[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 184 (Thursday, September 22, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65352-65353]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-22846]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0341; FRL-9951-84-OAR]


Notice of Availability of Three Updated Chapters in the 
Environmental Protection Agency's Air Pollution Control Cost Manual

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice 
that three chapters of the current EPA Air Pollution Control Cost 
Manual (Control Cost Manual) have been updated. The EPA is requesting 
comment on Section 1, Chapter 2, ``Cost Estimation: Concepts and 
Methodology''; Section 3.1, Chapter 1, ``Refrigerated Condensers''; and 
Section 3.2, Chapter 2, ``Incinerators/Oxidizers.''

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 21, 2016. Please 
refer to SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional information on 
submitting comments on the provided data.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
OAR-2015-0341, to the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or withdrawn. 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, 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: Larry Sorrels, Health and 
Environmental Impacts Division, C439-02, Environmental Protection 
Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709; 
telephone number: (919) 541-5041; fax number: (919) 541-0839; email 
address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  The EPA is requesting comment on the 
specific Control Cost Manual chapters included in this NODA.

I. General Information

A. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for the EPA?

    1. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to the EPA 
through www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly mark the part or all of 
the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk 
or CD-ROM that you mail to the EPA docket office, mark the outside of 
the disk or CD-ROM as CBI and then identify electronically within the 
disk or CD-ROM the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In 
addition to one complete version of the comment that includes 
information claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain 
the information claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the 
public docket. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in 
accordance with procedures set forth in 40 Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) part 2.
    2. Tips for Preparing your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the notification by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and 
page number).
     Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a CFR part or 
section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives 
and substitute language/data for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the 
use of profanity or personal threats.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

II. Information Available for Public Comment

    The EPA is requesting comment on three updated chapters of the EPA 
Air Pollution Control Cost Manual. The Control Cost Manual contains 
individual chapters on control measures, including data and equations 
to aid users in estimating capital costs for installation and annual 
costs for operation and maintenance of these measures. The Control Cost 
Manual is used by the EPA for estimating the impacts of rulemakings, 
and serves as a basis for sources to estimate costs of controls that 
are Best Available Control Technology under the New Source Review 
Program, and Best Available Retrofit Technology under the Regional Haze 
Program and for other programs.

[[Page 65353]]

    The three updated Control Cost Manual chapters are: Section 1, 
Chapter 2, Cost Estimation: Concepts and Methodology; Section 3.1, 
Chapter 1, Refrigerated Condensers; and Section 3.2, Chapter 2, 
Incinerators/Oxidizers. Section 3.2, Chapter 2, ''Incinerators'' will 
now include oxidizers, for this type of control device is commonly used 
for destruction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions, which is 
the primary function of incinerators. These three revised Control Cost 
Manual chapters can be found in the docket for the Control Cost Manual 
update (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2015-0341). The current Control Cost 
Manual version (sixth edition) is available at https://www3.epa.gov/ttn/ecas/cost_manual.html, and was last updated in 2003. The 
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 requested that the EPA begin 
development of a seventh edition of the Control Cost Manual. The EPA 
has met with state, local, and tribal officials to discuss plans for 
the Control Cost Manual update as called for under the Consolidated 
Appropriations Act of 2014. The EPA has met with other groups as well 
at their request. The EPA recently updated the selective non-catalytic 
reduction (SNCR) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) chapters 
(Section 4, Chapters 1 and 2) which were made available to the public 
in May 2016 (81 FR 38702, June 14, 2016).
    To help focus review of the three chapters, Cost Estimation: 
Concepts and Methodology (Section 1, Chapter 2,); Refrigerated 
Condensers (Section 3.1, Chapter 1); and Incinerators/Oxidizers 
(Section 3.2, Chapter 2), we offer the following list of questions that 
the EPA is particularly interested in addressing in the updated 
chapters. Commenters are welcome to address any aspects of these 
chapters. Please provide supporting data for responses to these 
questions and other aspects of the chapters.
    For the Cost Estimation: Concepts and Methodology chapter:
    (1) Is the cost methodology included in this chapter consistent 
with best practices for cost estimation of pollution control equipment 
installation, operation and maintenance?
    (2) Is the use of the equivalent uniform annual cost method 
appropriate for estimating costs for pollution control devices, 
particularly end-of-pipe controls?
    (3) Are the cost items included in the definition of capital cost 
or total capital investment valid? Are the cost items included in the 
definition of annual costs valid?
    For the Refrigerated Condensers chapter:
    (1) What is a reasonable estimate of equipment life (defined as 
design or operational life) for this control measure?
    (2) Is the description of refrigerated condensers complete, up to 
date, and accurate, particularly with regard to control of VOC?
    (3) Are the cost correlations, factors, and equations for 
refrigerated condensers accurate? If not, how should they be revised?
    (4) Are the estimates of VOC destruction efficiency for 
refrigerated condensers accurate?
    (5) Is the discussion on the effect of fouling on refrigerated 
condensers accurate?
    For the Incinerators/Oxidizers chapter:
    (1) What is a reasonable estimate of equipment life (defined as 
design or operational life) for this control measure?
    (2) Is the description of incinerator technologies complete, up to 
date, and accurate? For oxidizers?
    (3) Are the cost correlations, factors, and equations for 
incinerators and oxidizers accurate? If not, how should they be 
revised?
    (4) Are the estimates of incinerators VOC destruction efficiency 
accurate? For oxidizers?

    Dated: September 8, 2016.
Stephen Page,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 2016-22846 Filed 9-21-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P