[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 232 (Tuesday, December 3, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 72581-72583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-28965]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 62

[EPA-R05-OAR-2013-0678; FRL-9903-33-Region-5]


Direct Final Approval of Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste 
Incinerator Negative Declaration for Designated Facilities and 
Pollutants: Michigan and Wisconsin

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is notifying the public that we have received negative 
declarations from Michigan and Wisconsin regarding Hospital/Medical/
Infectious Waste Incinerator (HMIWI) units within those states. The 
Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) submitted its 
negative declaration on August 9, 2013. The Wisconsin Department of 
Natural Resources (WDNR) submitted its negative declaration on July 15, 
2013. Each state notified EPA in its negative declaration letter that 
there are no HMIWI units subject to the requirements of sections 111(d) 
and 129 of the Clean Air Act (Act) currently operating in its state.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective February 3, 2014, 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by January 2, 2014. If adverse 
comments are received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the 
direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that the 
rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R05-
OAR-2013-0678, by one of the following methods:
    1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. Email: [email protected].
    3. Fax: (312) 692-2543.
    4. Mail: Carlton T. Nash, Chief, Toxics and Global Atmosphere 
Section, Air Toxics and Assessment Branch (AT-18J), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
    5. Hand Delivery: Carlton T. Nash, Chief, Toxics and Global 
Atmosphere Section, Air Toxics and Assessment Branch (AT-18J), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, 
Illinois 60604. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Regional 
Office normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be 
made for deliveries of boxed information. The Regional Office official 
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. 
excluding Federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-
2013-0678. EPA's policy is that all comments received 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 information claimed to be Confidential 
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or email. The 
www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system, which 
means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you 
provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email comment 
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov your email 
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the 
comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the 
Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you 
include your name and other contact information in the body of your 
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. 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. Electronic 
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of 
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. This Facility is open from 8:30 
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. 
We recommend that you telephone Margaret Sieffert, Environmental 
Engineer, at (312) 353-1151 before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Margaret Sieffert, Environmental 
Engineer, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard (AT-18J), Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-1151, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This supplementary information 
section is arranged as follows:

I. Background
II. Final EPA Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    Section 111(d) of the Act requires that EPA develop regulations 
providing that states must submit to EPA plans establishing standards 
of performance for certain existing sources of pollutants when a 
standard of performance would apply to the existing source if it were a 
new source, and if the pollutants are noncriteria pollutants (i.e., 
pollutants for which there is no national ambient air quality 
standards) and are not on a list published under section 108 of the Act 
or emitted from a source category regulated under section 112 of the 
Act. Section 129 of the Act and 40 CFR part 60, Subpart B apply the 
section 111(d) requirements to existing solid waste combustors, 
including HMIWIs, and provide that EPA should include, as part of the 
performance standards, emissions guidelines (EGs) that include the plan 
elements required by section 129.
    EPA promulgated new source performance standards and EGs for HWIMIs 
on September 15, 1997 and December 19, 1995, respectively (62 FR 48382, 
60 FR 65414), and amended them most recently on April 4, 2011 (76 FR 
18407). The standards and EGs are codified at 40 CFR part 60, subparts 
Ec and Ce, respectively. Thus, states were required to develop plans 
for existing HWIMIs, pursuant to sections 111(d) and 129 of the Act and 
40 CFR part 60, subpart B.
    A HMIWI unit is defined in 40 CFR 60.51c as any device that 
combusts any amount of hospital waste and/or medical/infectious waste. 
The designated facilities to which the EGs apply are existing HMIWI 
units that: (1) commenced construction on or before June 20, 1996, or 
for which a modification was commenced on or before March 16, 1998; or 
(2) commenced construction after June 20, 1996 but no later than 
December 1, 2008, or for which a modification commenced after March 16, 
1998 but no later than April 6, 2010, with limited exceptions as 
provided in paragraphs 40 CFR 60.32e(b) through (h).
    40 CFR part 60, subpart B contains general provisions applicable to 
the

[[Page 72582]]

adoption and submittal of state plans for subject facilities under 
sections 111(d) and 129 (111(d)/129 plan). 40 CFR part 62, subpart A 
provides the procedural framework for the submission of the plans. 
However, 40 CFR 60.23(b) and 62.06 provide that, if there are no 
existing sources of the designated pollutant in a state, the state may 
submit a letter of certification to that effect (i.e., a negative 
declaration) in lieu of a plan. The negative declaration exempts the 
state from the provisions of 40 CFR part 60, subpart B that require the 
submittal of a 111(d)/129 plan.
    On August 9, 2013, MDEQ submitted its HMIWI negative declaration, 
in which it certifies that there are no HWIMI units currently operating 
in Michigan. EPA received the negative declaration on August 16, 2013. 
On July 15, 2013, WDNR submitted its HMIWI negative declaration, in 
which it certifies that there are no HWIMI units currently operating in 
Wisconsin. EPA received WDNR's negative declaration on July 23, 2013.

