[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55061-55063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22943]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9933-86-OAR]

40 CFR Part 97


Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Allowances From New 
Unit Set-Asides for 2015 Control Periods

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of data availability (NODA).

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice 
of the availability of preliminary lists of units eligible for 
allocations of emission allowances under the Cross-State Air Pollution 
Rule (CSAPR). Under the CSAPR federal implementation plans (FIPs), 
portions of each covered state's annual emissions budgets for each of 
the four CSAPR emissions trading programs are reserved for allocation 
to electricity generating units that commenced commercial operation on 
or after January 1, 2010 (new units) and certain other units not 
otherwise obtaining allowance allocations under the FIPs. The 
quantities of allowances allocated to eligible units from each new unit 
set-aside (NUSA) under the FIPs are calculated in an annual one- or 
two-round allocation process. EPA previously completed the first round 
of NUSA allowance allocations for the 2015 control periods for all four 
CSAPR trading programs and is now making available preliminary lists of 
units eligible for allocations in the second round of the NUSA 
allocation process for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading 
Program. EPA has posted a spreadsheet containing the preliminary lists 
on EPA's Web site. EPA will consider timely objections to the lists of 
eligible units contained in the spreadsheet and will promulgate a 
document responding to any such objections no later than November 15, 
2015, the deadline for recording the second-round allocations of CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season allowances in sources' Allowance Management 
System accounts. This notice of availability may concern CSAPR-affected 
units in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, 
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,

[[Page 55062]]

Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New 
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, 
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.

