[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 8, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16704-16706]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8898]



[[Page 16704]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[IL 150; FRL-5804-2]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plan; Illinois

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this action USEPA is approving the State Implementation 
Plan (SIP) revision request submitted by the Illinois Environmental 
Protection Agency (IEPA) on August 15, 1996. In the August 15 request, 
IEPA requested that the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson, Illinois be 
granted a carbon monoxide (CO) variance with specified conditions 
beginning January 19, 1996, and ending August 4, 1997. This variance 
exempts the Marathon Oil Company from the emission limits specified in 
the relevant CO SIP approved May 31, 1972 and revised February 21, 
1980, thereby allowing its fluid bed catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) to 
emit 300 parts per million (ppm) of CO corrected for 50 percent excess 
air (Corrected) instead of the SIP emission limit of 200 ppm Corrected. 
The conditions require that the Marathon Oil Company utilize all means 
possible to minimize emissions and implement a plan of compliance 
submitted as part of the SIP revision. In this action, USEPA is 
approving the requested SIP revision through a ``direct final'' 
rulemaking; the rationale for this approval is set forth below. 
Elsewhere in this Federal Register, USEPA is proposing approval and 
soliciting comment on this direct final action; if adverse comments are 
received, USEPA will withdraw the direct final and address the comments 
received in a new final rule; otherwise, no further rulemaking will 
occur on this requested SIP revision. The USEPA is approving this SIP 
revision request because modeling shows that the emission limits are 
adequate to protect the CO national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS).

DATES: This action is effective on June 9, 1997, unless USEPA receives 
adverse or critical comments by May 8, 1997. If the effective date is 
delayed, timely notification will be published in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be mailed to: J. Elmer Bortzer, 
Chief, Regulation Development Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
    Copies of the State submittal and USEPA's analysis of it are 
available for inspection at: Regulation Development Section, Air 
Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Bahr, Environmental Engineer, 
Regulation Development Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-4366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Marathon Oil Company is located in Crawford County, Illinois 
which is designated attainment for CO (See 40 CFR 81.314). On May 31, 
1972 (37 FR 10862) the USEPA approved the ``State of Illinois Air 
Pollution Implementation Plan'' as the Illinois SIP. On February 21, 
1980, the USEPA approved revisions to the SIP, incorporating section 
216.361 in Title 35 of the Illinois Administrative Code (35 IAC 
216.361) as part of the Illinois SIP (45 FR 11472). The SIP limits 
petroleum and petrochemical processes to emit no more than 200 ppm 
Corrected of CO. The FCCU operated by the Marathon Oil Company is such 
a petroleum process and therefore cannot legally emit CO in excess of 
this limit.
    On August 4 and 5 of 1993, stack tests showed the FCCU at the 
Marathon Oil Company to be emitting above the 200 ppm limit. The State 
issued a Compliance Inquiry Letter (CIL) on March 2, 1995, concerning 
the stack tests. The Marathon Oil Company then performed a test on 
March 14, finding the FCCU to be emitting less than 200 ppm Corrected. 
The USEPA issued a notice of violation (NOV), concerning the 1993 test 
results, on April 13, 1995. Then, on May 23, 1995, the Marathon Oil 
Company filed a petition with the State for a variance from 35 IAC. 
Adm. Code Sec. 216.361(a).
    On May 16, 1996, Illinois approved the variance for the period 
beginning on January 19, 1996, and ending August 4, 1997, as Illinois 
Pollution Control Board Variance 95-150 (PCB 95-150). The effective 
date of the Variance was January 19, 1996. A plan of compliance was 
also approved as part of that variance.
    IEPA submitted the variance as a SIP revision request on August 15, 
1996. The USEPA found the submittal to be complete in a completeness 
letter to IEPA on December 20, 1996.

II. Analysis of State Submittal

    What Illinois designates as a variance can be considered for a SIP 
revision if there is evidence that no exceedances of the NAAQS would 
occur under the variance, and the applicable prevention of significant 
deterioration (PSD) requirements are acceptably addressed.

A. Air Quality Modeling

    In support of the SIP revision request and to show the CO NAAQS to 
be protected, IEPA submitted dispersion modeling performed by a 
contractor for the Marathon Oil Company. The basic study entitled 
``Screening Modeling of Air Emissions from the CO Boiler Bypass Stack 
at Robinson'' was completed May 9, 1994, and was the only analysis 
submitted with the original request. The USEPA requested a more 
detailed report and was supplied with an attachment on October 3, 1996, 
which was inadvertently omitted from the revision request. This report 
entitled ``Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling of Carbon Monoxide Emissions 
from the CO Boiler at the Robinson Refinery'' had been completed on May 
1, 1995.
    The analysis used The Industrial Source Complex--Short Term Model 
to calculate maximum downwind concentrations of CO for several 
scenarios. The highest ambient concentration resulting from an effluent 
concentration of 300 ppm was .03 ppm on a one hour average basis and 
.007 ppm on an eight hour averaging basis. The NAAQS for CO are 35 ppm 
on a one hour averaging basis and 9 ppm for an 8 hour averaging basis. 
This modeling was reviewed by the USEPA and was found to be acceptable 
and demonstrates that no exceedances of the NAAQS would occur under a 
CO emission limit of 300 ppm.

