06-1217. National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Refractory Products Manufacturing

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule; amendments.

SUMMARY:

The EPA is proposing amendments to the national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants (NESHAP) for new and existing refractory products manufacturing facilities, which were promulgated on April 16, 2003, under section 112(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The proposed amendments would clarify testing and monitoring requirements, reflect recent changes to the NESHAP General Provisions, clarify startup and shutdown for batch processes, and make certain technical corrections to the final rule.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register, we are taking direct final action on the proposed amendments because we view the amendments as noncontroversial and anticipate no adverse comments. We have explained our reasons for the revisions in the preamble to the direct final rule. If we receive no adverse comments, we will take no further action on the proposed amendments. If we receive adverse comment on one or more distinct amendments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register indicating which amendments in the direct final rule will become effective and which amendments are being withdrawn due to adverse comment. If part or all of the direct final rule in the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register is withdrawn, all comments pertaining to the amendments will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed amendments. We will not institute a second comment period on the subsequent final rule. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time.

DATES:

Comments. Comments must be received on or before March 15, 2006.

Public Hearing. If anyone contacts EPA requesting to speak at a public hearing by February 23, 2006, a public hearing will be held within approximately 30 days following publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088, by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• Agency Web site: http://docket.epa.gov/​edkpub/​index.jsp. EDOCKET, EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
• E-mail: [e-mail] and [e-mail].
• Fax: [phone] and [phone].
• Mail: U.S. Postal Service, send comments to: EPA Docket Center (6102T), Attention Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC 20460. Please include a total of two copies.
• Hand Delivery: In person or by courier, deliver comments to: EPA Docket Center (6102T), Attention Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW., Room B-108, Washington, DC 20004. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. Please include a total of two copies.

We request that you also send a separate copy of each comment to the contact person listed below (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088. The EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available online at http://docket.epa.gov/​edkpub/​index.jsp,, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or e-mail. Send or deliver information identified as CBI only to the following address: Mr. Roberto Morales, OAQPS Document Control Officer, EPA (C404-02), Attention Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711. Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. The EPA EDOCKET and the Federal regulations.gov Web sites are “anonymous access” systems, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket, visit EDOCKET on-line or see the Federal Register of May 31, 2002 (67 FR 38102).

Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the EDOCKET index at http://docket.epa.gov/​edkpub/​index.jsp. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in EDOCKET or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center, Docket ID No. OAR-2002-0088, EPA West Building, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is [phone] and the telephone number for the EPA Docket Center is [phone]. A reasonable fee may be charged for copying docket materials.

Public Hearing. If a public hearing is held, it will be held at 10 a.m. at the EPA Facility Complex in Research Triangle Park, NC, or an alternate site nearby. Persons interested in attending the public hearing should contact Janet Eck at [phone] to verify that a hearing will be held and its location.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Susan Fairchild, EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Emission Standards Division, Minerals and Inorganic Chemicals Group (C-504-05), Research Triangle Park, NC 27711; telephone number; [phone]; fax number; [phone]; e-mail address: [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Regulated Entities. Categories and entities potentially regulated by this action include those listed in the following table:

Category	NAICS*	Examples of regulated entities
Industrial	327124	Clay refractories manufacturing plants.
Industrial	327125	Nonclay refractories manufacturing plants.
* North American Industry Classification System.

This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this action. To determine whether your facility is regulated by this action, you should examine the applicability criteria in 40 CFR 63.9782 of the Refractory Products Manufacturing NESHAP. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the person listed in the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through EDOCKET, regulations.gov, or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or CD ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.

Worldwide Web (WWW). In addition to being available in the docket, an electronic copy of today's proposal will also be available through the WWW. Following the Administrator's signature, a copy of this action will be posted on EPA's Technology Transfer Network (TTN) policy and guidance page for newly proposed or promulgated rules at http://www.epa.gov/​ttn/​oarpg/​. The TTN at EPA's Web site provides information and technology exchange in various areas of air pollution control.

Direct Final Rule. A direct final rule identical to the proposal is published in the Rules and Regulations section of today's Federal Register. If we receive any advers comment pertaining to the amendments in the proposal, we will publish a timely notice in the Federal Register informing the public that the amendments are being withdrawn due to adverse comment. We will address all public comments concerning the withdrawn amendments in a subsequent final rule. If no relevant adverse comments are received, no further action will be taken on the proposal, and the direct final rule will become effective as provided in the action.

The regulatory text for the proposal is identical to that for the direct final rule published in the Rules and Regulations section of today's Federal Register. For further supplementary information, the detailed rationale for the proposal and the regulatory revisions, see the direct final rule published in a separate part of this Federal Register.

Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

For a complete discussion of all of the administrative requirements applicable to this action, see the direct final rule in the Rules and Regulations section of today's Federal Register.

Regulatory Flexibility Act

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.

For purposes of assessing the impact of today's proposed rule on small entities, small entity is defined as: (1) A small business whose parent company has fewer than 500 employees, according to Small Business Administration size standards established under the NAICS for the industries affected by today's rule; (2) a small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of a city, county, town, school district or special district with a population of less than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is any not-for-profit enterprise that is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field.

After considering the economic impacts of today's proposed rule amendments on small entities, I certify that the proposed rule amendments will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The proposed rule amendments provide clarification and corrections to the NESHAP for refractory products manufacturing. This action includes minor corrections and clarifications to the Refractory Products Manufacturing NESHAP that do not add any additional requirements.

Although the direct final rule amendments will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, EPA nonetheless has tried to reduce the impact of the direct final rule amendments on small entities. The EPA has limited the amendments to changes that clarify ambiguities of the Refractory Products Manufacturing NESHAP, correct citations to the General Provisions, and clarify the complex batch testing requirements of the Refractory Products Manufacturing NESHAP. The EPA believes that the amendments will simplify the NESHAP and will not add additional burden to regulated entities. We continue to be interested in the potential impacts of the proposed rule on small entities and welcome comments on issues related to such impacts.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 63

• Environmental protection
• Administrative practice and procedure
• Air pollution control
• Hazardous substances
• Intergovernmental relations
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements

Dated: December 7, 2005.

Stephen L. Johnson,

Administrator.