44146 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 145 / Friday, July 27, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

a public water system (PWS) or 

including numerous PWSs, whether the 

source is ground water or surface water 

or both, as part of a State or tribal source 

water assessment and protection 

program (SWAP) approved by the 

Environmental Protection Agency under 

section 1453 of the Safe Drinking Water 

Act (42 U.S.C. 300h–3(e)). 

* * * * * 

Dated: July 19, 2012. 

Thomas L. Tidwell, 

Chief, Forest Service. 

[FR Doc. 2012–18322 Filed 7–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 3410–11–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2012–0272; FRL–9702–6] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

Maryland; Control of Iron and Steel 

Production Installations; Sintering 

Plants 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final 

action to approve revisions to the 

Maryland State Implementation Plan 

(SIP) submitted by the Maryland 

Department of the Environment (MDE) 

on June 30, 2009. The revisions amend 

the visible emissions requirements of 

the Maryland SIP’s regulation for the 

Control of Iron and Steel Production 

Installations only as they apply to 

sintering plants. The sintering plant 

located at the Sparrows Point 

steelmaking facility (Sparrows Point) is 

the only sintering plant located in the 

State of Maryland. The revisions exempt 

the sintering plant from the visible 

emissions section of the regulation for 

the Control of Iron and Steel Production 

Installations contingent upon the 

source’s two wet scrubbers, used to 

control emissions of particulate matter, 

continuously monitoring compliance 

with specified pressure drop and flow 

rate operating parameters. EPA is 

approving these revisions because they 

provide for a continuous means of 

determining compliance with the 

applicable SIP emission rate for 

particulate matter from the sintering 

plant located at Sparrows Point, and 

because that emission rate has been 

demonstrated to protect and maintain 

the National Ambient Air Quality 

Standards (NAAQS) for PM10

(particulate matter consisting of 

particles with an aerodynamic diameter 

less than or equal to 10 micrometers). 

EPA is approving these revisions in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

Clean Air Act (CAA). 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

September 25, 2012 without further 

notice, unless EPA receives adverse 

written comment by August 27, 2012. If 

EPA receives such comments, it will 

publish a timely withdrawal of the 

direct final rule in the Federal Register 

and inform the public that the rule will 

not take effect. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID Number EPA– 

R03–OAR–2012–0272 by one of the 

following methods: 

A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

B. Email: spink.marcia@epa.gov. 

C. Mail: EPA–R03–OAR–2012–0272, 

Marcia L. Spink, Associate Director for 

Policy & Science, Air Protection 

Division, Mailcode 3AP00, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

D. Hand Delivery: At the previouslylisted EPA Region III address. Such 

deliveries are only accepted during the 

Docket’s normal hours of operation, and 

special arrangements should be made 

for deliveries of boxed information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R03–OAR–2012– 

0272. 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 information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through www.regulations.gov 

or email. 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 email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.regulations.gov, your 

email 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 during normal business 

hours at the Air Protection Division, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

Copies of the State submittal are 

available at the Maryland Department of 

the Environment, 1800 Washington 

Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, 

Maryland 21230. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Marcia L. Spink, Associate Director for 

Policy & Science, Air Protection 

Division (215) 814–2104, or by email at 

spink.marcia@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On June 30, 2009, MDE submitted 

formal revisions (#09–02) to its SIP. The 

SIP revisions consist of amendments to 

Regulation .03 Visible Emissions under 

(Code of Maryland administrative 

regulations) COMAR 26.11.10 Control of 

Iron and Steel Production Installations 

as they apply only to sintering plants. 

