Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, South Coast Air Quality Management District, 32293-32295 [2010-13681]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 109 (Tuesday, June 8, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 32293-32295]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-13681]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY



40 CFR Part 52



[EPA-R09-OAR-2010-0276; FRL-9139-7]




Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, South 

Coast Air Quality Management District



AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).



ACTION: Direct final rule.



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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 

South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portion of the 

California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern 

standards for continuous emission monitoring systems. We are approving 

local rules that regulate the monitoring of emissions under the Clean 

Air Act as amended in 1990 (CAA or the Act).



DATES: This rule is effective on August 9, 2010 without further notice, 

unless EPA receives adverse comments by July 8, 2010. 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-

2010-0276, by one of the following methods:

    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow 

the on-line instructions.

    2. E-mail: steckel.andrew@epa.gov.

    3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental 

Protection



[[Page 32294]]



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 https://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 https://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. https://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: The index to the docket for this action is available 

electronically at https://www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA 

Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all 

documents in the docket are listed in the index, some information may 

be publicly available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted 

material), and some may not be publicly available in either location 

(e.g., 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: Stanley Tong, EPA Region IX, (415) 

947-4122, tong.stanley@epa.gov.



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 rule revisions?

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

    A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules.

    D. 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/amended by the local air agency and submitted by the 

California Air Resources Board.



                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                Rule                                      Adopted/

                Local agency                    no.               Rule title              amended     Submitted

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SCAQMD......................................      218  Continuous Emission Monitoring.     05/14/99     07/23/99

SCAQMD......................................    218.1  Continuous Emission Monitoring      05/14/99     07/23/99

                                                        Performance Specifications.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------



    On January 23, 2000, the submittal for SCAQMD Rules 218 and 218.1 

was deemed by operation of law to meet 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 an earlier version of Rule 218 into the SIP on July 6, 

1982 (47 FR 29231). The SCAQMD adopted revisions to the SIP-approved 

version on May 14, 1999 and CARB submitted them to us on July 23, 1999. 

There is no prior version of Rule 218.1.



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



    Oxides of Nitrogen (NOX) help produce ground-level 

ozone, smog and particulate matter, which harm human health and the 

environment. Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) exposure is associated 

with adverse respiratory effects and can contribute to the formation of 

fine particle pollution. Carbon Monoxide (CO) contributes to the 

formation of smog and can also harm human health. Section 110(a) of the 

CAA requires States to submit regulations that control the primary and 

secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which 

includes NOX, SO2 and CO emissions.

    Rule 218 establishes requirements for continuous stack emission 

monitors of NOX, SO2, gaseous sulfur compounds, 

and CO. Rule 218 was amended to better define specifications and 

guidelines for continuous emission monitoring systems (CEMS) to 

eliminate ambiguity in both the administrative and technical provisions 

of the rule. The original SIP approved rule was then separated into an 

administrative portion and a technical portion. Rule 218 now contains 

the administrative requirements for CEMS and covers applicability, the 

application and approval process for CEMS, and recordkeeping and 

reporting requirements for CEMS. The technical requirements for CEMS 

were updated and form the basis for a new rule, Rule 218.1.

    Rule 218.1 is a new rule and contains requirements for the 

certification of CEMS, the performance specifications of CEMS, and the 

operation and maintenance of CEMS.

    EPA's technical support documents (TSD) have more information about 

these rules.



II. EPA's Evaluation and Action



A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?



    Generally, SIP rules must be enforceable (see section 110(a) of the 

Act) and must not relax existing requirements (see sections 110(l) and 

193). The SCAQMD regulates an ozone nonattainment area and a PM 

nonattainment area (see 40 CFR part 81).

    Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate 

enforceability requirements consistently include the following:

    1. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 

Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook).

    2. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 

Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).

    3. 40 CFR 60 Appendix B--Performance Specifications

    4. 40 CFR 60 Appendix F--Quality Assurance Procedures



B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?



    We believe these rules are consistent with the relevant policy and 

guidance regarding enforceability and SIP relaxations. The TSD has more 

information on our evaluation.



[[Page 32295]]



C. EPA Recommendations to Further Improve the Rules



    The TSDs describe additional rule revisions that we recommend for 

the next time SCAQMD modifies Rules 218 and 218.1. These 

recommendations are to: increase the records retention requirement to 

five years in Rule 218, remove the de minimus concentration option for 

the relative accuracy performance specifications for NOX and 

CO, and evaluate the ppropriateness of the de minimus concentration 

option for the relative accuracy performance specifications for 

SO2 and reduced sulfur compounds the next time Rule 218.1 is 

amended.



D. 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 

relevant 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 July 8, 2010, 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 August 9, 2010. 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, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 

effects, using practicable 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.



List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52



    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 

reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 

Particulate matter, Carbon Monoxide, Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements.



    Dated: April 1, 2010.

Jared Blumenfeld,

Regional Administrator, Region IX.



0

Part 52, Chapter I, Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is 

amended as follows:



PART 52--[AMENDED]



0

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



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



Subpart F--California



0

2. Section 52.220, is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(268) 

(i)(A)(2)and(3)to read as follows:





Sec.  52.220  Identification of plan.



* * * * *

    (c) * * *

    (268) * * *

    (i) * * *

    (A) * * *

    (2) Rule 218, ``Continuous Emission Monitoring,'' amended on May 

14, 1999.

    (3) Rule 218.1, ``Continuous Emission Monitoring Performance 

Specification,'' adopted on May 14, 1999.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 2010-13681 Filed 6-7-10; 8:45 am]

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