[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 227 (Monday, November 24, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 70881-70883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-27739]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2008-0052-200803(a); FRL-8743-8]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Tennessee; Approval of Revisions to the Knox County Portion of the 
Tennessee State Implementation Plan--``Permit by Rule'' Provision

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve the State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Tennessee 
on October 12, 2007. The revision pertains to the Knox County portion 
of the Tennessee SIP and includes changes to Knox County Air Quality 
Management Regulation (Knox County Regulation) Section 25.10--Permit by 
Rule. Specifically, Section 25.10 was changed so that it clearly states 
that turbines and other internal combustion engines are excluded from 
the ``Permit by Rule'' provision. This revision is considered by the 
Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), to be as 
or more stringent than the State of Tennessee's SIP requirements. This 
action is being taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act 
(CAA).

DATES: This direct final rule is effective January 23, 2009 without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by December 24, 
2008. If EPA receives such comments, it 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-2008-0052, by one of the following methods:
    1. 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-2008-0052,'' 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: Twunjala Bradley, 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 to 4:30, excluding federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. ``EPA-R04-OAR-
2008-0052.'' EPA's policy is that all comments received 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 information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit through 
www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The 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 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 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is

[[Page 70882]]

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 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: Twunjala Bradley, 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) 562-9352. Ms. Bradley can also be reached via electronic mail 
at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Analysis of Submittal

    On October 12, 2007, the State of Tennessee submitted a revision to 
the Knox County portion of the Tennessee SIP. This revision changes 
Knox County Regulation Sections 25.10.B.1.a and 25.10.B.2.a, so that 
these sections clearly state that turbines and other internal 
combustion engines are excluded from the ``Permit by Rule'' provision. 
The intent of the ``Permit by Rule'' provision is to provide a simple 
compliance technique to limit a facility's potential emissions below 
that of the ``major source'' threshold, with respect to title V of the 
CAA. The ``Permit by Rule'' provision operates by using fuel loads to 
ensure that a source will not exceed the major source thresholds. Since 
internal combustion units and turbines emit more pollutant per fuel 
load than external combustion units, they are excluded from this 
``Permit by Rule'' compliance technique and must instead follow the 
standard permitting approach.

II. Final Action

    EPA is taking direct final action to approve the aforementioned 
changes into the SIP. 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 
January 23, 2009 without further notice unless the Agency receives 
adverse comments by December 24, 2008.
    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 January 23, 2009 and no 
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, 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 the criteria of the CAA. 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 CAA; 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.
    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 action 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 January 23, 2009. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of this action 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, Nitrogen dioxide, 
Ozone, Incorporation by reference,

[[Page 70883]]

Particulate matter, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: November 10, 2008.
Russell L. Wright,
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 RR--Tennessee

0
2. Section 52.2220(c) is amended in Table 3 of the Knox County portion 
of the Tennessee State Implementation Plan by revising the entry for 
Section 25.0 to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2220  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                 Table 3--EPA Approved Knox County, Regulations
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                                                             State
          State citation              Title/subject     effective date      EPA approval date       Explanation
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Section 25.0.....................  Permits............      12/10/2007  11/24/2008 [Insert
                                                                         citation of
                                                                         publication].
 
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 [FR Doc. E8-27739 Filed 11-21-08; 8:45 am]
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