[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 16, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 7736-7737]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-3828]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 59

[AD-FRL-6539-2]
RIN 2060-AE55


National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for 
Architectural Coatings

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule; amendments.

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SUMMARY: On September 11, 1998, EPA published the ``National Volatile 
Organic Compound Emission Standards for Architectural Coatings'' under 
the authority of section 183(e) of the Clean Air Act. In this action, 
we're changing the address to which exceedance fee payments must be 
mailed and clarifying the entity to whom payments should be made 
payable. This action won't change the volatile organic compound (VOC) 
content limits for architectural coatings or the level of emission 
reduction that the rule requires.

EFFECTIVE DATE: February 16, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Docket No. A-92-18 contains information considered by EPA in 
developing the promulgated standards and this action. You can inspect 
the docket and copy materials from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding legal holidays. The docket is located at the EPA's 
Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Waterside Mall, Room 
M1500, 1st Floor, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone 
(202) 260-7548 or fax (202) 260-4400. A reasonable fee may be charged 
for copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Linda Herring at (919) 541-5358, 
Coatings and Consumer Products Group, Emission Standards Division (MD-
13), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, 
North Carolina 27711 ([email protected]). Any correspondence 
related to compliance with this rule must be submitted to the 
appropriate EPA Regional Office listed in Sec. 59.409(a) of 40 CFR part 
59.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 553 of the Administrative Procedure 
Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B), provides that, when an agency for good 
cause finds that notice and public procedure are impracticable, 
unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest, the agency may issue a 
rule without providing notice and an opportunity for public comment. 
The EPA has determined that there is good cause for making today's rule 
final without prior proposal and opportunity for comment because these 
corrections and clarifications are not controversial and do not 
substantively change the requirements of the architectural coatings 
rule. Thus, notice and public procedure are unnecessary. The EPA finds 
that this constitutes good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B).
    Regulated Entities. You may be affected by these rule amendments if 
you fall into one of the categories in the following table.
    Architectural coatings are coatings that are recommended for field 
application to stationary structures and their appurtenances, to 
portable buildings, to pavements, or to curbs.
    Use this table only as a guide because this action may also 
regulate other

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                           Examples of
           Category             NAICS code    SIC code      regulated
                                                             entities
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry.....................        32551         2851  Manufacturers
                                    325510                (which
                                                          includes
                                                          packagers and
                                                          repackagers)
                                                          and importers
                                                          of
                                                          architectural
                                                          coatings that
                                                          are
                                                          manufactured
                                                          for sale or
                                                          distribution
                                                          in the U.S.,
                                                          including all
                                                          U.S.
                                                          territories.
State/local/tribal                                       State
 governments.                                             Departments of
                                                          Transportation
                                                          that
                                                          manufacture
                                                          their own
                                                          coatings.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

entities. To determine if it regulates your facility, business, or 
organization, carefully examine the applicability criteria in 
Sec. 59.400 of 40 CFR part 59. If you have questions about how it 
applies, contact Linda Herring (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this preamble).

I. Technical Corrections

    The EPA published in the Federal Register of September 11, 1998 (63 
FR 48848), the final rule regulating VOC emissions from architectural 
coatings. The address in the rule to which exceedance fee payments must 
be submitted has changed and, therefore, needs to be updated. In 
addition, the rule did not specify the entity to whom exceedance fee 
payments should be made payable. Thus, we're correcting and clarifying 
the rule as follows:
    1. We are changing Sec. 59.403(d) to indicate that the address to 
which exceedance fee payments must be mailed is located in 
Sec. 59.409(b) of the rule. This change is necessary to implement the 
exceedance fee receipt and processing procedures that EPA recently 
established for this rule.
    2. We are removing the word ``Regional'' from the title of 
Sec. 59.409 to reflect that the section includes more than just the 
addresses of the EPA Regional Offices.
    3. We are amending Sec. 59.409 by designating the existing text as 
paragraph (a) and modifying it so that exceedance fee payments are 
deleted from the list of items that are sent to the EPA Regional 
Offices. This change is necessary due to the change in the address for 
exceedance fee payments.
    4. We are amending Sec. 59.409 by adding paragraph (b) that 
provides the correct address to which exceedance fee payments must be 
submitted. This change is necessary to specify that exceedance fees 
should be mailed to: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, AIM 
Exceedance Fees, Post Office Box

[[Page 7737]]

371293M, Pittsburgh, PA 15251. In addition, paragraph (b) of 
Sec. 59.409 contains a sentence specifying that the exceedance fee 
payments should be by check or money order made payable to ``U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency'' or ``US EPA.''

