Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 209 / Friday, October 28, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 74923 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R06–OAR–2016–0450; FRL–9953–94- 

Region 6] 

Approval and Promulgation of 

Implementation Plans; Louisiana; 

Prevention of Significant Deterioration 

Significant Monitoring Concentration 

for Fine Particulates 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is approving two 

revisions to the Louisiana State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) that revise 

the Louisiana Prevention of Significant 

Deterioration (PSD) permitting program 

to establish the significant monitoring 

concentration (SMC) for fine particles 

(PM2.5) at a zero microgram per cubic 

meter (0 mg/m3) threshold level 

consistent with federal permitting 

requirements. The EPA is approving this 

action under section 110 and part C of 

the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

December 27, 2016 without further 

notice, unless the EPA receives relevant 

adverse comment by November 28, 

2016. If the EPA receives such 

comment, the EPA will publish a timely 

withdrawal in the Federal Register 

informing the public that this rule will 

not take effect. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket No. EPA–R06– 

OAR–2016–0450, at http://

www.regulations.gov or via email to 

wiley.adina@epa.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

Once submitted, comments cannot be 

edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 

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, please 

contact Adina Wiley, (214) 665–2115, 

wiley.adina@epa.gov. For the full EPA 

public comment policy, information 

about CBI or multimedia submissions, 

and general guidance on making 

effective comments, please visit http:// 

www2.epa.gov/dockets/commentingepa-dockets. 

Docket: The index to the docket for 

this action is available electronically at 

www.regulations.gov and in hard copy 

at EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, 

Suite 700, Dallas, Texas. 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 at 

either location (e.g., CBI). 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Adina Wiley, 214–665–2115, 

wiley.adina@epa.gov. To inspect the 

hard copy materials, please schedule an 

appointment with Ms. Adina Wiley or 

Mr. Bill Deese at 214–665–7253. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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

and ‘‘our’’ means the EPA. 

I. Background 

A. CAA and SIPs 

Section 110 of the CAA requires states 

to develop and submit to the EPA a SIP 

to ensure that state air quality meets 

National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards. These ambient standards 

currently address six criteria pollutants: 

Carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, 

ozone, lead, particulate matter, and 

sulfur dioxide. Each federally-approved 

SIP protects air quality primarily by 

addressing air pollution at its point of 

origin through air pollution regulations 

and control strategies. The EPA 

approved SIP regulations and control 

strategies are federally enforceable. 

B. Prior Federal Action 

Under Section 165(a) of the CAA, a 

major source may not commence 

construction unless the source has been 

issued a permit and has satisfied certain 

requirements. Among those 

requirements, the permit applicant must 

demonstrate that emissions from 

construction or operation of the facility 

will not cause, or contribute to, air 

pollution in excess of any increment, 

NAAQS, or any other applicable 

emission standard of standard of 

performance. This statutory requirement 

has been incorporated into federal 

regulations at 40 CFR 51.166(k)(1). 

Moreover, to support this analysis, PSD 

permit applications must be supported 

by air quality monitoring data 

representing air quality in the area 

affected by the proposed source for the 

1-year period preceding receipt of the 

application. This statutory requirement 

has been incorporated into federal 

regulations at 40 CFR 51.166(m)(ii)–(iv). 

In 2010, the EPA promulgated 

regulations for SIPs concerning PSD 

permitting for PM2.5 which included 

two voluntary screening tools: S 

ignificant impact levels (SILs) and SMC. 

75 FR 64864 (October 20, 2010). The 

SILs are screening tools that states and 

local permitting authorities with PSD 

SIPs apply in the issuance of a PSD 

permit to demonstrate that the proposed 

source’s allowable emissions will not 

cause or contribute to a violation of the 

NAAQS or increment. The SMC is a 

screening technique that has been used 

to exempt sources from the requirement 

in the CAA to collect preconstruction 

monitoring data for up to 1 year before 

submitting a permit application in order 

to help determine existing ambient air 

quality. 78 FR 73699 (December 9, 

2013). 

Sierra Club filed a petition for review 

of the PSD regulations containing the 

PM2.5 SILs and SMC with the United 

States Court of Appeals for the District 

of Columbia Circuit (the Court). On 

January 22, 2013, the Court issued an 

opinion granting a request from the EPA 

to vacate and remand to the EPA 

portions of the October 20, 2010, PSD 

regulations establishing the PM2.5 SIL 

and further vacating the portions of the 

PSD regulations establishing a PM2.5

SMC. See, Sierra Club v. EPA, 706 F.3d 

428 (D.C. Cir. 2013). 

