[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 119 (Wednesday, June 20, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 33027-33029]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-15416]



[[Page 33027]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[Docket No. AK-24-1712a; FRL-6993-7]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans: Alaska

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or we) approves the 
following revisions to the Alaska State Implementation Plan (SIP): a 
revision of the visible emission limit for coal burning boilers, during 
startup; shutdown; soot-blowing; grate cleaning; or other routine 
maintenance activities, that began operation before August 17, 1971, 
and submitted the required demonstration. Additionally, we are 
approving a revision to the definitions section that will add 
definitions of grate cleaning and soot-blowing. The Alaska Department 
of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) forwarded this submittal to EPA 
for inclusion in the Alaska SIP on November 1, 1999. These revisions 
were submitted for the purposes of complying with section 110 of the 
Clean Air Act.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective August 20, 2001 without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by July 20, 2001. 
If adverse comments are received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal 
of the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public 
that the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to: Roylene A. 
Cunningham, EPA Region 10, Office of Air Quality (OAQ-107), 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101.
    Documents which are incorporated by reference are available for 
public inspection at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information 
Center, Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, 
D.C. 20460. Copies of material submitted to EPA and other information 
supporting this action may be examined during normal business hours at 
the following locations: EPA Region 10, Office of Air Quality (OAQ-
107), 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, and Alaska 
Department of Environmental Conservation, 410 Willoughby Avenue, Suite 
105, Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Roylene A. Cunningham, EPA Region 10, 
Office of Air Quality (OAQ-107), Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-
0513.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. What revisions to the Alaska SIP are we approving?
    A. Industrial Processes and Fuel-Burning Equipment [18 AAC 
50.055(a)(9)]
    B. Definitions [18 AAC 50.990]
II. What regulated pollutant(s) are affected by this revision?
III. Who does this revision apply to?
IV. What is the background of the Alaska SIP revision?
V. How has Alaska addressed maintenance of the PM-10 NAAQS?
VI. Summary of Action
VII. Administrative Requirements

I. What Revisions to the Alaska SIP Are We Approving?

A. Industrial Processes and Fuel-Burning Equipment (18 AAC 
50.055(a)(9))

    We are approving a revision of the visible emission limit for coal 
burning boilers, during startup; shutdown; soot-blowing; grate 
cleaning; or other routine maintenance activities, that began operation 
before August 17, 1971, and submitted the required demonstration.
    18 AAC 50.055(a)(9) is being repealed and readopted to read as 
follows:

18 AAC 50.055. Industrial Processes and Fuel-Burning Equipment

    (a) Visible emissions, excluding condensed water vapor, from an 
industrial process or fuel-burning equipment may not reduce 
visibility through the exhaust effluent by
* * * * *
    (9) More than 20 percent for more than three minutes in any one 
hour, except for an additional three minutes in any one hour for a 
coal burning boiler that began operation before August 17, 1971, if
    (A) The visible emissions are caused by startup, shutdown, soot-
blowing, grate cleaning, or other routine maintenance specified in 
an operating permit issued under this chapter;
    (B) The owner or operator of the boiler monitors visible 
emissions by continuous opacity monitoring instrumentation that;
    (i) Conforms to Performance Specification 1 in 40 CFR 60, 
Appendix B, adopted by reference in 18 AAC 50.040; and
    (ii) Completes one cycle of sampling and analyzing for each 
successive 15-second period;
    (C) The owner or operator of the boiler provides the department 
with a demonstration that the particulate matter emissions from the 
boiler allowed by this opacity limit will not cause or contribute to 
a violation of the ambient air quality standards for PM-10 in 18 AAC 
50.010, or cause the maximum allowable increases for PM-10 in 18 AAC 
50.020 to be exceeded; and
    (D) The Federal administrator approves a facility-specific 
revision to the State implementation plan, required under 42 U.S.C. 
7410, authorizing the application of this opacity limit instead of 
the opacity limit otherwise applicable under this section.

B. Definitions (18 AAC 50.990)

    We are approving revisions to this section with the addition of the 
definitions for grate cleaning and soot-blowing.
    18 AAC 50.990 is amended by adding new paragraphs to read as 
follows:

18 AAC 50.990. Definitions

* * * * *
    (106) ``Grate cleaning'' means removing ash from fireboxes;
    (107) ``Soot-blowing'' means using steam or compressed air to 
remove carbon from a furnace or from a boiler's heat transfer 
surfaces.

II. What Regulated Pollutant(s) Are affected by This Revision?

    The only regulated pollutant potentially affected by the change is 
particulate matter less than 10 microns in size (PM-10).

