[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 39 (Tuesday, February 28, 2006)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9938-9941]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 06-1788]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2006-0086; FRL-8037-9]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of Iowa

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 
submitted by the state of Iowa for the purpose of establishing 
exemptions for indoor sources of air pollution that are not directly 
vented to the outside but have emissions that leave the building 
through doors, vents or other means. This revision also clarifies that 
the permitting exemptions do not relieve the owner or operator of any 
source from any obligation to comply with any other applicable 
requirements. The state has determined that air pollution emissions 
from this equipment are negligible and these exemptions are likely to 
result in no significant impact on human health or the environment.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective May 1, 2006, without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by March 30, 2006. 
If adverse comment is received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of 
the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that 
the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-
OAR-2006-0086, by one of the following methods:
    1. http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Mail: Heather Hamilton, Environmental Protection Agency, Air 
Planning and Development Branch, 901 North 5th Street, Kansas City, 
Kansas 66101.
    4. Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to Heather 
Hamilton, Environmental Protection Agency, Air Planning and Development 
Branch, 901 North 5th Street, Kansas City, Kansas 66101.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-
2006-0086. 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.regulations.gov, 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 through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an 
``anonymous access'' system, 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 http://www.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 
http://www.regulations.gov index. 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 http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection 
Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 901 North 5th Street, 
Kansas City, Kansas 66101. The Regional Office's official hours of 
business are Monday through Friday, 8 to 4:30 excluding Federal 
holidays. The interested persons wanting to examine these documents 
should make an appointment with the office at least 24 hours in 
advance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Heather Hamilton at (913) 551-7039, or 
by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever

[[Page 9939]]

``we,'' ``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This section provides 
additional information by addressing the following questions:

What Is a SIP?
What Is the Federal Approval Process for a SIP?
What Does Federal Approval of a State Regulation Mean to Me?
What Is Being Addressed in This Document?
Have the Requirements for Approval of a SIP Revision Been Met?
What Action Is EPA Taking?

What is a SIP?

    Section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires states to develop 
air pollution regulations and control strategies to ensure that state 
air quality meets the national ambient air quality standards 
established by EPA. These ambient standards are established under 
section 109 of the CAA, and they currently address six criteria 
pollutants. These pollutants are: Carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, 
ozone, lead, particulate matter, and sulfur dioxide.
    Each state must submit these regulations and control strategies to 
us for approval and incorporation into the Federally-enforceable SIP.
    Each Federally-approved SIP protects air quality primarily by 
addressing air pollution at its point of origin. These SIPs can be 
extensive, containing state regulations or other enforceable documents 
and supporting information such as emission inventories, monitoring 
networks, and modeling demonstrations.

What Is the Federal Approval Process for a SIP?

    In order for state regulations to be incorporated into the 
Federally-enforceable SIP, states must formally adopt the regulations 
and control strategies consistent with state and Federal requirements. 
This process generally includes a public notice, public hearing, public 
comment period, and a formal adoption by a state-authorized rulemaking 
body.
    Once a state rule, regulation, or control strategy is adopted, the 
state submits it to us for inclusion into the SIP. We must provide 
public notice and seek additional public comment regarding the proposed 
Federal action on the state submission. If adverse comments are 
received, they must be addressed prior to any final Federal action by 
us.
    All state regulations and supporting information approved by EPA 
under section 110 of the CAA are incorporated into the Federally-
approved SIP. Records of such SIP actions are maintained in the Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) at title 40, part 52, entitled ``Approval and 
Promulgation of Implementation Plans.'' The actual state regulations 
which are approved are not reproduced in their entirety in the CFR 
outright but are ``incorporated by reference,'' which means that we 
have approved a given state regulation with a specific effective date.

What Does Federal Approval of a State Regulation Mean to Me?

    Enforcement of the state regulation before and after it is 
incorporated into the Federally-approved SIP is primarily a state 
responsibility. However, after the regulation is Federally approved, we 
are authorized to take enforcement action against violators. Citizens 
are also offered legal recourse to address violations as described in 
section 304 of the CAA.

What Is Being Addressed in This Document?

