[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 143 (Thursday, July 24, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43186-43188]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-16980]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2008-0537; FRL-8697-5]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Approval 
of the South Coast Air Quality Management District--Reasonably 
Available Control Technology Analysis

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the South Coast Air 
Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern the District's 
analysis of whether its rules meet Reasonably Available Control 
Technology (RACT) under the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality 
Standard (NAAQS). We are approving the analysis under the Clean Air Act 
as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this 
proposal and plan to follow with a final action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by August 25, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2008-0537, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-
line instructions.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 
94105-3901.
    Instructions: All comments will be included in the public docket 
without change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, 
including any personal information provided, unless the comment 
includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information that you 
consider CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as 
such and should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or e-mail.
    Www.regulations.gov is an ``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will 
not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in 
the body of your comment. If you send e-mail directly to EPA, your e-
mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the 
public comment. 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.
    Docket: The index to the docket for this action is available 
electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA Region 
IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all documents 
in the docket are listed in the index, some information may be publicly 
available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material), 
and some may not be publicly available in either location (e.g., CBI). 
To inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an appointment 
during normal business hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stanley Tong, EPA Region IX, (415) 
947-4122, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and 
``our'' refer to EPA.

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What document did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of this document?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted RACT SIP analysis?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the RACT SIP analysis?
    B. Does the analysis meet the evaluation criteria?

[[Page 43187]]

    C. EPA Recommendation To Strengthen the SIP
    D. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What document did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the document addressed by this proposal with the date 
that it was adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board.

                                          Table 1.--Submitted Document
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Local agency                              Document                   Adopted         Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD....................................  Reasonably Available Control              07/14/06         01/31/07
                                             Technology Analysis.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This submittal became complete by operation of law on July 31, 
2007.

B. Are there other versions of this document?

    There is no previous version of this document in the SIP.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted RACT SIP analysis?

    VOCs and NOX help produce ground-level ozone and smog, 
which harm human health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA 
requires States to submit regulations that control VOC and 
NOX emissions. Section 172(c)(1) and 182 require areas that 
are designated at moderate or above for ozone non-attainment to adopt 
RACT. The SCAQMD falls under this requirement as it is designated as a 
severe ozone non-attainment area under the 8-hour NAAQS for ozone (40 
CFR 81.305). Therefore, the SCAQMD must, at a minimum, adopt RACT level 
controls for sources covered by a Control Technique Guidelines (CTG) 
document and for any major non-CTG source. Section IV.G. of EPA's final 
rule to implement the 8-hour ozone NAAQS (70 FR 71612, November 29, 
2005) discusses RACT requirements. It states in part that where a RACT 
SIP is required, State SIPs implementing the 8-hour standard generally 
must assure that RACT is met, either through a certification that 
previously required RACT controls represent RACT for 8-hour 
implementation purposes or through a new RACT determination. The 
submitted document provides SCAQMD's analysis of why their rules meet 
RACT for the 8-hour NAAQS for ozone. EPA's technical support document 
(TSD) has more information about SCAQMD's RACT analysis.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the RACT SIP analysis?

    Guidance and policy documents that we use to help evaluate whether 
the analysis fulfills RACT include the following:
    1. Final Rule to Implement the 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard (70 FR 71612; November 29, 2005).
    2. Letter from William T. Harnett to Regional Air Division 
Directors, (May 18, 2006), ``RACT Qs & As--Reasonably Available Control 
Technology (RACT) Questions and Answers''.
    3. State Implementation Plans, General Preamble for the 
Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (57 
FR 13498; April 16, 1992).
    4. RACT SIPs, Letter dated March 9, 2006 from EPA Region IX (Andrew 
Steckel) to CARB (Kurt Karperos) describing Region IX's understanding 
of what constitutes a minimally acceptable RACT SIP.
    5. RACT SIPs, Letter dated April 4, 2006 from EPA Region IX (Andrew 
Steckel) to CARB (Kurt Karperos) listing EPA's current CTGs, ACTs, and 
other documents which may help to establish RACT.
    6. Comment letter dated June 28, 2006 from EPA Region IX (Andrew 
Steckel) to SCAQMD (Joe Cassmassi) on the 8-hour Ozone Reasonably 
Available Control Technology--State Implementation Plan (RACT SIP) 
Analysis, draft staff report dated May 2006.

B. Does the analysis meet the evaluation criteria?

    SCAQMD's staff report included a listing of all CTG source 
categories and cross matched those CTG categories against the 
corresponding District rule which implemented RACT. Given its 
designation as a severe ozone non-attainment area, SCAQMD was also 
required to analyze RACT for all sources that emit or have the 
potential to emit at least 25 tons per year (tpy) of VOC or 
NOX. SCAQMD staff searched their permitting database for all 
facilities that emitted at least 10 tpy of VOC or NOX and 
identified approximately 1,311 such facilities. The staff report states 
these facilities have a total of 17,607 permits. SCAQMD's staff report 
provides a listing of the Title V facilities along with an example of 
how each permitted source in a Title V facility is associated with a 
district rule and then those rules are compared to the applicable CTGs 
and ACTs. SCAQMD's RACT SIP analysis was made available for public 
comment prior to being adopted by the District. No public comments were 
received by the SCAQMD during the public workshop or during their 45-
day comment period. We propose to find that the RACT SIP analysis 
performed by the SCAQMD is reasonable and demonstrates their rules meet 
RACT. We also propose to find that the analysis is consistent with the 
CAA, EPA regulations and the relevant policy and guidance documents 
listed above. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendation To Strengthen the SIP

    The TSD describes recommendations for strengthening the SCAQMD SIP 
by amending and submitting Rules 1146.1 and 1110.2. SCAQMD's amendments 
to Rule 1146.1, ``Emissions of NOX from Small Industrial, 
Institutional, and Commercial Boilers'', are planned for a Board 
hearing in the fall of 2008. We believe the emission limits in the 
existing SIP-approved Rule 1146.1 meets RACT and the anticipated 
amendments will further strengthen it. Rule 1110.2, ``Emissions from 
Gaseous and Liquid Fueled Internal Combustion Engines'', was amended on 
February 1, 2008. In a separate action, Rule 1110.2 will be proposed 
for approval into the SIP.

D. Public Comment and Final Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted analysis fulfills all relevant 
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve it as described in 
section 110(k)(3) of the Act. We will accept comments from the public 
on this proposal for the next 30 days. Unless we receive convincing new 
information during the comment period, we intend to publish a final 
approval action that will incorporate this document into the federally 
enforceable SIP.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a

[[Page 43188]]

SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and 
applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). 
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
     Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to 
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
     Does not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
     Is certified as not having a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
     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);
     Does not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
     Is not an economically significant regulatory action based 
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent 
with the Clean Air Act; and
     Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to 
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under 
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as specified 
by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the 
SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, 
and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on 
tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental 
relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: July 3, 2008.
Kathleen H. Johnson,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. E8-16980 Filed 7-23-08; 8:45 am]
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