[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 144 (Tuesday, July 28, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44882-44883]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-18516]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 97

[FRL-9931-40-OAR]


Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Allowances From New 
Unit Set-Asides for the 2015 Compliance Year

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule; notice of data availability (NODA).

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice 
of emission allowance allocations to certain units under the new unit 
set-aside (NUSA) provisions of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule 
(CSAPR) federal implementation plans (FIPs) and is responding to 
objections to preliminary calculations. EPA has completed final 
calculations for the first round of NUSA allowance allocations for the 
2015 compliance year and has posted spreadsheets containing the 
calculations on EPA's Web site. The final allocations are unchanged 
from the preliminary calculations. EPA will record the allocated 
allowances in sources' Allowance Management System (AMS) accounts by 
August 1, 2015.

DATES: July 28, 2015.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions concerning this action 
should be addressed to Robert Miller at (202) 343-9077 or 
[email protected] or to Kenon Smith at (202) 343-9164 or 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the CSAPR FIPs, a portion of each 
state budget for each of the four CSAPR emissions trading programs is 
reserved as a NUSA from which allowances are allocated to eligible 
units through an annual one- or two-round process. In a NODA published 
in the Federal Register on June 1, 2015 (80 FR 30988), EPA described 
the allocation process and provided notice of preliminary calculations 
for the first-round 2015 NUSA allowance allocations. EPA also described 
the process for submitting any objections to the preliminary 
calculations.
    In response to the June 1 NODA, EPA received three timely written 
objections, two late written objections, and several telephone 
inquiries. The objections and inquiries all concerned the question of 
whether EPA is correct to exclude emissions that occurred before a 
unit's monitor certification deadline from the emissions data used to 
calculate the NUSA allowance allocations. As explained below, under the 
regulations such emissions are properly excluded because they are not 
emissions during a ``control period.''
    Under the CSAPR FIPs, an eligible unit's first-round NUSA allowance 
allocation for a given compliance year is generally based on the unit's 
emissions ``during the immediately preceding control period'' (that is, 
the control period in the year before the compliance year).\1\ An 
eligible unit's second-round NUSA allowance allocation for a given

[[Page 44883]]

compliance year is generally based on the positive difference, if any, 
between the unit's emissions ``during such control period'' (that is, 
the control period in the compliance year) and the unit's first-round 
NUSA allocation for the compliance year.\2\ A ``control period'' is 
defined as either a calendar year or a May-September period--for the 
SO2 and NOX annual programs and for the 
NOX ozone season program, respectively--subject in both 
cases to an exclusion, for any given unit, of periods before the unit's 
monitor certification deadline, thereby ensuring that the unit's 
``control periods'' generally represent the periods for which the unit 
must hold CSAPR allowances equal to its emissions.\3\ The emissions 
data used in calculating NUSA allowance allocations under the CSAPR 
FIPs thus properly exclude any emissions occurring before a unit's 
monitor certification deadline because such emissions are not emissions 
``during the immediately preceding control period'' or ``during such 
control period.'' \4\
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    \1\ 40 CFR 97.412(a)(4)(i), 97.512(a)(4)(i), 97.612(a)(4)(i), 
and 97.712(a)(4)(i). First-round NUSA allocations may be affected by 
first-round NUSA over-subscription and rounding.
    \2\ 40 CFR 97.412(a)(9)(i), 97.512(a)(9)(i), 97.612(a)(9)(i), 
and 97.712(a)(9)(i). Second-round NUSA allocations occur only if all 
NUSA allowances were not allocated in the first round and may be 
affected by second-round NUSA over-subscription and rounding.
    \3\ 40 CFR 97.402, 97.502, 97.602, and 97.702 (definitions of 
``control period''); see also 40 CFR 97.406(c)(3), 97.506(c)(3), 
97.606(c)(3), and 97.706(c)(3) (exclusion of periods before monitor 
certification deadline).
    \4\ The CSAPR regulations' exclusion of periods before a unit's 
monitor certification deadline from ``control periods'' is explicit 
with respect to control periods in and after 2015, the first year of 
obligations to hold CSAPR allowances. The regulations' only 
operative references to control periods before 2015 are the 
references in the NUSA allowance allocation provisions to ``the 
immediately preceding control period,'' which, in the context of the 
2015 compliance year, indicate 2014 ``control periods.'' EPA 
interprets the NUSA provisions as intended to operate in the same 
manner in all compliance years and accordingly interprets the 
exclusion of periods before a unit's monitor certification deadline 
as applying to all control periods, including the 2014 ``control 
periods.''
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    EPA excluded emissions before units' monitor certification 
deadlines from the preliminary calculations of first-round 2015 NUSA 
allowance allocations discussed in the June 1 NODA. In the final 
calculations, EPA has likewise excluded emissions before units' monitor 
certification deadlines and has made no other changes to the data used 
in the preliminary calculations. The final first-round 2015 NUSA 
allowance allocations are therefore unchanged from the preliminary 
calculations.
    The final unit-by-unit data and allowance allocation calculations 
are set forth in Excel spreadsheets titled 
``CSAPR_NUSA_2015_NOx_Annual_1st_Round_Final_Data'', 
``CSAPR_NUSA_2015_NOx_OS_1st_Round_Final_Data'', and 
``CSAPR_NUSA_2015_SO2_1st_Round_Final_Data,'' available on 
EPA's Web site at http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/actions.html. The 
three spreadsheets show EPA's final determinations of first-round 2015 
NUSA allocations under the CSAPR NOX annual, NOX 
ozone season, and SO2 (Group 1 and Group 2) trading 
programs, respectively.
    Pursuant to CSAPR's allowance recordation timing requirements, the 
allocated NUSA allowances will be recorded in sources' AMS accounts by 
August 1, 2015. EPA notes that an allocation or lack of allocation of 
allowances to a given unit does not constitute a determination that 
CSAPR does or does not apply to the unit. EPA also notes that NUSA 
allocations are subject to potential correction if a unit to which NUSA 
allowances have been allocated for a given compliance year is not 
actually an affected unit as of January 1 (or May 1 in the case of the 
NOX ozone season program) of the compliance year.\5\
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    \5\ See 40 CFR 97.411(c), 97.511(c), 97.611(c), and 97.711(c).


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(Authority: 40 CFR 97.411(b), 97.511(b), 97.611(b), and 97.711(b).)

    Dated: July 20, 2015.
Reid P. Harvey,
Director, Clean Air Markets Division.
[FR Doc. 2015-18516 Filed 7-27-15; 8:45 am]
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