    EPA is approving a revision to the SIP for the State of Iowa to 
establish exemptions for indoor sources of air pollution that are not 
directly vented to the outside but have emissions that leave the 
building through doors, vents or other means. The introductory 
paragraph to the Iowa Administrative Code 567-22.1(2) ``Exemptions'' is 
being changed to state that these additional permitting exemptions do 
not relieve the owner or operator of any source from any obligation to 
comply with any other applicable requirements. The change further 
states that the exemptions from construction permitting listed in the 
subrule with this rulemaking may be used provided that a permit is not 
needed to create federally enforceable limits that restrict potential 
to emit.
    The exemptions include equipment, processes and activities 
identified in the rule and summarized below. The reader should refer to 
the Iowa Administrative Code, Chapter 22.1(2)x. through ii. which is 
part of the docket for this rulemaking for more detail concerning the 
exemptions.
    1. The following equipment, processes, and activities: (1) 
Facilities used for preparing food or beverages primarily for 
consumption at the source; (2) Consumer use of certain office equipment 
and products; (3) Janitorial services and consumer use of janitorial 
products; (4) Internal combustion engines used for lawn care, 
landscaping, and groundskeeping purposes; (5) Laundry activities, not 
including dry cleaning and steam boilers; (6) Bathroom vent emissions; 
(7) Blacksmith forges; (8) Plant maintenance and upkeep activities and 
repair or maintenance shop activities, provided that these activities 
are not conducted as part of a manufacturing process; (9) Air 
compressors and vacuum pumps, including hand tools; (10) Batteries and 
battery charging stations, except at battery manufacturing plants; (11) 
Certain equipment used to store, mix, pump, handle or package soaps, 
detergents, and other materials listed in the rule; (12) Equipment used 
exclusively to slaughter animals; (13) Vents from continuous emissions 
monitors and other analyzers; (14) Natural gas pressure regulator 
vents, excluding venting at oil and gas production facilities; (15) 
Certain equipment used by surface coating operations that apply the 
coating by brush, roller, or dipping; (16) Hydraulic and hydrostatic 
testing equipment; (17) Environmental chambers not using gases which 
are hazardous air pollutants; (18) Shock chambers, humidity chambers, 
and solar simulators; (19) Fugitive dust emissions related to movement 
of passenger vehicles on unpaved road surfaces, provided that the 
emissions are not counted for applicability purposes and that any 
fugitive dust control plan or its equivalent is submitted as required 
by the department; (20) Process water filtration systems and 
demineralizers; (21) Boiler water treatment operations, not including 
cooling towers or lime silos; (22) Oxygen scavenging (deaeration) of 
water; (23) Fire suppression systems; (24) Emergency road flares; (25) 
Steam vents, safety relief valves, and steam leaks; and, (26) Steam 
sterilizers.
    2. Certain direct-fired equipment based on specified fuel types and 
maximum heat input.
    3. Closed refrigeration systems, including storage tanks used in 
refrigeration systems, excluding combustion equipment associated with 
such systems.
    4. Pretreatment application processes that use aqueous-based 
chemistries designed to prepare a substrate for an organic coating, 
provided that the chemical concentrate contains no more than 5 percent 
organic solvents by weight.
    5. Indoor-vented powder coating operations with filters or powder 
recovery systems.
    6. Certain electric curing ovens or curing ovens used for powder 
coating operations, and meeting fuel, heat input, and powder usage 
restrictions.
    7. Small production painting, adhesive or coating units unless a 
particular unit is subject to requirements of other rules specified in 
the exemption.

[[Page 9940]]

    8. Production surface coating activities that use only 
nonrefillable hand-held aerosol cans, where the total volatile organic 
compound emissions from all these activities at a stationary source do 
not exceed 5.0 tons per year.
    9. Production welding meeting specified design and usage 
restrictions.
    10. Electric hand soldering, wave soldering, and electric solder 
paste reflow ovens.
    11. Pressurized piping and storage systems for natural gas, 
propane, liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), and refrigerants, where 
emissions could only result from an upset condition.
    12. Emissions from the storage and mixing of paints and solvents 
associated with the painting operations, provided that the emissions 
from the storage and mixing are accounted for in an enforceable permit 
condition or are otherwise exempt.
    Based on review of IDNR's technical evaluation documented in the 
exemption justification document submitted with the rule and included 
in the docket, these activities generate emissions that have little or 
no environmental or human health consequences and can be exempted from 
the requirement to obtain a construction permit.

Have the Requirements for Approval of a SIP Revision Been Met?

    The state submittal has met the public notice requirements for SIP 
submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submittal also 
satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. In 
addition, as explained above and in more detail in the technical 
support document that is part of this document, the revision meets the 
substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, including section 110 and 
implementing regulations.

What Action Is EPA Taking?

    EPA is approving a revision which adds permitting exemptions to the 
Iowa Administrative Code. This revision also clarifies that the 
permitting exemptions do not relieve the owner or operator of any 
source from any obligation to comply with any other applicable 
requirements.
    We are processing this action as a direct final action because the 
revisions make minor changes to the existing rules that are 
noncontroversial. Therefore, we do not anticipate any adverse comments. 
Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on part of this rule 
and if that part can be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may 
adopt as final those parts of the rule that are not the subject of an 
adverse comment.

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 CAA. 
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 CAA. 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 CAA. 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 May 1, 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: February 17, 2006.
James B. Gulliford,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.

0
Chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as 
follows:

[[Page 9941]]

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart Q--Iowa

0
2. In Sec.  52.820 the table in paragraph (c) is amended by revising 
the entry for 567-22.1 to read as follows:


Sec.  52.820  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                          EPA-Approved Iowa Regulations
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                                                                       State       EPA approval
         Iowa Citation                        Title               effective date       date         Explanation
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                 IOWA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COMMISSION [567]
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                                        Chapter 22--Controlling Pollution
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567-22.1......................  Permits Required for New or             10/19/05        02/28/06
                                 Existing Stationary Sources.                         [insert FR
                                                                                     page number
                                                                                       where the
                                                                                        document
                                                                                         begins]
 
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[FR Doc. 06-1788 Filed 2-27-06; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P