[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 134 (Wednesday, July 14, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 42123-42125]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-15943]


 ========================================================================
 Proposed Rules
                                                 Federal Register
 ________________________________________________________________________
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 This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER contains notices to the public of 
 the proposed issuance of rules and regulations. The purpose of these 
 notices is to give interested persons an opportunity to participate in 
 the rule making prior to the adoption of the final rules.
 
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 

  Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 134 / Wednesday, July 14, 2004 / 
Proposed Rules  

[[Page 42123]]



ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 60 and 62

[OAR-2004-0007; FRL-7786-7]
RIN 2060-AM11


Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Large Municipal 
Waste Combustors That Are Constructed on or Before September 20, 1994, 
and Federal Plan Requirements for Large Municipal Waste Combustors 
Constructed on or Before September 20, 1994

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; amendments.

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

SUMMARY: We are proposing to amend the large municipal waste combustor 
(MWC) emission guidelines to add a carbon monoxide (CO) emission limit 
for one type of MWC technology that was not previously addressed. When 
the large MWC emission guidelines were developed, all existing MWC 
units using the fluidized bed, mixed fuel (wood/refuse-derived fuel) 
technology were judged to be small MWC units, i.e., having a design 
combustion capacity of 35 to 250 tons per day (tpd) of municipal solid 
waste (MSW). Two existing MWC units have since been determined to be 
large MWC units, i.e., having a design combustion capacity of 250 or 
more tpd MSW, and thus subject to the large MWC emission guidelines. 
The proposed rule would amend the emission guidelines to add a CO 
emission limit specific to this technology. The proposed rule also 
would amend the large MWC Federal plan, which implements the emission 
guidelines. The CO emission limit being added of 200 parts per million 
(ppm) by dry volume (24-hour geometric mean) for fluidized bed, mixed 
fuel (wood/refuse-derived fuel) type MWC unit is the same CO limit used 
for this technology in the emission guidelines for small MWC units. Low 
CO levels indicate good combustion, and thus good control of other 
pollutants. Good combustion combined with air pollution control devices 
significantly reduces the release of air pollutants to the environment.
    In the Rule and Regulations section of today's Federal Register, we 
are taking direct final action on the proposed amendments because we 
view the revisions as noncontroversial, and we anticipate no 
significant adverse comments. We have explained our reasons for the 
amendments in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive no 
significant adverse comments, we will take no further action on the 
proposed rule. If we receive significant adverse comments, we will 
publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal 
Register and address comments in a subsequent Federal Register action 
based on the proposal.

DATES: Comments. Submit comments on or before August 13, 2004.
    Public Hearing. If anyone contacts us by August 3, 2004, requesting 
to speak at a public hearing, we will hold a public hearing on August 
13, 2004. Persons interested in attending the public hearing should 
contact Ms. Kelly Hayes at (919) 541-5578 to verify that a hearing will 
be held.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. OAR-2004-
0007, by one of the following methods:
    Federal eRulemaking Portal. http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 
on-line instructions for submitting comments.
    Agency Web site. http://www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, EPA's 
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method 
for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
    By Mail. Send your comments to: Environmental Protection Agency, 
EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), Mailcode 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. OAR-2004-0007. 
Please include a total of two copies. The EPA requests a separate copy 
also be sent to the contact person identified below (see FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT).
    By Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: EPA Docket 
Center (EPA/DC), EPA West Building, Room B108, 1301 Constitution Ave., 
NW., Washington, DC, Attention Docket ID No. OAR-2004-0007. Such 
deliveries are accepted only during the normal hours of operation as 
identified above. Special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information.
    By Facsimile. Fax your comments to (202) 566-1741, Attention Docket 
ID No. OAR-2004-0007.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OAR-2004-0007. 
The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the 
public docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.epa.gov/edocket, including any personal information provided, 
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or e-
mail. The EPA EDOCKET and the federal regulations.gov Web sites are 
``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses.
    Public Hearing. If a public hearing is held, it will be held at 
EPA's RTP Campus located at 109 T.W. Alexander Drive in Research 
Triangle Park, NC, or an alternate site nearby.
    Docket. All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index 
at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be

[[Page 42124]]

publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket 
materials are available either electronically in EDOCKET or in hard 
copy at the EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), EPA West Building, Room B102, 
1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is 
open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is 
(202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the EPA Docket Center is 
(202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Walt Stevenson, Combustion Group, 
Emission Standards Division (C439-01), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, (919) 541-5264, 
e-mail [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Regulated Entities. Categories and entities 
potentially regulated by the proposed rule are existing MWC units with 
a design combustion capacity of greater than 250 tpd of MSW. The MWC 
emission guidelines and the MWC Federal plan affect the following 
categories of sources:

