[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 163 (Thursday, August 24, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57952-57953]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-18214]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-11350-01-OAR]


Availability of Data on Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollution 
Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity Generating Units

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of data availability.

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SUMMARY: Under the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading 
program regulations, EPA allocates emission allowances to existing 
electricity generating units (EGUs) as provided in notices of data 
availability (NODAs). Through this NODA, EPA is providing notice of the 
availability of data on new or revised default allocations of CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season Group 3 allowances to existing units for 
the 2023-2025 control periods, as well as the data upon which the 
allocations are based.

DATES: August 24, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Garrett Powers, Clean Air Markets 
Division, Office of Atmospheric Protection, Office of Air and 
Radiation, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code 6204A, 1200 
Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460; telephone: 202-564-2300; 
email: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In the Good Neighbor Plan,\1\ EPA expanded 
the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 Trading Program \2\ to 
include EGUs in 10 additional states and updated the program's 
provisions to achieve further emissions reductions.\3\ The rule's 
required emissions control stringencies are reflected in new or revised 
state emissions budgets which in turn necessitate new or revised unit-
level allowance allocations. Beginning with the 2024 control period, 
each covered state has the option to determine how the CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season Group 3 allowances in its state emissions 
budget should be allocated among the state's units through a state 
implementation plan (SIP) revision.\4\ However, for the 2023 control 
period, and by default for subsequent control periods for which a state 
has not provided EPA with the state's own allocations pursuant to an 
approved SIP revision, the unit-level allocations are determined by 
EPA.
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    \1\ Federal ``Good Neighbor Plan'' for the 2015 Ozone National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards, 88 FR 36654 (June 5, 2023).
    \2\ The CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 Trading 
Program was originally established in the Revised CSAPR Update (86 
FR 23054, April 30, 2021) as a mechanism for EGUs in 12 states to 
reduce ozone season emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOX) 
starting in 2021.
    \3\ Some courts have issued preliminary orders partially staying 
the effectiveness of a separate EPA action (88 FR 9336, February 13, 
2023) which disapproves state implementation plans addressing good 
neighbor obligations for several states, and EPA is taking measures 
to comply with those orders. The description of the Good Neighbor 
Plan in this NODA reflects the rule as published, without regard to 
the stay orders and the measures EPA is taking to comply with them. 
However, EPA will not record allocations of CSAPR NOX 
Ozone Season Group 3 allowances to any EGUs that are not currently 
participating in the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 
Trading Program because of the measures EPA is taking to comply with 
the stay orders. Consequently, the spreadsheet referenced in this 
NODA has been edited to remove information on unit-level allocations 
of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 allowances to units in 
any state covered by a stay order when the NODA was signed.
    \4\ See 40 CFR 52.38(b)(10) through (12).
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    Under EPA's default unit-level allocation methodology for the Good 
Neighbor Plan, most EGUs within a covered state's borders are treated 
as ``existing'' units and receive allocations of allowances for a given 
control period in advance of the control period.\5\ If any of the 
existing units are located in areas of Indian country within the 
state's borders that are not subject to the state's SIP authority, the 
default allocations to those existing units are made through an 
``Indian country existing unit set-aside'' in parallel with the default 
allocations to the other existing units.\6\ The EGUs that EPA 
identified in the rulemaking as eligible to receive default allocations 
as existing units for the 2023-2025 control periods in the states 
covered by this NODA are listed in the spreadsheet referenced later in 
this notice. EGUs located anywhere within a state's borders that do not 
receive allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 
allowances as ``existing'' units and that report emissions subject to 
allowance holding requirements for a given control period are eligible 
to receive allowance allocations as ``new'' units from the state's new 
unit set-aside for that control period.\7\
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    \5\ See 40 CFR 97.1011.
    \6\ See 40 CFR 97.1010(b).
    \7\ See 40 CFR 97.1010(c) and 97.1012. Allocations from a 
state's new unit set-aside for a given control period are made after 
the respective control period and are not addressed in this notice.
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    EPA determined new and revised state emissions budgets for the 
2023-2025 control periods on a full-season basis in the Good Neighbor 
Plan rulemaking. However, because the Agency anticipated that the 
rule's effective date could fall after the start of the 2023 ozone 
season, the final regulations include a procedure for prorating the 
2023 state emissions budgets to ensure that the enhanced control 
stringency reflected in the Good Neighbor Plan's full-season 2023 state 
emissions budgets will apply only after the rule's effective date.\8\ 
The Good Neighbor Plan provided that the 2023 unit-level allocations 
would be computed by applying the rule's unit-level allocation 
methodology to the 2023 state emissions budgets determined through the 
prorating procedure.\9\
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    \8\ See 40 CFR 97.1010(a)(1)(ii).
    \9\ See 88 FR 36811-13.
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    Through this NODA, EPA is providing notice of the availability of 
data concerning the default unit-level allocations of CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season Group 3 allowances to existing units for 
the 2023, 2024, and 2025 control periods. The allocations are shown in 
an Excel spreadsheet entitled ``Unit-level Allocations and Underlying 
Data for the Final Rule'' posted on

