[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 110 (Tuesday, June 9, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 32469-32472]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-13944]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R01-OAR-2013-0818; A-1-FRL-9928-86-Region-1]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Rhode Island; Decommissioning of Stage II Vapor Recovery Systems and 
Amending Stage I Vapor Recovery Requirements

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Rhode 
Island Department of Environmental Management. This revision includes 
regulatory amendments that allow gasoline dispensing facilities (GDFs) 
to decommission their Stage II vapor recovery systems as of December 
25, 2013, and a demonstration that such removal is consistent with the 
Clean Air Act and EPA guidance. This revision also includes regulatory 
amendments that strengthen Rhode Island's requirements for Stage I 
vapor recovery systems at GDFs. The intended effect of this action is 
to approve Rhode Island's revised vapor recovery regulation. This 
action is being taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act.

DATES: This rule is effective on July 9, 2015.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket 
Identification No. EPA-R01-OAR-2013-0818. All documents in the docket 
are listed on the www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the 
index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other 
material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet 
and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically through 
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office, Office of Ecosystem 
Protection, Air Quality Planning Unit, 5 Post Office Square--Suite 100, 
Boston, MA. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the 
contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to 
schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of 
business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding 
legal holidays.
    Copies of the documents relevant to this action are also available 
for public inspection during normal business hours, by appointment at 
Office of Air Resources, Department of Environmental Management, 235 
Promenade Street, Providence, RI 02908-5767.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ariel Garcia, Air Quality Planning 
Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional 
Office, 5 Post Office Square, Suite 100 (mail code: OEP05-2), Boston, 
MA 02109-3912, telephone number (617) 918-1660, fax number (617) 918-
0660, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
    Organization of this document. The following outline is provided to 
aid in locating information in this preamble.

I. Background and Purpose
II. Response to Comments
III. Final Action
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background and Purpose

    On October 24, 2014 (79 FR 63591), EPA published a Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) for the State of Rhode Island. The NPR 
proposed approval of Rhode Island's revised Air Pollution Control 
Regulation 11, ``Petroleum Liquids Marketing and Storage,'' that had 
been amended to allow the decommissioning of Stage II vapor recovery 
systems and to strengthen Stage I vapor recovery requirements. The 
formal SIP revision was submitted by the Rhode Island Department of 
Environmental Management (DEM) on December 13, 2013 and also included a 
demonstration

[[Page 32470]]

that the decommissioning of Stage II vapor recovery systems at gasoline 
dispensing facilities (GDFs) is consistent with the Clean Air Act and 
EPA guidance.
    A detailed discussion of Rhode Island's December 13, 2013 SIP 
revision and EPA's rationale for proposing approval of the SIP revision 
were provided in the NPR and will not be restated in this notice, 
except to the extent relevant to our responses to public comments we 
received on our proposal.

