[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 49 (Thursday, March 12, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 14418-14420]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-04854]
[[Page 14418]]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2019-0214; FRL-10006-31-Region 4]
Air Plan Approval; Alabama: Revisions to Cross-State Air
Pollution Rule
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving
revisions to the Alabama State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by
the State of Alabama, through the Alabama Department of Environmental
Management (ADEM), via two letters dated August 27, 2018, and October
25, 2018. The SIP revisions make technical amendments to the State's
Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) regulations. This action is
being taken pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
DATES: This rule is effective April 13, 2020.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket
Identification No. EPA-R04-OAR-2019-0214. All documents in the docket
are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the
index, some information may not be publicly available, i.e.,
Confidential Business Information 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 electronically through www.regulations.gov or in hard
copy at the Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and
Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia
30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the
person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to
schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of
business are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding
Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Scofield, Air Regulatory
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and
Radiation Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61
Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is
(404) 562-9034. Mr. Scofield can also be reached via electronic mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On November 26, 2019 (84 FR 65061), EPA proposed to approve changes
to the Alabama SIP that were provided to EPA through two letters dated
August 27, 2018, and October 25, 2018.\1\ Specifically, EPA proposed to
approve two SIP revisions that include changes to Alabama's CSAPR
regulations, found in ADEM Administrative Code Rules 335-3-5-.13, 335-
3-8-.14, 335-3-8-.40, and 335-3-8-.46.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ EPA received ADEM's submissions on September 7, 2018 and
October 30, 2018, respectively.
\2\ EPA notes that the Agency received other revisions to the
Alabama SIP submitted with the August 27, 2018, letter. EPA will
consider action on the remaining revisions in separate actions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama's August 27, 2018, SIP revision makes changes to ADEM's
CSAPR regulations by adding the term ``Group 2'' in several places to
Rule 335-3-8-.40 to make the terminology consistent with EPA's CSAPR
NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program regulations.
Alabama's October 25, 2018, SIP revision changes the CSAPR regulations
in Rules 335-3-5-.13, 335-3-8-.14, and 335-3-8-.46 by explicitly
addressing the disposition of any allowances that remain after
allocations to all existing units have reached their historical
emission caps as well as any allowances set aside for new units in
Indian country within the State and not used for that purpose. In
addition, the October 25, 2018, SIP revision makes minor and
administrative changes, such as correcting typographical errors.
The details of the Alabama submission and the rationale for EPA's
action are explained in the notice of proposed rulemaking. Comments on
the proposed rulemaking were due on or before December 26, 2019. EPA
received one adverse comment on the proposed action.
II. Response to Comments
EPA received one adverse comment from an anonymous commenter on the
proposed rule published on November 26, 2019. See 84 FR 65061. This
comment has been included in the docket for this action.
Comment: The Commenter asserts that CSAPR has been vacated by the
recent rulings in Wisconsin v. EPA and New York v. EPA and states that
EPA is therefore precluded from approving Alabama's requested changes
because the State's program is based on an illegal federal plan. The
Commenter makes several additional statements that are outside the
scope of this action, including references to Aloha Power v. EPA.
Response: EPA disagrees with this comment. In Wisconsin v. EPA, the
court remanded the CSAPR Update to EPA but did not vacate it, and the
remand does not concern any aspect of the CSAPR Update rulemaking
relevant to the minor SIP changes at issue in this action. 938 F.3d
303, 336 (D.C. Cir. 2019). In New York v. EPA, the court vacated a
related action known as the CSAPR Close-out, but the vacatur does not
extend to CSAPR or the CSAPR Update. 781 Fed. Appx. 4 (D.C. Cir. 2019).
Thus, the Wisconsin and New York decisions do not bar approval of the
requested changes to Alabama's SIP.
With respect to the commenter's discussion on endangerment
findings, the comment is out of scope of this action, as EPA's action
did not relate to an endangerment finding. Further, to the extent the
Commenter intended to raise concerns other than those related to
endangerment findings in its discussion of a possible U.S. Supreme
Court decision named Aloha Power v. EPA, the commenter did not provide
a citation and EPA is unable to find such a decision based on the
description provided by the Commenter.
III. Incorporation by Reference
In this document, 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 ADEM
Administrative Code Rules 335-3-5-.13, 335-3-8-.14, and 335-3-8-.46,
state effective on December 7, 2018, and 335-3-8-.40, state effective
on October 5, 2018, which make the following revisions to Alabama's
SIP: Add the term ``Group 2'' to the State's rules, consistent with
EPA's CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program
regulations; address the disposition of any allowances that remain
after allocations to all existing units have reached their historical
emission caps as well as any allowances set aside for new CSAPR
NOX Ozone Season Group 2 units in Indian country within
Alabama and not used for that purpose; and make other minor changes.
EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials generally
available through www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region 4 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 State
implementation plan, have been incorporated by reference by EPA into
[[Page 14419]]
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 in the next update to
the SIP compilation.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ See 62 FR 27968 (May 22, 1997).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. Final Action
EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to ADEM Administrative
Code Rules 335-3-5-.13, 335-3-8-.14, 335-3-8-.40, and 335-3-8-.46.
These changes are consistent with the CAA.
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 Act and applicable
Federal regulations. See 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. These actions merely
approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and do not impose
additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that
reason, these actions:
Are not significant regulatory actions 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);
Are not Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2,
2017) regulatory actions because SIP approvals are exempted under
Executive Order 12866;
Do not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Are certified as not having significant economic impacts
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
Do not contain any unfunded mandates or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
Do not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Are not economically significant regulatory actions based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Are not significant regulatory actions subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Are 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
Do 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).
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 as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it impose substantial direct
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
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. These actions are 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 May 11, 2020. 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. These actions 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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone,
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur
oxides.
Dated: February 27, 2020.
Mary S. Walker,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
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.
Subpart B--Alabama
0
2. In Sec. 52.50 amend the table in paragraph (c) by revising the
entries for ``335-3-5-.13, TR SO2 Allowance Allocations'',
``335-3-8-.14, TR NOX Annual Allowance Allocations'', ``335-
3-8-.40, TR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program--
Applicability'', and ``335-3-8-.46, TR NOX Ozone Season
Group 2 Allowance Allocations'' to read as follows:
Sec. 52.50 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
EPA-Approved Alabama Regulations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State
State citation Title/subject effective EPA approval date Explanation
date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
335-3-5-.13................ TR SO2 Allowance 12/7/2018 3/12/2020, [Insert Both sections of 335-3-
Allocations. citation of 5-.13 are included in
publication]. the approved SIP.
[[Page 14420]]
* * * * * * *
335-3-8-.14................ TR NOX Annual 12/7/2018 3/12/2020, [Insert Both sections of 335-3-
Allowance Allocations. citation of 8-.14 are included in
publication]. the approved SIP.
* * * * * * *
335-3-8-.40................ TR NOX Ozone Season 10/5/2018 3/12/2020, [Insert ......................
Group 2 Trading citation of
Program--Applicabilit publication].
y.
* * * * * * *
335-3-8-.46................ TR NOX Ozone Season 12/7/2018 3/12/2020, [Insert ......................
Group 2 Allowance citation of
Allocations. publication].
* * * * * * *
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2020-04854 Filed 3-11-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P