[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 22 (Thursday, February 1, 2018)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 4591-4595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-01925]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R05-OAR-2016-0138; FRL-9973-48-Region 5]


Air Plan Approval; Illinois; Nonattainment Plans for the Lemont 
and Pekin SO2 Nonattainment Areas

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to approve State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions, which 
Illinois submitted to EPA on March 2, 2016, and supplemented on August 
8, 2016 and May 4, 2017, for attaining the 2010 1-hour sulfur dioxide 
(SO2) primary national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) 
for the Lemont and Pekin areas. These revisions (herein called the 
nonattainment plans or plans) include Illinois' attainment 
demonstration and other elements required under the Clean Air Act (CAA) 
for the two areas. In addition to an attainment demonstration, the 
plans address: The requirement for meeting reasonable further progress 
(RFP) toward attainment of the NAAQS; reasonably available control 
measures and reasonably available control technology (RACM/RACT); 
emission inventories; and contingency measures. EPA further concludes 
that Illinois has demonstrated that the plans' provisions provide for 
attainment of the 2010 1-hour primary SO2 NAAQS in the 
Lemont and Pekin areas by the attainment date of October 4, 2018. EPA 
proposed this action on

[[Page 4592]]

October 5, 2017 and received one public comment in response.

DATES: This final rule is effective on March 5, 2018.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID 
No. EPA-R05-OAR-2016-0138. All documents in the docket are listed on 
the www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted 
by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is 
not placed on the internet and will be publicly available only in hard 
copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
through www.regulations.gov or at the Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604. This facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. We recommend 
that you telephone John Summerhays, Environmental Scientist, at (312) 
886-6067 before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Summerhays, Environmental 
Scientist, Attainment Planning and Maintenance Section, Air Programs 
Branch (AR-18J), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West 
Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886-6067, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information section is 
arranged as follows:

I. What action did EPA propose and why?
II. What comments did EPA receive, and what are EPA's responses?
III. What action is EPA taking?
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What action did EPA propose and why?

    On October 5, 2017, at 82 FR 46434, EPA proposed to approve 
Illinois' nonattainment plans for the Lemont and Pekin SO2 
nonattainment areas. These areas had been designated nonattainment on 
August 5, 2013, triggering a requirement for Illinois to submit plans 
to provide for attainment and to address other requirements under CAA 
sections 110, 172, and 192. Illinois submitted nonattainment plans for 
these areas on March 2, 2016, and submitted supplemental information on 
August 8, 2016 and May 4, 2017.
    EPA's proposed rulemaking provides further background on Illinois' 
submittal. Within the body of this proposed rulemaking, the first 
section identified EPA's action designating the Lemont and Pekin areas 
as nonattainment, thereby triggering a requirement for Illinois to 
develop nonattainment plans for the areas.
    The second section of the proposal provided an extensive discussion 
of EPA's guidance on the requirements that SO2 nonattainment 
plans must meet in order to obtain approval by EPA, including 
requirements to: Submit an emission inventory; provide for attainment; 
provide for reasonable further progress (RFP); implement RACM 
(including RACT); implement a new source permit program; and provide 
contingency measures. Of particular note, the proposal discussed the 
circumstances under which EPA expects to find that a plan that includes 
emission limits with averaging times of up to 30 days adequately 
provides for attainment of the 1-hour NAAQS.
    The third section of the proposed rulemaking discussed EPA's review 
of Illinois' demonstration that its plans provide for attainment in the 
Lemont and Pekin areas. This section discussed the use of the 
atmospheric dispersion model known as AERMOD, the meteorological and 
emissions data used in the analysis, the emission limits that Illinois 
relied on, and the background concentrations that Illinois used. This 
included a discussion of Illinois' use of a 30-day average emission 
limit for the Powerton Generating Station (Powerton), operated by 
Midwest Generation, LLC, which is located in the Pekin area. Illinois 
set this limit at a level of about 58 percent of the level of the 1-
hour limit that Illinois found would have provided for attainment, and 
which Illinois supplemented with a requirement that Powerton have less 
than five percent of the hours in any 30-day period exceeding the 1-
hour emission limit that Illinois otherwise would have set. EPA also 
evaluated comments that Sierra Club submitted during the State's 
rulemaking process, including comments related to the proposed emission 
limit for Powerton. Finally, this section summarized EPA's review of 
Illinois' attainment demonstration, concluding that Illinois' proposed 
limit for Powerton, as supplemented, was comparably stringent to the 1-
hour limit that would have been necessary to provide for attainment in 
accordance with EPA's guidance, and finding more generally that 
Illinois adequately demonstrated that its plans provided for 
attainment.
    The fourth section of the proposal contained EPA's review of the 
rules Illinois adopted to limit the sulfur content of residual and 
distillate fuel oil, and EPA's conclusion that these limits were 
enforceable and approvable.
    The fifth section of the proposal explained how Illinois' plans 
satisfied other nonattainment planning requirements, including 
requirements for a comprehensive emission inventory, RACM/RACT, an 
adequate new source review program, RFP, and contingency measures.
    The sixth section of the proposal summarized EPA's proposed action, 
namely that EPA proposed to approve Illinois' plans and the emission 
limits in the underlying rules.
    The seventh section of the proposal identified the rules that EPA 
was proposing to approve, and the eighth section contained EPA's review 
of statutory requirements and executive orders applicable to the 
proposed rulemaking.

