[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 134 (Friday, July 12, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57120-57122]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-15045]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2023-0625; FRL-11613-01-R9]


Air Plan Revisions; California; Eastern Kern Air Pollution 
Control District; Tehama County Air Pollution Control District; San 
Diego County Air Pollution Control District Emissions Statement 
Requirements

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve revisions, under the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act''), to 
portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP) regarding 
emissions statements (ES) requirements for the 2015 ozone national 
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). In addition, we are proposing 
that the following California nonattainment areas (NAAs) meet the ES 
requirements for the 2015 ozone NAAQS: Tuscan Buttes, Kern County 
(Eastern Kern), and San Diego County. We are taking comments on this 
proposal and plan to follow with a final action.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 12, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2023-0625 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 (e.g., 
audio or video) 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sina Schwenk-Mueller, EPA Region IX, 
75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4100 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 rules or 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 Rule(s)
    D. Proposed Action and Public Comment
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    The California Air Resources Board submitted rules for the the 
Eastern Kern Air Pollution Control District (APCD), Tehama County APCD, 
and San Diego County APCD portions of the California SIP.
    Table 1 lists the rules submitted for approval into the SIP with 
the dates that the rules were adopted or revised by the local or State 
air agencies and submitted by the States to fulfill CAA section 
182(a)(3)(B) Emissions Statements (``section 182(a)(3)(B)'') 
requirements.

[[Page 57121]]



                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
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                                                                         Amended/
            Agency                    Rule No.           Rule title      adopted     Submitted   Deemed complete
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eastern Kern APCD............  Rule 108.2...........  Emission              8/4/22      12/7/22  Complete by
                                                       Statement                                  Operation of
                                                       Requirements.                              Law (COL) 6/7/
                                                                                                  23.
Tehama County APCD...........  Rule 2:20............  Emission              3/1/22       7/5/22  COL 1/5/23.
                                                       Statement.
San Diego County APCD........  Rule 19.3............  Emission             12/9/21       3/9/22  COL 9/9/22.
                                                       Information.
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    Table 1 also list the dates that the EPA determined that the 
submittals met the completeness criteria in 40 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) part 51, appendix V or were deemed by operation of 
law to meet the completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51, appendix V 
(``complete by operation of law'' or COL), which must be met before 
formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    There is no previous version of Tehama County APCD Rule 2:20 in the 
SIP. We approved an earlier version of Eastern Kern APCD Rule 108.2 
into the SIP on May 26, 2004 (69 FR 29880). If we take final action to 
approve the submitted version of Rule 108.2, it will replace the 
existing SIP-approved version. We approved an earlier version of San 
Diego APCD Rule 19.3 into the SIP on March 9, 2000 (65 FR 12472). If we 
take final action to approve the submitted version of Rule 19.3, it 
will replace the existing SIP-approved version.

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

    Under the CAA, a SIP must require stationary sources in ozone NAAs 
classified as ``Marginal'' or above to report annual emissions of 
nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds(VOCs). 
See CAA section 182(a)(3)(B). Whenever the EPA promulgates a new ozone 
NAAQS, the State and/or air district must submit a new or amended rule 
to ensure that the section 182(a)(3)(B) requirements are met.
    Section 182(a)(3)(B)(i) requires States to submit a SIP revision 
that requires that owners or operators of stationary sources provide 
the State with a statement of actual emissions of VOCs and 
NOX at least annually. Such statements must also include a 
certification that the information is accurate to the best knowledge of 
the individual certifying the statement.\1\
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    \1\ Section 182(a)(3)(B)(ii) ``The State may waive the 
application of clause (i) to any class or category of stationary 
sources which emit less than 25 tons per year of volatile organic 
compounds or oxides of nitrogen if the State, in its submissions 
under subparagraphs (1) or (3)(A), provides an inventory of 
emissions from such class or category of sources, based on the use 
of the emission factors established by the Administrator or other 
methods acceptable to the Administrator.''
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    In lieu of submitting a new or amended rule, the State and/or air 
district may submit for SIP approval a certification that an existing 
SIP-approved rule satisfies the emissions statement requirements of CAA 
section 182(a)(3)(B) for the relevant ozone NAAQS. Specifically, the 
preamble to the EPA's ``Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air 
Quality Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area State Implementation 
Plan Requirements'' states that ``[W]here an air agency determines that 
an existing regulation is adequate to meet applicable nonattainment 
area planning requirements of CAA section 182 . . . for a revised ozone 
NAAQS, that air agency's SIP revision may provide a written statement 
certifying that determination in lieu of submitting new revised 
regulations.'' \2\ The EPA's technical support document (TSD), which is 
in the docket for this rulemaking, has more information about these 
rules.
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    \2\ ``Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area State Implementation Plan 
Requirements,'' 83 FR 62998 (December 6, 2018).
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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). Areas classified as Marginal 
nonattainment or higher are subject to the requirements of CAA section 
182(a)(3)(B).
    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. ``Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area State Implementation Plan 
Requirements,'' 83 FR 62998 (December 6, 2018).
    2. ``(Draft) Guidance on the Implementation of an Emission 
Statement Program,'' EPA, July 1992.
    3. ``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).
    4. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 11, 
1990).
    5. ``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, SIP revisions, and emissions 
statement requirements. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rule(s)

    The TSD includes recommendations for the next time the local agency 
modifies the rules or submit certifications.

D. Proposed Action and Public Comment

    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 are also proposing that the following 2015 ozone 
nonattainment areas have met CAA section 182(a)(3)(B) requirements: 
Kern County (Eastern Kern), CA, Tuscan Buttes, CA, San Diego, CA. We 
will accept comments from the public on this proposal until August 12, 
2024. If we take final action to approve the submitted rules, our final 
action will incorporate these rules into the federally enforceable SIP.

[[Page 57122]]

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 rules described in table 1, which require sources to 
submit emission statements. 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 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 rulemaking 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, 
February 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.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 
organic compounds.

    Dated: July 2, 2024.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2024-15045 Filed 7-11-24; 8:45 am]
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