10430 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

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 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). 

In addition, this rule 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, Intergovernmental 

relations, Ozone, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

Dated: February 9, 2012. 

Susan Hedman, 

Regional Administrator, Region 5. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4171 Filed 2–21–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R09–OAR–2012–0140; FRL–9634–5] 

Revision to the South Coast Air Quality 

Management District Portion of the 

California State Implementation Plan, 

South Coast Rule 1315 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a 

State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

revision for the South Coast Air Quality 

Management District (District) portion 

of the California SIP. This SIP revision 

proposes to incorporate Rule 1315— 

Federal New Source Review Tracking 

System—into the District’s SIP 

approved New Source Review (NSR) 

program to establish the procedures for 

demonstrating equivalency with Federal 

offset requirements by specifying how 

the District will track debits and credits 

in its Offset Accounts for Federal NSR 

Equivalency for specific Federal 

nonattainment pollutants and their 

precursors. The District’s SIP approved 

NSR program contained in Regulation 

XIII allows the District to exempt certain 

sources from obtaining offsetting 

emission reductions on the open market 

and for the District to provide offsets for 

designated sources that qualify, such as 

essential public services. EPA’s 

proposal to approve this SIP revision is 

based on finding that Rule 1315 

provides an adequate system to 

demonstrate on an on-going basis that 

an equivalent amount of offsets are 

being provided pursuant to this rule as 

would otherwise be required by the 

Clean Air Act (CAA) and that the 

emission reductions the District is 

crediting and debiting in its Offset 

Accounts meet the requirements of the 

CAA and can be used to provide the 

offsets otherwise required for Federal 

major sources and modifications. 

DATES: Comments on this Notice of 

Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) must be 

submitted no later than March 23, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, 

identified by docket number EPA–R09– 

OAR–2012–0140, by one of the 

following methods: 

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 

instructions. 

2. Email: r9airpermits@epa.gov. 

3. Mail or deliver: Gerardo Rios (Air3), 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: The index to the docket for 

this action is available electronically at 

www.regulations.gov and in hard copy 

at EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, 

San Francisco, California. While EPA 

generally lists the documents in the 

docket in the index, some information 

may not be specifically listed as a line 

item in the index or may be publicly 

available only at the hard copy location 

(e.g., voluminous records, copyrighted 

material), 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. The hard copy 

materials constitute the docket. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, (415) 

972–3534, yannayon.laura@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, ‘‘we’’, ‘‘us’’, 

and ‘‘our’’ refer to EPA. 

Table of Contents 

I. Background 

II. Evaluation of SIP Revision 

A. What is in the SIP revision? 

B. What are the Federal Clean Air Act 

requirements? 

C. How does the SIP revision comply with 

the Federal integrity criteria and 

demonstrate equivalency? 

D. Do Rule 1315’s offsets comply with the 

EPA’s base year requirements? 

E. CAA Section 110(l) 

F. Public Comment and Final Action 

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. Background 

EPA allows and encourages local 

authorities to tailor SIP programs, 

including new source review permitting 

programs, to account for that 

community’s particular needs provided 

that the SIP is not less stringent than the 

Act’s requirements. See generally CAA 

Section 116, 42 U.S.C. 7416; Train v. 

Natural Res. Defense Council, 421 U.S. 

60, 79 (1975); Union Electric Co. v. EPA, 

427 U.S. 246, 250 (1976). The District’s 

nonattainment permitting rules 

contained in District Regulation XIII 

went through numerous public 

workshops and stakeholder meetings 

prior to adoption in December 1995. 

The California Air Resources Board 

(CARB) submitted Regulation XIII along 

with supporting regulations and 

documents to EPA Region 9 on August 

28, 1996. On December 4, 1996, EPA 

Region 9 published a direct final 

approval of Regulation XIII in the 

Federal Register. 61 FR 64291 

(December 4, 1996) (Codified at 40 CFR 

52.220(c)(240)(i)(1)). 

When EPA approved Regulation XIII, 

we noted that Rule 1304 exempted 

certain major sources from obtaining 

offsets and Rule 1309.1 allowed the 


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1Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX Air 

& Toxics Division Technical Support Document for 

EPA’s Notice of Final Rulemaking for the California 

State Implementation Plan South Coast Air Quality 

Management District New Source Review by 

Gerardo C. Rios, October 24, 1996 (TSD). 

