[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 32 (Friday, February 15, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 8818-8821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2745]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R01-OAR-2006-0641; A-1-FRL-8527-5]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Massachusetts; Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the
Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution Control District
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 Massachusetts. The SIP revision consists of
technical revisions to Massachusetts regulation 310 CMR 7.38,
``Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the Metropolitan
Boston Air Pollution Control District.'' The amendments better define
the emissions monitoring techniques for various types of tunnel
ventilation systems, and provide flexibility in emission monitoring
requirements. This action is being taken in accordance with the Clean
Air Act.
DATES: This direct final rule will be effective April 15, 2008, unless
EPA receives adverse comments by March 17, 2008. If adverse comments
are 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 Number EPA-
R01-OAR-2006-0641 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. Fax: (617) 918-0047.
4. Mail: ``Docket Identification Number EPA-R01-OAR-2006-0641,''
Anne Arnold, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England
Regional Office, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (mail code CAQ),
Boston, MA 02114-2023.
5. Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: Anne Arnold,
Manager, Air Quality Planning Unit, Office of Ecosystem Protection,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office,
One Congress Street, 11th floor, (CAQ), Boston, MA 02114-2023. 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 legal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OAR-
2006-0641. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
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 www.regulations.gov, or e-
mail, information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected.
The 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 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
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 www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy at Office of Ecosystem Protection, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office, One Congress
Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA. EPA requests that if at all possible,
you contact the contact 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
legal holidays.
In addition to the publicly available docket materials available
for inspection electronically in the Federal Docket Management System
at www.regulations.gov, and the hard copy available at the Regional
Office, which are identified in the ADDRESSES section of this Federal
Register, copies of the state submittal and EPA's technical support
document are also available for public inspection during normal
business hours, by appointment at the State Air Agency; Massachusetts
Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Waste Prevention, One
Winter Street, 8th Floor, Boston, MA 02108.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, Air Quality Unit,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office,
One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAQ), Boston, MA 02114-2023, telephone
number (617) 918-1668, fax number (617) 918-0668, e-mail
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
Organization of this document. The following outline is provided to
aid in locating information in this preamble.
I. Background and Purpose.
II. Addition of Emissions Monitoring Techniques for Longitudinal
Ventilation.
III. New Requirement for an Air Emissions Monitoring Protocol.
[[Page 8819]]
IV. Final Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background and Purpose
On July 12, 2006, the State of Massachusetts submitted a formal
revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP). The SIP revision
consists of technical revisions to 310 CMR 7.38, ``Certification of
Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution
Control District.'' The technical revisions apply to the emissions
monitoring section of the regulation at 310 CMR 7.38(8)(a) and define
the emission monitoring requirements for systems that use longitudinal
ventilation, as well as add the requirement for an ``Air Emissions
Monitoring Protocol.'' A new subsection 310 CMR 7.38(1)(b) requires any
tunnel ventilation system subject to a Federal New Source Performance
Standard or National Emission Standard for Hazardous Air Pollutants to
operate in compliance with those standards. A new section, 310 CMR
7.38(10), ``Removal of Air Pollution Control and Monitoring
Equipment,'' has been added to prohibit removal of air pollution
control equipment, or monitoring equipment which has been installed in
accordance with 310 CMR 7.38. In addition to the technical revisions,
typographical errors are also being corrected in the existing
regulation.
The Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the Metropolitan
Air Pollution Control District regulation, 310 CMR 7.38, was
promulgated on January 18, 1991 and applies to the construction and
operation of any tunnel ventilation system for highway projects
constructed after January 1, 1991. On October 8, 1992, EPA approved 310
CMR 7.38 as a revision to the Massachusetts SIP (57 FR 46310). In the
final rule, EPA agreed with Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection (MA DEP) that tunnel ventilation systems are not stationary
sources subject to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) or to
New Source Review (NSR) permitting requirements of the Clean Air Act
(CAA), nor to Massachusetts' Plan Approval and Emissions Limitations
regulation for stationary sources, 310 CMR 7.02.
