[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 95 (Friday, May 15, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 29445-29446]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-10441]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-10009-58-OAR]
Administration of Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Trading Program
Assurance Provisions for 2019 Control Periods
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of data availability.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice
of the availability of data on the administration of the assurance
provisions of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading
programs for the control periods in 2019. Total emissions of nitrogen
oxides (NOX) reported by Mississippi units participating in
the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program during
the 2019 control period exceeded the state's assurance level under the
program. Data demonstrating the exceedance and EPA's preliminary
calculations of the amounts of additional allowances that the owners
and operators of certain Mississippi units must surrender have been
posted in a spreadsheet on EPA's website. EPA will consider timely
objections to the data and calculations before making final
determinations of the amounts of additional allowances that must be
surrendered.
DATES: Objections to the information referenced in this notice must be
received on or before July 1, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit your objections via email to [email protected]. Include
``2019 CSAPR Assurance Provisions'' in the email subject line and
include your name, title, affiliation, address, phone number, and email
address in the body of the email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions concerning this notice
should be addressed to Garrett Powers at (202) 564-2300 or
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations for each CSAPR trading
program contain ``assurance provisions'' designed to ensure that the
emissions reductions required from each state covered by the program
occur within the state. If the total emissions from a given state's
affected units exceed the state's assurance level under the program,
then two allowances must be surrendered for each ton of emissions
exceeding the assurance level (in addition to the ordinary obligation
to surrender one allowance for each ton of emissions). In the quarterly
emissions reports covering the 2019 control period, Mississippi units
participating in the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading
Program collectively reported emissions that exceed the state's
assurance level under the program by 473 tons, resulting in a
requirement for the surrender of 946 additional allowances.
When a state's assurance level is exceeded, responsibility for
surrendering the required additional allowances is apportioned among
groups of units in the state represented by ``common designated
representatives'' based on the extent to which each such group's
emissions exceeded the group's share of the state's assurance level.
For the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program, the
procedures are set forth at 40 CFR 97.802 (definitions of ``common
designated representative,'' ``common designated representative's
assurance level,'' and ``common designated representative's share''),
97.806(c)(2), and 97.825. Applying the procedures in the regulations
for the 2019 control period for Mississippi, EPA has completed
preliminary calculations indicating that responsibility for
surrendering 946 additional allowances should be apportioned entirely
to the group of units operated by Mississippi Power Company, all of
which are represented by one common designated representative.
In this document, EPA is providing notice of the data relied on to
determine the amount of the exceedance of the Mississippi assurance
level discussed above, as required under 40 CFR 97.825(b)(1)(ii), and
notice of the preliminary calculations of the amounts of additional
allowances that the owners and operators of certain Mississippi units
must surrender as a result of the exceedance, as required under 40 CFR
97.825(b)(2)(ii).\1\ By October 1, 2020,
[[Page 29446]]
EPA will provide notice of the final calculations of the amounts of
additional allowances that must be surrendered, incorporating any
adjustments made in response to objections received, as required under
40 CFR 97.825(b)(2)(iii)(B). Each set of owners and operators
identified pursuant to the notice of the final calculations must hold
the required additional allowances in an assurance account by November
2, 2020.
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\1\ The regulations allow the notice of data availability
required under 40 CFR 97.825(b)(2)(ii) to be published approximately
two months after the notice of data availability required under 40
CFR 97.825(b)(1)(ii), but in this instance EPA already has all the
information needed to prepare both of the required notices and is
therefore combining the two required notices into this single
document.
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The data and preliminary calculations are set forth in an Excel
spreadsheet entitled
``2019_CSAPR_assurance_provision_calculations_prelim.xlsx'' available
at http://www.epa.gov/csapr/csapr-assurance-provision-nodas. The
spreadsheet contains data for the 2019 control period showing, for each
Mississippi unit identified as affected under the CSAPR NOX
Ozone Season Group 2 Trading Program, the amount of NOX
emissions reported by the unit and the amount of CSAPR NOX
Ozone Season Group 2 allowances allocated to the unit, including any
allowances allocated from a new unit set-aside. The spreadsheet also
contains calculations for the 2019 control period showing the total
NOX emissions reported by all such units and the amount by
which the total reported NOX emissions exceeded the state's
assurance level under the program. Finally, the spreadsheet also
includes calculations for the 2019 control period showing, for each
common designated representative for a group of such units in the
state, the common designated representative's share of the total
reported NOX emissions, the common designated
representative's share of the state's assurance level, and the amount
of additional CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 2 allowances that
the owners and operators of the units in the group must surrender.
Any objections should be strictly limited to whether EPA has
identified the data and performed the calculations in the spreadsheet
correctly in accordance with the regulations. Objections must include
(1) precise identification of the specific data or calculations the
commenter believes are inaccurate, (2) new proposed data or
calculations upon which the commenter believes EPA should rely instead,
and (3) the reasons why EPA should rely on the commenter's proposed
data or calculations and not the data and calculations referenced in
this notice.
Authority: 40 CFR 97.825(b).
Reid P. Harvey,
Director, Clean Air Markets Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs,
Office of Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 2020-10441 Filed 5-14-20; 8:45 am]
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