[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 180 (Monday, September 18, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 48037-48039]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-23107]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 69
[FRL-5296-9]
Special Exemptions From Requirements of the Clean Air Act for the
Territory of Guam
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (``EPA'').
ACTION: Direct final rulemaking.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On July 14, 1995, the Governor of Guam filed a petition
(``Petition'') with the Administrator seeking a waiver of certain Clean
Air Act (``CAA'') requirements which apply to Guam Power Authority
(``GPA''). The Petition was filed under Section 325(a) of the CAA. The
waiver will help to ease a severe energy emergency on Guam. Based upon
the information in the Petition and supplementary information from GPA
and the Guam Environmental Protection Agency (``GEPA''), EPA is
granting the waiver requested. EPA finds that there is good cause for a
direct final rulemaking and that notice and public procedures are
impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest.
The waiver allows, with certain conditions, one baseload diesel
electric generating facility to operate at the Cabras Power Plant prior
to the receipt of a final Prevention of Significant Deterioration
(``PSD'') permit by GPA. The waiver also allows the construction, but
not operation, of a second baseload diesel unit at the Cabras Power
Plant prior to GPA's receipt of a final PSD permit.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This direct final rule is effective September 18, 1995.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Norman Lovelace, Chief, Office of
Pacific Islands and Native American Programs (E-4), Office of External
Affairs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne
Street, San Francisco, California 94105. Telephone: (415) 744-1599.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Petition was submitted by Governor Gutierrez of Guam to the
Administrator of EPA in a letter dated July 14, 1995. It is accompanied
by supporting documentation, including newspaper accounts describing
traffic safety, water supply, and political problems caused by the
significant electrical energy shortage on Guam. The Petition
incorporates an air quality analysis, based upon computer modeling,
which demonstrates the effects of the waiver upon air quality,
particularly in the offshore direction, from the generating facilities
involved.
The Petition seeks a waiver of certain CAA requirements for the
operation and construction by GPA of two baseload diesel electric
generators. Both units are part of the Cabras Power Plant. The first
facility involved is designated as Cabras Unit No. 3. This forty
megawatt diesel generator was constructed, pursuant to 40 CFR
69.11(a)(1), prior to GPA's receipt of a final PSD permit. (This unit
is designated Cabras Diesel No. 1 in 40 CFR 69.11(a)(1). Its
designation has been changed since the 1993 promulgation of that rule.)
The Petition asks EPA to waive CAA requirements as necessary to allow
operation of Cabras Unit No. 3, subject to conditions, prior to receipt
of a final PSD permit by GPA.
The waiver describes two conditions accompanying the operation of
Cabras Unit No. 3. First, during operations under the waiver a lower
sulfur fuel oil will be fired in the Cabras Power Plant and in the
adjacent Piti Power Plant during certain periods. These power plants
operate under a fuel switching intermittent control strategy, and the
sulfur-in-fuel reduction in the waiver application applies to
operations under offshore wind conditions. Second, the waiver will last
only until August 15, 1996, or until issuance of a final PSD permit to
GPA for this unit, whichever occurs first.
The Petition also seeks a waiver of CAA requirements as necessary
to allow GPA to construct a second forty megawatt baseload unit at the
Cabras Power Plant. This facility is designated as Cabras Unit No. 4.
The waiver application seeks to allow construction of Cabras Unit No. 4
prior to a receipt by GPA of a PSD permit. Cabras Unit No. 4 will not
operate prior to receipt of final PSD permit.
Guam has experienced a longstanding shortage of electrical energy,
repeatedly leading to rotating blackouts of areas of the island. The
background to this energy shortage is described in the 1993 waiver
proceeding before EPA. 50 FR 15579, 15580. The Petition describes how
the 1993 energy shortage has continued despite a substantial capital
development program by GPA, and in some respects has grown worse. The
energy shortage was created originally because of very rapid growth in
energy demand due to increased residential electrical consumption and a
boom in tourism. The Petition describes how energy shortfalls are now
exacerbated as a result of substantial facility outages caused by
equipment failures.
As EPA noted in the 1993 waiver proceeding, Guam is an isolated
island. 58 FR 13580. GPA generates almost all electric power used on
the island (other than power generated by the United States Navy).
Unlike power authorities on the mainland United States, GPA does not
have the option of purchasing power from other sources. Guam is, and
must remain, self sufficient with regard to energy generation.
