[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 124 (Wednesday, June 27, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 38246-38248]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-15731]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2012-0470; FRL-9692-4]


Revisions to the Arizona State Implementation Plan, Arizona 
Department of Environmental Quality, Maricopa County Air Quality 
Department, and Pima County Department of Environmental Quality

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Arizona 
Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ), Maricopa County Air Quality 
Department (MCAQD), and Pima County Department of Environmental Quality 
(PCDEQ) portions of the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP) that 
EPA expects to be submitted by ADEQ. These revisions concern 
regulations that require monitoring and reporting of volatile organic 
compounds (VOC), oxides of nitrogen (NOX), and particulate 
matter (PM) emissions from stationary sources. This proposed approval 
is based upon proposed regulations submitted by ADEQ and an 
accompanying request that EPA proceed with SIP review while the State 
and local agencies complete their public review and agency adoption 
processes. EPA will not take final action on these regulations until 
ADEQ submits the final adopted versions to EPA as a revision to the 
Arizona SIP. Final EPA approval of the regulations and incorporation of 
them into the Arizona SIP would make them federally enforceable under 
the Clean Air Act (CAA). We are taking comments on this proposal and 
plan to follow with a final action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by July 27, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2012-0470, 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: 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: Rynda Kay, 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 rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Proposed Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    By letter dated June 1, 2012, ADEQ submitted to EPA on behalf of 
ADEQ, MCAQD, and PCDEQ, unofficial copies of several rules and 
statutes, with a request for approval of these provisions into the SIP 
by parallel processing.\1\ See

[[Page 38247]]

June 1, 2012 letter to Jared Blumenfeld, Regional Administrator, EPA 
Region 9, from Eric Massey, Director, Air Quality, ADEQ. Table 1 lists 
the five rules addressed by this proposal.
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    \1\ Under EPA's ``parallel processing'' procedure, EPA proposes 
rulemaking action concurrently with the State's proposed rulemaking. 
If the State's proposed rule is changed, EPA will evaluate that 
subsequent change and may publish another notice of proposed 
rulemaking. If no significant change is made, EPA will publish a 
final rulemaking on the rule after responding to any submitted 
comments. Final rulemaking action by EPA will occur only after the 
rule has been fully adopted by Arizona and submitted formally to EPA 
for incorporation into the SIP. See 40 CFR part 51, appendix V.

                           Table 1--Rules Submitted by Arizona for Parallel Processing
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          Local agency                  Rule No.                               Rule title
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ADEQ............................  18-2-313...........  Existing Source Emission Monitoring.
ADEQ............................  18-2-327...........  Annual Emissions Inventory Questionnaire.
MCAQD...........................  100, Section 500...  Monitoring and Records.
PCDEQ...........................  17.12.040..........  Reporting Requirements.
PCDEQ...........................  17.24.040..........  Reporting for Compliance Evaluations.
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    The above rules have been adopted locally but have not been adopted 
specifically for purposes of approval into the federally enforceable 
SIP under CAA section 110. ADEQ has requested that MCAQD and PCDEQ 
adopt these regulations following public process for purposes of SIP 
approval and thereafter submit the rules to ADEQ for transmittal to EPA 
as SIP revisions. Concurrent with these county processes, ADEQ 
anticipates that it will schedule a public hearing in July 2012 on its 
proposal to submit these rules to EPA for incorporation into the SIP, 
and intends to submit the final SIP revision to EPA by late August 
2012. We note that because the state and county rulemaking processes 
here are solely for purposes of adopting these regulations as SIP 
revisions under CAA section 110 and not for purposes of revising any of 
the regulations, we do not expect any substantive changes between the 
proposed and final submittals. Final approval of these rules, however, 
is contingent upon EPA's receipt of fully adopted rules that satisfy 
state and local procedural requirements for SIP submittals.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    There are no SIP-approved versions of ADEQ Rule 18-2-327 or PCDEQ 
Rule 17.24.040. We approved an earlier version of ADEQ Rule 9-3-313 
into the SIP on April 23, 1982 (47 FR 17483). The submitted rule ADEQ 
Rule 18-2-313 will replace the SIP rule ADEQ Rule 9-3-313. We approved 
an earlier version of MCAQD Rule 100, Section 504 into the SIP on 
February 10, 2005 (70 FR 7038). The submitted rule MCAQD Rule 100, 
Section 500 will replace SIP rule MCAQD Rule 100, Section 504. We 
approved an earlier version of PCDEQ Rule 622 into the SIP on April 16, 
1982 (47 FR 16328). The submitted rule PCDEQ Rule 17.12.040 will 
replace the SIP rule PCDEQ Rule 622.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?

    VOCs help produce ground-level ozone and smog, which harm human 
health and the environment. NOX helps produce ground-level 
ozone, smog and particulate matter, which harm human health and the 
environment. PM contributes to effects that are harmful to human health 
and the environment, including 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.
    ADEQ Rule 18-2-313 establishes requirements for continuous 
emissions monitoring systems at certain fossil-fuel fired steam 
generators, sulfuric acid plants, nitric acid plants, and fluid bed 
catalytic cracking unit catalysts regenerators at petroleum refineries, 
if subject to an emission standard. ADEQ Rule 18-2-327 requires that 
every source subject to a permit complete and submit an annual 
emissions inventory questionnaire. PCDEQ Rule 17.12.040 establishes 
reporting requirements for emissions that exceed levels allowed under 
applicable regulations. PCDEQ Rule 17.24.040 requires a source to 
provide to the Control Officer all records and documentation needed to 
determine compliance or noncompliance with a regulation. The purpose of 
revising MCAQD Rule 100, Section 500 was to add recordkeeping and add/
revise emission reporting requirements. EPA's technical support 
documents (TSDs) have more information about these rules.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Proposed Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

    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). Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 
enforceability 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. ``Requirements for Preparation, Adoption, and Submittal of 
Implementation Plans'', U.S. EPA, 40 CFR part 51.
4. 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) (``General Preamble'').

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe these rules are consistent with the applicable 
requirements and guidance regarding enforceability and SIP relaxations. 
The TSDs have more information on our evaluation.

C. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted rules fulfill all applicable CAA 
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve them 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 or ADEQ does not submit the

[[Page 38248]]

adopted SIP revisions as expected, we intend to publish a final 
approval 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 proposed action merely proposes to approve State law 
as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by State law. For that reason, this 
proposed 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 proposed action 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 15, 2012.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2012-15731 Filed 6-26-12; 8:45 am]
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