Proposed Rule2026-10640
Air Plan Approval; SC; Department Name Change
Primary source
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Published
May 28, 2026
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of South Carolina on July 23, 2025. The proposed revision updates all references to reflect the restructuring of South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to the South Carolina Department of Public Health and the South Carolina Department of Environmental Services (DES).
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 91 Issue 102 (Thursday, May 28, 2026)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 91, Number 102 (Thursday, May 28, 2026)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31686-31687]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2026-10640]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2025-3625; FRL-13296-01-R4]
Air Plan Approval; SC; Department Name Change
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the
State of South Carolina on July 23, 2025. The proposed revision updates
all references to reflect the restructuring of South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC) to the South
Carolina Department of Public Health and the South Carolina Department
of Environmental Services (DES).
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 29, 2026.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2025-3625 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 Regulations.gov. 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="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Weston Freund, 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, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is
(404) 562-8773. Mr. Freund can also be reached via electronic mail at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#1c7a6e79697278326b796f6873725c796c7d327b736a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="72140017071c165c051701061d1c321702135c151d04">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On July 1, 2024, DHEC and the DHEC Board were restructured into a
health agency, the Department of Public Health, and an environmental
agency, DES. As discussed in the July 23, 2025, SIP revision and in a
letter from South Carolina to EPA Region 4 dated June 20, 2024, all
functions, powers, and duties of the environmental divisions, offices,
and programs of DHEC are retained and continued in full force and
effect under DES.\1\ This includes the authority to administer and
enforce SIPs. Therefore, the changes in this SIP revision reflecting
the restructuring are merely administrative in nature.
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\1\ The June 20, 2024, letter is in the docket for the proposed
rulemaking.
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II. EPA's Analysis of South Carolina's Submittal
EPA is proposing to approve a SIP revision submitted by DES on July
23, 2025, amending Regulations 61-62.1, Definitions and General
Requirements, Section I, Definitions; 61-62.3, Air Pollution Episodes;
61-62.4, Hazardous Air Pollution Conditions; 61-62.5, Standard No. 4,
Emissions from Process Industries; and 61-62.96, Nitrogen Oxides (NOX)
Budget Program.\2\ The revision updates all references in these
regulations from DHEC and the DHEC Board to reflect the newly created
DES.
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\2\ The July 23, 2025, submission also contains changes to
Regulation 61-62.1, Section II, Permit Requirements and Regulations
61-62.60, 62.63, 62.70, and 86.1. EPA will act on the changes to
Regulation 61-62.1, Section II in a separate SIP-related rulemaking.
Regulations 61-62.60, 62.63, 62.70, and 86.1 are not part of the
SIP; therefore, EPA will not act on these changes in a SIP-related
rulemaking.
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Specifically, the SIP revision makes the following changes to
Regulation 61-62.1, Section I, Definitions: Removes the term ``Board''
and the associated definition in Paragraph (11) and replaces it with
``Reserved''; removes the term ``Commissioner'' and the associated
definition in paragraph (20) and replaces it with ``Reserved''; and
revises the definition of ``Department'' in paragraph (25) to reference
DES instead of DHEC.
[[Page 31687]]
The SIP revision makes the following changes to Regulation 61-62.3,
Section I, Episode Criteria: Replaces ``Commissioner'' with
``Department'' in both the prefatory paragraph and in paragraph 1.
The SIP revision similarly replaces ``Commissioner'' with
``Department'' in Regulation 61-62.4, Hazardous Air Pollution
Conditions, at Regulation 61-62.4, Section E, CLEANUP.
The SIP revision then replaces ``Board'' with ``Department'' in the
footnote to Table B of Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No. 4, Section
VIII, OTHER MANUFACTURING.
Finally, the SIP revision replaces the reference to DHEC with a
reference to DES in Regulation 61-62.96, Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) Budget
Program, at Section 96.2, paragraph (q).
EPA is proposing to approve these changes because they are
administrative in nature and therefore would not interfere with any
applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further
progress or any other applicable requirement of the Clean Air Act
(CAA).\3\
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\3\ See CAA section 110(l).
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III. Incorporation by Reference
In this document, EPA is proposing to include a final EPA rule
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, and as discussed in Section II of this
preamble, EPA is proposing to incorporate by reference Regulation 61-
62.1, Section I, Definitions, paragraphs (11), (20), and (25); \4\
Regulation 61-62.3, Section I, Episode Criteria, paragraph 1 and the
preceding unnumbered initial paragraph; \5\ Regulation 61-62.4,
Hazardous Air Pollution Conditions, Section E; \6\ Regulation 61-62.5,
Standard No. 4, Section VIII, Other Manufacturing, footnote to Table B;
\7\ and Regulation 61-62.96, Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) Budget Program,
Section 96.2, paragraph (q),\8\ all of which are state effective on May
23, 2005, and revise these rules to update outdated references. EPA has
made, and will continue to make, these materials generally available
through <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a> and at the EPA Region 4 office (please
contact the person identified in the For Further Information Contact
section of this preamble for more information).
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\4\ The remaining portions of Regulation 61-62.1, Section I,
retain the April 24, 2020, state effective date, as currently
approved in the South Carolina SIP under 40 CFR 52.2120(c).
\5\ The remaining portions of Regulation 61-62.3, Section I,
retain the April 26, 2013, state effective date, as currently
approved in the South Carolina SIP under 40 CFR 52.2120(c).
\6\ The remaining portions of Regulation 61-62.4 retain the
December 20, 1978, state effective date, as currently approved in
the South Carolina SIP under 40 CFR 52.2120(c).
\7\ The remaining portions of Regulation 61-62.5, Standard No.
4, Section VIII retain the June 24, 2016, state effective date, as
currently approved in the South Carolina SIP under 40 CFR
52.2120(c).
\8\ The remaining portions of Regulation 61-62.96 retain the
January 25, 2019, state effective date, as currently approved in the
South Carolina SIP under 40 CFR 52.2120(c).
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IV. Proposed Action
EPA is proposing to approve South Carolina's July 23, 2025, SIP
revision consisting of administrative changes to Regulations 61-62.1,
Definition and General Requirements, Section I; 61-62.3, Air Pollution
Episodes; 61-62.4, Hazardous Air Pollution Conditions; 61-62.5,
Standard 4, Emissions from Process Industries; and 61-62.96, Nitrogen
Oxides (NOX) Budget Program, for the reasons discussed above.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA 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. Accordingly, 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 Order 12866 (58
FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
<bullet> Is not an Executive Order 14192 (90 FR 9065, February 6,
2025) regulatory action because this action is not significant under
Executive Order 12866;
<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 subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997) because it approves a state program;
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
<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.
Because 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, this proposed action
for the State of South Carolina does not have Tribal implications as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
Therefore, this proposed action will not impose substantial direct
costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal law. The Catawba Indian
Nation (CIN) Reservation is located within the boundary of York County,
South Carolina. Pursuant to the Catawba Indian Claims Settlement Act,
S.C. Code Ann. 27-16-120 (Settlement Act), ``all state and local
environmental laws and regulations apply to the [Catawba Indian Nation]
and Reservation and are fully enforceable by all relevant state and
local agencies and authorities.'' The CIN also retains authority to
impose regulations applying higher environmental standards to the
Reservation than those imposed by state law or local governing bodies,
in accordance with the Settlement Act.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: May 15, 2026.
Kevin McOmber,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2026-10640 Filed 5-27-26; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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