32652 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 

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 action for the state of 

South Carolina does not have Tribal 

implications as specified by Executive 

Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 

2000). The Catawba Indian Nation 

Reservation is located within the State 

of South Carolina. Pursuant to the 

Catawba Indian Claims Settlement Act, 

South Carolina statute 27–16–120, ‘‘all 

state and local environmental laws and 

regulations apply to the [Catawba Indian 

Nation] and Reservation and are fully 

enforceable by all relevant state and 

local agencies and authorities.’’ 

However, EPA has determined that this 

rule does not have substantial direct 

effects on an Indian Tribe because this 

action is not approving any specific 

rule, but rather approving that South 

Carolina’s already approved SIP meets 

certain CAA requirements. EPA notes 

this action will not impose substantial 

direct costs on Tribal governments or 

preempt Tribal law. 

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). 

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 July 25, 2016. 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. 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, Intergovernmental relations, 

Sulfur dioxide. 

Dated: May 12, 2016. 

Heather McTeer Toney, 

Regional Administrator, Region 4. 

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 PP—South Carolina 

■ 2. Section 52.2120(e), is amended by 

adding a new entry ‘‘110(a)(1) and (2) 

Infrastructure Requirements for the 2010 

1-hour SO2 NAAQS’’ at the end of the 

table to read as follows: 

§ 52.2120 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

EPA-APPROVED SOUTH CAROLINA NON-REGULATORY PROVISIONS

Provision State effective 

date EPA approval date Explanation 

*******

110(a)(1) and (2) Infrastructure 

Requirements for the 2010 

1-hour SO2 NAAQS.

5/8/2014 5/24/2016 [Insert Federal 

Register citation].

With the exception of interstate transport requirements of 

section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) and (II) (prongs 1, 2, and 4). 

[FR Doc. 2016–12112 Filed 5–23–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R04–OAR–2015–0518; FRL–9946–76– 

Region 4] 

Air Plan Approval; North Carolina; 

Regional Haze 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Final rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is finalizing approval of 

a revision to North Carolina’s regional 

haze State Implementation Plan (SIP), 

submitted by the North Carolina 

Department of Environmental Quality 

(formerly known as the North Carolina 

Department of Environment and Natural 

Resources (NC DENR)) on October 31, 

2014, that relies on an alternative to 

Best Available Retrofit Technology 

(BART) to satisfy BART requirements 

for electric generating units (EGUs) 

formerly subject to the Clean Air 

Interstate Rule (CAIR). EPA is also 

finalizing its determination that final 

approval of this SIP revision corrects the 

deficiencies that led to EPA’s limited 

disapproval of the State’s regional haze 

SIP on June 7, 2012, and is converting 

EPA’s June 27, 2012, limited approval to 

a full approval. This submittal addresses 

the requirements of the Clean Air Act 

(CAA or Act) and EPA’s rules that 

require states to prevent any future, and 

remedy any existing, manmade 

impairment of visibility in mandatory 

Class I areas caused by emissions of air 

pollutants from numerous sources 

located over a wide geographic area 

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Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 32653 

(also referred to as the regional haze 

program). States are required to assure 

reasonable progress toward the national 

goal of achieving natural visibility 

conditions in Class I areas. 

DATES: This rule is effective June 23, 

2016. 

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a 

docket for these actions under Docket 

Identification No. EPA–R04–OAR– 

2015–0518. 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, i.e., Confidential Business 

Information 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 through 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the Air Regulatory Management Section, 

Air Planning and Implementation 

Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics 

Management Division, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 

Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. EPA 

requests that if at all possible, you 

contact the person listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to 

schedule your inspection. The Regional 

Office’s official hours of business are 

Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 

4:30 p.m., excluding Federal holidays. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Michele Notarianni, Air Regulatory 

Management Section, Air Planning and 

Implementation Branch, Air, Pesticides 

and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 

Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. Ms. 

Notarianni can be reached via electronic 

mail at notarianni.michele@epa.gov or 

via telephone at (404) 562–9031. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background and Overview 

Regional haze is visibility impairment 

that is produced by a multitude of 

sources and activities which are located 

across a broad geographic area and emit 

fine particles (e.g., sulfates, nitrates, 

organic carbon, elemental carbon, and 

soil dust) and their precursors (e.g., 

sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides 

(NOX), and in some cases, ammonia and 

volatile organic compounds). In section 

169A of the 1977 Amendments to the 

CAA, Congress created a program for 

protecting visibility in the nation’s 

national parks and wilderness areas. In 

the 1990 CAA Amendments, Congress 

amended the visibility provisions in the 

CAA to focus attention on the problem 

of regional haze. 

In 1999, EPA promulgated the 

regional haze rule (RHR), which 

requires states to develop and 

implement SIPs to ensure reasonable 

progress toward improving visibility in 

Class I areas by reducing emissions that 

cause or contribute to regional haze. See 

64 FR 35713 (July 1, 1999). The RHR 

requires each state, the District of 

Columbia, and the Virgin Islands to 

each submit a regional haze SIP no later 

than December 17, 2007. Under 40 CFR 

51.308(e), the SIP must contain 

emission limitations representing BART 

and schedules for compliance with 

BART for each BART-eligible source, 

unless the SIP demonstrates that an 

emissions trading program or other 

alternative (BART Alternative) will 

achieve greater reasonable progress 

toward natural visibility conditions than 

would have resulted from the 

installation and operation of BART at all 

sources subject to BART and covered by 

the BART Alternative. An approvable 

BART Alternative must meet the criteria 

in 40 CFR 51.308(e)(2). 