II. Response to Comments

    EPA received one comment on the NPR from Ted Tiberi, ARID 
Technologies, Inc. That comment is summarized below with EPA's 
response.
    Comment: The commenter stated its opposition to EPA's proposed 
approval of Rhode Island's revised Air Pollution Control Regulation 11. 
The commenter believes the Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(l) 
demonstration included in Rhode Island's December 13, 2013 SIP 
submittal is flawed and that there are significant emission reduction 
losses (i.e. ``increased emissions'') resulting from the removal of the 
Stage II program requirements in Rhode Island. The commenter submitted 
graphs and calculations in support of its claims, purporting to show 
the levels of foregone emissions reduction that would result from 
implementation of Rhode Island's SIP revision request. The commenter 
also asserts that the increased emissions represent a significant 
environmental, health and safety risk, and that a disproportionate 
share of the risks will be borne by motorists refueling vehicles not 
equipped with onboard refueling vapor recovery (ORVR) systems.
    Response: EPA disagrees with ARID Technologies' assertion that 
Rhode Island's CAA section 110(l) demonstration is flawed and that 
there will be impermissibly significant increased emissions from this 
action. Rhode Island's section 110(l) demonstration was performed in 
accordance with EPA's final rule determining that ORVR is now in 
widespread use in the national motor vehicle fleet (77 FR 28772, May 
16, 2012) and EPA's ``Guidance on Removing Stage II Gasoline Vapor 
Control Programs from State Implementation Plans and Assessing 
Comparable Measures'' (EPA-457/B-12-001, August 7, 2012), hereafter, 
EPA's August 7, 2012 Guidance (a copy of this guidance has been placed 
in the public docket for this action).
    The Rhode Island rule allows GDFs to decommission Stage II systems 
as of December 25, 2013, and requires GDFs to decommission their Stage 
II systems by the end of 2017 unless, by December 22, 2017, a GDF is 
equipped with an ORVR-compatible Stage II system or installs air 
pollution control systems to control tank excess vent emissions 
resulting from Stage II systems that are incompatible with ORVR. Such 
GDFs, with Stage II systems operational beyond the December 22, 2017 
date, are required to continue to operate and maintain their Stage II 
vapor recovery systems in accordance with Rhode Island's regulations, 
until the time when such Stage II vapor recovery system is ever 
decommissioned. Appendix Table A-1 of EPA's August 7, 2012 Guidance 
illustrates that by the end of 2017, about 87% of the vehicles in the 
national motor vehicle fleet will be equipped with ORVR. The number of 
ORVR-equipped vehicles in Rhode Island will likely be even higher due 
to Rhode Island having a more accelerated motor vehicle fleet turnover 
when compared to the national motor vehicle fleet.\1\ Appendix Table A-
1 also illustrates that by the end of 2017, over 90% of gasoline 
dispensed nationally will be to ORVR-equipped vehicles, which is also 
likely to be higher in Rhode Island due to a newer motor vehicle fleet. 
At that point in time, since a vast majority of Rhode Island vehicles 
being refueled at gasoline dispensing facilities will be equipped with 
ORVR systems, the ORVR systems will be controlling the volatile organic 
compound (VOC) emissions, making Stage II vapor recovery systems a 
redundant, and potentially incompatible, emissions control technology 
in Rhode Island. Therefore, removing the Stage II systems is not 
expected to result in a significant emissions increase, but is expected 
to avoid emissions increases resulting from the incompatibility of some 
Stage II systems with ORVR controls.
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    \1\ Rhode Island's December 13, 2013 SIP revision includes an 
analysis of vehicle registration data obtained from the Rhode Island 
Department of Motor Vehicles, which illustrates that by December 4, 
2012, the fraction of gasoline vehicles in Rhode Island equipped 
with ORVR was 73.1%. This is a slightly more accelerated fleet turn-
over estimate than EPA's end of the 2012 calendar year estimate of 
71.4% ORVR penetration in the national gasoline fueled motor vehicle 
fleet.
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    EPA also disagrees with the comment that the increased emissions 
the commenter asserts will result from removal of Stage II controls 
represent a significant environmental, health and safety risk. EPA's 
August 7, 2012 Guidance states that ``EPA believes it is reasonable to 
conclude that the incremental emissions control that Stage II achieves 
beyond ORVR is de minimis if it is less than 10 percent of the area-
wide emissions inventory associated with refueling highway motor 
vehicles.'' As noted in the NPR, Rhode Island appropriately calculated 
the increase in refueling-associated emissions from the decommissioning 
of Stage II systems in 2013 as 7.2 percent, thus meeting this de 
minimis threshold. As also noted in the NPR, the increase in emissions 
from Stage II system decommissioning calculated by Rhode Island for 
2013 (69 tons of VOC) are only about 0.3 percent of the total 
anthropogenic VOC emissions in Rhode Island (see EPA's 2011 National 
Emissions Inventory database Version 1 at www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/net/2011inventory.html). Also, as explained in EPA's ORVR rulemaking and in 
EPA's August 7, 2012 Guidance, these foregone emissions reductions in 
the near term continue to diminish rapidly over time as ORVR phase-in 
continues. Therefore, since the de minimis criteria discussed in EPA's 
August 7, 2012 Guidance have been met, EPA is approving Rhode Island's 
SIP revision.
    Furthermore, we note that Rhode Island's revised Regulation 11 also 
includes new Stage I vapor recovery requirements that will lead to 
additional emission reductions. Specifically, the regulation requires 
GDFs to upgrade their Stage I vapor recovery systems to CARB-certified 
Stage I Enhanced Vapor Recovery (EVR) systems or a Stage I vapor 
recovery system composed of EVR system components (Stage I EVR 
component systems). The upgrade to Stage I EVR systems or Stage I EVR 
component systems is required upon facility start-up for facilities 
beginning operation or installing a fuel storage tank as of December 
25, 2013. In addition, as of December 25, 2013, any component of a pre-
existing Stage I vapor recovery system that is replaced is required to 
be replaced with a CARB-certified Stage I EVR component. The Rhode 
Island regulation further requires that all Stage I systems be CARB-
certified Stage I EVR systems or Stage I EVR component systems by 
December 25, 2020. CARB-certified Stage I EVR systems have been 
certified to achieve a 98 percent reduction in VOC emissions, as 
compared to 95 percent for pre-EVR Stage I systems. Thus, when pre-EVR 
Stage I systems in Rhode Island are replaced with CARB-certified Stage 
I EVR systems, a greater emission reduction will be achieved. Also, 
when a component of a pre-EVR Stage I system is replaced with a CARB-
certified Stage I EVR component, a

