[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 176 (Wednesday, September 12, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52010-52012]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-17797]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2005-NC-0004-200704(a); FRL-8465-4]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans North Carolina: 
Mecklenburg County Regulations

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
North Carolina State Implementation Plan (SIP). On February 16, 2005, 
the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources 
submitted revisions to the Mecklenburg County Air Pollution Control 
Ordinance (MCAPCO) to be incorporated into the Mecklenburg County 
portion of the North Carolina SIP. The revisions include changes to 
MCAPCO 2.0902, ``Applicability,'' and 2.0933, ``Petroleum Liquid 
Storage in External Floating Roof Tanks.'' These changes were made to 
maintain consistency with State and federal regulations, and are part 
of Mecklenburg County's strategy to attain and maintain the 8-hour 
ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), by reducing 
precursors to ozone. EPA is approving this SIP revision pursuant to 
section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

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DATES: This direct final rule is effective November 13, 2007 without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by October 12, 
2007. If adverse comment is received, EPA 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 No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2005-NC-0004, by one of the following methods:
    1. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
    4. Mail: ``EPA-R04-OAR-2005-NC-0004,'' Regulatory Development 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
    5. Hand Delivery or Courier: James Hou, Regulatory Development 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. 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 a.m.to 4:30 p.m., excluding federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-
2005-NC-0004. 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 through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. 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. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    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 Regulatory Development 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all 
possible, you contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's 
official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, 
excluding federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Hou, Regulatory Development 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is (404) 
562-8965. Mr. Hou can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Analysis of State's Submittal

    On February 16, 2005, the North Carolina Department of Environment 
and Natural Resources submitted a SIP revision including changes to the 
MCAPCO, to be incorporated into the Mecklenburg County portion of the 
North Carolina SIP. The SIP revision includes changes to MCAPCO 2.0902, 
``Applicability,'' and 2.0933, ``Petroleum Liquid Storage in External 
Floating Roof Tanks.'' Specifically, the changes to MCAPCO 2.0902 
consist of a recodification, which is essentially a reorganization of 
the code, to remove obsolete provisions. The change to MCAPCA 2.0933 
rewords a provision that was already incorporated into the SIP, and 
does not alter the meaning or interpretation of that provision.

II. Final Action

    EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the Mecklenburg 
County portion of the North Carolina SIP, because the revisions are 
consistent with CAA and EPA regulatory requirements. EPA is publishing 
this rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a 
noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. 
However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register 
publication, EPA is publishing a separate document that will serve as 
the proposal to approve the SIP revision should adverse comments be 
filed. This rule will be effective November 13, 2007 without further 
notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by October 12, 2007.
    If EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a document 
withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will 
not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in 
a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not 
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting 
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public 
is advised that this rule will be effective on November 13, 2007 and no 
further action will be taken on the proposed rule. Please note that if 
we receive adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of 
this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of 
the rule, we may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are 
not the subject of an adverse comment.

III. 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 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

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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 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 state law as 
meeting Federal requirements and imposes no additional requirements 
beyond those imposed by state law. As a result, the action 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 November 13, 2007. 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, 
Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate 
matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, 
Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: August 27, 2007.
Russell L. Wright, Jr.,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.

0
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart II--North Carolina

0
2. Section 52.1770(c), Table 3 is amended by revising entries for 
``2.0902'' and ``2.0933'' to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1770  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                                  Table 3.--EPA Approved Mecklenburg County Regulations
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                                                                State
        State citation                Title/subject        effective date             EPA approval date                           Comments
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                                                                      * * * * * * *
2.0902........................  Applicability............      10/16/2004  9/12/07 [Insert citation of
                                                                            publication].
 
                                                                      * * * * * * *
2.0933........................  Petroleum Liquid Storage       10/16/2004  9/12/07 [Insert citation of
                                 In External Floating                       publication].
                                 Roof Tanks.
 
                                                                      * * * * * * *
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[FR Doc. E7-17797 Filed 9-11-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P?>