Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of Idaho; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, 30248-30259 [2012-12411]
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30248
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 99 / Tuesday, May 22, 2012 / Proposed Rules
Dated: May 7, 2012.
J.E. Ogden,
Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the
Port Detroit.
[FR Doc. 2012–12307 Filed 5–21–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 9110–04–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R10–OAR–2010–0930, FRL–9675–7]
Approval and Promulgation of
Implementation Plans; State of Idaho;
Regional Haze State Implementation
Plan
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:
EPA is proposing to approve
portions of a State Implementation Plan
(SIP) revision submitted by the State of
Idaho on October 25, 2010, as meeting
the requirements of the Clean Air Act
(CAA or the Act) and federal regional
haze program requirements. In a
previous action on June 22, 2011, EPA
approved portions of the October 25,
2010, SIP submittal as meeting the
requirements for interstate transport for
visibility of the CAA and certain
requirements of the regional haze
program including the requirements for
best available retrofit technology
(BART). This Federal Register notice
addresses the requirements of the Act
and EPA’s rules that require states to
prevent any future and remedy any
existing anthropogenic impairment of
visibility in mandatory Class I areas
caused by emissions of air pollutants
from numerous sources located over a
wide geographic area (also referred to as
the ‘‘regional haze program’’).This
action proposes to approve the
remaining regional haze SIP elements
for which EPA previously took no
action in the June 22, 2011, notice.
DATES: Written comments must be
received at the address below on or
before June 21, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R10–
OAR–2010–0930 by one of the following
methods:
• www.regulations.gov. Follow the
on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
• Email: R10-Public_Comments@epa.
gov.
• Mail: Steve Body, EPA Region 10,
Suite 900, Office of Air, Waste and
Toxics, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA
98101
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SUMMARY:
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• Hand Delivery: EPA Region 10,
1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite 900, Seattle,
WA 98101. Attention: Steve Body,
Office of Air, Waste and Toxics, AWT–
107. Such deliveries are only accepted
during normal hours of operation, and
special arrangements should be made
for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket ID No. EPA–R10–OAR–2010–
0930. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change and may be
made available online at www.
regulations.gov, 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 www.regulations.gov
or email. The www.regulations.gov Web
site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system,
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 email
comment directly to EPA, without going
through www.regulations.gov, your
email 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.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the www.regulations.gov
index. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly
available (e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by
statute). Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, will be publicly
available only in hard copy form.
Publicly available docket materials are
available either electronically at www.
regulations.gov or in hard copy at the
Office of Air, Waste and Toxics, EPA
Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle,
WA 98101. EPA requests that if at all
possible, you contact the individual
listed below to view a hard copy of the
docket.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Steve Body at telephone number (206)
PO 00000
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553–0782, body.steve@epa.gov, or the
above EPA, Region 10 address.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document whenever
‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we mean
the EPA. Information is organized as
follows:
Table of Contents
I. Background for EPA’s Proposed Action
A. Definition of Regional Haze
B. Regional Haze Rules and Regulations
C. Roles of Agencies in Addressing
Regional Haze
II. Requirements for Regional Haze SIPs
A. The CAA and the Regional Haze Rule
B. Determination of Baseline, Natural, and
Current Visibility Conditions
C. Consultation With States and Federal
Land Managers
D. Best Available Retrofit Technology
E. Determination of Reasonable Progress
Goals
F. Long Term Strategy
G. Coordinating Regional Haze and
Reasonably Attributable Visibility
Impairment
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other
Implementation Plan Requirements
III. EPA’s Analysis of the Idaho Regional
Haze SIP
A. Affected Class I Areas
B. Baseline and Natural Conditions
C. Idaho Emissions Inventories
D. Sources of Visibility Impairment in
Idaho Class I Areas
E. Best Available Retrofit Technology
F. Determination of Reasonable Progress
Goals
1. Idaho’s Reasonable Progress Analysis
2. Reasonable Progress Goals and
Demonstration of Reasonable Progress
3. EPA’s Determination Whether the SIP
Submittal Meets 40 CFR 51.308(d)
G. Long Term Strategy
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other
Implementation Requirements
I. Consultation with States and Federal
Land Managers
J. Periodic SIP Revisions and Five-Year
Progress Reports
IV. What action is EPA proposing?
V. Scope of Action
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background for EPA’s Proposed
Action
In the CAA Amendments of 1977,
Congress established a program to
protect and improve visibility in the
national parks and wilderness areas. See
CAA section 169A. Congress amended
the visibility provisions in the CAA in
1990 to focus attention on the problem
of regional haze. See CAA section 169B.
EPA promulgated regulations in 1999 to
implement sections 169A and 169B of
the Act. These regulations require states
to develop and implement plans to
ensure reasonable progress toward
improving visibility in mandatory Class
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I Federal areas 1 (Class I areas). 64 FR
35714 (July 1, 1999); see also 70 FR
39104 (July 6, 2005) and 71 FR 60612
(October 13, 2006).
