[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 180 (Friday, September 16, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63732-63734]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22388]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2016-0444; FRL-9952-48-Region 9]


Approval of California Air Plan Revisions, South Coast Air 
Quality Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve revisions to the South Coast Air Quality Management District 
(SCAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 
These revisions concern emissions of oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) from ovens, dryers, dehydrators, heaters, kilns, 
calciners, furnaces, crematories, incinerators, heated pots, cookers, 
roasters, smokers, fryers, closed and open heated tanks and 
evaporators, distillation units, afterburners, degassing units, vapor 
incinerators, catalytic or thermal oxidizers, soil and water 
remediation units, and other combustion equipment. We are proposing to 
approve local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean 
Air Act (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and 
plan to follow with a final action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by October 17, 2016.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2016-0444 at http://www.regulations.gov, or via email to Andrew 
Steckel, Rulemaking Office Chief at [email protected]. For 
comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be removed or 
edited from Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, the 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. The 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, please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER 
INFORMATION CONTACT section. For 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: Nicole Law, EPA Region IX, (415) 947-
4126, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and 
``our'' refer to the EPA.

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule 
revisions?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules
    D. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this action with the dates 
that they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB).

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                     Adopted/
          Local agency               Rule #                 Rule title                amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD.........................            1147  NOX Reductions from                  09/09/2011      02/06/2013
                                                  Miscellaneous Sources.
SCAQMD.........................          1153.1  Emissions of Oxides of Nitrogen      09/07/2014      04/07/2015
                                                  from Commercial Food Ovens.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On April 9, 2013 and April 30, 2015, the EPA determined that the 
submittals for SCAQMD Rule 1147 and SCAQMD Rule 1153.1 met the 
completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51 Appendix V, which must be met 
before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    There are no previous versions of Rule 1153.1. We approved an 
earlier version of Rule 1147 into the SIP on August 4, 2010 (75 FR 
46845).

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule revisions?

    NOX helps produce ground-level ozone, smog and PM, which 
harm human health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA 
requires States to submit regulations that control NOX 
emissions. The revisions made to SCAQMD Rule 1147 are administrative 
amendments that delay compliance dates. SCAQMD Rule 1153.1 is a new 
rule that carves out the category of commercial food ovens from Rule 
1147. Rule 1153.1 delays compliance and contains different 
NOX emission limits than were required under rule 1147. The 
EPA's technical support documents (TSDs) have more information about 
these rules.

II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?

    SIP rules must be enforceable (see CAA section 110(a)(2)), must not 
interfere with applicable requirements concerning attainment and 
reasonable further progress or other CAA requirements (see CAA section 
110(l)), and must not modify certain SIP control requirements in 
nonattainment areas without ensuring equivalent or greater emissions 
reductions (see CAA section 193).
    Generally, SIP rules must require Reasonably Available Control 
Technology (RACT) for each major source of NOX in ozone 
nonattainment areas classified as moderate or above (see CAA sections 
182(b)(2) and 182(f)). The SCAQMD regulates an ozone nonattainment area 
classified as extreme for the 1-hour ozone standard, the 8-hour 1997 
ozone standard, and the 8-hour 2008 ozone standard (40 CFR

[[Page 63733]]

81.305). Therefore, these rules must implement RACT. Additionally, SIP 
rules must implement Best Available Control Measures (BACM), including 
Best Available Control Technology (BACT), in serious PM2.5 
nonattainment areas (see CAA section 189(b)(1)(B)). The SCAQMD 
regulates a PM2.5 nonattainment area classified as serious 
for the 2006 24-hr PM2.5 standard. (40 CFR 81.305.) 
Therefore, although these rules must implement BACM and BACT, the BACM 
and BACT evaluation is generally performed in context of a broader plan 
and is not part of this rule evaluation.
    Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 
enforceability, revision/relaxation and rule stringency requirements 
for the applicable criteria pollutants include the following:

1. ``State Implementation Plans; General Preamble for the 
Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 
57 FR 13498 (April 16, 1992); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 11, 
1990).
3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
4. ``State Implementation Plans; Nitrogen Oxides Supplement to the 
General Preamble; Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 Implementation of 
Title I; Proposed Rule,'' (the NOX Supplement), 57 FR 
55620, November 25, 1992.
5. ``NOX Emissions from Industrial/Commercial/
Institutional (ICI) Boilers,'' EPA, March 1994, (EPA-453/R-94-022, 
March 1994).
6. ``Determination of Reasonably Available Control Technology and 
Best Available Retrofit Control Technology for Industrial, 
Institutional, and Commercial Boilers, Steam Generators, and Process 
Heaters,'' CARB, July 18, 1991.

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe these rules are consistent with CAA requirements and 
relevant guidance regarding enforceability, RACT and SIP revisions. 
SCAQMD previously adopted stringent future-effective emission limits 
that had not been widely implemented for all affected sources. SCAQMD 
intended to encourage wider adoption of low-emitting technology, but 
understood that some sources might not be able to comply on schedule 
for these and similar future-effective limits in other rules. As a 
result, SCAQMD did not take credit for (``set aside'') some emission 
reductions in certain attainment demonstrations. SCAQMD subsequently 
determined that some sources cannot comply with Rules 1147 and 1153.1 
on schedule despite reasonable efforts and therefore delayed certain 
compliance dates. We do not believe that these changes impact the 2015 
impracticability demonstration for the 2006 NAAQS for PM2.5, 
the 2022 attainment demonstration for 1-hour ozone, or the 2023 
attainment demonstration for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard because the 
forgone emission reductions are less than a one ton per day set aside 
by SCAQMD in their 2014 inventory used to model attainment and beyond 
2020 there are no emissions forgone due to the rule amendments. The 
TSDs have more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules

    The TSDs describe additional rule revisions that we recommend for 
the next time the local agency modifies the rules but are not currently 
the basis for rule disapproval.

D. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA proposes to 
fully approve the submitted rules because we believe they fulfill all 
relevant requirements. We will accept comments from the public on this 
proposal until October 17, 2016. If we take final action to approve the 
submitted rules, our final action will incorporate these rules into the 
federally enforceable SIP.

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the 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, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by 
reference the SCAQMD rules described in Table 1 of this preamble. The 
EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials available 
through www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region IX Office (please 
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this preamble for more information).

IV. 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 proposed action merely proposes to approve 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 Order 
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
     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 disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, 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 the 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).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

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


[[Page 63734]]


    Dated: August 24, 2016.
Alexis Strauss,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2016-22388 Filed 9-15-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P