10522 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation 

criteria? 

This rule meets CAA requirements 

and is consistent with relevant guidance 

regarding enforceability, RACM, and SIP 

revisions. The TSD has more 

information on our evaluation. 

C. The EPA Recommendations to 

Further Improve the Rule 

The TSD includes recommendations 

for the next time the local agency 

modifies the rule. 

D. Public Comment and Proposed 

Action 

As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of 

the Act, the EPA proposes to fully 

approve the submitted rule because it 

fulfills all relevant requirements. We 

will accept comments from the public 

on this proposal until March 24, 2021. 

If we take final action to approve the 

submitted rule, our final action will 

incorporate this rule into the federally 

enforceable SIP. 

III. Incorporation by Reference 

In this rule, the EPA is proposing to 

include in a final EPA rule regulatory 

text that includes incorporation by 

reference. In accordance with 

requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is 

proposing to incorporate by reference 

the ICAPCD rule described in Table 1 of 

this preamble. The EPA has made, and 

will continue to make, these materials 

available through https://

www.regulations.gov and at the EPA 

Region IX Office (please contact the 

person identified in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

preamble for more information). 

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, the EPA’s role is to 

approve state choices, provided that 

they meet the criteria of the Clean Air 

Act. Accordingly, this proposed 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: 

• Is not a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ subject to review by the Office 

of Management and Budget under 

Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, 

October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, 

January 21, 2011); 

• 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 the 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, the SIP is not approved 

to apply on any Indian reservation land 

or in any other area where the EPA or 

an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a 

tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 

Indian country, the rule does not have 

tribal implications and will not impose 

substantial direct costs on tribal 

governments or preempt tribal law as 

specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 

FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Incorporation by 

reference, Intergovernmental relations, 

Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

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

Dated: February 5, 2021. 

Deborah Jordan, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2021–02902 Filed 2–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R09–OAR–2020–0238; FRL–10015– 

85–Region 9] 

Air Plan Approval; California; San 

Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control 

District; Stationary Source Permits 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a 

revision to the San Joaquin Valley Air 

Pollution Control District (SJVAPCD or 

‘‘the District’’) portion of the California 

State Implementation Plan (SIP). This 

revision concerns the District’s New 

Source Review (NSR) permitting 

program for new and modified sources 

of air pollution under section 

110(a)(2)(C) of the Clean Air Act (CAA); 

specifically our proposal to approve 

Rule 2021: Experimental Research 

Operations. We are taking comments on 

this proposal and plan to follow with a 

final action. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before March 24, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R09– 

OAR–2020–0238 at https://

www.regulations.gov, or via email to 

R9AirPermits@epa.gov. For comments 

submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. Once submitted, comments 

cannot be edited or removed from 

Regulations.gov. For either manner of 

submission, the EPA may publish any 

comment received to its public docket. 

Do not submit electronically any 

information you consider to be 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. The EPA will generally not 

consider comments or comment 

contents located outside of the primary 

submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or 

other file sharing system). For 

additional submission methods, or if 

you need assistance in a language other 

than English or if you are a person with 

a disability who needs a reasonable 

accommodation at no cost to you, please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

For the full EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI or multimedia 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules 10523 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit 

https://www.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, Air–3– 

1, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 

94105, (415) 972–3534, 

yannayon.laura@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’ 

and ‘‘our’’ refer to the 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? 

II. The EPA’s Evaluation 

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule? 

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation 

criteria? 

III. Proposed Action and Public Comment 

IV. Incorporation by Reference 

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. The State’s Submittal 

A. What rule did the State submit? 

Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this 

proposal with the dates that it was 

adopted by the local air agency and 

submitted to the EPA by the California 

Air Resources Board (CARB or ‘‘the 

State’’). 

