[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 116 (Friday, June 14, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 50543-50545]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-12815]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2023-0405; FRL-11263-01-R9]


Air Plan Approval; Nevada; Washoe County Health District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve a revision to the Washoe County portion of the Nevada State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). This revision concerns emissions of 
particulate matter (PM) from woodburning devices. We are proposing to 
approve a revision to 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 15, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2023-0405 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 a disability 
who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact 
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

[[Page 50544]]


FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Christine Vineyard, EPA Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4125 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 revisions?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule?
    B. Does the rule 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 did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this proposal with the date 
that it was adopted by the Washoe County District Board of Health 
(DBOH),\1\ and submitted by the Nevada Division of Environmental 
Protection (NDEP).
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    \1\ The DBOH changed its name to Northern Nevada Public Health 
(NNPH) on August 31, 2023. We still refer to the agency as the DBOH 
because this name change has not yet been reflected in the agency's 
regulations.

                                             Table 1--Submitted Rule
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            Local agency                  Rule No.            Rule title            Revised         Submitted
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DBOH................................         040.051   Wood-Burning Devices...        02/24/22         10/04/22
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    On April 4, 2023, the submittal for DBOH Rule 040.051 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 040.051 into the SIP on June 
16, 2017 (82 FR 27622). The DBOH adopted revisions to the SIP-approved 
version on February 24, 2022, and NDEP submitted them to us on October 
4, 2022. If we approve the October 4, 2022 version of Rule 040.051, it 
will replace the previously approved version of this rule in the Washoe 
County portion of the Nevada SIP.

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

    Emissions of PM, including PM equal to or less than 2.5 microns in 
diameter (PM2.5) and PM equal to or less than 10 microns in 
diameter (PM10), contribute to effects that are harmful to 
human health and the environment, including premature mortality, 
aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, decreased lung 
function, visibility impairment, and damage to vegetation and 
ecosystems. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States to submit 
regulations that control PM emissions. Rule 040.051 limits PM emissions 
from wood-burning devices. DBOH revised Rule 040.051 and submitted the 
updated version to replace the now outdated version in the SIP. The 
revisions add clarity and transparency to the implementation of the 
program. For example, the exemption section is now included at the 
beginning of the rule to provide greater clarity as to which actions 
are exempted from specific sections of the rule. In addition, an 
exemption was added that allows EPA-certified wood-burning devices 
installed between 1990 and May 15, 2020, to remain in place following a 
real estate transaction. Finally, requirements regarding the limitation 
on the number of wood-burning devices allowed per parcel has been 
reformatted to ensure the limitation is accurately determined based on 
the acreage of the parcel. The EPA's technical support document (TSD) 
has more information about this rule.

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 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).
    DBOH does not currently regulate any PM nonattainment areas. 
Therefore, DBOH is not required to implement reasonably available 
control measures or best available control measures for PM. 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. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

    This rule meets CAA requirements and is consistent with relevant 
guidance regarding enforceability and SIP revisions. In particular, the 
new exemption that allows EPA-certified wood-burning devices installed 
between 1990 and May 15, 2020, to remain in place following a real 
estate transaction will not interfere with maintenance of the NAAQS in 
Washoe County. On May 15, 2020, more stringent Federal standards for 
new wood-burning devices became effective. WBOH revised its rule to 
include the new standards for new devices but is allowing existing EPA-
certified devices to remain in place during real estate transactions. 
This exemption does not allow any emissions increases. The TSD has more 
information on our evaluation.

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 because it fulfills all relevant 
requirements. We will accept comments from the public on this proposal 
until July 15, 2024. If we approve the submitted rule, our final action 
will incorporate this rule 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 DBOH, Rule 040.051, Wood-Burning Devices (revised on February 
24, 2022),

[[Page 50545]]

which regulates particular matter emissions from wood-burning devices. 
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 CAA, 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 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 14094 (88 FR 21879, April 11, 2023);
     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 subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, 
April 23, 1997) because it proposes to approve a State program;
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
     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.
    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 proposed 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).
    Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions To Address Environmental 
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 59 FR 7629, 
Feb. 16, 1994) directs Federal agencies to identify and address 
``disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects'' of their actions on minority populations and low-income 
populations to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law. 
The EPA defines environmental justice (EJ) as ``the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, 
national origin, or income with respect to the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies.'' The EPA further defines the term fair treatment to mean 
that ``no group of people should bear a disproportionate burden of 
environmental harms and risks, including those resulting from the 
negative environmental consequences of industrial, governmental, and 
commercial operations or programs and policies.''
    The State did not evaluate EJ considerations as part of its SIP 
submittal; the CAA and applicable implementing regulations neither 
prohibit nor require such an evaluation. The EPA did not perform an EJ 
analysis and did not consider EJ in this action. Consideration of EJ is 
not required as part of this action, and there is no information in the 
record inconsistent with the stated goal of E.O. 12898 of achieving 
environmental justice for people of color, low-income populations, and 
Indigenous peoples.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

    Dated: June 2, 2024.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2024-12815 Filed 6-13-24; 8:45 am]
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