thereby avoiding stack testing for CEMS. Some Phase I units were oil-
fired units using Appendix D. The Agency has issued guidance to the 
regulated community that allows them to implement Appendix D. 
Furthermore, software has already been developed to implement Appendix 
D requirements. Opacity monitors do not require the services of special 
stack testers or new software. Extending the deadline for SO2 and 
opacity monitoring for gas-fired units and oil-fired units will not 
reduce competition for stack testers or require development of software 
that has not been developed for Phase I units. Because of these 
reasons, EPA expects gas-fired units and oil-fired units to meet the 
January 1, 1995 certification deadline for SO2 and opacity 
monitoring.

III. Impact Analyses

A. Paperwork Reduction Act

    EPA has determined that this final rule contains no information 
requirements as specified by the Paperwork Reduction Act 44 U.S.C. 3501 
et seq.

B. Executive Order Requirements

Executive Order 12866

    Under Executive Order 12866, (58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993)) the 
Agency must determine whether the regulatory action is ``significant' 
and therefore subject to OMB review and the requirements of the 
Executive Order. The Order defines ``significant regulatory action'' as 
one that is likely to results in a rule that may:
    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million of more or 
adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the 
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public 
health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 
communities;
    (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants, 
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
the Executive Order.
    It has been determined that this rule is not a ``significant 
regulatory action'' under the terms of Executive Order 12866 and is 
therefore not subject to OMB review.

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Pursuant to section 605(b) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 
U.S.C. 605(b), the Administrator certifies on August 4, 1994, that this 
rule revision will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities.
    EPA performed an analysis of the effects upon small utilities of 
the Acid Rain Core Rules (58 FR 3649, January 11, 1993), including 
permitting, allowances, and continuous emission monitoring. The earlier 
document concluded that significant costs would occur to small 
utilities as a result of statutory requirements. For example, based 
upon a worst case for model utilities, total regulatory costs could 
represent as much as 6 to 7 percent of the average value of electricity 
produced in the year 2000. About one-third of the 105 small utilities 
currently affected could face impacts of up to this magnitude.
    Today's revisions to part 75 have either no impact or a beneficial 
impact on small entities by extending the time for complying with the 
Acid Rain Program monitoring requirements for approximately 800 small 
utility units. EPA expects today's revision to part 75 to maintain the 
same cost of compliance as under the promulgated rule of January 11, 
1993.

IV. Supporting Information

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 75

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon dioxide, 
Continuous emission monitors, Electric utilities, Incorporation by 
reference, Nitrogen oxides, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, 
Sulfur dioxide.

    Dated: August 4, 1994.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.

    For the reasons set forth in the preamble chapter I of title 40 of 
the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 75--CONTINUOUS EMISSION MONITORING

    1. The authority citation for part 75 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7651k and note.

Subpart A--General  [Amended]

    2. Section 75.4 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(3) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 75.4  Compliance dates.

    (a) * * *
    (3) For either a Phase II unit, other than a gas-fired unit or an 
oil-fired unit, or a substitution or compensating unit that is not a 
substitution or compensating unit under paragraph (a)(2) of this 
section: January 1, 1995.
* * * * *
    3. Section 75.4 is amended by adding paragraph (a)(4) to read as 
follows:
    (a) * * *
    (4) For a gas-fired Phase II unit or an oil-fired Phase II unit, 
January 1, 1995, except that certification tests for continuous 
emission monitoring systems for NOX and CO2 or excepted 
monitoring systems for NOX under appendix E or CO2 estimation 
under Appendix G of this part shall be completed as follows:
    (i) For an oil-fired Phase II unit or a gas-fired Phase II unit 
located in an ozone nonattainment area or the ozone transport region, 
not later than July 1, 1995; or
    (ii) For an oil-fired Phase II unit or a gas-fired Phase II unit 
not located in an ozone nonattainment area or the ozone transport 
region, not later than January 1, 1996.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 94-20167 Filed 8-17-94; 8:45 am]
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