[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 157 (Tuesday, August 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41991-41992]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-20699]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 64, 70 and 71

[FRL-5552-9]


Compliance Assurance Monitoring

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of public meeting; notice of document availability.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is planning to promulgate regulations concerning 
enhanced monitoring and compliance certification provisions under 
section 114(a)(3) and Title V of the Clean Air Act by July 1997. EPA 
originally proposed an enhanced monitoring rule on October 22, 1993 (58 
FR 54648). In response to comments on that proposal, EPA is considering 
adopting a revised approach--known as Compliance Assurance Monitoring 
(CAM)--to the enhanced monitoring and compliance certification 
requirements. EPA sought comment on the CAM approach in September 1995. 
In response to comment on the CAM approach, EPA is now making available 
a revised version of the CAM approach for comment. Notice is hereby 
given that the EPA will hold a public meeting on September 10, 1996 to 
provide the persons potentially affected by these regulations with an 
opportunity to present their views regarding the issues raised by the 
regulations. This notice also announces the public availability of a 
draft regulatory package for review in advance of the public meeting. 
In addition, the Agency will accept written comments on the draft 
package provided that comments are received by October 15, 1996.

DATES: Meeting: The public meeting will be held September 10, 1996 from 
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the address provided below.
    Comments: Written comments may be submitted to the docket at the 
address provided below until October 15, 1996.
    Document Availability: The draft regulations and accompanying 
summary and discussion document will be available on or before August 
2, 1996 at the addresses provided below. Draft documents concerning 
required impact analyses will also be available at the same locations 
no later than August 30, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Meeting: The public meeting will be held at the Sheraton 
Imperial Hotel and Convention Center, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709 
(919) 941-5050. Participants wishing to arrange for overnight 
accommodations should advise the hotel that they are attending the EPA 
meeting. To assist EPA in planning the public meeting, persons 
interested in attending should contact: Public Meeting Coordinator, at 
(804) 979-3700, telefax (804) 296-2860, Perrin Quarles Associates, 
Inc., 501 Faulconer Drive, Suite 2-D, Charlottesville, Virginia 22903, 
to give their name and affiliation. Please register by September 6, 
1996.
    Docket: Supporting information related to this rulemaking, 
including the draft rule, and the summary and discussion document, is 
contained in Docket No. A-91-52 (the draft rule and accompanying 
summary and discussion document are included as Item VI-C-13). This 
docket is available for public inspection and copying between 8:00 a.m. 
and 5:30 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding government holidays, and 
is located at: EPA Air Docket (LE-131), Room M-1500, Waterside Mall, 
401 M Street S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460. A reasonable fee may be 
charged for copying. Pursuant to section 307(d)(1)(V) of the Clean Air 
Act, this rulemaking is subject to the docketing and other procedural 
provisions of section 307(d) of the Act.
    Comments: Comments must be mailed (in duplicate) to the docket at 
the address provided above. All comments should be marked to the 
attention of Docket No. A-91-52.
    Document Availability: By the dates noted above, a copy of the 
draft regulations, the accompanying summary and discussion document, 
and the draft impact analysis materials will be located in the docket 
at the address provided above, and the draft regulations and summary 
and discussion document will also be available via the Emission 
Measurement Technical Information Center Computer Bulletin Board of the 
EPA's Technology Transfer Network at (919) 541-5742, 24 hours a day, 7 
days a week (except Monday, 8-12 a.m. EST). Contact the system operator 
at (919) 541-5384 if you have any questions concerning access to the 
Technology Transfer Network.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peter Westlin, Office of Air Quality 
Planning and Standards, (919) 541-1058.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Procedural Background

    Section 114(a)(3) of the Clean Air Act mandates that EPA require, 
by regulation, that enhanced monitoring be conducted and compliance 
certification be made for major sources. EPA first proposed an enhanced 
monitoring rule on October 22, 1993. (See 58 FR 54648). EPA sought 
additional comment on this proposal on December 24, 1994 (59 FR 66844). 
Following review of comments, EPA decided to consider alternative 
approaches to the enhanced monitoring requirements.
    In September, 1995, EPA made available for comment a revised 
approach to enhanced monitoring and compliance certification. This 
revised approach was called Compliance Assurance Monitoring (CAM). EPA 
published a Federal Register notice (60 FR 48679) announcing the 
availability of the draft regulatory package (preamble and rule text) 
and solicited public comment. Additionally, on September 13, 1995, the 
EPA posted a copy of the draft CAM rule for public comment on the 
Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS) Technology 
Transfer Network electronic bulletin board system. The release of this 
document was followed by a national meeting held on September 22, 1995 
in Durham, North Carolina. Written comments were submitted to OAQPS by 
industrial, environmental, and regulatory parties. All comments 
received have been filed in the docket (A-91-52) and are available for 
additional review by calling the docket office at (202-260-7548).

