Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 189 / Thursday, September 28, 2000 / Proposed Rules 58249

Dated: September 15, 2000.

Bradley M. Campbell,

Regional Administrator, Region III.

[FR Doc. 00–24793 Filed 9–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–U

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[DC047–2021; FRL–6878–1]

Approval and Promulgation of Air

Quality Implementation Plans; District

of Columbia; Reasonably Available

Control Technology for Oxides of

Nitrogen

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve

a State Implementation Plan (SIP)

revision submitted by the District of

Columbia (the District). This revision

requires major sources of nitrogen

oxides (NOx) in the District to

implement reasonably available control

technology (RACT). This revision

withdraws EPA’s previously proposed

conditional approval of the District’s

NOx RACT regulation, and, instead,

proposes full approval of the SIP

revision. This action is being taken in

accordance with the Clean Air Act.

DATES: Written comments must be

received on or before October 30, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be mailed to David L. Arnold, Chief,

Ozone and Mobile Sources Branch,

Mailcode 3AP21, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region III, 1650

Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

19103. Copies of the documents relevant

to this action are available for public

inspection during normal business

hours at the Air Protection Division,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Region III, 1650 Arch Street,

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103; the

Air and Radiation Docket and

Information Center, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW,

Washington, DC 20460; and the District

of Columbia Department of Public

Health, Air Quality Division, 51 N

Street, NE., Washington, DC 20002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kelly L. Bunker, (215) 814–2177 or by

e-mail at bunker.kelly@epamail.epa.gov.

While information may be requested via

e-mail, any comments must be

submitted in writing to the EPA Region

III address above.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Pursuant to sections 182(b)(2) and

182(f) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), ozone

nonattainment areas classified as

moderate or above are required to

implement RACT for all major sources

of NOx by no later than May 31, 1995.

The major source size is determined by

the classification of the nonattainment

area and whether it is located in the

Ozone Transport Region which was

established by the CAA. The District of

Columbia is located within the

Metropolitan Washington, DC ozone

nonattainment area which is classified

as a serious. Therefore, major stationary

sources of NOX are defined as those that

emit or have the potential to emit 50

tons or more per year.

On January 13, 1994, the District of

Columbia Department of Consumer and

Regulatory Affairs (DCRA), now known

as the District of Columbia Department

of Health (DoH), submitted revisions to

its State Implementation Plan (SIP) that

included a new regulation, Section 805,

entitled ‘‘Reasonably Available Control

Technology for Major Stationary

Sources of Oxides of Nitrogen’’, to

Subtitle I (Air Quality) of Title 20 of the

District of Columbia Municipal

Regulations (DCMR). Section 805

requires sources which emit or have the

potential to emit 50 tons or more of NOX

per year to comply with RACT

requirements by May 31, 1995.

On February 25, 1999 (64 FR 9272),

EPA published a direct final rulemaking

(DFR) conditionally approving the

District of Columbia’s NOX RACT

regulation found in section 805 of Title

20 of the DCMR. A companion notice of

proposed rulemaking (NPR) proposing

conditional approval the District of

Columbia’s NOX RACT regulation was

published in the Proposed Rules section

of the same February 25, 1999 Federal

Register (64 FR 9289). In the February

25, 1999 DFR, EPA stated that if adverse

comments were received within 30 days

of its publication, EPA would publish a

document announcing the withdrawal

of that DFR before its effective date.

Because EPA did receive adverse

comments on the February 25, 1999

DFR within the prescribed time frame,

we withdrew it. Under these

circumstances the companion NPR

remained in effect and interested parties

submitted comments pursuant to that

NPR. The withdrawal document

appeared in the Federal Register on

April 13, 1999 (70 FR 17982). On

August 28, 2000, the District of

Columbia submitted proposed revisions

to Section 805 of Title 20 of the DCMR

as supplement to its January 13, 1994

SIP submittal for parallel-processing by

EPA. These proposed revisions correct

the deficiencies identified in the

February 25, 1999 notice. Therefore, by

this rulemaking, EPA is withdrawing its

February 25, 1999 proposed conditional

approval and is proposing full approval

of the revised version the District of

Columbia’s NOX RACT regulation found

in section 805 of Title 20 of the DCMR

submitted on August 28, 2000.