II. Final EPA Action

    In this direct final action, EPA is providing the public with 
notice of, and amending 40 CFR part 62 to reflect, EPA's receipt of the 
Michigan and Wisconsin negative declarations. EPA is publishing this 
rule without prior proposal because EPA views this as a non-
controversial action and anticipates no adverse comments. However, in 
the proposed rules section of this Federal Register publication, EPA is 
publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal to amend 
40 CFR part 62 to reflect receipt of the negative declarations in the 
event adverse written comments are filed. This rule will be effective 
February 3, 2014 without further notice unless we receive relevant 
adverse written comments by January 2, 2014. If we receive such 
comments, we will withdraw this action before the effective date by 
publishing a subsequent document that will withdraw the final action. 
EPA then will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule 
based on the proposed action. EPA will not institute a second comment 
period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do 
so at this time. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on 
any part of this action and if that provision may be severed from the 
remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the 
rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment. If we do not 
receive any comments, this action will be effective February 3, 2014.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

A. General Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely notifies the public of EPA receipt of a negative declaration 
from an air pollution control agency without any existing HMIWI units 
in its state. This action imposes no requirements. Accordingly, the 
Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because this rule 
does not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by 
state law, it 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). This rule also does not 
have tribal implications because it will not have a substantial direct 
effect on one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the 
Federal Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power 
and responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, 
as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 
This action also does not have Federalism implications because it does 
not have substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship 
between the national government and the states, or on the distribution 
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government, 
as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999). 
This action merely recognizes the negative declaration for existing 
HMIWI units from the MDEQ and WDNR, and does not alter the relationship 
or the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the 
Act. This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997), because it approves a state rule implementing a 
Federal standard.
    With regard to negative declarations for designated facilities 
received by EPA from states, EPA's role is to notify the public of the 
receipt of such negative declarations and revise 40 CFR Part 62 
accordingly. In this context, in the absence of a prior existing 
requirement for the state to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), 
EPA has no authority to disapprove a section 111(d)/129 plan negative 
declaration submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a section 
111(d)/129 negative declaration submission, to use VCS in place of a 
section 111(d)/129 negative declaration that otherwise satisfies the 
provisions of the Act. Thus, the requirements of section 12(d) of the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 
note) do not apply. This rule does not impose an information collection 
burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General

    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 rule 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. This rule is not a 
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

C. Petitions for Judicial Review

    Under Section 307(b)(1) of the Act, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by February 3, 2014. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of this rule 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. 
This action approving Michigan's and Wisconsin's section 111(d)/129 
negative declarations for HMIWI sources may not be challenged later in 
proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 62

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Administrative 
practice and procedure, Hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators, 
Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.


[[Page 72583]]


    Dated: November 8, 2013.
Susan Hedman,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.

    40 CFR part 62 is amended as follows:

PART 62--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF STATE PLANS FOR DESIGNATED 
FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS

0
1. The authority citation for part 62 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. Subpart X is amended by adding new Sec.  62.5610 and a new 
undesignated center heading to read as follows:

CONTROL OF AIR EMISSIONS FROM HOSPITAL/MEDICAL/INFECTIOUS WASTE 
INCINERATORS


Sec.  62.5610  Identification of plan--negative declaration.

    On August 9, 2013, the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality 
submitted a negative declaration letter to EPA certifying that there 
are no existing Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerators (HMIWI) 
units in the State of Michigan subject to the emissions guidelines at 
40 CFR part 60, subpart Ce.


0
3. Subpart YY is amended by adding new Sec.  62.12320 and a new 
undesignated center heading to read as follows:

CONTROL OF AIR EMISSIONS FROM HOSPITAL/MEDICAL/INFECTIOUS WASTE 
INCINERATORS


Sec.  62.12320  Identification of plan--negative declaration.

    On July 15, 2013, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources 
submitted a negative declaration letter to EPA certifying that there 
are no existing Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerators (HMIWI) 
units in the State of Wisconsin subject to the emissions guidelines at 
40 CFR part 60, subpart Ce.

[FR Doc. 2013-28965 Filed 12-2-13; 8:45 am]
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