[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 168 (Wednesday, August 31, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51694-51696]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-17357]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 51
[OAR-2005-0148; FRL-7963-1]
Advance Notice To Solicit Comments, Data and Information for
Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved in Ozone Nonattainment
and Maintenance Areas From the Implementation of Rules Limiting the VOC
Content of AIM Coatings
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Advance notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: By this action, EPA is soliciting comments, data and
information for determining how to calculate the reductions in volatile
organic compounds (VOC) emissions achieved in ozone nonattainment and
maintenance areas from the implementation of rules which limit the VOC
content of architectural coatings (commonly referred to as
architectural industrial maintenance, or AIM, coatings). In addition to
submitting comments, data and information, interested parties may also
request to meet with EPA to present their recommended approaches and
rationales.
DATES: Please submit comments, data, and information on or before
October 17, 2005. Requests to meet with EPA should be made on or before
September 30, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Submit your written comments, data and information,
identified by Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148, by one of the following
methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the
on-line instructions for submitting comments.
Agency Web site: http://www.epa.gov/edocket. EDOCKET, EPA's
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method
for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
E-mail: Send electronic mail (e-mail) to EPA Docket Center at [email protected].
Fax: Send faxes to the EPA Docket Center at (202) 566-1741.
Mail: Air and Radiation Docket, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Mail Code 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC
20460. Attn: Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148, Advance Notice for
Information on Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved from
Limiting the VOC Content of Architectural Coating. Please include a
total of two copies.
Hand Delivery or Courier: EPA Docket Center (Air and Radiation
Docket), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA West Building, Room
B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Washington, DC 20004. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for delivery of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OAR-2005-0148.
The 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://www.epa.gov/edocket, 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 EDOCKET,
regulations.gov or e-mail. The EPA EDOCKET and the federal
regulations.gov websites 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 EDOCKET 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 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
EDOCKET index at http://www.epa.gov/edocket. 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
EDOCKET or in hard copy during normal business hours at the Air and
Radiation Docket, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave.,
[[Page 51695]]
NW., Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open
from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal
holidays. The telephone number for the Reading Room is (202) 566-1744,
and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marcia L. Spink, Associate Director
for Air Programs, Air Protection Division, Mail Code 3AP20, U.S. EPA
Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103, telephone (215)
814-2104, or by e-mail at [email protected]. To schedule a meeting
with EPA, please contact David Sanders, U.S. EPA, Ozone Policy &
Strategies Group, Air Quality Strategies & Standards Division, Mail
Code C539-02, Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards, Research
Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-3356, or by e-mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, the terms ``we''
and ``its'' refer to the EPA.
I. Background
On May 13, 2005 (70 FR 25688), EPA published a final rule approving
several State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions for the District of
Columbia, State of Maryland and Commonwealth of Virginia, including the
post 1999-2005 Rate-of-Progress (ROP) plan for the Metropolitan
Washington, DC 1-Hour Severe Ozone Nonattainment Area (the Washington
area). That ROP plan relied upon, among other control measures, VOC
emissions reductions from the District's, Maryland's and Virginia's
SIP-approved AIM coatings rules to satisfy certain contingency measure
requirements applicable to ROP plans.
These States' SIP-approved AIM coatings rules are based upon a
model rule developed by the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC). The EPA's
SIP approval of the District's, Virginia's and Maryland's AIM coating
rules, themselves (70 FR 24959, 24970, 24979; May 12, 2005,
respectively), involved no consideration or approval of an amount of
VOC emissions reductions or credits achieved by those States' AIM
coatings rules. Rather, EPA's basis for approval of these States' AIM
coating rules, as well as Delaware's, Pennsylvania's and New York's OTC
model rule-based AIM coatings rules (67 FR 70315, November 22, 2002; 69
FR 68080, November 23, 2004; and 69 FR 72118, December 13, 2004,
respectively) as SIP revisions was its determination that those AIM
rules are as stringent or more stringent than the otherwise applicable
Federal AIM coatings rule.\1\
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\1\ See 40 CFR, part 59, subpart D--National Volatile Organic
Compound Emission Standards for Architectural Coatings; source: 63
FR 48877, September 11, 1998.
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In publishing this action, EPA is not reopening its SIP approvals
of any State AIM coatings rule or the Federal AIM coatings rule. The
EPA is not reopening its determination that the SIP-approved State AIM
rules are as stringent or more stringent than the otherwise applicable
Federal AIM rule. Nor is EPA reopening its approval of the Washington
area ROP plan, its decision with respect to credit for VOC reductions
due to the State AIM rules in the Washington area ROP plan, or any SIP
approval EPA has made to date in which credit for VOC reductions have
been claimed due to either a State AIM coatings rule or the Federal AIM
coatings rule. Please do not submit comments on any completed
rulemakings.
As stated previously, however, the Washington area's post 1999-2005
ROP plan submitted by the District, Maryland and Virginia did rely
upon, among other control measures, VOC emissions reductions from the
three jurisdictions' AIM coatings rules to satisfy certain contingency
measure requirements applicable to ROP plans. As part of EPA's proposed
rulemaking process on the Washington area post 1999-2005 ROP plan, we
independently performed calculations of the VOC emissions reductions
achieved by implementation of the District's, Maryland's and Virginia's
AIM coatings rules. The EPA did this analysis to confirm that
implementation of the AIM coatings rules in Maryland, Virginia, and the
District of Columbia would result in at least the amount of VOC
emissions reductions relied upon by the States and the District of
Columbia for those rules in the Washington area ROP plan.