A summary of the District’s submittal

and EPA’s rationale for approval are

provided below. A more detailed

description of the District’s submittal

and EPA’s evaluation are included in

the Technical Support Document (TSD)

and the addendum to the TSD both

prepared in support of this rulemaking

action. A copy of the TSD and its

addendum are available, upon request,

from the EPA Regional Office listed in

the ADDRESSES section of this document.

II. Summary of the SIP Revision and

EPA Evaluation

General Provisions

Subtitle I of 20 DCMR was amended

to add a new section 805 that applies to

all sources in the District having the

potential to emit (PTE) 50 tons or more

of NOX per year. Exemptions from the

requirements of section 805 are

provided for sources that have a permit

from the District limiting the potential

to emit to less than 50 tons per year

(TPY) and for emergency stand-by

engines operated less than 500 hours

per 12 month period. Section 805

contains presumptive emission limits

for certain source categories of NOX

including: Stationary combustion

turbines, fossil-fuel-fired steamgenerating units and asphalt concrete

plants. Individual sources in these

categories with presumptive RACT

emission limits may also apply for

alternative emission limits which reflect

the application of source-specific RACT.

Any such applications for alternative

RACT determinations are subject to

approval by both the District and EPA

as SIP revisions. All other major source

categories of NOX must have a RACT

emission limit approved by the District

and EPA in an emissions control plan.

All major sources of NOX must submit

an emissions control plan to the District

that describes the source and

demonstrates how RACT will be

implemented. The District will conduct

a public hearing for those sources that

apply for alternative emission limits and

those not subject to specific source

category emission limits before final

approval is issued.

58250 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 189 / Thursday, September 28, 2000 / Proposed Rules

EPA’s Evaluation

EPA defines PTE in 40 CFR

51.165(a)(1)(iii) as the maximum

capacity of a source to emit unless

federally enforceable restrictions are

imposed that would limit emissions.

Subsection 805.1(c) in the District’s rule

exempts sources with a District permit

limiting PTE to less than 50 TPY.

Because the District of Columbia does

not have a Federally Enforceable State

Operating Permit (FESOP) program,

subsection 805.1(c)(1) requires that any

permit which limits the PTE to less than

50 TPY of NOX must be transmitted and

approved by the EPA as a revision to the

District’s SIP.

Source Category RACT

RACT for specific categories of NOX

sources is established in subsections

805.4, 805.5, 805.6 and 805.8. of DCMR

No. 20, Subtitle 1 as listed in the table

below, entitled ‘‘RACT for NOX

Sources’’:

RACT FOR NOX SOURCES

Source category Fuel type Rated heat capacity NOX emission limit Averaging period

Simple Cycle Turbine ........ Oil ...................................... ≥ 100 MMBTU/hr* ............. 75 ppmvd @ 15% O2** ..... Not specified***

Combustion Turbine (not

otherwise classified).

Not specified ..................... ≥ 100 MMBTU/hr .............. Exempt if operated less

than 500 hours/year.

N/A

Utility Boiler (not otherwise

specified).

Fossil Fuel ......................... ≥ 20 MMBTU/hr ................

≥ 50 MMBTU/hr ................

No limit, RACT is defined

as an annual combustion adjustment.

N/A

Utility Boiler—tangential or

face-fired.

Oil ...................................... ≥ 50 MMBTU/hr ................

≥ 100 MMBTU/hr ..............

0.3 lbs./MMBTU ................ Calendar day

Utility Boiler—dry bottom ... Coal ................................... ≥ 100 MMBTU/hr .............. 0.43 lbs./MMBTU .............. Calendar day

-tangential.