In response to the Court’s decision, 

the EPA amended its regulations to 

remove the affected PM2.5 SIL 

regulations from the federal regulations 

and to replace the existing PM2.5 SMC 

value with a ‘‘zero’’ threshold. 78 FR 

73698 (December 9, 2013). In that 

rulemaking, the EPA removed the 

regulatory text related to the affected 

PM2.5 SILs at sections 51.166(k)(2) and 

52.21(k)(2). Although the Court vacated 

the PM2.5 SMC provisions in 40 CFR 

51.166(i)(5)(i)(c) and 52.21(i)(5)(i)(c), the 

EPA did not remove the affected 

regulatory text, but instead revised the 

concentration for the PM2.5 SMC listed 

in sections 51.166(i)(5)(i)(c) and 

52.21(i)(5)(i)(c) to zero micrograms per 

cubic meter (0 mg/m3). Because 40 CFR 

51.166(i)(5)(iii) and 40 CFR 

52.21(i)(5)(iii) establish an exemption 

from air monitoring requirements for 

any pollutant ‘‘not listed in paragraph 

(i)(5)(i),’’ the EPA explained that it 

would not be appropriate to remove the 

reference to PM2.5 in paragraph (i)(5)(i). 

Were the EPA to completely remove 

PM2.5 from the list of pollutants in 

sections 51.166(i)(5)(i)(c) and 

52.21(i)(5)(i)(c) of the PSD regulations, 

PM2.5 would no longer be a listed 

pollutant and the paragraph (iii) 


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74924 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 209 / Friday, October 28, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 

provision could be interpreted as giving 

reviewing authorities the discretion to 

exempt permit applicants from the 

requirement to conduct monitoring for 

PM2.5, in contravention of the Court’s 

decision and the CAA. Instead, the EPA 

revised the concentration listed in 

sections 51.166(i)(5)(i)(c) and 

52.21(i)(5)(i)(c) to zero micrograms per 

cubic meter (0 mg/m3). This means that 

there is no air quality impact level 

below which a reviewing authority has 

the discretion to exempt a source from 

the PM2.5 monitoring requirements at 40 

CFR 52.21(m). 

C. Louisiana’s Submittals 

On February 27, 2013, Louisiana 

submitted revisions to its PSD SIP at 

LAC 33:III.509 that adopted provisions 

substantively identical to the EPA PSD 

SIP’s requirement for PM2.5 PSD SMC. 

40 CFR 51.166(i)(5)(i). The February 27, 

2013, submittal included other revisions 

to the Louisiana SIP that have been 

separately approved by the EPA on 

November 5, 2015. See 80 FR 68451. On 

July 22, 2016, Louisiana submitted 

revisions to its PSD SIP at LAC 

33:III.509 to revise the previously 

adopted and submitted PM2.5 SMC at 

LAC 33:III.509(I)(5)(a). Louisiana has 

not adopted or submitted provisions 

addressing the PM2.5 SIL. 

II. The EPA’s Evaluation 

Our analysis, available in our 

Technical Support Document (TSD) in 

the rulemaking docket, finds that the 

State of Louisiana adopted and 

submitted on February 27, 2013, 

revisions to the Louisiana SIP that were 

substantively consistent with the 

voluntary exemptions from PSD 

monitoring at 40 CFR 51.166(i)(5)(i) 

promulgated on October 20, 2010. 

Subsequent to the submittal of these 

provisions, the Court vacated and 

remanded these provisions to the EPA. 

On December 9, 2013, we promulgated 

revisions to the PSD SIP rules that 

replaced the existing PM2.5 SMC value 

with a zero micrograms per cubic meter 

(0 mg/m3) threshold level at 40 CFR 

51.166. 

To address the EPA’s December 9, 

2013, rulemaking, the State of Louisiana 

submitted further revisions to the 

Louisiana PSD program on July 22, 

2016, setting the PM2.5 SMC to zero; 

effectively removing any exemption 

from pre- and post-construction 

monitoring under the Louisiana PSD 

SIP. 

Our evaluation of the Louisiana PSD 

program finds that the adoption and 

revision of the PSD PM2.5 SMC at a zero 

threshold value is consistent with 

federal PSD permitting provisions for 

PSD SMCs. We further find that the 

Louisiana PSD program does not 

provide an exemption from the PSD preand post-construction monitoring 

requirements for emissions of PM2.5 that 

are SIP-approved at LAC 33:III.509(M) 

as consistent with federal PSD 

permitting provisions. 

III. Final Action 

We are approving revisions to the 

Louisiana PSD program into the 

Louisiana SIP that establish the PSD 

PM2.5 SMC and set the SMC to zero 

micrograms per cubic meter (0 mg/m3) 

consistent with federal PSD permitting 

requirements and the CAA. Specifically, 

the EPA is approving the following 

revisions to the Louisiana PSD SIP: 

• New provisions at LAC 

33:III.509(I)(5)(a) adopted on December 

20, 2012 and submitted on February 27, 

2013, establishing the PM2.5 SMC; 

• Revisions to LAC 33:III.509(I)(5)(a), 

adopted on March 20, 2016 and 

submitted on July 22, 2016 setting the 

PM2.5 SMC to 0 mg/m3. 

