United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9

Air Division

Technical Support Document

for

EPA’s Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

for the

California State Implementation Plan

Imperial County Air Pollution Control District’s

Rule 40 0.1

, Stationary Gas Turbine ( s )

– Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT)

Prepared by: Idalia Perez

December 20 11Page 2 of 5

Imperial County Air Pollution Control District ( IC A PC D)

Submitted Rule

ICAPCD Rule 4 0 0.1

, Stationary Gas Turbine ( s )

– Reason ably Available Control Technology (RACT)

 Adopted: February 23, 2010

 Submitted: July 20 , 20 10

 Determined complete : August 25, 2010

Previous Rule Submittals There are no outstanding submittals of Rule 400.1.

SIP

- Approved Rule

There is no SIP

- approved versi on of Rule 400.1.

Rule Summary

Rule 4 0 0 .1 regulates emissions of oxides of nitrogen ( NOx ) from stationary gas turbine systems with ratings equal to or greater than 1 MW

.

The emission limits in the r ule are (Section C) :

 42 ppm for units operated on gaseo us fuel

 65 ppm for units operated on liquid fuel

The rule language includes exemptions (Section D) . M onitoring and recordkeeping requirements are contained in various provisions in Section s E, F

, G and H

.

Impact on Emissions According to documentation in cluded with the r ule submittal, the District does not expect a

reduction in emissions due to the implementation of this rule because all existing sources subject

to the r ule are already able to comply with the emission limits without installing further con trol technology.

Rule Evaluation Criteria We have primarily used the following three criteria to evaluate Rule 400.1 :

Rule Stringency Section 172(c)(1) of the Clean Air Act ( CAA) requires nonattainment areas to implement all reasonably available control measures (RACM), including such reductions in emissions from existing sources in the area as may be obtained through the adoption, at a minimum, of reasonably available control technology (RACT), as expeditiously as practicable. O zone nonattainment areas classified as moderate or above must require RACT for all major sources of NOx. CAA § 182(b)(2) & (f) ; 40 CFR § 51.912(a)

. In addition, SIP rules must implement RACM, including RACT, in moderate

PM

- 10 nonattainment areas, and Best Available Control Measure s (BACM), including Best Available Control Technology (BACT), in serious PM

- 10 nonattainment areas (see CAA sections 189(a)(1) and 189(b)(1))

. The ICAPCD regulates an ozone nonattainment area classified as moderate (see 40 CFR part 81). Because Rule 400.1 regulates majorPage 3 of 5

stationary sources of NOx, it must fulfill NOx RACT requirements

. On December 3 2009, EPA determined that ICAPCD attained the 1997 8

- hour NAAQS for ozone based upon ambient air monitoring data showing the area had monitored attainment durin g the

2006

- 2008 monitoring period. (74 FR 63309) This determination suspended some of the planning requirements related to attainment of the 1997 8

- hour ozone NAAQS but not the Section 182(b)(2) and 182(f) RACT requirements for major NOx emission sources.

The ICAPCD also regulates a serious PM

- 10 nonattainment area, and is therefore subject to the requirement under sections 189(b)(1)(B) and 189(e) of the Act to implement Best Available Control Measures (BACM

, which includes BACT) for control of PM

- 10 and

PM

- 10 precursor emissions. 1

Enforceability CAA s ection 110(a)(2)(A) requires that regulations submitted to EPA for approval into a State Implementation Plan (SIP) must be clear and legally enforceable.

SIP Revisions CAA s ection 110(l) prohibits EPA from approving any SIP revision that would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress (RFP) or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. In addition, CAA

s ection 193 prohibits the modification of any SIP

- a pproved control requirement in effect before November 15, 1990, in a nonattainment area.

Guidance and policy documents that we used to define specific enforceability and RACT

, RACM and BACM requirements include the following:

 Issues Relating to VOC Regul ation, Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations (the “ Blue

Book ” ), US EPA, OAQPS (May 25, 1988).

 Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC and Other Rule Deficiencies , EPA Region IX (August 21, 2001, the “ Little Bluebook ” ).

 State Implementation Plans; Ge neral 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).

 State Implementation Plans; Nitrogen Oxides Supplement to the General Preamble for the Implementation of T

itle I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (the "NO X Supplement to the General Preamble"), US EPA, 57 FR 55620 (November 25, 1992).

 Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule , 72 FR 20586 (April 25, 2007)

 State Implementation Plans for Serious PM

- 10 N onattainment Areas, and Attainment Date Waivers for PM

- 10 Nonattainment Areas Generally; Addendum to the General Preamble for the Implementation of Title I of the Cl ean Air Act Amendments of 1990, 59 FR 41998 (August 16, 1994).

 PM

- 10 Guideline Document, US EPA 452/R

- 93

- 008 ( April 1993 )

.