-face-fired.

-stoker.

Utility Boiler—tangential or

face-fired.

Oil ...................................... ≥ 100 MMBTU/hr .............. 0.25 lbs./MMBTU .............. Calendar Day

Utility Boiler—tangential or

face-fired.

Oil and Natural Gas combined.≥ 100 MMBTU/hr .............. 0.25 lbs./MMBTU .............. Calendar Day

Utility Boiler—tangential .... Natural Gas only ............... ≥ 100 MMBTU/hr .............. 0.20 lbs./MMBTU .............. Calendar Day

Asphalt Concrete Plants .... N/A .................................... N/A .................................... 150 ppmvd NOX and 500

ppmvd CO @ 7% O2.

Not specified ***

* Million British Thermal Units (MMBTU) per hour (hr).

** Parts per million dry volume (ppmvd)

*** Where an averaging time is not specified, compliance is to be continuous.

Subsection 805.4 establishes emission

limits for stationary combustion

turbines. Subsection 805.4(b)(1)

exempts combustion turbines operated

less than 500 hours per calendar year

from meeting the NOX RACT limits in

subsection 805.4. Subsection 805.5

establishes presumptive RACT for

fossil-fueled steam-generating units.

Utility boilers with a rated heat capacity

of 100 MMBTU or greater must

demonstrate compliance with the

applicable emission limit using

approved continuous emissions

monitoring (CEM) technology pursuant

to 40 CFR Part 60, Appendix B. All

other utility boilers and turbines subject

to these source category requirements

may choose between CEM technology or

alternative test methods approved by

the District and EPA.

Subsection 805.5(a) requires that any

fossil fuel fired steam-generating units

with an energy input capacity greater

than or equal to 20 MMBTU per hour

must perform an annual adjustment of

the combustion process. The minimal

requirements of the annual combustion

adjustment are specified in subsection

805.8. Although sources subject to this

requirement must record the results of

the combustion process adjustments,

this requirement will not result in an

additional emission limitation. The

combustion process adjustment is the

only RACT requirement for sources with

a rated heat capacity equal to or greater

than 20 MMBTU but less than 50

MMBTU.

Subsection 805.6 specifies an

emission limit of 150 ppmvd NOX and

500 ppmvd CO corrected to 7% oxygen

for asphalt concrete plants that emit 50

TPY or greater of NOX. Sources may

choose between CEM or test methods

approved by the District and EPA to

demonstrate compliance.

However, if a source chooses to use

testing, subsection 805.6(d)(2) requires

that testing be conducted at least

annually and demonstrate that the NOX

emission rate does not exceed the rate

specified in subsection 805.5.

EPA’s Evaluation

The emission limits for large utility

boilers are supported by data gathered

by the State and Territorial Air

Pollution Program Administrators

(STAPPA) and the Association of Local

Air Pollution Control Officials

(ALAPCO). EPA has published RACTlevel NOX emission rates for selected

types of utility boilers that are to be

applied to groups of boilers on an area

wide, BTU-weighted basis (November

25, 1992, 57 FR 55620, 55625). The

District’s emission limits for individual

source units are very similar to EPA’s

area wide averages and should provide

the same level of control recommended

by EPA. The emission limit for oil-fired

combustion turbines is supported by

data gathered for existing turbines by

the Northeast States for Coordinated Air

Use Management (NESCAUM) and is

acceptable. EPA has not issued guidance

on reducing NOX emissions from

asphalt concrete plants. EPA finds that

the emission limit established for

asphalt concrete plants in section 805.6

of the District’s rule constitutes an

acceptable level of RACT.

The District has defined RACT for

combustion sources equal to or greater

than 20 MMBTU/hour but less than 50

MMBTU/hour as annual combustion

adjustments. The regulation details the

minimal requirements for the

adjustment and specifies recordkeeping

requirements for each combustion

adjustment. EPA finds that the annual

combustion adjustment constitutes

RACT for combustion sources equal to

or greater than 20 MMBTU/hour but less

than 50 MMBTU/hour and is

approvable.

Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 189 / Thursday, September 28, 2000 / Proposed Rules 58251

Source-specific (Generic) RACT

Provisions

The District’s regulation requires that

all other NOX sources having the

potential to emit 50 tons of NOX per

year not listed on the table above must

submit an emission control plan to the

District specifying a RACT emission

limit that will be met by May 31, 1995

(subsection 805.7). The emission control

plan must be approved by the District

and approved as a SIP revision by EPA.

Sources must demonstrate compliance

using either CEM technology or testing

approved by the District and EPA.

Testing, if chosen, must be conducted

annually and must demonstrate that the

NOX emission rate does not exceed the

emission rate specified in subsection

805.5 for the applicable fossil fuel

steam-generating unit. Daily records

must be maintained and kept for three

years to demonstrate compliance with

the applicable emission rate. Emissions

that are subject to any other regulation

in subtitle I of 20 DCMR or those that

have emission limits approved in a

federally enforceable regulation as

meeting Best Available Control

Technology (BACT) or Lowest

Achievable Emission Rate (LAER) since

January 1, 1990, are exempt from these

requirements.

EPA’s Evaluation

Under subsection 805.7, major NOX

sources that are not otherwise covered

by presumptive emission limits under

section 805 are subject to a process to

develop and submit individual source

RACT determinations for the District’s

approval and submission to EPA as SIP

revisions. For all other major NOX

sources or those NOX sources electing

not to comply with presumptive

emission requirements, the District

provides the option of a source-specific

RACT determination through

subsections 805.2(b) and 805.7.

Subsections 805.2(b) and 805.7

specifically allow sources to have RACT

approved via the SIP revision process.

EPA refers to this type of provision as

a ‘‘generic RACT’’ provision in a state

regulation. Specifically, ‘‘generic RACT

rules’’ are defined as rules that merely

require sources to identify RACT-level

controls which the state will later

submit through the SIP process.

EPA has long interpreted the RACT

requirements of the Clean Air Act to

mean that states must adopt and submit

regulations that include emission limits

as applicable to the subject sources. In

other words, a state would not fully

meet the RACT requirement until it

establishes emission limits on all major

sources. In a November 7, 1996 EPA

policy memorandum from Sally Shaver,

Director, Air Quality Strategies and

Standards Division, to all Regional Air

Division Directors, EPA outlined the

necessary prerequisites for approving a

state’s (or in this case the District’s)

generic RACT regulation. In this

memorandum, EPA recognized that in

most instances a generic RACT rule

strengthens the SIP to the extent that it

sets dates by which sources must submit

RACT and comply with requirements.

The November 7, 1996 memorandum

recommends that approval should be

granted to a state’s generic rule as long

as EPA believes that the state has

submitted all the source-specific RACT

determinations and has submitted a

declaration that to the best of its

knowledge, there are no remaining

unregulated sources. Full approval,

however, should not be granted until

EPA has also determined through

rulemaking that the source-specific

determinations also meet the RACT

requirements.

In a letter dated December 16, 1998,

the District of Columbia Department of

Health notified EPA that all major

stationary sources of NOX emissions in

the District are subject to the

presumptive source category RACT

limits of subsections 805.4, 805.5 or

805.6. In other words, no major sources

in the District have elected to apply for

alternative RACT determinations

through the source-specific process.

Furthermore, the December 16, 1998

letter included a ‘‘negative declaration’’

pertaining to the entire universe of all

other categories of major sources of

NOX. In other words, the District has no

other major sources of NOX, such as

incinerators, reciprocating internal

combustion engines, glass

manufacturing, nitric/adipic acid

production, cement manufacturing and

iron/steel manufacturing plants, etc.

