[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 210 (Wednesday, October 30, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 66058-66061]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-27492]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[MO 165-1165a; FRL-7401-4]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of KS

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking final action to approve a volatile organic 
compound (VOC) rule applicable to the Kansas portion of the Kansas City 
maintenance area as a revision to the Kansas State Implementation Plan 
(SIP). This rule restricts VOC emissions from area sources. The effect 
of this approval is to ensure Federal enforceability of the state air 
program rules and to maintain consistency between the state-adopted 
rules and the approved SIP. This action also determines that Kansas has 
met the condition of approval of its revised maintenance plan for 
Kansas City and rescinds the prior conditional approval of the revised 
maintenance plan.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective December 30, 2002, 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by November 29, 2002. 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: Comments may be mailed to Leland Daniels, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 901 North 5th 
Street, Kansas City, Kansas 66101.
    Copies of documents relative to this action are available for 
public inspection during normal business hours at the above-listed 
Region 7 location. The interested persons wanting to examine these 
documents should make an appointment with the office at least 24 hours 
in advance.

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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Leland Daniels at (913) 551-7651.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This section provides 
additional information by addressing the following questions:

    What is a SIP?
    What is the Federal approval process for a SIP?
    What does Federal approval of a state regulation mean to me?
    What is being addressed in this document?
    Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?
    What action is EPA taking?

What Is a SIP?

    Section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires states to develop 
air pollution regulations and control strategies to ensure that state 
air quality meets the national ambient air quality standards 
established by EPA. These ambient standards are established under 
section 109 of the CAA, and they currently address six criteria 
pollutants. These pollutants are: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, 
ozone, lead, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide.
    Each state must submit these regulations and control strategies to 
us for approval and incorporation into the Federally-enforceable SIP.
    Each Federally-approved SIP protects air quality primarily by 
addressing air pollution at its point of origin. These SIPs can be 
extensive, containing state regulations or other enforceable documents 
and supporting information such as emission inventories, monitoring 
networks, and modeling demonstrations.

What Is the Federal Approval Process for a SIP?

    In order for state regulations to be incorporated into the 
Federally-enforceable SIP, states must formally adopt the regulations 
and control strategies consistent with state and Federal requirements. 
This process generally includes a public notice, public hearing, public 
comment period, and a formal adoption by a state-authorized rulemaking 
body.
    Once a state rule, regulation, or control strategy is adopted, the 
state submits it to us for inclusion into the SIP. We must provide 
public notice and seek additional public comment regarding the proposed 
Federal action on the state submission. If adverse comments are 
received, they must be addressed prior to any final Federal action by 
us.
    All state regulations and supporting information approved by EPA 
under section 110 of the CAA are incorporated into the Federally-
approved SIP. Records of such SIP actions are maintained in the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) at Title 40, part 52, entitled ``Approval and 
Promulgation of Implementation Plans.'' The actual state regulations 
which are approved are not reproduced in their entirety in the CFR 
outright but are ``incorporated by reference,'' which means that we 
have approved a given state regulation with a specific effective date.

What Does Federal Approval of a State Regulation Mean to Me?

    Enforcement of the state regulation before and after it is 
incorporated into the Federally-approved SIP is primarily a state 
responsibility. However, after the regulation is Federally approved, we 
are authorized to take enforcement action against violators. Citizens 
are also offered legal recourse to address violations as described in 
section 304 of the CAA.

What Is Being Addressed in This Document?