TABLE 1—SUBMITTED RULE

Local agency Rule No. Rule title Adopted on Submitted on 

SJVAPCD ......... 2021 ....... Experimental Research Operations ..................................................................... 12/17/92 11/18/93 

On May 18, 1994, the submittal of 

SJVAPCD Rule 2021 was deemed by 

operation of law 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 this rule? 

There is no previous version of Rule 

2021 in the SIP. SJVAPCD submitted 

Rule 2021 on November 18, 1993 as part 

of the District’s revised NSR program. 

The District has not submitted any 

revised versions since the most recent 

submittal. On October 3, 2017, the 

District provided additional information 

in support of Rule 2021. The rule 

provides limited exemptions to the 

SJVAPCD’s current program for 

preconstruction review and permitting 

of new or modified stationary sources 

under its jurisdiction. 

C. What is the purpose of the submitted 

rule? 

Rule 2021 exempts experimental 

research operations from Authority to 

Construct and Permit to Operate 

requirements as long as the facility 

meets all other rule requirements. 

Otherwise the source would be required 

to comply with Rule 2010—Permits 

Required. The District defines 

Experimental Research Operations as 

‘‘any air pollution control device or 

technology or any industrial process or 

technology with reduced emissions 

which is: Innovative, not in common 

use for a particular process, not readily 

available from a commercial supplier, or 

funded as original research by a public 

agency.’’ The District determined that 

emissions from Experimental Research 

Operations exempted from permitting 

requirements pursuant to Rule 2021 will 

not adversely affect progress toward 

attainment or maintenance of any 

NAAQS. 

II. The EPA’s Evaluation 

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule? 

The EPA reviewed Rule 2021 for 

compliance with the applicable 

requirements of section 110(a)(2)(C) and 

associated regulations at 40 CFR 

51.160–164. We also reviewed the rule 

for consistency with other CAA general 

requirements for SIP submittals, 

including requirements at section 

110(a)(2)(A) regarding rule 

enforceability, and requirements at 

sections 110(l) and 193 for SIP 

revisions. 

Section 110(a)(2)(C) of the Act 

requires each SIP to include a program 

to regulate the modification and 

construction of any stationary source 

within the areas covered by the SIP as 

necessary to assure attainment and 

maintenance of the NAAQS. The EPA’s 

regulations at 40 CFR 51.160–51.164 

provide specific programmatic 

requirements to implement this 

statutory mandate. 

Section 110(a)(2)(A) of the Act 

requires that regulations submitted to 

the EPA for SIP approval must be clear 

and legally enforceable. Section 110(l) 

of the Act prohibits the EPA from 

approving any SIP revisions that would 

interfere with any applicable 

requirement concerning attainment and 

reasonable further progress (RFP) or any 

other applicable requirement of the 

CAA. Section 193 of the Act prohibits 

the modification of a SIP-approved 

control requirement in effect before 

November 15, 1990 in a nonattainment 

area, unless the modification ensures 

equivalent or greater emission 

reductions of the relevant pollutant(s). 

With respect to procedures, CAA 

sections 110(a) and 110(l) require that a 

state conduct reasonable notice and 

hearing before adopting a SIP revision. 

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation 

criteria? 

With respect to procedural 

requirements, CAA sections 110(a)(2) 

and 110(l) require that revisions to a SIP 

be adopted by the state after reasonable 

notice and public hearing. Based on our 

review of the public process 

documentation included in the 

November 18, 1993 submittal of Rule 

2021, we find that the SJVAPCD has 

provided sufficient evidence of public 

notice, opportunity for comment and a 

public hearing prior to adoption and 

submittal of these rules to the EPA. 

With respect to the substantive 

requirements found in CAA sections 

110(a)(2)(A) and (C), 110(l), 193, and 40 

CFR 51.160–51.164, we evaluated Rule 

2021 in accordance with the applicable 

CAA and regulatory requirements that 

apply to new source review permit 

programs. The permit exemption 

provided for experimental research 

operations is extremely narrow in scope, 

such that the emissions not subject to 

permit requirements are not expected to 

interfere with attainment or RFP. 

