Rule2022-27996
Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District; South Coast Air Quality Management District
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
December 28, 2022
Effective
January 27, 2023
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) and South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portions 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 flares. We are approving these local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 87 Issue 248 (Wednesday, December 28, 2022)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 248 (Wednesday, December 28, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 79806-79808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27996]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0846; FRL-9304-02-R9]
Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air
Pollution Control District; South Coast Air Quality Management District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final
action to approve
revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control
District (SJVUAPCD) and South Coast Air Quality Management District
(SCAQMD) portions 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 flares. We are approving
these local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean
Air Act (CAA or the Act).
DATES: These rules are effective on January 27, 2023.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0846. All documents in the docket are
listed on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. Although listed in
the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g.,
Confidential Business Information (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 through <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, or please
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section for additional availability information. 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#aeddc6cbdcc3cfc080cac1c0c0c7dfdbcbeecbdecf80c9c1d8"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="8dfee5e8ffe0ece3a3e9e2e3e3e4fcf8e8cde8fdeca3eae2fb">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and
``our'' refer to the EPA.
[[Page 79807]]
Table of Contents
I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Environmental Justice
V. Incorporation by Reference
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action
On January 25, 2022 (87 FR 3736), the EPA proposed to approve the
following rules into the California SIP.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Adopted/
Local agency Rule # Rule title amended Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD.............................. 1118.1 Control of Emissions from Non- 01/04/2019 04/24/2019
Refinery Flares.
SJVUAPCD............................ 4311 Flares......................... 12/17/2020 03/12/2021
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 is designed to decrease VOC, sulfur dioxide, and
nitrogen oxides emissions from non-refinery flares. SJVUAPCD Rule 4311
is designed to decrease NO<INF>X</INF> and VOC flare emissions from
refineries, unrecoverable gases from oil wells, vented gases from blast
furnaces, unused gases from coke ovens, and gaseous wastes from
chemical industries. We proposed to approve these rules because we
determined that they comply with the relevant CAA requirements. Our
proposed action contains more information on the rules and our
evaluation.
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
The EPA's proposed action provided a 30-day public comment period.
During the comment period we received one comment in support of EPA's
January 25, 2022 proposed action. We acknowledge the comment, and we
are approving the rules into the SIP.
III. EPA Action
No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the rules
as described in our proposed action. Therefore, as authorized in
section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is fully approving these rules
into the California SIP. The December 17, 2020 version of SJVUAPCD Rule
4311 will replace the previously approved version (76 FR 68106) of this
rule in the SIP. The January 4, 2019 version of SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 is a
new rule in the SIP.
IV. Environmental Justice Analysis
SJVUAPCD evaluated the socioeconomic impact analysis of the
amendments to Rule 4311.\1\ The District selected Eastern Research
Group, Inc (ERG) to complete the analysis, in which they used
CalEnviroScreen 3.0 \2\ to overlay the data on the impacts of the rule
with data on poverty. They concluded that there was ``no statistical
correlation between the affected facilities and poverty, but many of
the potentially affected facilities are located in the census tracts
with high percentages of the population living in poverty.'' \3\
SJVUAPCD Rule 4311 is expected to have a positive effect on the quality
of air around the impacted facilities and reduce emissions. The EPA
reviewed the District's socioeconomic analysis and did not identify any
information in the record that impacts our proposed approval. SCAQMD
did not submit a socioeconomic analysis with their April 24, 2019 Rule
1118.1 submission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ SJVUAPCD, Final Staff Report, ``Potential Amendments to Rule
4311--Flares,'' December 9, 2020.
\2\ California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
(OEHHA). (2018). CalEnviroScreen 3.0 (updated June 2018). Available
at <a href="https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/maps-data">https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/maps-data</a> (Accessed
September 3, 2020)
\3\ SJVUAPCD, Final Staff Report, ``Potential Amendments to Rule
4311--Flares,'' December 9, 2020.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
V. Incorporation by Reference
In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR
51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of the
SJVUAPCD and SCAQMD rules identified in section I. of this preamble.
These rules concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from flares. The EPA has made, and will
continue to make, these documents available through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">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).
VI. 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.
[[Page 79808]]
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
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 Populations
As described above in section IV, the state evaluated environmental
justice considerations as part of its SIP submittal for Rule 4311. The
EPA considered the state's evaluation as part of EPA's review. Due to
the nature of the action being taken here, this action is expected to
have a neutral to positive impact on the air quality of the affected
area. Thus, there is no information in the record inconsistent with the
stated goals of E.O. 12898 of achieving environmental justice for
people of color, low-income populations, and indigenous peoples.
K. Congressional Review Act (CRA)
This action is subject to the CRA, and the EPA will submit a rule
report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of
the United States. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5
U.S.C. 804(2).
L. Petitions for Judicial Review
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 February 27, 2023. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this rule 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. 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, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: December 19, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental
Protection Agency amends Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart F--California
0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(378)(i)(D)(2),
(c)(564)(i)(A)(2) and (c)(587) to read as follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan-in part.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(378) * * *
(i) * * *
(D) * * *
(2) Previously approved on November 11, 2011 in paragraph
(c)(378)(i)(D)(1) of this section and now deleted with replacement in
(c)(587)(i)(A)(1), Rule 4311 ``Flares,'' amended June 18, 2009.
* * * * *
(564) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) * * *
(2) Rule 1118.1, ``Control of Emissions from Non-Refinery Flares,''
adopted on January 4, 2019.
(3) [Reserved]
* * * * *
(587) Amended regulations for the following APCDs were submitted on
March 12, 2021 by the Governor's designee as an attachment to a letter
dated March 10, 2021.
(i) Incorporation by reference. --(A) San Joaquin Valley Unified
Air Pollution Control District.
(1) Rule 4311, ``Flares,'' amended on December 17, 2020.
(2) [Reserved]
(B) [Reserved]
(ii) [Reserved]
[FR Doc. 2022-27996 Filed 12-27-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on December 28, 2022.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.