95-28187. Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources; Small Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units

[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 15, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57373-57375]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-28187]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 60

[AD-FRL-5326-9]


Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources; Small 
Industrial-Commercial-Institutional Steam Generating Units

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: Today's proposal would revise the applicability of the sulfur 
dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) emission control 
requirements of the standards of performance for new, modified, and 
reconstructed small industrial-commercial-institutional steam 
generating units (40 CFR part 60, subpart Dc; September 12, 1990, 55 FR 
37683) by excluding certain small steam generating units--when 
conducting combustion research--from the category of small steam 
generating units that are regulated as new sources (see Clean Air Act 
section 111(b)(2)). Small steam generating units are units with a 
maximum design heat input capacity of 29 megawatts (MW) (100 million 
Btu per hour (Btu/hr)), or less, but greater than or equal to 2.9 MW 
(10 million Btu/hr). The proposed revisions would encourage the 
development of air pollution control technology that will ultimately 
result in reduced air emissions from all steam generating units.

DATES: Comments. Comments must be received on or before January 2, 
1996.
    Public Hearing. If anyone requests to speak at a public hearing by 
December 15, 1995, a public hearing will be held on December 22, 1995, 
beginning at 10:00 a.m. Persons interested in attending the hearing 
should call Ms. Donna Collins at [phone] to verify that a 
hearing will be held. Assistance will be available for persons with 
hearing impairments.
    Request to Speak at Hearing. Persons wishing to present oral 
testimony must request to speak at the public hearing by December 15, 
1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments. Comments should be submitted in duplicate to: U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, The Air and Radiation Docket & 
Information Center, 401 M Street, S.W., Room 1500, Mail Code 6102, 
Washington, DC 20460. Attention Docket Number A-86-02.
    Public Hearing. If anyone requests a public hearing, it will be 
held at the EPA's Office of Administration Auditorium, Research 
Triangle Park, North Carolina. Persons interested in attending the 
hearing or wishing to present oral testimony, should notify Ms. Donna 
Collins, Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, 
telephone [phone].
    Docket. Docket Number A-86-02, containing information used in 
developing the original standards, is available for public inspection 
and copying between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, at 
the EPA Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, Room 1500, 
First Floor, Waterside Mall, 401 M Street, S.W., Washington, DC 20460. 
A reasonable fee may be charged for copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Rick Copland [phone] or Mr. 
Fred Porter [phone], Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 
27711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The revisions to the applicability of the 
SO2 and PM emission control requirements of 40 CFR Part 60, 
Subpart Dc are being proposed pursuant to a settlement agreement that 
would resolve litigation in the case of Babcock and Wilcox Company v. 
U.S. EPA, No. 90-1509 (D.C.Cir.). Notice of the proposed settlement was 
published in the Federal Register on April 4, 1994 (59 FR 15728) in 
accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act. There was only one 
comment and it supported the proposed settlement.
    Final adoption of today's proposal, which solicits comments on the 
appropriateness of the proposed revisions to the applicability of the 
SO2 and PM emission control requirements of 40 CFR Part 60, Subpart Dc, 
is contingent upon EPA's review of any comments submitted in response 
to this notice. As discussed below, today's proposal is intended to 
revise the applicability requirements primarily for a small steam 
generating unit operated by the Babcock and Wilcox Company. This steam 
generating unit is occasionally used for combustion research to 
evaluate the performance of and to develop unproven combustion 
technologies. The applicability requirements would be revised, however, 
to apply to any small steam generating unit used for research purposes 
which operates in a manner similar to the unit operated by the Babcock 
and Wilcox Company. There may be other small steam generating 

[[Page 57374]]
units also used to evaluate the performance of and to develop unproven 
combustion technologies and EPA solicits comments on both the merits 
and means of extending these revised applicability requirements to 
these units.
    The Babcock and Wilcox Company challenged the New Source 
Performance Standards' emission control requirements for small-scale, 
intermittently-operated steam generating research units, because such 
steam generating units are often equipped with experimental, and as yet 
unproven, air pollution control technology that may not consistently 
meet the required standards of performance. Babcock & Wilcox Company, 
therefore, maintains that compliance with the standards of performance 
when conducting combustion research (that is used to evaluate the 
performance of and to develop unproven combustion technologies) would 
create serious start up and shut down problems during test runs and 
would hinder the purpose of the tests of obtaining useful data within 
normal operating ranges. The Babcock and Wilcox Company, Research & 
Development Division, conducts research, development, experimentation, 
and testing of small-scale burners, boilers, processes, and special 
equipment arrangements in combustion devices for the purpose of 
producing data and information necessary to evaluate the performance of 
and to develop unproven combustion technologies. The data and 
information are used by The Babcock and Wilcox Company, by the EPA, the 
Department of Energy, and others to, among other things, ascertain the 
technological achievability of air pollution emission control 
standards.
    EPA initially rejected The Babcock and Wilcox Company's request--in 
its comments to the June 9, 1989 proposed standards of performance (54 
FR 24792)--for an exemption for small steam generating units conducting 
combustion research, because EPA's research showed that the impacts of 
the promulgated standards, including the allowable emissions, potential 
emission reductions and compliance costs, were reasonable for 
intermittently or infrequently operated steam generating units, 
irrespective of whether such units were used for combustion research.
    Nevertheless, EPA has agreed to revise the applicability of the 
SO2 and PM emission control requirements of 40 CFR Part 60, 
Subpart Dc because of the limited potential impact of combustion 
research on the environment: Babcock & Wilcox Company, the petitioner 
which requested the revision of the applicability of the standards of 
performance, operates a single small steam generating unit for research 
purposes, which is used for combustion research less than five percent 
of its operating time. Significantly, Babcock and Wilcox Company also 
does not use the energy that the steam generating unit produces during 
periods of combustion research for any other purpose (such as space 
heating, process heating, electric generation, etc.). Accordingly, in 
order to minimize the potential for inappropriate claims of combustion 
research (potentially undermining EPA's ability to enforce the 
standards of performance for small steam generating units), EPA has 
conditioned today's proposed exclusion of certain limited combustion 
research activities from the standards of performance on the 
requirement that a steam generating unit not use the energy produced 
during combustion research for other purposes. No other members of the 
regulated community have commented on or challenged--at the time of the 
June 9, 1989 proposed rule or the September 12, 1990 final rule--the 
applicability of the standards of performance to combustion research 
(that is used to evaluate the performance of and to develop unproven 
combustion technologies) that may also use the energy produced for 
other purposes.

Economic and Regulatory Impacts

    Today's proposal will impose no additional costs on the regulated 
community or the national economy. It would reduce the costs of 
compliance for some small steam generating units when conducting 
combustion research by not requiring them to comply with the standards 
of performance for new, modified, and reconstructed small industrial-
commercial-institutional steam generating units. Accordingly, EPA has 
determined that today's proposal: (1) Does not constitute a ``major 
rule'' under Executive Order 12291 (the proposal would not result in 
any increase in costs or prices and would not disrupt market 
competition), (2) does not constitute a substantial revision that would 
require an economic impact assessment pursuant to section 317 of the 
Clean Air Act, (3) does not constitute a Federal mandate under Title II 
of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA), Public Law 104-4, 
for State, local, or tribal governments or the private sector, (4) does 
not contain regulatory requirements that might significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments under Title II of UMRA, and (5) would 
not affect the public reporting burden for the collection of 
information required, in compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1980, under the new source performance standards for small steam 
generating units.
    Pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 605(b), the Administrator certifies that these 
revisions would not have a significant impact on a substantial number 
of small entities. Not only would today's proposal reduce the 
regulatory burden on the small steam generating units source category, 
but it has previously been determined that even without today's 
proposed revisions the standards would not affect a substantial number 
of small entities (55 FR 37682, September 12, 1990).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 60

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental 
relations, reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated October 31, 1995.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.

    For the reasons set out in the preamble, title 40, chapter I of the 
Code of Federal Regulations is proposed to be amended as set forth 
below.

PART 60--STANDARDS OF PERFORMANCE FOR NEW STATIONARY SOURCES

    1. The authority citation for part 60 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7411, 7414, and 7601(a).

    2. Section 60.40c is amended by revising paragraph (a) and adding 
paragraphs (c) and (d) as follows:


Sec. 60.40c  Applicability and delegation of authority.

    (a) Except as provided in paragraph (d) of this section, the 
affected facility to which this subpart applies is each steam 
generating unit for which construction, modification, or reconstruction 
is commenced after June 9, 1989 and that has a maximum design heat 
input capacity of 29 megawatts (MW) (100 million Btu per hour (Btu/hr)) 
or less, but greater than or equal to 2.9 MW (10 million Btu/hr).
* * * * *
    (c) Steam generating units which meet the applicability 
requirements in paragraph (a) of this section are not subject to the 
sulfur dioxide (SO2) or particulate matter (PM) emission limits, 
performance testing requirements, or monitoring requirements under this 
subpart (Secs. 60.42c, 60.43c, 60.44c, 60.45c, 60.46c, or 60.47c) 
during 

[[Page 57375]]
periods of combustion research, as defined in Sec. 60.41c.
    (d) Any temporary change to an existing steam generating unit for 
the purpose of conducting combustion research is not considered a 
modification under Sec. 60.14.
    3. Section 60.41c is amended by adding the following definition in 
alphabetical order:


Sec. 60.41c  Definitions.

* * * * *
    Combustion Research means the experimental firing of any fuel or 
combination of fuels in a steam generating unit for the purpose of 
conducting research and development of more efficient combustion or 
more effective prevention or control of air pollutant emissions from 
combustion, provided that, during these periods of research and 
development, the heat generated is not used for any purpose other than 
preheating combustion air for use by that steam generating unit (i.e., 
the heat generated is released to the atmosphere without being used for 
space heating, process heating, driving pumps, preheating combustion 
air for other units, generating electricity, or any other purpose).
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 95-28187 Filed 11-14-95; 8:45 am]
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