[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 6 (Tuesday, January 9, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 997-1001]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00026]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2017-0416; FRL-9972-76--Region 7]


Approval of Iowa's Air Quality Implementation Plan; Muscatine 
Sulfur Dioxide Nonattainment Area; Availability of Supplemental 
Information and Reopening of the Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; availability of supplemental information and 
reopening of the comment period.

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SUMMARY: On August 24, 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 
published a notice of proposed rulemaking to approve the Iowa State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision for attaining the 1-hour sulfur 
dioxide (SO2) primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard 
(NAAQS) for the Muscatine nonattainment area (herein called a 
``nonattainment plan'') in the Federal Register. EPA received several 
comments, including one suggesting that insufficient information was 
provided in the docket to allow the reviewer the ability to fully 
evaluate the nonattainment plan and EPA's proposed action to approve it 
and another comment that insufficient emissions inventory information 
for the 2018 attainment year was provided for the action. As a result, 
we are: Providing additional information in the docket and clarifying 
that all information, including files that are too large to be provided 
in the docket, are available upon request; providing an updated 2018 
projected emissions inventory; and reopening the public comment period 
to afford stakeholders an opportunity to comment on these specific 
additions of information only. EPA has updated Document A, ``Index of 
Docket Documents'' in the docket to this rulemaking. EPA will address 
all comments received on the original proposal and on this supplemental 
action in our final action.

DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published on August 24, 
2017 (82 FR 40086) (FRL-9966-60-Region 7) is reopened. Comments, 
identified by docket identification (ID) number EPA-RO7-OAR-2017-0416 
must be received on or before February 8, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments pertaining to this supplemental action, 
identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2017-0416 to https://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 https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tracey Casburn, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner 
Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at (913) 551-7016, or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and 
``our'' refer to EPA. This section provides additional information by 
addressing the following:

I. What action is EPA taking?
II. What is the background for this action?
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

[[Page 998]]

I. What action is EPA taking?

    On August 24, 2017, at 82 FR 40086, EPA proposed to approve a state 
implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the state of Iowa for 
attaining the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS for the Muscatine 
nonattainment area. EPA received several comments on the original 
proposal, including one suggesting that insufficient information was 
provided in the docket to allow the reviewer the ability to fully 
evaluate the nonattainment plan and the basis of EPA's proposed action 
to approve it. As a result, in this supplemental action, EPA is 
providing additional information in the docket for the proposed action 
and clarifying that, especially in the case of files too large to post 
in the docket, this information is available upon request. These large 
files include modeling files utilized to support the nonattainment 
plan. EPA also received a comment that the SIP submittal, and EPA's 
proposed approval of the nonattainment plan, did not include adequate 
emissions inventory information for the 2018 attainment year. As a 
result, EPA is providing updated 2018 projected emissions inventory 
information for the proposed action. EPA is soliciting comment only 
regarding the information added by this document and its relationship 
to EPA's proposed SIP approval. That is, at this time, EPA is 
soliciting comment only on the newly docketed information, including 
modeling files which can be obtained upon request, and how they relate 
to EPA's proposed action. We will address all comments received on the 
original proposal and new comments submitted in response to this action 
in our final rulemaking action.

