TECHNICAL SUPPORT DOCUMENT

Revisions to Texas Regulations on Emissions Inventories, Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation Plans, and Cross-Media Electronic Reporting Rule

I. BACKGROUND

Overview

EPA reviewed revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) that were submitted by the Governor of Texas on December 17, 1999 and by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) on February 26, 2007. The revisions amend Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code (30 TAC) by: • revising 30 TAC 101.10 Emissions Inventory Requirements, • revising 30 TAC 101.30, Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation

Plans, and • adding a new Chapter 19, Electronic Reporting (30 TAC 19).

This review does not pertain to the revision of 30 TAC 101.1 (Definitions) and adding of 30 TAC 101.28 (Stringency Determination for Federal Operating Permits) which were submitted on December 17, 1999. The revisions to section 101.1 were later superceded by revisions adopted by Texas on September 26, 2001 and approved by EPA on November 14, 2001 (66 FR 57252). Because the December 17, 1999 revisions 101.1 were superceded by the 2001 submission which has already been approved, no acti on or review is needed here. EPA intends

to take action on 30 TAC 101.28 at a later time.

The Clean Air Act requires the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to establish national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for pollutants that cause or contribute to air pollution that is reasonably anticipated to endanger public health or welfare. States have developed a SIP which identifies how these standards will be attained and maintained. The state must submit revisions to the SIP to EPA. EPA reviews the revision and approves it if it conforms to the Clean Air Act. Approval makes the revisions federally enforceable. If the revision does not conform to the Clean Air Act, EPA disapproves it. Disapproval may lead to further revisions by the State or development of a Federal Implementation Plan by EPA. The EPA approved Texas SIP regulations can be found at www.epa.gov/earth1r 6/6pd/air/sip/sip.htm.

The December 1999 revision also revised 30 TAC 101.30. Texas removed certain definitions out of 101.30 because they were duplicated in other chapters of 30 TAC. The revisions to 30 TAC 101.30 removed the following definitions: criteria pollutant or standard, maintenance area maintenance plan, metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), NEPA - The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, nonattainment area (NAA).Electronic Reporting

EPA promulgated the Cross-Media Electr onic Reporting Rule (CROMERR) on October 13, 2005. The rule establishes a framework by which EPA will accept electronic reports from regulated entities. CROMERR could apply to any document submissions required by or permitted under any EPA or authorized program governed by EPA's regulations in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), if it is submitted electronically. CROMERR also added section 286, Electronic reporting to 40 CFR 51 (Requirements for Preparation, Adoption, and Submittal of Implementation Plans) which states : States that wish to receive electronic documents must revise the State Implementation Plan to satisfy the requirements of 40 CFR Part 3 – (Electronic reporting). Texas submitte d a CROMERR application to EPA and it was approved on April 27, 2009 (74 FR 19082).

Emission Inventory

Emissions inventories are surveys of actual emissions of air pollutants in an area.

Emissions inventories are critical for the efforts of state, local, and federal agencies to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards that EPA has established for criteria pollutants such as ozone, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. States use emissions inventories submitted by stationary sources in developing the inventories required by the Clean Air Act. The principal Federal statutory authority for emissions inventory reporting requirements is found in Clean Air Act section 110(a)(2)(F), which provides that SIPs must require periodic reports on the nature and amounts of emissions and emissions-related data as may be prescribed by EPA. The EPA interprets Section 110(a)(2)(F) of the CAA (codified in 40 CFR 51 Subparts A and Q) as requiring SIPs to pr ovide for the reporting of criteria air pollutants for all areas under the general SIP requirements of section 110. EPA’s emission inventories requirements are found in 40 CFR 51, Subpart A, Air Emissions Reporting Requirements. Subpart A requires that states report emissions fo r stationary point sources, at least every three years, with annual reporting for certain larger point sources. (See the definition of point sources in 40CFR 51.50). Section 183 of the CAA requires that within 2 years after November 15, 1990, the State shall submit a comprehensive, accurate, current inventory of actual emissions from all sources, as described in section 7502 (c)(3) of this title, in accordance with guidance provided by the Administrator. It also requires that no later than the end of each 3-year period after submission of the inventory under Section 183(a)(1) until the area is redesignated to attainment, the State shall submit a revised inventory meeting the requirements of subsection (a)(1) of this section. It also requires that within 2 years after November 15, 1990, the State shall submit a revision to the State implementation plan to require that the owner or operator of each stationary source of oxides of nitrogen or volatile organic compounds provide the State with a statement, in such form as the Administrator may prescribe (or accept an equivalent alternative developed by the State), for classes or categories of sources, s howing the actual emissions of oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds from that source. The first such statement shall be submitted within 3 years after November 15, 1990. Subsequent statements shall be submitted at least every year thereafter. The statement shall contain a certification that the information contained in the statement is accurate to the best knowledge of the individual certifying the statement.The Texas emissions inventory regulations pertain to emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO2), lead (Pb), particulate matter of less than 10 microns in diameter (PM10), any other NAAQS contaminant, or hazardous air pollutants. The regulations can be found in Title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code, Section 101.10, (30 TAC 101.10).

