[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 25, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 3736-3738]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-00810]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0846; FRL-9304-01-R9]


Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air 
Pollution Control 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 San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution 
Control District (SJVUAPCD) and South Coast Air Quality Management 
District (SCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan 
(SIP). These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds 
(VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from flares. We are 
proposing to approve these local 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: Comments must be received on or before February 24, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0846 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. 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: Donnique Sherman, EPA Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4129 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?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. The EPA's 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 or amended by the local air agencies and 
submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to the EPA.

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
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                                                                                     Adopted/
         Local agency                    Rule No.                 Rule title          amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD.......................  1118.1......................  Control of               01/04/2019      04/24/2019
                                                              Emissions from Non-
                                                              Refinery Flares.
SJVUAPCD.....................  4311........................  Flares.............      12/17/2020      03/12/2021
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Under CAA section 110(k)(1), the EPA must determine whether a SIP 
submittal meets the minimum completeness criteria established in 40 CFR 
part 51, appendix V for an official SIP submittal on which the EPA is 
obligated to take action. If the EPA does not make an affirmative 
determination of completeness or incompleteness within six months of 
receipt of a SIP submittal, the submittal is deemed to be complete by 
operation of law. The submitted rules listed in Table 1 were deemed 
complete by operation of law on the following dates: October 24, 2019 
(SCAQMD Rule

[[Page 3737]]

1118.1), and September 12, 2021 (SJVUAPCD Rule 4311).

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    There are no previous versions of SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 in the SIP. 
SCAQMD locally adopted this rule on January 4, 2019, and CARB submitted 
it to us on April 24, 2019.
    We approved an earlier version of SJVUAPCD Rule 4311 into the SIP 
on November 3, 2011 (76 FR 68106). The SJVUAPCD adopted revisions to 
the SIP-approved version on December 17, 2020, and CARB submitted them 
to us on March 12, 2021. If we take final action to approve the 
December 17, 2020 version of Rule 4311, this version will replace the 
previously approved version of this rule in the SIP.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?

    Emissions of NOX and VOCs contribute to the production 
of ground-level ozone, which harms human health and the environment. 
Section 110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit regulations that 
control NOX emissions. The submitted rules set further 
requirements to control NOX and other emissions from flares. 
A description of these rules follows, and a more complete list of 
revisions and rule discussion can be found in the technical support 
documents (TSDs) and submitted district staff reports and rules for 
this rulemaking:
     SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 was adopted to fulfill reasonably 
available control technology (RACT) requirements for non-refinery 
flares and to facilitate the transition of the NOX RECLAIM 
(Regional Clean Air Incentives Market) program to a command-and-control 
regulatory structure. Rule 1118.1 is designed to reduce NOX 
and VOC emissions from non-refinery flares. The proposed rule 
establishes capacity thresholds for existing flares and emission limits 
for NOX, VOC, and carbon monoxide (CO) for new, replaced, or 
relocated non-refinery flares.
     SJVUAPCD amended Rule 4311 to fulfill SJVUAPCD's control 
measure commitments in their 2018 PM2.5 Plan and their 2016 
Ozone Plan, for reducing flare emissions. SJVUAPCD amended Rule 4311 to 
require owners and operators of flares to install Ultra Low 
NOX (ULN) flaring technologies and to encourage alternative 
uses of waste gas. Some of the revisions include establishing annual 
throughput thresholds that flares must not exceed, and adding a 
compliance schedule for meeting annual throughput limits.

II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?

    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 SCAQMD and SJVUAPCD 
regulate ozone nonattainment areas classified as Extreme for the 2008 
8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), and the 
2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305). Therefore, these rules must 
implement RACT.
    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 25, 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).

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

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

C. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules

    The TSDs include recommendations for the next time the local 
agencies modify their rules.

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 February 24, 2022. 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 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 SCAQMD rule and the SJVUAPCD rule described in Table 1 of 
this preamble. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, these 
materials available through https://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);

[[Page 3738]]

     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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: January 11, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-00810 Filed 1-24-22; 8:45 am]
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