[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 165 (Friday, August 24, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44544-44547]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-21429]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[PA-4146a; FRL-7040-6]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Pennsylvania; NOX RACT Determination for Koppel Steel 
Corporation in the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's State Implementation Plan (SIP). The 
revision was submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental 
Protection (PADEP) to establish and require reasonably available 
control technology (RACT) for the Koppel Steel Corporation's Ambridge 
Plant, a major source of nitrogen oxides (NOX) located in 
the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley ozone nonattainment area (the Pittsburgh 
area). EPA is approving this revision to establish RACT requirements in 
the SIP in accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: This rule is effective on October 9, 2001 without further 
notice, unless EPA receives adverse written comment by September 24, 
2001. If EPA receives such comments, it will publish a timely 
withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform 
the public that the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be mailed to David L. Arnold, Chief, 
Air Quality Planning & Information Services Branch, Air Protection 
Division, Mail code 3AP21, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the 
documents relevant to this action are available for public inspection 
during normal business hours at the Air Protection Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103; the Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, 
SW., Washington, DC 20460; and the Pennsylvania Department of 
Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air Quality Control, P.O. Box 8468, 
400 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Ioff at (215) 814-2166, the 
EPA Region III address above or by e-mail at [email protected]. Please 
note that while questions may be posed via telephone and e-mail, formal 
comments must be submitted, in writing, as indicated in the ADDRESSES 
section of this document.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Pursuant to sections 182(b)(2) and 182(f) of the Clean Air Act 
(CAA), the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (the Commonwealth or 
Pennsylvania) is required to establish and implement RACT for all major 
volatile organic compounds (VOC) and NOX sources. The major 
source size is determined by its location, the classification of that 
area and whether it is located in the ozone transport region (OTR). 
Under section 184 of the CAA, RACT as specified in sections 182(b)(2) 
and 182(f) applies throughout the OTR. The entire Commonwealth is 
located within the OTR. Therefore, RACT is applicable statewide in 
Pennsylvania.
    State implementation plan revisions imposing reasonably available 
control technology (RACT) for three classes of VOC sources are required 
under section 182(b)(2). The categories are: (1) All sources covered by 
a Control Technique Guideline (CTG) document issued between November 
15, 1990 and the date of attainment; (2) All sources covered by a CTG 
issued prior to November 15, 1990; (3) All other major non-CTG rules 
were due by November 15, 1992. The Pennsylvania SIP has approved RACT 
regulations and requirements for all sources and source categories 
covered by the CTG's.
    On February 4, 1994, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental 
Protection (PADEP) submitted a revision to its SIP to require major 
sources of NOX and additional major sources of VOC emissions 
(not covered by a CTG) to implement RACT. The February 4, 1994 
submittal was amended on May 3, 1994 to correct and clarify certain 
presumptive NOX RACT requirements. In the Pittsburgh area, a 
major source of VOC is defined as one having the potential to emit 50 
tons per year (tpy) or more, and a major source of NOX is 
defined as one having the potential to emit 100 tpy or more. 
Pennsylvania's RACT regulations require sources, in the Pittsburgh 
area, that have the potential to emit 50 tpy or more of VOC and sources 
which have

[[Page 44545]]

the potential to emit 100 tpy or more of NOX comply with 
RACT by May 31, 1995. The regulations contain technology-based or 
operational ``presumptive RACT emission limitations'' for certain major 
NOX sources. For other major NOX sources, and all 
major non-CTG VOC sources (not otherwise already subject to RACT under 
the Pennsylvania SIP), the regulations contain a ``generic'' RACT 
provision. A generic RACT regulation is one that does not, itself, 
specifically define RACT for a source or source categories but instead 
allows for case-by-case RACT determinations. The generic provisions of 
Pennsylvania's regulations allow for PADEP to make case-by-case RACT 
determinations that are then to be submitted to EPA as revisions to the 
Pennsylvania SIP.
    On March 23, 1998 EPA granted conditional limited approval to the 
Commonwealth's generic VOC and NOX RACT regulations (63 FR 
13789). In that action, EPA stated that the conditions of its approval 
would be satisfied once the Commonwealth either (1) certifies that it 
has submitted case-by-case RACT proposals for all sources subject to 
the RACT requirements currently known to PADEP; or (2) demonstrates 
that the emissions from any remaining subject sources represent a de 
minimis level of emissions as defined in the March 23, 1998 rulemaking. 
On April 22, 1999, PADEP made the required submittal to EPA certifying 
that it had met the terms and conditions imposed by EPA in its March 
23, 1998 conditional limited approval of its VOC and NOX 
RACT regulations by submitting 485 case-by-case VOC/NOX RACT 
determinations as SIP revisions and making the demonstration described 
as condition 2, above. EPA determined that Pennsylvania's April 22, 
1999 submittal satisfied the conditions imposed in its conditional 
limited approval published on March 23, 1998. On May 3, 2001 (66 FR 
22123), EPA published a rulemaking action removing the conditional 
status of its approval of the Commonwealth's generic VOC and 
NOX RACT regulations on a statewide basis. The regulation 
currently retains its limited approval status. Once EPA has approved 
the case-by-case RACT determinations submitted by PADEP to satisfy the 
conditional approval for subject sources located in Allegheny, 
Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette, Washington, and Westmoreland 
Counties; the limited approval of Pennsylvania's generic VOC and 
NOX RACT regulations shall convert to a full approval for 
the Pittsburgh area.

