[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 115 (Wednesday, June 15, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39002-39003]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-14032]



[[Page 39002]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2015-0675; FRL-9947-61-Region 4]


Air Plan Approval; Kentucky; Source Specific Revision for 
Louisville Gas and Electric

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky through its Energy and Environment Cabinet, 
Department of Environmental Protection, Division for Air Quality (KY 
DAQ) on February 13, 2013, for the purpose of establishing emission 
requirements for the changeover from coal-fired units U4, U5 and U6 to 
a new natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) generating unit U15 and 
auxiliary boiler U16 at the Louisville Gas and Electric Company, Cane 
Run Generating Station (LG & E Cane Run Facility).

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 15, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2015-0675 at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e. on the Web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Spann of the Air Regulatory 
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air, 
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 
30303-8960. Ms. Spann may be reached by telephone at (404) 562-9029 or 
via electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Ozone is created when chemical reactions between volatile organic 
compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) occur in the 
presence of sunlight. Ozone is reduced by reducing VOC and 
NOX emissions. The Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control 
District (LMAPCD) adopted regulation 6.42 Reasonably Available Control 
Technology Requirements for Major Volatile Organic Compound and 
Nitrogen Oxides Emitting Facilities on February 2, 1994. LMAPCD's 
regulation 6.42 was submitted to EPA, through the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky, on May 21, 1999. On October 23, 2001, EPA approved LMAPCD's 
regulation 6.42, section 4.4 of which requires LMAPCD to submit each 
source-specific reasonably available control technology (RACT) 
determination to EPA for approval into the Kentucky SIP. See 66 FR 
53658. On the same date, EPA approved the NOX RACT plan for 
LG & E's Cane Run Facility into the SIP. See 66 FR 53684.
    On June 13, 2011, LG & E submitted to the Air Pollution Control 
Board of Jefferson County (Board) an application for a permit to 
construct a new NGCC generating unit U15 and auxiliary boiler U16 and 
retire coal-fired units U4, U5 and U6 at LG & E's Cane Run Facility to 
comply with other federal requirements, including the Mercury & Air 
Toxics Standards and the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.\1\ In 
response, on July 18, 2012, the Board adopted Amendment 2 establishing 
NOX emission rates for the new units. On February 13, 2013, 
KY DAQ, on behalf of LMAPCD, submitted a SIP revision for EPA to 
approve the LG & E Cane Run Generating Station NOX RACT Plan 
Amendment 2 into the Kentucky SIP. The LG & E Cane Run Generating 
Station NOX RACT Plan Amendment 2 includes two parts: Part 
1, the existing NOX RACT Plan for the coal-fired units, 
which will remain in effect until those units are retired; and Part 2, 
the plan that will become effective upon the start of operation of the 
NGCC facility and the shut-down of the coal-fired units.
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    \1\ Amendment 2 of the February 13, 2013, submittal includes a 
Dew Point Heater (U17). In 2014, LG&E notified LMAPCD that LG&E is 
not installing U17 after all.
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II. Analysis of State Submittal

    CAA section 110(l) does not allow approval of a SIP revision if the 
revision would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning 
attainment and reasonable further progress or any other applicable 
requirement of the CAA. On May 19, 2015, LMAPCD submitted supplemental 
information regarding the February 13, 2013, submittal to address CAA 
section 110(l). The May 19, 2015, supplemental document compares the 
NOX and VOC emissions from the coal-fired electric 
generation units (EGUs) (U4, U5 and U6) to those from the new NGCC 
generating unit U15 and auxiliary boiler U16. The comparison shows that 
substitution of NGCC units for the coal-fired EGUs will cause a 
reduction of 11,660 tons per year (tpy) of NOX allowable 
emissions.\2\ It also indicates a possible increase of 25.2 tpy of VOC 
allowable emissions.\3\
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    \2\ Permitted, maximum, allowable NOX emissions for 
any consecutive 12 month period.
    \3\ Permitted, maximum, allowable VOC emissions for any 
consecutive 12 month period.
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    The Louisville area is currently in compliance with the ozone 
national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). To demonstrate that the 
potential VOC increase of 25.2 tpy would not interfere with the area's 
ongoing attainment of the ozone NAAQS, LMAPCD conducted an analysis of 
ozone sensitivity based on data from monitors in the Louisville 
Metropolitan Statistical Area and a region-wide modeling project known 
as the ``Southeastern Modeling, Analysis, and Planning'' (SEMAP).\4\ 
The analysis compared the tons per day of ozone reduced based on 
NOX reductions and based on VOC reductions and determined 
that NOX emission reductions in the Louisville region are 2 
to 16 times more effective than VOC emission reductions at reducing 
ozone concentrations. Based on this analysis, LMAPCD determined that a 
25-ton increase in VOC emissions can be offset with a reduction in 
NOX emissions of as much as 400 tons to as little as 50 
tons. Therefore, LMAPCD concluded that the potential increase in VOC of 
25.2 tpy from the Cane Run facility is offset by the concurrent 11,660 
tpy reduction in NOX. EPA has preliminarily determined that 
the new NOX RACT plan associated with Cane Run's change from 
coal-fired to natural gas-fired units meets the

[[Page 39003]]

requirements of CAA section 110(l). Thus, EPA is proposing to approve 
the February 13, 2013, SIP submittal into the federally-approved SIP. 
This area is, as noted above, in compliance with the ozone NAAQS and 
there is no indication that this proposed action will cause 
interference with compliance with the fine particulate matter or 
nitrogen dioxide NAAQS.
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    \4\ Odam, Talat, and Zac Adelman. Emissions and Air Quality 
Modeling for SEMAP. Georgia Institute of Technology Environmental 
Engineering Department, the University of North Carolina Institute 
for the Environment and the Colorado State University Cooperative 
Institute for Research in the Atmosphere. October 15, 2014.
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III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule 
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance 
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, EPA is proposing to incorporate by 
reference the KY DAQ source-specific provision entitled ``Air Pollution 
Control Board of Jefferson County Board Order--Amendment 2,'' approved 
by LMAPCD on July 18, 2012. EPA has made, and will continue to make, 
these documents generally available electronically through 
www.regulations.gov and/or in hard copy at the EPA Region 4 office (see 
the ADDRESSES section of this preamble for more information).

IV. Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve the February 13, 2013, Kentucky SIP 
revision which adds LG & E Cane Run Generating Station NOX 
RACT Plan Amendment 2 to the federally-approved Kentucky SIP. This SIP 
includes emission requirements for the changeover from coal-fired units 
to natural gas-fired combined cycle EGUs and associated equipment.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP 
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable 
federal regulations. See 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 CAA. Accordingly, this 
proposed 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 proposed 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 CAA; 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).
    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 as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 
organic compounds.

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

    Dated: June 1, 2016.
Heather McTeer Toney,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2016-14032 Filed 6-14-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P