[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 204 (Monday, October 23, 1995)] [Rules and Regulations] [Pages 54308-54310] From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov] [FR Doc No: 95-26197] ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 40 CFR Part 52 [MI36-01-6712a; FRL-5294-4] Approval and Promulgation of State Implementation Plan; Michigan; Eagle-Ottawa Leather Co. Site-Specific SIP Revision AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Direct final rule. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SUMMARY: The EPA approves a revision to the Michigan State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Eagle-Ottawa Leather Company facility located in Ottawa County, Michigan. This approval makes federally enforceable the State's consent order requiring control of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from the Eagle-Ottawa facility. The EPA's review of the revision shows that the controls are sufficient to constitute Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for this facility. The EPA defines RACT as the lowest emission limitation that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of control technology that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility. DATES: This action is effective December 22, 1995 unless adverse comments are received within 30 days of this publication. If the effective date is delayed, timely notice will be published in the Federal Register. ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to: Carlton T. Nash, Chief, Regulation Development Section, Air Toxics and Radiation Branch (AT- 18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Copies of the proposed SIP revision and EPA's analysis are available for inspection at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. (Please telephone Douglas Aburano at (312) 353-6960 before visiting the Region 5 Office.) FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Douglas Aburano, Environmental Engineer, Regulation Development Section, Air Toxics and Radiation Branch (AT-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region V, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-6960. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: I. Background Section 182(b) of the Clean Air Act, as amended on November 15, 1990, sets forth the requirements for ozone nonattainment areas which have been classified as moderate or above. Section 182(b)(2) requires the implementation of reasonably available control technology (RACT) for sources of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Section 182(b)(2)(C) requires that States submit revisions to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for major sources of VOCs for which the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not issued a control technology guidelines (CTG) document. The Eagle-Ottawa Leather Company is located in Ottawa County which is part of the Grand Rapids moderate ozone nonattainment area. The facility is a major source of VOCs for which a CTG has not been issued and, therefore, the State of Michigan has submitted a site-specific SIP revision, in the form of a consent order, that describes RACT for this source. This submittal satisfies the RACT requirement for this facility. II. Evaluation of State Submittal The Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) followed the required legal procedures for granting this source a site-specific consent order which are prerequisites for EPA to consider including this consent order in Michigan's federally enforceable SIP. A public comment period was held between April 25, 1994 through May 26, 1994. This public comment period was followed by a public hearing on May 26, 1994. This consent order was submitted to the EPA as a site-specific SIP revision under signature of the Governor's designee. At the time the RACT evaluation was performed, it was thought, by the State, that only the three oldest lines needed to be evaluated for RACT. This is not the case and an evaluation should have been performed on all seven coating lines at the facility. The consent order that was originally submitted by the State set a VOC limit of 5.8 lbs/gallon of coating, minus water and exempt solvents, as applied. EPA considers this to be acceptable as RACT for the coating lines evaluated in the RACT study. In order to satisfy the RACT requirement that all emission points at this facility have RACT limits applied to them, the remaining four lines will have a VOC limit of 3.1 lbs/gallon of coating, minus water and exempt solvents, as applied. This 3.1 limit is considered to be more stringent than RACT because it is a lower limit than the 5.8 limit which is considered RACT for the coating lines at this facility. The company has signed a letter indicating that the 3.1 limit is acceptable to them and will be incorporated as permit conditions in the federally enforceable permits that apply to these lines. This RACT submittal is considered approvable because the control requirements evaluated as RACT for the three oldest lines have also been incorporated as permit conditions for the four lines for which a RACT evaluation was not performed. The EPA finds it acceptable that although a RACT analysis was not performed on the four newer lines, these lines are sufficiently [[Page 54309]] similar to the three older lines that RACT will be the same for all lines. In the RACT study performed on the 3 oldest surface coating lines at this facility, various VOC controls were evaluated for appropriateness. The controls considered for the coating lines were: coating conversion, thermal incineration, catalytic incineration, and carbon adsorption. Based upon the results of this study, the State and Eagle-Ottawa have entered into a consent agreement limiting each of the lines to 5.8 pounds VOC per gallon of coating, minus water and exempt solvents, as applied, for the 3 lines evaluated in this study. The company has signed a letter indicating that the four lines that were not evaluated in this study, already have federally enforceable construction permits, will have the VOC limits in these permits set at 3.1 pounds VOC per gallon of coating, minus water and exempt solvents, as applied, which is more stringent than the limit found to be RACT for the lines that were evaluated in the RACT evaluation. This RACT limitation requires the use of water-borne coatings but will still allow the use of solvent-borne coatings in applications where water-borne coatings could compromise product quality. All other control techniques have been eliminated on the basis of technological infeasibility or unreasonable