[[Page 32471]]

somewhat greater reduction is expected to be achieved. These additional 
reductions will further mitigate any temporary declining emissions 
increases, which are already de minimis, resulting from removal of 
Stage II equipment.
    Finally, with respect to the graphs and calculations submitted as 
part of ARID Technologies' comments, we note that, in some cases, 
differing assumptions were used by the commenter as compared to those 
used by Rhode Island. For example, the ARID Technologies calculations 
assume a Stage II vapor recovery efficiency of 75 percent, whereas 
Rhode Island used a more conservative figure of 70 percent. EPA's 
August 7, 2012 Guidance states that Stage II control efficiencies are 
typically in the range of 60-75 percent. Assuming a higher Stage II 
efficiency would result in a higher estimate of foregone emission 
reductions. However, in some cases, the assumptions and/or the basis or 
references for the assumptions used in the commenter's calculations are 
not stated. Therefore, we are not, at this time, assessing the 
appropriateness of each of the individual calculations included in the 
ARID Technologies documents but instead note that the commenter's 
summary result of 400,000 lbs (or 200 tons) of hydrocarbon emissions in 
2013 (see slide 8 of the commenter's presentation), although higher 
than the Rhode Island estimate of 69 tons referenced above, is still 
only about 0.9 percent, i.e., less than one percent, of the 22,248 tons 
of total annual anthropogenic VOC emissions in Rhode Island (see EPA's 
2011 National Emissions Inventory database Version 1 at www.epa.gov/ttn/chief/net/2011inventory.html). As also noted above, these foregone 
emission reductions are highest in 2013 and diminish rapidly over time. 
Finally, the commenter does not assert or demonstrate that the foregone 
emissions reductions based on his assumptions would exceed the de 
minimis criteria discussed in EPA's August 7, 2012 Guidance.

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving Rhode Island's December 13, 2013 SIP revision. 
Specifically, EPA is approving the amended Rhode Island Air Pollution 
Control Regulation No. 11, ``Petroleum Liquids Marketing and Storage,'' 
and incorporating it into the Rhode Island SIP. EPA is approving this 
SIP revision because it meets all applicable requirements of the Clean 
Air Act and EPA guidance, and it will not interfere with any applicable 
requirement concerning National Ambient Air Quality Standards 
attainment and reasonable further progress or with any other applicable 
requirement of the Clean Air Act.
    Rhode Island's December 13, 2013 SIP revision satisfies the 
``comparable measures'' requirement of CAA section 184(b)(2), because 
as stated in EPA's August 7, 2012 Guidance, ``the comparable measures 
requirement is satisfied if phasing out a Stage II control program in a 
particular area is estimated to have no, or a de minimis, incremental 
loss of area-wide emissions control.'' As noted in the NPR, Rhode 
Island's SIP revision met de minimis criteria outlined in EPA's August 
7, 2012 Guidance. In addition, since emissions are de minimis, the 
anti-back sliding requirements of CAA section 110(l) have also been 
satisfied.

IV. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes 
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 
51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference Rhode 
Island's revised Air Pollution Control Regulation No. 11 described in 
the amendments to 40 CFR part 52 set forth below. The EPA has made, and 
will continue to make, these documents generally available 
electronically through www.regulations.gov and/or in hard copy at the 
appropriate EPA office (see the ADDRESSES section of this preamble for 
more information).

V. 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 Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     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, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under 
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has 
demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian 
country, the rule does not have tribal implications and will not impose 
substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law as 
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
    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

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States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by August 10, 2015. 
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. This action may 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: May 26, 2015.
H. Curtis Spalding,
 Regional Administrator, EPA New England.

    Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
is amended as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart OO--Rhode Island

0
2. In Sec.  52.2070 the table in paragraph (c) is amended by revising 
the entry for state citation ``Air Pollution Control Regulation 11'' to 
read as follows:


Sec.  52.2070  Identification of plan.

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    (c) EPA Approved regulations.

                                      EPA-Approved Rhode Island Regulations
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                                                        State
       State citation             Title/subject       effective      EPA approval date         Explanations
                                                         date
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Air Pollution Control        Petroleum liquids        12/25/2013  6/9/2015 [Insert        Includes
 Regulation 11.               marketing and storage.               Federal Register        decommissioning of
                                                                   citation].              Stage II vapor
                                                                                           recovery systems.
 
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[FR Doc. 2015-13944 Filed 6-8-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P