1 ICAPCD also regulates a nonattainment area under the 2006 24

- Hour PM 2.5 NAAQS. 40 C.F.R. § 81.305 (2010)

. By December 14, 2012, California must submit a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) f or this nonattainment area that provides for, among other things, implementation of all RACM as expeditiously as practicable (including RACT for existing sources). CAA § 172 (a)(2)(A), (b) & (c)(1), 74 FR 58689 (Nov. 13, 2009).

EPA will take action on this RACM demonstration in a separate rulemaking.Page 4 of 5

 Alternative Control Technology Document, NOx Emissions from Stationary Gas

Turbines , US EPA, 453/R

- 93

- 007 (January 1993) http://www.epa.gov/ttncatc1/dir1/gasturb.pd f

 Determination of Reasonably Available Control Technology and Best Available Retrofit Control Technology for the Control of Oxides of Nitrogen from Stationary Gas Turbines

, California Air Resources Board (May 18, 1992) http://www.arb.ca.gov/research/apr/reports/l3092.pdf

 Status Report on NOx Controls for Gas Turbines, Cement Kilns, Boilers, and Internal Combustion Engines; Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management ( NESCAUM, Dec ember 2000) http://www.nescaum.org/documents/nox

- 2000.pdf

Evaluation of Rule Stringency

We believe Rule 400.1 implements RACT in Imperial County for reasons including:

- The 1993 ACT provides tec hnical information including control techniques and achievable controlled NOx emission levels from stationary gas turbines. Rule 400.1 requirements are in alignment with levels of controls that the ACT shows are

achievable

.

- Rule 400.1 requirements are the same as those determined t o be RACT in the 1993

ARB RACT/BARCT determination.

- The limits i n the rule are consistent with what the 2000 report by NESCAUM

determined to be feasible for retrofit installations.

Since no CTG has been issued recently for this activity, we do not have clear national guidance defining presumptive RACT. However, we believe the analysis summarized above sufficiently

demonstrates that Rule 40 0.1 implements RACT.

According to the 2009 PM10 SIP, fuel combustion accounts for less than 1% of the emission inventory for PM10 in Imperial County . Since turbines are not a significant source of PM10, we do not believe they are subject to BACM requirements and thus we are not making a determination on the Rule’s ability to implement BACM

.

Evaluation of Enforceability and SIP Revision Criteria Recordkeeping and other compliance provisions in the rule ensure that the requirements are adequately enforceable.

The submitted is a new addition to the SIP, strengthening the requirements of the SIP. Therefore,

w e propose to determine that a approval of the sub mittal would comply with CAA s ection s 110(l) and 193 because (1) the proposed SIP revision would not interfere with the on

- going process for ensuring that requirements for RFP and attainmen t of the NAAQS are met, and (2) the submitted SIP revision is more stringent than the existing SIP requirements

.

Suggested Rule Improvements Although not currently basis for rule disapproval, EPA recommends that the ICAPCD make the following improvements in the next revision of Rule 400.1

. 1. While we believe this rule as drafted is sufficient to implement RACT, we encourage the District to consider more stringent emission limits that other California agencies havePage 5 of 5

determined are technically and economically feasible for similar sources. These limits are as low as 3 ppm for gas fired units and 25 ppm for liquid fired units. See, for example:

 Antelope Rule 1134 (adopted in 2010 )

 Placer Rule 250 (adopted in 1994)

 Sacramento Rule 413 (adopted in 2005)

 San Joaqu in Rule 4703 (adopted in 2002)

 South Coast Rule 1134 (adopted in 1997)

 Ventura Rule 74.23 (adopted in 2002)

 Yolo

- Solano Rule 2.34 (adopted in 1994)

2. The cutoff for a low use exemption in Section D.2.a should be lowered from 400 hours per calendar year to 2 00 hours per calendar year. See for example Ventura Rule 74.23 or Mojave Rule 1159.

3. The need for exemptions from NOx emission limits during start

- up
, shutdown and during periods of load

- changing as well as the duration of these periods (Section D.2.b) sho uld be justified in the District’s staff report submitted with the next version of the rule. Additionally, the language of this section should not include “or as specified on the permit to operate

. ”

4. Section G.1 states:

“If an owner or operator of a Sta ti onary Gas Turbine demonstrates to the satisfaction of the APCO that the Stationary Gas Turbine cannot operate at these conditions, then emissions source testing shall be performed at the highest achievable continuous power rating.”

The Rule should be amend ed to follow EPA guidance on director’s discretion. One option for approvable provisions is to include EPA approval alongside APCO approval.

5. To facilitate compliance determinations, we recommend amending Section H to require

that all records be maintained for 5 years.

Recommendation

Based on the discussion above, Rule 4 0 0.1 fulfills relevant Clean Air Act requirements for SIP approval and EPA staff recommend s approval of IC APCD Submitted Rule 40 0.1 for incorporation into the California Applicable SIP.

Ot her References

1. Submitted Rule 40 0.1

2. Staff Report