[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 147 (Wednesday, July 30, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44204-44206]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-17455]


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 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2008-0502; FRL-8699-3]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan

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 oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX ) emissions from gaseous- and liquid-fueled internal 
combustion engines. We are approving a local rule that regulates these 
emission sources 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 29, 2008.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2008-0502, 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: Francisco D[oacute][ntilde]ez, EPA 
Region IX, (415) 972-3956, [email protected].

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

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rule did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of this rule?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action.
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rule?
    B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA recommendations to further improve the rule.
    D. Public comment and final action.

[[Page 44205]]

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rule did the State submit?

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

                                             Table 1--Submitted Rule
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Local agency              Rule           Rule title             Adopted         Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD............................          1110.2   Gaseous- and Liquid-             02/01/08         05/20/08
                                                      Fueled Internal
                                                      Combustion Engines.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On June 9, 2008, this rule submittal was found to meet the 
completeness criteria in 40 CFR Part 51, Appendix V, which must be met 
before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of this rule?

    There are no previous versions of Rule 1110.2 in the SIP, although 
the SCAQMD adopted earlier versions of this rule on September 7, 1990; 
August 12, 1994; and December 9, 1994. Those versions were not 
submitted to EPA. The SCAQMD adopted an additional version of Rule 
1110.2 on November 14, 1997, and CARB submitted that version to us on 
May 18, 1998. We proposed a limited approval and limited disapproval of 
that submission on March 18, 1999 (64 FR 13372), but did not finalize 
that action. While we can act on only the most recently submitted 
version, we have reviewed materials provided with previous submittals.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?

    NOX helps produce ground-level ozone, smog and 
particulate matter, which harm human health and the environment. 
Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States to submit regulations that 
control NOX emissions. Rule 1110.2 regulates NOX 
emissions, as well as volatile organic compound (VOC) and carbon 
monoxide (CO) emissions, from stationary and portable internal 
combustion engines rated at 50 or more horsepower, including 
agricultural engines. EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more 
information about this rule.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rule?

    Generally, SIP rules must be enforceable (see section 110(a) of the 
Act), must require Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for 
each category of sources covered by a Control Techniques Guidelines 
(CTG) document as well as each major source in nonattainment areas (see 
sections 182(a)(2) and 182(f)), and must not relax existing 
requirements (see sections 110(l) and 193). The SCAQMD regulates an 
ozone nonattainment area (see 40 CFR part 81), so Rule 1110.2 must 
fulfill RACT. Additionally, SIP rules must require Best Available 
Control Measures (BACM), including Best Available Control Technology 
(BACT), in serious particulate matter (PM) nonattainment areas (see CAA 
sections 189(a)(1) and 189(b)(1)). The SCAQMD regulates a PM 
nonattainment area classified as serious (see 40 CFR part 81), so Rule 
1110.2 must implement BACM for PM precursors, including NOX.
    Guidance and policy documents that we use to help consistently 
evaluate enforceability and RACT or BACM requirements include the 
following:
    1. ``State Implementation Plans; Nitrogen Oxides Supplement to the 
General Preamble; Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 Implementation of 
Title I; Proposed Rule,'' (the NOX Supplement), 57 FR 55620, 
November 25, 1992.
    2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook).
    3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
    4. ``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); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
    5. ``State Implementation Plans for Serious PM-10 Nonattainment 
Areas, and Attainment Date Waivers for PM-10 Nonattainment Areas 
Generally; Addendum to the General Preamble for the Implementation of 
Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 59 FR 41998 (August 
16, 1994).
    6. ``PM-10 Guideline Document,'' EPA 452/R-93-008, April 1993.
    7.``Determination of Reasonably Available Control Technology and 
Best Available Retrofit Control Technology for Stationary Spark-Ignited 
Internal Combustion Engines'' (``the Determination''), California Air 
Resources Board (November 2001).
    8. ``Best Available Control Technology Guidelines,'' South Coast 
Air Quality Management District (August 17, 2000; latest revision July 
14, 2006).

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe this rule is consistent with the relevant policy and 
guidance regarding enforceability, RACT, and SIP relaxations. The 
rule's emissions limits are more stringent than the corresponding 
limits in the Determination or other California District rules on 
internal combustion engines. The emissions limits taking effect in 2011 
and 2012 are comparable to the limits expressed by the South Coast AQMD 
BACT Guidelines. The deficiencies cited in the technical support 
document (TSD) for the November 14, 1997 version of Rule 1110.2 (TSD 
dated January 27, 2005), have been adequately remedied or justified in 
this version. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rule

    At this time, EPA does not have recommendations to further improve 
this rule.

D. Public Comment and Final Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted rule 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 rule into the federally 
enforceable SIP.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

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

[[Page 44206]]

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
     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, Particulate matter, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

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

    Dated: July 11, 2008.
Laura Yoshii,
Acting Regional Administrator,Region IX.
 [FR Doc. E8-17455 Filed 7-29-08; 8:45 am]
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