The EPA is publishing this rule 

without prior proposal because we view 

this as a non-controversial amendment 

and anticipate no adverse comments. 

However, in the proposed rules section 

of this Federal Register publication, we 

are publishing a separate document that 

will serve as the proposal to approve the 

SIP revision if relevant adverse 

comments are received. This rule will 

be effective on December 27, 2016 

without further notice unless we receive 

relevant adverse comment by November 

28, 2016. If we receive relevant adverse 

comments, we will publish a timely 

withdrawal in the Federal Register 

informing the public that the rule will 

not take effect. We will address all 

public comments in a subsequent final 

rule based on the proposed rule. We 

will not institute a second comment 

period on this action. Any parties 

interested in commenting must do so 

now. Please note that if we receive 

relevant adverse comment on an 

amendment, paragraph, or section of 

this rule and if that provision may be 

severed from the remainder of the rule, 

we may adopt as final those provisions 

of the rule that are not the subject of an 

adverse comment. 

IV. Incorporation by Reference 

In this rule, we are finalizing 

regulatory text that includes 

incorporation by reference. In 

accordance with the requirements of 1 

CFR 51.5, we are finalizing the 

incorporation by reference of the 

revisions to the Louisiana regulations as 

described in the Final Action section 

above. We have made, and will continue 

to make, these documents generally 

available electronically through 

www.regulations.gov and/or in hard 

copy at the EPA Region 6 office. 

V. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

Under the CAA, 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 CAA. 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 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 CAA; 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, the SIP is not approved 

to apply on any Indian reservation land 

or in any other area where EPA or an 

Indian tribe has demonstrated that a 


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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 209 / Friday, October 28, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 74925 

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). 

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. The 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 CAA, 

petitions for judicial review of this 

action must be filed in the United States 

Court of Appeals for the appropriate 

circuit by December 27, 2016. 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, Incorporation by 

reference, Nitrogen dioxide, Particulate 

matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Sulfur oxides. 

Dated: October 21, 2016. 

Ron Curry, 

Regional Administrator, Region 6. 

40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows: 

PART 52—APPROVAL AND 

PROMULGATION OF 

IMPLEMENTATION PLANS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 52 

continues to read as follows: 

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

Subpart T—Louisiana 

■ 2. In § 52.970(c), the table titled ‘‘EPA 

Approved Louisiana Regulations in the 

Louisiana SIP’’ is amended by revising 

the entry for Section 509 to read as 

follows: 

§ 52.970 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

EPA-APPROVED LOUISIANA REGULATIONS IN THE LOUISIANA SIP 

State citation Title/subject State approval 

date EPA approval date Comments 

*******

Chapter 5—Permit Procedures 

*******

Section 509 ........... Prevention of Significant 

Deterioration.

03/20/2016 10/28/2016, [Insert Federal Register citation].SIP does not include provisions for 

permitting of GHGs as effective 

on 04/20/2011 at LAC 

33:III.509(B) definition of ‘‘carbon 

dioxide equivalent emissions’’, 

‘‘greenhouse gases’’, ‘‘major stationary source’’, and ‘‘significant’’. 

*******

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2016–25992 Filed 10–27–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 70 

[EPA–R02–OAR–2015–0837; FRL–9954–61– 

Region 2] 

Clean Air Act Title V Operating Permit 

Program Revision; New Jersey 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency is approving a revision to the 

New Jersey Operating Permit Program 

related to the permitting of stationary 

sources subject to title V of the Clean 

Air Act (CAA) in the state of New 

Jersey. The revision consists of 

amendments to Subchapter 22 of 

Chapter 27 of Title 7 of the New Jersey 

Administrative Code, ‘‘Operating 

Permits.’’ The revision was submitted to 

change the fee schedule for certain 

permitting activities for major facilities. 

The changes provide additional needed 

fee revenues for New Jersey’s Operating 

Permit Program. This approval action 

will help ensure New Jersey properly 

implements the requirements of title V 

of the CAA. 

DATES: This rule will be effective 

November 28, 2016. 

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a 

docket for this action under Docket ID 

No. EPA–R02–OAR–2015–0837. All 

documents in the docket are listed on 

the www.regulations.gov Web site. 

Although listed in the index, some 

information is not publicly available, 

e.g., 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 through www.regulations.gov, 

or contact the person identified in the 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section for additional availability 

information. 


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