[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 44 (Tuesday, March 9, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13514-13516]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04585]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2020-0543; FRL-10020-96-Region 9]


Air Plan Approval; California; El Dorado County Air Quality 
Management District; South Coast Air Quality Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve revisions to the El Dorado County Air Quality Management 
District (EDCAQMD) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District 
(SCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 
These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) 
from architectural coatings and a rule that provides definitions for 
certain terms that are necessary for the implementation of local rules 
that regulate sources of air pollution. We are proposing to approve the 
rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA 
or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow 
with a final action.

DATES: Any comments must arrive by April 8, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2020-0543 at http://www.regulations.gov, or via email to Arnold 
Lazarus, at [email protected]. For comments submitted at 
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, 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 http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Arnold Lazarus, EPA Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 972-3024 or by 
email at [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 rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?

[[Page 13515]]

    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
    D. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal with the dates 
that they were adopted by the local air agencies and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB).

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
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          Local agency               Rule No.            Rule title          Revised/ amended      Submitted
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EDCAQMD.........................             215  Architectural Coatings..         08/25/2020         09/21/2020
SCAQMD..........................             102  Definition of Terms.....         01/10/2020         09/16/2020
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On November 9, 2020, the EPA determined that the submittals for EDCAQMD 
Rule 215 and SCAQMD Rule 102 met the completeness criteria in 40 CFR 
part 51 Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    There is a previous version of EDAQMD Rule 215 in the SIP, which 
was adopted on September 27, 1994, submitted to EPA by CARB on November 
30, 1994, and approved into the SIP on January 1, 1996 (61 FR 37390).
    There is a previous version of SCAQMD Rule 102 in the SIP, which 
was amended on December 3, 2004, summited to EPA by CARB on June 16, 
2006, and approved into the SIP on January 8, 2007 (72 FR 656).

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?

    VOCs contribute to the production of ground-level ozone, 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. Architectural coatings are coatings that are 
applied to stationary structures and their accessories. They include 
house paints, stains, industrial maintenance coatings, traffic 
coatings, and many other products. VOCs are emitted from the coatings 
during application and curing, and from the associated solvents used 
for thinning and clean-up.
    The EDCAQMD Rule 215 controls VOC emissions from architectural 
coatings by establishing VOC limits on architectural coatings supplied, 
sold, offered for sale, manufactured, blended, or repackaged for use 
within the EDCAQMD, as well as architectural coatings applied or 
solicited for application within the District. The revisions to Rule 
215 include aligning the rule with CARB's ``Suggested Control Measure 
for Architectural Coatings,'' approved in 2007, and lowering many of 
the rule's VOC limits. The technical support document (TSD) has more 
information about this rule.
    The purpose of the submitted rule revisions for SCAQMD Rule 102 is 
to clarify and update definitions in the rule. The revisions, submitted 
on September 16, 2020, add the following five compounds to the list of 
exempt compounds:

 Methyl formate
 propylene carbonate
 1,1,1,2,3,3,3-heptafluoropropane (HFC-227ea)
 trans-1,3,3,3-tetrafluoropropene (HFO-1234ze)
 trans-1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoropropene (HFO-1233zd) \1\
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    \1\ The Environmental Protection Agency lists this compound as 
trans 1-chloro-3,3,3-trifluoroprop-1-ene. See 40 CFR 51.100(s)(1). 
It is identical to the version that SCAQMD lists. They both have the 
same Chemical Abstract Services registry number of 102687-65-0 and 
molecular formula of C3H2ClF3.
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II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?

    SIP rules 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 Control 
Techniques Guidelines (CTG) document as well as each major source of 
VOCs in ozone nonattainment areas classified as Moderate or above (see 
CAA section 182(b)(2)). The EDCAQMD has been designated as Severe 
nonattainment for the 1997 and the 2008 8-hour ozone National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and Moderate for the 2015 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305). Because there is no relevant EPA CTG document 
for architectural coatings and because there are no major architectural 
coating sources within the EDCAQMD, architectural coatings are not 
subject to RACT requirements. However, architectural coatings are 
subject to other VOC content limits and control measures described in 
the TSD. The SCAQMD regulates an ozone nonattainment area classified as 
Extreme for the 1997, 2008 and 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305). 
However, the revisions to the SCAQMD definitions rule do not have a 
direct effect on air pollution emissions and are intended to improve 
clarity and enforceability of other SCAQMD rules, and thus are not 
subject to RACT requirements.
    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 and 57 FR 18070, April 28, 1992).
    2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, 
and Deviations'' (``the Bluebook,'' U.S. EPA, May 25, 1988; revised 
January 11, 1990).
    3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies'' (``the Little Bluebook,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 
2001).
    4. National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for 
Architectural Coatings, 40 CFR 59, Subpart D.
    5. CARB ``Suggested Control Measure for Architectural 
Coatings,'' Approved 2007.
    6. Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Chapter C, Part 51, 
Subpart F, Sec.  Section 51.100 (s) (1), ``Definitions'' (40 CFR 
51.100).

[[Page 13516]]

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    These rules are consistent with CAA requirements and relevant 
guidance regarding enforceability, stringency, and SIP revisions. The 
TSDs have more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules

    The TSD for Rule 215 describes a suggested rule revision that we 
recommend for the next time the local agency modifies the rule.

D. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA proposes to 
fully approve the submitted rules because they fulfill all relevant 
requirements. We will accept comments from the public on this proposal 
until April 8, 2021. If we take final action to approve the submitted 
rules, our final action will incorporate these rules into the federally 
enforceable SIP.

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In these rules, 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 EDCAQMD Rule 215 and the SCAQMD Rule 102 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);
     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 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: February 26, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-04585 Filed 3-8-21; 8:45 am]
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