III. Who Does This Revision Apply To?

    The coal burning boilers, located at the following facilities, that 
began operation before August 17, 1971: Golden Valley Electric 
Association (GVEA), Healy (Unit #1); Eielson Air Force Base, Fairbanks 
(6 units); Aurora Energy, Fairbanks (4 units); and Clear Air Force 
Base, Clear (3 units).
    These four facilities provided ADEC with a demonstration that the 
particulate matter emissions from their boilers allowed by this revised 
visible emission limit will not cause a deleterious effect on any 
NAAQS, Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) increment or 
visibility in Class I areas.

IV. What Is the Background of the Alaska SIP Revision?

    The SIP revision for the opacity limit for coal burners was 
officially submitted to EPA on November 1, 1999. The rule was filed 
with the Lieutenant Governor for the State of Alaska on October 5, 
1999, and was effective on November 4, 1999.
    The affected facilities are subject to both 18 AAC 50.055(a)(1) and 
18 AAC 50.055(b)(2)(A). Both of these provisions are in the State 
Implementation Plan.
    18 AAC 50.055(a)(1) currently states that visible emissions shall 
not exceed an opacity limit of 20% for a total of more than three 
minutes in any one hour. The revised regulation has a 20% opacity 
limit, with a six minute exception in any one hour instead of the 
current three minute exception, for approved site specific coal burning 
boilers that began operation before August 17, 1971, if the visible 
emissions are caused by startup, shutdown, grate cleaning, or routine 
maintenance

[[Page 33028]]

specified in an operating permit issued under 18 AAC 50.340.
    18 AAC 50.055(b)(2)(A) states that total particulate emissions from 
the facility should not exceed 0.1 gr/dscf of exhaust gas corrected to 
standard conditions and averaged over three hours. This rule will 
remain unchanged.
    According to the testing performed by the affected facilities, the 
particulate emissions and opacity are related but there is not a linear 
relationship between the two. Since opacity is used as a qualitative 
estimate of particulate emissions, the revised opacity standards during 
startup, shutdown, grate cleaning, and routine maintenance activities 
cannot be directly ``input'' into air quality models. However, the 
affected sources are still required to meet the State's particulate 
matter standard of 0.1 gr/dscf of exhaust gas, averaged over three 
hours. Therefore, the increase in allowable emissions due to the 
opacity change is limited by the particulate matter emission standard.

V. How Has Alaska Addressed Maintenance of the PM-10 NAAQS?

    ADEC submitted a demonstration showing that the revised opacity 
limit for the four facilities with the affected coal burners would not 
result in exceedances of the 24-hour or Annual National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter less than 10 microns in 
diameter (PM-10). The rationale was established through data collection 
and analysis from both source testing and modeling.
    The facilities submitted particulate matter source test data that 
correlated to the measured opacity recorded during the tests. The ADEC 
calculated particulate matter emissions using the following formula 
contained in 18 ACC 50.220.

E=EM [(A+B) x S/(R x A)]+ENM[(R-S)/R-BS/
(R x A)]

Where:

    E=the total particulate emissions of the source in grains per 
dry standard cubic foot (gr/dscf).
    EM=the particulate emissions in gr/dscf measured 
during the test that included the routine maintenance activity.
    ENM=the arithmetic average of particulate emissions 
in gr/dscf measured by the test runs that did not include routine 
maintenance activity.
    A=the period of routine maintenance activity occurring during 
the test run that included routine maintenance activity, expressed 
to the nearest hundredth of an hour.
    B=the total period of the test run, less A.
    R=the maximum period of source operation per 24 hours, expressed 
to the nearest hundredth of an hour.
    S=the maximum period of routine maintenance activity per 24 
hours, expressed to the nearest hundredth of an hour.

