[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 179 (Thursday, September 14, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55489-55491]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-23644]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 63

[AD-FRL-6869-2]
RIN 2060-AJ09


National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: 
Aluminum Foundry and Aluminum Die Casting Operations; Source Category 
List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rule (ANPR).

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

SUMMARY: The Clean Air Act (CAA) requires EPA to list (for regulation 
under section 112 of the CAA) all categories of major sources of 
hazardous air pollutants (HAP) and categories of area sources if they 
present a threat of adverse effects to human health or the environment. 
We have recently promulgated national emission standards for hazardous 
air pollutants (NESHAP) for Secondary Aluminum Production, (65 FR 
15690, March 23, 2000). This ANPR announces our intention to propose 
amendments to subpart RRR to remove aluminum foundries and aluminum die 
casting facilities from the Secondary Aluminum Production source 
category. As part of the same rulemaking, we intend to make a new 
determination concerning maximum achievable control technology (MACT) 
requirements for both major sources and area sources in these 
industries.
    The EPA previously listed aluminum foundries and aluminum die 
casting facilities as part of the Secondary Aluminum Production source 
category and also listed area sources in these industries for 
regulation pursuant to CAA section 112(c)(6). Area sources are included 
in the NESHAP due to dioxin and furan emissions. We intend to make a 
new determination concerning MACT requirements deemed necessary and 
appropriate for all of these sources in the context of a new source 
category. Upon promulgation of a final rule removing these sources from 
subpart RRR and establishing separate MACT requirements for these 
sources. EPA will make conforming changes in the source category list. 
This ANPR solicits comments and information to be used in making a new 
determination concerning separate MACT requirements applicable to 
aluminum foundries and aluminum die casting facilities.

EFFECTIVE DATE: Comments. Comments must be received on or before 
October 16, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments. Comments should be submitted (in duplicate) to: 
Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center (6102), Attention: 
Docket No. A-2000-31, U.S. EPA, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, 
DC 20460.
    Docket. Docket No. A-2000-31 is available for public inspection and 
copying from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at the 
EPA's Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Waterside Mall, 
Room M-1500, Ground Floor, 401 M Street SW, Washington, DC 20460. A 
reasonable fee may be charged for copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information concerning this ANPR, 
contact Mr. Juan Santiago, Minerals and Inorganic Chemicals Group, 
Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, 
North Carolina 27711, (919) 541-1084, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Electronic Submission of Comments

    Comments may be submitted electronically by sending electronic mail 
(e-mail) to: [email protected]. Electronic comments must 
be submitted as an ASCII file, avoiding the use of special characters 
and any form of encryption. Comments will also be accepted or diskette 
in Word Perfect 8.0 or ASCII file format. All comments in electronic 
form must be identified by the docket Number A-2000-31. No Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) should be submitted through e-mail. 
Electronic comments may be filed online at many Federal Depository 
Libraries.

Background

    The CAA requires that EPA evaluate and control emissions of HAP. 
The control of HAP is achieved through promulgation of emission 
standards under section 112 of the CAA for sources that emit HAP. The 
CAA requires us to publish a list of all categories and subcategories 
of sources of HAP. We published an initial list of source categories on 
July 16, 1992 (57 FR 31576). This list was last revised on November 8, 
1999 (63 FR 7155).
    Secondary aluminum production facilities were listed as a source 
category emitting HAP in the initial list. Secondary aluminum 
production was

[[Page 55490]]

