[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 47 (Thursday, March 9, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 12472-12474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-5500]



[[Page 12472]]

=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[CA 184-0220a; FRL-6546-8]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California 
State Implementation Plan Revision, San Diego County Air Pollution 
Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action approving revisions to the 
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions concern rules 
from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District. These rules 
were submitted by the State of California on behalf of the District to 
apply as general provisions for the implementation of NSR and other SIP 
requirements for stationary sources in the District.
    This approval action will incorporate these rules into the 
federally approved SIP. The intended effect of approving these rules is 
to regulate emissions of air pollutants in accordance with the 
requirements of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). 
EPA is finalizing the approval of these revisions into the California 
SIP under provisions of the CAA regarding EPA action on SIP submittals, 
SIPs for national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards 
and plan requirements for nonattainment areas.

DATES: This rule is effective on May 8, 2000, without further notice, 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by April 10, 2000. If EPA receives 
such comment, it will publish a timely withdrawal Federal Register 
informing the public that this rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Comments must be submitted in writing to David Albright at 
the Region IX mailing address listed below. Copies of the rules and 
EPA's evaluation report for each rule are available for public 
inspection at EPA's Region IX office during normal business hours at 
the following address: Permits Office (AIR-3), Air Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San 
Francisco, CA 94105. Copies of the submitted rules are also available 
for inspection at the following locations:

Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket (6102), 401 ``M'' Street, 
S.W., Washington, D.C. 20460
California Air Resources Board, Stationary Source Division, Rule 
Evaluation Section, 2020 ``L'' Street, Sacramento, CA 95812
San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, 9150, Chesapeake 
Drive, San Diego, California 92123-1096

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Albright, Permits Office, AIR-3, 
Air Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. Telephone: (415) 744-1627. 
Electronic mail: [email protected]

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Through  out this document wherever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' are used we mean EPA.

I. Applicability

    The rules we are approving into the California SIP are SDCAPCD Rule 
19.3--Emission Information and SDCAPCD Rule 60--Circumvention. The 
California Air Resources Board submitted SDCAPCD Rules 19.3 and 60 to 
us on October 18, 1996 and July 13, 1994, respectively.

II. Background

    On November 15, 1990, Congress enacted the Clean Air Act Amendments 
of 1990. Public Law 101-549, 104 Stat. 2399, codified at 42 U.S.C. 
7401-7671q. In amended section 182(a)(3)(B) of the CAA, Congress 
statutorily adopted the requirement that each State in which all or 
part of a marginal or worse ozone nonattainment area is located shall 
submit a revision to the State implementation plan to require that the 
owner or operator of each stationary source of oxides of nitrogen or 
volatile organic compounds provide the State with a statement showing 
the actual emissions of oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic 
compounds from that source. San Diego County is classified as a serious 
ozone nonattainment area and SDCAPCD Rule 19.3 is intended to address 
this CAA section 182 requirement.
    On October 21, 1977, we approved SDCAPCD Rule 60 into the 
California SIP (see 42 FR 56113). A revised version of Rule 60 was 
submitted for SIP approval on July 13, 1994 along with earlier versions 
of several SDCAPCD NSR rules that were the focus of a recent EPA 
rulemaking.\1\ Revised Rule 60 is a companion administrative rule to 
the SDCAPCD NSR rules but was not included in our recent rulemaking 
package because Rule 60 was deemed by us to be segregable and fully 
approvable whereas the NSR rules contained certain deficiencies that 
resulted in a limited approval and limited disapproval. Today's action 
on Rule 60 does not have any effect on SDCAPCD Rules 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, 
and 20.4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ On August 6, 1999, we proposed a limited approval and 
limited disapproval for the SDCAPCD NSR Rules 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, and 
20.4 (see 64 FR 42892).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The State of California submitted many revised rules for 
incorporation into its SIP on July 13, 1994 and October 18, 1996, 
including the rules being acted on in this document. This document 
addresses EPA's direct final action for SDCAPCD Rule 19.3--Emission 
Information and SDCAPCD Rule 60--Circumvention. SDCAPCD adopted Rule 
19.3 on May 15, 1996 and adopted Rule 60 on May 17, 1994. We determined 
Rule 19.3 to be complete on December 19, 1996 and Rule 60 to be 
complete on September 12, 1994, pursuant to EPA's completeness criteria 
as set forth in 40 CFR part 51, appendix V.
    Rule 19.3 requires any person owning or operating any source of 
emissions to submit emission statement forms to the District in 
accordance with CAA 182(a)(3)(B). Rule 60 is intended to ensure that 
the definition of stationary source in SDCAPCD Rule 20.1 and the 
requirements of SDCAPCD's NSR Rules 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, and 20.4 are not 
circumvented by sources. The following is EPA's evaluation and final 
action for these rules.

