[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 142 (Thursday, July 23, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44496-44498]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-15602]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2019-0127; FRL-10012-23-Region 9]


Air Plan Approval; California; Sacramento Metropolitan Air 
Quality Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve revisions to the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management 
District (SMAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan 
(SIP). These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds 
(VOCs) from the surface coating operations of plastic parts and 
products. We are proposing to approve a local rule to regulate these 
emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the ``Act'') and we 
are proposing to approve a negative declaration for a subcategory of a 
control techniques guidelines (CTG) source in the SMAQMD.
    We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a 
final action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by August 24, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2019-0127 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at 
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public 
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, 
video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written 
comment is considered the official comment and should include 
discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not 
consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary 
submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For 
additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public 
comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and 
general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arnold Lazarus, EPA Region IX, (415) 
972-3024, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and 
``our'' refer to the EPA.

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rule and negative declaration did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of this rule and negative 
declaration?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule and the negative 
declaration?
    B. Do the submissions meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rule and negative declaration did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rule and the negative declaration addressed by 
this proposal with the dates that they were adopted by the local air 
agency and submitted to the EPA by the California Air Resources Board.

                                Table 1--Submitted Rule and Negative Declaration
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
         Local agency              Rule No.                Rule title                 Adopted        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SMAQMD........................             468  Surface Coating of Plastic Parts      03/22/2018      05/23/2018
                                                 and Products.
SMAQMD........................  ..............  Negative Declaration for              03/22/2018       6/11/2018
                                                 ``Control Techniques Guidelines
                                                 for Miscellaneous Metal and
                                                 Plastic Parts Coatings,'' EPA-
                                                 453/R-08-003, September 2008
                                                 (Pleasure Craft Coating Portion
                                                 Only) (``Pleasure Craft Coating
                                                 Neg Dec'').
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On August 23, 2018, the EPA determined that the submittal for 
SMAQMD Rule 468 and the Pleasure Craft Coating Neg Dec met the 
completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51 Appendix V, which must be met 
before formal EPA review.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Letter from Elizabeth Adams, Director, Air Division, 
Environmental Protection Agency to Richard Corey, Executive Officer, 
California Air Resources Board, stating fulfillment of completeness 
criteria of 40 CFR part 51, Appendix V, dated August 23, 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Are there other versions of this rule and negative declaration?

    There are no previous versions of Rule 468 in the SIP. There are no 
previous versions of the Pleasure Craft Neg Dec in the SMAQMD portion 
of the California SIP for the 1997, 2008 and 2015 8-hour ozone national 
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).

[[Page 44497]]

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?

    VOCs contribute to the production of ground-level ozone or 
``smog,'' and particulate matter, which harm human health and the 
environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit 
regulations that control VOC emissions. Rule 468 controls VOC emissions 
from plastic parts and products; and automotive/transportation and 
business machines plastic parts coating operations. The EPA's technical 
support document (TSD) has more information about this rule and EPA's 
evaluation.

II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule and the negative declaration?

    Rules in the SIP must be enforceable (see CAA section 110(a)(2)), 
must not interfere with applicable requirements concerning attainment 
and reasonable further progress or other CAA requirements (see CAA 
section 110(l)), and must not modify certain SIP control requirements 
in nonattainment areas without ensuring equivalent or greater emissions 
reductions (see CAA section 193).
    Generally, SIP rules must require reasonably available control 
technology (RACT) for each category of sources covered by a CTG 
document and for each non-CTG major source of VOCs in ozone 
nonattainment areas classified as Moderate or above (see CAA section 
182(b)(2)). The SMAQMD regulates an ozone nonattainment area classified 
as Severe nonattainment for the 1997 and 2008 8-hour NAAQS (40 CFR 
81.305), and Moderate nonattainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS. 
Therefore, this rule must implement RACT.
    States should submit for SIP approval negative declarations for 
those source categories for which they have not adopted CTG-based 
regulations (because they have no sources above the CTG-recommended 
applicability threshold), regardless of whether such negative 
declarations were made for an earlier SIP.\2\ To do so, the submittal 
should provide reasonable assurance that no sources subject to the CTG 
requirements currently exist in the ozone nonattainment area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ 57 FR 13498, 13512 (April 16, 1992).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Guidance and policy documents that we used to evaluate 
enforceability, revision/relaxation and rule stringency requirements 
for the applicable criteria pollutants include the following:

    1. ``State Implementation Plans; General Preamble for the 
Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 
57 FR 13498 (April 16, 1992); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
    2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, 
and Deviations,'' EPA, May 5, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 
11, 1990).
    3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
    4. ``Control Techniques Guidelines for Miscellaneous Metal and 
Plastic Parts Coatings,'' EPA-453/R-08-003, September 2008.

B. Do the submissions meet the evaluation criteria?

    This rule is consistent with CAA requirements and relevant guidance 
regarding enforceability, RACT and SIP revisions. The TSDs for the rule 
and negative declaration have more information on our evaluation. 
Moreover, the negative declaration satisfies the certification 
requirement, and the EPA's independent research yielded no indication 
of sources in the SMAQMD portion of the nonattainment area that would 
be subject to the CTG subcategory.

C. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA proposes to 
fully approve the submitted rule and the negative declaration because 
they fulfill all relevant requirements. We will accept comments from 
the public on this proposal until August 24, 2020. If we take final 
action to approve the submitted rule and negative declaration, our 
final action will incorporate the rule and the negative declaration 
into the federally enforceable SIP.

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule, 
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance 
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by 
reference the SMAQMD rule and the negative declaration described in 
Table 1 of this preamble. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, 
these materials available through www.regulations.gov and at the EPA 
Region IX Office (please contact the person identified in the FOR 
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this preamble for more 
information).

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a 
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and 
applicable federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). 
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this proposed action merely proposes to approve state law 
as meeting federal requirements and does not impose additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this 
proposed 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 Clean Air Act; and
     Does not provide the EPA with the discretionary authority 
to address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, 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 the 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

[[Page 44498]]

specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Particulate matter, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: July 14, 2020.
John Busterud,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2020-15602 Filed 7-22-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P