Proposed Rule2022-02720
Air Plan Approval; Kentucky; 2015 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment New Source Review Permit Program Requirements
Primary source
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Published
February 10, 2022
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a revision to the Kentucky State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, through the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet, on October 15, 2020. EPA is proposing to approve Kentucky's certification that existing Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permitting regulations meet the nonattainment planning requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for Bullitt and Oldham Counties in the Louisville, KY-IN 2015 8-hour ozone Marginal nonattainment area and portions of Boone, Kenton, and Campbell Counties in the Cincinnati, OH-KY Marginal nonattainment area. This action is being proposed pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and its implementing regulations.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 7788-7790]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02720]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2021-0362; FRL-9502-01-R4]
Air Plan Approval; Kentucky; 2015 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment New
Source Review Permit Program Requirements
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 Kentucky State Implementation Plan (SIP)
submitted by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, through the Kentucky Energy
and Environment Cabinet, on October 15, 2020. EPA is proposing to
approve Kentucky's certification that existing Nonattainment New Source
Review (NNSR) permitting regulations meet the nonattainment planning
requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS) for Bullitt and Oldham Counties in the Louisville,
KY-IN 2015 8-hour ozone Marginal nonattainment area and portions of
Boone, Kenton, and Campbell Counties in the Cincinnati, OH-KY Marginal
nonattainment area.
[[Page 7789]]
This action is being proposed pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA or
Act) and its implementing regulations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 14, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2021-0362 at <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online instructions
for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or
removed from <a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>. 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. 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, the full EPA public comment
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general
guidance on making effective comments, please visit <a href="http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pearlene Williams, Air Regulatory
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and
Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61
Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, GA 30303-8960. The telephone number is
(404) 562-9144. Ms. Williams can also be reached via electronic mail at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#aaddc3c6c6c3cbc7d984dacfcbd8c6cfc4cfeacfdacb84cdc5dc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="77001e1b1b1e161a0459071216051b1219123712071659101801">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
The New Source Review (NSR) program is a preconstruction permitting
program that requires certain stationary sources of air pollution to
obtain permits prior to beginning construction. The NSR permitting
program applies to new construction and modification of existing
sources. New construction and modifications that emit ``regulated NSR
pollutants'' over certain thresholds are subject to major NSR
requirements, while smaller emitting sources and modifications may be
subject to minor NSR requirements.
Major NSR permits for sources that are in attainment or
unclassifiable areas are referred to as Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (PSD) permits. Major NSR permits for sources in
nonattainment areas and that emit pollutants above the specified
thresholds for which the area is in nonattainment are referred to as
NNSR permits.
A new stationary source is subject to major NSR requirements if its
potential to emit a regulated NSR pollutant exceeds certain emission
thresholds. If it exceeds the applicable threshold, the NSR regulations
define it as a ``major stationary source.'' An existing major
stationary source triggers major NSR permitting requirements when it
undergoes a ``major modification,'' which occurs when a source
undertakes a physical change or change in method of operation (i.e., a
``project'') that would result in: (1) A significant emissions increase
from the project, and (2) a significant net emissions increase from the
source. See, e.g., 40 CFR 51.165(a)(1)(v)(A) and 40 CFR
51.165(a)(1)(xxxix).
On October 1, 2015, EPA promulgated a revised 8-hour ozone NAAQS of
0.070 parts per million (ppm). See 80 FR 65292 (October 26, 2015). Upon
promulgation of a new or revised ozone NAAQS, section 107(d) of the CAA
requires EPA to designate as nonattainment any area that is violating
the NAAQS (or that contributes to ambient air quality in a nearby area
that is violating the NAAQS). As part of the designations process for
the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS, EPA designated two areas in Kentucky as
Marginal ozone nonattainment areas, effective August 3, 2018.\1\ See 83
FR 25776 (June 4, 2018). Areas that were designated as ``Marginal''
ozone nonattainment areas were required to attain the 2015 8-hour ozone
NAAQS no later than three years after the effective date of
designation. See 40 CFR 51.1303.
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\1\ The Kentucky 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS nonattainment areas are
the Kentucky portions of the Cincinnati, OH-KY, and Louisville, KY-
IN areas. The Kentucky portion of the Cincinnati, OH-KY
nonattainment area consists of portions of Boone, Kenton, and
Campbell Counties. The Kentucky portion of the Louisville, KY-IN
ozone nonattainment area consists of Jefferson, Bullitt, and Oldham
Counties. The NNSR requirement for Jefferson County, Kentucky, will
be addressed in a separate action.