II. Summary of the SIP Revision

    On August 8, 2001, PADEP submitted revisions to the Pennsylvania 
SIP which establish and impose case-by-case RACT for several sources of 
VOC and/or NOX. This rulemaking pertains to the 
Commonwealth's submittal of operating permit (OP) 04-000-227 which 
imposes NOX RACT requirements for the Koppel Steel 
Corporation's Ambridge Plant, a major source of NOX located 
in the Pittsburgh area. Remaining sources are the subject of separate 
rulemakings.
    The Koppel Steel Corporation's Ambridge Plant is a producer of 
carbon and alloy tubular products located in Harmony Township, Beaver 
County, Pennsylvania. The Koppel's Ambridge facility receives steel 
billets and tube rounds from another Koppel facility located in Koppel, 
Pennsylvania. The Ambridge Plant is a steel processing facility which 
treats and shapes these billets and rounds into tubular products. The 
facility consists of eight installations/processes with potential 
NOX emissions of 153.1 tons per year. It is, therefore, a 
major source of NOX and subject to RACT. As the facility's 
potential VOC emissions are less than 50 tons per year, the facility is 
not a major source of VOC. The PADEP established NOX RACT 
requirements in OP 04-000-227 for the eight installations/processes 
subject to Pennsylvania's RACT regulation.

A. Description of the NOX Emitting Units/Processes at the 
Ambridge Plant

    The eight installations/processes at Koppel Steel's Ambridge 
facility fall into two source types, heat treating furnaces and space 
heating units.
1. Heat Treating Furnaces
    The heat treating furnaces include the Quench Furnace, Temper 
Furnace, Reheat Furnace, 5" and 7.5" upsetter furnaces, off-mill 
normalize furnace, and rotary hearth reheat furnace. The heating/reheat 
furnaces are used for heat-treating of steel to bring it to a uniform 
temperature suitable for hot working. Upsetter furnaces are small units 
used to heat treat the ends of the tubular products to the correct 
temperature prior to their upsetting. The normalizing furnace is used 
to refine the steel grain structure, to relieve stresses induced by hot 
or cold working, and to improve the mechanical properties of the steel. 
The quench and temper furnaces are used in the product's final 
finishing process, in order to achieve its proper physical properties, 
by cooling it under closely controlled thermal conditions. Heat 
treatment of the carbon and alloy steels is conducted at a slow rate 
and relatively low temperatures to minimize thermal stresses and to 
avoid distortion and cracking. All the heat treating furnaces at the 
Koppel's Ambridge facility are natural gas fired combustion units.
2. Miscellaneous Plant-wide Space Heating Units
    Several natural gas fired space heaters are located throughout the 
plant. These units do not contribute significantly to the total plant-
wide NOX emissions. The gas space heaters are henceforth 
discussed collectively.

