[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 103 (Tuesday, June 1, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 29227-29229]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-11525]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0333; FRL-10023-88-Region 9]
Air Plan Limited Approval and Limited Disapproval, California;
Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a
limited approval and limited disapproval of revisions to the Mojave
Desert Air Quality Management District's (MDAQMD or District) portion
of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision
concerns oxides of nitrogen (NOX) emissions from stationary
internal combustion engines. We are proposing action on a local rule
that regulates 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: Comments must be received on or before July 1, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0333 at http://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 http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. If you need assistance in a
language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities
who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Gong, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 972-3073 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 rule did the State submit?
B. Are there other versions of this rule?
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revision?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule?
B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
C. What are the rule deficiencies?
D. Proposed Action and Public Comment
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rule did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this proposal with the dates
that it was adopted by the MDAQMD and submitted by the California Air
Resources Board.
Table 1--Submitted Rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rule No. Rule title Amended Submitted
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1160.............. Internal Combustion 01/22/2018 05/23/2018
Engines.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
On November 23, 2018 the submittal for MDAQMD Rule 1160 was deemed
by operation of law to meet the completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51
Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.
B. Are there other versions of this rule?
We approved an earlier version of Rule 1160 into the SIP on
November 1, 1996 (61 FR 56470).
[[Page 29228]]
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revision?
Emissions of NOX 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 NOX emissions. Rule 1160 regulates
NOX emissions from stationary internal combustion engines.
In the District's reasonably available control technology (RACT) SIP
for the 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), the
District concluded that Rule 1160 did not meet current RACT and
acknowledged the need to revise the rule, primarily the limits for
NOX, in order to implement RACT.\1\ The submitted rule
revisions are intended to strengthen the rule by, among other things,
strengthening the NOX limits in the rule, in order to
implement current RACT. The EPA's technical support document (TSD) has
more information about this rule.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ The EPA conditionally approved the District's RACT SIPs for
major NOX sources, based on the District's commitment to
remedy deficiencies in a set of different NOX rules,
including Rule 1160. 83 FR 5921 (February 12, 2018). The District
has also submitted revisions to the other NOX rules
subject to the conditional approval. Because the EPA has not yet
acted on these other rules, we intend to address our conditional
approval of the major NOX RACT source category in a
separate rulemaking once we have taken action on all of the
applicable NOX rules.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule?
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 RACT for each major source of
NOX in ozone nonattainment areas classified as moderate or
above (see CAA sections 182(b)(2) and 182(f)). The MDAQMD regulates an
ozone nonattainment area classified as Severe-15 for the 2008 8-hour
ozone NAAQS and the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305), and Rule
1160 regulates multiple major sources of NOX in the
nonattainment area. Therefore, this rule must implement RACT.
Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate
enforceability, revision/relaxation and rule stringency requirements
for the applicable criteria pollutants include the following:
1. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies,
and Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January
11, 1990).
2. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
3. ``Improving Air Quality with Economic Incentive Programs''
(EPA-452/R-01-001, January 2001).
4. Alternative Control Techniques Document--NOX
Emissions from Stationary Reciprocating Internal Combustion
Engines'' (EPA-453/R-93-032, July 1993).
B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
Rule 1160 improves the SIP by establishing more stringent
NOX emission limits and by clarifying monitoring, recording
and recordkeeping provisions. The revised rule also requires an
additional ten percent reduction in allowed emissions for facilities
opting to use emissions aggregation as part of an economic incentive
program (EIP), consistent with the EPA's guidance on such provisions.
The rule is largely consistent with CAA requirements and relevant
guidance regarding enforceability, and RACT, except for the provisions
described below. The rule is also consistent with the EPA's
requirements on SIP revisions, except for the provisions described
below. Rule provisions that do not meet the evaluation criteria are
summarized below and discussed further in the TSD.
C. What are the rule deficiencies?
These provisions do not satisfy the requirements of section 110 and
part D of title I of the Act and prevent full approval of the SIP
revision.
1. MDAQMD Rule 1160 section (C)(2)(b) allows for engines to comply
with an alternative emission reduction provision instead of the
concentration-based emission limits for NOX. Specifically,
this alternative provision allows for owners or operators of applicable
equipment to submit a plan for alternative emissions reduction that
would achieve an 80% or 90% reduction of emissions from a baseline
emission rate. Because the rule does not clearly specify how to
calculate the baseline emission rate, the rule is not sufficiently
clear to constitute an enforceable emission limitation, control
measure, means or technique, as required under Sec. 110(a)(2) of the
Act. The rule leaves the approval of the NOX emission
reduction alternative to the District. Because the rule is not clear
with respect to how to calculate the baseline emission rate, and the
approval of an alternative limit is left to the District, this
provision allows for overbroad discretion on the part of the Director
to modify requirements of the SIP without the procedure required under
Sec. 110 of the Act. In addition, the ambiguous alternative emission
reduction provision could allow many units to emit more than the
concentration limit in the rule by, in some cases, more than two times.
