[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 27 (Wednesday, February 9, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 7142-7144]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-2862]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2007-1073; FRL-9263-8]
Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Imperial
County Air Pollution Control District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Imperial County
Air Pollution Control District (ICAPCD) portion of the California State
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions clarify permitting
requirements, and update and revise exemptions from New Source Review
(NSR) permitting requirements, for various air pollution sources. We
are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final
action.
DATES: Any comments must arrive by March 11, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2007-1073, by one of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the on-line instructions.
2. E-mail: [email protected].
3. Mail or deliver: Gerardo Rios (Air--3), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA
94105-3901.
Instructions: All comments 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 Confidential Business Information (CBI) or
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Information that you consider CBI or otherwise protected should be
clearly identified as such and should not be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. http://www.regulations.gov is an
``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will not know your identity or
contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment.
If you send e-
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mail directly to EPA, your e-mail address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the public comment. 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.
Docket: The index to the docket for this action is available
electronically at http://www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA
Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all
documents in the docket are listed in the index, some information may
be publicly available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted
material), and some may not be publicly available in either location
(e.g., CBI). To inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an
appointment during normal business hours with the contact listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, (415)
972-3534, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and
``our'' refer to 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 and rule
revisions?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
D. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal, including the
dates they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the
California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Table 1--Submitted Rules
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Local agency Rule No. Rule title Amended Submitted
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ICAPCD................................... 201 Permits Required........... 10/10/06 08/24/07
ICAPCD................................... 202 Exemptions................. 10/10/06 08/24/07
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On September 17, 2007, EPA determined that the submittal for ICAPCD
Rules 201 and 202 met the completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51
appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
We approved an earlier version of Rule 201 into the SIP on January
3, 2007 (72 FR 9). There are no previous versions of Rule 202 in the
SIP, but SIP approved Rule 103, also contains permit exemptions. Rule
103 was approved into the SIP on May 31, 1972 (37 FR 10842). The ICAPCD
originally adopted new Rule 202 on June 1, 1977 and also adopted
revisions on September 7, 1993 and September 14, 1999. Both of these
revisions were submitted to EPA, however EPA has not taken action on
either of these submittals. While we can act on only the most recently
submitted version, we have reviewed materials provided with previous
submittals.
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule revisions?
Section 110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit regulations
that control volatile organic compounds, nitrogen oxides, particulate
matter and other air pollutants which harm human health and the
environment. Permitting rules were developed as part of the local air
district's programs to control these pollutants.
The purpose of District Rule 201 (Permits Required) is to identify
when, and what permits, a source must obtain prior to construction and
operation.
The purpose of District Rule 202 (Exemptions) is to identify
processes, articles, machines, equipment, or other contrivances for
which an Authority to Construct (ATC) or Permit to Operate (PTO) is not
required. Rule 202 also requires recordkeeping to verify and maintain
any exemption.
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
The relevant statutory provisions for our review of the submitted
rules include CAA section 110(a) and section 110(l). Section 110(a)
requires that SIP rules be enforceable, while section 110(l) precludes
EPA approval of SIP revisions that would interfere with any applicable
requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress or
any other applicable requirement of the Act. In addition, we have
reviewed the submitted rules for compliance with EPA implementing
regulations for NSR, including 40 CFR 51.160 through 40 CFR 51.165.
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
EPA has reviewed the submitted rules in accordance with the Rule
Evaluation criteria described above. Consistent with the requirements
of 40 CFR subpart I, all major stationary sources are required to
obtain an ATC permit prior to construction. For minor sources, EPA
believes that emissions from the types and sizes of equipment and
operations exempted from NSR permit requirements are consistent with
the flexibility afforded to states to regulate only those sources as
necessary to assure attainment and maintenance of the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). While several new provisions have been
added to Rule 202 that could be seen as a relaxation of the SIP because
more sources are specifically exempted from Rule 207 permit
requirements, in practice most of these sources have never been
required to obtain a NSR ATC permit due to their small size or state
law prohibitions. Because these rules will not actually worsen air
quality, and will in fact require many agricultural sources to obtain
permits and be subject to control requirements for the first time, EPA
believes that these revisions are a long overdue update to the SIP
which will provide an overall strengthening of the SIP without
interfering with the District's ability to attain and maintain the
NAAQS, and are therefore approvable under 110(l) of the CAA.
The TSD has more information on our evaluation.
C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
The TSD describes additional rule revisions that we recommend for
the next time the local agency modifies the rules.
D. Public Comment and Final Action
Because EPA believes the submitted rules fulfill all relevant
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve them as described in
section 110(k)(3) of the Act. We will accept comments from the public
on this proposal for the next 30 days. Unless we receive convincing new
information during the comment period, we intend to publish a final
approval
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action that will incorporate these rules into the federally enforceable
SIP.
III. 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 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 Clean Air Act; and
Does not interfere with Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629
(Feb. 16, 1994)) because EPA lacks the discretionary authority to
address environmental justice in this rulemaking.
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.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: January 28, 2011.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2011-2862 Filed 2-8-11; 8:45 am]
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