2472 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

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

Subpart F—California 

■ 2. Section 52.220 is amended by 

adding paragraphs (c)(381)(i)(A)(5) and 

(G) to read as follows: 

§ 52.220 Identification of plan. 

* * * * * 

(c) * * * 

(381) * * * 

(i) * * * 

(A) * * * 

(5) Rule 400.1, ‘‘Stationary Gas 

Turbine(s)—Reasonably Available 

Control Technology (RACT),’’ adopted 

on February 23, 2010. 

* * * * * 

(G) Antelope Valley Air Quality 

Management District. 

(1) Rule 1134, ‘‘Stationary Gas 

Turbines,’’ amended on January 19, 

2010. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2012–816 Filed 1–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 1043 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2011–0928; FRL–9618–9] 

RIN 2060–XXXX 

Great Lakes Steamship Repower 

Incentive Program 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Direct final rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final 

action to simplify an existing provision 

in our marine diesel engine program 

that is intended to encourage owners of 

Great Lakes steamships to repower those 

steamships with cleaner marine diesel 

engines. The simplified program will 

automatically permit the use of residual 

fuel, through December 31, 2025, in a 

steamship if it has been repowered with 

a certified Tier 2 or later marine diesel 

engine, provided the steamship was 

operated exclusively on the Great Lakes 

and was in service on October 30, 2009. 

Steamships are powered by old, 

inefficient steam boilers. Voluntary 

replacement of these boilers with 

modern fuel-efficient marine diesel 

engines will result in reductions of 

particulate matter and sulfur oxides, 

even while the replacement diesel 

engines are operated on higher sulfur 

residual fuel, and will provide human 

health and welfare benefits for the 

people who live in the Great Lakes 

region. Conversion to new diesel 

engines will also result in considerable 

carbon dioxide reductions and fuel 

savings. 

DATES: This rule is effective on March 

19, 2012 without further notice, unless 

EPA receives adverse comment by 

February 17, 2012. If EPA receives 

adverse comment, we will publish a 

timely withdrawal in the Federal 

Register informing the public that the 

rule will not take effect. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2011–0928, by one of the 

following methods: 

• www.regulations.gov: Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

• Email: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov. 

• Fax: (202) 566–9744. 

• Mail: Environmental Protection 

Agency, Air Docket, Mail-code 6102T, 

1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW., 

Washington, DC 20460. 

• Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center 

(EPA/DC), EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 

Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, 

DC, Attention Docket No. EPA–HQ– 

OAR–2010–0928. 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– 

0928. 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 

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 www.regulations.gov 

or email. The www.regulations.gov Web 

site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system, 

which means EPA will not know your 

identity or contact information unless 

you provide it in the body of your 

comment. If you send an email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.regulations.gov your email 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the comment 

that is placed in the public docket and 

made available on the Internet. If you 

submit an electronic comment, EPA 

recommends that you include your 

name and other contact information in 

the body of your comment and with any 

disk or CD–ROM you submit. 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. 

Electronic files should avoid the use of 

special characters, any form of 

encryption, and be free of any defects or 

viruses. For additional information 

about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA 

Docket Center homepage at http:// 

www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. 

For additional instructions on 

submitting comments, go to Unit III of 

the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section 

of this document. 

Docket: All documents in the docket 

are listed in the www.regulations.gov 

index. Although listed in the index, 

some information is not publicly 

available, e.g., CBI or other information 

whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 

Certain other material, such as 

copyrighted material, will be publicly 

available only in hard copy. Publicly 

available docket materials are available 

either electronically in 

www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at 

the ‘‘Great Lakes Steamship Repower 

Incentive Program’’ Docket, EPA/DC, 

EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 

Constitution Ave. NW., Washington, 

DC. The Public Reading Room is open 

from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 

through Friday, excluding legal 

holidays. The telephone number for the 

Public Reading Room is (202) 566–1744, 

and the telephone number for the ‘‘Great 

Lakes Steamship Repower Incentive 

Program’’ Docket is (202) 566–1742. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jean 

Marie Revelt, Environmental Protection 

Agency, Office of Transportation and 

Air Quality, Assessment and Standards 

Division, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann 

Arbor, Michigan 48105; telephone 

number: (734) 214–4822; fax number: 

(734) 214–4816; email address: 

revelt.jean-marie@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Why is EPA using a direct final rule? 

EPA is publishing this rule without a 

prior proposed rule because we view 

this as a noncontroversial action and 

anticipate no adverse comment. 

However, in the ‘‘Proposed Rules’’ 

section of today’s Federal Register, we 

are publishing a separate document that 

will serve as the proposed rule to adopt 

the provisions in this Direct Final Rule 

if adverse comments are received on 

this direct final rule. We will not 

institute a second comment period on 

this action. Any parties interested in 

commenting must do so at this time. For 

further information about commenting 

on this rule, see the ADDRESSES section 

of this document. 

If EPA receives adverse comment, we 

will publish a timely withdrawal in the 

Federal Register informing the public 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with RULES
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 2473 

1Category 3 marine engines are diesel engines 

with per cylinder displacement at or above 30 liters. 

2For the purpose of this program, ‘‘Great Lakes’’ 

means all the streams, rivers, lakes, and other 

bodies of water that are within the drainage basin 

of the St. Lawrence River, west of Anticosti Island. 

(40 CFR 1043.20). 

