[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 31, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51694-51696]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17357]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 51

[OAR-2005-0148; FRL-7963-1]


Advance Notice To Solicit Comments, Data and Information for 
Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved in Ozone Nonattainment 
and Maintenance Areas From the Implementation of Rules Limiting the VOC 
Content of AIM Coatings

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: By this action, EPA is soliciting comments, data and 
information for determining how to calculate the reductions in volatile 
organic compounds (VOC) emissions achieved in ozone nonattainment and 
maintenance areas from the implementation of rules which limit the VOC 
content of architectural coatings (commonly referred to as 
architectural industrial maintenance, or AIM, coatings). In addition to 
submitting comments, data and information, interested parties may also 
request to meet with EPA to present their recommended approaches and 
rationales.

DATES: Please submit comments, data, and information on or before 
October 17, 2005. Requests to meet with EPA should be made on or before 
September 30, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your written comments, data and information, 
identified by Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148, 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.
    E-mail: Send electronic mail (e-mail) to EPA Docket Center at [email protected].
    Fax: Send faxes to the EPA Docket Center at (202) 566-1741.
    Mail: Air and Radiation Docket, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Mail Code 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 
20460. Attn: Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148, Advance Notice for 
Information on Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved from 
Limiting the VOC Content of Architectural Coating. Please include a 
total of two copies.
    Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center (Air and Radiation 
Docket), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA West Building, Room 
B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20004. Such 
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of 
operation, and special arrangements should be made for delivery of 
boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148. 
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 websites 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.
    Docket: All documents in the electronic 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 publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically in 
EDOCKET or in hard copy during normal business hours at the Air and 
Radiation Docket, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave.,

[[Page 51695]]

NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center 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 Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, 
and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marcia L. Spink, Associate Director 
for Air Programs, Air Protection Division, Mail Code 3AP20, U.S. EPA 
Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, telephone (215) 
814-2104, or by e-mail at [email protected]. To schedule a meeting 
with EPA, please contact David Sanders, U.S. EPA, Ozone Policy & 
Strategies Group, Air Quality Strategies & Standards Division, Mail 
Code C539-02, Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards, Research 
Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-3356, or by e-mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, the terms ``we'' 
and ``its'' refer to the EPA.

I. Background

    On May 13, 2005 (70 FR 25688), EPA published a final rule approving 
several State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions for the District of 
Columbia, State of Maryland and Commonwealth of Virginia, including the 
post 1999-2005 Rate-of-Progress (ROP) plan for the Metropolitan 
Washington, DC 1-Hour Severe Ozone Nonattainment Area (the Washington 
area). That ROP plan relied upon, among other control measures, VOC 
emissions reductions from the District's, Maryland's and Virginia's 
SIP-approved AIM coatings rules to satisfy certain contingency measure 
requirements applicable to ROP plans.
    These States' SIP-approved AIM coatings rules are based upon a 
model rule developed by the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC). The EPA's 
SIP approval of the District's, Virginia's and Maryland's AIM coating 
rules, themselves (70 FR 24959, 24970, 24979; May 12, 2005, 
respectively), involved no consideration or approval of an amount of 
VOC emissions reductions or credits achieved by those States' AIM 
coatings rules. Rather, EPA's basis for approval of these States' AIM 
coating rules, as well as Delaware's, Pennsylvania's and New York's OTC 
model rule-based AIM coatings rules (67 FR 70315, November 22, 2002; 69 
FR 68080, November 23, 2004; and 69 FR 72118, December 13, 2004, 
respectively) as SIP revisions was its determination that those AIM 
rules are as stringent or more stringent than the otherwise applicable 
Federal AIM coatings rule.\1\
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    \1\ See 40 CFR, part 59, subpart D--National Volatile Organic 
Compound Emission Standards for Architectural Coatings; source: 63 
FR 48877, September 11, 1998.
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    In publishing this action, EPA is not reopening its SIP approvals 
of any State AIM coatings rule or the Federal AIM coatings rule. The 
EPA is not reopening its determination that the SIP-approved State AIM 
rules are as stringent or more stringent than the otherwise applicable 
Federal AIM rule. Nor is EPA reopening its approval of the Washington 
area ROP plan, its decision with respect to credit for VOC reductions 
due to the State AIM rules in the Washington area ROP plan, or any SIP 
approval EPA has made to date in which credit for VOC reductions have 
been claimed due to either a State AIM coatings rule or the Federal AIM 
coatings rule. Please do not submit comments on any completed 
rulemakings.
    As stated previously, however, the Washington area's post 1999-2005 
ROP plan submitted by the District, Maryland and Virginia did rely 
upon, among other control measures, VOC emissions reductions from the 
three jurisdictions' AIM coatings rules to satisfy certain contingency 
measure requirements applicable to ROP plans. As part of EPA's proposed 
rulemaking process on the Washington area post 1999-2005 ROP plan, we 
independently performed calculations of the VOC emissions reductions 
achieved by implementation of the District's, Maryland's and Virginia's 
AIM coatings rules. The EPA did this analysis to confirm that 
implementation of the AIM coatings rules in Maryland, Virginia, and the 
District of Columbia would result in at least the amount of VOC 
emissions reductions relied upon by the States and the District of 
Columbia for those rules in the Washington area ROP plan.
    During the public comment period of the proposed rule to approve 
the Washington area ROP plan (70 FR 2085; January 12, 2005), EPA 
received several comments, from both the regulated sector and the State 
of Maryland, related to the methodology and the associated baseline EPA 
employed to calculate the VOC emissions reductions from the three 
jurisdictions' AIM coatings rules. In the final rule approving the 
Washington area post 1999-2005 ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005), 
EPA explained that it was not necessary to choose a particular 
methodology or baseline in order to approve the ROP plan because all of 
the approaches presented by EPA or the commenters resulted in 
calculated VOC emissions reductions from implementation of Maryland, 
Virginia, and the District of Columbia's AIM coatings rules sufficient 
to satisfy the requirements of the ROP plan.
    While it was not necessary to choose a particular methodology or 
baseline in order for EPA to approve the Washington area post 1999-2005 
ROP plan, this may not always be the case. In the future, states may 
design reasonable further progress, attainment and maintenance plans 
for ozone nonattainment areas which rely upon VOC emissions reductions 
from the implementation of AIM coatings rules. For consistency from 
state to state in the development of such plans, and in EPA's 
subsequent evaluation of those plans, we are soliciting comments, data, 
information and recommendations as to the baseline and calculation 
methodology for determining the emission reductions achieved from the 
implementation of rules which limit the VOC content of AIM coatings. 
The EPA is commencing this process in recognition of the need to 
formulate a technically sound and consistent approach that states may 
use to account for the VOC emissions from the AIM coatings sector in 
compiling base year and projection emission inventories, demonstrating 
reasonable further progress, and conducting modeling analyses as part 
of their ozone SIP planning activities. The EPA included the following 
paragraph in its final rule approving the Washington area's post 1999-
2005 ROP plan: ``However, EPA recognizes the need to resolve 
conclusively how to determine the amount of VOC emission reductions 
achieved from the implementation of AIM coatings rules in a given ozone 
nonattainment area. This remains an issue of concern to the states, the 
regulated sector, and other interested parties. Therefore, EPA intends 
to conduct a separate process to solicit further comment, information 
and recommendations from all interested parties as to how to determine 
the amount of VOC emission reductions achieved from the implementation 
of AIM coatings rules in a given ozone nonattainment area.'' By 
publishing this Advance Notice to Solicit Comments, Data and 
Information for Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved in Ozone 
Nonattainment and Maintenance Areas from the Implementation of Rules 
Limiting the VOC Content of AIM Coatings, EPA is hereby commencing the 
separate process referenced in our final approval of the ROP plan for 
the Washington area.