There is only one sintering plant located 

in Maryland. The one sintering plant 

affected by this regulation is located at 

Sparrows Point. Its particulate matter 

emissions are controlled by two wet 

(water) scrubbers each equipped with 

two fans. Under the current Maryland 

SIP, this sintering plant is subject to 

visible emissions and particulate matter 

standards. The current SIP requires that 

after demonstrating compliance with the 

applicable SIP particulate matter 

emission rate for sintering plants, a 

person may not cause or permit the 

discharge of visible fugitive emissions 

into the outdoor atmosphere, other than 

water in an uncombined form, which is 

greater than 10 percent opacity as 

averaged over any consecutive 6-minute 

period. The sintering plant’s applicable 

SIP emission rate for particulate matter 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 145 / Friday, July 27, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 44147 

is 0.03 grains per dry standard cubic 

foot (gr/dscf). 

The visible emissions standards for 

sintering plants found in Regulation .03 

Visible Emissions under COMAR 

26.11.10 Control of Iron and Steel 

Production Installations was originally 

established to allow the use of a Method 

9 observation test as additional means of 

determining compliance, in addition to 

stack testing, with the sintering plant’s 

applicable SIP particulate matter 

emission rate of .03 gr/dscf. In 2007, 

MDE amended Regulation .03 Visible 

Emissions under COMAR 26.11.10 to 

exempt the sintering plant at Sparrows 

Point from the visible emissions 

requirement and to establish openended requirements for the scrubbers’ 

flow rates and pressure drops. Under 

the 2007 version of the regulation, MDE 

intended to establish specific flow rate 

and pressure drop parameters during a 

future stack test and to include them in 

the Title V permit for the sintering plant 

located at Sparrows Point. Upon further 

consideration, the MDE concurred with 

EPA that the SIP must stand on its own 

to protect the NAAQS, and that such 

open-ended requirements were not 

appropriate for inclusion in the SIP. 

Therefore, effective as of June 29, 2009, 

MDE again amended Regulation .03 

under COMAR 26.11.10 to require that 

the two scrubbers of the sintering plant 

located at Sparrows Point meet specific 

flow rate and pressure drop parameters 

at all times under defined specific 

operating scenarios. During a stack test 

that demonstrated compliance with the 

SIP’s applicable particulate matter 

emission rate of .03 gr/dscf, the flow 

rates and pressure drops of the two 

scrubbers were continuously monitored. 

Specific flow rate (in gallons per 

minute) and pressure drop (in inches of 

water) parameters for the scrubbers, 

established from the parameters 

monitored during the complying stack 

test, are now specified in the amended 

version of Regulation .03 under COMAR 

26.11.10. Therefore, under the 2009 

amended version of the regulation, the 

sintering plant at Sparrows Point is 

exempt from the visible emissions 

requirement of Regulation .03 under 

COMAR 26.11.10 when demonstrating 

compliance with the SIP’s applicable 

particulate matter emission limit of 0.03 

gr/dscf by continuously monitoring the 

flow rate and pressure drop parameters 

of the scrubbers and by providing that 

monitoring data to MDE. This 

monitoring data must demonstrate that 

the scrubbers are meeting the flow rate 

and pressure drop parameters which are 

now specifically included in the 

amended version of Regulation .03 

under COMAR 26.11.10. Under 

Regulation .03 of COMAR 26.11.10, the 

exemption from the visible emissions 

requirement is contingent upon the 

sintering plant scrubbers operating in 

compliance with the conditions of 

subsection D. of the regulation which 

specifies the pressure drop and flow rate 

parameters established as previously 

described. The regulation also requires 

stack testing to be performed every 2.5 

years. 

Modeling has been performed in 

support of this SIP revision to 

demonstrate that the SIP’s 0.03 gr/dscf 

applicable emission rate for particulate 

matter is protective of the NAAQS for 

PM10, and that protection is not 

dependent upon the visible emissions 

standard. A description of the modeling 

analyses conducted by MDE and the 

results are included in MDE’s June 30, 

2009 SIP revision submittal which is in 

the docket of this rulemaking. No SIP 

particulate matter emission rate 

relaxations are being approved as part of 

this SIP revision. 