The purpose of the Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems
regulation is to require certification that tunnel ventilation systems
for highway projects in the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution Control
District (defined in 310 CMR 7.00) meet certain air quality
requirements, thereby protecting public health and the environment. The
regulation requires an initial, ``preconstruction'' certification, an
operation certification (required 12-15 months after a project becomes
fully operational), and re-certification every five years. In
accordance with 310 CMR 7.38(2), the proponent must certify that the
project will not: (a) Cause or exacerbate a violation of any National
Ambient Air Quality Standard as set forth at 40 CFR part 50, or a
Massachusetts Ambient Air Quality Standard as set forth at 310 CMR
6.00; or (b) cause or exacerbate a violation of the MA DEP's one hour
ambient NO2 guideline of 320 [mu]g/m\3\; or (c) result in an
actual or projected increase in the total amount of non-methane
hydrocarbons measured within the project area when compared with the
no-build alternative.
With this certification process approved as a SIP element, approval
of individual certifications or conditions which require written
approval by MA DEP will not require SIP revisions. This concept is
included in the existing SIP-approved rule, and the recent revisions do
not change this previously established process.
II. Addition of Emissions Monitoring Techniques for Longitudinal
Ventilation
During the late 1980s when the CA/T Project was initially planning
and designing the ventilation system, the only Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) authorized tunnel ventilation system was the
traditional ``full transverse ventilation.'' Therefore, when 310 CMR
7.38 was promulgated in 1991, the emissions monitoring requirements
were based on full transverse ventilation technology. In 1995, FHWA
issued a memorandum entitled ``Mechanical Ventilation in Road Tunnels
using Jet Fans'' authorizing applicable projects to use longitudinal
ventilation with jet fan technology. The availability of this
additional ventilation technology was neither anticipated nor provided
for in 310 CMR 7.38(8).
Following the FHWA authorization memo, the Central Artery/Third
Harbor Tunnel (CA/T) project studied the supplementary use of
longitudinal ventilation at several exit ramps as a cost saving
measure. The CA/T Project subsequently filed a Notice of Project
Change, and implemented longitudinal ventilation at eight exit ramps.
Although longitudinal ventilation was approved for use on the CA/T
Project, the resulting emission impacts at the eight exit ramp portals
cannot be monitored using 40 CFR part 60 Continuous Emissions
Monitoring (CEM) methods because those methods are designed to measure
emissions from stacks, not exit ramp portals. The revised subsection
7.38(8)(a) specifically requires emissions monitoring and recording
equipment in tunnel roadway exit portals that utilize longitudinal
ventilation.
The revisions to the Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems
regulation contain a revised set of allowable techniques and emissions
monitoring approaches that incorporate elements of 40 CFR part 58--
Ambient Air Quality Surveillance, 40 CFR part 60--Standards of
Performance for New Stationary Sources, 40 CFR part 75--Continuous
Emission Monitoring, as well as statistical analysis, computer
modeling, and innovative technologies. This ``hybrid'' approach to
emission monitoring, which includes elements of ambient air quality
monitoring and continuous emission monitoring, will provide more
accurate monitoring of ambient emissions within the portal area
environment which could not be conducted with the original stack
monitoring approach under 40 CFR part 60, appendix B--Performance
Specifications.
III. New Requirement for an Air Emissions Monitoring Protocol
MA DEP has also revised the emissions monitoring requirements at
310 CMR 7.38(8)(a) to require that any person who constructs and
operates a tunnel ventilation system which is subject to the
requirements of 310 CMR 7.38 shall, prior to commencing operation of
the tunnel ventilation system or opening the project roadway for public
use, develop and submit to the Department for review and approval an
``Air Emissions Monitoring Protocol.'' This subsection requires that
all emissions monitoring and recording equipment be installed and
operated in accordance with the approved protocol. Lastly, this
subsection allows the ``Air Emissions Monitoring Protocol'' to be
modified with prior written approval of the Department. This allows
flexibility so that as technological advances occur in contaminant and
emissions monitoring, MA DEP will be able to modify the monitoring
procedures without necessarily having to complete a regulatory revision
process. Therefore, the regulation allows affected projects to
periodically modify or update their air emission monitoring protocol
with written approval of MA DEP.