defined in the EPA Report, ``Documentation for Developing the Initial 
Source Category List'' to include any facility engaged in the cleaning, 
melting, refining, alloying, and pouring of aluminum recovered from 
scrap, foundry returns, and dross. We subsequently listed all area 
sources in the Secondary Aluminum Production source category pursuant 
to our obligation to regulate facilities that account for at least 
ninety percent of the nationwide emissions of certain dioxins and 
furans as required by section 112(c)(6) of the CAA (63 FR 17838, 17849, 
April 20, 1998).
    The EPA promulgated NESHAP for the Secondary Aluminum Production 
source category on March 23, 2000 (65 FR 15690). As promulgated, the 
NESHAP apply to major and area source aluminum foundries and aluminum 
die casting facilities, except for those facilities that melt no 
materials other than clean charge and materials generated within the 
facility and that also do not operate a thermal chip dryer, sweat 
furnace or scrap dryer/delacquering kiln/decoating kiln.
    The EPA based the NESHAP for aluminum foundries and aluminum die 
casting facilities, as well as its assessment of the economic impacts 
on small businesses in these industry segments, on information 
pertaining to representative facility practices in these industry 
segments. We believed that the information in the record supporting our 
NESHAP for secondary aluminum production facilities was representative 
of the operations and range of emissions at aluminum die casting 
facilities and aluminum foundries and sufficient to support the MACT 
requirements we adopted in those standards for them, although we did 
not have emissions data on dioxin and furan emissions specifically 
measured at aluminum foundries and die casting facilities.
    However, affected aluminum foundry operators and die casters have 
expressed the view that the information and assumptions upon which we 
relied when we promulgated the Secondary Aluminum Production NESHAP may 
be incomplete or may not adequately represent the processes and 
emissions at such facilities. Accordingly, EPA made a commitment as 
part of the NESHAP for the Secondary Aluminum Production source 
category to initiate a formal process to collect further information 
from the facilities in these industries on the activities in which they 
engage and the potential of these activities to contribute to HAP 
emissions. EPA also published that, after evaluating this information, 
it would make a new determination concerning MACT requirements for both 
major sources and area sources in these industries. EPA has since 
entered into a settlement agreement in American Foundrymen's Society, 
et al. v. EPA, Civ. No. 00-1208 (D.C. Cir.) that effectuates this 
commitment in the preamble to the NEWHAP for the Secondary Aluminum 
Production source category.
    This ANPR announces that EPA intends to undertake a new rulemaking 
to remove aluminum foundries and aluminum die casting facilities from 
subpart RRR and to develop alternate MACT requirements for these 
sources in the context of a separate source category. We intend to 
collect further information from these facilities using our authority 
under CAA section 114 and to make new determination concerning the MACT 
floor and any MACT requirements deemed necessary and appropriate for 
these facilities based on this information. Our intention to proceed 
with this new rulemaking is expressly contingent on our ability to 
collect information concerning the processes employed at these 
facilities and the associated emissions, sufficient both to fully 
support establishment of a separate MACT floor for such facilities and 
to resolve any remaining questions regarding the practicality, cost, 
and efficacy of potential emission controls.
    In a separate action published elsewhere in this Federal Register, 
EPA is proposing a rule to stay the applicability of 40 CFR part 63, 
subpart RRR (the Secondary Aluminum Production NESHAP) to existing 
aluminum foundries and existing aluminum die casting facilities during 
the pendency of the rulemaking to make a new determination concerning 
alternate MACT requirements for these facilities. We intend to take 
final action concerning this proposed stay at the same time as we 
propose to remove aluminum foundries and aluminum die casting 
facilities from subpart RRR and to adopt alternate MACT requirements 
deemed necessary and appropriate for these facilities.
    We anticipate that any MACT requirements deemed necessary and 
appropriate for major and area source aluminum foundries and aluminum 
die casting facilities which are currently regulated by subpart RRR 
will be proposed and adopted in the context of a proposed new source 
category. Whereas the EPA must establish MACT standards for major 
sources, aluminum foundries and aluminum die casting facilities that 
are area sources may not require such standards if existing and new 
data support such a conclusion. The EPA will take final action on its 
proposal to remove such facilities from subpart RRR at the same time as 
it promulgates any new MACT requirements for such facilities. The EPA 
will then make any necessary conforming changes in the source category 
list.
    Any proposed rule to adopt an alternative NESHAP for aluminum 
foundries and die casters will provide affected facilities with a 
reasonable amount of time after the effective date of the promulgated 
standards, and in no event less than one year, to come into compliance 
with the final standards. Aluminum foundries and die casters will also 
have a reasonable amount of time to come into compliance with the 
existing NESHAP for secondary aluminum production should EPA elect not 
to issue a proposed rule to remove aluminum foundries and die casters 
from 40 CFR part 63, subpart RRR.
    This ANPR solicits comments and information pertaining to our 
intention to develop alternate MACT requirements for major sources and 
area sources in the aluminum foundry and aluminum die casting 
industries. We are seeking comment concerning our intent to remove 
these facilities from the Secondary Aluminum Production NESHAP and the 
advantages and disadvantages of regulating aluminum foundries and 
aluminum die casting facilities as a separate category.
    The EPA is also seeking specific information pertaining to aluminum 
foundry and aluminum die casting processes and emissions which may be 
pertinent to evaluating the practicality, cost, and efficacy of 
alternate MACT requirements for such facilities. Such information 
includes descriptions of aluminum foundry and aluminum die casting 
processes; the types and quantities of contaminated (i.e., containing 
oils and coatings) scrap that is processed at these facilities; the 
number of facilities that process only clean materials (e.g., ingots) 
and use reactive fluxes in lower quantities than the major source 
threshold (10 tons per year (tpy) of any single HAP or 25 tpy of all 
HAP combined); the number of major sources of HAP emissions; the number 
of area sources; and the extent of emissions of dioxins and furans at 
major and area sources. We also seek information on the magnitude of 
HAP emissions and methods of HAP emission estimation, emission controls 
and their costs, and any existing State or local regulations for HAP 
that may apply to aluminum foundries and aluminum die casting 
facilities. We invite trade groups associated with aluminum foundries 
and aluminum die casting facilities to provide information

[[Page 55491]]

and participate in the regulatory development process. As part of the 
information gathering process, EPA intends to issue an information 
collection request to the individual companies and plants which will 
seek site-specific information in these and other areas.

Administrative Requirements

    Because this ANPR is not a rule or a proposed rule, the EPA has not 
prepared an economic impact analysis pursuant to section 317 of the 
CAA, a regulatory flexibility analysis pursuant to the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act, or a written statement under section 202 of the 
unfunded Mandates Act of 1995. Also, this ANPR does not contain any 
information collection requirements and, therefore, is not subject to 
the Paperwork Reduction Act.
    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 5173, October 4, 1993), the EPA 
must determine whether a regulatory action is ``significant'' and, 
therefore, subject to Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and 
the requirements of the Executive Order. The Executive Order defines 
``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in 
standards that may:
    (1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 milliion or more 
or adversely affect, in a material way, the economy, a sector of the 
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public 
health or safety, or State, local, or tribal governments or 
communities;
    (2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an 
action taken or planned by another agency;
    (3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlement, grants, 
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients 
thereof; or
    (4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal 
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in 
the Executive order.
    OMB has determined that this proposed advance notice of proposed 
rulemaking is a ``significant regulatory action'' because of novel 
legal or policy reasons. As such, this action was submitted to OMB for 
review.

    Dated: September 8, 2000.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 00-23644 Filed 9-13-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M