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On December 6, 2018, EPA issued a final rule entitled
``Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for
ozone: State Implementation Plan Requirements'' (SIP Requirements
Rule), which establishes the requirements that state, tribal, and local
air quality management agencies must meet as they develop
implementation plans for areas where air quality exceeds the 2015 8-
hour ozone NAAQS. See 83 FR 62998; 40 CFR part 51, subpart CC. Based on
the nonattainment designation for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS, Kentucky
was required to develop a SIP revision addressing the requirements of
CAA sections 172(c)(5) and 173 for Kentucky's 2015 8-hour ozone
Marginal nonattainment areas. See 42 U.S.C. 7502(c). Section 172(c)(5)
of the CAA requires each state with a nonattainment area to submit a
SIP revision requiring NNSR permits in the nonattainment area in
accordance with the permitting requirements of CAA section 173.\2\ The
minimum SIP requirements for NNSR permitting for the 2015 8-hour ozone
NAAQS are located in 40 CFR 51.165. See 40 CFR 51.1314.
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\2\ CAA section 173 requires, among other things, emissions
offsets. The emissions offset ratio for Marginal ozone nonattainment
areas is found in CAA section 182(a)(4).
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On October 15, 2020, Kentucky submitted a SIP revision addressing,
among other things,\3\ permit program requirements (i.e., NNSR) for the
2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS for Kentucky's 2015 8-hour ozone Marginal
nonattainment areas. EPA's analysis of how this SIP revision addresses
the NNSR requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS is provided
below.
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\3\ The other elements of Kentucky's submittal are being
addressed in separate rulemakings.
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II. Analysis of the Commonwealth's Submittal
Kentucky's longstanding, SIP-approved NNSR regulation at 401
Kentucky Administrative Regulation (KAR) 51:052, Review of new sources
in or impacting upon nonattainment areas, establishes air quality
permitting requirements for the construction or modification of major
stationary sources located within, or impacting, areas designated as
nonattainment.\4\ In its October 15, 2020, SIP revision, Kentucky
certifies that the version of 401 KAR 51:052 in the SIP satisfies the
federal NNSR requirements for the Kentucky 2015 8-hour ozone Marginal
nonattainment areas. EPA approved Kentucky's NNSR certification for the
2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS into the Kentucky SIP on April 10, 2017. See 82
FR 17131.\5\ The SIP-approved version of 401 KAR 51:052 has not been
updated since that 2017 rulemaking.
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\4\ This SIP-approved rule also requires offsets for nitrogen
oxides and volatile organic compounds of at least 1.1:1 in Marginal
nonattainment areas. See 401 KAR 51:052, Section 4, Paragraph 3(b).
\5\ While this proposed rulemaking pertains to Bullitt and
Oldham Counties and portions of Boone, Campbell and Kenton Counties,
401 KAR 51:052 applies to any areas in the Commonwealth designated
as nonattainment.
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The current SIP-approved version of 401 KAR 51:052 covers
Kentucky's 2015 8-hour ozone Marginal nonattainment
[[Page 7790]]
areas (i.e., the counties and partial counties to which this proposed
action pertains) and remains adequate to meet all applicable NNSR
requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is therefore
proposing to approve Kentucky's certification that 401 KAR 51:052 meets
the NNSR requirements for implementation of the 2015 8-hour ozone
NAAQS.
III. Proposed Action
EPA is proposing to approve Kentucky's SIP revision addressing the
NNSR requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS for Kentucky's 2015
8-hour ozone Marginal nonattainment areas, submitted on October 15,
2020. EPA has preliminarily determined that Kentucky's submission
fulfills the 40 CFR 51.1314 requirement and meets the requirements of
CAA section 172(c)(5) and 173 and the minimum SIP requirements of 40
CFR 51.165.
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. See 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. 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:
<bullet> 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 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
<bullet> Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
<bullet> 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.);
<bullet> 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);
<bullet> Does not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
<bullet> Is not an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
<bullet> 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
<bullet> 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).
The SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or
in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a
tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does
not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it impose substantial direct
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxide, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: February 3, 2022.
Daniel Blackman,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2022-02720 Filed 2-9-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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