2Annual Equivalency Reports approved by the 

South Coast AQMD Board, dated February 14, 1997, 

March 13, 1998, April 9, 1999, August 18, 2000, 

November 9, 2001, August 2, 2002, and April 2, 

2004. 

District to provide offsets for specific 

‘‘priority’’ projects. We approved these 

rules because the District committed to 

demonstrating on an annual basis that it 

was providing an amount of offsets that 

was equivalent to the amount required 

to offset Federal new and modified 

major sources.1 EPA did not require the 

District to codify its internal NSR 

tracking system in rule language as a 

condition of full approval of Regulation 

XIII. From 1997 through 2005, the 

District submitted annual equivalency 

reports to its Board for approval and 

provided copies to EPA Region 9.2 The 

District’s Board meetings at which the 

annual reports were approved were 

open to the public. 

EPA informed the District beginning 

in 2002 that if it was significantly 

expanding the sources that were 

allowed to obtain offsets from the 

internal NSR tracking system through a 

new offset budget rule (Rule 1309.2— 

Offset Budget), the tracking system’s 

transparency should be improved. 

Proposed SCAQMD NSR Offset 

Tracking System, Oct. 14, 2005, (2005 

Proposed Tracking System) at p.1. In 

2004–2005, the District drafted 

regulatory language, now revised and 

adopted as Rule 1315, to establish NSR 

program equivalency with the Federal 

NSR offset requirements for major 

sources and demonstrate annually that 

the District provided sufficient offsets 

for Federal major sources and 

modifications that were (1) otherwise 

exempt from offset requirements under 

Rule 1304 or (2) allocated offsets 

pursuant to Rule 1309.1. Proposed Rule 

1315(a), Preliminary Draft, Adopted 

Sept. 8, 2006. 

In our discussions during 2002–2003, 

EPA also noted that the District’s use of 

the negative NSR balances and other 

pre-1990 era offsets to fund the NSR 

tracking system would be inconsistent 

with Federal requirements unless the 

District had sufficient records for those 

offsets. Staff Report: Proposed Rule 

1315—Federal New Source Review 

Tracking System, dated January 7, 2011, 

at pp. 6–7 (2011 Staff Report); 2005 

Proposed Tracking System at pp. 1–2. 

The District concluded that it did not 

readily have sufficient documentation 

for many of the offsets it had collected 

from the negative NSR balances and 

other pre-1990 era offsets. Proposed 

SCAMQD NSR Offset Tracking System, 

Oct. 14, 2005 at p. 2. 

The District responded to EPA’s 

request by eliminating any offsets 

originating before 1990 without 

documentation on October 14, 2005. 

2005 Proposed Tracking System, at pp. 

12–13. Unlike many areas, the District 

requires almost all Federal minor 

sources to obtain a permit and offset any 

emission increases up to the sources’ 

permitted emissions level. Rule 

1303(b)(2). 

The adjustments the District made in 

October 2005 to the existing NSR 

tracking system significantly decreased 

the balance of available offsets for most 

pollutants. For example, this adjustment 

reduced the internal NSR tracking 

system balance for PM10 (particulate 

matter with an aerodynamic diameter 

less than or equal to 10 micrometers) by 

92% (from 34.5 to 2.67 tons per day). 

2011 Staff Report, at p. 9; 2005 Proposed 

Tracking System, at Table 1. The 

District informed EPA Region 9 that it 

had previously credited the offsets from 

minor orphan shutdowns for State 

purposes. The District had not needed 

to credit those minor orphan shutdowns 

for its Federal accounts because the 

offsets from the negative NSR balances 

were far greater than the amount needed 

to demonstrate equivalency with 

Federal offset requirements for Rule 

1304 exempt sources and Rule 1309.1 

priority reserve sources. (2005 Proposed 

Tracking System), at p. 3. 

EPA and the District had further 

discussions about the changes to the 

NSR tracking system resulting in a 

revised letter to EPA dated February 23, 

2006. SCAQMD’s Revised NSR Offset 

Tracking System, Feb. 23, 2006. The 

revisions primarily resolved issues EPA 

raised regarding the District’s method of 

reporting the offset account balances 

and the remedy if a shortfall was 

projected. SCAQMD Letter from Dr. 