II. Summary of SIP Revision 

Regulation .03 Visible Emissions 

under COMAR 26.11.10, at subsection 

A. General, (2) Exceptions, paragraph (f) 

has been amended to exempt visible 

emissions from sintering plant scrubbers 

that are in compliance with the 

conditions of subsection D. of the 

regulation. Regulation .03 under 

COMAR 26.11.10 has been amended to 

revise subsection D. to require: 

(1) The owner or operator of the 

sintering plant shall ensure continuous 

compliance with the .03 gr/dscf 

applicable particulate matter emission 

rate by maintaining the hourly average 

scrubber pressure drop and water flow 

rate to each of the two scrubbers 

(referred to as Scrubber North and 

Scrubber South) as follows: 

(2) Scrubber Operating Conditions 

and Requirements. 

Operating conditions 

Pressure drop 

(inches of water) 

Water flow rate 

(gallons per minute) 

North South North South 

2 scrubbers each with 2 fans .......................................................................... 33 39 3,796 3,718 

2 scrubbers each with a wind box fan ............................................................. 23 32 3,679 3,705 

North scrubber with 2 fans and South scrubber with a wind box fan ............. 33 32 3,710 3,818 

South scrubber with 2 fans and North scrubber with a wind box fan ............. 32 33 3,818 3,710 

North scrubber with 2 fans .............................................................................. 33 ........................ 3,488 ........................

South scrubber with 2 fans .............................................................................. ........................ 33 ........................ 3,488 

(3) One or more of the scrubbers be in 

operation while the sintering plant is in 

operation. 

(4) Compliance with the 0.03 gr/dscf 

emission limit requirement for 

particulate matter is achieved if at any 

time the hourly block average of 

scrubber pressure drop and flow rate are 

not less than the values in D(2) of this 

regulation. 

(5) The scrubber pressure drop and 

flow rate shall be monitored by a 

continuous monitoring system and the 

monitoring system data made available 

to MDE upon request. 

(6) Stack Testing Requirements. 

(a) The affected sintering plant shall 

be stack tested for particulate matter not 

less than once each 2.5 years. During a 

compliance stack test, the scrubber 

pressure drop and flow rate shall be 

recorded as hourly block averages. 

(b) If the scrubber pressure drop and 

water flow rate determined during a 

compliance stack test differ from the 

values in D(2) of this regulation, the 

owner or operator may request that MDE 

change to the values in D(2) of this 

regulation to reflect the revised values. 

(c) Upon receiving such a request, the 

MDE may propose amending the 

regulation to include the revised values. 

Any amendment shall be submitted to 

the EPA as a SIP revision. 

EPA has determined that these 

revisions to Regulation .03 Visible 

Emissions under COMAR 26.11.10 

Control of Iron and Steel Production 

Installations as they apply to the 

sintering plant located at Sparrows 

Point are approvable because they 

provide for a continuous means of 

determining compliance with SIP’s 

applicable particulate matter emission 

limit of 0.03 gr/dscf which has been 

demonstrated to protect and maintain 

the NAAQS for PM10. 


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44148 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 145 / Friday, July 27, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

III. Final Action 

EPA is approving the SIP revisions to 

Regulation .03 Visible Emissions under 

COMAR 26.11.10 submitted by MDE on 

June 30, 2009. EPA is publishing this 

rule without prior proposal because the 

Agency views this as a noncontroversial 

amendment and anticipates no adverse 

comment. However, in the ‘‘Proposed 

Rules’’ section of today’s Federal 

Register, EPA is publishing a separate 

document that will serve as the proposal 

to approve the SIP revision if adverse 

comments are filed. This rule will be 

effective on September 25, 2012 without 

further notice unless EPA receives 

adverse comment by August 27, 2012. If 

EPA receives adverse comment, EPA 

will publish a timely withdrawal in the 

Federal Register informing the public 

that the rule will not take effect. EPA 

will address all public comments in a 

subsequent final rule based on the 

proposed rule. EPA will not institute a 

second comment period on this action. 