II. What is the background for this action?

    As discussed in EPA's original August 24, 2017, proposal (82 FR 
40086), on April 23, 2014, the EPA issued recommended guidance for 
meeting the statutory requirements in SO2 SIPs, in a 
document entitled, ``Guidance for 1-Hour SO2 Nonattainment 
Area SIP Submissions,'' (April 2014 guidance) available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2016-06/documents/20140423guidance_nonattainment_sip.pdf. In this guidance the EPA 
described the statutory requirements for a complete nonattainment area 
SIP, which includes an accurate emissions inventory of current 
emissions for all sources of SO2 within the nonattainment 
area.
    Section 172(c)(3) of the CAA requires that the state's 
nonattainment plan include a comprehensive, accurate, current inventory 
of actual emissions from all sources of the relevant pollutant or 
pollutants in such area, including such periodic revisions as the 
Administrator may determine necessary to assure that the requirements 
of part D of title I of the CAA are met. Section 172(c)(4) of the CAA 
requires that the state's nonattainment plan expressly identify and 
quantify the emissions, if any, of any such pollutant or pollutants 
which will be allowed, in accordance with section 173(a)(1)(B) of the 
CAA, from the construction and operation of major new or modified 
stationary sources in each such area. The plan shall demonstrate to the 
satisfaction of the Administrator that the emissions quantified for 
this purpose will be consistent with the achievement of reasonable 
further progress and will not interfere with attainment of the 
applicable NAAQS by the applicable attainment date.
    The emissions inventory and source emission rate data for an area 
serve as the foundation for air quality modeling and other analyses 
that enable states to: (1) Estimate the degree to which different 
sources within a nonattainment area contribute to violations within the 
affected area; and (2) assess the expected improvement in air quality 
within the nonattainment area due to the adoption and implementation of 
control measures. As noted above, the state must develop and submit to 
EPA a comprehensive, accurate and current inventory of actual emissions 
from all sources of SO2 emissions in each nonattainment 
area, as well as any sources located outside the nonattainment area 
which may affect attainment in the area. See the April 2014 guidance.
    The base year inventory establishes a baseline that is used to 
evaluate emissions reductions achieved by the control strategy and to 
assess reasonable further progress requirements. The state's 
nonattainment SIP noted that, at the time, the most recent and 
available triennial inventory year was 2011, and the stated found that 
it served as a suitable base year. Table 1 provides the baseline 2011 
SO2 emissions inventory data for sources within and outside 
of the nonattainment the area (data have been rounded to the nearest 
whole number). It is important to note that emissions from the onroad 
mobile, nonroad mobile, area source and fire source categories are for 
the entire Muscatine County and not just the nonattainment area which 
is a portion of the county. Emissions from these source categories are 
approximately 0.11 percent of the total SO2 emissions for 
the nonattainment area.

    Table 1--2011 Base Line Emission Inventory for the Muscatine, IA
                           Nonattainment Area
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           Base line emissions inventory for the Muscatine NAA
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                                                             2011 SO2
                                          Facility           Emissions
                                                               (tpy)
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Inside of the NAA.................  Grain Processing              10,810
                                     Corporation.
                                    Muscatine Power and            2,374
                                     Water.
                                    Monsanto............             537
                                    HNI Corp.--North                  <1
                                     Campus.
                                    HNI Corp.--Central                <1
                                     Campus.
                                    H.J. Heinz L.P......              <1
                                    Union Tank Car Co...              <1
Outside of the NAA................  Louisa Generating              7,304
                                     Station.
All of Muscatine County...........  Onroad Mobile.......               3
                                    Nonroad Mobile......               2
                                    Area Sources........              10
                                    Fires...............               9
                                                         ---------------
    Total.........................  ....................          21,049
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[[Page 999]]

    The state's nonattainment SIP provided a 2018 projected emissions 
inventory only for the stationary sources that would be controlled 
under the SIP (Grain Processing Corporation, Muscatine Power and Water 
and Monsanto); the state's 2018 projected emissions are provided in 
table 2. As noted in EPA's proposal, the inventory was developed 
assuming each SO2 source operates 8,760 hours per year at 
its permitted maximum allowable emission rate.