3Compliance can be through switching to ECAcompliant fuel or through the installation and use 

of an exhaust gas cleaning system (scrubber) or 

other technology or procedure that achieves 

equivalent sulfur emissions. See Section V.C of the 

preamble for our Category 3 FRM for a discussion 

of compliance strategies. 

that this direct final rule will not take 

effect. We would address all public 

comments in any subsequent final rule 

based on the proposed rule. 

II. Does this action apply to me? 

This action will affect companies that 

own steamships operating exclusively 

on the Great Lakes that were in service 

on October 30, 2009. The following 

table gives some examples of entities 

that may be affected by this rule; 

however, since these are only examples, 

you should carefully examine the 

regulations. You may direct questions 

regarding the applicability of this action 

as noted in FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT. 

Category NAICS codes a Examples of potentially regulated entities 

Industry ................................................................... 483113 Coastal and Great Lakes Freight Transportation. 

Industry ................................................................... 483114 Coastal and Great Lakes Passenger Transportation. 

Industry ................................................................... 336611 Ship building and repairing. 

Industry ................................................................... 811310 Engine repair, remanufacture, and maintenance. 

a North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). 

III. What should I consider as I prepare 

my comments for EPA? 

A. Submitting CBI. Do not submit this 

information to EPA through 

www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly 

mark the part or all of the information 

that you claim to be CBI. For CBI 

information in a disk or CD–ROM that 

you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the 

disk or CD–ROM as CBI and then 

identify electronically within the disk or 

CD–ROM the specific information that 

is claimed as CBI. In addition to one 

complete version of the comment that 

includes information claimed as CBI, a 

copy of the comment that does not 

contain the information claimed as CBI 

must be submitted for inclusion in the 

public docket. Information so marked 

will not be disclosed except in 

accordance with procedures set forth in 

40 CFR part 2. 

B. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. 

When submitting comments, remember 

to: 

• Identify the rulemaking by docket 

number and other identifying 

information (subject heading, Federal 

Register date and page number). 

• Follow directions—The agency may 

ask you to respond to specific questions 

or organize comments by referencing a 

Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 

or section number. 

• Explain why you agree or disagree; 

suggest alternatives and substitute 

language for your requested changes. 

• Describe any assumptions and 

provide any technical information and/ 

or data that you used. 

• If you estimate potential costs or 

burdens, explain how you arrived at 

your estimate in sufficient detail to 

allow for it to be reproduced. 

• Provide specific examples to 

illustrate your concerns, and suggest 

alternatives. 

• Explain your views as clearly as 

possible, avoiding the use of profanity 

or personal threats. 

• Make sure to submit your 

comments by the comment period 

deadline identified. 

IV. Summary of Rule 

A. Overview 

EPA’s final rule for Category 3 marine 

engines 1 and their fuels (75 FR 22896, 

April 30, 2010) exempted steamships 

from the sulfur limits that apply to fuel 

used in ships operating on the Great 

Lakes 2 beginning August 1, 2012 (40 

CFR 1043.95(a)). This means steamships 

can continue to operate indefinitely on 

high sulfur residual fuel. However, 

because steamship engines have high 

emissions and low fuel efficiency, we 

included a provision to encourage 

owners of Great Lakes steamships to 

voluntarily replace their steam boilers 

with cleaner, more fuel-efficient marine 

diesel engines (40 CFR 

1043.95(b)(4)(iv)). The current voluntary 

repower incentive is in the form of relief 

through EPA’s economic hardship 

program, through which an owner may 

apply for a relaxation of the Great Lakes 

fuel sulfur limits for fuel used by the 

repowered diesel ship, for a defined 

period of time. The use of lower price, 

higher sulfur residual fuel can help 

offset vessel repower costs. 

EPA believes that the goal of 

repowering the fleet of Great Lakes 

steamships will be achieved more 

effectively by adding a new incentive 

program to provide an automatic, timelimited fuel waiver for repowered 

steamships. Instead of applying for 

relief through the economic hardship 

program, Great Lakes steamship owners 

who voluntarily repower their 

steamships with diesel engines would 

automatically qualify for a waiver that 

will allow the use of residual fuel in the 

replacement diesel engines that exceeds 

the global and ECA sulfur limits that 

otherwise apply to the fuel used in 

marine diesel engines operated on the 

U. S. portions of the Great Lakes. This 

automatic Great Lakes steamship 

repower fuel waiver will be valid 

through December 31, 2025; after that 

date, repowered steamships will be 

required to comply with the Great Lakes 

ECA fuel sulfur limits for diesel 

engines.3 To qualify for this automatic 

fuel sulfur waiver, the steamship must 

be exempt from existing requirements 

pursuant to 40 CFR 1043.95(a) in that it 

must operate exclusively on the Great 

Lakes and must have been in service on 

October 30, 2009. In addition, the 

replacement engine must be a Tier 2 or 

cleaner marine diesel engine as 

specified in 40 CFR 1042.104. 

Voluntary replacement of steam 

engines with cleaner, more efficient Tier 

2 or better marine diesel engines 

through this modification to our 

steamship repower incentive program 

will provide important air quality and 

energy benefits immediately, due to the 

improved fuel efficiency of the diesel 

engines, and even larger benefits in the 

long term, when the repowered ships 

will use fuel that complies with the 

1,000 ppm sulfur limit on the Great 

Lakes. 

