Proposed Rule2022-06344
Limited Approval, Limited Disapproval of California Air Plan Revisions; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Refinery Flares
Primary source
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Published
March 25, 2022
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a limited approval and limited disapproval of revisions to the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NO<INF>X</INF>) from refinery flares. We are proposing action on a local rule to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 58 (Friday, March 25, 2022)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 58 (Friday, March 25, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17060-17062]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-06344]
[[Page 17060]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0943; FRL-9372-01-Region 9]
Limited Approval, Limited Disapproval of California Air Plan
Revisions; South Coast Air Quality Management District; Refinery Flares
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a
limited approval and limited disapproval of revisions to the South
Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern
emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen
(NO<INF>X</INF>) from refinery flares. We are proposing action on a
local rule to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act
(CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to
follow with a final action.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 25, 2022.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0943 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. For comments submitted at
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">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>. 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 (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. 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 <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>. If you need assistance in a
language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities
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: Donnique Sherman, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4129 or by
email at <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#21524944534c404f0f454e4f4f48505444614451400f464e57"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="e4978c819689858aca808b8a8a8d959181a4819485ca838b92">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and
``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rule did the State submit?
B. Are there other versions of this rule?
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule?
B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
C. What are the rule deficiencies?
D. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rule
E. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rule did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this proposal with the date
that it was amended by the local air agency and submitted by the
California Air Resources Board (CARB).
Table 1--Submitted Rule
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Local agency Rule No. Rule title Amended Submitted
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SCAQMD........................... 1118 Control of Emissions from 07/07/2017 02/16/2018
Refinery Flares.
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On August 16, 2018, the submittal for SCAQMD Rule 1118 was deemed
by operation of law to meet the completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51
appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.
B. Are there other versions of this rule?
We approved an earlier version of Rule 1118 into the SIP on August
28, 2007 (72 FR 49196). The SCAQMD adopted revisions to the SIP-
approved version on July 7, 2017, and CARB submitted them to us on
February 16, 2018. If we take final action to approve the July 7, 2017
version of Rule 1118, this version will replace the previously approved
version of this rule in the SIP.
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule?
Emissions of NO<INF>X</INF> and VOCs contribute to the production
of ground-level ozone, smog and particulate matter (PM), which harm
human health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires
states to submit regulations that control NO<INF>X</INF> and VOC
emissions. Rule 1118 Control of Emissions from Refinery Flares is
designed to monitor and record data on refinery and related flaring
operations, and to control and minimize flaring and flare related
emissions. The EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more
information about this rule.
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule?
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).
Generally, SIP rules must require reasonably available control
technology (RACT) for each category of sources covered by a Control
Techniques Guidelines (CTG) document as well as each major source of
NO<INF>X</INF> and VOCs in ozone nonattainment areas classified as
Moderate or above (see CAA section 182(b)(2)). The SCAQMD regulates an
ozone nonattainment area classified as Extreme for the 2015 8-hour
ozone NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305). Therefore, this rule must implement RACT.
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. ``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).
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2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 11,
1990).
3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?
Rule 1118 improves the SIP by establishing more stringent emission
limits and by clarifying monitoring, recording, and recordkeeping
provisions. The rule is largely consistent with CAA requirements and
relevant guidance regarding enforceability, RACT, and SIP revisions.
Rule provisions which do not meet the evaluation criteria are
summarized below and discussed further in the TSD.
C. What are the rule deficiencies?
The director's discretion in Rule 1118 Section (j) does not satisfy
the requirements of section 110 of the Act and prevents full approval
of the SIP revision. Documents submitted for inclusion into the SIP
should not include unbounded director's discretion that allows the
State to approve alternatives to the applicable SIP without following
the SIP revision process described in CAA section 110. Rule 1118
Section (j) provides the Executive Officer the authority to approve
American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) methods other than
those currently included in the rule. Without further specificity
regarding how this authority will be exercised, it could functionally
allow for a revision of the SIP without complying with the process for
SIP revisions required by the CAA. As a result, this undermines the
enforceability of the submission, constitutes a SIP deficiency, and
conflicts with CAA Section 110.
D. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rule
There are no further recommendations.
E. Public Comment and Proposed Action
As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is proposing
a limited approval and limited disapproval of the submitted rule. The
limited disapproval for Rule 1118 is based on the enforceability issue
identified in section II.C. of this document. We will accept comments
from the public on this proposal until April 25, 2022. If finalized,
this action would incorporate the submitted rule into the SIP,
including those provisions identified as deficient. If we finalize this
disapproval, CAA section 110(c) would require the EPA to promulgate a
Federal implementation plan within 24 months unless we approve
subsequent SIP revisions that correct the deficiencies identified in
the final approval.
In addition, final disapproval would trigger the offset sanction in
CAA section 179(b)(2) 18 months after the effective date of a final
disapproval, and the highway funding sanction in CAA section 179(b)(1)
six months after the offset sanction is imposed. A sanction will not be
imposed if the EPA determines that a subsequent SIP submission corrects
the deficiencies identified in our final action before the applicable
deadline. The EPA intends to work with the SCAQMD to correct the
deficiency in a timely manner.
Note that the submitted rule has been adopted by the SCAQMD, and
the EPA's final limited disapproval would not prevent the local agency
from enforcing it. The limited disapproval also would not prevent any
portion of the rule from being incorporated by reference into the
federally enforceable SIP as discussed in a July 9, 1992 EPA memo found
at: <a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-07/documents/procsip.pdf">https://www.epa.gov/sites/production/files/2015-07/documents/procsip.pdf</a>.
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 SCAQMD rule described in Table 1 of this preamble. The
EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials available
through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> 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
Additional information about these statutes and Executive orders
can be found at <a href="https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-executive-orders">https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-executive-orders</a>.
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
This action is not a significant regulatory action and was
therefore not submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
for review.
B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)
This action does not impose an information collection burden under
the PRA because this action does not impose additional requirements
beyond those imposed by state law.
C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)
I certify that this action will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities under the RFA. This
action will not impose any requirements on small entities beyond those
imposed by state law.
D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)
This action does not contain any unfunded mandate as described in
UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 1531-1538, and does not significantly or uniquely affect
small governments. This action does not impose additional requirements
beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, no additional costs to
state, local, or tribal governments, or to the private sector, will
result from this action.
E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
This action does not have federalism implications. It will not have
substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship between
the National Government and the states, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government.
F. Executive Order 13175: Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments
This action does not have tribal implications, as specified in
Executive Order 13175, because 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, and will not
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal
law. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not apply to this action.
G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental
Health Risks and Safety Risks
The EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 as applying only to those
regulatory actions that concern environmental health or safety risks
that the EPA has reason to believe may disproportionately affect
children, per the definition of ``covered regulatory action'' in
section 2-202 of the Executive order. This action is not subject to
Executive Order 13045 because it does not impose additional
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requirements beyond those imposed by state law.
H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use
This action is not subject to Executive Order 13211, because it is
not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866.
I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)
Section 12(d) of the NTTAA directs the EPA to use voluntary
consensus standards in its regulatory activities unless to do so would
be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical. The EPA
believes that this action is not subject to the requirements of section
12(d) of the NTTAA because application of those requirements would be
inconsistent with the CAA.
J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Population
The EPA lacks the discretionary authority to address environmental
justice in this rulemaking.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone,
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: March 20, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-06344 Filed 3-24-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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