During the public comment period of the proposed rule to approve
the Washington area ROP plan (70 FR 2085; January 12, 2005), EPA
received several comments, from both the regulated sector and the State
of Maryland, related to the methodology and the associated baseline EPA
employed to calculate the VOC emissions reductions from the three
jurisdictions' AIM coatings rules. In the final rule approving the
Washington area post 1999-2005 ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005),
EPA explained that it was not necessary to choose a particular
methodology or baseline in order to approve the ROP plan because all of
the approaches presented by EPA or the commenters resulted in
calculated VOC emissions reductions from implementation of Maryland,
Virginia, and the District of Columbia's AIM coatings rules sufficient
to satisfy the requirements of the ROP plan.
While it was not necessary to choose a particular methodology or
baseline in order for EPA to approve the Washington area post 1999-2005
ROP plan, this may not always be the case. In the future, states may
design reasonable further progress, attainment and maintenance plans
for ozone nonattainment areas which rely upon VOC emissions reductions
from the implementation of AIM coatings rules. For consistency from
state to state in the development of such plans, and in EPA's
subsequent evaluation of those plans, we are soliciting comments, data,
information and recommendations as to the baseline and calculation
methodology for determining the emission reductions achieved from the
implementation of rules which limit the VOC content of AIM coatings.
The EPA is commencing this process in recognition of the need to
formulate a technically sound and consistent approach that states may
use to account for the VOC emissions from the AIM coatings sector in
compiling base year and projection emission inventories, demonstrating
reasonable further progress, and conducting modeling analyses as part
of their ozone SIP planning activities. The EPA included the following
paragraph in its final rule approving the Washington area's post 1999-
2005 ROP plan: ``However, EPA recognizes the need to resolve
conclusively how to determine the amount of VOC emission reductions
achieved from the implementation of AIM coatings rules in a given ozone
nonattainment area. This remains an issue of concern to the states, the
regulated sector, and other interested parties. Therefore, EPA intends
to conduct a separate process to solicit further comment, information
and recommendations from all interested parties as to how to determine
the amount of VOC emission reductions achieved from the implementation
of AIM coatings rules in a given ozone nonattainment area.'' By
publishing this Advance Notice to Solicit Comments, Data and
Information for Determining the Emissions Reductions Achieved in Ozone
Nonattainment and Maintenance Areas from the Implementation of Rules
Limiting the VOC Content of AIM Coatings, EPA is hereby commencing the
separate process referenced in our final approval of the ROP plan for
the Washington area.
[[Page 51696]]
Those parties interested in participating in this process by
submitting comments, data information or recommendations may find the
Supplementary Technical Support Document (TSD) which EPA prepared in
support of the final rule approving the Washington area post 1999-2005
ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005) to be a useful reference with
regard to these issues. This TSD presents some helpful examples of
baselines and methodologies used to calculate the VOC emissions
reductions achieved from the implementation of AIM coating rules.\2\
This TSD is available, upon request, from the EPA Region 3 contact
listed in the For Further Information Contact section of this document,
and is also in the EDOCKET (OAR-2005-0148-0002) for this action.
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\2\ By citing to this Supplementary TSD as a reference, EPA is
not re-opening its final rule approving the Washington area post-
1999-2005 ROP plan (70 FR 25688; May 13, 2005).
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II. EPA's Intent Regarding the Comments, Data, Information and
Recommendations
It is EPA's intent to consider all relevant comments, data,
information, and recommendations submitted to us to formulate a
practicable, technically sound approach for calculating the VOC
emissions achieved and creditable from the implementation of an AIM
coatings rule in a given ozone nonattainment or maintenance area. As
previously stated, EPA is commencing this process in recognition of the
need to formulate a technically sound and consistent approach that
States may use to account for the VOC emissions from the AIM coatings
sector in compiling base year and projection emission inventories,
demonstrating reasonable further progress, and conducting modeling
analyses as part of their ozone SIP planning activities. It would also
provide for consistency in EPA's subsequent evaluations of states'
attainment, maintenance and progress plans that rely upon emissions
reductions from the AIM coatings sector.
Once EPA receives the comments, data, and information solicited
herein, we will determine the appropriate next steps. The EPA believes,
at this time, the next steps will likely include rulemaking and/or
guidance to provide a practicable and technically sound approach for
States, and other interested parties, to use in determining the VOC
emissions reductions achieved by the implementation of AIM coating
rules in ozone nonattainment and maintenance areas. Any such action
will be conducted using notice and comment procedures. Once this
rulemaking/guidance has been provided, it will be available for states
to use in the development of future state implementation plan (SIP)
revisions, if any, that rely upon VOC emissions reductions achieved by
the implementation of AIM coating rules in ozone nonattainment and
maintenance areas. This rulemaking/guidance will not require any state
to amend previously approved SIP revisions, however, it may be used by
states, at their discretion, to revise their current SIPs as they deem
appropriate.
The EPA encourages all interested parties to participate in this
process by submitting relevant comments, data, information and
recommendations for how best to calculate the VOC emission reductions
achieved from the adoption and implementation of an AIM coating rule in
a given nonattainment or maintenance area.
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under Executive Order (EO) 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review
(58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this action is not a ``significant
regulatory action'' and is, therefore, not subject to review by the
Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 51
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Ozone, Volatile
organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: August 24, 2005.
Stephen L. Johnson,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 05-17357 Filed 8-30-05; 8:45 am]
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