B. Background 

The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence 

Seaway are the longest deep draft 

navigation system in the world. About 

160 million tons of cargo is moved each 

year through the 110 ports located on 

this 2,300 mile system, which extends 

from the Gulf of St. Lawrence to the 

western shores of Lake Superior. 

According to a recent study, this 


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2474 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

4The Economic Impacts of the Great Lakes-St. 

Lawrence Seaway System. Martin Associates. 

October 18. 2011. A copy of this report can be 

found at http://www.marinedelivers.com/economy. 

5 Data in this section derived from Greenwoods 

Guide to Great Lakes Shipping 2010 (Harbor House 

Publishing, 2010), Lake Carriers’ Association, the 

Canadian Shipowners Association, and the St. 

Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation. See 

http://www.lcaships.com/TONPAGE.HTM, http:// 

www.shipowners.ca/index.php?page=annualreport-and-statistics, and http://www.seaway.ca/en/ 

seaway/facts/traffic/index.html. 

6MEPC.1/Circ.723, 13 May 2010. Information on 

North American Emission Control Area (ECA) 

Under MARPOL Annex VI. A copy of this 

document can be found at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/ 

regs/nonroad/marine/ci/mepc1-circ-re-na-eca.pdf. 

7See http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/dieselfuels/ 

documents/420b11002.pdf for a summary of the 

EPA and MARPOL Annex VI fuel sulfur limits and 

their effective dates. 

transportation system generated nearly 

93,000 directly-related jobs and 134,000 

indirect jobs in the U.S. and Canada in 

2010, providing about $34.5 billion in 

business revenue.4

The U.S. Great Lakes fleet consists of 

57 vessels that carry about 65 percent of 

Great Lakes cargo.5 This fleet is 

‘‘captive,’’ meaning that many of these 

ships operate solely on the Great Lakes. 

For some ships, this is because they are 

too large to pass through the Welland 

Canal to the St. Lawrence Seaway; 

others service only Great Lakes ports. 

Operation in fresh water minimizes hull 

corrosion and therefore these captive 

cargo ships remain in service for a long 

time. The average age of the fleet of all 

U.S. cargo vessels operating on the Great 

Lakes today is about 44 years. The 

Canadian fleet of 96 ships carries about 

25 percent of Great Lakes cargo. This 

fleet is different from the U.S. fleet in 

that the ships are younger, on average 

35 years, tend to be smaller, and are 

more likely to operate in the brackish 

water of the lower end of the St. 

Lawrence Seaway, the Gulf of St. 

Lawrence, and the Atlantic Ocean. The 

remaining Great Lakes cargo is carried 

by foreign ocean-ships operating on the 

system temporarily. 

Steamships are the oldest segment of 

the Great Lakes fleet. There are thirteen 

U.S. steamships operating on the Great 

Lakes; twelve of these have boilers 

burning residual fuel oil and the 

thirteenth operates on coal. The average 

age of these steamships is about 58 

years, the youngest being built in 1960 

and the oldest in 1942. The average age 

of the smaller fleet of 6 Canadian 

steamships is 57 years, with the 

youngest built in 1967. Because they 

operate primarily in fresh water, the 

U.S. steamships do not experience the 

corrosion of saltwater and are expected 

to remain in operation for several more 

decades. 

Steamships remaining in operation 

today, on both the Great Lakes and the 

ocean, are part of a legacy fleet that uses 

technology originally developed before 

the diesel engine became the dominant 

ship propulsion method worldwide. In 

steam technology engines, residual fuel 

or coal is burned to heat water in a 

boiler; the resulting steam is converted 

into energy to rotate the ship’s main 

propellers. Steam engines are less 

efficient than internal combustion 

engines and can use 30 to 50 percent 

more fuel than a diesel engine. This 

translates to high sulfur oxide (SOX) and 

particulate matter (PM) emissions. As 

discussed in our Category 3 marine rule, 

these emissions have important impacts 

on human health and the environment. 

Steamships that operate in salt water 

are retired from service as a result of 

hull corrosion, and much of today’s fleet 

of ocean steamships is expected to be 

retired by 2020. Owners choose diesel 

engines for the replacement vessels 

because of their better fuel efficiency 

and performance characteristics; diesel 

engines have lower SOx and PM 

emissions as well. Increasing fuel prices 

have led some Great Lakes steamship 

owners to carry out repower projects to 

replace their inefficient steam engines 

with cleaner fuel-efficient diesel 

engines. This type of vessel 

modification can be expensive, with 

costs of $15 to $25 million or more 

(20 to 25 percent of the cost of a new 

vessel), because the steam engine is an 

integral part of the vessel and the hull 

must be cut away to remove it. 

Repowering also requires extensive 

engine room and propeller 

modifications. However, the fuel 

savings associated with a 30 percent 

improvement in fuel efficiency 

combined with the long service life of 

Great Lakes ships helps the owner 

recover these costs. The fuel savings can 

make repowering attractive to owners 

on a long-term basis, and several Great 

Lakes steamships were repowered in the 

last decade, including the Paul R. 

Tregurtha, the Charles M. Beeghly (now 

the James L. Oberstar), the 

Michipicoten, and the Saginaw. This 

dynamic was changed, however, with 

the designation of the North American 

Emission Control Area (ECA) and the 

application of the stringent ECA fuel 

sulfur limits to the Great Lakes through 

our Category 3 marine rule. As 

explained below, ECA-compliant fuel is 

expected to be higher price distillate 

fuel, and steamship owners may not be 

able to recover the cost of a repower 

even with the better fuel efficiency of 

diesel engines compared to steam 

engines. As a result, the incentives for 

repowering any one of the thirteen 

remaining steamships became less 

compelling. 