    All calculated E, rounded to the nearest hundredth of a grain, were 
all within the 0.1 gr/dscf particulate matter standard (18 AAC 
50.055(b)(2)(A)). The following assumptions were made: the soot-blowing 
activities emit the highest particulate emissions of the routine 
maintenance activities, so the soot-blowing demonstration was used to 
show compliance with the particulate standard for all routine 
maintenance activities. Soot-blowing duration is boiler dependent; 
however it lasts anywhere from 5 to 22 minutes and occurs every 6 
hours; and startup and shutdown cannot be source tested because the 
operating conditions change rapidly and air flow is irregular. The ADEC 
does not require source testing during startup and shutdown operations.
    A modeling protocol was developed and submitted to ADEC and EPA on 
September 11, 1997. The protocol discussed screening and refined 
modeling methodologies, procedures for calculating source emission 
parameters, meteorological and receptor data requirements and building 
downwash procedures.
    The objective of the modeling was to demonstrate that revising the 
opacity standard would not result in exceedances of the 24-hour or 
Annual NAAQS for PM-10. Since all of the affected coal fired boilers 
were baseline units for PM-10 (i.e., in operation before the November 
13, 1978) and the new allowable emissions are less than baseline actual 
emissions, a Prevention of Significant Deterioration increment analysis 
was not required.
    The following general model assumptions were made: all four 
facilities used data from their particulate matter sources test taken 
during maximum allowed operating conditions; at least one run contained 
a routine maintenance activity (i.e., soot-blowing); and the maximum 
emission rate was 0.1 gr/dscf.
    The modeling results showed that the affected facilities can 
demonstrate compliance with both the 24-hour and Annual NAAQS for PM-10 
with the new revised opacity limit, as long as they also demonstrate 
compliance with the current grain loading standard of 0.1 gr/dscf.
    In order to ensure continual compliance, ADEC will do the 
following. ADEC will include the startup, shutdown, grate cleaning and 
routine maintenance activities in the facility's operating permit 
issued under 18 AAC 50.340. Routine source testing and visible emission 
monitoring will be required. The frequency of monitoring and testing 
will be determined in each facility's operating permit on a case-by-
case basis, depending on the specifics of the individual source.

VI. Summary of Action

    While Alaska's SIP revision for the visible emission limit for coal 
burners is less stringent than the current visible emission limit, ADEC 
has demonstrated that there will be no deleterious effect on any NAAQS, 
Prevention of Significant Deterioration increment, or visibility in 
Class I areas. Therefore, we are approving a revision of the Industrial 
Processes and Fuel-Burning Equipment rule [18 AAC 50.055(a)(9)] for the 
visible emission limit of the affected coal burning boilers, located at 
the following facilities, that began operation before August 17, 1971 
and submitted the required demonstration: Golden Valley Electric 
Association (GVEA), Healy (Unit #1); Eielson Air Force Base, Fairbanks 
(6 units); Aurora Energy, Fairbanks (4 units); and Clear Air Force 
Base, Clear (3 units). Additionally, we are approving a revision to the 
Definitions section [18 AAC 50.990] that will add definitions of grate 
cleaning and soot-blowing.
    EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the 
Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no 
adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this 
Federal Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate document 
that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision should 
adverse comments be filed. This rule will be effective August 20, 2001 
without further notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by 
July 20, 2001.
    If the EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a notice 
withdrawing the final rule and 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. The EPA will not 
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting 
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public 
is advised that this rule will be effective on August 20, 2001 and no 
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.

VII. 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

[[Page 33029]]

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). This rule also does not 
have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian Tribes, on the 
relationship between the Federal Government and Indian Tribes, or on 
the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal 
Government and Indian Tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it 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. section 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. 
section 804(2). This rule will be effective August 20, 2001 unless EPA 
receives adverse written comments by July 20, 2001.
    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 August 20, 2001. 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, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Particulate matter, Reporting 
and recordkeeping requirements.


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


    Dated: May 30, 2001.
Michael A. Bussell,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 10.

    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 C--Alaska

    2. Section 52.70 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(30) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 52.70  Identification of plan.

    (c) * * *
    (30) On November 1, 1999, the Alaska Department of Environmental 
Conservation (ADEC) submitted a SIP revision to revise the visible 
emission limit for coal burning boilers, during startup; shutdown; 
soot-blowing; grate cleaning; or other routine maintenance activities, 
that began operation before August 17, 1971, and submitted the required 
demonstration. This SIP revision is approved for the following 
facilities that submitted the required demonstration: Golden Valley 
Electric Association (GVEA), Healy (Unit #1); Eielson Air Force Base, 
Fairbanks (6 units); Aurora Energy, Fairbanks (4 units); and Clear Air 
Force Base, Clear (3 units). Additionally, we are approving a revision 
to the definitions section that will add definitions of grate cleaning 
and soot-blowing.
    (i) Incorporation by reference.
    (A) 18 Alaska Administrative Code (AAC) 50.055(a)(9), Industrial 
Processes and Fuel-Burning Equipment; as State effective on November 4, 
1999. 18 AAC 50.990, subsections (106) and (107), Definitions; as State 
effective on January 1, 2000.

[FR Doc. 01-15416 Filed 6-19-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P