Any parties interested in commenting 

must do so at this time. 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

A. General Requirements 

Under the CAA, the Administrator is 

required to approve a SIP submission 

that complies with the provisions of the 

CAA 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 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 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 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, 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. 

B. Submission to Congress and the 

Comptroller General 

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). 

C. Petitions for Judicial Review 

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 September 25, 2012. 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 

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 to 

approve a revision to Regulation .03 

Visible Emissions under COMAR 

26.11.10 Control of Iron and Steel 

Production Installations as they apply to 

sintering plants 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, Particulate matter. 

Dated: July 10, 2012. 

W.C. Early, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

Therefore, 40 CFR part 52 is amended 

as follows: 

PART 52—[AMENDED] 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 52 

continues to read as follows: 

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

■ 2. In § 52.1070, the table in paragraph 

(c) is amended by revising the entry for 

COMAR 26.11.10.03 to read as follows: 

§ 52.1070 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 145 / Friday, July 27, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 44149 

EPA-APPROVED REGULATIONS, TECHNICAL MEMORANDA, AND STATUTES IN THE MARYLAND SIP 

Code of Maryland administrative regulations 

(COMAR) citation 

Title/subject 

State 

effective 

date 

EPA approval date Additional explanation/ 

citation at 40 CFR 52.1100 

*******

26.11.10 Control of Iron and Steel Production Installations 

*******

26.11.10.03 .................... Visible Emissions .......... 6/29/09 7/27/2012 [Insert page 

number where the 

document begins].

Revised paragraphs A. and D. of 26.11.10.03 for 

Sintering Plants. 

*******

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2012–18094 Filed 7–26–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2012–0443; FRL–9702–4] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; Virginia; 

Removal of Administrative 

Requirements From the Regulation for 

the Control of Motor Vehicle Emissions 

in Northern Virginia 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final 

action to approve a State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 

submitted by the Commonwealth of 

Virginia. This revision removes four 

internal State administrative 

requirements from the Virginia SIP 

regulations for the control of motor 

vehicle emissions in the Northern 

Virginia Area. This action is being taken 

under the Clean Air Act (CAA). 

DATES: This rule is effective on 

September 25, 2012 without further 

notice, unless EPA receives adverse 

written comment by August 27, 2012. If 

EPA receives such comments, it will 

publish a timely withdrawal of the 

direct final rule in the Federal Register 

and inform the public that the rule will 

not take effect. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID Number EPA– 

R03–OAR–2012–0443 by one of the 

following methods: 

A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

B. Email: frankford.harold@epa.gov. 

C. Mail: EPA–R03–OAR–2012–0443, 

Harold A. Frankford, Mailcode 3AP00, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

D. Hand Delivery: At the previouslylisted EPA Region III address. Such 

deliveries are only accepted during the 

Docket’s normal hours of operation, and 

special arrangements should be made 

for deliveries of boxed information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–R03–OAR–2012– 

0443. 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 information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through www.regulations.gov 

or email. 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 email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.regulations.gov, your 

email 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 during normal business 

hours at the Air Protection Division, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

Copies of the State submittal are 

available at the Virginia Department of 

Environmental Quality, 629 East Main 

Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Harold A. Frankford, (215) 814–2108, or 

by email at frankford.harold@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, whenever 

‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we mean 

EPA. On April 19, 2012, the Virginia 

Department of Environmental Quality 

(DEQ) submitted a revision to its State 

Implementation Plan (SIP). 

I. Summary of SIP Revision 

The revision consists of the removal 

of four administrative regulations from 

SIP-approved regulations 9VAC5 

Chapter 91 (Regulation for the Control 

of Motor Vehicle Emissions in the 

Northern Virginia Area) pertaining to 

the establishment of regulations 

(Regulation 5–91–40), hearings and 

proceedings (Regulation 5–91–60), 

variances (Regulation 5–91–80), and 


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