North Carolina submitted its regional 

haze SIP on December 17, 2007, the 

regional haze SIP submittal deadline. 

Fully consistent with EPA’s regulations 

at the time, the SIP relied on CAIR to 

satisfy NOX and SO2 BART 

requirements for CAIR-subject EGUs in 

the State and to partially satisfy the 

requirement for a long-term strategy 

sufficient to achieve the State-adopted 

reasonable progress goals. EPA finalized 

a limited disapproval of North 

Carolina’s regional haze SIP on June 7, 

2012 (77 FR 33642), triggering the 

requirement for EPA to promulgate a 

Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) 

unless EPA approves a SIP revision that 

corrects the deficiency. EPA finalized a 

limited approval of North Carolina’s 

regional haze SIP on June 27, 2012 (77 

FR 38185), as meeting the remaining 

applicable regional haze requirements 

set forth in the CAA and the RHR. On 

October 31, 2014, NC DENR submitted 

a revision to North Carolina’s regional 

haze SIP to correct the deficiencies 

identified in the June 7, 2012, limited 

disapproval by replacing reliance on 

CAIR with reliance on a BART 

Alternative to satisfy NOX and SO2

BART requirements for EGUs formerly 

subject to CAIR. 

In a notice of proposed rulemaking 

(NPRM) published on April 5, 2016 (81 

FR 19519), EPA proposed to approve 

North Carolina’s October 31, 2014, 

BART Alternative regional haze SIP 

revision; to determine that final 

approval of the SIP revision would 

correct the deficiencies that led to EPA’s 

limited disapproval of the State’s 

regional haze SIP; and to convert EPA’s 

limited approval of the State’s regional 

haze SIP to a full approval, thereby 

eliminating the need for EPA to issue a 

FIP to remedy the deficiencies. The 

details of North Carolina’s submission 

and the rationale for EPA’s actions are 

explained in the NPRM. Comments on 

the proposed rulemaking were due on or 

before April 26, 2016. 

EPA received one set of comments 

supporting the proposed actions and no 

adverse comments. The supporting 

comments were provided by Duke 

Energy. Table 1 in EPA’s NPRM 

indicates that Units 5–9 at Duke 

Energy’s Buck power plant were 

converted from coal to natural gas. See 

81 FR 19521 (April 5, 2016). Duke 

Energy’s supporting comments clarify 

that these five EGUs were retired from 

operation in 2011 and 2012 and that the 

units have been replaced by two new 

natural gas-fired combined cycle 

turbines equipped with Selective 

Catalytic Reduction for NOX control. 

This clarification does not impact EPA’s 

conclusions because it does not alter the 

analysis supporting the BART 

Alternative. 

II. Final Actions 

EPA is finalizing approval of North 

Carolina’s October 31, 2014, regional 

haze SIP revision because EPA has 

determined that the BART Alternative 

contained therein meets the 

requirements of 40 CFR 51.308(e)(2). 

EPA is also converting EPA’s June 27, 

2012, limited approval of North 

Carolina’s regional haze SIP to a full 

approval because EPA finds that final 

approval of the State’s October 31, 2014, 

regional haze SIP revision corrects the 

deficiencies that led to EPA’s limited 

disapproval of the State’s regional haze 

SIP. 

III. 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. 

See 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, these actions 

merely approve state law as meeting 

federal requirements and do not impose 

additional requirements beyond those 

imposed by state law. For that reason, 

these actions: 

• Are not a significant regulatory 

action subject to review by the Office of 

Management and Budget under 

Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, 

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32654 Federal Register / Vol. 81, No. 100 / Tuesday, May 24, 2016 / Rules and Regulations 

October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, 

January 21, 2011); 

• do not impose an information 

collection burden under the provisions 

of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 

U.S.C. 3501 et seq.); 

• are 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.); 

• do 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); 

• do not have Federalism 

implications as specified in Executive 

Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 

1999); 

• are not an economically significant 

regulatory action based on health or 

safety risks subject to Executive Order 

13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997); 

• are not a significant regulatory 

action subject to Executive Order 13211 

(66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); 

• are 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 

• do 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). 

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 tribe has 

jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian 

country, the rule does not have tribal 

implications as specified by Executive 

Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 

2000), nor will it impose substantial 

direct costs on tribal governments or 

preempt tribal law. 

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 these actions 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. These actions are 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 these 

actions must be filed in the United 

States Court of Appeals for the 

appropriate circuit by July 25, 2016. 

Filing a petition for reconsideration by 

the Administrator of this final rule does 

not affect the finality of these actions 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. These actions 

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, Intergovernmental relations, 

Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

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

Dated: May 12, 2016. 

Heather McTeer Toney, 

Regional Administrator, Region 4. 

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 II—North Carolina 

■ 2. Section 52.1770(e), is amended by 

adding an entry for ‘‘BART Alternative 

Plan’’ at the end of the table to read as 

follows: 

§ 52.1770 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(e) * * * 

EPA-APPROVED NORTH CAROLINA NON-REGULATORY PROVISIONS

Provision State effective 

date 

EPA Approval 

date Federal Register citation Explanation 

*******

BART Alternative Plan ..... 10/31/2014 5/24/2016 [Insert Federal Register 

citation].

This plan modifies the Regional Haze Plan approved 

with a state effective date of 11/17/2007 (see 

above) and converts the June 27, 2012, limited 

approval to a full approval. 

§ 52.1776 [Removed and Reserved] 

■ 3. Section 52.1776 is removed and 

reserved. 

[FR Doc. 2016–12096 Filed 5–23–16; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

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