ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 40 CFR Part 52 [ EPA - R03 - OAR - 2010 - 0386 ; FRL - ] Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Maryland ; Revision to

Emission Limitations for R. Paul Smith Power Station AGENCY : Environmental P rotection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve a State I mplem entation Plan (SI P) revision submitted by the State of Maryland . This revision pertain s to revised emission limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station located in Washington County
. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA). DATES: Written comments must be received on or before [ insert date 30 day s from date of publication ]. ADDRESSES: Submit y our comments, identified by Docket I D N umber EPA - R03 - OAR 2010 - 0386 by

one of the following methods: A. www.regulations.gov . Follow the on
- line instructions for submitting comments. B. E
- mail: fernandez.cristina@epa.gov C. Mail: EPA - R03 - OAR - 2010 - 0386 , Cristina Fernandez , Associate D irector , Office of Air Program Planning , Mailcode 3AP 30 , U.S. Environmental Protection Agency , Region I II, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. D. Hand Delivery : At the previously
- listed EPA Region I II address. Such deliveries are only
ac cepted during the Docket = s normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be2

made for deliveries of boxed information. Instructions: Direct y our comments to Docket I D No. EPA - R03 - OAR - 2010 - 0386 . 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 In formation (CBI ) or other i nformation whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that y ou consider to be CBIor otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e - mail. The www.regulations.gov website is an A anony mous access @ sy stem, which means EPA will not know y our identity or contact information unless y ou provide it in the body of y our comment. I f y ou send an e
- mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov , y our e - mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the I nternet. I f y ou submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that y ou include y our name and other contact information in the body

of y our comment and with any disk or CD
- RO M y ou submit. I f EPA cannot read y our comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider y our comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any

form of encry

ption, and b e 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 re stricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copy righted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only

in hard copy

form.3

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 I II, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal are available at the Mary land Department of th e Environment, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, Maryland 21230. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT : Marily n Powers , (215) 814
- 2308 , or by e mail at powers.marily

n @epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever “we, ” “us , ” or “our” is used, we mean EPA.
I. Background On December 15, 2009, the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) submitted a revision to the Maryland SI P . The SI P revision (#09
- 04) pertains to changes in emission limitations for the R. Paul Smith Power Station in Washington County
. This facility had annual nitrogen oxides (NOx), ozone season NOx, and sulfur oxides ( SO 2 ) emission limits that were established under EPA
- approved Maryland regulation COMAR 26.11.27

– Emission Limitations for Pow er Plants , which was adopted by the State to meet statutory requirements under the Mary land Healthy

Air Act (HAA). The HAA allows R. Paul Smith to operate without comply ing with the emission limitations set forth in this statute if PJM I nterconnection, I n c. (PJM) determines that termination of operation of the facility will adversely

affect the reliability

of4

electrical service in the PJM region. Subsequent to Maryland’s adoption of COMAR 26.11.27 and EPA’s approval of the rule into the Maryland SI P, PJM determined that the R. Paul Smith facility is needed to maintain electricity reliability

in the State. The HAA requires that if R. Paul Smith units 3 and 4 are allowed to operate without complying with the emissions limitations established in the statute, certain conditions must be met. These conditions require that the facility operate at emissions levels that are lower than the highest level measured at the facility during the calendar y ears from 2000 through 2004, and that MDE review the operations of the facility , then adopt regulations to establish an alternative emissions requirement for the facility
. Inaccordance with these statutory requirements, MDE revised COMAR 26.11.27 to establish alternative emission limits for these two E lectric G enerating U nits at R. Paul Smith.
II. Summary of SIP Revision COMAR 26.11.27 is revised to establish new emission limitations for R. Paul Smith Power Station. The NOx annual tonnage limits for R. Paul Smith is revised from 416 tons to 1390 tons starting with t he 2009 control period , the NOx ozone season limit is revised from 140 tons to 545 tons starting with the 2009 ozone season, and the SO 2 annual tonnage is revised from 1002 tons to 4590 tons starting with the 2009 control period.
Because the SI P revisio n increases emissions from this facility , MDE was required to meet section 110(l) of the CAA. Section 110(l) requires that the revision not interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress, or any other appli cable requirement of section 110. EPA’s analy sis confirmed that the SI P revision does not5

interfere with any

section 110(l) requirements . A more detailed discussion of EPA’s rationale for approval of this Maryland SI P revision may be found in the technic al support document (TSD) for this action.
III. Proposed Action EPA is proposing to approv e the SI P revision submitted by the State of Maryland on December 15, 2009. The SI P revision incorporates revisions to the emission limitations that apply to the R. Paul Smith Power Station in Washington County . E PA is soliciting public comments on the issues discussed in this document. These comments will be considered before taking final action.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews Under the Clean Ai r Act, the Administrator is required to approve a SI P 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, i n reviewing SI P submissions, EPA’s role is to approve state choic es, provided that they

meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. Accordingly , this action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements bey ond those imposed by state law. For that reason, t his 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 th e Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq . );6

 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 s ignificantly or uniquely

affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Public L aw 104
- 4) ;
 d oes not have Federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999 );

 is not an economical ly 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 requir ements 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, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).7

Inaddition, this proposed rule approving revisions to the emission limitations for R. Paul Smith Power Station does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SI P is not approved to apply in I ndian country

located in the state, and EPA notes th at 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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Sulfur oxides. Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq .

___ June 7, 2010 _____________ ____________ /s/

______________ Dated: W. C
. E ar ly , Acting Regional Administra tor, Region I II.