[Federal Register: April 23, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 77)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 18471-18474]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23ap09-7]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2005-SC-0002-200535(a); FRL-8894-8]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; South
Carolina; NOX SIP Call Phase II
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve a source-specific
State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the South
Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) on
April 14, 2005. The revision responds to EPA's regulation entitled,
``Interstate Ozone Transport: Response to Court Decisions on the
Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) SIP Call, NOX SIP Call
Technical Amendments, and Section 126 Rules,'' otherwise known as the
``NOX SIP Call Phase II.'' This revision meets the
requirements of the NOX SIP Call Phase II, which requires
South Carolina to submit NOX SIP Call Phase II revisions
necessary to achieve applicable, incremental reductions of
NOX, including emission reductions from large internal
combustion (IC) engines. Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corporation
Station 140 (Transco) is the only facility in South Carolina affected
by the NOX SIP Call Phase II. The intended effect of this
SIP revision is to reduce emissions of NOX originating in
the State of South Carolina to help attain and maintain the national
ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone. This action is being
taken pursuant to section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: This direct final rule is effective June 22, 2009 without
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by May 26, 2009. If
adverse comment is received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of
the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform the public
that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2005-SC-0002, by one of the following methods:
1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. E-mail: ward.nacosta@epa.gov.
3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
4. Mail: ``EPA-R04-OAR-2005-SC-0002,'' Regulatory Development
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
5. Hand Delivery or Courier: Nacosta C. Ward, Regulatory
Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61
Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such deliveries are
only accepted during the Regional Office's official hours of business.
The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through
Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. ``EPA-R04-OAR-
2005-SC-0002.'' EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and may be made available
online at www.regulations.gov, including any
[[Page 18472]]
personal information provided, unless the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit
through www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an
``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/
epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket
materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy at the Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding
federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nacosta C. Ward, Regulatory
Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61
Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number
is (404) 562-9140. Ms. Ward can also be reached via electronic mail at
ward.nacosta@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. Analysis of the State's Submittal
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
On October 27, 1998, EPA published a final rule known as the
``NOX SIP Call'' (63 FR 57355), and later known as the
``NOX SIP Call Phase I.'' Phase I of the NOX SIP
Call required 22 states, including the State of South Carolina, to meet
NOX emission budgets during the ozone season (March through
September) to reduce the amount of ground level ozone that is
transported across the eastern United States. EPA identified
NOX emission reductions by source category when they could
be achieved by using cost-effective measures. These source categories
include electric generating units (EGUs), non-EGUs, internal combustion
(IC) engines and cement kilns. For each affected jurisdiction, EPA
determined the NOX emission budgets based on the
implementation of cost effective controls. The budgets are to be met by
the year 2007. Phase I of the NOX SIP Call gave states the
flexibility to decide which source categories to regulate to meet the
statewide budget. During Phase I, South Carolina regulated EGUs, non-
EGUs and cement kilns, but chose not to address IC engines. See, e.g.,
67 FR 43546 (June 28, 2002) (Approval and Promulgation of
Implementation Plans: South Carolina: Nitrogen Oxides Budget and
Allowance Trading Program).
A number of parties, including certain states as well as industry
and labor groups, challenged Phase I of the NOX SIP Call
rule. On May 14, 1999, and March 2, 2000, EPA published additional
technical amendments to the NOX SIP Call in the Federal
Register (64 FR 26298 and 65 FR 11222, respectively). On March 3, 2000,
the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
(DC Circuit Court) issued its decision on the NOX SIP Call,
ruling in favor of EPA on all major issues. Michigan v. EPA, 213 F.3d
663 (DC Cir. 2000). However, the DC Circuit Court remanded four
specific elements to EPA for further action: the definition of EGU; the
level of control for stationary IC engines; the geographic extent of
the NOX SIP Call for Georgia and Missouri; and the inclusion
of Wisconsin. On May 28, 2002, SC DHEC submitted revisions to its SIP
that complied with the requirements of Phase I of the NOX
SIP Call. EPA approved the revisions on June 28, 2002 (67 FR 43546);
these revisions became effective on July 29, 2002.