The Petition states that Guam's energy shortfall has worsened in
recent months because of facility outages caused by planned and
unplanned maintenance requirements. The longstanding nature of the
energy shortage has required GPA to use its existing facilities at peak
capacity for several years. GPA has also deferred planned maintenance,
when safety considerations have allowed, to permit units to remain in
service. Because of the length of time which has elapsed since the
beginning of the emergency, the result is now substantially reduced
reliability of GPA's electric generating units. The Petition describes
several significant and unplanned recent maintenance outages.
The construction and operation of additional, reliable baseload
generating units will enable GPA to satisfy electrical demand with an
appropriate margin of safety, while at the same time allowing for
planned maintenance outages of generating units. Once sufficient
baseload capacity exists and can be operated, routine, as well as
unplanned blackouts on the island will be ended. Cabras Units Nos. 3
and 4 are such baseload units.
The Petition states that Cabras Unit No. 3 will be ready to begin
operation and electrical generation on approximately August 15, 1995.
The building which houses Cabras Unit No.
[[Page 48038]]
3 and will house Cabras Unit No. 4 has already been constructed under
40 CFR 69.11. The remaining construction of Cabras Unit No. 4 can be
carried out immediately pursuant to this rulemaking.
The Petition describes a second potential difficulty with PSD
permitting for the operation of Cabras Unit No. 3 and the construction
of Cabras Unit No. 4. Absent changes in the current operations of the
Cabras and Piti Power Plants, GPA's computer modeling suggests that the
operation of the new units, combined with existing facilities, may
cause exceedences of sulfur dioxide National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (``NAAQS'') on Orote Point, a peninsula of elevated terrain
located in the offshore direction from the power plants.
GPA is re-evaluating its computer modeling results using state of
the art wind tunnel modeling. Preliminary results of wind tunnel
modeling seem to confirm the possibility of the exceedences projected
by computer models. If a final analysis upholds that result,
significant changes to power plant operations likely will be necessary
in order for PSD permits to be issued for Cabras Units Nos. 3 and 4.
Section 325(a) of the CAA allows a waiver of certain CAA
requirements, based upon local factors, only if the waiver will not
cause exceedences of the primary NAAQS or violations of the hazardous
air pollutant provisions of the CAA. The hazardous air pollutant
provisions of the CAA are not affected by the Petition. The Petition is
accompanied by an air quality analysis, utilizing computer modeling,
which demonstrates that all NAAQS will be protected if the requested
waivers are granted and incorporate the operating conditions described
below.
GPA operates the Cabras and Piti Power Plants under an intermittent
control strategy which utilizes fuel switching. This intermittent
control strategy is described in an EPA document entitled the ``Cabras
Area ICS.'' This strategy has required the use of fuel oil with a
maximum sulfur content of 1.19 percent when winds blow in an onshore
direction, and the use of fuel oil with a maximum sulfur content of
2.84 percent when winds blow in an offshore direction.
As a condition of the waiver sought, GPA is to reduce the sulfur
content in the fuel oil fired in the Cabras Power Plant and the Piti
Power Plant when winds blow in an offshore direction. The sulfur
content of the fuel used will be reduced to a maximum content of 2.00
percent. The Petition describes how GPA will obtain and assure the use
of such fuel oil prior to beginning the operation of Cabras Unit No. 3.
EPA is granting the Petition, with the conditions contained
therein, and is issuing the requested waiver. Cabras Unit No. 3 will be
allowed to operate prior to receipt of a PSD permit. This operation is
subject to the use of fuel oil with a maximum sulfur content of 2.00
percent at the Cabras and Piti Power Plants during offshore wind
conditions. Moreover, this waiver for Cabras Unit No. 3 is granted only
until August 15, 1996, or until a final PSD permit is secured by GPA,
whichever event occurs sooner. Cabras Unit No. 4 may be constructed,
but not operated, prior to receipt of a PSD permit. Finally, a report
on the results of GPA's Orote Point evaluation shall be filed with EPA
by October 15, 1995.
Cabras Unit No. 3 is subject to a conditional permit to construct,
issued by GEPA on May 12, 1994. GPA has filed an application to GEPA
for authority to operate this unit. During the period of this waiver,
GPA must comply with the requirements of these GEPA permits.
This rule is promulgated on a direct final basis. EPA is convinced
that the energy emergency on Guam creates significant adverse
consequences which require immediate action. As documented in the
Petition, continuing planned and unplanned power outages on Guam create
substantial public health and safety concerns. EPA has been furnished
with descriptions of traffic intersections at which traffic lights
cannot operate. The water supplies to areas on Guam are serviced by
electric pumps, and EPA has also been furnished with descriptions of
interruptions of water supplies due to power outages. Finally, as would
be expected, significant and sustained citizen displeasure has been
voiced regarding this problem. These factors constitute good cause for
EPA to waive notice requirements. In this instance, a delay in the
effectiveness of this waiver granted would be impracticable and
contrary to the public interest. In addition, based on the lack of
negative comments in the 1993 waiver proceeding, EPA believes that this
is a noncontroversial rulemaking action. Therefore, EPA finds that
there is good cause for a direct final rulemaking, pursuant to 5 U.S.C.
553(d)(3), and that notice and public procedures are impracticable,
unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest.
GEPA has received and reviewed a copy of the Petition. It supports
the issuance of this waiver.
Regulatory Analysis
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 economic 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.
This direct final rule applies only to large sources of air
emissions used to generate electrical power on Guam. These sources of
electrical power will be constructed, owned, and operated by GPA. This
organization is not a small entity. Therefore, this rulemaking will not
impact small entities.
This action has been classified as a Table 3 action for signature
by the Administrator under the procedures published in the Federal
Register on January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225). The Office of
Management and Budget has exempted this regulatory action from
Executive Order 12866 review.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 69
Air pollution control.
Dated: September 11, 1995.
Carol Browner,
Administrator.
Part 69 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations
is amended to read as follows:
PART 69--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 69 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Section 325, Clean Air Act, as amended (42 U.S.C.
7625-1).
2. Section 69.11 is amended by adding paragraph (c) to read as
follows:
Sec. 69.11 New exemptions.
* * * * *
(c) Pursuant to Section 325(a) of the CAA and a petition submitted
by the Governor of Guam on July 14, 1995 (``1995 Petition''), the
Administrator of EPA conditionally exempts Guam Power Authority
(``GPA'') from certain CAA requirements.
(1) A waiver of the requirement to obtain a PSD permit prior to
construction is granted for the electric generating unit identified in
the 1995 Petition as Cabras Unit No. 4, with the following conditions:
(i) Cabras Unit No. 4 shall not operate until a final PSD permit is
received by GPA for this unit;
(ii) Cabras Unit No. 4 shall not operate until it complies with all
requirements
[[Page 48039]]
of its PSD permit, including, if necessary, retrofitting with BACT;
(iii) If Cabras Unit No. 4 operates either prior to the issuance of
a final PSD permit or without BACT equipment, Cabras Unit No. 4 shall
be deemed in violation of this waiver and the CAA beginning on the date
of commencement of construction of the unit.
(2) A waiver of the requirement to obtain a PSD permit prior to the
operation of the unit identified in the 1995 Petition as Cabras Unit
No. 3 is granted subject to the following conditions:
(i) The protocol to be followed for the ICS of fuel switching for
electric generating units shall be modified to require the use of fuel
oil with a sulfur content of 2.00 percent or less during offshore wind
conditions. This fuel shall be fired in Cabras Power Plant Units Nos. 1
through 3 and in Piti Power Plant Units Nos. 4 and 5.
(ii) Cabras Unit No. 3 shall operate in compliance with all
applicable requirements in its permits to construct and to operate as
issued by Guam Environmental Protection Agency.
(iii) The waiver provisions allowing Cabras Unit No. 3 to operate
prior to issuance of a PSD permit shall expire on August 15, 1996, or
upon the receipt by GPA of a PSD permit for Cabras Unit No. 3,
whichever event occurs first.
(3) On or before October 15, 1995, GPA shall submit to EPA, Region
IX, a report concerning the operation of Cabras Unit No. 3 and the
construction of Cabras Unit No. 4. The report shall contain:
(i) A summary of GPA's conclusions from its wind tunnel study;
(ii) A description of the alternatives available to assure
compliance with all air quality requirements, including PSD
requirements, during the operation of Cabras Units Nos. 3 and 4;
(iii) A description of the alternative GPA chooses to assure
compliance with all air quality requirements, including PSD
requirements, during the operation of Cabras Units Nos. 3 and 4; and
(iv) A plan of implementation by GPA.
[FR Doc. 95-23107 Filed 9-15-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