cost. This same limit of 5.8 pounds of VOC per gallon of coating, minus water and exempted solvents, as applied, has been proposed as RACT for leather coating sources for the States of New York (57 FR 52606) and New Jersey (58 FR 38326). In addition to the limits which control the emission of VOCs into the atmosphere, appropriate recordkeeping requirements have been placed in the permits to aid in determining compliance with these limits. In addition to the coating lines that were evaluated for RACT, this facility also has a research and development laboratory which is also a source of VOC emissions and is not currently covered under Federal regulations. The State did not include this point of emissions in the RACT evaluation and cited a State permitting regulation (which exempts pilot processes and research facilities from control) as justification for this exclusion. Region 5 commented that it is inappropriate to exclude this point of emissions from a RACT evaluation and that doing so is not in keeping with current VOC RACT policy. This comment was made in a letter to the State dated June 1, 1994. Upon reviewing further documentation provided as technical support for this site-specific SIP revision it was found that the research and development laboratory emitted approximately 2 tons of VOCs in the past 2 years. Although a thorough RACT analysis has not been performed on this point of emissions at the facility, Region 5 is in agreement with the State that it is probably economically unreasonable to control a source of emissions of this size. Therefore, RACT for this point of emissions can be considered continuing to operate without controls. The EPA has reviewed the procedures that the State has followed in developing the RACT limits for this facility and has found them to be approvable. III. Action The EPA approves Michigan's Eagle-Ottawa Leather Company site- specific SIP submittal of July 13, 1994. With this action, EPA incorporates Michigan's Stipulation for Entry of Consent Order and Final Order No. 7-1994 into the SIP, making this consent order federally enforceable. Because EPA considers this action noncontroversial and routine, we are approving it without prior proposal. This action will become effective on December 22, 1995. However, if we receive adverse comments by November 22, 1995, EPA will publish a document that withdraws this action. IV. Miscellaneous A. Applicability to Future SIP Decisions Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting, allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for revision to any SIP. The EPA shall consider each request for revision to the SIP in light of specific technical, economic, and environmental factors and in relation to relevant statutory and regulatory requirements. B. Executive Order 12866 This action has been classified as a Table 3 action for signature by the Regional Administrator under the procedures published in the Federal Register on January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225), as revised by a July 10, 1995 memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and Budget has exempted this regulatory action from E.O. 12866 review. C. Regulatory Flexibility Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of any proposed or final rule on small entities (5 U.S.C. 603 and 604). Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises, and government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than 50,000. This approval does not create any new requirements. Therefore, I certify that this action does not have a significant impact on any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the nature of the Federal- State relationship under the Act, preparation of the regulatory flexibility analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic reasonableness of the State action. The Act forbids EPA to base its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. U.S. E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (1976). Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (``Unfunded Mandates Act''), signed into law on March 22, 1995, the EPA must prepare a budgetary impact statement to accompany any proposed or final rule that includes a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate; or to the private sector, of $100 million or more. Under Section 205, the EPA must select the most cost-effective and least burdensome alternative that achieves the objectives of the rule and is consistent with statutory requirements. Section 203 requires the EPA to establish a plan for informing and advising any small governments that may be significantly or uniquely impacted by the rule. The EPA has determined that the approval action promulgated today does not include a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100 million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate, or to the private sector. This Federal action approves pre-existing requirements under State or local law, and imposes no new Federal requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs to State, local, or tribal governments, or the private sector, result from this action. D. Petitions for Judicial Review Under section 307(b)(1) of the Act, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by December 22, 1995. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this rule for the purposes of judicial review, nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may be filed and [[Page 54310]] shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements (see section 307(b)(2)). List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Hydrocarbons, Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements. Dated: August 28, 1995. Valdas V. Adamkus Regional Administrator. For the reasons stated in the preamble, part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows: PART 52--[AMENDED] 1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows: Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q. Subpart X--Michigan 2. Section 52.1170 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(99) to read as follows: Sec. 52.1170 Identification of plan. * * * * * (c) * * * (99) On July 13, 1994, the State of Michigan requested a revision to the Michigan State Implementation Plan (SIP). The State requested that a consent order for the Eagle-Ottawa Leather Company of Grand Haven be included in the SIP. (i) Incorporation by reference. State of Michigan, Department of Natural Resources, Stipulation for Entry of Consent Order and Final Order No. 7-1994 which was adopted on July 13, 1994. [FR Doc. 95-26197 Filed 10-20-95; 8:45 am] BILLING CODE 6560-50-P