[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 134 (Monday, July 13, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 41972-41974]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15005]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-0351; FRL-10011-83-OAR]


Ozone Transport Commission; Recommendation That EPA Require Daily 
Limits for Emissions of Nitrogen Oxides from Certain Sources in 
Pennsylvania

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and public hearing.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that 
on June 8, 2020, the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC) submitted a 
recommendation to EPA for additional control measures at certain coal-
fired electricity generating units (EGUs) in Pennsylvania. 
Specifically, the OTC has recommended that EPA require Pennsylvania to 
revise the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP) to include 
additional control measures which would establish daily nitrogen oxides 
(NOX) emission limits for all coal-fired EGUs with already-
installed selective catalytic reduction (SCR) or selective non-
catalytic reduction (SNCR) control technology to ensure that these 
technologies are optimized to minimize NOX emissions each 
day of the ozone season. EPA is also announcing a public hearing on the 
recommendation as discussed under DATES below. EPA is commencing a 
review of the recommendation to determine whether to approve, 
disapprove, or partially approve and partially disapprove it. Prior to 
the public hearing, EPA plans to publish another document in the 
Federal Register providing further discussion of the recommendation and 
the framework the Agency intends to apply in reaching a decision.

DATES: EPA will hold a virtual public hearing within 90 days of the OTC 
recommendation or by September 4, 2020. Further information on the date 
and time of the virtual public hearing will be available at https://www.epa.gov/interstate-air-pollution-transport/ozone-transport-commission-otc-section-184c-petition.

ADDRESSES: Materials related to this action, including the 
recommendation and supporting materials submitted to EPA by the OTC, 
can be viewed online at regulations.gov under Docket No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2020-0351. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, the EPA Docket 
Center and Reading Room is closed to the public with limited 
exceptions. Visitors must complete docket material requests in advance 
and then make an appointment to retrieve the material. Visitors will be 
allowed entrance to the Reading Room by appointment only, and no walk-
ins will be allowed. Additional information on the exception 
procedures, location and hours of the Reading Room is available at 
https://www.epa.gov/dockets. Please call or email the contact listed in 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT if you need alternative access to 
material indexed but not electronically available in the docket at 
regulations.gov.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beth Murray, Clean Air Markets 
Division, Office of Atmospheric Programs, Office of Air and Radiation, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 202-343-9115, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Ground-level ozone is a secondary air 
pollutant created by chemical reactions between the ozone precursor 
pollutants NOX and volatile organic compounds in the 
presence of sunlight. Precursor pollutant emissions can be transported 
downwind directly or, after transformation in the atmosphere, as ozone. 
Studies have established that ozone formation, atmospheric residence, 
and transport can occur on a regional scale (i.e., across hundreds of 
miles) over much of the eastern U.S. \1\ Starting more than two decades 
ago, EPA has issued multiple rules requiring reductions in 
NOX emissions to address the interstate transport of 
NOX and ozone, including the NOX SIP Call, 63 FR 
57356 (October 27, 1998), the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), 70 FR 
25162 (May 12, 2005), the Cross-State Air

[[Page 41973]]

Pollution Rule (CSAPR), 76 FR 48208 (August 8, 2011), and the CSAPR 
Update, 81 FR 74504 (October 26, 2016). These actions were all taken 
under the authority of section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) of the Clean Air Act 
(CAA or the Act), often referred to as the ``good neighbor provision.''
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    \1\ For example, Bergin, M.S. et al. (2007). Regional air 
quality: Local and interstate impacts of NOX and 
SO2 emissions on ozone and fine particulate matter in the 
eastern United States. Environmental Sci. & Tech. 41: 4677-4689.
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    The Ozone Transport Region (OTR) was established by operation of 
law under CAA section 184 and comprises the states of Connecticut, 
Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, 
New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Vermont, the District of 
Columbia, and the portion of Virginia that is within the Consolidated 
Metropolitan Statistical Areas that includes the District of Columbia. 
Congress established the OTR in the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments based 
on the recognition that the transport of ozone and ozone precursors 
throughout the region may render the states' attainment strategies 
interdependent.
    Under section 184(a), the Administrator established a commission 
for the OTR, the OTC, consisting of the Governor of each state or their 
designees, the Administrator or their designee, the Regional 
Administrators for the EPA regional offices affected (or the 
Administrator's designees), and an air pollution control official 
representing each state in the region, appointed by the Governor. 
Section 184(b) sets forth certain control measures that OTR states are 
required to include in their SIPs.
    Section 184(c) specifies a procedure for the OTC to develop 
recommendations for additional control measures to be applied within 
all or a part of the OTR if the OTC determines that such measures are 
necessary to bring any area in the OTR into attainment for ozone by the 
applicable attainment deadlines. Section 184(c)(1) provides that:

    Upon petition of any states within a transport region for ozone, 
and based on a majority vote of the Governors on the Commission (or 
their designees), the Commission may, after notice and opportunity 
for public comment, develop recommendations for additional control 
measures to be applied within all or a part of such transport region 
if the Commission determines such measures are necessary to bring 
any area in such region into attainment by the dates provided by 
[subpart II of part D of CAA title I].