IV. Final Action
EPA has reviewed the revised rule and has found that it is
consistent with requirements of the Clean Air Act. EPA is approving
this rule because it will
[[Page 8820]]
improve emission monitoring techniques, allowing the state greater
flexibility to assess and quantify emissions, for the roadway tunnel
ventilation systems in the Boston Metropolitan Air Control District.
EPA is approving Massachusetts amendments to 310 CMR 7.38, entitled
``Certification of Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the Metropolitan
Boston Air Pollution Control District,'' and incorporating this revised
rule into the Massachusetts SIP. The EPA is publishing this action
without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a
noncontroversial amendment 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 relevant adverse
comments be filed. This rule will be effective April 15, 2008 without
further notice unless the Agency receives relevant adverse comments by
March 17, 2008.
If the EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a notice
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 on the proposed rule. All parties
interested in commenting on the proposed rule should do so at this
time. If no such comments are received, the public is advised that this
rule will be effective on April 15, 2008 and no further action will be
taken on the proposed rule. Please note that if EPA receives adverse
comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that
provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt
as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an
adverse comment.
V. 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), because it 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 approves a state rule
implementing a Federal standard.
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 April 15, 2008. Interested
parties should comment in response to the proposed rule rather than
petition for judicial review, unless the objection arises after the
comment period allowed for in the proposal. 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, Nitrogen
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: February 1, 2008.
Ira W. Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA New England.
0
Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is
amended as follows:
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 W--Massachusetts
0
2. Section 52.1120 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(134) to read as
follows:
[[Page 8821]]
Sec. 52.1120 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(134) Revisions to the State Implementation Plan submitted by the
Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on July 12, 2006.
(i) Incorporation by reference.
(A) Massachusetts Regulation 310 CMR 7.38, entitled ``Certification
of Tunnel Ventilation Systems in the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution
Control District,'' effective in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts on
December 30, 2005.
(B) Massachusetts Regulation Filing, dated December 13, 2005,
amending 310 CMR 7.38 entitled ``Certification of Tunnel Ventilation
Systems in the Metropolitan Boston Air Pollution Control District.''
(ii) Additional materials.
(A) Letter from the Massachusetts Department of Environmental
Protection dated July 12, 2006, submitting a revision to the
Massachusetts State Implementation Plan.
0
3. In Sec. 52.1167, Table 52.1167 is amended by adding two new
citations to the existing entry for 310 CMR 7.38 to read as follows:
Sec. 52.1167 EPA-approved Massachusetts State regulations.
* * * * *
Table 52.1167--EPA-Approved Massachusetts Regulations
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Date Date Federal Comments/
State citation Title/subject submitted by approved by Register 52.1120(c) unapproved
State EPA citation sections
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* * * * * * *
310 CMR 7.38....... Tunnel vent 7/12/06 2/15/08 [Insert Federal 134 Amendments to
certification Register page Certification
regulation. number where of Tunnel
the document Ventilation
begins]. Systems in the
Metropolitan
Boston Air
Pollution
Control
District.
7/12/06 2/15/08 [Insert Federal 134 Massachusetts
Register page Regulation
number where Filing, dated
the document December 13,
begins]. 2005,
substantiating
December 30,
2005, State
effective date
for amended
310 CMR 7.38
``Certificatio
n of Tunnel
Ventilation
Systems in the
Metropolitan
Boston Air
Pollution
Control
District.''
* * * * * * *
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Notes:
1. This table lists regulations adopted as of 1972. It does not depict regulatory requirements which may have
been part of the Federal SIP before this date.
2. The regulations are effective statewide unless stated otherwise in comments or title section.
[FR Doc. E8-2745 Filed 2-14-08; 8:45 am]
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