Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 211 / Thursday, October 31, 2024 / Proposed Rules 86771 

1EPA received the May 30, 2023, submittal on 

May 31, 2023. For clarity, throughout this notice 

EPA will refer to the May 31, 2023, submission by 

its cover letter date of May 30, 2023. 

2The May 30, 2023, submittal also contains 

changes to Jefferson County Regulation 1.02, 

Definitions, in the Jefferson County portion of the 

Kentucky SIP. EPA addressed those changes in a 

separate rulemaking. See 89 FR 41319 (May 13, 

2024). 

3 In 2003, the City of Louisville and Jefferson 

County governments merged, and the ‘‘Jefferson 

County Air Pollution Control District’’ was renamed 

the ‘‘Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control 

District.’’ However, to be consistent with the 

terminology used in the subheading in table 2 of 40 

CFR 52.920(c), throughout this notice we refer to 

the District regulations contained in the Jefferson 

County portion of the Kentucky SIP as the 

‘‘Jefferson County’’ regulations. 4See CAA section 110(l). 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R04–OAR–2023–0339; FRL–12355– 

01–R4] 

Air Plan Approval; KY; Revisions to 

Jefferson County Control of Open 

Burning 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve a 

State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

revision submitted by the 

Commonwealth of Kentucky, through 

the Kentucky Division for Air Quality 

(KDAQ) on behalf of the Louisville 

Metro Pollution Control District 

(Jefferson County or District) via a letter 

dated May 30, 2023. The purpose of the 

revision is to clarify that a fire for 

general agricultural production must be 

a controlled burn; to allow the use of 

District-approved accelerants to start 

certain fires; and to adjust paragraph 

numbering. EPA is proposing to approve 

the changes pursuant to the Clean Air 

Act (CAA or Act). 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before December 2, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R04– 

OAR–2023–0339 at regulations.gov. 

Follow the online instructions for 

submitting comments. Once submitted, 

comments cannot be edited or removed 

from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish 

any comment received to its public 

docket. Do not submit electronically any 

information you consider to be 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Multimedia 

submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be 

accompanied by a written comment. 

The written comment is considered the 

official comment and should include 

discussion of all points you wish to 

make. EPA will generally not consider 

comments or comment contents located 

outside of the primary submission (i.e., 

on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 

system). For additional submission 

methods, the full EPA public comment 

policy, information about CBI or 

multimedia submissions, and general 

guidance on making effective 

comments, please visit https://

www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epadockets. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Simone Jarvis, Air Regulatory 

Management Section, Air Planning and 

Implementation Branch, Air and 

Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental 

Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 

Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. 

The telephone number is (404) 562– 

8393. Ms. Jarvis can also be reached via 

electronic mail at Jarvis.Simone@

epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

On May 30, 2023,1 KDAQ, on behalf 

of the District, submitted changes to the 

Jefferson County portion of the 

Kentucky SIP for EPA approval.2 In this 

proposed rulemaking, EPA is proposing 

to approve changes to Jefferson County 

Regulation 1.11, Control of Open 

Burning.3

II. EPA’s Analysis of Kentucky’s SIP 

Revision 

Kentucky’s May 30, 2023, SIP revision 

contains a version of Regulation 1.11, 

Control of Open Burning, that was 

adopted by the District on March 15, 

2023 (referred to as ‘‘Version 11’’ by the 

District). The District requests that EPA 

incorporate Version 11 into the SIP and 

identifies three changes in Regulation 

1.11 between Version 11 and Version 

10, the version of the rule currently in 

the SIP. 

The District’s first proposed change 

adds the phrase ‘‘i.e., a controlled burn’’ 

to Section 2.1.4 to clarify that ‘‘a fire for 

general agricultural production’’ must 

be a controlled burn. 

The District’s second proposed 

change adds an exception to Section 2.4. 

Section 2.4 prohibits the use of tires, 

used oil, heavy oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, 

kerosene, or similar accelerants to start 

or maintain combustion of any fire 

described in Section 2.1. The proposed 

exception would allow the use of 

District-approved liquid accelerants to 

start fires for general agricultural 

production for weed abatement, disease 

control, or pest prevention or for 

recognized silvicultural, range, native 

grassland, or wildlife management 

practices that have been approved by 

the District pursuant to Section 2.1.4. 

District-allowed accelerants are 

petroleum products, and these 

controlled burns are typically ignited by 

using two gallons of gasoline and five 

gallons of diesel fuel per 25 acres. In the 

past five years, the District has approved 

32 fires for general agricultural 

production for weed abatement, disease 

control, or pest prevention or for 

recognized silvicultural, range, native 

grassland, or wildlife management 

practices. EPA preliminarily agrees with 

the District’s determination that there 

are no significant increases or 

reductions in the estimated level of 

emissions due to this revision. Any 

change in emissions due to the use of 

liquid accelerants for initiating and 

maintaining controlled burns is 

expected to have a de minimis impact 

on the relevant criteria pollutants (i.e., 

ozone and particulate matter) and is not 

expected to interfere with any 

applicable requirement concerning 

attainment of the national ambient air 

quality standards (NAAQS). This 

revision was requested by prescribed 

fire practitioners and is reflective of 

typical practices for controlled burns. 

