[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 111 (Thursday, June 11, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 27714-27716]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-13481]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2009-0230; FRL-8900-8]
Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Monterey
Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District, Placer County Air Pollution
Control District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the
Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District (MBUAPCD) and
Placer County Air Pollution Control District (PCAPCD) portions of the
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern
volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions from storage tanks and the
operation of steam drive crude oil production wells. We are approving
local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air
Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).
DATES: This rule is effective on August 10, 2009 without further
notice, unless EPA receives adverse comments by July 13, 2009. If we
receive such comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the
Federal Register to notify the public that this direct final rule will
not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2009-0230, by one of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-
line instructions.
2. E-mail: [email protected].
3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA
94105-3901.
Instructions: All comments 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 Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information that you
consider CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as
such and should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or e-mail.
www.regulations.gov is an ``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will not
know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the
body of your comment. If you send e-mail directly to EPA, your e-mail
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the
public comment. 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: The index to the docket for this action is available
electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA Region
IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all documents
in the docket are listed in the index, some information may be publicly
available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material),
and some may not be publicly available in either location (e.g., CBI).
To inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an appointment
during normal business hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nicole Law, EPA Region IX, (415) 947-
4126, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and
``our'' refer to EPA.
Table of Contents
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules
D. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. The State's Submittal
A. What rules did the State submit?
Table 1 lists the rules we are approving with the dates that they
were adopted by the local air agencies and submitted by the California
Air Resources Board (CARB).
Table 1--Submitted Rules
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Local agency Rule No. Rule title Adopted Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
MBUAPCD.................................. 427 Steam Drive Crude Oil Production 10/17/07 03/07/08
Wells.
PCAPCD................................... 212 Storage of Organic Liquids...... 06/19/97 07/18/08
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On April 17, 2008 and August 22, 2008, these rule submittals were
found to meet the completeness criteria in 40 CFR Part 51, Appendix V,
which must be met before formal EPA review.
B. Are there other versions of these rules?
We approved versions of MBUAPCD Rule 427 and PCAPCD Rule 212 into
the SIP on August 22, 2002 (see 67 FR 54349) and May 6, 1996 (see 61 FR
20145). There have been no subsequent submittals of these rules.
C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?
VOCs help produce ground-level ozone and smog, which harm human
health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States
to submit regulations that control VOC emissions. PCAPCD Rule 212
limits emissions of VOCs from storage tanks. The June 19, 2008
amendments to Rule 212 are mostly administrative changes to improve on
the formatting and clarity of the rule. MBUAPCD Rule 427 limits
emissions of VOCs from the operation of steam drive crude oil
production wells. The majority of the October 17, 2007 amendments to
Rule 427 were editorial in nature, and the major changes made narrowed
an exemption and required documentation to claim exemption. EPA's
technical support documents (TSD) have more information about these
rules.
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
Generally, SIP rules must be enforceable (see section 110(a) of the
Act), must require Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for
each category of sources covered by a Control Techniques Guidelines
(CTG) document
[[Page 27715]]
as well as each major source in nonattainment areas (see section
182(a)(2)), and must not relax existing requirements (see sections
110(l) and 193). The PCAPCD regulates an ozone nonattainment area (see
40 CFR part 81), so Rule 212 must fulfill RACT. MBUAPCD has been in
attainment for ozone since 1997. At that time, EPA determined that
MBUAPCD was implementing RACT as required and that subsequent upgrades
to RACT were not required so long as the area continued to maintain the
standard.
Guidance and policy documents that we use to help evaluate specific
enforceability and RACT requirements consistently include the
following:
1. Portions of the proposed post-1987 ozone and carbon monoxide
policy that concern RACT, 52 FR 45044, November 24, 1987.
2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook).
3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
4. ``Control of Volatile Organic Emissions from Storage of
Petroleum Liquids in Fixed-Roof Tanks,'' EPA-450/2-77-036, December
1977.
5. ``Control of Volatile Organic Emissions from Petroleum Liquid
Storage in External Floating Roof Tanks,'' EPA-450/2-78-047, February
1978.
6. ``Alternative Control Techniques Document: Volatile Organic
Liquid Storage in Floating and Fixed Roof Tanks,'' EPA-453/R-94-001,
January 1994.
7. ``Assessment of VOC Emissions From Well Vents Associated with
Thermally Enhanced Oil Recovery,'' EPA-0-0/0-81-003, September 1981.
B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
We believe these rules are consistent with the relevant policy and
guidance regarding enforceability, RACT, and SIP relaxations. The TSDs
have more information on our evaluation.
C. EPA Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
The TSD for PCAPCD Rule 212 describes additional rule revisions
that do not affect EPA's current action but are recommended for the
next time the local agency modifies the rules.
D. Public Comment and Final Action
As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, EPA is fully
approving the submitted rules because we believe they fulfill all
relevant requirements. We do not think anyone will object to this
approval, so we are finalizing it without proposing it in advance.
However, in the Proposed Rules section of this Federal Register, we are
simultaneously proposing approval of the same submitted rules. If we
receive adverse comments by July 13, 2009, we will publish a timely
withdrawal in the Federal Register to notify the public that the direct
final approval will not take effect and we will address the comments in
a subsequent final action based on the proposal. If we do not receive
timely adverse comments, the direct final approval will be effective
without further notice on August 10, 2009. This will incorporate these
rules into the federally enforceable SIP.
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.
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and
applicable Federal regulations. 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 Clean Air Act.
Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
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);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
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.);
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);
Does not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Is not an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
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 Clean Air Act; and
Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as specified
by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the
SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state,
and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on
tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
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 action 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 August 10, 2009. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this action 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. Parties with objections to this direct final
rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel
notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed
rules section
[[Page 27716]]
of today's Federal Register, rather than file an immediate petition for
judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can withdraw
this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed
rulemaking. 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, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: April 3, 2009.
Laura Yoshii,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
0
Part 52, 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 F--California
0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(354)(i)(D) and
(359)(i)(C) to read as follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(354) * * *
(i) * * *
(D) Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District.
(1) Rule 427, ``Steam Drive Crude Oil Production Wells,'' adopted
on January 16, 1980 and amended on October 17, 2007.
* * * * *
(359) * * *
(i) * * *
(C) Placer County Air Pollution Control District.
(1) Rule 212, ``Storage of Organic Liquids,'' adopted on May 24,
1977 and amended on June 19, 1997.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. E9-13481 Filed 6-10-09; 8:45 am]
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