[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 237 (Friday, December 9, 2016)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 89024-89026]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-29594]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2016-0318; FRL-9956-25-Region 9]


Approval of California Air Plan Revisions, Imperial County Air 
Pollution Control 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 Imperial County Air Pollution Control District 
(ICAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 
These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 
and particulate matter (PM) from large confined animal facilities 
(LCAFs). 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 January 9, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2016-0318 at http://www.regulations.gov, or via email to 
[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: Nancy Levin, EPA Region IX, (415) 972-
3848, [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 or 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 proposal 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
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           Local agency                Rule No.              Rule title               Amended        Submitted
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ICAPCD............................             217  Large Confined Animal             02/09/2016      04/21/2016
                                                     Facilities (LCAF) Permits
                                                     Required.
ICAPCD............................             101  Definitions.................      02/09/2016      04/21/2016
ICAPCD............................             202  Exemptions..................      02/09/2016      04/21/2016
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On May 18, 2016, the EPA determined that the submittal for ICAPCD 
Rules 217, 101 and 202 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 217 in the SIP, although the 
ICAPCD adopted an earlier version of Rule 217 on October 10, 2006, and 
CARB submitted it to us on August 24, 2007. CARB withdrew this version 
of Rule 217 on May 17, 2011. We approved earlier versions of Rules 101 
and 202 into the SIP on October 2, 2014 (79 FR 59433) and May 9, 2011 
(76 FR 26615), respectively. While we can act on only the most recently 
submitted version, we have reviewed materials provided with previous 
submittals.

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

    VOCs contribute to the production of 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 VOC emissions. 
PM, including PM equal to or less than 2.5 microns in diameter 
(PM2.5) and PM equal to or less than 10 microns in diameter 
(PM10), contributes to effects that are harmful to human 
health and the environment, including premature mortality, aggravation 
of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, decreased lung function, 
visibility impairment, and damage to vegetation and ecosystems. Section 
110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit regulations that control PM 
emissions. These rules also help to control ammonia, which contributes 
to PM formation.
    Rule 217 is designed to limit VOC and ammonia emissions from LCAFs, 
including dairies, beef feedlots, poultry houses, swine facilities and 
other confined animal facilities. The rule applies to operations at or 
above certain size thresholds specified in the rule.\1\ These 
operations must obtain an ICAPCD permit, submit an emissions mitigation 
plan and implement mitigation measures. Rule 217 lists mitigation 
measure requirements for each type of LCAF. The measures are grouped 
into categories.\2\ The LCAF owner/operator must implement the

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requirements within each category.\3\ Rules 101--Definitions, and 202--
Exemptions, were revised to be consistent with the LCAF thresholds for 
dairy cows, chicken and ducks established in Rule 217.
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    \1\ Table 1 of Rule 217 provides large confined animal facility 
(LCAF) thresholds for each type of livestock for which the rule 
applies. For example, the beef feedlot LCAF threshold is 3,500 beef 
cattle, the dairy LCAF threshold is 500 milking cows, and the 
poultry LCAF threshold is 400,000 chickens or ducks.
    \2\ For example, the mitigation measure requirements for beef 
feedlots are grouped into the following categories: A. Feed, B. 
Silage, C. Housing, D. Solid Manure/Separated Solids, E. Liquid 
Manure and F. Land Application.
    \3\ For example, Rule 217 Table 2.1 (C. Housing) states ``An 
owner/operator of a beef feedlot CAF shall implement mitigation 
measures 1, 2, 3, and 4 and at least one (1) additional mitigation 
measure in each of the animal housing structures (e.g., each corral, 
etc.):'' and lists the mitigation measures below, numbered 1-7.
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    The EPA's technical support document (TSD) has 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 category of sources covered by a Control 
Techniques Guidelines (CTG) document, and for each non-CTG major source 
of VOCs in ozone nonattainment areas classified as moderate or above 
(see CAA section 182(b)(2)). The ICAPCD regulates sources in an ozone 
nonattainment area classified as moderate for the 1997 and the 2008 8-
hour ozone standards (40 CFR 81.305). Therefore, we are evaluating 
whether this rule implements RACT-level controls for this area source 
category. Rules 101 and 202 support the requirements in Rule 217 but do 
not contain emission limitations directly, so we are not evaluating 
them for rule stringency.
    Generally, SIP rules must also implement Reasonably Available 
Control Measures (RACM), including RACT, in moderate PM2.5 
nonattainment areas (see CAA sections 172(c)(1) and 189(a)(1)(C)). The 
ICAPCD regulates sources in a PM2.5 nonattainment area 
classified as moderate for the 2006 24-hour and the 2012 annual 
standards. (40 CFR 81.305). RACM evaluations are generally performed in 
context of a broader implementation plan. Therefore, we are not 
proposing to determine whether this rule fulfills RACM requirements at 
this time, although we did evaluate Rule 217 with respect to RACT-level 
controls in the TSD.
    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 for Serious PM-10 Nonattainment 
Areas, and Attainment Date Waivers for PM-10 Nonattainment Areas 
Generally; Addendum to the General Preamble for the Implementation of 
Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 59 FR 41998 (August 
16, 1994).

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. The 
TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules

    The TSD describes additional rule revisions that we recommend for 
the next time the local agency modifies the rules.

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 January 9, 2017. Unless we receive convincing new 
information during the comment period, we intend to publish a final 
approval action that 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 ICAPCD 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 the 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

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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, Ozone, Particulate matter, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: November 21, 2016.
Alexis Strauss,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2016-29594 Filed 12-8-16; 8:45 am]
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