   Table 2--Projected 2018 Allowable Annual SO2 Emissions From Control
              Strategy Sources From the Nonattainment Plan
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           Projected 2018 emissions for the controlled sources
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                                                             2018 SO2
                        Facility                             Emissions
                                                               (tpy)
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Grain Processing Corporation............................             167
Muscatine Power and Water...............................           5,051
Monsanto................................................           1,196
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    In this supplemental document, EPA is providing an update to the 
state's 2018 projected emissions inventory for public inspection. The 
updated 2018 projected emissions inventory includes: Emissions from 
Louisa Generating Station (LGS) located in nearby Louisa County 
(presented as a potential to emit (PTE) level as provided by the 
state); emissions from the less than 1 ton per year (tpy) point sources 
that were included in the baseline emission inventory; and emissions 
from the area source, fire, nonroad mobile, and onroad mobile source 
categories. Tables 3 through 6 provide information on how EPA completed 
the 2018 projections from the area source, fire, nonroad mobile, and 
onroad mobile source categories as well as the less than 1 tpy point 
sources. A summary of the 2018 projected emissions inventory is 
provided in table 7.
    As with the state's 2011 baseline emissions inventory, the fire, 
nonroad mobile, onroad mobile and area source emissions are county-wide 
and not specific to the partial Muscatine County nonattainment area. 
EPA increased the emissions based on population growth factors. In 
order to complete these projections, EPA first gathered population 
projections for Muscatine county, as seen in table 3.\1\
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    \1\ http://www.iowadatacenter.org/datatables/CountyAll/co2010populationprojections20002040.pdf.

          Table 3--Population Growth Data for Muscatine County
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Population projections
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2010....................................................          42,760
2015....................................................          43,453
2020....................................................          44,225
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    Next, EPA developed growth factors by computing population ratios 
by comparing the projected 2020 population to the 2010 population and 
then comparing the 2020 population to the 2015 population, as provided 
in table 4.

                      Table 4--2018 Growth Factors
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
                           2018 Growth factors
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1.03....................................................       2020/2010
1.02....................................................       2020/2015
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    Then, EPA downloaded the 2011 and 2014 emissions from the National 
Emissions Inventory (NEI) and multiplied the NEI values by the growth 
factors to calculate a 2018 maximum projection value, as provided in 
table 5. That is, EPA multiplied the 2011 NEI base year emissions by 
the 2018 growth factor of 1.03 and the 2014 NEI base year emissions by 
the 2018 growth factor of 1.02, then selected the highest estimate for 
each source category as the 2018 maximum projected emissions (data have 
been rounded to the nearest whole number).

                    Table 5--2018 Sulfur Dioxide Emissions Projections Muscatine County Iowa
                                                     [Tons]
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                     2018 Sulfur dioxide emissions projections Muscatine County Iowa (tons)
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                                      2011 a          2014 b        2018 (2011)     2018 (2014)    2018 Maximum
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Fire............................               9              13               9              13              13
Area Sources....................              10               5              10               5              10
Nonroad Mobile c................               2               1               2               1               2
Onroad Mobile...................               3               4               3               4               4
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a 2011NEIV2.
b 2014NEIV1.
c Marine/Aircraft/Rail emissions were included in the nonroad category, rather than area source category for
  2011.

    In order to project the 2018 emissions for the less than 1 tpy 
sources provided in the 2011 baseline emission inventory (HNI 
Corporation--North and Central Campuses, H.J. Heinz, L.P., and Union 
Tank Car Co.--Muscatine), EPA selected the highest emissions from the 
2008 to 2015 time period as the sources' projected 2018 emissions, 
table 6. The total of the county's nonroad mobile, onroad moble, fire 
and area source category projected 2018 emissions would be about .13 
percent of the partial county nonattainment area's total emissions).\2\
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    \2\ The total projected 2018 emissions includes LGS at its 
projected PTS in 2018, 15,188. It is expected that the actual 
emissions from this source in 2018 would be much lower.

[[Page 1000]]