C. EPA’s Coordinated Strategy for Ships 

and Steamship Repowers 

In our 2010 Category 3 marine 

rulemaking, EPA adopted a Coordinated 

Strategy for ships that will reduce 

emissions from all foreign and domestic 

vessels that affect U.S. air quality. The 

Coordinated Strategy applies to all ships 

that operate in the United States, 

including those that operate on the U.S. 

portions of the Great Lakes and St. 

Lawrence Seaway. The Coordinated 

Strategy consists of three parts: 

(i) Addition of new tiers of Clean Air 

Act (CAA) emission standards that 

apply to Category 3 marine engines 

installed on U.S. vessels, and certain 

compliance requirements that are 

consistent with our regulatory program 

for Category 1 and Category 2 marine 

engines; 

(ii) Designation of U.S. coastal waters 

as an Emission Control Area (ECA) 

through amendment to Annex VI of the 

International Convention for the 

Prevention of Pollution from Ships 

(MARPOL Annex VI); ships operating in 

a designated ECA are required to meet 

the most stringent engine and marine 

fuel sulfur requirements contained in 

MARPOL Annex VI; and 

(iii) Adoption of the engine emission 

and fuel sulfur limits contained in the 

amendments to MARPOL Annex VI that 

are applicable to all vessels regardless of 

flag and implementation of those 

requirements in the U.S. through the 

Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships 

(APPS) and regulations issued under 

APPS. 

The North American ECA was 

designated through amendment to 

MARPOL Annex VI that was adopted by 

the Parties to Annex VI in March 2010.6

A fuel sulfur limit of 10,000 ppm will 

begin to apply in this designated ECA 

starting in August 2012; this is reduced 

to 1,000 ppm beginning January 1, 

2015.7

Our 2010 Category 3 marine 

rulemaking finalized regulations 

implementing the MARPOL Annex VI 

and North American ECA requirements 

for U.S. vessels under the CAA and for 

U.S. and foreign vessels under APPS. 

That rule also adopted regulatory text to 

clarify that vessels operating in U.S. 

internal waters, shoreward of an ECA, 

that can be accessed by ocean-going 

vessels must meet the MARPOL Annex 

VI ECA requirements. This includes 

ports and internal waters such as the 

Great Lakes. In the regulatory text we 

refer to the internal waters in which we 

are applying the ECA requirements as 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 2475 

8Steamships operated in the coastal areas of the 

North American ECA are exempt from the fuel 

sulfur requirements through December 31, 2019, by 

amendment to MARPOL Annex VI. See MEPC 62/ 

24, Annex 14, page 4 (July 26, 2011). These ships 

are expected to be retired from service as of that 

date as a result of hull corrosion from operating in 

salt water. 

9 In certain cases EPA may approve the use of an 

engine that meets a less stringent tier of standards, 

if the owner can demonstrate that the engine was 

purchased for a steamship repower prior to October 

30, 2009 and it meets the criteria set out in the 

regulations. 

10 ‘‘In service’’ means operating as a steamship, 

but is not limited to actually performing that service 

on that day. 

the ‘‘ECA associated area.’’ The 

regulatory text applies the ECA 

requirements for these internal waters 

beginning at the same time as the ECA 

takes effect under MARPOL Annex VI. 

We received many comments from 

Great Lakes stakeholders during our 

Category 3 rulemaking process about the 

application of the ECA standards to the 

Great Lakes. Steamship owners raised 

technical and safety issues associated 

with operating Great Lakes steamships 

on distillate fuel, since these steamships 

were designed specifically to operate on 

residual fuel oils. In response to these 

comments, we considered a number of 

options to address the safety concerns 

for these vessels. However, Congress 

placed a prohibition on EPA’s use of 

funds to issue a final rule that included 

fuel sulfur standards applicable to 

existing steamships that operate 

exclusively in the Great Lakes. 

Therefore, under our APPS section 1903 

authority to ‘‘prescribe any necessary or 

desired regulations to carry out the 

provisions’’ of MARPOL Annex VI, our 

final regulations exclude Great Lakes 

steamships from the final fuel sulfur 

requirements (40 CFR 1043.95(a)). This 

means that steamships can continue to 

use high sulfur residual fuel 

indefinitely.8

At the same time, however, we 

recognized that the steamship fuel 

sulfur exemption, combined with the 

application of ECA fuel sulfur 

requirements to diesel ships operating 

on the Great Lakes, would reduce the 

incentives for steamship owners to 

repower their ships. This is because 

once the steamship is repowered with 

diesel engines it would no longer be 

exempt from the fuel sulfur 

requirements. In addition, the higher 

price of fuel that is compliant with ECA 

and global fuel requirements would 

make it harder to recover the costs of the 

repower project through fuel savings 

from the more fuel efficient diesel 

engines. 

As a result, we added a provision to 

our economic hardship waiver program 

that would allow EPA to consider ‘‘the 

ability of an individual vessel to recover 

capital investments incurred to repower 

or otherwise modify a vessel to reduce 

air emissions’’ (40 CFR 

1043.95(b)(4)(iv)). Using this provision, 

EPA intended that steamship owners 

who voluntarily repower their 

steamships with diesel engines could 

apply for an economic hardship waiver 

that would allow the ship to use lowerprice residual fuel in the repowered 

diesel engine for a specified period of 

time, which can help offset the capital 

costs of a repower project. 

