Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules 29227 

substantial number of small entities 

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 

U.S.C. 601 et seq.); 

• Does not contain any unfunded 

mandate or significantly or uniquely 

affect small governments, as described 

in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4); 

• Does not have Federalism 

implications as specified in Executive 

Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 

1999); 

• Is not an economically significant 

regulatory action based on health or 

safety risks subject to Executive Order 

13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997); 

• Is not a significant regulatory action 

subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 

28355, May 22, 2001); 

• Is not subject to requirements of 

section 12(d) of the National 

Technology Transfer and Advancement 

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

application of those requirements would 

be inconsistent with the CAA; and 

• Does not provide EPA with the 

discretionary authority to address, as 

appropriate, disproportionate human 

health or environmental effects, using 

practicable and legally permissible 

methods, under Executive Order 12898 

(59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994). 

In addition, this proposed 

rulemaking, proposing to approve 

Maryland’s base year inventory SIP for 

the 2015 ozone NAAQS, does not have 

tribal implications as specified by 

Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, 

November 9, 2000), because the SIP is 

not approved to apply in Indian country 

located in the State, and EPA notes that 

it will not impose substantial direct 

costs on tribal governments or preempt 

tribal law. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 

Incorporation by reference, 

Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Nitrogen dioxide, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

Dated: May 19, 2021. 

Diana Esher, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2021–11441 Filed 5–28–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R09–OAR–2021–0333; FRL–10023– 

88–Region 9] 

Air Plan Limited Approval and Limited 

Disapproval, California; Mojave Desert 

Air Quality Management District 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing a limited 

approval and limited disapproval of 

revisions to the Mojave Desert Air 

Quality Management District’s 

(MDAQMD or District) portion of the 

California State Implementation Plan 

(SIP). This revision concerns oxides of 

nitrogen (NOX) emissions from 

stationary internal combustion engines. 

We are proposing action on a local rule 

that regulates these emission sources 

under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the 

Act). We are taking comments on this 

proposal and plan to follow with a final 

action. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before July 1, 2021. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R09– 

OAR–2021–0333 at http://

www.regulations.gov. For comments 

submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the 

online instructions for submitting 

comments. Once submitted, comments 

cannot be edited or removed from 

Regulations.gov. The 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. The 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, please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

For the full EPA public comment policy, 

information about CBI or multimedia 

submissions, and general guidance on 

making effective comments, please visit 

http://www.epa.gov/dockets/ 

commenting-epa-dockets. If you need 

assistance in a language other than 

English or if you are a person with 

disabilities who needs a reasonable 

accommodation at no cost to you, please 

contact the person identified in the FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Kevin Gong, EPA Region IX, 75 

Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 

94105. By phone: (415) 972–3073 or by 

email at gong.kevin@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

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

and ‘‘our’’ refer to the EPA. 

Table of Contents 

I. The State’s Submittal 

A. What rule did the State submit? 

B. Are there other versions of this rule? 

C. What is the purpose of the submitted 

rule revision? 

II. The EPA’s Evaluation and Action 

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule? 

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation 

criteria? 

C. What are the rule deficiencies? 

D. Proposed Action and Public Comment 

III. Incorporation by Reference 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. The State’s Submittal 

A. What rule did the State submit? 

Table 1 lists the rule addressed by this 

proposal with the dates that it was 

adopted by the MDAQMD and 

submitted by the California Air 

Resources Board. 

TABLE 1—SUBMITTED RULE

Rule No. Rule title Amended Submitted 

1160 ............... Internal Combustion Engines ...................................................................................................... 01/22/2018 05/23/2018 

On November 23, 2018 the submittal 

for MDAQMD Rule 1160 was deemed by 

operation of law to meet the 

completeness criteria in 40 CFR part 51 

Appendix V, which must be met before 

formal EPA review. 

B. Are there other versions of this rule? 

We approved an earlier version of 

Rule 1160 into the SIP on November 1, 

1996 (61 FR 56470). 