Conformity

Conformity provisions first appeared in the Clean Air Act in 1977, but were made explicit and expanded upon in the 1990 Amendments to the Act. Section 176(c) of the CAA provides that Federal agencies may not engage in, support, provide financial assistance for, license, permit or approve any activity which does not conform to the approved SIP for

nonattainment and maintenance areas. This means that Federal actions must conform to the SIP’s purpose of eliminating or reducing the frequency and/or severity of an area’s violation of the NAAQS. The Act required EPA to promulgate criteria and procedures for determining conformity of Federal actions to the SIP. These regulations are known as the general conformity rules and were promulgated on November 30, 1993 (58 FR 63214). Also required was the necessity for state air quality agencies to submit to EPA a SIP revision addressing these conformity rules. The Texas regulations on conformity can be found in 30 TAC 101.30.

II. STATE SUBMITTALS

A. Regulatory Background

In July 1999 Texas proposed amendments to the SIP pertaining to the regulations on emissions inventories and conformity of general fe deral actions to SIPs. Texas adopted the rules

on December 1, 1999 and submitted it to EPA for inclusion into the SIP on December 17, 1999.

The revisions amended 30 TAC 101 sections 101.10, Emissions Inventory Requirements and 101.30, Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation Plans. The revisions

also amended 30 TAC 101 sections 101.1, Definitions, and added the new section 101.28, Stringency Determination for Federal Operating Permits.

Texas proposed a new chapter, Chapter 19, Electronic Reporting, to comply with EPA’s CROMERR, on September 8, 2006. Texas adopted Chapter 19 rules on February 17, 2007 and submitted it to EPA as a revision to the SIP on February 26, 2007. The revisions establish a system for receipt of electronic documents and signatures.

B. Description of Submittals

The revisions changed the title of Chapter 101 from "General Rules" to "General Air Quality Rules." Section 101.10, Emissions Invent ory Requirements, prescribe requirements on reporting air pollutant emissions by stationary sources. The revisions to section 101.10: · allow TCEQ to collect additional data related to emissions from air pollution sources, · contain requirements for sources in regions that are in violation of a NAAQS to reporttypical daily emissions of carbon monoxide and ozone precursor gases during the winter and summer months, respectively, · delete requirement to report allowable emissions in the emissions inventory report, · revise the requirement for an annual update of emissions so that sources that change operating conditions resulting in an increase or decrease in total annual emissions less than 5% or 5 tons per year (whichever is greater) may submit a certification letter rather than an emissions update. (Previously it was allowed for 5%, but not 5 tons per year for sources attainment areas). · delete the requirement for an annual emissions update requirement for sources that achieve compliance with any regulation of the SIP at any time within the inventory reporting period. (Sources still must submit a certification letter or an annual emission inventory update if other operating conditions are met). · remove language requiring an annual inventory for sources in ozone nonattainment areas and an inventory every three years for sources in CO nonattainment areas. With the revision the sources must submit a certification letter concerning operations or an annual inventory update. An update is required if there is: a) any change in operating conditions, including start-ups, permanent shut-downs of individual units, or process changes, that results in at least a 5.0% or 5 tpy whichever is greater, increase or reduction in total annual emissions from the most recently submitted emissions data of the account; or b) a cessation of all production processes and termination of operations. · require submission of calculations representative of emission producing processes where continuous emission monitoring system data is not available, and · remove obsolete language that referred to inventory requirements due in 1992 and 1993.

