[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 16, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 69910-69912]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28820]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2010-0906; FRL-9227-1]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, California 
Air Resources Board--Consumer Products

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the California Air 
Resources Board portion of the California State Implementation Plan 
(SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic compound (VOC) 
emissions from consumer products. 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 December 16, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2010-0906, by one of the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal: 
http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions.
    1. E-mail: [email protected].
    2. 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 http://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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. http://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 http://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 rule did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of this rule?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revision?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rule?
    B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. Public Comment and Final Action
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 date 
that it was adopted by the State and submitted by the California Air 
Resources Board (CARB).

                                             Table 1--Submitted Rule
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                  Regulation                            Regulation title              Amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
California Code of Regulations, Title 17,       Article 2--Consumer Products....        05/05/09        02/16/10
 Division 3, Chapter 1, Subchapter 8.5--
 Consumer Products.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On May 25, 2010, EPA determined that the submittal for the 
California Code of Regulations, Title 17, Division 3, Chapter 1, 
Subchapter 8.5, Article 2--Consumer Products, met 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?

    We approved an earlier version of Article 2 of CARB's Consumer 
Products regulation into the SIP on November 4,

[[Page 69911]]

2009 (74 FR 57074). CARB adopted revisions to the SIP-approved version 
on May 5, 2009 and submitted them to us on February 16, 2010.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?

    VOCs 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 emissions.
    The California Health and Safety Code (Section 41712(b)) requires 
CARB to adopt regulations to achieve the maximum feasible reduction in 
volatile organic compounds emitted by consumer products if the state 
board determines:
    (1) The regulations are necessary to attain state and federal 
ambient air quality standards.
    (2) The regulations are commercially and technologically feasible 
and necessary.
    CARB's current amendments to the consumer products regulations 
establish new or lower VOC limits on 19 consumer product categories. 
Included in these changes are limits for eight new categories 
(astringent/toner, fabric softener--single use dryer product, floor 
maintenance product, vehicle wash, odor remover/eliminator, pressurized 
gas duster, tire or wheel cleaner, and windshield water repellent).
    The amendments clarify several definitions, impose a 0.05 grams of 
VOC per use limit for fabric softeners--single use dryer products, 
remove an exemption for personal fragrance products with 20 percent or 
less fragrance, prohibit the use of the toxic air contaminants 
methylene chloride, perchloroethylene, or trichloroethylene in certain 
product categories, prohibit the use of compounds with a global warming 
potential (GWP) of 150 or greater in pressurized gas dusters, and 
establish a 25 percent by weight VOC limit for multipurpose lubricants 
and penetrants. The 25 percent VOC limit for multipurpose lubricants 
and penetrants is effective December 31, 2013 and the category also 
includes a technology forcing second tier VOC limit of 10 percent by 
December 31, 2015.
    CARB received many comments during the public comment period, 
ranging from general support for many of the amendments and suggestions 
for additional categories (e.g., janitorial cleaning products) to 
regulate, to concerns from industry about the technological 
difficulties posed by the revised VOC limits and effective dates for 
multi-purpose lubricants. CARB addressed these comments in their Final 
Statement of Reasons for Rulemaking.
    CARB estimates these amendments, when fully implemented, will 
achieve VOC reductions of 5.76 tons per day, greenhouse gas emission 
reductions equivalent to approximately 0.20 million metric tons of 
carbon dioxide per year, and air toxics emission reductions of 0.2 tons 
per day.
    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), and must not relax existing requirements (see sections 110(l) and 
193). California's consumer products regulation covers VOC area sources 
and not stationary sources.
    In 1998 EPA promulgated a national rule to regulate VOC emissions 
from consumer products (63 FR 48831, September 11, 1998). EPA's 
national rule largely parallels CARB's earlier SIP-approved consumer 
products rule. The amendments we are proposing to approve today 
regulate more consumer product categories and are more stringent than 
EPA's national standards.
    Rules, guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 
enforceability and SIP revisions include the following:
    1. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988, revised January 11, 2000 (the 
Bluebook).
    2. 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).
    3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
    4. 40 CFR 59 Subpart C, National Volatile Organic Compound Emission 
Standards for Consumer Products.

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe this rule is consistent with the relevant policy and 
guidance regarding enforceability, and SIP relaxations. CARB's Consumer 
Products regulation contains more stringent limits and covers more than 
twice the number of categories covered by EPA's national Consumer 
Products rule. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. Public Comment and Final Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted rule fulfills all relevant 
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve it under 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 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

[[Page 69912]]

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, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 
organic compounds.

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

    Dated: November 3, 2010.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2010-28820 Filed 11-15-10; 8:45 am]
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