II. What comments did EPA receive, and what are EPA's responses?

    In response to the proposed rulemaking, EPA received one comment 
letter, from Midwest Generation, LLC, dated November 6, 2017. The 
commenter indicated that it supports EPA's proposed rulemaking, 
provided SO2 air quality data for the Lemont and Pekin areas 
from 2013 through August 2017, and commented that ``because significant 
SO2 emission reductions have already occurred in the 
designated non-attainment areas, the Illinois EPA will soon be 
authorized to submit a `clean data' petition to U.S. EPA for the 
ambient air monitoring sites that were the basis for the non-attainment 
designations.''
    These comments, which support EPA's action, do not require any 
reassessment of the proposed rulemaking. Additionally, the proposed 
action did not address whether the Lemont and Pekin areas (at the 
monitoring sites and elsewhere) are currently attaining the 
SO2 standard; rather, the action evaluated Illinois' 
nonattainment plans for areas and proposed to find that those plans 
will provide for attainment. Therefore, the comments related to recent 
air quality monitoring data for the areas are not relevant to this 
rulemaking.

III. What action is EPA taking?

    EPA is taking final action to approve Illinois' submission as a SIP 
revision, which the state submitted to EPA on March 2, 2016, and 
supplemented on August 8, 2016, and May 4, 2017, for attaining the 2010 
1-hour SO2 NAAQS for the Lemont and Pekin SO2 
nonattainment areas.
    These SO2 nonattainment plans include Illinois' 
attainment

[[Page 4593]]

demonstrations for the Lemont and Pekin SO2 nonattainment 
areas. These attainment demonstrations use dispersion modeling to 
demonstrate that the emission limits that Illinois adopted into Title 
35 part 214 of the Illinois Administrative Code and submitted for EPA 
approval provide for air quality meeting the SO2 NAAQS.
    These limits include a 30-day average limit for the Powerton power 
plant in the Pekin area. Illinois' modeling demonstrated that a 1-hour 
limit of 6,000 pounds of SO2 per hour for this facility, in 
conjunction with the other limits that Illinois adopted and submitted 
or otherwise has in place, provide for attainment in this area. 
Illinois demonstrated that a 30-day average limit of 3,452 pounds per 
hour is comparably stringent to a 1-hour limit of 6,000 pounds per hour 
at this facility. Therefore, and for reasons discussed in the proposed 
rulemaking, EPA finds that the limits submitted by Illinois, which for 
Powerton include a 30-day average limit of 3,452 pounds per hour 
supplemented by a requirement that emissions not exceed 6,000 pounds 
per hour for more than 5 percent of hours, provide for attainment of 
the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS.
    These nonattainment plans also satisfy requirements for emission 
inventories, RACT/RACM, RFP, and contingency measures. Additionally, 
Illinois has previously addressed requirements regarding nonattainment 
area new source review. Therefore, EPA has determined that Illinois' 
SO2 nonattainment plans meet the applicable requirements of 
CAA sections 110, 172, and 192.