II. Request For Comment

    EPA has now modified the proposed CAM approach in response to the 
comments received on the September 1995 regulatory package. The Agency 
has prepared a regulatory package for CAM and will make it available to 
the public on or before August 2, 1996, (see ``Document Availability'' 
above). Following release of this draft, the Agency will hold a public 
meeting, as described above, to review the major elements of the draft 
regulatory package and to solicit opinions and suggestions on the draft 
document. The meeting will include a number of representative parties 
that will sit at the main meeting table by invitation; they will 
include industry, State and local agencies, and environmental 
organizations. Additional seating is available by contacting the Public 
Meeting Coordinator listed in the ADDRESSES section above. It is 
important to note that the Agency will be seeking the

[[Page 41992]]

opinions of the individuals/organizations present and will not be 
seeking consensus.
    The September 1995, Federal Register notice indicated that EPA 
intended to seek comment on the CAM approach through a formal proposal; 
however, EPA believes that notice and opportunity for comment it has 
provided through the September 1995 notice and the current notice 
fulfill EPA's procedural obligations under the Clean Air Act. 
Therefore, EPA intends to issue a final rule addressing the enhanced 
monitoring and compliance certification requirements of the Clean Air 
Act by July 1997 without seeking any additional comment beyond that 
solicited by this notice.

III. The CAM Approach

    The CAM approach would impose monitoring and compliance 
certification requirements on sources subject to the Title V operating 
permits program. The CAM approach has been developed in consideration 
of the President's regulatory reform efforts to design performance-
based environmental programs that provide industry with the flexibility 
to comply in cost-effective ways, while requiring accountability for 
achieving results. It focuses on enhancing and supplementing current 
operation and maintenance (O&M) monitoring requirements. The compliance 
assurance monitoring approach would require that a source owner 
document operation and maintenance of a control device or process 
operation in accordance with established, reliable operating and 
maintenance practices and implement any necessary corrective action to 
ensure that emissions have been reduced. The Agency has combined the 
enhanced and periodic monitoring requirements of Titles V and VII of 
the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 in the draft CAM approach so that 
all compliance-related monitoring requirements would be integrated in 
one set of requirements.
    The CAM approach also addresses the requirements for compliance 
certifications under Titles V and VII of the Clean Air Act Amendments 
of 1990. As such, the CAM approach, which EPA first gave notice of in 
September 1995, would amend the current compliance certification 
provisions in Part 70. To make the Part 71 consistent with the CAM 
approach, the CAM approach also would amend Part 71. Under the draft 
CAM proposal, the owner or operator would certify compliance with (1) 
The emission limitation or standard based on the results of CAM 
monitoring; and (2) the associated monitoring, reporting, and record 
keeping requirements in the permit that provide an assurance of ongoing 
compliance with the emission limitation or standard.

IV. Rulemaking on the Credible Evidence Provisions

    The October 22, 1993 original proposed enhanced monitoring rule 
included revisions to 40 CFR parts 51, 52, 60 and 61. The Agency 
received full comment on those provisions during the initial and 
reopened public comment period on that proposal. The Agency received 
additional comment on those proposed revisions during and after a 
public meeting held on April 2, 1996. The Agency is considering the 
promulgation of revisions similar to those originally proposed, with 
minor changes.
    The provisions that were proposed in 1993 would have amended 40 CFR 
parts 51, 52, 60, and 61 to allow data gathered using enhanced 
monitoring to be used as ``presumptively credible evidence'' in 
enforcement actions. The rule also would have modified parts 51, 52, 60 
and 61, to specifically provide for the use of ``credible evidence'' 
(CE) other than compliance test method data to prove noncompliance in 
an enforcement action, and would have had the effect of eliminating any 
potential ambiguity regarding the use of data other than compliance or 
reference test method data as a basis for Title V compliance 
certifications. EPA is considering eliminating the ``presumptively 
credible evidence'' categories, but promulgating the remaining portions 
of the original October 22, 1993 revisions separately from CAM.
    EPA expects to issue a final rule on the proposed changes to 40 CFR 
parts 51, 52, 60, and 61 in December 1996, prior to completion of the 
CAM rulemaking. For the purposes of commenting on the CAM approach, 
interested parties should keep in mind that proposed changes to 40 CFR 
parts 51, 52, 60 and 61 may be promulgated (and that EPA may do so with 
the change regarding ``presumptively credible evidence'' noted above) 
prior to final action on the CAM approach (i.e. enhanced monitoring and 
compliance certification).

V. Impact on Small Entities

    In the October 22, 1993, original enhanced monitoring proposal, EPA 
determined that approach to enhanced monitoring would not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. EPA has 
reexamined that issue taking into account the CAM approach to the 
enhanced monitoring and compliance certification requirements and 
reached a similar conclusion. As noted above, EPA will make its 
analysis on this issue available for public comment shortly.

VI. Deadline Litigation

    EPA is currently under a court-ordered deadline to issue a final 
rule regarding enhanced monitoring and compliance certification by July 
31, 1996. On July 31, 1996, EPA filed an unopposed motion for extension 
of that deadline until December 13, 1996 regarding credible evidence 
provisions, and until July 7, 1997 with respect to the remaining 
obligations under section 114(a)(3). EPA expects that these deadlines 
will be adopted by the court.

    Dated: August 6, 1996.
John S. Seitz,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 96-20699 Filed 8-9-96; 12:50 pm]
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