B. Prevention of Significant Deterioration

    The Marathon Oil Company's FCCU was constructed in 1975, prior to 
the promulgation of PSD rules. The original permit was not a PSD permit 
and the original capacity or potential to emit, has not changed since 
the original construction. Therefore, PSD does not apply.

C. Test Methods

    Illinois' August 15, 1996, submittal did not include revisions to 
or discussion of compliance test methods. The current SIP, which 
includes Crawford County limits and selected test methods that were 
simultaneously approved on May 31, 1972 (37 FR 10862), applies the 
stack test method in 35 IAC Sec. 216.101 as the reference test method 
for evaluating compliance with

[[Page 16705]]

the Crawford County limits. The State's recent submittal did not 
request revisions to the applicable test methods. This indicates that 
the SIP continues to apply the test methodology in 35 IAC Sec. 216.101 
as the applicable reference test method for all of Crawford County's 
sources.

D. Plan of Compliance

    The plan of compliance calls for revising the refinery gas burners, 
inspection and repair of the damper controls, installation of a flame 
temperature measuring devise, burner improvements, and boiler testing 
and optimization, all to be concluded before June 14, 1997. The USEPA 
realizes that this plan has the potential for decreasing CO emissions 
and the Marathon Oil Company shall implement the plan as written. 
However, the plan does not demonstrate that it will achieve compliance, 
and is therefore considered as routine maintenance measures and not a 
compliance plan. The implementation of the plan does not exempt the 
Marathon Oil Company from any regulations which apply to the facility.

III. USEPA's Rulemaking Action

    USEPA is approving the SIP revision request submitted by the IEPA 
on August 15, 1996, which grants the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson, 
Illinois a CO variance with specified conditions beginning January 19, 
1996, and ending August 4, 1997. Dispersion modeling has shown the CO 
emission limit of 300 ppm to be protective of the NAAQS and is 
therefore approved. This site-specific SIP revision consists of 
variance PCB 95-150, which was adopted on May 16, 1996, and became 
effective on January 19, 1996. This is a variance from section 35 IAC 
216.361(a) as it applies to the Marathon Oil Company's fluid bed 
catalytic cracking unit.
    The USEPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because 
USEPA views this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipates no 
adverse comments. However, in a separate document in this Federal 
Register publication, the USEPA is proposing to approve the SIP 
revision should adverse or critical comments be filed. This action will 
be effective on June 9, 1997, unless, by May 8, 1997, adverse or 
critical comments are received.
    If the USEPA receives such comments, this action will be withdrawn 
before the effective date by publishing a subsequent rulemaking that 
will withdraw the final action. All public comments received will be 
addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this action serving as a 
proposed rule. The USEPA will not institute a second comment period on 
this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should 
do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public is 
advised that this action will be effective on June 9, 1997.
    Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting, allowing 
or establishing a precedent for any future request for revision to any 
SIP. Each request for revision to the SIP shall be considered 
separately in light of specific technical, economic, and environmental 
factors and in relation to relevant statutory and regulatory 
requirements.

IV. Administrative Requirements

A. 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 D. Nichols, Assistant Administrator 
for Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and Budget has exempted 
this regulatory action from Executive Order 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility

    Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. section 600 et seq., 
USEPA must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the 
impact of any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 
sections 603 and 604. Alternatively, USEPA 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.
    SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the 
Clean Air Act (Act) do not create any new requirements, but simply 
approve requirements that the State is already imposing. Therefore, 
because the Federal SIP approval does not impose any new requirements, 
the Administrator certifies that it 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 a flexibility 
analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic 
reasonableness of the State action. The Act forbids USEPA to base its 
actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. EPA., 
427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).

C. Unfunded Mandates

    Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995, 
signed into law on March 22, 1995, USEPA must undertake various actions 
in association with any proposed or final rule that includes a Federal 
mandate that may result in estimated costs to state, local, or tribal 
governments, or to the private sector, in the aggregate of $100 million 
or more. This Federal action approves pre-existing requirements under 
state or local law, and imposes no new 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 June 9, 1997. 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 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and record keeping requirements.

    Dated: March 19, 1997.
David A. Ullrich,
Acting 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.

    2. Section 52.729 is added to read as follows:


Sec. 52.729  Control strategy: Carbon monoxide.

    The following source specific emission controls are approved: (a) 
Approval--On August 15, 1996, the Illinois Environmental Protection 
Agency requested that the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson, Illinois be

[[Page 16706]]

granted a carbon monoxide (CO) state implementation plan (SIP) revision 
with specified conditions. This SIP revision limits the Marathon Oil 
Company's CO emissions from its fluid bed catalytic cracking unit CO 
boiler to be no more than 300 parts per million of CO corrected for 50 
percent excess air beginning January 19, 1996, and ending August 4, 
1997. The variance became effective January 19, 1996. The SIP revision 
request satisfies all applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act.
    (b) [Reserved]
[FR Doc. 97-8898 Filed 4-7-97; 8:45 am]
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