DATES: Objections to the information referenced in this notice of 
availability must be received on or before October 14, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit your objections via email to [email protected]. 
Include ``2015 NUSA allocations'' in the email subject line and include 
your name, title, affiliation, address, phone number, and email address 
in the body of the email.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the CSAPR FIPs, the mechanisms by 
which initial allocations of emission allowances are determined differ 
for ``existing'' and ``new'' units. For ``existing'' units--that is, 
units commencing commercial operation before January 1, 2010--the 
specific amounts of CSAPR FIP allowance allocations for all control 
periods have been established through rulemaking. EPA has announced the 
availability of spreadsheets showing the CSAPR FIP allowance 
allocations to existing units in previous notices of availability.\1\
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    \1\ The latest spreadsheet of CSAPR FIP allowance allocations to 
existing units, updated in 2014 to reflect changes to CSAPR's 
implementation schedule but with allocation amounts unchanged since 
June 2012, is available at http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/actions.html. See Availability of Data on Allocations of Cross-State 
Air Pollution Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity Generating 
Units, 79 FR 71674 (December 3, 2014).
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    ``New'' units--that is, units commencing commercial operation on or 
after January 1, 2010--as well as certain older units that would not 
otherwise obtain FIP allowance allocations do not have pre-established 
allowance allocations. Instead, the CSAPR FIPs reserve a portion of 
each state's total annual emissions budget for each CSAPR emissions 
trading program as a new unit set-aside (NUSA) \2\ and establish an 
annual process for allocating NUSA allowances to eligible units. States 
with Indian country within their borders have separate Indian country 
NUSAs. The annual process for allocating allowances from the NUSAs and 
Indian country NUSAs to eligible units is set forth in the CSAPR 
regulations at 40 CFR 97.411(b) and 97.412 (NOX Annual 
Trading Program), 97.511(b) and 97.512 (NOX Ozone Season 
Trading Program), 97.611(b) and 97.612 (SO2 Group 1 Trading 
Program), and 97.711(b) and 97.712 (SO2 Group 2 Trading 
Program). Each NUSA allowance allocation process involves up to two 
rounds of allocations to new units followed by the allocation to 
existing units of any allowances not allocated to new units. EPA 
provides public notice at certain points in the process.
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    \2\ The NUSA amounts range from two percent to eight percent of 
the respective state budgets. The variation in percentages reflects 
differences among states in the quantities of emission allowances 
projected to be required by known new units at the time the budgets 
were set or amended.
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    EPA has already completed the first round of allocations of 2015 
NUSA allowances for all four CSAPR trading programs, as announced in 
notices of availability previously published in the Federal 
Register.\3\ The first-round NUSA allocation process was discussed in 
those previous notices of availability.
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    \3\ 80 FR 30988 (June 1, 2015); 80 FR 44882 (July 28, 2015).
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    In the case of second-round allocations of NUSA allowances, the 
annual allocations for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading 
Program occur before the annual allocations for the other three CSAPR 
trading programs because of differences in the emissions reporting and 
compliance deadlines for the various programs. This notice of 
availability concerns the second round of NUSA allowance allocations 
for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading Program for the 2015 
control period.\4\
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    \4\ At this time, EPA is not aware of any unit eligible for a 
second-round allocation from any Indian country NUSA.
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    The units eligible to receive second-round NUSA allocations for the 
CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading Program are defined in 
Sec. Sec.  97.511(a)(1)(iii) and 97.512(a)(9)(i). Generally, eligible 
units include any CSAPR-affected unit that commenced commercial 
operation between May 1 of the year before the control period in 
question and August 31 of the year of the control period in question. 
In the case of the 2015 control period, an eligible unit therefore must 
have commenced commercial operation between May 1, 2014 and August 31, 
2015 (inclusive).
    The total quantity of allowances to be allocated through the 2015 
NUSA allowance allocation process for each state and emissions trading 
program--in the two rounds of the allocation process combined--is 
generally the state's 2015 emissions budget less the sum of (1) the 
total of the 2015 CSAPR FIP allowance allocations to existing units and 
(2) the amount of the 2015 Indian country NUSA, if any.\5\ The amounts 
of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season NUSA allowances may be increased 
in certain circumstances as set forth in Sec.  97.512(a)(2).
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    \5\ The quantities of allowances to be allocated through the 
NUSA allowance allocation process may differ slightly from the NUSA 
amounts set forth in Sec. Sec.  97.410(a), 97.510(a), 97.610(a), and 
97.710(a) because of rounding in the spreadsheet of CSAPR FIP 
allowance allocations to existing units.
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    Second-round NUSA allocations for a given state, trading program, 
and control period are made only if the NUSA contains allowances after 
completion of the first-round allocations.
    The amounts of second-round CSAPR NOX Ozone Season 
allowance allocations to eligible new units from each NUSA are 
calculated according to the procedures set forth in Sec.  97.512(a)(9), 
(10) and (12). Generally, the procedures call for each eligible unit to 
receive a second-round 2015 NUSA allocation equal to the positive 
difference, if any, between its emissions during the 2015 
NOX ozone season (i.e., May 1, 2015 through September 30, 
2015) as reported under 40 CFR part 75 and any first-round allocation 
the unit received, unless the total of such allocations to all eligible 
units would exceed the amount of allowances in the NUSA, in which case 
the allocations are reduced on a pro-rata basis.
    Any allowances remaining in the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season 
NUSA for a given state and control period after the second round of 
NUSA allocations to new units will be allocated to the existing units 
in the state according to the procedures set forth in Sec.  
97.512(a)(10) and (12).
    EPA notes that an allocation or lack of allocation of allowances to 
a given EGU does not constitute a determination that CSAPR does or does 
not apply to the EGU. EPA also notes that allocations are subject to 
potential correction if a unit to which NUSA allowances have been 
allocated for a given control period is not actually an affected unit 
as of the start of that control period.\6\
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    \6\ See 40 CFR 97.511(c).
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    The preliminary lists of units eligible for second-round 2015 NUSA 
allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season allowances are set 
forth in an Excel spreadsheet titled 
``CSAPR_NUSA_2015_NOx_OS_2nd_Round_Prelim_Data'' available on EPA's Web 
site at http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/actions.html. The spreadsheet 
contains a separate worksheet for each state covered by that program 
showing each unit preliminarily identified as eligible for a second-
round NUSA allocation.

[[Page 55063]]

    Each state worksheet also contains a summary showing (1) the 
quantity of allowances initially available in that state's 2015 NUSA, 
(2) the sum of the 2015 NUSA allowance allocations that were made in 
the first-round to new units in that state (if any), and (3) the 
quantity of allowances in the 2015 NUSA available for distribution in 
second-round allocations to new units (or ultimately for allocation to 
existing units).
    Objections should be strictly limited to whether EPA has correctly 
identified the new units eligible for second-round 2015 NUSA 
allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season allowances according 
to the criteria described above and should be emailed to the address 
identified in ADDRESSES. Objections must include: (1) Precise 
identification of the specific data the commenter believes are 
inaccurate, (2) new proposed data upon which the commenter believes EPA 
should rely instead, and (3) the reasons why EPA should rely on the 
commenter's proposed data and not the data referenced in this notice of 
availability.

    Authority: 40 CFR 97.511(b).

Reid P. Harvey,
Director, Clean Air Markets Division.
[FR Doc. 2015-22943 Filed 9-11-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P