ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2011-0463; FRL-]

Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, San 

Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the SJVUAPCD

portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 

These revisions concern volatile organic compound (VOC) and

particulate matter (PM) emissions from commercial charbroiling. 

We are approving a local rule that regulates these emission

sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the 

Act). We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to 

follow with a final action. 

DATE: Any comments must arrive by [Insert date 30 days from the 

date of publication in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPAR09-OAR-2011-0463, by one of the following methods:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow 

the on-line instructions.

2. E-mail: steckel.andrew@epa.gov.

3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental 
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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. 

Docket: Generally, documents in the docket for this action are

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 at 

www.regulations.gov, some information may be publicly available 
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only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material, 

large maps), 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: David Grounds, EPA Region IX, 

(415) 972-3019, grounds.david@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, “we,” “us”

and “our” refer to EPA.

Table of Contents 

I. The State’s Submittal

A. What rule did the State submit?

B. Are there other versions of this rule?

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revision? 

II. EPA’s Evaluation

A. How is EPA evaluating the rule?

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

C. EPA recommendations to further improve the rule.

III. Proposed Action

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State’s Submittal

A. What rule did the State submit?
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Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this proposal with the 

date that it was adopted by the local air agency and submitted 

by the California Air Resources Board.

Table 1 - Submitted Rule

Local 

Agency

Rule # Rule Title Adopted Submitted

SJVUAPCD 4692 Commercial Charbroiling 09/17/09 05/17/10

On June 8, 2010, EPA determined that the submittal for 

SJVUAPCD Rule 4692 met the completeness criteria in 40 CFR Part 

51 Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review. 

B. Are there other versions of this rule?

We approved an earlier version of Rule 4692 into the SIP on 

June 3, 2003 (68 FR 33005). 

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revision?

VOCs help produce ground-level ozone and smog, which harm 

human health and the environment. PM emissions also harm human 

health and the environment by causing, among other things,

premature mortality, aggravation of respiratory and 

cardiovascular disease, visibility impairment, and damage to 
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vegetation and ecosystems. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires 

States to submit regulations that control VOC and PM emissions.

SJVUAPCD Rule 4692, Commercial Charbroiling, is designed to 

limit VOC and PM emissions from commercial charbroiling. EPA’s 

technical support document (TSD) has more information about this

rule.

II. EPA’s Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rule?

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 as well as each 

major source in ozone nonattainment areas classified as moderate 

or above (see sections 182(b)(2) and (f), and must not relax 

existing requirements (see sections 110(l) and 193). Section 

172(c)(1) of the Act also requires implementation of all 

reasonably available control measures (RACM) as expeditiously as 

practicable in nonattainment areas. Because the San Joaquin 

Valley (SJV) area is designated nonattainment for the fine 

particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards

(NAAQS) and designated and classified as extreme nonattainment 

for the ozone NAAQS (see 40 CFR 81.305), the RACM requirement in 
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CAA section 172(c)(1) applies to this area. The specific ozone 

RACT requirement in CAA section 182(b)(2), however, does not 

apply to Rule 4692 because there are no CTG documents for this 

source category and no major sources of ozone precursors subject 

to this rule in the SJV area. 

Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 

enforceability and RACM requirements include the following:

1. “Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, 

and Deviations; Clarification to Appendix D of November 24, 

1987 Federal Register Notice,” (Blue Book), notice of 

availability published in the May 25, 1988 Federal 

Register.

2. “Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 

Deficiencies,” EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little 

Bluebook).

3. “State Implementation Plans; General Preamble for the 

Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments 

of 1990,” 57 FR 13498 (April 16, 1992); 57 FR 18070 (April 

28, 1992).

4. Preamble, “Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule for 

the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS,” 72 FR 20586 (April 25, 2007). 

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation criteria?

We believe this rule is consistent with the applicable CAA 
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requirements and guidance regarding enforceability, RACM, and 

SIP revisions. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA recommendations to further improve the rule.

The TSD describes additional rule revisions that we 

recommend for the next time the local agency modifies the rule.

III. Proposed Action.

Under section 110(k)(3) of the Act, we are proposing to 

fully approve Rule 4692 based on our conclusion that it 

satisfies all applicable CAA requirements. We will accept 

comments from the public on this proposal for the next 30 days. 

Unless we receive convincing new information during the comment 

period, we intend to publish a final approval action that will 

incorporate this rule into the federally enforceable SIP.

IV. 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 

proposes to approve State law as meeting Federal requirements 

and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed 

by State law. For that reason, this proposed action:
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• 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 (Public Law 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 
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requirements would be inconsistent with the Clean Air Act; 

and

• does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to 

address disproportionate human health or environmental 

effects with practical, appropriate, and legally 

permissible methods under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 

7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this proposed 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.
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List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, 

Intergovernmental relations, Particulate matter, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

________________ ______________________

Dated: Jared Blumenfeld,

Regional Administrator,

Region IX.