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29228 Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules 

1The EPA conditionally approved the District’s 

RACT SIPs for major NOX sources, based on the 

District’s commitment to remedy deficiencies in a 

set of different NOX rules, including Rule 1160. 83 

FR 5921 (February 12, 2018). The District has also 

submitted revisions to the other NOX rules subject 

to the conditional approval. Because the EPA has 

not yet acted on these other rules, we intend to 

address our conditional approval of the major NOX

RACT source category in a separate rulemaking 

once we have taken action on all of the applicable 

NOX rules. 

C. What is the purpose of the submitted 

rule revision? 

Emissions of NOX contribute to the 

production of ground-level ozone, smog 

and particulate matter, which harm 

human health and the environment. 

Section 110(a) of the CAA requires 

states to submit regulations that control 

NOX emissions. Rule 1160 regulates 

NOX emissions from stationary internal 

combustion engines. In the District’s 

reasonably available control technology 

(RACT) SIP for the 2008 National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS), the District concluded that 

Rule 1160 did not meet current RACT 

and acknowledged the need to revise 

the rule, primarily the limits for NOX, in 

order to implement RACT.1 The 

submitted rule revisions are intended to 

strengthen the rule by, among other 

things, strengthening the NOX limits in 

the rule, in order to implement current 

RACT. The EPA’s technical support 

document (TSD) has more information 

about this rule. 

II. The EPA’s Evaluation and Action 

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rule? 

Rules in the SIP must be enforceable 

(see CAA section 110(a)(2)), must not 

interfere with applicable requirements 

concerning attainment and reasonable 

further progress or other CAA 

requirements (see CAA section 110(l)), 

and must not modify certain SIP control 

requirements in nonattainment areas 

without ensuring equivalent or greater 

emissions reductions (see CAA section 

193). 

Generally, SIP rules must require 

RACT for each major source of NOX in 

ozone nonattainment areas classified as 

moderate or above (see CAA sections 

182(b)(2) and 182(f)). The MDAQMD 

regulates an ozone nonattainment area 

classified as Severe-15 for the 2008 

8-hour ozone NAAQS and the 2015 

8-hour ozone NAAQS (40 CFR 81.305), 

and Rule 1160 regulates multiple major 

sources of NOX in the nonattainment 

area. Therefore, this rule must 

implement RACT. 

Guidance and policy documents that 

we use to evaluate enforceability, 

revision/relaxation and rule stringency 

requirements for the applicable criteria 

pollutants include the following: 

1. ‘‘Issues Relating to VOC Regulation 

Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations,’’ 

EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised 

January 11, 1990). 

2. ‘‘Guidance Document for Correcting 

Common VOC & Other Rule Deficiencies,’’ 

EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little 

Bluebook). 

3. ‘‘Improving Air Quality with Economic 

Incentive Programs’’ (EPA–452/R–01–001, 

January 2001). 

4. Alternative Control Techniques 

Document—NOX Emissions from Stationary 

Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines’’ 

(EPA–453/R–93–032, July 1993). 

B. Does the rule meet the evaluation 

criteria? 

Rule 1160 improves the SIP by 

establishing more stringent NOX

emission limits and by clarifying 

monitoring, recording and 

recordkeeping provisions. The revised 

rule also requires an additional ten 

percent reduction in allowed emissions 

for facilities opting to use emissions 

aggregation as part of an economic 

incentive program (EIP), consistent with 

the EPA’s guidance on such provisions. 

The rule is largely consistent with CAA 

requirements and relevant guidance 

regarding enforceability, and RACT, 

except for the provisions described 

below. The rule is also consistent with 

the EPA’s requirements on SIP 

revisions, except for the provisions 

described below. Rule provisions that 

do not meet the evaluation criteria are 

summarized below and discussed 

further in the TSD. 

