[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 247 (Tuesday, December 27, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 76408-76411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-24415]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[R04-OAR-2005-TN-0005-200522(a); FRL-8015-2]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Tennessee;
Nitrogen Oxides Budget and Allowance Trading Program, Phase II
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions
submitted by the State of Tennessee on May 6, 2005. The revision
responds to the EPA's regulation entitled, ``Interstate Ozone
Transport: Response to Court Decisions on the NOX SIP Call,
NOX SIP Call Technical Amendments, and Section 126 Rules,''
otherwise known as the ``NOX SIP Call Phase II.'' This
revision satisfies EPA's rule that requires Tennessee to submit
NOX SIP Call Phase II revisions needed to achieve the
necessary incremental reductions of nitrogen oxides (NOX).
The intended effect of this SIP revision is to reduce emissions of
NOX in order to help attain the national ambient air quality
standard (NAAQS) for ozone. Specifically, this revision addresses
compliance plans for NOX emissions from stationary internal
combustion engines.
DATES: This direct final rule is effective February 27, 2006, without
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by January 26,
2006. If adverse comment is received, EPA will publish a timely
withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform
the public that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Regional Material in
EDocket (RME) ID No. R04-OAR-2005-TN-0005, by one of the following
methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
2. Agency Web site: http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub/ RME, EPA's
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method
for receiving comments. Once in the system, select ``quick search,''
then key in the appropriate RME Docket identification number. Follow
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
3. E-mail: [email protected].
4. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
5. Mail: ``R04-OAR-2005-TN-0005'' Regulatory Development Section,
Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
6. Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: James Hou,
Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides
and Toxics Management Division 12th floor, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia
30303-8960. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Regional
Office's normal hours of operation. The Regional Office's official
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding
federal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to RME ID No. R04-OAR-2005-TN-
0005. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in
the public docket without change and may be made available online at
http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub/, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through RME, regulations.gov,
or e-mail. The EPA RME Web site and the federal regulations.gov Web
site are ``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know
your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body
of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through RME or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be
[[Page 76409]]
able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of
special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects
or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
RME index at http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub/. Although listed in the
index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., 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 either electronically in RME
or in hard copy at the Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding
federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James Hou, Regulatory Development
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is (404)
562-9043. Mr. James Hou can also be reached via electronic mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On October 27, 1998, EPA published a final rule known as the
``NOX SIP Call'' (See 63 FR 57356). The NOX SIP
Call originally required 22 states, including the State of Tennessee,
and the District of Columbia (DC) to meet statewide NOX
emission budgets during the ozone season in order to reduce the amount
of ground level ozone that is transported across the eastern United
States (Phase I). EPA identified NOX emission reductions by
source category that could be achieved by using cost-effective
measures. The source categories include electric generating units
(EGUs), non-electric generating units (non-EGUs), internal combustion
(IC) engines and cement kilns. EPA determined that state-wide
NOX emission budgets based on the implementation of these
cost effective controls for each affected jurisdiction are to be met by
the year 2007. The Phase I NOX SIP Call gave states the
flexibility to decide which source categories to regulate in order to
meet the statewide budgets. IC engines were not addressed by Tennessee
in response to Phase I, but are addressed in Phase II. For more
information regarding the specifics of these Phase I source categories
and budgets, see 69 FR 3015, January 22, 2004.
A number of parties, including certain states as well as industry
and labor groups, challenged the NOX SIP Call rule. On March
2, 2000 (65 FR 11222), EPA published additional technical amendments to
the NOX SIP Call in the Federal Register. On March 3, 2000,
the D.C. Circuit issued its decision on the NOX SIP Call,
ruling in favor of EPA on all the major issues. Michigan v. EPA, 213
F.3d 663 (D.C. Cir. 2000). The DC Circuit Court denied petitioners'
requests for rehearing or rehearing en banc on July 22, 2000. However,
the Circuit Court remanded four specific elements to EPA for further
action: (1) The definition of EGU, (2) the level of control for
stationary IC engines, (3) the geographic extent of the NOX
SIP Call for Georgia and Missouri, and (4) the inclusion of Wisconsin.
On March 5, 2001, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal by
various utilities, industry groups and a number of upwind states from
the DC Circuit's ruling on EPA's NOX SIP Call rule.
On November 7, 2000, the Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation (TDEC) submitted a draft NOX emission control
rule to the EPA. Subsequently, TDEC submitted additional materials on
July 11, 2001 and October 4, 2001. EPA published a conditional approval
of the SIP revision on August 14, 2002, and later published a final
approval of the SIP revision on January 22, 2004 (69 FR 3015) after
making a determination that the final revisions to the Tennessee SIP
met the requirements of the NOX SIP Call Phase I.
