[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 41 (Thursday, March 1, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 12491-12493]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-4667]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2012-0020; FRL-9634-3]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Antelope 
Valley Air Quality Management District and San Joaquin Valley Unified 
Air Pollution Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District (AVAQMD) and San 
Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) 
portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These 
revisions concern negative declarations for volatile organic compound 
(VOC) and oxides of sulfur source categories for the AVAQMD and 
SJVUAPCD. We are approving these negative declarations under the Clean 
Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).

DATES: This rule is effective on April 30, 2012 without further notice, 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by April 2, 2012. If we receive 
such comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal 
Register to notify the public that this direct final rule will not take 
effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2012-0020, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-
line instructions.
    2. Email: [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 email. 
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 email directly to EPA, your email 
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: Cynthia Allen, EPA Region IX, (415) 
947-4120, [email protected].

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

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What negative declarations did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these negative declarations?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted negative declarations?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action.
    A. How is EPA evaluating the negative declarations?
    B. Do the negative declarations meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Administrative Requirements

I. The State's Submittal

A. What negative declarations did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the negative declarations we are approving with the 
dates that they were adopted by the AVAQMD and SJVUAPCD and submitted 
by the California Air Resources Board (CARB).

                                         Table 1--Negative Declarations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                 Local agency                                    Title                    Adopted     Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
AVAQMD........................................  Petroleum Coke Calcining Operations--      01/18/11     06/20/11
                                                 Oxides of Sulfur.
SJVUAPCD......................................  Synthesized Pharmaceutical Products        04/16/09     06/18/09
                                                 Manufacturing.
SJVUAPCD......................................  Coating Operations at Shipbuilding/        04/16/09     06/18/09
                                                 Ship Repair Facilities.
SJVUAPCD......................................  Manufacture of Pneumatic Rubber Tire..     12/16/10     06/20/11
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


[[Page 12492]]

    On December 11, 2009, EPA determined that the SJVUAPCD Negative 
Declarations submitted on June 18, 2009, meet the completeness criteria 
in 40 CFR Part 51 Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA 
review.
    On December 20, 2011, the submittal for Antelope Valley AQMD and 
SJVUAPCD Negative Declarations submitted on June 20, 2011, was deemed 
by operation of law 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 these negative declarations?

    There are no previous versions of these negative declarations.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted negative declarations?

    For SJVUAPCD, the negative declarations were submitted to meet the 
requirements of CAA section 182(b)(2). Nonattainment areas are required 
to adopt volatile organic compound (VOC) regulations for the published 
Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) categories. If a nonattainment area 
does not have stationary sources covered under a CTG, then the area is 
required to submit a negative declaration. The negative declarations 
were submitted because there are no applicable sources within the 
SJVAPCD jurisdiction.
    For AVAQMD, the negative declaration was submitted to rescind Rule 
1119 because there are no sources within the jurisdiction of AVAQMD 
subject to the provisions of the rule.
    EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more information about 
these negative declarations.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the negative declarations?

    The negative declarations are submitted as SIP revisions and must 
be consistent with Clean Air Act requirements for Reasonably Available 
Control Technology (RACT) (see section 182(b)(2)) and SIP relaxation 
(see sections 110(1) and 193.) To do so, the submittal should provide 
reasonable assurance that no sources subject to Rule 1119 and the CTG 
requirements currently exist or are planned for the AVAQMD and 
SJVUAPCD.

B. Do the negative declarations meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe these negative declarations are consistent with the 
relevant policy and guidance regarding RACT and SIP relaxations. The 
TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. Public Comment and Final Action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, EPA is fully 
approving the submitted negative declarations as additional information 
to the SIP because we believe they fulfill all relevant requirements. 
We do not think anyone will object to this approval, so we are 
finalizing it without proposing it in advance. However, in the Proposed 
Rules section of this Federal Register, we are simultaneously proposing 
approval of these negative declarations. If we receive adverse comments 
by April 2, 2012, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal 
Register to notify the public that the direct final approval will not 
take effect and we will address the comments in a subsequent final 
action based on the proposal. If we do not receive timely adverse 
comments, the direct final approval will be effective without further 
notice on April 30, 2012.

III. Administrative Requirements

    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.
    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 Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by April 30, 2012. 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. Parties with objections to this direct final 
rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel 
notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the Proposed 
Rules section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an 
immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so 
that EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in 
the proposed rulemaking. This action may

[[Page 12493]]

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, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds, oxides of 
sulfur.

    Dated: February 9, 2012.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
    Part 52, Chapter I, Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations 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 F--California

0
2. Section 52.222 is amended by adding paragraphs (a)(6)(ix)
    and (a)(8) to read as follows:


Sec.  52.222  Negative declarations.

    (a) * * *
    (6) * * *
    (ix) Petroleum Coke Calcining Operations--Oxides of Sulfur 
submitted on June 20, 2011 and adopted on January 18, 2011.
* * * * *
    (8) San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District.
    (i) Synthesized Pharmaceutical Products Manufacturing and Coating 
Operations at Shipbuilding/Ship Repair Facilities submitted on June 18, 
2009 and adopted on April 16, 2009.
    (ii) Rubber Tire Manufacturing submitted on June 20, 2011 and 
adopted on September 20, 2010.
* * * * *

[FR Doc. 2012-4667 Filed 2-29-12; 8:45 am]
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