Since EPA finalized the Category 3 

marine rule, we recognized that the goal 

of encouraging voluntary Great Lakes 

steamship repowers can be achieved 

more effectively by providing an 

automatic fuel sulfur waiver for a 

defined period of time for Great Lakes 

steamships that are repowered with a 

Tier 2 or better diesel engine.9

A waiver is appropriate and 

reasonable due to the significant 

emissions and energy benefits from 

repowering a steamship with a diesel 

engine, both immediately and in the 

long run. A diesel engine is 30 to 50 

percent more fuel-efficient than a steam 

power plant, due to better combustion 

technology. In a typical steamship, 

replacing the steam power plant with a 

diesel engine will immediately reduce 

SOX emissions by about 34 percent; PM 

emissions would be about the same for 

both engines when operating on high 

sulfur residual fuel. In the long term, 

beginning January 1, 2026 when the 

replacement diesel engines will be 

required to use fuel that complies with 

the 1,000 ppm sulfur limit on the Great 

Lakes, the estimated emission 

reductions will be even more 

significant: About 97 percent reduction 

in SOX and about 84 percent reduction 

in PM emissions compared to the steam 

engine. These SOX and PM emission 

reductions are extraordinary, especially 

given that Great Lakes steamships, 

repowered or not, will have many years 

of service life remaining even after the 

expiration of the fuel sulfur waiver. 

Steam engines have inherently low NOX

emissions due to their inefficient 

combustion process, and replacing a 

steam engine with a diesel engine may 

result in several times more NOX

emissions. However, the diesel marine 

engines that would replace the steam 

engine have NOX emissions comparable 

to diesel engines used in other marine 

and land-based applications, and would 

be required to meet at least EPA’s Tier 

2 standards. In addition, the health and 

human welfare benefits of reducing PM 

and SOX emissions overwhelm the 

impacts of the NOX emission increase of 

the repowered engine compared to the 

original steam engine. Therefore, the 

impacts of repowering Great Lakes 

steamships are expected to be 

significantly beneficial. 

An automatic waiver is appropriate 

because it will give owners greater 

flexibility with regard to how and when 

they repower. A ship repower is a 

lengthy process that requires significant 

redesign of the ship engine room and 

propulsion system. Also, the scheduling 

of dry dock time must be timed with the 

order and delivery of the replacement 

engine and other important ship 

components. An automatic waiver will 

avoid an additional review and approval 

phase for a repower project. It also may 

facilitate financing as the waiver is 

available for any qualifying steamship 

repower. 

Consistent with our existing 

steamship fuel sulfur waiver (40 CFR 

1043.95(a)), this steamship incentive 

program fuel waiver is available only to 

steamships that were operating 

exclusively on the Great Lakes and that 

were in service on October 30, 2009 10

and therefore are otherwise exempt from 

the requirements of Part 1043. In 

addition, the steam engine must be 

replaced with an engine that meets the 

EPA standards in effect at the time the 

ship will enter dry dock (i.e., it is 

covered by an EPA-issued certificate of 

conformity). 

To qualify for this steamship repower 

waiver, the vessel must remain intact in 

that the cargo section of the vessel must 

remain connected to the section that 

contains the pilothouse. This means that 

if a steamship is converted to a barge 

and is subsequently paired, either 

permanently or sporadically, with a tug, 

the tug will not qualify for this fuel 

sulfur waiver. Removal of the engine 

section of the vessel and replacing it 

with a tug is more consistent with 

replacing the existing vessel rather than 

repowering it. In addition, the 

replacement tug would likely be 

powered by a Category 2 engine that 

does not use residual fuel, due to the 

space restrictions on tugs and the 

requirements for fuel handling 

equipment to use residual fuel, and 

therefore a residual fuel waiver would 

be irrelevant. 

The waiver is valid through December 

31, 2025. Beginning January 1, 2026, the 

owner will be required to use ECAcompliant fuel in the repowered diesel 

engine. This limited waiver period is 

intended to encourage steamship 

owners to repower early to take full 

advantage of the amount of time they 

can use lower price residual fuel. This, 


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2476 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

in turn, will maximize the human 

health and environmental benefits of the 

steamship repower waiver. 

A steamship owner taking advantage 

of the automatic steamship repower 

incentive program is required to notify 

EPA’s designated certification officer of 

the intention to use this provision. The 

notification must include a description 

of the project, the expected timeline, 

and other relevant information. The 

owner is also required to notify EPA’s 

designated certification officer at 

completion of the project. At that time, 

EPA will provide the owner with a 

statement that the repowered ship is 

covered by the steamship repower 

incentive program fuel sulfur waiver. 

This document should be kept with the 

ship’s International Air Pollution 

Prevention (IAPP) and Engine 

International Air Pollution Prevention 

(EIAPP) certificates, for compliance 

purposes. 

The owner of the repowered 

steamship is required to comply with all 

other aspects of EPA’s marine diesel 

engine program, including the MARPOL 

Annex VI requirements with respect to 

bunker delivery notes. 

