[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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