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                              Examples of potentially regulated
                  Category                     NAICS code       SIC code                   entities
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Industry, Federal government, and State/             562213            4953  Solid waste combustors or
 local/tribal governments.                            92411            9511   incinerators at waste-to-energy
                                                                              facilities that generate
                                                                              electricity or steam from the
                                                                              combustion of garbage (typically
                                                                              municipal solid waste); and solid
                                                                              waste combustors or incinerators
                                                                              at facilities that combust garbage
                                                                              (typically municipal solid waste)
                                                                              and do not recover energy from the
                                                                              waste.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a 
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by the 
proposed rule. To determine whether your facility is regulated by the 
proposed rule, you should examine the applicability criteria in Sec.  
60.32b of 40 CFR part 60, subpart Cb, and Sec.  62.14102 of 40 CFR part 
62, subpart FFF. If you have any questions regarding the applicability 
of the proposed rule to a particular entity, contact the person listed 
in the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
    Submitting CBI. Do not submit information that you consider to be 
CBI electronically through EDocket, regulations.gov, or e-mail. Send or 
deliver information identified as CBI to only the following address: 
Mr. Walt Stevenson, c/o OAQPS Document Control Officer (Room C439-01), 
U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, 27711, Attention Docket ID No. OAR-
2004-0007. Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you 
claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or CD ROM that you mail 
to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as CBI and then identify 
electronically within the disk or CD ROM the specific information that 
is claimed as CBI. In addition to one complete version of the comment 
that includes information claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment that 
does not contain the information claimed as CBI must be submitted for 
inclusion in the public docket. Information so marked will not be 
disclosed except in accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 
2.
    Docket. The docket number for the proposed amendment to the 
emission guidelines (40 CFR part 60, subpart Cb) and Federal plan (40 
CFR part 62, subpart FFF) is Docket ID No. OAR-2004-0007. Other dockets 
incorporated by reference include Docket ID Nos. A-89-08, A-90-45, and 
A-98-18 for the emission guidelines amendment and Docket ID Nos. A-97-
45 and A-2000-39 for the Federal plan amendment. The docket includes 
background information and supported the proposal and promulgation of 
the emission guidelines (40 CFR part 60, subparts Ca and Ea) and large 
MWC Federal plan (40 CFR part 62, subpart FFF).
    Worldwide Web (WWW). In addition to being available in the docket, 
an electronic copy of the proposed rule is also available on the WWW 
through the Technology Transfer Network (TTN). Following signature, a 
copy of the promulgated direct final rule will be posted on the TTN's 
policy and guidance page for newly proposed or promulgated rules at 
http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg. The TTN provides information and 
technology exchange in various areas of air pollution control. If more 
information regarding the TTN is needed, call the TTN Help line at 
(919) 541-5384.

I. Background and Summary of Amendments

    The proposed rule amends the MWC emission guidelines and the MWC 
Federal plan for large MWC units to add a CO emission limit for 
bubbling fluidized bed combustors that burn a mixture of wood and 
refuse-derived fuel (RDF). This is the same combustor technology and CO 
emission limit that appear in the small MWC emission guidelines. In 
developing the emission guidelines for small MWC units, we recognized 
the unique characteristics of the existing bubbling fluidized bed MWC 
units combusting a mixture of wood and RDF and included a CO emission 
limit specific to that technology. Since promulgation of the emission 
guidelines for large MWC units, two existing fluidized bed MWC units 
combusting a mixture of wood and RDF were determined to be large MWC 
units, subject to the large MWC emission guidelines. However, the large 
MWC emission guidelines did not include bubbling fluidized bed MWC 
units combusting a mixture of wood and RDF because none were judged to 
be in the large category when the large MWC emission guidelines were 
developed and adopted in 1995. The proposed amendments recognize 
bubbling fluidized bed (wood/RDF) MWC units as an MWC technology in the 
large MWC category and add a CO emission limit of 200 ppm by dry volume 
(24-hour geometric mean). This is the same CO emission limit, and is 
based on the same analysis for this technology, that appears in the 
small MWC emission guidelines. The proposed amendments similarly revise 
the large MWC Federal plan, which implements the emission guidelines.

II. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    For a complete discussion of all of the administrative requirements 
of the proposed rule, see the direct final rule in the Rules and 
Regulations section of today's Federal Register.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) as amended by the Small 
business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA) of 1996, 5 U.S.C. 
601 et seq., generally requires an agency to prepare a regulatory 
flexibility analysis of any rule subject to notice and comment 
rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedures Act or any 
other statute unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small 
entities include small

[[Page 42125]]

businesses, small government organizations, and small government 
jurisdictions.
    For purposes of assessing the impacts of the proposed rule on small 
entities, small entity is defined as follows:
    (1) A small business in the regulated industry that has a gross 
annual revenue less than $6 million;
    (2) A small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of a 
city, county, town, school district or special district with a 
population of less than 50,000; or
    (3) A small organization that is any not-for-profit enterprise that 
is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field.
    Section 605 of the RFA requires Federal agencies to give special 
consideration to the impacts of regulations on small entities, which 
are small businesses, small organizations, and small governments. 
During the 1995 MWC rulemaking, EPA estimated that few, if any, small 
entities would be affected by the promulgated guidelines and standards 
and, therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis was not required (see 
60 FR 65413).
    After considering the economic impacts of today's proposed rule on 
small entities, I certify that the proposed rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The proposed rule will not impose any requirements on small entities 
because it does not impose any additional regulatory requirements.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Parts 60 and 62

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Air pollution control, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: July 8, 2004.
Michael O. Leavitt,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 04-15943 Filed 7-13-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P