Barry Wallerstein to Deborah Jordan, 

Feb. 24, 2006. EPA responded by letter 

on April 11, 2006, indicating that the 

District’s proposed NSR Offset Tracking 

System funded with emission 

reductions from minor and major 

orphan shutdowns and other sources 

(i.e. credits to the system) appeared to 

be sufficient for EPA to propose 

approval of Rule 1315. EPA Letter from 

Deborah Jordan to Dr. Barry Wallerstein, 

April 11, 2006. Both the October 2005 

Proposed SCAQMD NSR Offset 

Tracking System and February 23, 2006 

Revised NSR Offset Tracking System 

appended tables prepared by the 

SCAQMD called the ‘‘Federal Running 

Balances.’’ Revised NSR Offset Tracking 

System, Feb. 23, 2006, Attachment 1. 

The Federal Running Balances table 

contains details concerning the credits 

added and debits subtracted from the 

NSR offset tracking system. 

The District adopted Rule 1315’s 

regulatory language codifying how it 

will account for, or ‘‘track’’, the 

emission reductions that it adds into its 

Offset Accounts as credits and those 

which it subtracts as debits to provide 

offsets for the construction of certain 

Federal major sources or modifications 

exempted from offset requirements 

pursuant to Rule 1304 or for which the 

District provided offsets pursuant to 

Rule 1309.1. SCAQMD Governing Board 

Resolution for the Re-adoption of Rule 

1315—Federal New Source Review 

Tracking System, dated Feb. 4, 2011. 

EPA is now proposing to approve Rule 

1315 as a SIP revision. 

II. Evaluation of SIP Revision 

A. What is in the SIP revision? 

Rule 1315 which the District, through 

CARB, submitted to EPA consists of the 

regulatory text the District adopted on 

February 4, 2011, along with supporting 

documentation including a Staff Report 

dated January 7, 2011. EPA received the 

SIP submittal for Rule 1315 from CARB 

on March 2, 2011, and a supplemental 

submittal on February 7, 2012. On 

March 25, 2011, we found that the 

submittal of District Rule 1315 met the 

completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51, 

appendix V, which must be met before 

formal EPA review. 

The Rule contains a section 

describing its purpose and a definitions 

section. Rule 1315(a) and (b). Rule 

1315(c), Offset Accounts for Federal 

NSR Equivalency, contains provisions 

for quantifying, crediting and debiting 

the offset accounts. Rule 1315(c)(1), 

District Offset Accounts for Federal 

Nonattainment Air Contaminants, 

provides that all pre-1990 offsets were 

removed at the end of 2005 and sets 

forth the initial District Offset Account 

Balances in Table A. Rule 1315(c)(2) 

provides that the District shall debit its 

Offsets Accounts for emissions increases 

at Federal new and modified major 

sources that are not required to provide 

Emission Reduction Credits (ERCs) 

based on Rules 1304 (Exemptions) and 

1309.1 (Priority Reserve). Rule 

1315(c)(3)(A) contains a list of the 

emission reductions the District can add 

to its Offset Accounts and 1315(c)(3)(B) 

establishes how the District will 

quantify the actual emissions reductions 

for that list. Rule 1315(c)(4) specifies 

how the District will discount each 

Offset Account annually to ensure the 

reductions will be surplus to all CAA 

requirements at the time an offset is 


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used. Rule 1315(c)(5) specifies the steps 

the District will take to calculate 

annually a Preliminary Determination of 

Equivalence and Final Determination of 

Equivalence. In Rule 1315(c)(6), the 

District sets forth how the credits and 

debits meet each of the Federal 

requirements for offsets. The remaining 

provisions in Rule 1315 establish the 

methods for reporting the annual 

Preliminary and Final Equivalency 

demonstrations, projecting future Offset 

Account balances and methods to 

remedy any balance shortfalls. Rule 

1315 provides that it will expire on 

January 1, 2031. 

B. What are the Federal Clean Air Act 

requirements? 

