[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 177 (Wednesday, September 13, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 53972-53974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-15198]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 62

[R01-OAR-2006-0668; FRL-8219-2]


Approval and Promulgation of State Plans for Designated 
Facilities and Pollutants: Vermont; Negative Declaration

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving the Sections 111(d) and 129 negative 
declaration submitted by the Vermont Department of Environmental 
Conservation (VT DEC) on June 30, 2006. This negative declaration 
adequately certifies that there are no existing ``other solid waste 
incineration units'' (OSWIs) located within the boundaries of the State 
of Vermont. EPA publishes regulations under Sections 111(d) and 129 of 
the Clean Air Act requiring states to submit control plans to EPA. 
These state control plans show how states intend to control the 
emissions of designated pollutants from designated facilities (e.g., 
OSWIs). The State of Vermont submitted this negative declaration in 
lieu of a state control plan.

DATES: This direct final rule is effective on November 13, 2006 without 
further notice unless EPA receives significant adverse comment by 
October 13, 2006. If EPA receives adverse comment, we 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: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-

[[Page 53973]]

R01-OAR-2006-0668 by one of the following methods:
    A. http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    B. E-mail: [email protected].
    C. Fax: (617) 918-0048.
    D. Mail: ``EPA-R01-OAR-2006-0668'', Daniel Brown, Chief, Air 
Permits, Toxics & Indoor Programs Unit, Office of Ecosystem Protection, 
U.S. EPA, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAP), Boston, Massachusetts 
02114-2023.
    E. Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: Daniel 
Brown, Chief, Air Permits, Toxics & Indoor Programs Unit, Office of 
Ecosystem Protection, U.S. EPA, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAP), 
Boston, Massachusetts 02114-2023. Such deliveries are only accepted 
during the Regional Office's normal hours of operation. The Regional 
Office's official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 
4:30 excluding Federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID Number EPA-R01-OAR-
2006-0668. 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.regulations.gov 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 http://www.regulations.gov, or e-
mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous 
access'' system, 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 http://www.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 
http://www.regulations.gov index. 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 http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of Ecosystem 
Protection, U.S. Environmental Conservation Agency, EPA New England 
Regional Office, One Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA. EPA 
requests that if at all possible, you contact the person listed in the 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section below to schedule your review. 
The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through 
Friday, 8:30 to 4:30 excluding Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Daniel Brown, Chief, Air Permits, 
Toxic & Indoor Air Programs Unit, Office of Ecosystem Protection (CAP), 
EPA--New England, Region 1, Boston, Massachusetts 02203, telephone 
number (617) 918-1048, fax number (617) 918-0048, e-mail 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. What action is EPA taking today?
II. What is the origin of the requirements?
III. When did the requirements first become known?
IV. When did Vermont submit its negative declaration?
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What action is EPA taking today?

    EPA is approving the negative declaration of air emissions from 
OSWI units submitted by the State of Vermont.
    EPA is publishing this negative declaration without prior proposal 
because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and 
anticipates no adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section 
of this Federal Register, EPA is publishing a separate document that 
will serve as the proposal to approve this negative declaration should 
relevant adverse comments be filed. If EPA receives no significant 
adverse comment by October 13, 2006, this action will be effective 
November 13, 2006.
    If EPA receives significant adverse comments by the above date, we 
will withdraw this action before the effective date by publishing a 
subsequent document in the Federal Register that will withdraw this 
final action. EPA will address all public comments received in a 
subsequent final rule based on the parallel proposed rule published in 
today's Federal Register. EPA will not institute a second comment 
period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this 
action should do so at this time.

II. What is the origin of the requirements?

    Under Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act, EPA published 
regulations at 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart B which require states to submit 
plans to control emissions of designated pollutants from designated 
facilities. In the event that a state does not have a particular 
designated facility located within its boundaries, EPA requires that a 
negative declaration be submitted in lieu of a control plan.

III. When did the requirements first become known?

    On December 9, 2004, EPA proposed emission guidelines for OSWI 
units. This action enabled EPA to list OSWI units as designated 
facilities. By proposing these guidelines, EPA specified particulate 
matter, opacity, sulfur dioxide, hydrogen chloride, oxides of nitrogen, 
carbon monoxide, lead, cadmium, mercury, and dioxins/furans as 
designated pollutants. These guidelines were published in final form on 
December 16, 2005 (70 FR 74870) and codified at 40 CFR part 60, subpart 
EEEE.

IV. When did Vermont submit its negative declaration?

    On June 30, 2006, the Vermont Department of Environmental 
Conservation (VT DEC) submitted a letter certifying that there are no 
existing OSWI units subject to 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart B. Section 
111(d) and 40 CFR 62.06 provide that when no such designated facilities 
exist within a state's boundaries, the affected state may submit a 
letter of ``negative declaration'' instead of a control plan. EPA is 
publishing this negative declaration at 40 CFR 62.11490.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    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'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes 
no additional

[[Page 53974]]

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), 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 
``Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety 
Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically 
significant.
    In reviewing section 111(d) submissions, EPA's role is to approve 
state plans, 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 state plan submission for failure to use VCS. It would 
thus be inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a 
state plan submission, to use VCS in place of a state plan 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. 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 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 November 13, 2006. Interested 
parties should comment in response to the proposed rule rather than 
petition for judicial review, unless the objection arises after the 
comment period allowed for in the proposal. 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 62

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Air pollution control, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, Waste treatment and 
disposal.

    Dated: September 2, 2006.
Robert W. Varney,
Regional Administrator, EPA New England.

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40 CFR Part 62 is amended as follows:

PART 62--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for Part 62 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart UU--Vermont

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2. Subpart UU is amended by adding a new Sec.  62.11490 and a new 
undesignated center heading to read as follows:

Air Emissions From Existing Other Solid Waste Incineration Units


Sec.  62.11490  Identification of Plan-negative declaration.

    On June 30, 2006, the Vermont Department of Environmental 
Conservation submitted a letter certifying that there are no existing 
other solid waste incineration units in the state subject to the 
emission guidelines under part 60, subpart EEEE of this chapter.

[FR Doc. E6-15198 Filed 9-12-06; 8:45 am]
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