[[Page 51696]]

    Those parties interested in participating in this process by 
submitting comments, data information or recommendations may find the 
Supplementary Technical Support Document (TSD) which EPA prepared in 
support of the final rule approving the Washington area post 1999-2005 
ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005) to be a useful reference with 
regard to these issues. This TSD presents some helpful examples of 
baselines and methodologies used to calculate the VOC emissions 
reductions achieved from the implementation of AIM coating rules.\2\ 
This TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Region 3 contact 
listed in the For Further Information Contact section of this document, 
and is also in the EDOCKET (OAR-2005-0148-0002) for this action.
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    \2\ By citing to this Supplementary TSD as a reference, EPA is 
not re-opening its final rule approving the Washington area post-
1999-2005 ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005).
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II. EPA's Intent Regarding the Comments, Data, Information and 
Recommendations

    It is EPA's intent to consider all relevant comments, data, 
information, and recommendations submitted to us to formulate a 
practicable, technically sound approach for calculating the VOC 
emissions achieved and creditable from the implementation of an AIM 
coatings rule in a given ozone nonattainment or maintenance area. As 
previously stated, EPA is commencing this process in recognition of the 
need to formulate a technically sound and consistent approach that 
States may use to account for the VOC emissions from the AIM coatings 
sector in compiling base year and projection emission inventories, 
demonstrating reasonable further progress, and conducting modeling 
analyses as part of their ozone SIP planning activities. It would also 
provide for consistency in EPA's subsequent evaluations of states' 
attainment, maintenance and progress plans that rely upon emissions 
reductions from the AIM coatings sector.
    Once EPA receives the comments, data, and information solicited 
herein, we will determine the appropriate next steps. The EPA believes, 
at this time, the next steps will likely include rulemaking and/or 
guidance to provide a practicable and technically sound approach for 
States, and other interested parties, to use in determining the VOC 
emissions reductions achieved by the implementation of AIM coating 
rules in ozone nonattainment and maintenance areas. Any such action 
will be conducted using notice and comment procedures. Once this 
rulemaking/guidance has been provided, it will be available for states 
to use in the development of future state implementation plan (SIP) 
revisions, if any, that rely upon VOC emissions reductions achieved by 
the implementation of AIM coating rules in ozone nonattainment and 
maintenance areas. This rulemaking/guidance will not require any state 
to amend previously approved SIP revisions, however, it may be used by 
states, at their discretion, to revise their current SIPs as they deem 
appropriate.
    The EPA encourages all interested parties to participate in this 
process by submitting relevant comments, data, information and 
recommendations for how best to calculate the VOC emission reductions 
achieved from the adoption and implementation of an AIM coating rule in 
a given nonattainment or maintenance area.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under Executive Order (EO) 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review 
(58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this action is not a ``significant 
regulatory action'' and is, therefore, not subject to review by the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 51

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Ozone, Volatile 
organic compounds.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: August 24, 2005.
Stephen L. Johnson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-17357 Filed 8-30-05; 8:45 am]
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