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[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 121 (Monday, June 24, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37757-37759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-14917]

[[Page 37757]]

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 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2013-0468; FRL-9826-1]

Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, South 
Coast Air Quality Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the South Coast Air 
Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the California State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic 
compound (VOC), oxides of nitrogen (NOX), and particulate 
matter (PM) emissions from open burning and wood-burning devices. We 
are approving local rules that regulate 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.

DATES:  Any comments must arrive by July 24, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2013-0468, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-
line instructions.
    2. Email: steckel.andrew@epa.gov.
    3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental 
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 email. 
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 email directly to EPA, your email 
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 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: Rynda Kay, EPA Region IX, (415) 947-
4118, kay.rynda@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and 
``our'' refer to EPA.

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules
    D. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal with the dates 
that they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB). Rule 444 subdivision (g) and 
Rule 445 subdivision (h), related to fees and penalties respectively, 
were excluded from the versions of the rules submitted for 
consideration by the EPA for SIP approval.

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Local agency                  Rule No.            Rule title             Amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD................................             444  Open Burning............        05/03/13        06/11/13
SCAQMD................................             445  Wood Burning Devices....        05/03/13        06/11/13
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We find that the submittal for SCAQMD Rules 444 and 445 meets the 
completeness criteria in 40 CFR Part 51 Appendix V, which must be met 
before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    We approved earlier versions of Rule 444 and Rule 445 into the SIP 
on April 8, 2002 (67 FR 16644) and June 11, 2009 (74 FR 27716) 
respectively. The SCAQMD adopted revisions to Rule 444 on November 7, 
2008, but did not submit them to us. The SCAQMD adopted additional 
revisions to Rule 444 and revisions to Rule 445 on May 3, 2013, and 
CARB submitted these revised rules to us on June 11, 2013.

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

    Emissions of VOCs and NOX help produce ground-level 
ozone, smog and particulate matter (PM), which harm human health and 
the environment. PM emissions contribute to effects that are harmful to 
human health and the environment, including premature mortality, 
aggravation of respiratory and cardiovascular disease, decreased lung 
function, visibility impairment, and damage to vegetation and 
ecosystems. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States to submit 
regulations that control NOX, VOC and PM emissions.
    Rule 444 is designed to minimize the impacts of smoke and other air 
pollutants generated by open burning conducted within the SCAQMD. 
Changes from the SIP approved rule include the following: (a) Forecast 
criteria for issuing permissive, marginal, and no-burn days was 
modified to be based on the Air Quality Index rather than on 1-hour 
ozone forecasted values; (b) forecast criteria for allowing a 
permissive burn day was amended to exclude days in which a ``Mandatory 
Winter Burning Curtailment'' day is in effect, as provided in Rule 445; 
(c) limited exemptions were added for burning to protect crops from 
freezing and for product testing; (d) daily maximum agricultural and 
prescribed burning acreage was increased to account for less permissive 
burn days resulting from the new no burn day

[[Page 37758]]

forecast criteria (total emissions over the season/year remain the 
same); (e) new requirements were added for burning associated with 
pyrotechnics used in filmmaking, fire prevention/suppression training, 
prescribed burning and agricultural burning; (f) definitions were added 
or amended for clarity; and (g) other minor editorial changes and 
clarifications were made to the rule.
    Rule 445 is designed to minimize the impacts of smoke and other air 
pollutants generated during the use of wood burning devices. The rule 
establishes requirements for the sale, operation, and installation of 
such devices. Changes from the SIP approved rule include the following: 
(a) The ``Mandatory Winter Burning Curtailment'' provision was modified 
to reduce the forecast threshold for a given source/receptor area from 
35 to 30 [micro]g/m3 and to add a new provision describing when such 
curtailment would apply basin-wide; (b) new wood-labeling requirements 
for wood suppliers were added; (c) a provision was removed which 
allowed uncertified wood-burning devices to be installed in existing 
homes if emission equivalency could be demonstrated; (d) modifications 
were made to clarify that cookstove and wood labeling exemptions apply 
only to commercial cooking; and (e) the definition of ``Wood Burning 
Device'' was modified to include both open and enclosed devices. EPA's 
technical support documents (TSDs) contain more detailed information 
about these rules.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

    Generally, SIP rules must be enforceable (see section 110(a) of the 
Act) and must not relax existing requirements (see sections 110(l) and 
193).
    Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 
enforceability requirements consistently 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).
    Section 172(c)(1) of the 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. The Los 
Angeles-South Coast Air Basin (South Coast) is currently designated as 
an extreme 1-hr ozone nonattainment area and an extreme 8-hr ozone 
nonattainment area, and is also designated nonattainment for the 1997 
annual, 1997 24-hour, and 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter 
(PM2.5) standards (40 CFR 81.305). Open burning emits direct 
PM2.5, as well as volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 
oxides of nitrogen (NOX), which are regulated as precursors 
to PM2.5 and ozone in the South Coast. Therefore, SCAQMD 
must implement RACM for open burning and residential wood burning if 
those measures will advance attainment of the National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM2.5 or ozone in the South 
Coast, when considered collectively with other reasonable measures. 
Additional control measures may be required pursuant to CAA section 
172(c)(1) if both: (1) Additional measures are reasonably available; 
and (2) these additional reasonably available measures will advance 
attainment in the area when considered collectively.
    The South Coast is also currently designated as a serious 
nonattainment area for the PM-10 NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305). On June 12, 
2013, however, EPA signed a final rule to redesignate the area to 
attainment for the PM-10 NAAQS, which will become effective 30 days 
after publication in the Federal Register. See ``Approval and 
Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Designation of Areas for Air 
Quality Planning Purposes; California; South Coast Air Basin; Approval 
of PM10 Maintenance Plan and Redesignation to Attainment for 
the PM10 Standard,'' pre-publication final rule signed June 
12, 2013. Thus, we are not evaluating Rule 444 and 445 for compliance 
with BACT/BACM requirements in this rulemaking.

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe these rules are consistent with the statutory 
requirements concerning enforceability and SIP relaxations as 
interpreted in EPA guidance. Rule 444 and 445 are generally as 
stringent as or more stringent than analogous rules in other California 
Districts. As necessary, in separate rulemakings, EPA will take action 
on the State's RACM demonstrations for PM2.5 and ozone based 
on evaluation of the control measures submitted as a whole and their 
overall potential to advance the applicable attainment dates in the 
South Coast. See 40 CFR 51.1010, 51.912(d). Our TSDs have more 
information on our evaluation and recommendations for additional 
control measures which may be reasonably available.

C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules

    The TSDs describe additional rule revisions that we recommend for 
the next time the local agency modifies the rules but are not currently 
the basis for rule disapproval.

D. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    Because EPA believes the submitted rules fulfill all applicable 
requirements, we are proposing to fully approve them as described in 
section 110(k)(3) of the Act. 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 these rules into the federally 
enforceable SIP.

III. 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 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 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);

[[Page 37759]]

     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 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 action 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.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 
organic compounds.

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

    Dated: June 12, 2013.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2013-14917 Filed 6-21-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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