2011-11038. Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District (NSCAPCD) and Mendocino County Air Quality Management District (MCAQMD)

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Direct final rule.

SUMMARY:

EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District (NSCAPCD) and Mendocino County Air Quality Management District (MCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). Both districts are required under Part C of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA) to adopt and implement SIP-approved Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit programs. These revisions update the definitions used in the districts' PSD permit programs.

DATES:

This rule is effective on July 5, 2011 without further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comments by June 6, 2011. If we receive such comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register to notify the public that this direct final rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES:

Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-2011-0302, by one of the following methods:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions.

2. E-mail: [e-mail].

3. Mail or deliver: Gerardo Rios (Air-3), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901.

Instructions: All comments will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available online at http://www.regulations.gov,, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information that you consider CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as such and should not be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. http://www.regulations.gov is an “anonymous access” system, and EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send e-mail directly to EPA, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the public comment. 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.

Docket: EPA has established a docket for this action under EPA-R09-OAR-2011-0302. Generally, documents in the docket for this action are available electronically at http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all documents in the docket are listed at http://www.regulations.gov,, some information may be publicly available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material, large maps, multi-volume reports) and some may not be available in either location (e.g., confidential business information (CBI)). To inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an appointment during normal business hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Laura Yannayon, EPA Region IX, [phone], [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Throughout this document, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to EPA.

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule revisions?

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

C. Public Comment and Final Action

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

Table 1 lists the rules we are approving with the dates that they were adopted by the local air agencies and submitted by the California Air Resources Board.

Table 1—Submitted Rules

Local agency	Rule No.	Rule title	Date adopted	Date submitted
NSCAPCD	130	Definitions	12/14/10	02/28/11
MCAQMD	130	Definitions	02/15/11	02/28/11

On March 22, 2011, EPA determined that the submittal for both NSCAPCD's and MCAQMD's Rule 130 met the completeness criteria in 40 CFR Part 51 Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

We approved earlier versions of Rule 130 for both districts into the SIP. For NSCAPCD and MCAQMD, Rule 130 was last approved into the SIP on February 9, 1999 and July 31, 1998, respectively (See 64 FR 6223 and 63 FR 40830). There are no other pending submittals of these rules.

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules and rule revisions?

Part C of title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires that the SIP for any area designated as attainment or unclassifiable for a National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) contain a Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit program. Both the NSCAPCD and MCAQMD are currently designated as attainment or unclassifiable for all NAAQS, and are therefore required to adopt and implement a SIP-approved PSD permit program.

Both NSCAPCD's and MCAQMD's Rule 130, Definitions, define various terms used throughout the District's regulations. In particular, Rule 130 provides definitions of several key terms related to the PSD program. Both districts' submitted revisions to Rule 130, Definitions, are being evaluated together because both the existing SIP rules and proposed revisions are very similar. In each case, the District has revised Rule 130 to provide new and revised definitions in order to ensure consistency with CAA requirements for PSD programs.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

Since the submitted rules only consist of definitions, our evaluation focuses on whether the definitions are either identical or equivalent to EPA's definitions found in 40 CFR 51.100 and 51.166, and 40 CFR part 50.

Section 110(l) of the Act prohibits EPA from approving any revision of a SIP that would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress, or any other applicable requirement of the Act.

Section 193 of the Act, which was added by the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, only applies to control requirements in nonattainment areas. Neither the NSCAPCD nor MCAQMD are designated nonattainment for any NAAQS; therefore Section 193 does not apply to this rulemaking action.

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

The new and revised definitions contained in both districts' submitted versions of Rule 130 are consistent with the applicable definitions of these terms in 40 CFR 51.100 and 51.166, and 40 CFR part 50. EPA's approval of these rules will strengthen the SIP by adding and updating terms that establish applicability and evaluation criteria for pollutants subject to the PSD program. The rules do not interfere with attainment and reasonable further progress or any other applicable requirement of the Act, and thus are approvable under Section 110(l) of the Act. EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more information about these rules and the revisions.

C. Public Comment and Final Action

As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, EPA is fully approving the submitted rules because we believe they fulfill all applicable requirements. We do not think anyone will object to this approval, so we are finalizing it without proposing it in advance. However, in the Proposed Rules section of this Federal Register, we are simultaneously proposing approval of the same submitted rules. If we receive adverse comments by June 6, 2011, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register to notify the public that the direct final approval will not take effect and we will address the comments in a subsequent final action based on the proposal. If we do not receive timely adverse comments, the direct final approval will be effective without further notice on July 5, 2011. This will incorporate these rules into the federally enforceable SIP.

Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable Federal regulations. 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 Clean Air Act. Accordingly, this action merely approves State law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by State law. For that reason, this action:

• Is not a “significant regulatory action” subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
• 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 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 Clean Air Act; and
• Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with practical, appropriate, and legally permissible methods under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this rule 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.

The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. This action is not a “major rule” as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by July 5, 2011. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. Parties with objections to this direct final rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the Proposed Rules section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed rulemaking. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements (see section 307(b)(2)).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

• Environmental protection
• Air pollution control
• Incorporation by reference
• Intergovernmental relations
• Ozone
• Particulate matter
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements
• Volatile organic compounds

Dated: March 31, 2011.

Jared Blumenfeld,

Regional Administrator, Region IX.

Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 52—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for Part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart F—California

2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(385) to read as follows:

§ 52.220

Identification of plan.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(385) New and amended regulations for the following APCDs were submitted on February 28, 2011.

(i) Incorporation by Reference.

(A) Mendocino County Air Quality Management District.

(1) Rule 130, “Definitions,” amended February 15, 2011.

(B) Northern Sonoma County Air Pollution Control District.

(1) Rule 130, “Definitions,” amended December 14, 2010.