These alternative limits have not been justified as meeting the RACT
requirement.
2. Under section (C)(2)(b)(v), the alternative emission reduction
option also allows for units operating at the same facility to
aggregate their emissions in order to comply with the percentage
reduction. This type of provision constitutes an EIP under the EPA's
2001 policy referenced above. The rule provisions do not meet the
criteria for EIP integrity because they fail to require that any excess
emission reductions credited through the provision be surplus (i.e.,
not required by any other federally enforceable provision). This
omission could allow reductions that are otherwise federally required
to be aggregated and used to allow greater emissions at other units.
3. The compliance determination requirements described in section
(E)(1)(c) do not require adequate source testing for emission units
without emission control equipment. The requirements do not specify any
frequency for testing beyond the initial compliance test, and do not
specify what criteria must be met for certified manufacturer emission
rates to be evidence of compliance.
D. Proposed Action and Public Comment
As authorized in sections 110(k)(3) and 301(a) of the Act, the EPA
is proposing a limited approval and limited disapproval of the
submitted MDAQMD Rule 1160. We will accept comments from the public on
this proposal until July 1, 2021. If finalized, this action would
incorporate the submitted rule into the SIP, including those provisions
identified as deficient. The submitted rule would replace the existing
SIP-approved version of MDAQMD Rule 1160, which would be removed from
the SIP. This approval is limited because the EPA is simultaneously
proposing a limited disapproval of the rule under section 110(k)(3).
If we finalize this disapproval, CAA section 110(c) would require
the EPA to promulgate a federal implementation plan within 24 months of
the effective date of our final action unless we
[[Page 29229]]
approve subsequent SIP revisions that correct the deficiencies
identified in section II.C of this notice.
In addition, final disapproval would trigger the offset sanction in
CAA section 179(b)(2) 18 months after the effective date of a final
disapproval, and the highway funding sanction in CAA section 179(b)(1)
six months after the offset sanction is imposed. A sanction will not be
imposed if the EPA determines that a subsequent SIP submission corrects
the deficiencies identified in our final action before the applicable
deadline.
Note that the submitted rule has been adopted by the MDAQMD and the
EPA's final limited disapproval would not prevent the local agency from
enforcing it. The limited disapproval also would not prevent any
portion of the rule from being incorporated by reference into the
federally enforceable SIP as discussed in a July 9, 1992 EPA memo found
at: https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-07/documents/procsip.pdf.
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 MDAQMD rule 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
Additional information about these statutes and Executive Orders
can be found at http://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-executive-orders.
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
This action is not a significant regulatory action and was
therefore not submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review.
B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
This action does not impose an information collection burden under
the PRA because this action does not impose additional requirements
beyond those imposed by state law.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)
I certify that this action will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities under the RFA. This
action will not impose any requirements on small entities beyond those
imposed by state law.
D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)
This action does not contain any unfunded mandate as described in
UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 1531-1538, and does not significantly or uniquely affect
small governments. This action does not impose additional requirements
beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, no additional costs to
state, local, or tribal governments, or to the private sector, will
result from this action.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
This action does not have federalism implications. It will not have
substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship between
the national government and the states, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government.
F. Executive Order 13175: Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments
This action does not have tribal implications, as specified in
Executive Order 13175, because 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, and will not
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal
law. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not apply to this action.
G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental
Health Risks and Safety Risks
The EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 as applying only to those
regulatory actions that concern environmental health or safety risks
that the EPA has reason to believe may disproportionately affect
children, per the definition of ``covered regulatory action'' in
section 2-202 of the Executive Order. This action is not subject to
Executive Order 13045 because it does not impose additional
requirements beyond those imposed by state law.
H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use
This action is not subject to Executive Order 13211, because it is
not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866.
I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)
Section 12(d) of the NTTAA directs the EPA to use voluntary
consensus standards in its regulatory activities unless to do so would
be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical. The EPA
believes that this action is not subject to the requirements of section
12(d) of the NTTAA because application of those requirements would be
inconsistent with the CAA.
J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Population
The EPA lacks the discretionary authority to address environmental
justice in this rulemaking.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: May 19, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-11525 Filed 5-28-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P