    Section 184(c) also lays out procedures the Administrator is to 
follow in responding to recommendations from the OTC. Upon receipt of 
the recommendations, the Administrator is to publish a Federal Register 
notice stating that the recommendations are available and providing an 
opportunity for a public hearing within 90 days. The Administrator is 
also to ``commence a review of the recommendations to determine whether 
the control measures in the recommendations are necessary to bring any 
area in such region into attainment by the dates provided by [subpart 
II] and are otherwise consistent with [the Act].'' Finally, in 
undertaking the review, the Administrator is to consult with members of 
the OTC and is to consider the data, views, and comments received 
pursuant to the public hearing.
    Last, sections 184(c)(4) and (5) govern EPA's response to the OTC 
recommendations. The Administrator is to determine whether to approve, 
disapprove, or partially approve and partially disapprove the 
recommendations within nine months of receipt. For any disapproval, the 
Administrator is to specify:

    (i) Why any disapproved additional control measures are not 
necessary to bring any area in such region into attainment by the 
dates provided by [subpart II] or are otherwise not consistent with 
the Act; and
    (ii) Recommendations concerning equal or more effective actions 
that could be taken by the commission to conform the disapproved 
portion of the recommendations to the requirements of [section 184].

    Section 184(c)(5) provides that, upon approval or partial approval 
of any recommendations, the Administrator is to issue to each state in 
the OTR to which an approved requirement applies a finding under 
section 110(k)(5) that the SIP for that state is inadequate to meet the 
requirements of section 110(a)(2)(D). Section 110(a)(2)(D) provides, in 
pertinent part, that each state's SIP shall contain adequate 
provisions:

    (i) Prohibiting, consistent with the provisions of [CAA title 
I], any source or other type of emissions activity within the state 
from emitting any air pollutant in amounts which will--
    (I) Contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere 
with maintenance by, any other state with respect to any national 
primary or secondary ambient air quality standard [NAAQS].

    Under section 184(c)(5), the Administrator's finding of inadequacy 
under section 110(a)(2)(D) is to require that each affected state 
revise its SIP to include the approved additional control measures 
within one year after the finding is issued.
    In 2015, EPA revised the NAAQS for ozone to 70 parts per billion 
(ppb). 80 FR 65292 (October 28, 2015). In 2018, EPA designated certain 
areas as nonattainment with respect to this NAAQS and identified each 
area's classification according to the severity of its air quality 
problems. 83 FR 25776 (June 4, 2018). Five areas within the OTR were 
designated as nonattainment: Baltimore, MD; Greater Connecticut, CT; 
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE; Washington, DC-MD-
VA; and New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT. Id. The 
first four of these areas were classified as Marginal and the fifth 
area was classified as Moderate. Id. The attainment deadlines for the 
Marginal and Moderate areas are three and six years after the effective 
date of their nonattainment designations, or August 3, 2021 and August 
3, 2024, respectively. 83 FR 10376 (March 9, 2018).
    On May 30, 2019, Maryland petitioned the OTC to adopt 
recommendations calling for additional control measures to be applied 
within part of the OTR. The Maryland petition asserted that daily 
limits on NOX emissions from coal-fired EGUs in Pennsylvania 
are necessary to bring areas in the OTR into attainment by the dates 
mandated by the CAA. On June 26, 2019, the OTC voted to proceed with 
the initial steps associated with the CAA Section 184(c) recommendation 
process, including analyzing recent operations of coal-fired EGUs in 
Pennsylvania. The OTC held a public hearing on August 16, 2019 to 
receive comment on Maryland's petition. After considering the comments, 
on October 4, 2019, the OTC voted to evaluate a modified recommendation 
that Pennsylvania adopt daily emissions limits for certain coal-fired 
EGUs at least as stringent as those in Delaware, Maryland, or New 
Jersey. The OTC held a second hearing on November 21, 2019, to receive 
comment on its modified recommendation. Finally, at its meeting on June 
3, 2020, a majority of the OTC's voting members voted to recommend that 
EPA require Pennsylvania to revise its SIP to include NOX 
limits for coal-fired EGUs with SCR and SNCR as stringent as the limits 
in Delaware, Maryland, or New Jersey to ensure that the controls are 
operated optimally each day of the ozone season. The OTC members voting 
in favor of the recommendation were Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, 
Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Vermont, and 
the District of Columbia. Pennsylvania and Virginia voted against the 
recommendation, and Maine and New York abstained.
    The OTC's recommendation contains the following specific elements:

[[Page 41974]]

    (1) That EPA require Pennsylvania to revise the Pennsylvania SIP to 
include additional control measures to establish daily NOX 
emission limits for all coal-fired EGUs with already-installed SCR or 
SNCR control technology to ensure that these technologies are optimized 
to minimize NOX emissions each day of the ozone season.
    (2) That these requirements must be as stringent as any one of 
three rules adopted by Delaware, Maryland, and New Jersey that 
establish daily limits designed to optimize the use of SCR and SNCR 
control technologies to minimize NOX emissions each day of 
the ozone season.
    (3) That EPA require Pennsylvania to adopt and implement daily 
NOX limits as expeditiously as practicable in a timeframe to 
help downwind OTC states attain the 2015 ozone standard by the dates 
required in the Act.
    (4) That Pennsylvania implement these requirements in time to 
reduce ozone levels during the summers of 2020 and 2021, because the 
recommendation does not involve the purchase or installation of new 
control technologies.
    As required by the Act, EPA will hold a public hearing on the OTC's 
recommendation and will undertake consultations with the affected 
states before reaching a decision on whether to approve, disapprove, or 
partially approve and partially disapprove the OTC's recommendation. 
The Agency also plans to publish another Federal Register notice prior 
to the date of the public hearing in order to provide further 
discussion of the OTC's recommendation and the framework the Agency 
intends to apply in reaching a decision.

    Dated: July 7, 2020.
Hans Christopher Grundler,
Director, Office of Atmospheric Programs.
[FR Doc. 2020-15005 Filed 7-10-20; 8:45 am]
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