Therefore we find that Rule 2021 

satisfies these requirements. 

Our Technical Support Document, 

which can be found in the docket for 

this rulemaking, contains a more 

detailed discussion of our analysis. 

III. Proposed Action and Public 

Comment 

As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of 

the Act, the EPA is proposing to 

approve the submitted rule because it 

fulfills all relevant CAA requirements. 

We have concluded that our approval of 

the submitted rule would comply with 

the relevant provisions of CAA sections 

110(a)(2), 110(l), and 193, and 40 CFR 

51.160–51.164. 

If we finalize this action as proposed, 

our action will be codified through 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
10524 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 33 / Monday, February 22, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

revisions to 40 CFR 52.220a 

(Identification of plan-in part). 

We will accept comments from the 

public on this proposal until March 24, 

2021. 

III. Incorporation by Reference 

In this rule, the EPA is proposing to 

include in a final EPA rule regulatory 

text that includes incorporation by 

reference. In accordance with 

requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is 

proposing to incorporate by reference 

the rule listed in Table 1 of this 

preamble. The EPA has made, and will 

continue to make, this document 

available through https://

www.regulations.gov and in hard copy 

at the EPA Region IX Office (please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of 

this preamble for more information). 

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, the EPA’s role is to 

approve state choices, provided that 

they meet the criteria of the Clean Air 

Act. Accordingly, this proposed 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: 

• Is not a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ subject to review by the Office 

of Management and Budget under 

Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, 

October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, 

January 21, 2011); 

• 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 the 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, the SIP is not approved 

to apply on any Indian reservation land 

or in any other area where the EPA or 

an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a 

tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 

Indian country, the rule does not have 

tribal implications and will not impose 

substantial direct costs on tribal 

governments or preempt tribal law as 

specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 

FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 

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, and Volatile organic 

compounds. 

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

Dated: February 5, 2021. 

Deborah Jordan, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2021–02906 Filed 2–19–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R09–OAR–2020–0519; FRL–10017– 

54—Region 9] 

Air Quality Implementation Plan; 

California; Mendocino County Air 

Quality Management District; 

Stationary Source Permits 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve 

two rule revisions to the Mendocino 

County Air Quality Managment District 

(MCAQMD or ‘‘District’’) portion of the 

California State Implementation Plan 

(SIP). These revisions concern the 

District’s prevention of significant 

deterioration (PSD) permitting program 

for new and modified stationary sources 

of air pollution. We are proposing action 

on these local rules pursuant to 

requirements under Part C of Title I of 

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. 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before March 24, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R09– 

OAR–2020–0519 at https://

www.regulations.gov, or via email to 

R9AirPermits@epa.gov. For comments 

submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. Once submitted, comments 

cannot be removed or edited from 

Regulations.gov. For either manner of 

submission, the EPA may publish any 

comment received to its public docket. 

Do not submit electronically any 

information you consider to be 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information the disclosure of 

which is restricted by statute. 

Multimedia submissions (audio, video, 

etc.) must be accompanied by a written 

comment. The written comment is 

considered the official comment and 

should include discussion of all points 

you wish to make. The EPA will 

generally not consider comments or 

comment contents located outside of the 

primary submission (i.e., on the web, 

cloud, or other file sharing system). For 

additional submission methods, please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

For the full EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI and multimedia 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit 

https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets. If you need 

assistance in a language other than 

English or if you are a person with 

disabilities who needs a reasonable 

accommodation at no cost to you, please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Amber Batchelder, EPA Region IX, 75 

Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 

94105; by phone: (415) 947–4174, or by 

email to batchelder.amber@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us’’ 

and ‘‘our’’ refer to the EPA. 

Table of Contents 

I. The State’s Submittal 

A. What rules did the State submit? 

B. Are there other versions of these rules? 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS