[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 166 (Monday, August 29, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-21170]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 29, 1994]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[CA83-1-6565a; FRL-5054-6]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California
State Implementation Plan Revision, San Diego County Air Pollution
Control District
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action on revisions to the
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions concern rules
from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (SDCAPCD).
This approval action will remove these rules from the federally
approved SIP, as requested by the state. The removal of these rules
from the SIP acknowledges that these rules are no longer necessary for
achieving and maintaining the federal air quality standards because the
sources subject to these rules no longer exist in the SDCAPCD. The
rules that are being rescinded were originally approved into the SIP in
order to regulate emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in
accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act, as amended in
1990 (CAA or the Act). They were adopted to control VOC emissions from
the separation of oil-water mixtures. On the effective date of this
action, any sanction or Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) requirement
is permanently lifted.
EPA is finalizing the recision of these rules from the California
SIP under provisions of the CAA regarding EPA action on SIP submittals,
SIPs for national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards
and plan requirements for nonattainment areas.
DATES: This final rule action is effective on October 28, 1994, unless
adverse or critical comments are received by September 28, 1994. If the
effective date is delayed, a timely notice will be published in the
Federal Register.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the rule revisions and EPA's evaluation report for
each rule are available for public inspection at EPA's Region IX office
during normal business hours. Copies of the submitted rule revisions
are available for inspection at the following locations:
Rulemaking Section (A-5-3), Air and Toxics Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA
94105;
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket 6102, 401 ``M''
Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460;
California Air Resources Board, Stationary Source Division, Rule
Evaluation Section, 2020 ``L'' Street, Sacramento, CA 92123-1095;
San Diego Air Pollution Control District, 9150 Chesapeake Drive, San
Diego, CA 92123-1096.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Erik H. Beck, Rulemaking Section (A-5-3), Air and Toxics Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San
Francisco, CA 94105-3901, Telephone: (415) 744-1190.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Applicability
The rules being rescinded from the California SIP include: SDCAPCD
Rule 61.9, ``Separation of Organic Compounds from Water'' and Rule 65,
``Volatile Organic Compound Water Separators''. This request to rescind
was submitted to EPA on May 24, 1994. Rule 61.9 was adopted by the
SDCAPCD on March 14, 1989, and was incorporated into the SIP on October
26, 1992 (57 FR 48457). Rule 65 was originally submitted to EPA as a
SIP revision on June 30, 1972 and was approved into the SIP on
September 22, 1972 (37 FR 19812). SIP revisions to this rule were
submitted to EPA on October 13, 1977 and were approved into the SIP on
August 31, 1978 (43 FR 38826).
Background
On March 3, 1978, EPA promulgated a list of ozone nonattainment
areas under the provisions of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1977
(1977 Act or pre-amended Act), that included San Diego County. 43 FR
8964, 40 CFR 81.305. Because this area was unable to meet the statutory
attainment date of December 31, 1982, California requested under
section 172(a)(2), and EPA approved, an extension of the attainment
date to December 31, 1987. (40 CFR 52.222). On May 26, 1988, EPA
notified the Governor of California, pursuant to section 110(a)(2) of
the 1977 Act, that the above district's portion of the California SIP
was inadequate to attain and maintain the ozone standard and requested
that deficiencies in the existing SIP be corrected (EPA's SIP-Call). On
November 15, 1990, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 were enacted.
Public Law 101-549, 104 Stat. 2399, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
In amended section 182(a)(2)(A) of the CAA, Congress statutorily
adopted the requirement that nonattainment areas fix their deficient
reasonably available control technology (RACT) rules for ozone and
established a deadline of May 15, 1991 for states to submit corrections
of those deficiencies.
Section 182(a)(2)(A) applies to areas designated as nonattainment
prior to enactment of the amendments and classified as marginal or
above as of the date of enactment. It requires such areas to adopt and
correct RACT rules pursuant to pre-amended section 172(b) as
interpreted in pre-amendment guidance.\1\ EPA's SIP-Call used that
guidance to indicate the necessary corrections for specific
nonattainment areas. San Diego County is classified as Severe;\2\
therefore, this area was subject to the RACT fix-up requirement and the
May 15, 1991 deadline.
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\1\Among other things, the pre-amendment guidance consists of
those portions of the proposed post-1987 ozone and carbon monoxide
policy that concern RACT, 52 FR 45044 (November 24, 1987); ``Issues
Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations,
Clarification to Appendix D of November 24, 1987 Federal Register
Notice'' (Blue Book) (notice of availability was published in the
Federal Register on May 25, 1988); and the existing control
technique guidelines (CTGs).
\2\San Diego County retained its designation of nonattainment
and was classified by operation of law pursuant to sections 107(d)
and 181(a) upon the date of enactment of the CAA. See 55 FR 56694
(November 6, 1991).
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The State of California submitted many revised RACT rules for
incorporation into its SIP on May 24, 1994, as well as the request to
remove Rule 61.9 from the California SIP, which is being acted on in
this notice. This notice addresses EPA's direct-final action for
SDCAPCD Rule 61.9 and Rule 65.