The revisions to the Section 101.30, Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation Plans, are non substantive changes. The December 1999 revision also revised 30 TAC 101.30. Texas removed certain definitions out of 101.30 because they were duplicated in other chapters of 30 TAC. The revisions to 30 TAC 101.30 removed the following definitions: criteria pollutant or standard, maintenance area maintenance plan, metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), NEPA - The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, nonattainment area (NAA).

Texas revised the SIP to allow for receipt of electronic documents and signatures in lieu of paper submittals (30 TAC 19). The new Chapter 19 establishes a system for acceptance of electronic reports, permit applications, and other documents using TCEQ’s electronic document receiving system. Individuals using the electronic system would be subject to the same level of enforcement as individuals submitting written documents.

III. EVALUATION

Emissions Inventory

The revisions to the Texas emissions inventory regulations add new requirements that will assist the state as it develops emissions inventories required by the Clean Air Act. The proposed changes meet EPA requirements for Em issions Inventories. Deletion of therequirement to report allowable emissions in the emissions inventory is acceptable because reporting allowable emissions is not a required element of the emissions inventory rules. It should be noted that these same sources covered by the emissions inventory reporting requirements are required to certify compliance each year as required by the annual compliance certification requirements of Title V. Likewise, revising Section 101.10(b)(2)(A) to limit reports on changes of operating conditions of a source to those changes that cause an increase or reduction of five tons per year or 5.0% of total emissions, whichever is greater will not interfere with attainment of a NAAQS, rate of progress, or any other applicable CAA requirement. The commission has adopted this change to eliminate the need to report insignificant changes in emissions. Submission requirements for emissions inventories will apply to those regulated entities located in a county classified as nonattainment under the eight-hour ozone standard. Basically, sources are to report their emissions from the previous calendar year by March 31 of each year; however, a source is not required to submit a full emissions inventory if total actual annual emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO 2 ), lead (Pb), and particulate matter with a diameter of 10 micrometers or less (PM 10 ) are all within 5 percent or five tons, whichever is greater, of the most recent total actual annual emissions reported in the STARS database. Instead, a source can submit a certification letter stating that there has been no significant change in emissions, and listing the most recent annual and ozone season emissions. This revision meets the requirements for an emissions statement (CAA 182(a)(3)), which shall be submitted at least every year and

shall contain a certification that the information contained in the statement is accurate to the best knowledge of the individual certifying the statement. Other emission reporting requirements are suffi cient for the state to obtain data from facilities to develop emissions inventories. The revisions submitted by Texas will assist the state in meeting the emissions inventory requirements of the Clean Air Act and meet EPA requirements for emissions inventory.

General Conformity

The revisions to the Section 101.30, Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation Plans, are non-substantive changes. Texas removed certain definitions out of 101.30 because they were duplicated in other chapters of 30 TAC. The revisions to 30 TAC 101.30 removed the following definitions: criteria pollutant or standard, maintenance area maintenance plan, metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO), National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), NEPA - The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended, nonattainment area (NAA). With one exception, these definitions are in the EPA approved SIP regulations for 101.1 last approved on March 30, 2005 (70 FR 16129). The exception is the definition for NEPA which is removed from the EPA approved SIP. The definition is included in 30 TAC 3.2, which is not part of the SIP. Removal of the definition of NEPA does not adversely affect the SIP as the commonly ascribed definition of NEPA is The National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended. Texas also has a provision in the EPA approved

SIP for 101.1 that states: Unless specifically defined in the TCAA [Texas Clean Air Act] or in the rules of the commission, the terms used by the commission have the meanings commonly ascribed to them in the field of air pollution control.It is recommended the revisions to the Texas General Conformity rules be approved to maintain consistency between the State rules and the federally approved SIP.

Electronic Reporting

EPA reviewed the electronic reporting submittal against the requirements of the CROMERR final rule (70 FR 59848). Texas has adopted revisions that are fully consistent with the EPA requirements for electronic reporting. Do cuments, including emission inventory reports and certifications, may be submitted electronically with an electronic signature to TCEQ. Electronic documents and signatures are treated in the same manner as those submitted in writing. As noted above, EPA approved TCEQ ’s CROMERR application on April 27, 2009 (74 FR 19082). EPA supports approval.

Recommendation

EPA recommends that the revisions to 101.10 concerning emissions inventory requirements submitted on December 17, 1999 be approved. EPA also recommends that the new chapter 19 concerning electronic reporting submitted February 26, 2007 be approved. It is recommended that the revisions to 101.30 submitted December 17, 1999 concerning general conformity be approved.