EPA has determined that no changes 

are needed to our 40 CFR part 80 fuels 

program to effectuate the fuel sulfur 

waiver for repowered steamships. This 

is because the prohibitions contained in 

40 CFR 80.610 specify that ‘‘no person 

shall * * * (6) beginning January 1, 

2015, introduce (or permit the 

introduction of) any fuel with a sulfur 

content greater than 1,000 ppm for use 

in a Category 3 marine vessel within an 

ECA, except as allowed by 40 CFR part 

1043,’’ and the steamship repower 

incentive program regulations will be 

part of 40 CFR 1043.95. In addition, 

ECA fuel is defined in 40 CFR 

80.2(ttt)(2)(i) as excluding ‘‘fuel that is 

allowed by 40 CFR part 1043 to exceed 

the fuel sulfur limits for operation in an 

ECA (such as fuel used by excluded 

vessels * * *).’’ 

D. Regulatory Action 

Under the authority of 33 U.S.C. 1903 

to ‘‘prescribe any necessary or desired 

regulations to carry out the provisions’’ 

of MARPOL Annex VI, EPA is taking 

direct final action to add an automatic 

fuel sulfur waiver to our marine diesel 

program for repowered steamships 

operating on the Great Lakes. This 

automatic fuel waiver is available only 

to owners of steamships that operate 

exclusively on the Great Lakes and that 

were in service on October 30, 2009, 

where ‘‘in service’’ means operating as 

a steamship, but is not limited to 

actually performing that service on that 

day. This waiver will allow the 

converted steamship to use noncompliant residual fuel in the 

repowered diesel engine through 

December 31, 2025. 

This action will not have an adverse 

cost impact on steamship owners. 

Steamship owners are not required to 

replace the steam engines on their 

vessels with diesel engines. This direct 

final rule merely adds a provision to 

allow steamship owners who 

voluntarily repower with diesel engines 

to automatically continue to use the fuel 

they would otherwise be permitted to 

use had the ship not been repowered, 

for a period of time. This provision will 

provide important air quality and 

energy benefits immediately, due to the 

improved fuel efficiency of the diesel 

engines, and even larger benefits 

beginning in 2026, when the repowered 

ship will use fuel that complies with the 

1,000 ppm sulfur limit on the Great 

Lakes. 

V. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review 

This action is not a ‘‘significant 

regulatory action’’ under the terms of 

Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, 

October 4, 1993) and is therefore not 

subject to review under Executive 

Orders 12866 and 13563 (76 FR 3821, 

January 21, 2011). This direct final rule 

merely adds an automatic waiver 

provision to encourage Great Lakes 

steamship owners to repower their 

vessels with cleaner marine diesel 

engines. There are no costs associated 

with this rule because steamship owners 

are not required to repower their ships. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act 

The information collection 

requirements in this rule will be 

submitted for approval to the Office of 

Management and Budget (OMB) under 

the Paperwork Reduction Act, 44 U.S.C. 

3501 et seq. The information collection 

requirements are not enforceable until 

OMB approves them. 

The program contained in this rule is 

a voluntary incentive program to 

encourage owners of Great Lakes 

steamship to repower their ships with 

diesel engines. A steamship owner 

taking advantage of the automatic fuel 

waiver is required to notify EPA’s 

designated certification officer of the 

intention to use this provision. The 

notification must include a description 

of the project, the expected timeline, 

and other relevant information. The 

owner is also required to notify EPA’s 

designated certification officer at 

completion of the project. The purpose 

of the reporting is to ensure that a 

repower has taken place, with a 

qualified EPA-certified engine. Because 

this program is voluntary, a steamship 

owner would provide this information 

only if the provision is exercised. When 

the project is completed, EPA will 

provide the owner with a statement that 

the repowered ship is covered by the 

steamship repower incentive program 

fuel sulfur waiver, which is to be kept 

onboard for compliance purposes. 

There are potentially six companies 

affected, which own the twelve 

remaining diesel steamships that 

operate on the Great Lakes. It is not 

known how many of these companies 

will actually take advantage of the 

waiver, or when they would repower. 

However, it is likely that the repowers 

would occur prior to 2015, to maximize 

the fuel savings afforded by the fuel 

sulfur waiver before it expires on 

December 31, 2025. 

The total estimated burden associated 

with the automatic steamship repower 

incentive program is 14.0 hours 

annually. This is based on two 

steamship owners repowering two 

steamships in each of three years and an 

estimated 3.5 annual labor hours for 

each manufacturer to prepare and 

submit the required information for 

each ship. Burden is defined at 5 CFR 

1320.3(b). 

An agency may not conduct or 

sponsor, and a person is not required to 

respond to, a collection of information 

unless it displays a currently valid OMB 

control number. The OMB control 

numbers for EPA’s regulations in 40 

CFR are listed in 40 CFR part 9. When 

this ICR is approved by OMB, the 

Agency will publish a technical 

amendment to 40 CFR part 9 in the 

Federal Register to display the OMB 

control number for the approved 

information collection requirements 

contained in this final rule. 

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act 

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

generally requires an agency to prepare 

a regulatory flexibility analysis of any 

rule subject to notice and comment 

rulemaking requirements under the 

Administrative Procedure Act or any 

other statute unless the agency certifies 

that the rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities. Small entities 

include small businesses, small 

organizations, and small governmental 

jurisdictions. 