             Table 6--Projected 2018 SO2 Emissions for the Small Uncontrolled Sources (tpy) in the Muscatine County Iowa Nonattainment Area
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                              Projected 2018 emissions from the less than 1 ton per year (tpy) sources in the Muscatine NAA
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                                                                                                                                                 2018
                Facility name                    2008        2009        2010        2011        2012        2013        2014        2015      Projected
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HNI Corporation--North Campus...............        0.06        0.07        0.08        0.07        0.11        0.03        0.03        0.08        0.11
HNI Corporation--Central Campus.............        0.04        0.01        0.04        0.01        0.05        0.04        0.04        0.05        0.05
H.J. Heinz, L.P.............................        0.06        0.03        0.06        0.05        0.06        0.06        0.04        0.06        0.06
Union Tank Car Co.--Muscatine...............           0        0.01        0.01        0.01        0.01        0.01        0.01        0.02        0.02
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    Additionally, there is a large source outside of the nonattainment 
area, LGS, that was included in the state's 2011 baseline emission 
inventory. On October 12, 2017, the state submitted, via email, the 
2018 potential to emit (PTE) from LGS equaling approximately 15,188 
tpy. The email has been added to the docket for public inspection. 
Table 7 provides a summary of the projected 2018 emissions for the 
nonattainment area, and that summary includes LGS at its PTE. However, 
after reviewing LGS's operating history from 2012 to 2016 we expect 
that the facility will emit considerably less SO2 emissions 
than its PTE in 2018. Table 8 provides the annual SO2 
emissions from LGS from 2012 to 2016 as reported to EPA's Clean Air 
Markets Division.\3\
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    \3\ Data reported to the CAMD shows that LGS has not operated in 
a manner to allow for SO2 emissions approaching its PTE 
(15,188) since 2008.

            Table 7--Updated 2018 Emissions Inventory Summary
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        2018 Projected emissions inventory for the Muscatine NAA
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                                                             2018 SO2
                                         Facility            Emissions
                                                               (tpy)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Inside of the NAA..............  Grain Processing                    167
                                  Corporation.
                                 Muscatine Power and               5,051
                                  Water.
                                 Monsanto...............           1,196
                                 HNI Corp.--North Campus            0.11
                                 HNI Corp.--Central                 0.05
                                  Campus.
                                 H.J. Heinz L.P.........            0.06
                                 Union Tank Car Co......            0.02
Outside of the NAA.............  Louisa Generating                15,188
                                  Station.
All of Muscatine County........  Onroad Mobile..........               4
                                 Nonroad Mobile.........               2
                                 Area Sources...........              10
                                 Fires..................              13
                                                         ---------------
    Total......................  .......................          21,631
------------------------------------------------------------------------


                 Table 8--Louisa Generating Station SO2 Annual Emissions Data, 2012-2016 (CAMD)
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                               Louisa Generating Station SO2 emissions, 2012-2016
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              Year                     2012            2013            2014            2015            2016
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Annual SO2 Emissions............            8743            8285            8763            6096            5129
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    The EPA is providing the updated 2018 projected emissions inventory 
information for public inspection and in support of the Agency's 
previous proposal to determine that the state has met the requirements 
of CAA section 172(c)(3) and 172(c)(4).

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 (76 FR 3821, 
January 21, 2011). This action is not subject to review under Executive 
Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 2017) regulatory action because 
SIP approvals are exempted under Executive Order 12866. This action is 
also not subject to Executive Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning 
Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or 
Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action merely proposes to 
approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes no 
additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, 
the Administrator certifies that this rulemaking will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because 
this rulemaking would approve pre-existing requirements under state law 
and does not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that 
required by state law, it 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).

[[Page 1001]]

    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 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).
    This action also does not have Federalism implications because it 
does not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the 
relationship between the national government and the States, or on the 
distribution of power and responsibilities among the various levels of 
government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 
10, 1999). Thus Executive Order 13132 does not apply to this action. 
This action merely proposes to approve a state rule implementing a 
Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or the 
distribution of power and responsibilities established in the CAA. This 
rulemaking also is not subject to Executive Order 13045, ``Protection 
of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997) because it proposes to approve a state rule 
implementing a Federal standard.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. In this 
context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the State 
to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority to 
disapprove a state submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA when it reviews a state 
submission, to use VCS in place of a state submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the CAA. Thus, the requirements of section 
12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 
(15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This action does not impose an 
information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.). Burden is defined at 5 
CFR 1320.3(b).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides.

    Dated: December 21, 2017.
James B. Gulliford,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.
[FR Doc. 2018-00026 Filed 1-8-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P