C. What are the rule deficiencies? 

These provisions do not satisfy the 

requirements of section 110 and part D 

of title I of the Act and prevent full 

approval of the SIP revision. 

1. MDAQMD Rule 1160 section 

(C)(2)(b) allows for engines to comply 

with an alternative emission reduction 

provision instead of the concentrationbased emission limits for NOX. 

Specifically, this alternative provision 

allows for owners or operators of 

applicable equipment to submit a plan 

for alternative emissions reduction that 

would achieve an 80% or 90% 

reduction of emissions from a baseline 

emission rate. Because the rule does not 

clearly specify how to calculate the 

baseline emission rate, the rule is not 

sufficiently clear to constitute an 

enforceable emission limitation, control 

measure, means or technique, as 

required under § 110(a)(2) of the Act. 

The rule leaves the approval of the NOX

emission reduction alternative to the 

District. Because the rule is not clear 

with respect to how to calculate the 

baseline emission rate, and the approval 

of an alternative limit is left to the 

District, this provision allows for 

overbroad discretion on the part of the 

Director to modify requirements of the 

SIP without the procedure required 

under § 110 of the Act. In addition, the 

ambiguous alternative emission 

reduction provision could allow many 

units to emit more than the 

concentration limit in the rule by, in 

some cases, more than two times. These 

alternative limits have not been justified 

as meeting the RACT requirement. 

2. Under section (C)(2)(b)(v), the 

alternative emission reduction option 

also allows for units operating at the 

same facility to aggregate their 

emissions in order to comply with the 

percentage reduction. This type of 

provision constitutes an EIP under the 

EPA’s 2001 policy referenced above. 

The rule provisions do not meet the 

criteria for EIP integrity because they 

fail to require that any excess emission 

reductions credited through the 

provision be surplus (i.e., not required 

by any other federally enforceable 

provision). This omission could allow 

reductions that are otherwise federally 

required to be aggregated and used to 

allow greater emissions at other units. 

3. The compliance determination 

requirements described in section 

(E)(1)(c) do not require adequate source 

testing for emission units without 

emission control equipment. The 

requirements do not specify any 

frequency for testing beyond the initial 

compliance test, and do not specify 

what criteria must be met for certified 

manufacturer emission rates to be 

evidence of compliance. 

D. Proposed Action and Public 

Comment 

As authorized in sections 110(k)(3) 

and 301(a) of the Act, the EPA is 

proposing a limited approval and 

limited disapproval of the submitted 

MDAQMD Rule 1160. We will accept 

comments from the public on this 

proposal until July 1, 2021. If finalized, 

this action would incorporate the 

submitted rule into the SIP, including 

those provisions identified as deficient. 

The submitted rule would replace the 

existing SIP-approved version of 

MDAQMD Rule 1160, which would be 

removed from the SIP. This approval is 

limited because the EPA is 

simultaneously proposing a limited 

disapproval of the rule under section 

110(k)(3). 

If we finalize this disapproval, CAA 

section 110(c) would require the EPA to 

promulgate a federal implementation 

plan within 24 months of the effective 

date of our final action unless we 


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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 103 / Tuesday, June 1, 2021 / Proposed Rules 29229 

approve subsequent SIP revisions that 

correct the deficiencies identified in 

section II.C of this notice. 

In addition, final disapproval would 

trigger the offset sanction in CAA 

section 179(b)(2) 18 months after the 

effective date of a final disapproval, and 

the highway funding sanction in CAA 

section 179(b)(1) six months after the 

offset sanction is imposed. A sanction 

will not be imposed if the EPA 

determines that a subsequent SIP 

submission corrects the deficiencies 

identified in our final action before the 

applicable deadline. 

Note that the submitted rule has been 

adopted by the MDAQMD and the 

EPA’s final limited disapproval would 

not prevent the local agency from 

enforcing it. The limited disapproval 

also would not prevent any portion of 

the rule from being incorporated by 

reference into the federally enforceable 

SIP as discussed in a July 9, 1992 EPA 

memo found at: https://www.epa.gov/ 

sites/production/files/2015-07/ 

documents/procsip.pdf. 

III. Incorporation by Reference 

In this rule, the 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, the EPA is 

proposing to incorporate by reference 

the MDAQMD rule described in Table 1 

of this preamble. The EPA has made, 

and will continue to make, these 

materials available through 

www.regulations.gov and at the EPA 

Region IX Office (please contact the 

person identified in the FOR FURTHER

INFORMATION CONTACT section of this 

preamble for more information). 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

Additional information about these 

statutes and Executive Orders can be 

found at http://www.epa.gov/lawsregulations/laws-and-executive-orders. 

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory 

Planning and Review and Executive 

Order 13563: Improving Regulation and 

Regulatory Review 

This action is not a significant 

regulatory action and was therefore not 

submitted to the Office of Management 

and Budget (OMB) for review. 

B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) 

This action does not impose an 

information collection burden under the 

PRA because this action does not 

impose additional requirements beyond 

those imposed by state law. 

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) 

I certify that this action will not have 

a significant economic impact on a 

substantial number of small entities 

under the RFA. This action will not 

impose any requirements on small 

entities beyond those imposed by state 

law. 

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act 

(UMRA) 

This action does not contain any 

unfunded mandate as described in 

UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 1531–1538, and does 

not significantly or uniquely affect small 

governments. This action does not 

impose additional requirements beyond 

those imposed by state law. 

Accordingly, no additional costs to 

state, local, or tribal governments, or to 

the private sector, will result from this 

action. 

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. 

F. Executive Order 13175: Coordination 

With Indian Tribal Governments 

This action does not have tribal 

implications, as specified in Executive 

Order 13175, because the SIP is not 

approved to apply on any Indian 

reservation land or in any other area 

where the EPA or an Indian tribe has 

demonstrated that a tribe has 

jurisdiction, and will not impose 

substantial direct costs on tribal 

governments or preempt tribal law. 

Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not 

apply to this action. 

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of 

Children From Environmental Health 

Risks and Safety Risks 

The EPA interprets Executive Order 

13045 as applying only to those 

regulatory actions that concern 

environmental health or safety risks that 

the EPA has reason to believe may 

disproportionately affect children, per 

the definition of ‘‘covered regulatory 

action’’ in section 2–202 of the 

Executive Order. This action is not 

subject to Executive Order 13045 

because it does not impose additional 

requirements beyond those imposed by 

state law. 

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That 

Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use 

This action is not subject to Executive 

Order 13211, because it is not a 

significant regulatory action under 

Executive Order 12866. 

I. National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act (NTTAA) 

Section 12(d) of the NTTAA directs 

the EPA to use voluntary consensus 

standards in its regulatory activities 

unless to do so would be inconsistent 

with applicable law or otherwise 

impractical. The EPA believes that this 

action is not subject to the requirements 

of section 12(d) of the NTTAA because 

application of those requirements would 

be inconsistent with the CAA. 

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal 

Actions To Address Environmental 

Justice in Minority Populations and 

Low-Income Population 

The EPA lacks the discretionary 

authority to address environmental 

justice in this rulemaking. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Incorporation by 

reference, Intergovernmental relations, 

Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Volatile organic 

compounds. 

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

Dated: May 19, 2021. 

Deborah Jordan, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2021–11525 Filed 5–28–21; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Parts 174 and 180 

[EPA–HQ–OPP–2021–0088; FRL–10023–95] 

Receipt of Pesticide Petitions Filed for 

Residues of Pesticide Chemicals in or 

on Various Commodities May 2021 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Filing of petitions and request 

for comment. 

SUMMARY: This document announces the 

Agency’s receipt of initial filings of 

pesticide petitions requesting the 

establishment or modification of 

regulations for residues of pesticide 

chemicals in or on various commodities. 

DATES: Comments must be received on 

or before July 1, 2021. 


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