IV. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes 
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 
51.5, EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of the Illinois 
Regulations described in the amendments to 40 CFR part 52 set forth 
below. EPA has made, and will continue to make, these documents 
generally available through www.regulations.gov, and at the EPA Region 
5 Office (please contact the person identified in the For Further 
Information Contact section of this preamble for more information). 
Therefore, these materials have been approved by EPA for inclusion in 
the SIP, have been incorporated by reference by EPA into that plan, are 
fully federally enforceable under sections 110 and 113 of the CAA as of 
the effective date of the final rulemaking of EPA's approval, and will 
be incorporated by reference by the Director of the Federal Register in 
the next update to the SIP compilation.\1\
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    \1\ 62 FR 27968 (May 22, 1997).
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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 CAA 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 CAA. Accordingly, this 
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 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);
     Is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 
2017) regulatory action because SIP approvals are exempted under 
Executive Order 12866;
     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).
    In addition, 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).
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and 
other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by April 2, 2018. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor 
does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may 
be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or 
action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to 
enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

    Dated: January 17, 2018.
Cathy Stepp,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.

    40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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


0
2. In Sec.  52.720:

[[Page 4594]]

0
a. In the table in paragraph (c) under ``Part 214: Sulfur 
Limitations'':
0
i. Revise the entries for 214.121 and 214.122 under the subheading 
entitled ``Subpart B: New Fuel Combustion Emission Sources''.
0
ii. Revise the entry for 214.161 under the subheading entitled 
``Subpart D: Existing Liquid or Mixed Fuel Combustion Emission 
Sources''.
0
iii. Add new entries before 214.Appendix C for 214.600, 214.601, 
214.602, 214.603, 214.604 and 214.605 under a new subheading entitled 
``Subpart AA: Requirements for Certain SO2 Sources''.
0
b. In the table in paragraph (e) add a new entry in alphabetical order 
for ``Sulfur dioxide (2010) nonattainment plans'' under the subheading 
entitled ``Attainment and Maintenance Plans''.
    The additions and revisions read as follows:


Sec.  52.720   Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                 EPA-Approved Illinois Regulations and Statutes
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                                                             State
        Illinois citation             Title/subject     effective date   EPA approval date         Comments
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                                                  * * * * * * *
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                                 Subpart B: New Fuel Combustion Emission Sources
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214.121..........................  Large Sources......       12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                                                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.122..........................  Small Sources......       12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                                                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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                      Subpart D: Existing Liquid or Mixed Fuel Combustion Emission Sources
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
214.161..........................  Liquid Fuel Burned        12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                    Exclusively.                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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                                 Subpart AA: Requirements for Certain SO Sources
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
214.600..........................  Definitions........       12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                                                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.601..........................  Applicability......       12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                                                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.602..........................  Compliance Deadline       12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                                                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.603..........................  Emission                  12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                    Limitations.                         Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.604..........................  Monitoring and            12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                    Testing.                             Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
214.605..........................  Recordkeeping and         12/7/2015  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
                                    Reporting.                           Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                       EPA-Approved Illinois Nonregulatory and Quasi-Regulatory Provisions
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                                        Applicable
      Name of SIP provision           geographic or          State       EPA approval date         Comments
                                    nonattainment area  submittal date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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                                        Attainment and Maintenance Plans
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
Sulfur dioxide (2010)              Lemont and Pekin...        3/2/2016  2/1/2018, [Insert    ...................
 nonattainment plans.                                                    Federal Register
                                                                         citation].
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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[FR Doc. 2018-01925 Filed 1-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P