B. Description of the RACT Determination

    Of the plant's eight major NOX emitting installations/
processes, four (the reheat furnace, 5" and 7.5" upsetter furnaces, and 
the gas space heaters) are units with rated heat input of less than 20 
MMBTU/hr each. Pennsylvania has determined that these sources are 
subject to SIP-approved presumptive RACT requirements set forth in 25 
Pa. Code Section 129.93(c)(1) which requires that the installation, 
maintenance, and operation of the source be done in accordance with 
manufacturer's specifications. Three of the four remaining sources (the 
quench, temper, and off-mill normalized furnaces) are natural gas fired 
combustion units with a rated heat inputs between 20 MMBTU/hr and 50 
MMBTU/hr each. Pennsylvania has determined that these three sources are 
subject to SIP-approved presumptive RACT requirements set forth in 25 
Pa. Code Section 129.93(b)(2) which require that an annual adjustment 
or tune-up of the combustion process be performed. Pennsylvania also 
requires that an annual test program be conducted utilizing a portable 
analyzer for nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and VOC for the quench, 
temper, reheat, and off-mill normalize furnaces. In addition, in its OP 
04-000-227 Pennsylvania has imposed a requirement that all sources, 
listed above, shall be operated and maintained in accordance with good 
air pollution control practices. The remaining NOX emitting 
source is the rotary hearth reheat furnace with a rated heat input of 
182 MMBTU/hr. The following NOX control options were 
evaluated in a case-by-case RACT analysis: Selective Catalytic 
Reduction (SCR), Low NOX Burners (LNB), Flue Gas 
Recirculation (FGR), Selective Non-Catalytic Reduction (SNCR), and Low 
Excess Air (LEA). Pennsylvania has determined that, as RACT, Koppel 
shall employ LEA at a percentage of approximately 10% to minimize 
NOX formation. Pennsylvania also requires

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that an annual test program be conducted utilizing a portable analyzer 
for nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, and VOC for this source. OP 04-
000-227 also requires that a PADEP-approved stack test for oxides of 
nitrogen, carbon monoxide, and VOC be performed, and that the furnace 
shall be operated and maintained in accordance with good air pollution 
control practices.

III. EPA's Evaluation

    EPA is approving Pennsylvania's SIP submittal to impose RACT for 
Koppel Steel Corporation's Ambridge Plant because OP 04-000-227 
establishes and imposes RACT requirements in accordance with the 
criteria set forth in the SIP-approved RACT regulations and also 
imposes record-keeping, and testing requirements sufficient to 
determine compliance with the applicable RACT determinations.

IV. Final Action

    EPA is approving OP 04-000-227 issued by the PADEP to impose RACT 
for Koppel Steel Corporation's Ambridge Plant as a revision to the 
Pennsylvania SIP. EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal 
because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and 
anticipates no adverse comment. However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' 
section of today's Federal Register, EPA is publishing a separate 
document that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision if 
adverse comments are filed. This rule will be effective on October 9, 
2001 without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by 
September 24, 2001. If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA will publish a 
timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the 
rule will not take effect. EPA will address all public comments in a 
subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not 
institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties 
interested in commenting must do so at this time.

V. Administrative Requirements

A. General 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. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use.'' See 66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001. 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). 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.).

B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General

    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. Section 804 exempts from section 801 the following types 
of rules: (1) Rules of particular applicability; (2) rules relating to 
agency management or personnel; and (3) rules of agency organization, 
procedure, or practice that do not substantially affect the rights or 
obligations of non-agency parties. 5 U.S.C. 804(3). EPA is not required 
to submit a rule report regarding today's action under section 801 
because this is a rule of particular applicability establishing source-
specific requirements for one named source.

C. Petitions for Judicial Review

    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 October 23, 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 approving the Commonwealth's source-
specific RACT requirements to control NOX emissions from 
Koppel Steel Corporation's Ambridge Plant 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, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.


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    Dated: August 15, 2001.
Thomas C. Voltaggio,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.


    40 CFR part 52 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 NN--Pennsylvania

    2. Section 52.2020 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(180) to read 
as follows:


Sec. 52.2020  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (180) Revision pertaining to NOX RACT for Koppel Steel 
Corporation's Ambridge Plant located in Harmony Township, Beaver 
County, Pennsylvania, submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of 
Environmental Protection on August 8, 2001.
    (i) Incorporation by reference.
    (A) Letter submitted on August 8, 2001 by the Pennsylvania 
Department of Environmental Protection transmitting several source-
specific NOX and/or VOC RACT determinations.
    (B) Operating Permit 04-000-227, effective October 12, 2000, issued 
to Koppel Steel Corporation, Ambridge Plant.
    (ii) Additional Materials--Other materials submitted by the 
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in support of and pertaining to the RACT 
determination for the source listed in paragraph (c)(180)(i)(B) of this 
section.

[FR Doc. 01-21429 Filed 8-23-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P