On April 21, 2004, EPA published a final rule addressing the
remanded portion of the NOX SIP Call rule. This rule is
entitled, ``Interstate Ozone Transport: Response to Court Decisions on
the NOX SIP Call, NOx SIP Call Technical Amendments, and
Section 126 Rules,'' and is otherwise known as ``NOX SIP
Call Phase II'' (69 FR 21604). This rule promulgated specific changes
in response to the DC Circuit Court's ruling on Phase I of the
NOX SIP Call. Specifically, this action finalized certain
aspects of the definitions of EGU and non-EGU; the control level for
large stationary IC engines; partial State budgets for Georgia,
Missouri, Alabama, and Michigan; changes to the statewide
NOX budgets; SIP submittal dates for the required states to
address the Phase II portion of the budget; SIP submittal dates for
Georgia and Missouri; the compliance date for all covered sources; and
the exclusion of Wisconsin from the NOX SIP Call (69 FR
21604, April 21, 2004). This rule also required states that submitted
NOX SIP Call Phase I revisions, to submit Phase II SIP
revisions, as necessary to achieve incremental reductions of
NOX, no later than April 1, 2005. Phase II requires
emissions reductions that are relatively small, representing less than
10 percent of the total reductions required by Phase I of the
NOX SIP Call. For large, natural gas fired, stationary IC
engines the control level was set at 82 percent. For diesel and dual
fuel stationary IC engines the control level was set at 90 percent.
Phase II of the NOX SIP Call required South Carolina to
reduce the Phase I NOx emissions originating in the State from 127,756
tons of NOX emissions per year to 123,496 tons per year, or
by 4,260 tons \1\ of NOX emissions per year (69 FR 21604,
21629, April 21, 2004). South Carolina is achieving these
NOX emission reductions for sources located in South
Carolina by setting the control level for large, stationary IC engines
at 82 percent, and for diesel and dual fuel stationary IC engines at 90
percent. On
[[Page 18473]]
April 14, 2005, SC DHEC submitted revisions to incorporate these
requirements as a proposed source-specific SIP revision, intended to
meet the requirements of the NOX SIP Call Phase II.
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\1\ After further evaluation, EPA determined that South Carolina
could meet its reduction requirements with a reduction of
NOX emissions by 4,010 tons per ozone season. The Docket
for this rulemaking contains additional information regarding
Transco's control projects and anticipated NOX reductions
associated with the projects.
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II. Analysis of State's Submittal
The April 14, 2005, proposed revisions to the South Carolina SIP
are consistent with EPA's requirements for Phase II of the
NOX SIP Call. Phase II requires South Carolina to set
NOX emission levels for large stationary IC engines,
including large utility and industrial boilers (i.e. engines emitting
more than one ton of NOX per average ozone season day in
1997) at 82 percent. The Transco Facility in Spartanburg County, South
Carolina, is the only facility in South Carolina affected by this SIP
revision. On April 27, 2004, SC DHEC issued a construction permit,
number 2060-0179-CD, to Transco. The permit requires Transco to reduce
its NOX emissions by 4,010 tons per ozone season. To achieve
this result, Transco performed combustion modifications, engine
mapping, and unit overhauls to thirteen of its fourteen IC engines.
Transco subsequently monitored all of its engines during the 2006 ozone
season to verify that its modifications were effective. Transco's
permit requires it to monitor one engine in each NOX
emission group on a rotating basis during each ozone season. IC Engine
Group 1 includes engines 1 through 6; Group 2 includes engines 7
through 9; Group 3 includes engines 10 and 11; and Group 4 includes
engines 12 and 13. Incorporation of the Transco construction permit
2060-0179-CD into the South Carolina SIP achieves all of the necessary
NOX reductions to meet Phase II of the NOX SIP
Call requirements for South Carolina.
III. Final Action
EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the South Carolina
SIP. EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the
Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no
adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this
Federal Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate document
that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision should
adverse comments be filed. This rule will be effective June 22, 2009
without further notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by
May 26, 2009.
If EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a document
withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will
not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in
a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public
is advised that this rule will be effective on June 22, 2009 and no
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.
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, EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state
law. For that reason, this action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
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);
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 CAA; and
Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000),
because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in
the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule,
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and
other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C.
804(2).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by June 22, 2009. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of
judicial review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for
judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness
of such rule or action. Parties with objections to this direct final
rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel
notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed
rules section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an
immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so
that EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in
the proposed rulemaking. This action may not be challenged later in
proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Incorporation by reference, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone,
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
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Dated: April 10, 2009.
Beverly H. Banister,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
0
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart PP--South Carolina
0
2. Section 52.2120(d) is amended by adding a new entry for
``Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Corporation Station 140'' to read as
follows:
Sec. 52.2120 Identification of plan.
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(d) * * *
EPA-Approved South Carolina Source Specific Requirements
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State
Name of source Permit No. effective date EPA approval date Comments
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Transcontinental Gas Pipeline 2060-0179-CD 4/27/2004 4/23/2009 [Insert This permit is
Corporation Station 140. first page of incorporated in
publication]. fulfillment of the
NOX SIP Call Phase
II requirements for
South Carolina.
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[FR Doc. E9-9222 Filed 4-22-09; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P