For purposes of assessing the impacts 

of today’s rule on small entities, small 

entity is defined as: (1) A small business 

primarily engaged in shipbuilding and 

repairing as defined by NAICS code 


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Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 2477 

336611 with 1,000 or fewer employees 

(based on Small Business 

Administration size standards); (2) a 

small business that is primarily engaged 

in freight or passenger transportation on 

the Great Lakes as defined by NAICS 

codes 483113 and 483114 with 500 or 

fewer employees (based on Small 

Business Administration size 

standards); (3) a small business 

primarily engaged in commercial and 

industrial machinery and equipment 

repair and maintenance with annual 

receipts less than $7 million (based on 

Small Business Administration size 

standards); (4) a small governmental 

jurisdiction that is a government of a 

city, county, town, school district or 

special district with a population of less 

than 50,000; and (5) a small 

organization that is any not-for-profit 

enterprise which is independently 

owned and operated and is not 

dominant in its field. 

After considering the economic 

impacts of today’s final rule on small 

entities, I certify that this action will not 

have a significant economic impact on 

a substantial number of small entities. 

In determining whether a rule has a 

significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities, the 

impact of concern is any significant 

adverse economic impact on small 

entities, since the primary purpose of 

the regulatory flexibility analyses is to 

identify and address regulatory 

alternatives ‘‘which minimize any 

significant economic impact of the rule 

on small entities.’’ 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604. 

Thus, an agency may certify that a rule 

will not have a significant economic 

impact on a substantial number of small 

entities if the rule relieves regulatory 

burden, or otherwise has a positive 

economic effect on all of the small 

entities subject to the rule. 

This direct final rule merely adds an 

automatic waiver provision to 

encourage Great Lakes steamship 

owners to repower their vessels with 

cleaner marine diesel engines. There are 

no costs and therefore no regulatory 

burden associated with this rule because 

steamship owners are not required to 

repower their ships and can continue 

using their vessels indefinitely. This 

Great Lakes steamship repower 

incentive program will assist those 

steamship owners who choose to 

voluntarily repower their ships, 

however, by allowing them to use 

lower-price residual fuel in the 

repowered diesel ship for a specified 

period of time, which may help them 

cover the costs of the repower project. 

We have therefore concluded that 

today’s final rule will not increase 

regulatory burden for affected small 

entities. 

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

This action contains no Federal 

mandates under the provisions of Title 

II of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 

Act of 1995 (UMRA), 2 U.S.C. 1531– 

1538 for State, local, or tribal 

governments or the private sector. The 

action imposes no enforceable duty on 

any State, local or tribal governments or 

the private sector. Therefore, this action 

is not subject to the requirements of 

sections 202 or 205 of the UMRA. 

This action is also not subject to the 

requirements of section 203 of UMRA 

because it contains no regulatory 

requirements that might significantly or 

uniquely affect small governments. This 

direct final rule merely adds an 

automatic waiver provision to 

encourage Great Lakes steamship 

owners to repower their vessels with 

cleaner marine diesel engines. None of 

the thirteen U.S. steamships operating 

on the Great Lakes as of October 30, 

2009, are owned or operated by a State, 

local, or tribal government. 

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism 

This action does not have federalism 

implications. It will not have substantial 

direct effects on the States, on the 

relationship between the national 

government and the States, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, as specified in 

Executive Order 13132. This direct final 

rule merely adds an automatic waiver 

provision to encourage Great Lakes 

steamship owners to repower their 

vessels with cleaner marine diesel 

engines. None of the thirteen U.S. 

steamships operating on the Great Lakes 

as of October 30, 2009, are owned or 

operated by a State. Thus, Executive 

Order 13132 does not apply to this 

action. 

F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation 

and Coordination With Indian Tribal 

Governments 

This action does not have tribal 

implications, as specified in Executive 

Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 

2000). This direct final rule merely adds 

an automatic waiver provision to 

encourage Great Lakes steamship 

owners to repower their vessels with 

cleaner marine diesel engines. None of 

the thirteen U.S. steamships operating 

on the Great Lakes as of October 30, 

2009, are owned or operated by an 

Indian tribal government. Thus, 

Executive Order 13175 does not apply 

to this action. 

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of 

Children From Environmental Health 

and Safety Risks 

This action is not subject to Executive 

Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 

1997) because it is not economically 

significant as defined in Executive 

Order 12866, and because the Agency 

does not believe the environmental 

health or safety risks addressed by this 

action present a disproportionate risk to 

children. This direct final rule merely 

adds an automatic waiver provision to 

encourage Great Lakes steamship 

owners to repower their vessels with 

cleaner marine diesel engines. To the 

extent Great Lakes steamship owners 

take advantage of this incentive 

program, their action will provide 

immediate air quality and energy 

benefits, due to the improved fuel 

efficiency of the diesel engines, and 

even larger benefits in the long term, 

when the repowered ship will use fuel 

that complies with the 1,000 ppm sulfur 

limit on the Great Lakes. These emission 

reductions will improve air quality for 

all people who live in the Great Lakes 

region, including children and other 

sensitive populations. 

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use 

This action is not subject to Executive 

Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 

2001), because it is not a significant 

regulatory action under Executive Order 

12866. 

I. National Technology Transfer 

Advancement Act 

Section 12(d) of the National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement 

Act of 1995 (‘‘NTTAA’’), Public Law 

104–113, 12(d) (15 U.S.C. 272 note) 

directs EPA to use voluntary consensus 

standards in its regulatory activities 

unless to do so would be inconsistent 

with applicable law or otherwise 

impractical. Voluntary consensus 

standards are technical standards (e.g., 

materials specifications, test methods, 

sampling procedures, and business 

practices) that are developed or adopted 

by voluntary consensus standards 

bodies. NTTAA directs EPA to provide 

Congress, through OMB, explanations 

when the Agency decides not to use 

available and applicable voluntary 

consensus standards. 

