[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 117 (Friday, June 18, 2010)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34670-34671]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14779]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R03-OAR-2010-0386; FRL-9164-7]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Maryland; Revision to Emission Limitations for R. Paul Smith Power
Station
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP)
revision submitted by the State of Maryland. This revision pertains to
revised emission limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station
located in Washington County. This action is being taken under the
Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before July 19, 2010.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-
R03-OAR-2010-0386 by one of the following methods:
A. http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
B. E-mail: [email protected]
C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2010-0386, Cristina Fernandez, Associate
Director, Office of Air Program Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
D. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address.
Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-
2010-0386. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change, and may be made available online
at http://www.regulations.gov, including any 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 information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://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 http://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.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
http://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 http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy during normal business hours at the
Air Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region
III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the
State submittal are available at the Maryland Department of the
Environment, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, Maryland
21230.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marilyn Powers, (215) 814-2308, or by
e-mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
I. Background
On December 15, 2009, the Maryland Department of the Environment
(MDE) submitted a revision to the Maryland
[[Page 34671]]
SIP. The SIP revision (09-04) pertains to changes in emission
limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station in Washington County.
This facility had annual nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone season NOx, and
sulfur oxides (SO2) emission limits that were established
under EPA-approved Maryland regulation COMAR 26.11.27--Emission
Limitations for Power Plants, which was adopted by the State to meet
statutory requirements under the Maryland Healthy Air Act (HAA). The
HAA allows R. Paul Smith to operate without complying with the emission
limitations set forth in this statute if PJM Interconnection, Inc.
(PJM) determines that termination of operation of the facility will
adversely affect the reliability of electrical service in the PJM
region. Subsequent to Maryland's adoption of COMAR 26.11.27 and EPA's
approval of the rule into the Maryland SIP, PJM determined that the R.
Paul Smith facility is needed to maintain electricity reliability in
the State. The HAA requires that if R. Paul Smith units 3 and 4 are
allowed to operate without complying with the emissions limitations
established in the statute, certain conditions must be met. These
conditions require that the facility operate at emissions levels that
are lower than the highest level measured at the facility during the
calendar years from 2000 through 2004, and that MDE review the
operations of the facility, then adopt regulations to establish an
alternative emissions requirement for the facility. In accordance with
these statutory requirements, MDE revised COMAR 26.11.27 to establish
alternative emission limits for these two Electric Generating Units at
R. Paul Smith.
II. Summary of SIP Revision
COMAR 26.11.27 is revised to establish new emission limitations for
R. Paul Smith Power Station. The NOx annual tonnage limits for R. Paul
Smith is revised from 416 tons to 1390 tons starting with the 2009
control period, the NOx ozone season limit is revised from 140 tons to
545 tons starting with the 2009 ozone season, and the SO2
annual tonnage is revised from 1002 tons to 4590 tons starting with the
2009 control period.
Because the SIP revision increases emissions from this facility,
MDE was required to meet section 110(l) of the CAA. Section 110(l)
requires that the revision not interfere with any applicable
requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress, or
any other applicable requirement of section 110. EPA's analysis
confirmed that the SIP revision does not interfere with any section
110(l) requirements. A more detailed discussion of EPA's rationale for
approval of this Maryland SIP revision may be found in the technical
support document (TSD) for this action.
III. Proposed Action
EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision submitted by the State
of Maryland on December 15, 2009. The SIP revision incorporates
revisions to the emission limitations that apply to the R. Paul Smith
Power Station in Washington County. EPA is soliciting public comments
on the issues discussed in this document. These comments will be
considered before taking final action.
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, EPA's role is to approve state
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act.
Accordingly, this 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 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 Clean Air Act; 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 proposed rule approving revisions to the emission
limitations for R. Paul Smith Power Station 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.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Nitrogen dioxide,
Ozone, Particulate matter, Sulfur oxides.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: June 7, 2010.
W.C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2010-14779 Filed 6-17-10; 8:45 am]
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