[[Page 57953]]

EPA's website at www.epa.gov/csapr/good-neighbor-plan-2015-ozone-naaqs. 
The spreadsheet also contains the data upon which the allocations are 
based, including the 2023 state emissions budgets that EPA has computed 
according to the prorating procedure in the regulations. The 
spreadsheet is an update of an earlier version included in the docket 
for the final Good Neighbor Plan which showed the allocations for the 
2024 and 2025 control periods as well as illustrative allocations for 
the 2023 control period. All allocations have been determined according 
to the allocation methodology finalized in the Good Neighbor Plan 
rulemaking.\10\ EPA is not requesting comment on the allocations, the 
underlying data, or the allocation methodology.
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    \10\ See Allowance Allocation under the Final Rule TSD, EPA-HQ-
OAR-2021-0668-1079, available at www.regulations.gov and 
www.epa.gov/csapr/good-neighbor-plan-2015-ozone-naaqs; see also 88 
FR 36805-07.
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    In accordance with the deadlines set forth in the regulations, EPA 
will record allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Group 3 
allowances to existing units for the 2023 control period by September 
5, 2023.\11\ EPA will also record allocations to existing units for the 
2024 control period by that same date except in instances where a state 
has provided EPA with timely notice of the state's intent to submit a 
SIP revision with state-determined allowance allocations replacing 
EPA's default allocations for the 2024 control period.\12\ However, in 
the case of any source that has not yet fully complied with the Good 
Neighbor Plan's requirements concerning the recall of CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season Group 2 allowances allocated for control 
periods after 2022, recordation of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season 
Group 3 allowances will be deferred until the source has fully complied 
with the recall requirements.\13\ EPA will record allocations of CSAPR 
NOX Ozone Season Group 3 allowances to existing units for 
the 2025 control period by July 1, 2024.\14\
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    \11\ See 40 CFR 97.1021(d) and (g).
    \12\ See 40 CFR 97.1021(e).
    \13\ See 40 CFR 97.1021(m); see also 40 CFR 97.811(e).
    \14\ See 40 CFR 97.1021(f) and (h).
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    EPA notes that an allocation or lack of allocation of emission 
allowances to a given unit under a CSAPR trading program does not 
constitute a determination that the trading program does or does not 
apply to the unit.\15\ EPA also notes that allocations are subject to 
potential correction or termination under the regulations.\16\
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    \15\ See 40 CFR 97.1011(a)(3).
    \16\ See 40 CFR 97.1011(c).
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    Authority: 40 CFR 97.1011(a)(1) and (2).

Rona Birnbaum,
Director, Clean Air Markets Division, Office of Atmospheric Protection, 
Office of Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 2023-18214 Filed 8-23-23; 8:45 am]
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