This action does not involve technical 

standards. Therefore, EPA did not 

consider the use of any voluntary 

consensus standards. 


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2478 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 11 / Wednesday, January 18, 2012 / Rules and Regulations 

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal 

Actions To Address Environmental 

Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Populations 

Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, 

Feb. 16, 1994) establishes federal 

executive policy on environmental 

justice. Its main provision directs 

federal agencies, to the greatest extent 

practicable and permitted by law, to 

make environmental justice part of their 

mission by identifying and addressing, 

as appropriate, disproportionately high 

and adverse human health or 

environmental effects of their programs, 

policies, and activities on minority 

populations and low-income 

populations in the United States. 

EPA has determined that this final 

rule will not have disproportionately 

high and adverse human health or 

environmental effects on minority or 

low-income populations because it 

increases the level of environmental 

protection for all affected populations 

without having any disproportionately 

high and adverse human health or 

environmental effects on any 

population, including any minority or 

low-income population. This direct 

final rule merely adds an automatic 

waiver provision to encourage Great 

Lakes steamship owners to repower 

their vessels with cleaner marine diesel 

engines. To the extent Great Lakes 

steamship owners take advantage of this 

incentive program, their action will 

provide immediate air quality and 

energy benefits, due to the improved 

fuel efficiency of the diesel engines, and 

even larger benefits in the long term, 

when the repowered ship will use fuel 

that complies with the 1,000 ppm sulfur 

limit on the Great Lakes. These emission 

reductions will improve air quality for 

all people who live in the Great Lakes 

region, including minority and lowincome populations. 

K. Congressional Review Act 

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 rule 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). This rule 

will be effective on March 19, 2012. 

L. Statutory Authority 

The statutory authority for this action 

comes from section 1903 of the Act to 

Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. 

1901 et seq.). The Act to Prevent 

Pollution from Ships implements Annex 

VI to the International Convention for 

the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 

(MARPOL) and makes those 

requirements enforceable domestically. 

Section 1903 gives the Administrator 

the authority to prescribe any necessary 

or desired regulations to carry out the 

provisions of Regulations 12 through 19 

of MARPOL Annex VI. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 1043 

Environmental protection, 

Administrative practice and procedure, 

Air pollution control, Confidential 

business information, Economic 

hardship waiver, Great Lakes, North 

American Emission Control Area, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Steamships. 

Dated: January 11, 2012. 

Lisa P. Jackson, 

Administrator. 

For the reasons set out in the 

preamble, Title 40, Chapter I of the Code 

of Federal Regulations is amended as 

follows: 

PART 1043—CONTROL OF NOX, SOX, 

AND PM EMISSIONS FROM MARINE 

ENGINES AND VESSELS SUBJECT TO 

THE MARPOL PROTOCOL 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 1043 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1901–1915. 

■ 2. Section 1043.95 is amended by 

redesignating paragraphs (b) and (c) as 

paragraphs (c) and (d), respectively, and 

adding a new paragraph (b) to read as 

follows: 

§ 1043.95 Interim provisions. 

* * * * * 

(b) The fuel-use requirements of this 

part do not apply through December 31, 

2025, for a ship qualifying under 

paragraph (a) of this section if it was in 

service as a steamship on October 30, 

2009 and it is repowered with one or 

more marine diesel engines, subject to 

the following conditions and 

requirements: 

(1) Engines must meet exhaust 

emission standards using one of the 

following approaches: 

(i) All the installed replacement 

engines must be certified to applicable 

standards under 40 CFR part 1042 based 

on the date the vessel enters dry dock 

for service. 

(ii) We may approve the use of an 

engine meeting less stringent standards 

if the owner can demonstrate that it took 

possession of the engine before October 

30, 2009, and that engine is a new 

engine that has not been installed in a 

non-marine application. Such an engine 

must at a minimum be certified to the 

Annex VI NOX emission standard in 

§ 1043.60 that applies based on its build 

date. 

(2) The vessel owner must notify us 

regarding the intent to use this 

provision. The notification must include 

a description of the vessel and a 

summary of the project, including the 

expected timeline, and other relevant 

information. 

(3) The vessel owner must notify the 

Designated Certification Officer when 

the project is complete. We will send 

the owner a statement that the 

repowered ship is exempt from fuel 

sulfur requirements through December 

31, 2025; this statement must be kept 

onboard the vessel for compliance 

purposes. 

(4) All other requirements under this 

part 1043 continue to apply, including 

requirements related to bunker delivery 

notes. 

(5) This paragraph (b) applies only for 

vessels whose hull remains intact 

through the repowering process. For 

example, if a steamship is converted to 

a barge for use with tugboats, those 

vessels must use fuel meeting the 

requirements of this part 1043. 

* * * * * 

[FR Doc. 2012–819 Filed 1–17–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 679 

[Docket No. 110314196–1725–02] 

RIN 0648–BA97 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone Off Alaska; Groundfish of the 

Gulf of Alaska; Amendment 88 

Correction 

§ 679.81 [Corrected] 

In rule document 2011–32873 

appearing on pages 81248–81293 in the 

issue of December 27, 2011, make the 

following correction: 

On pages 81283–81283, the table at 

§ 679.81(i)(3) is reprinted in its entirety: 


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