The May 24, 1994 submittal to EPA from the State of California did
not include a request to remove Rule 65 from the SIP. This request was
made in the April 5, 1991 submittal to EPA which transmitted SDCAPCD
Rule 61.9 for inclusion into the California SIP. With the adoption of
Rule 61.9 by the SDCAPCD, Rule 65 was superseded by Rule 61.9. However,
when EPA incorporated Rule 61.9 into the California SIP on October 26,
1992 (57 FR 48457), EPA did not remove Rule 65 from the SIP. That
administrative oversight is being corrected with this notice, pursuant
to section 110(k)(6).
For purposes of its local regulations, SDCAPCD deleted Rule 65 on
March 14, 1989, and deleted Rule 61.9 on April 19, 1994. The SIP
submittals requesting deletion of these rules were found to be complete
on May 21, 1991 (Rule 65) and on July 14, 1994 (Rule 61.9) pursuant to
EPA's completeness criteria that are set forth in 40 CFR part 51,
distinguished appendix V.\3\
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\3\EPA adopted the completeness criteria on February 16, 1990
(55 FR 5830) and, pursuant to section 110(k)(1)(A) of the CAA,
revised the criteria on August 26, 1991 (56 FR 42216).
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These rules were originally adopted by the District to control VOC
emissions from devices that remove oils from contaminated water. VOCs
contribute to the production of ground level ozone and smog.
EPA Evaluation
EPA has evaluated the SDCAPCD's request to remove Rule 61.9 and
Rule 65 from the California SIP and has determined that this request is
consistent with the CAA, EPA regulations, and EPA policy because the
SDCAPCD has demonstrated that there are no sources within the
nonattainment area that would be subject to these requirements.\4\ EPA
has verified the absence of these sources by exhaustively searching
EPA's Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) database for the
existence of firms using wastewater separators, firms that had used
wastewater separators in the past, and for the existence of firms whose
industrial processes would suggest that they would use wastewater
separators. No firms meeting these criteria were found. Therefore,
SDCAPCD Rule 61.9 and 65 are being rescinded from the California SIP.
The final action on Rule 61.9 serves as a final determination that the
deficiency in this rule has been corrected. Therefore, if this direct
final action is not withdrawn, on October 28, 1994, any sanction or FIP
clock is stopped and any imposed sanctions would be permanently lifted.
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\4\Pursuant to section 193 of the CAA, EPA cannot approve the
deletion of a SIP requirement that was in effect prior to enactment
of the 1990 CAA Amendments unless EPA determines that the SIP
revision will provide for equivalent or greater reductions in
emissions. Because there have been no sources subject to this
regulation in the SDCAPCD since 1986, EPA believes that the deletion
of this regulation will not result in the increase of emissions of
VOCs.
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Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or
allowing or establishing a precedent for any future implementation
plan. Each request for revision to the state implementation plan shall
be considered separately in light of specific technical, economic, and
environmental factors and in relation to relevant statutory and
regulatory requirements.
EPA is publishing this document without prior proposal because the
Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no
adverse comments. However, in a separate document in this Federal
Register publication, the EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision
should adverse or critical comments be filed. This action will be
effective October 28, 1994, unless by September 28, 1994, adverse or
critical comments are received.
If the EPA receives such comments, this action will be withdrawn
before the effective date by publishing a subsequent notice that will
withdraw the final action. All public comments received will then be
addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this action, in
conjunction with the document in the proposed rules section of today's
Federal Register, serving as a proposed rule. The EPA will not
institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties
interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time. If
no such comments are received, the public is advised that this action
will be effective on October 28, 1994.
Regulatory Process
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA
must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of
any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.
Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small
entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises and
government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than
50,000.
The removal of these rules from the SIP does not create any new
requirements, because there are no longer any sources subject to these
rules in the District. Therefore, because the Federal SIP-approval does
not impose any new requirements, I certify that it does not have a
significant impact on any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the
nature of the Federal-state relationship under the CAA, preparation of
a regulatory flexibility analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into
the economic reasonableness of state action. The CAA forbids EPA to
base its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v.
United States E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (S. Ct. 1976); 42 U.S.C.
7410 (a)(2).
The Office of Management and Budget has exempted this regulatory
action from Executive Order 12866 review.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental Protection, Air pollution control, Hydrocarbons,
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Note: Incorporation by reference of the State Implementation
Plan for the State of California was approved by the Director of the
Federal Register on July 1, 1982.
Date: August 10, 1994.
Felicia Marcus,
Regional Administrator.
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. 7401-7671q.]
Subpart F--California
2. Section 52.220 is amended by revising paragraphs (c)(6) and
(c)(183)(i)(A)(2); and by adding paragraph (c)(41)(ii)(A)(1) to read as
follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(6) Revised regulations for all APCD's submitted on June 30, 1972,
by the Governor, except for:
(i) San Diego County Air Pollution Control District.
(A) Rule 65 is now removed without replacement as of March 14,
1989.
* * * * *
(41) * * *
(ii) * * *
(A) * * *
(1) Rule 65 is now removed without replacement as of March 14,
1989.
* * * * *
(183) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) * * *
(2) Rule 61.9, adopted on March 14, 1989, is now removed without
replacement as of April 19, 1994.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 94-21170 Filed 8-26-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M