EPA published a final rule, dated April 21, 2004 (69 FR 21604),
that addresses the remanded portion of the NOX SIP Call
Rule. This rule is entitled, ``Interstate Ozone Transport: Response to
Court Decisions on the NOX SIP Call, NOX SIP Call
Technical Amendments, and Section 126 Rules,'' otherwise known as the
``NOX SIP Rule Phase II.'' This action finalizes specific
changes in response to the Court's rulings on the NOX SIP
Call. Specifically, it finalizes certain aspects of the definitions of
EGU and non-EGU, the control level assumed for large stationary IC
engines in the NOX SIP Call, partial state budgets for
Georgia, Missouri, Alabama, and Michigan in the NOX SIP
Call, changes to the statewide NOX budgets, the SIP
submittal dates for the required states to address the Phase II portion
of the budget, and for Georgia and Missouri to submit full SIPs meeting
the NOX SIP Call, the compliance date for all covered
sources to meet Phase II of the NOX SIP Call and the
exclusion of Wisconsin from the NOX SIP Call (See 69 FR
21604, April 21, 2004). This final rule also requires states that
submitted NOX SIP Call Phase I revisions to submit Phase II
SIP revisions as needed to achieve the necessary incremental reductions
of NOX.
II. Analysis of State's Submittal
The State of Tennessee submitted a revision to its SIP on May 6,
2005. The revision responds to the NOX SIP Call Phase II (69
FR 21604, April 21, 2004). TDEC is revising its regulations to remain
consistent with EPA requirements. Under Rule 1200-3-27-.09,
``Compliance Plans for NOX Emissions From Stationary
Internal Combustion Engines,'' after May 1, 2007, all owners or
operators of ``Large NOX SIP Call Engines'' must submit a
compliance plan to the Technical Secretary, demonstrating enforceable
NOX emission reductions. ``Large NOX SIP Call
Engines'' are defined as any stationary reciprocating IC engine, which
is used at a facility for more than 12 consecutive months, and emits
more than one ton of NOX per average ozone season day. The
compliance plan must include a list of engines subject to the plan, the
projected hours of operation, a description of the NOX
emission controls used on affected engines, past and projected
NOX emission rates, and provisions for monitoring,
reporting, and record keeping on each affected engine. Additionally,
these large gas-fired IC engines, orignially identified by EPA as part
of the NOX SIP Call Rule, are required to have a
NOX control efficiency of 82 percent. As a result, EPA has
made the determination that Rule 1200-3-27-.09 will achieve the
required NOX reductions of 2,877 tons for Tennessee.
III. Final Action
EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the SIP. EPA is
publishing this rule without prior proposal because the Agency views
this as a non-controversial submittal and anticipates no adverse
comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal
Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate document that will
serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision should adverse
comments be filed. This rule will be effective February 27, 2006,
without further notice unless the
[[Page 76410]]
Agency receives adverse comments by January 26, 2006.
If the EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a document
withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will
not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in
a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. The EPA will not
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public
is advised that this rule will be effective on February 27, 2006, and
no further action will be taken on the proposed rule. Please note that
if we receive adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of
this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of
the rule, we may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are
not the subject of an adverse comment.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews:
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211,
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action
merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law.
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under state law and does
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by
state law, it 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).
This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism
implications because it does 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, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely approves a state rule
implementing a Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean
Air Act. This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045
``Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically
significant.
In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise
satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Thus, the requirements
of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This rule does not
impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule,
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C.
804(2).
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, 2006. 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, Intergovernmental
relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: December 9, 2005.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
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40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--[AMENDED]
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1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart RR--Tennessee
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2. Section 52.2220(c) is amended in table 1 by adding an entry for
``Section 1200-3-27-.09 '' to read as follows:
Sec. 52.2220 Identification of plan.
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(c) * * *
Table 1.--EPA Approved Tennessee Regulations
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State EPA
State citation Title/subject effective approval Federal Register Notice
date date
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Chapter 1200-3-27 Nitrogen Oxides
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[[Page 76411]]
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Section 1200-3-27-.09.................... Compliance plans for NOX Emissions From Stationary 11/14/05 12/27/05 [Insert citation of
Internal Combustion Engines. publication]
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[FR Doc. 05-24415 Filed 12-23-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P