II. Administrative Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and is therefore not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. Because EPA 
has made a ``good cause'' finding that this action is not subject to 
notice-and-comment requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act 
or any other statute (see section I.A of this preamble), it is not 
subject to the regulatory flexibility provisions of the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601, et seq.), or to sections 202 and 205 of 
the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) (Pub. L. 104-4). In 
addition, this action does not significantly or uniquely affect small 
governments or impose a significant intergovernmental mandate, as 
described in sections 203 and 204 of UMRA. This rule also does not 
significantly or uniquely affect the communities of tribal governments, 
as specified by Executive Order 13084 (63 FR 27655, May 10, 1998). This 
rule will not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the 
relationship between the national government and the States, or on the 
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of 
government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 
10, 1999). This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 
FR 19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically significant.
    This technical correction action does not involve technical 
standards; thus, the requirements of section 12(d) of the National 
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do 
not apply. The rule also does not involve special consideration of 
environmental justice related issues as required by Executive Order 
12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994). In issuing this rule, EPA has 
taken the necessary steps to eliminate drafting errors and ambiguity, 
minimize potential litigation, and provide a clear legal standard for 
affected conduct, as required by section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (61 
FR 4729, February 7, 1996). The EPA has complied with Executive Order 
12630 (53 FR 8859, March 15, 1988) by examining the takings 
implications of the rule in accordance with the ``Attorney General's 
Supplemental Guidelines for the Evaluation of Risk and Avoidance of 
Unanticipated Takings'' issued under the Executive Order. This rule 
does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.). The 
EPA's compliance with these statutes and executive orders for the 
underlying rule is discussed in the September 11, 1998 (63 FR 48848) 
Federal Register document.
    The Congressional Review Act (CRA) (5 U.S.C. 801, et seq.), as 
added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 
1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency 
promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy 
of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller 
General of the United States. Section 808 allows the issuing agency to 
make a rule effective sooner than otherwise provided by the CRA if the 
agency makes a good cause finding that notice and public procedure is 
impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. This 
determination must be supported by a brief statement (5 U.S.C. 808(2)). 
As stated in section I.A of this preamble, EPA has made such a good 
cause finding, including the reasons therefor, and established an 
effective date of February 16, 2000. The EPA will submit a report 
containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, 
the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the 
United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. 
This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 59

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Architectural 
coatings, Consumer and commercial products, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: February 10, 2000.
Robert Perciasepe,
Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, subpart D of part 59 of 
title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 59--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for part 59 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq.

Subpart D--National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards 
for Architectural Coatings

    2. Amend Sec. 59.403 by revising paragraph (d) to read as follows:


Sec. 59.403  Exceedance fees.

    (d) The exceedance fee shall be submitted to EPA by March 1 
following the calendar year in which the coatings are manufactured or 
imported and shall be sent to the address provided in Sec. 59.409(b).

    3. Amend Sec. 59.409 by revising the section heading; designating 
the existing paragraph as paragraph (a) and revising the first sentence 
of the paragraph; and adding a new paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec. 59.409  Addresses of EPA Offices.

    (a) Except for exceedance fee payments, each manufacturer and 
importer of any architectural coating subject to the provisions of this 
subpart shall submit all requests, reports, submittals, and other 
communications to the Administrator pursuant to this regulation to the 
Regional Office of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that serves 
the State or Territory in which the corporate headquarters of the 
manufacturer or importer resides. * * *
    (b) Each manufacturer and importer who uses the exceedance fee 
provisions of Sec. 59.403 shall submit the exceedance fee payment 
required by Sec. 59.408(d) to the following address: Environmental 
Protection Agency, AIM Exceedance Fees, Post Office Box 371293M, 
Pittsburgh, PA 15251. This address is for the fee payment only; the 
exceedance fee report required by Sec. 59.408(d) is to be submitted to 
the appropriate EPA Regional Office listed in paragraph (a) of this 
section. The exceedance fee payment in the form of a check or money 
order must be made payable to ``U.S. Environmental Protection Agency'' 
or ``US EPA.''
[FR Doc. 00-3828 Filed 2-15-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U