III. EPA Evaluation and Action

    There is currently no version of SDCAPCD Rule 19.3--Emission 
Information in the SIP. The submitted rule establishes requirements for 
any person owning or operating a source of emissions of air pollutants, 
or any person selling or supplying any material the use of which may 
cause the emission of air pollutants. Owners/operators of stationary 
sources which emit 25 tons per year or greater of volatile organic 
compounds or oxides of nitrogen are required to submit Emissions 
Statement Forms to the SDCAPCD annually. Owners/operators of sources 
emitting less than 5 tons per year of each air pollutant are not 
required to submit Emission Statement Forms. For sources emitting 
between 5 and 25 tons per year of volatile organic compounds or oxides 
of nitrogen and for persons selling or supplying any material, the use 
of which may cause the emission of air pollutants, Rule 19.3 requires 
the submission of Emission Statement Forms at the discretion of the San 
Diego County APCO.
    Rule 19.3 was adopted by SDCAPCD and submitted for SIP approval to 
us in accordance with CAA section 182(a)(3)(B). Section 182(a)(3)(B) 
requires States to revise their SIP to include requirements for owners/
operators of stationary sources of oxides

[[Page 12473]]

of nitrogen or volatile organic compounds to submit a statement showing 
the source's actual emissions of these pollutants.
    On October 21, 1977, we approved into the SIP a version of Rule 
60--Circumvention that had been adopted by SDCAPCD on November 8, 1976. 
Revisions to this rule were subsequently adopted on May 17, 1994, and 
submitted to us. The only significant change in SDCAPCD's submitted 
Rule 60 from the current SIP is an authorization for the District to 
aggregate emission units located or proposed to be located on the same 
or contiguous property and designate them as a single stationary source 
for purposes of SDCAPCD NSR Rules 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, and 20.4, provided 
the units are substantially related to each other and a potential 
intent to circumvent the NSR rules exists. Rule 60 describes several 
circumstances which, when present, create a potential intent to 
circumvent the requirements of Rules 20.1, 20.2, 20.3, and 20.4.
    We evaluated the submitted rules and determined that they are 
consistent with the CAA, our regulations, and our policy. Therefore, 
SDCAPCD Rule 19.3--Emission Information and Rule 60--Circumvention are 
being approved under section 110(k)(3) of the CAA as meeting the 
requirements of section 110(a) and part D. We have prepared a Technical 
Support Document (TSD) for this rulemaking which describes the 
requirements of Rules 19.3 and 60 and our evaluation of the rules. The 
TSD is available as described in the ADDRESSES section of this 
document.
    We are publishing this direct final approval without prior proposal 
because we view this SIP revision as a noncontroversial amendment and 
anticipate no adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section 
of this Federal Register publication, we are publishing a separate 
document that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision 
should adverse comments be filed. This direct final approval will be 
effective May 8, 2000, without further notice unless we receive adverse 
comments by April 10, 2000.
    If we receive such comments, then we will publish a timely 
withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule 
will not take effect. All public comments received will then be 
addressed in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. We 
will not institute a second comment period on this rule. Any parties 
interested in commenting on this rule should do so at this time. If no 
such comments are received, the public is advised that this direct 
final approval will be effective on May 8, 2000, and no further action 
will be taken on the proposed rule.

IV. Administrative Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. This action 
merely approves state law as meeting federal requirements and imposes 
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. 
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because 
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under state law and does 
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by 
state law, it does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-4). For the same reason, 
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), because it 
merely approves a state rule implementing a federal standard, and does 
not alter the relationship or the distribution of power and 
responsibilities established in the Clean Air Act. This rule also is 
not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), 
because it is not economically significant.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In 
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the 
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority 
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP 
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. 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. As required by section 3 
of Executive Order 12988 (61 FR 4729, February 7, 1996), 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. 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 Congressional Review Act, 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. 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. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by May 8, 2000. 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, Hydrocarbons, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, New source 
review, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Permits, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Note: Incorporation by reference of the State Implementation 
Plan for the State of California was approved by the Director of the 
Federal Register on July 1, 1982.



[[Page 12474]]


    Dated: February 11, 2000.
Felicia Marcus,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.

    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 et seq.

Subpart F--California

    2. Part 52.220 is being amended by adding paragraph 
(c)(198(i)(I)(2) and (c)(241)(i)(A)(4) to read as follows:


Sec. 52.220  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (198) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (I) * * *
    (2) Rule 60 adopted on May 17, 1994.
* * * * *
    (241) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (4) Rule 19.3 adopted on May 15, 1996.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 00-5500 Filed 3-8-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P