[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 132 (Monday, July 11, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40660-40662]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-17454]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2011-0547; FRL-9435-2]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, San 
Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the San Joaquin 
Valley Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) portion of the 
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern 
volatile organic compound (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX), and particulate matter (PM) emissions from open 
burning. 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 10, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2011-0547, 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: Generally, documents in the docket for this action are 
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 at www.regulations.gov, some 
information may be publicly available only at the hard copy location 
(e.g., copyrighted material, large maps), 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: Joanne Wells, EPA Region IX, (415) 
947-4118, [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 and rule revisions?
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
III. Proposed Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rule did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rule and portion of District Staff Report 
addressed by this proposal with the dates that they were adopted by the 
local air agency and submitted by the California Air Resources Board 
(CARB).

[[Page 40661]]



                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
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               Local  agency                  Rule No.             Rule title             Adopted     Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SJVUAPCD..................................         4103  Open Burning.................     04/15/10     04/05/11
SJVUAPCD..................................  ...........  Table 9-1, Final Staff Report     05/20/10     04/05/11
                                                          and Recommendations on
                                                          Agricultural Burning.
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    On May 6, 2011, EPA determined that the submittal for SJVUAPCD Rule 
4103 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 Rule 4103 into the SIP on 
November 10, 2009 (74 FR 57907). The SJVUAPCD adopted revisions to the 
SIP-approved version on April 15, 2010 and CARB submitted them to us on 
April 5, 2011.

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

    VOCs and NOX help produce ground-level ozone and smog, 
which harm human health and the environment. PM emissions also harm 
human health and the environment by causing, among other things, 
premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular 
disease, decreased lung function, visibility impairment, and damage to 
vegetation and ecosystems. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States to 
submit regulations that control VOC, NOX, and PM emissions. 
SJVUAPCD Rule 4103 limits emissions of air pollutants, including VOC, 
NOX and PM, that result from the open burning of 
agricultural waste and other materials.
    Rule 4103 was revised largely to implement portions of California 
Health and Safety Code (CH&SC) sections 41855.5 and 41855.6. CH&SC 
section 41855.5 requires SJVUAPCD to prohibit specific crop categories 
from open burning according to a schedule, the final phase of which 
began on June 1, 2010. CH&SC section 41855.6 authorizes SJVUAPCD to 
postpone the burn prohibition for specific crop categories if all of 
the conditions listed in section 41855.6 are met.
    Specific revisions to the previous version of the rule include:
     New or revised definitions are provided in Section 3.0 for 
the following terms: Air Pollution Control Officer, Board, 
Environmental Protection Agency, Field Crops, Orchard Removals, Other 
Materials, Other Weeds and Maintenance, Prunings, Surface Harvested 
Prunings, Vineyard Removal Materials, Vineyard Materials and Weed 
Abatement.
     Section 5.5.1 was amended to include all agricultural 
crops and materials listed in CH&SC Section 41855.5, thereby 
prohibiting the open burning of all materials not subject to a 
postponement under Section 5.5.2.
     Section 5.5.2 was revised to include criteria that 
SJVUAPCD must satisfy to postpone a burn prohibition under CH&SC 
Section 41855.6.
     New Section 6.3 requires the SJVUAPCD Air Pollution 
Control Officer (APCO) to prepare and present to the Board for review 
and approval a ``Staff Report and Recommendations on Agricultural 
Burning'' for any Board determination under section 5.5.2. The APCO 
must also review and update this Report at least every five years.
     On May 20, 2010, the SJVUAPCD Board approved and 
incorporated by reference a ``Staff Report and Recommendations on 
Agricultural Burning'' prepared pursuant to section 6.3 of the rule. 
The Staff Report recommended complete or partial postponement of the 
burn prohibition for a number of crop categories. These recommendations 
are summarized in Table 9-1 of the Staff Report.
    EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more information about 
these rule revisions.

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). Section 172(c)(1) of the Act also requires implementation of all 
reasonably available control measures (RACM) as expeditiously as 
practicable in nonattainment areas. Because the San Joaquin Valley 
(SJV) area is designated nonattainment for the fine particulate matter 
(PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and designated 
and classified as extreme nonattainment for the ozone NAAQS (see 40 CFR 
81.305), the RACM requirement in CAA section 172(c)(1) applies to this 
area.
    Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 
enforceability and RACM requirements consistently include the 
following:
    1. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook).
    2. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
    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); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
    4. Preamble, ``Final Rule to Implement the 8-Hour Ozone National 
Ambient Air Quality Standard--Phase 2,'' 70 FR 71612 (November 29, 
2005).
    5. Preamble, ``Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule for the 
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS,'' 72 FR 20586 (April 25, 2007).

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe this rule is consistent with the applicable CAA 
requirements and guidance regarding enforceability, RACM, and SIP 
revisions. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rule

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

III. Proposed 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.

IV. 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

[[Page 40662]]

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 disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, 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, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: June 29, 2011.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2011-17454 Filed 7-8-11; 8:45 am]
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