    Kansas has adopted a regulation to control emission of VOCs from 
area sources located within the Kansas portion of the Kansas City ozone 
maintenance area, specifically Johnson and Wyandotte Counties. The rule 
we are approving is the Kansas Administrative Rule (K.A.R.) 28-19-714, 
Control of Emissions from Solvent Metal Cleaning. Kansas, in a 
continuing effort to achieve additional needed emission reductions, has 
adopted this control regulation. Implementation of this rule is 
expected to reduce VOC emissions from area sources by 1.97 tons per day 
(tpd). This new regulation was adopted by the Kansas Department of 
Health and Environment (KDHE) on July 29, 2002, and became effective 
September 1, 2002. Today, EPA is taking final action to approve the 
rule K.A.R. 28-19-714, Control of Emissions from Solvent Metal 
Cleaning.
    In 1999 we conditionally approved (64 FR 28757, May 27, 1999) the 
new contingency measures in the maintenance plan and gave the State one 
year to opt-in to the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program or adopt 
equivalent emission reduction measures. By letter dated July 28, 1999, 
the Governor of Kansas filed an application to require RFG for the 
Kansas City, Kansas, area. The State's action to opt-in to the RFG 
program fulfilled the condition we imposed upon the approval. Before 
EPA acted on the application to impose RFG, the Court of Appeals for 
the District of Columbia Circuit first stayed and later vacated an EPA 
rule which would have allowed former nonattainment areas (like Kansas 
City) and other areas to opt-in to the RFG program (American Petroleum 
Inst. v. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 198 F. 3d 275 (D.C. Cir. 
2000)). Subsequently, the State chose to implement a lower volatility 
gasoline measure (7.0 psi RVP). This measure was approved on February 
13, 2002 (67 FR 6655, effective March 15, 2002).
    Kansas has worked to establish control measures to provide the 
additional emissions reductions needed to fulfill the contingency 
measure requirement. In addition, during 2001 Missouri submitted four 
additional control measures to limit VOC emissions.
    For these reasons, we are determining that Kansas has met the 
condition of the May 27, 1999, approval of the maintenance plan 
revision (64 FR 28757), and we are rescinding the prior conditional 
approval (40 CFR 52.869) and providing full approval of the revision to 
the maintenance plan.

Have the Requirements for Approval of a SIP Revision Been Met?

    The state submittal has met the public notice requirements for SIP 
submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submittal also 
satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. In 
addition, as explained above and in more detail in the technical 
support document which is part of this document, the revision meets the 
substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, including section 110 and 
implementing regulations.

What Action Is EPA Taking?

    This action approves a VOC rule, K.A.R. 28-19-714, as a revision to 
Kansas's SIP for the Kansas City, Kansas, area. We are also revoking 
K.A.R. 28-19-75 as it has been revised and replaced. This action also 
provides full approval of the revision to the maintenance plan and also 
removes the prior conditional approval (40 CFR 52.869). We are 
processing this action as a final action because it adds 
noncontroversial regulations to the SIP. We do not anticipate any 
adverse comments. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on 
an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision 
is severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those 
provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment.

Administrative Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is

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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'' (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 (Pub. L. 104-4).
    This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will 
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). This action also does not have Federalism 
implications because it does 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 action 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 CAA. 
This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045, ``Protection of 
Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (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 CAA. 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 CAA. 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. 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 CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by December 30, 2002. 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: October 18, 2002.
William Rice,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 7.


    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 R--Kansas


Sec.  52.869  [Removed and Reserved]

    2. Section 52.869 is removed and reserved.

    3. Section 52.870 is amended in the table to paragraph (c) under 
Volatile Organic Compound Emissions by:
    a. Removing the entry for K.A.R. 28-19-75; and
    b. Adding in numerical order an entry for ``28-19-714,'' to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.870  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                         EPA-Approved Kansas Regulations
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                                                                   State         EPA
          Kansas citation                      Title             effective     approval          Comments
                                                                    date         date
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       Kansas Department of Health and Environment Ambient Air Quality Standards and Air Pollution Control
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                                                  * * * * * * *
-----------------------------------
                                       Volatile Organic Compound Emissions
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                                                  * * * * * * *
28-19-714.........................  Control of Emissions from        9/1/02     10/30/02
                                     Solvent Metal Cleaning.                    [FR page
                                                                               citation]

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[FR Doc. 02-27492 Filed 10-29-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P