The South Coast Air Basin is an 

extreme nonattainment area for ozone 

and a serious nonattainment area for 

PM10. The Coachella Valley Air Basin is 

a severe nonattainment area for ozone 

and a serious nonattainment area for 

PM10. Oxides of nitrogen (NOX) and 

volatile organic compounds (VOC) are 

both ozone precursors and are therefore 

treated as ozone nonattainment 

pollutants. Sulfur dioxide (SO2) 

emissions are PM10 precursors and are 

therefore also treated as a PM10

nonattainment pollutant. While the 

District is classified as nonattainment 

for PM2.5 (particulate matter with an 

aerodynamic diameter less than or equal 

to 2.5 micrometers) and portions of the 

District as nonattainment for lead, Rule 

1315 does not apply to these pollutants. 

The District was redesignated to 

attainment for carbon monoxide (CO) on 

May 11, 2007 (72 FR 26718), but CO is 

included in the tracking system because 

of its past nonattainment status. 

As required by CAA § 110(a)(2)(C), 

SIPs are required to include provisions 

to comply with CAA Part D for 

nonattainment pollutants. Among the 

Part D requirements, § 173(a)(1)(A) 

requires new and modified major 

stationary sources to provide offsetting 

emission reductions. Section 173(c) 

requires the offsetting emission 

reductions to be quantifiable, surplus, 

permanent, and enforceable. See 40 CFR 

51.165(a)(3)(ii)(c)(i); 40 CFR part 51, 

appendix S. This proposal will refer to 

those requirements as the ‘‘federal 

integrity criteria’’. 

EPA is proposing to approve Rule 

1315 because the rule ensures that the 

emission reductions in the District’s 

Offset Accounts meet the Federal 

integrity criteria. See Rule 1315(c). Rule 

1315 also demonstrates that the 

District’s offset tracking system provides 

an equivalent quantity of offsets for 

those major sources and modifications 

that are not required to provide such 

offsets pursuant to District Rules 1304 

and 1309.1. EPA’s analysis of how the 

credits and debits tracked in Rule 1315 

meet the Federal integrity criteria is 

summarized below and set forth in more 

detail in the Technical Support 

Document (TSD). 

C. How does the SIP revision comply 

with the Federal integrity criteria and 

demonstrate equivalency? 

1. The Offsets Credited and Debited 

Through Rule 1315 Are Quantifiable 

EPA is proposing to approve Rule 

1315 because the emission reductions 

that the District credits and debits to its 

Offset Accounts meet the requirement to 

be quantifiable emissions reductions. 

The District meets this requirement by 

demonstrating that the credits and 

debits are actual and quantifiable 

reductions of emissions. To quantify the 

reductions of emissions from orphan 

shutdown sources, the District 

determines the permitted emissions 

level and then applies an 80% actual 

emissions factor. Rule 1315(c)(3)(B)(i); 

Staff Report at p. 17 (‘‘AQMD proposes 

to use an average discount factor to 

account for the difference between 

potential and actual emissions.’’). The 

vast majority of emission reductions 

credited to the Offset Accounts are from 

orphan shutdowns, which occur when 

the owner/operator of a stationary 

source that has been shut down does not 

apply for an Emission Reduction Credit 

(ERC) under Rule 1309 (Emission 

Reduction Credits and Short Term 

Credits). Staff Report at p. 17. The 

information that is available to the 

District when a source is shut down and 

the operating permit is inactivated are 

the source’s permitted emissions, which 

represent its potential to emit rather 

than its actual emissions. Under Rule 

1315, the District makes an adjustment 

to the permitted (i.e. potential) 

emissions by applying an 80% actual 

emissions factor before crediting these 

emissions to the Offset Accounts. See 

Rule 1315(c)(3)(B)(i); Staff Report at 

p. 17. 

The District has justified its 

determination that reducing the 

permitted (i.e. potential) emissions by 

20% and crediting the remaining 80% is 

an adequate representation of actual 

emissions based on several 

considerations. The District has 

historically implemented an 80% actual 

emissions factor for estimating actual 

emission reductions in its Regulation 

XIII annual reports following 

concurrence by the California Air 

Resources Board. Staff Report at 17. The 

District also provided a Federal Reserve 

Statistical Release Report examining 

historical industrial production and 

capacity utilization. While certain short 

term cycles may reflect greater or lower 

utilization, the District’s justification for 

selecting an 80% factor over the long 

term is supported by this data. Id. The 

District’s method of quantifying actual 

emission reductions is also supported 

by the inherent structure of the District’s 

NSR program. Every stationary source 

that is operated in the District with 

permitted emissions exceeding 4 tons 

per year (tpy) of ozone precursors or 

PM10 (including precursors) is required 

to obtain ERCs to offset the entire 

amount of its permitted emissions. The 

cost of obtaining the ERCs to offset 

permitted emissions provides ‘‘a strong 

incentive to keep [each source’s] 

potential emissions in line with actual 

emissions during times of high 

production’’. Staff Report at 17. 