The District has not and will not be

submitting any source-specific RACT

determinations because the entire of

universe of major sources of NOX in the

District are subject to RACT emission

limits under section 805. Because all

major sources of NOX in the District are

subject to RACT, as established in

section 805, EPA finds that the

requirements of sections 182 and 184 of

the Clean Air Act have been met

regardless of the generic provisions of

section 805.

Monitoring, Recordkeeping and

Reporting

For sources subject to the

presumptive limits found in section

805, subsection 805.2(a) requires such

sources to demonstrate compliance with

the applicable emission limits using

continuous emission monitors

according to 40 CFR part 60 Appendix

B, or through other test methods

approved by the District and EPA. For

combustion turbines and utility boilers,

compliance will be determined using an

emission monitoring system to

continuously monitor and record the

NOX emission rate and demonstrate that

the NOX emission rate does not exceed

the applicable allowable NOX emission

rate (subsections 805.4(d) and 805.5(e)).

For sources electing alternative

emission limits as RACT, subsections

805.2(c) and 805.7(d) require all sources

to maintain continuous compliance

through installation of a continuous

emissions monitoring system or other

methods consistent with the operational

parameters and limits set forth in any

permit or certificate approved by the

District and EPA.

EPA’s Evaluation

Specific recordkeeping requirements

necessary to determine compliance are

not contained in the regulation.

Subsection 805.3(c)(4) requires all

emission control plans to include

recordkeeping procedures for air

pollution control equipment used to

reduce NOX emissions. However,

because the emission control plans for

sources subject to source category limits

in subsections 805.4 through 805.6 are

not required to be submitted as SIP

revisions they are not made federally

enforceable through this regulation. EPA

believes that this deficiency is resolved

through Chapter 5 of subtitle I of the

District’s regulations. This SIP-approved

Chapter requires stationary sources with

emissions greater than 25 TPY to

conduct testing and maintain adequate

records for compliance with applicable

requirements.

EPA’s review of this material

indicates approval of this SIP revision.

EPA is proposing to approve the District

of Columbia’s SIP revision for NOX

RACT, which was submitted on January

13, 1994 and supplemented on August

28, 2000. EPA is soliciting public

comments on the issues discussed in

this notice or on other relevant matters.

These comments will be considered

before taking final action. Interested

parties may participate in the Federal

rulemaking procedure by submitting

written comments to the EPA Regional

office listed in the ADDRESSES section of

this notice.

This revision is being proposed under

a procedure called parallel processing,

whereby EPA proposes rulemaking

action concurrently with the state’s

procedures for amending its regulations.

If the proposed revision is substantially

changed in areas other than those

58252 Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 189 / Thursday, September 28, 2000 / Proposed Rules

identified in this notice, EPA will

evaluate those changes and may publish

another notice of proposed rulemaking.

If no substantial changes are made other

than those areas cited in this notice,

EPA will publish a Final Rulemaking

Notice on the revisions. The final

rulemaking action by EPA will occur

only after the SIP revision has been

adopted by the District of Columbia and

submitted formally to EPA for

incorporation into the SIP.

III. Proposed Action

EPA is withdrawing the proposed

conditional approval published in the

Federal Register on February 25, 1999,

and is, instead, proposing full approval

of the District of Columbia’s NOX RACT

regulation found in section 805 of Title

20 of the DCMR which was submitted

as a SIP revision by the District of

Columbia on January 13, 1994 and

supplemented on August 28, 2000.

IV. Administrative Requirements

Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR

51735, October 4, 1993), this action is

not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ and

therefore is not subject to review by the

Office of Management and Budget. This

action merely approves state law as

meeting Federal requirements and

imposes no additional requirements

beyond those imposed by state law.

Accordingly, the Administrator certifies

that this rule will not have a significant

economic impact on a substantial

number of small entities under the

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601

et seq.). Because this rule approves preexisting requirements under state law

and does not impose any additional

enforceable duty beyond that required

by state law, it 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). For

the same reason, this rule also does not

significantly or uniquely affect the

communities of tribal governments, as

specified by Executive Order 13084 (63

FR 27655, May 10, 1998). This rule 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 (64 FR 43255,

August 10, 1999), because it merely

approves a state rule implementing a

federal standard, and does not alter the

relationship or the distribution of power

and responsibilities established in the

Clean Air Act. This rule also is not

subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR

19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not

economically significant. In reviewing

SIP submissions, EPA’s role is to

approve state choices, provided that

they meet the criteria of the Clean Air

Act. In this context, in the absence of a

prior existing requirement for the State

to use voluntary consensus standards

(VCS), EPA has no authority to

disapprove a SIP submission for failure

to use VCS. It would thus be

inconsistent with applicable law for

EPA, when it reviews a SIP submission,

to use VCS in place of a SIP submission

that otherwise satisfies the provisions of

the Clean Air Act. Thus, the

requirements of section 12(d) of the

National Technology Transfer and

Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C.

272 note) do not apply. As required by

section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (61

FR 4729, February 7, 1996), in issuing

this rule, EPA has taken the necessary

steps to eliminate drafting errors and

ambiguity, minimize potential litigation,

and provide a clear legal standard for

affected conduct. EPA has complied

with Executive Order 12630 (53 FR

8859, March 15, 1988) by examining the

takings implications of the rule in

accordance with the ‘‘Attorney

General’s Supplemental Guidelines for

the Evaluation of Risk and Avoidance of

Unanticipated Takings’ issued under the

executive order. This rule, which

proposes approval of the District of

Columbia’s NOX RACT regulation, does

not impose an information collection

burden under the provisions of the

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44

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

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air

pollution control, Intergovernmental

relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Reporting

and recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: September 15, 2000.

Bradley M. Campbell,

Regional Administrator, Region III.

[FR Doc. 00–24792 Filed 9–27–00; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[CA 217–0261; FRL–6878–8]

Approving Implementation Plans;

California State Implementation Plan

Revision, San Joaquin Valley Unified

Air Pollution Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing a limited

approval and limited disapproval of two

San Joaquin Valley Unified Air

Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD)

permitting and New Source Review

(NSR) rules for stationary sources. These

rules were submitted as revisions to the

California State Implementation Plan

(SIP). EPA originally proposed full

approval of these rules in the Federal

Register (64 FR 51493) on September

23, 1999. However, based on comments

EPA received on the proposed approval

and further review of the rules, EPA has

determined that the rules as submitted

are not fully approvable. Therefore, EPA

is now proposing a limited approval and

limited disapproval of the rules and

requesting comment on this proposal.

The intended effect of proposing

limited approval and limited

disapproval is to ensure that the

District’s permitting and NSR rules are

consistent with the requirements of the

Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990

(CAA or the Act). EPA is proposing a

limited approval of the rules because

the rules generally strengthen the SIP.

EPA is concurrently proposing a limited

disapproval of the rules because the

rules contain deficiencies which do not

fully meet the CAA requirements for

non-attainment areas and must be

corrected. If EPA finalizes this limited

approval and limited disapproval, EPA’s

final action will incorporate the rules

into the federally approved SIP. EPA

evaluated these rules based on CAA

guidelines for EPA action on SIP

submittals and EPA’s general

rulemaking authority.

DATES: Comments must arrive by

October 30, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: Ed Pike,

Permits Office [AIR–3], Air Division,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San

Francisco, CA 94105–3901.

You can review and copy the

submitted rules, the existing SIP rules,

and EPA’s Technical Support Document

(TSD) at EPA’s Region 9 office from 8:30

a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday to Friday. A

reasonable fee may be charged for

copying.

Copies of the submitted rules are also

available for inspection at the following

locations:

California Air Resources Board, 2020 L

Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

San Joaquin Valley Unified Air

Pollution Control District, 1990 East

Gettysburg Avenue, Fresno, CA 93726

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Please call Ed Pike at (415) 744–1211 or

send email to pike.ed@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: