Document ID: EPA-R05-OAR-2018-0113-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Proposed Approval of the Rescission of Ohio's Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerator 111 (d)/129 State Plan
Posted Date: 2018-04-03T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 3, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 14232-14234]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-06748]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 62

[EPA-R05-OAR-2018-0113; FRL-9976-13-Region 5]

Air Plan Approval; Ohio; Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste 
Incinerator Withdrawal for Designated Facilities and Pollutants

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve Ohio's request for withdrawal of the previously approved 
Hospital/Medical/Infectious Waste Incinerator (HMIWI) State Plan. The 
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) submitted its HMIWI 
withdrawal on January 24, 2018, certifying that there is only one HMIWI 
unit currently operating in the state of Ohio and requesting that the 
Federal Plan apply to the single source in the State.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before May 3, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R05-
OAR-2018-0113, at http://www.regulations.gov or via email to 
[email protected]. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow 
the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, 
comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either 
manner of submission, EPA may publish any comment received to its 
public docket.

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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, 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://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Margaret Sieffert, Environmental 
Engineer, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard (AT-18J), Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-1151, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This supplementary information 
section is arranged as follows:

I. Background
II. Proposed EPA Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    Section 111(d) of the Clean Air Act (Act) requires that EPA develop 
regulations providing that states must submit to EPA plans establishing 
standards of performance for certain existing sources of pollutants. A 
standard of performance would apply to the existing source if it were 
an existing source, and if the pollutants are noncriteria pollutants 
(i.e., pollutants for which there is no national ambient air quality 
standard) and are not on a list published under section 108 of the Act 
or emitted from a source category regulated under section 112 of the 
Act. Section 129 of the Act, and 40 CFR part 60, subpart B, apply the 
section 111(d) requirements to existing solid waste combustors, 
including HMIWIs, and provide that EPA should include, as part of the 
performance standards, emissions guidelines (EGs) that include the plan 
elements required by section 129.
    The regulation at 40 CFR part 60, subpart B contains general 
provisions applicable to the adoption and submittal of state plans for 
subject facilities under sections 111(d) and 129 (111(d)/129 plan). 40 
CFR part 62, subpart A provides the procedural framework for the 
submission of the plans.
    EPA promulgated new source performance standards and EGs for HMIWIs 
on September 15, 1997 (62 FR 48382), and amended them most recently on 
October 6, 2009 (74 FR 51367) and April 4, 2011 (76 FR 18407). The 
standards and EGs are codified at 40 CFR part 60, subparts Ce and Ec, 
respectively.
    States were required to revise plans for existing HMIWIs, pursuant 
to sections 111(d) and 129 of the Act and 40 CFR part 60, subpart B. 
OEPA submitted a HMIWI State Plan on October 18, 2005. EPA approved the 
State Plan under 40 CFR 62.8880, and the State Plan became effective on 
August 6, 2007 (72 FR 36605). On May 13, 2013, EPA finalized the 
Federal Plan under 40 CFR part 62, subpart HHH (78 FR 28052).
    A HMIWI unit as defined in 40 CFR 60.31e, means any device that 
combusts any amount of hospital waste and/or medical/infectious waste. 
The designated facilities to which the original EG's applied were 
existing HMIWI units that: (1) For which construction was commenced on 
or before June 20, 1996, or for which modification was commenced on or 
before March 16, 1998; or (2) For which construction was commenced 
after June 20, 1996, but no later than December 1, 2008, or for which 
modification is commenced after March 16, 1998, but no later than April 
6, 2010.
    On January 21, 2018, OEPA submitted its HMIWI withdrawal, in which 
it certifies that there is only one HMIWI unit currently operating in 
Ohio. On January 18, 2013, OEPA confirmed that two of the four HMIWI 
units had shut down. Since that time an additional HMIWI unit has shut 
down. The only remaining HMIWI unit is at Stericycle, Inc, located in 
Warren, OH. Because there is only one source, OEPA is requesting that 
the previously approved State Plan be withdrawn and that the Federal 
Plan apply to the source.
    Although Section 111(d) requires States to submit State Plans, EPA 
understands that the extensive amendments that would be required by 
OEPA to revise Ohio's previously approved State Plan to make it 
consistent with the revisions would be disproportionate to the single 
affected source in Ohio. EPA's Federal Plan implementing the EG's would 
apply to the remaining source in Ohio (as well as to any existing 
affected sources if found at a later date). Ohio would be implementing 
and enforcing the Federal Plan through its Title V permitting process. 
This action should not be construed as an approval of a State Plan or 
delegation of the Federal Plan and that Ohio's Section 111(d)/129 
obligations are separate from Ohio's obligations under Title V of the 
Act. Ohio understands and accepts this limitation.

II. Proposed EPA Action

    EPA is proposing to approve Ohio's request for withdrawal of a 
previously approved State Plan and amending 40 CFR part 62 to reflect 
OEPA's withdrawal. OEPA submitted its HMIWI withdrawal on January 21, 
2018 certifying that there is only one HMIWI unit, as defined under 40 
CFR 60.31e, currently operating in the state of Ohio and requested that 
the Federal Plan apply to the single source in the State. EPA 
understands that the extensive amendments that would be required by 
OEPA to revise Ohio's previously approved State Plan to make it 
consistent with the revisions would be disproportionate to the single 
affected source in Ohio, and is proposing to approve the withdrawal and 
have the Federal Plan apply to the known affected source.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

General Requirements

    This action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' under the 
terms of Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 
therefore is not subject to review by the Office of Management and 
Budget under Executive Orders 12866 and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 
2011). For this reason, this action is also not subject to Executive 
Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect 
Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This 
action is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 2017) 
regulatory action because this action is not significant under E.O. 
12866. This action merely approves state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and merely notifies the public of EPA' approval for a 
withdrawal of a previously approved HMIWI State Plan. This action 
imposes no requirements beyond those imposed by the state. Accordingly, 
the Administrator certifies that this proposed 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 rulemaking

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approves pre-existing 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). This proposed rule is not approved 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). This action also does not have 
Federalism implications because it does 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). This action 
merely approves a withdrawal, and does not alter the relationship or 
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Act. 
This rulemaking also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997), because it approves a withdrawal.
    In reviewing section 111(d)/129 plan submissions, EPA's role is to 
approve State choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Act. 
With regard to withdrawals for designated facilities received by EPA 
from states, EPA's role is to notify the public of the approval of the 
State's withdrawal and revise 40 CFR part 62 accordingly. 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 section 111(d)/129 withdrawal for failure to use VCS. It 
would thus be inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews 
a section 111(d)/129 withdrawal, to use VCS in place of a section 
111(d)/129 withdrawal submission that otherwise satisfies the 
provisions of the 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. This rulemaking 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 62

    Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure, 
Air pollution control, Hospital/medical/infectious waste incinerators, 
Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: March 20, 2018.
Edward H. Chu,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2018-06748 Filed 4-2-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P