The District’s third proposed change 

renumbers the paragraph breaks for 

subsections 2.1.8 and 2.1.9, and 

removes subsection 2.1.10. These 

numbering changes do not affect the 

language of the rule or otherwise have 

any substantive impact. Given the 

nature of this change and the other 

changes described above, EPA is 

proposing that the SIP revision will not 

interfere with any applicable 

requirement concerning attainment of 

the NAAQS, reasonable further 

progress, or any other applicable 

requirement of the CAA.4

III. Incorporation by Reference 

In this document, EPA is proposing to 

include in a final EPA rule regulatory 

text that includes incorporation by 

reference. In accordance with 

requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, and as 

discussed in section II of this document, 

EPA is proposing to incorporate by 

reference Jefferson County Regulation 

1.11, Control of Open Burning, Version 

11, District-effective on March 15, 2023, 

which clarifies that a fire for general 

agricultural production must be a 

controlled burn; to allow the use of 

District-approved accelerants to start 

certain fires; and to adjust paragraph 

numbering. EPA has made, and will 

continue to make, these materials 

generally available through 


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86772 Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 211 / Thursday, October 31, 2024 / Proposed Rules 

www.regulations.gov and at the EPA 

Region 4 office (please contact the 

person identified in the ‘‘For Further 

Information Contact’’ section of this 

preamble for more information). 

IV. Proposed Action 

EPA is proposing to approve the 

changes to Regulation 1.11, Control of 

Open Burning, of the Jefferson County 

portion of the Kentucky SIP, submitted 

by the Commonwealth on May 30, 2023, 

for the reasons discussed above. The SIP 

revision updates the current SIPapproved version of Regulation 1.11 

(Version 10) to Version 11. 

V. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

Under the CAA, the Administrator is 

required to approve a SIP submission 

that complies with the provisions of the 

Act and applicable Federal regulations. 

See 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). 

Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, 

EPA’s role is to approve State choices, 

provided that they meet the criteria of 

the CAA. Accordingly, this proposed 

action merely proposes to approve 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 Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, 

October 4, 1993) and 14094 (88 FR 

21879, April 11, 2023); 

• 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 subject to Executive Order 

13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) 

because it approves a State program; 

• Is not a significant regulatory action 

subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 

28355, May 22, 2001); and 

• Is not subject to requirements of 

section 12(d) of the National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement 

Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because 

application of those requirements would 

be inconsistent with the CAA. 

In addition, the SIP is not proposing 

to apply on any Indian reservation land 

or in any other area where EPA or an 

Indian Tribe has demonstrated that a 

Tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 

Indian country, the rulemaking does not 

have Tribal implications and will not 

impose substantial direct costs on Tribal 

governments or preempt Tribal law as 

specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 

FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 

Executive Order 12898 (Federal 

Actions to Address Environmental 

Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Populations, 59 FR 7629, 

February 16, 1994) directs Federal 

agencies to identify and address 

‘‘disproportionately high and adverse 

human health or environmental effects’’ 

of their actions on communities with 

environmental justice (EJ) concerns to 

the greatest extent practicable and 

permitted by law. EPA defines EJ as 

‘‘the fair treatment and meaningful 

involvement of all people regardless of 

race, color, national origin, or income 

with respect to the development, 

implementation, and enforcement of 

environmental laws, regulations, and 

policies.’’ EPA further defines the term 

fair treatment to mean that ‘‘no group of 

people should bear a disproportionate 

burden of environmental harms and 

risks, including those resulting from the 

negative environmental consequences of 

industrial, governmental, and 

commercial operations or programs and 

policies.’’ 

The District did not evaluate EJ 

considerations as part of its SIP 

submittal; the CAA and applicable 

implementing regulations neither 

prohibit nor require such an evaluation. 

EPA did not perform an EJ analysis and 

did not consider EJ in this proposed 

action. Due to the nature of the action 

being proposed here, this proposed 

action is expected to have a neutral 

impact on the air quality of the affected 

area. Consideration of EJ is not required 

as part of this proposed action, and 

there is no information in the record 

inconsistent with the stated goal of E.O. 

12898 of achieving EJ for communities 

with EJ concerns. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 

Incorporation by reference, 

Intergovernmental relations, Lead, 

Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate 

matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

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

Dated: October 24, 2024. 

Jeaneanne Gettle, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4. 

[FR Doc. 2024–25244 Filed 10–30–24; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Parts 300 and 679 

[Docket No. 241025–0279] 

RIN 0648–BN18 

Fisheries of the Exclusive Economic 

Zone off Alaska; Pacific Halibut 

Recreational Quota Entity Program Fee 

Collection 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS proposes regulations to 

require a charter halibut stamp (stamp) 

for charter vessel anglers, age 18 years 

or older, for each day and each trip they 

intend to catch and retain halibut on a 

charter vessel in International Pacific 

Halibut Commission (IPHC) regulatory 

area 2C (Southeast Alaska) and 3A 

(Southcentral Alaska). Persons who 

hold charter halibut permits (CHPs) 

would purchase stamps, which would 

be electronic, from NMFS. Charter 

vessel guides would be required to 

validate a stamp for each adult charter 

vessel angler intending to catch and 

retain halibut. NMFS would ultimately 

transfer the collected fees from the 

stamp purchases to the Recreational 

Quota Entity (RQE) to purchase halibut 

Quota Share (QS) issued in the Halibut 

and Sablefish Individual Fishing Quota 

(IFQ) Program on behalf of the charter 

halibut fishery. This proposed rule is 

necessary to promote stability and 

economic viability in the charter halibut 

fishery, and is intended to promote the 

goals and objectives of the MagnusonStevens Fishery Conservation and 

Management Act (Magnuson-Stevens 

Act), the Northern Pacific Halibut Act of 

1982 (Halibut Act), and other applicable 

laws. 

DATES: Submit comments on or before 

December 2, 2024. 

ADDRESSES: A plain language summary 

of this proposed rule is available at 

https://www.regulations.gov/docket/ 

NOAA-NMFS-2024-0099. You may 

submit comments on this document, 


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