For exempt and priority reserve 

sources that obtain their offsets from the 

District, the District limits the amount of 

offsets provided by including permit 

conditions that limit operations to 

actual operating scenarios. The District 

has shown that fifty to eighty percent of 

the very small exempt sources (emitting 

< 4 tpy of most pollutants) have permits 

emissions limits that are less than onehalf of the exemption threshold (i.e. 

permitted emissions are less than 2 tpy). 

Table 5 of Staff Report, p 18. This 

information supports finding that the 

District is permitting sources at close to 

the source’s actual emissions and that 

an 80% actual emissions factor 

adequately reflects actual reductions 

from orphan shutdown sources. 

For the reasons provided by the 

District, EPA is proposing to approve 

Rule 1315 as ensuring that the emission 

reductions it credits to its Offset 

Accounts pursuant to Rule 

1315(c)(3)(B)(i) meet the requirement to 

be actual emission reductions based on 

crediting only 80% of permitted 

emission levels. 

2. The Offsets Credited and Debited 

Through Rule 1315 Are Surplus 

Rule 1315(c)(4) ensures that any 

offsets debited from the District Offset 

Accounts are properly adjusted to be 

surplus at the time they are used as 

required by the Federal integrity 

criteria. Specifically, the rule requires 

that the balance of credits in the Offset 

Accounts for each pollutant be reduced 

annually to account for any newly 

adopted rules that control these 

pollutants, ensuring that the debits used 

as offsets are surplus at the time they are 

used. Rule 1315(c)(4) (providing that the 

District discount the Offset Account 

balances annually ‘‘based on the 

percentage reduction in overall 


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3See 2007 Plan Appendix III, pgs 28–34, Tables 

2–8 and 2–12. For Table 2.8, the District provided 

EPA with the point and area source data used to 

generate the summary data. EPA used this data to 

determine the amount of emission due to growth at 

facilities subject to NSR offset requirements. 

permitted emissions projected to be 

achieved as a result of implementation 

of control requirements that became 

effective during the previous calendar 

year for each specific nonattainment 

contaminant within the District.’’) EPA 

is proposing to find that Rule 1315 

ensures that the offsets the District 

debits from its Offset Accounts meet the 

Federal integrity criterion to be surplus. 

3. The Offsets Debited From the District 

Offset Accounts Are Permanent 

The emission reductions credited to 

the District’s Offset Accounts are all 

permanent reductions at the time they 

are credited to the accounts because the 

permit for the emission source has 

either been retired or revised to include 

conditions that limit the emissions to 

levels lower than they are otherwise 

required to be limited through the use 

of federally enforceable permit 

conditions. The debits are permanent 

because Rule 1315 requires the District 

to subtract those offsets from the 

District’s Offset Account balances. Rule 

1315(c)(5)(B). The District must provide 

its Preliminary and Final 

Determinations of Equivalency annually 

to ensure there is a positive balance in 

each Offset Account. Rule 1315 also 

contains an equivalency backstop 

provision if any Offset Account has a 

shortfall. Rule 1315(f). EPA is proposing 

to find that Rule 1315 assures that the 

emission reductions in the District’s 

Offset Accounts meet the requirement 

for permanent reductions. 

4. The Offsets Credited and Debited 

From the District Offset Accounts Are 

Enforceable 

The emission reductions credited to 

the District’s Offset Accounts for orphan 

shutdowns or orphan reductions are all 

enforceable reductions at the time they 

are credited to the accounts because the 

permit for the emission source has 

either been retired, which means the 

source is no longer allowed to operate/ 

emit those pollutants, or revised to 

include conditions that limit the 

emissions to levels lower than they are 

otherwise required to be limited through 

the use of federally enforceable permit 

conditions. This ensures that the 

emissions will be permanently retired or 

reduced. Rule 1315(b)(4) & (5) and 

(c)(3)(A)(i) & (ii). For each of the other 

types of credits listed in Rule 1315 

(c)(3)(A), the credits are based on ERCs 

that have been generated pursuant to 

Rule 1309, which also requires that the 

emission reductions meet each of the 

Federal integrity criterion, including the 

requirement to be enforceable emission 

reductions. Therefore, EPA is proposing 

to find Rule 1315 meets the Federal 

integrity criterion for enforceable 

reductions. 

D. Do Rule 1315’s offsets comply with 

the EPA’s base year requirements? 

40 CFR 51.165(a)(3)(i)(C) provides: 

Emissions reductions achieved by shutting 

down an existing emission unit or curtailing 

production or operating hours may be 

generally credited for offsets if * * *. (ii) 

[t]he shutdown or curtailment occurred after 

the last day of the base year for the SIP 

planning process. For purposes of this 

paragraph, a reviewing authority may choose 

to consider a prior shutdown or curtailment 

to have occurred after the last day of the base 

year if the projected emissions inventory 

used to develop the attainment 

demonstration explicitly includes the 

emissions from such previously shutdown or 

curtailed emission units. 

See also 40 CFR part 50, appendix S, IV. 

Rule 1315 is being submitted by the 

District to demonstrate equivalency 

with the Part D requirements for ozone 

and PM10 (and their precursor 

emissions). To evaluate Rule 1315’s 

compliance with the base year 

requirement for using offsets from 

emissions units being shut down or 

curtailed, EPA has determined that the 

most appropriate attainment 

demonstrations to review are the 

District’s approved PM10 and 8-hour 

ozone Plans. Approval and 

Promulgation of [SIPs] for Air Quality 

Planning Purposes; California—South 

Coast and Coachella, 70 FR 69081 (Nov. 

14, 2005) (2003 Plan); Approval of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

California; South Coast; Attainment 

Plan for 1997 8-hour Ozone Standards, 

EPA–R09–OAR–2011–0622 (Signed 

Dec. 15, 2011) (2007 Plan). The 

District’s PM10 Plan was adopted in 

2003 and relies on a 1997 base year 

emission inventory. 2003 Plans, Chapter 

3 & Appendix III. For ozone, the Plan 

was adopted in 2007 and relies on a 

2002 base year emission inventory. 2007 

Plan, Chapter 3 & Appendix III. 

In accordance with the base year 

requirements specified in 40 CFR 

51.165, the District estimated that 3.1 

tons per day (tpd) of pre-2002 base year 

VOC emission reductions may be 

needed to satisfy offset demand. 2007 

Plan Appendix III. For ozone 

precursors, the District added 27 and 2 

tons per day for VOC and NOX, 

respectively, as growth.3 This amount 

includes the 3.1 tpd of pre-2002 base 

year VOC emission reductions. While 

this is not the total amount of pre-2002 

base year emission reductions available 

as debits pursuant to Rule 1315, the 

District has demonstrated that this 

amount represents the highest amount 

of pre-2002 credits that are expected to 

be used as offsets prior to attainment of 

the ozone standard. 2007 Plan 

Appendix III, pgs 28–34. The District 

used a similar approach for the 2003 

Plan as it pertains to PM10 and SOX

emissions. See the TSD for additional 

details. This approach is consistent with 

EPA guidance that states must include 

pre-base year credits to the ‘‘extent that 

the State expects that such credits will 

be used for offsets * * *’’. 57 FR 13498 

Therefore, even if the District Offset 

Accounts rely on pre-base year emission 

reductions as offsets, the District’s Plans 

have adequately added pre-base year 

emissions explicitly into the appropriate 

projected planning inventories. For 

these reasons, EPA is proposing to 

approve Rule 1315. 

E. CAA Section 110(l) 

Under section 110(l) of the CAA, EPA 

may not approve any SIP revision that 

would interfere with attainment, 

reasonable further progress (RFP) or any 

other CAA requirement. EPA’s 

incorporation of Rule 1315 into the SIP 

will not interfere with attainment or 

RFP because the rule provides a 

regulatory mechanism setting forth the 

internal offset accounting system that 

the District has been relying on. In 

addition, the District does not rely on 

the offsets in the District’s Offset 

Accounts for attainment or RFP in the 

District’s most recent attainment 

demonstrations for ozone or PM10. 

This SIP revision also does not 

interfere with any other CAA 

requirement. Rule 1315 provides 

regulatory language detailing how the 

District will quantify and add credits 

and subtract debits from its Offset 

Accounts. Our proposal to approve Rule 

l315 is based on finding the rule ensures 

the credits and debits meet the Federal 

integrity criteria and that the District 

system overall is equivalent to the 

requirements of Section 173. 

F. Public Comment and Final Action 

Because EPA has determined Rule 

1315 fulfills all relevant requirements, 

we are proposing to fully approve it 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. After considering the information 

and views submitted to us during the 

comment period, we will take final 

action on this SIP submittal. 

Rule 1315 has been under 

development at the District and the 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
10434 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 35 / Wednesday, February 22, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

interested public has been involved in 

its development for the last several 

years, including state litigation 

concerning the Rule. Therefore, EPA 

does not anticipate extending the public 

comment period beyond 30 days absent 

extraordinary or compelling 

circumstances. 

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 approves 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); 

• 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 rule 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 

Air pollution control, Environmental 

protection, Intergovernmental relations, 

Particulate matter, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements. 

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

Dated: February 9, 2012. 

Jared Blumenfeld, 

Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2012–4172 Filed 2–21–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 98 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2011–0028; FRL–9633–6] 

RIN 2060–AQ70 

Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse 

Gases Rule: Confidentiality 

Determinations and Best Available 

Monitoring Methods Provisions 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: This action re-proposes 

confidentiality determinations for the 

data elements in subpart I, Electronics 

Manufacturing source category, of the 

Mandatory Reporting of Greenhouse 

Gases Rule. On July 7, 2010, the EPA 

proposed confidentiality determinations 

for then-proposed subpart I data 

elements and is now issuing this reproposal due to significant changes to 

certain data elements in the final 

subpart I reporting requirements. In 

addition, the EPA is proposing 

amendments to subpart I regarding the 

calculation and reporting of emissions 

from facilities that use best available 

monitoring methods. Proposed 

amendments would remove the 

obligation to recalculate and resubmit 

emission estimates for the period during 

which the facility used best available 

monitoring methods after the facility 

has begun using all applicable 

monitoring methods of subpart I. 

DATES: Comments. Comments must be 

received on or before March 23, 2012 

unless a public hearing is requested by 

February 29, 2012. If a timely hearing 

request is submitted, we must receive 

written comments on or before April 9, 

2012. 

Public Hearing. The EPA does not 

plan to conduct a public hearing unless 

requested. To request a hearing, please 

contact the person listed in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section 

by February 29, 2012. Upon such 

request, the EPA will hold the hearing 

on March 8, 2012 in the Washington, DC 

area starting at 9 a.m., local time. EPA 

will provide further information about 

the hearing on its Web page if a hearing 

is requested. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2011–0028, by one of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 

instructions for submitting comments. 

• Email: GHGReportingCBI@epa.gov. 

• Fax: (202) 566–1741. 

• Mail: Environmental Protection 

Agency, EPA Docket Center (EPA/DC), 

Mailcode 6102T, Attention Docket ID 

No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2011–0028, 1200 

Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, 

DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 

Public Reading Room, EPA West 

Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution 

Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20004. 

Such deliveries are only accepted 

during the Docket’s normal hours of 

operation, and special arrangements 

should be made for deliveries of boxed 

information. 

Instructions: Direct your comments to 

Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2011– 

0028. The EPA’s policy is that all 

comments received will be included in 

the public docket without change and 

may be made available online at 

http://www.regulations.gov, including 

any personal information provided, 

unless the comment includes 

information claimed to be confidential 

business information (CBI) or other 

information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. 

Do not submit information that you 

consider to be CBI or otherwise 

protected through http:// 

www.regulations.gov or email. Send or 

deliver information identified as CBI to 

only the mail or hand/courier delivery 

address listed above, attention: Docket 

ID No. EPA–HQ–OAR–2011–0028. The 

http://www.regulations.gov Web site is 

an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, which 

means the EPA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an email, 


wreier-aviles on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS