[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 7142-7144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2862]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2007-1073; FRL-9263-8]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Imperial 
County Air Pollution Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Imperial County 
Air Pollution Control District (ICAPCD) portion of the California State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions clarify permitting 
requirements, and update and revise exemptions from New Source Review 
(NSR) permitting requirements, for various air pollution sources. We 
are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final 
action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by March 11, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2007-1073, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the on-line instructions.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Mail or deliver: Gerardo Rios (Air--3), 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-

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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: Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, (415) 
972-3534, [email protected].

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

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule 
revisions?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
    D. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal, including the 
dates they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB).

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Local agency                  Rule No.             Rule title             Amended      Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ICAPCD...................................          201   Permits Required...........     10/10/06      08/24/07
ICAPCD...................................          202   Exemptions.................     10/10/06      08/24/07
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On September 17, 2007, EPA determined that the submittal for ICAPCD 
Rules 201 and 202 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 these rules?

    We approved an earlier version of Rule 201 into the SIP on January 
3, 2007 (72 FR 9). There are no previous versions of Rule 202 in the 
SIP, but SIP approved Rule 103, also contains permit exemptions. Rule 
103 was approved into the SIP on May 31, 1972 (37 FR 10842). The ICAPCD 
originally adopted new Rule 202 on June 1, 1977 and also adopted 
revisions on September 7, 1993 and September 14, 1999. Both of these 
revisions were submitted to EPA, however EPA has not taken action on 
either of these submittals. 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 rules and rule revisions?

    Section 110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit regulations 
that control volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, particulate 
matter and other air pollutants which harm human health and the 
environment. Permitting rules were developed as part of the local air 
district's programs to control these pollutants.
    The purpose of District Rule 201 (Permits Required) is to identify 
when, and what permits, a source must obtain prior to construction and 
operation.
    The purpose of District Rule 202 (Exemptions) is to identify 
processes, articles, machines, equipment, or other contrivances for 
which an Authority to Construct (ATC) or Permit to Operate (PTO) is not 
required. Rule 202 also requires recordkeeping to verify and maintain 
any exemption.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

    The relevant statutory provisions for our review of the submitted 
rules include CAA section 110(a) and section 110(l). Section 110(a) 
requires that SIP rules be enforceable, while section 110(l) precludes 
EPA approval of SIP revisions that would interfere with any applicable 
requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress or 
any other applicable requirement of the Act. In addition, we have 
reviewed the submitted rules for compliance with EPA implementing 
regulations for NSR, including 40 CFR 51.160 through 40 CFR 51.165.

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    EPA has reviewed the submitted rules in accordance with the Rule 
Evaluation criteria described above. Consistent with the requirements 
of 40 CFR subpart I, all major stationary sources are required to 
obtain an ATC permit prior to construction. For minor sources, EPA 
believes that emissions from the types and sizes of equipment and 
operations exempted from NSR permit requirements are consistent with 
the flexibility afforded to states to regulate only those sources as 
necessary to assure attainment and maintenance of the National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). While several new provisions have been 
added to Rule 202 that could be seen as a relaxation of the SIP because 
more sources are specifically exempted from Rule 207 permit 
requirements, in practice most of these sources have never been 
required to obtain a NSR ATC permit due to their small size or state 
law prohibitions. Because these rules will not actually worsen air 
quality, and will in fact require many agricultural sources to obtain 
permits and be subject to control requirements for the first time, EPA 
believes that these revisions are a long overdue update to the SIP 
which will provide an overall strengthening of the SIP without 
interfering with the District's ability to attain and maintain the 
NAAQS, and are therefore approvable under 110(l) of the CAA.
    The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules

    The TSD describes additional rule revisions that we recommend for 
the next time the local agency modifies the rules.

D. Public Comment and Final Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted rules fulfill all relevant 
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve them 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

[[Page 7144]]

action that will incorporate these rules 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 interfere with Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629 
(Feb. 16, 1994)) because EPA lacks the discretionary authority to 
address environmental justice in this rulemaking.

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, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: January 28, 2011.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2011-2862 Filed 2-8-11; 8:45 am]
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