On behalf of the State of Idaho, the
Idaho Department of Environmental
Quality submitted its Regional Haze
State Implementation Plan (Regional
Haze SIP submission or SIP submittal)
to EPA on October 25, 2010. In a
previous action EPA approved certain
provisions in Idaho’s Regional Haze SIP
submission. 76 FR 36329. This previous
action approved the provisions
addressing Best Available Retrofit
Technology (BART) (40 CFR 51.308(e),
calculation of baseline and natural
conditions (40 CFR 51.308(d)(2)) and
state wide emission inventory of
pollutants that are reasonably
anticipated to cause or contribute to
visibility impairment in any mandatory
Class I area. In that same action, EPA
also approved portions of the October
25, 2010 SIP submittal as meeting the
requirements for interstate transport for
visibility of CAA section
110(a)(2)(D)(i)(II).
In this action, EPA is proposing to
approve the provisions of Idaho’s
Regional Haze SIP submission that
address the remaining regional haze
requirements for establishing
Reasonable Progress Goals (RPGs) and
the Long Term Strategy (LTS).
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A. Definition of Regional Haze
Regional haze is impairment of visual
range or colorization caused by
emission of air pollution produced by
numerous sources and activities, located
across a broad regional area. The
sources include but are not limited to,
major and minor stationary sources,
mobile sources, and area sources
including non-anthropogenic sources.
These sources and activities may emit
fine particles (PM2.5) (e.g., sulfates,
nitrates, organic carbon, elemental
carbon, and soil dust), and their
1 Areas designated as mandatory Class I Federal
areas consist of national parks exceeding 6000
acres, wilderness areas and national memorial parks
exceeding 5000 acres, and all international parks
that were in existence on August 7, 1977. 42 U.S.C.
7472(a). In accordance with section 169A of the
CAA, EPA, in consultation with the Department of
Interior, promulgated a list of 156 areas where
visibility is identified as an important value. 44 FR
69122 (November 30, 1979). The extent of a
mandatory Class I area includes subsequent changes
in boundaries, such as park expansions. 42 U.S.C.
7472(a). Although states and tribes may designate
as Class I additional areas which they consider to
have visibility as an important value, the
requirements of the visibility program set forth in
section 169A of the CAA apply only to ‘‘mandatory
Class I Federal areas.’’ Each mandatory Class I
Federal area is the responsibility of a ‘‘Federal Land
Manager.’’ 42 U.S.C. 7602(i). When we use the term
‘‘Class I area’’ in this action, we mean a ‘‘mandatory
Class I Federal area.’’
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precursors (e.g., sulfur dioxide (SO2),
nitrogen oxides (NOX), and in some
cases, ammonia (NH3) and volatile
organic compounds (VOC)).
Atmospheric fine particulate reduces
clarity, color, and visual range of visual
scenes. Visibility reducing fine
particulate is primarily composed of
sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon
compounds, elemental carbon, and soil
dust, and impairs visibility by scattering
and absorbing light. Fine particulate can
also cause serious health effects and
mortality in humans, and contributes to
environmental effects such as acid
deposition and eutrophication. See 64
FR at 35715.
Data from the existing visibility
monitoring network, the ‘‘Interagency
Monitoring of Protected Visual
Environments’’ (IMPROVE) monitoring
network, show that visibility
impairment caused by air pollution
occurs virtually all the time at most
national parks and wilderness areas.
The average visual range in many Class
I areas in the Western United States is
100–150 kilometers, or about one-half to
two-thirds the visual range that would
exist without manmade air pollution.2
Id. Visibility impairment also varies
day-to-day and by season depending on
variation in meteorology and emission
rates.
B. Regional Haze Rules and Regulations
In section 169A of the 1977 CAA
Amendments, Congress created a
program for protecting visibility in the
nation’s national parks and wilderness
areas. This section of the CAA
establishes as a national goal the
‘‘prevention of any future, and the
remedying of any existing, impairment
of visibility in Class I areas which
impairment results from manmade air
pollution.’’ CAA section 169A(a)(1). On
December 2, 1980, EPA promulgated
regulations to address visibility
impairment in Class I areas that is
‘‘reasonably attributable’’ to a single
source or small group of sources, i.e.,
‘‘reasonably attributable visibility
impairment’’ (RAVI). 45 FR 80084.
These regulations represented the first
phase in addressing visibility
impairment. EPA deferred action on
regional haze that emanates from a
variety of sources until monitoring,
modeling and scientific knowledge
about the relationships between
pollutants and visibility impairment
were improved.
Congress added section 169B to the
CAA in 1990 to address regional haze
issues. EPA promulgated a rule to
address regional haze on July 1, 1999
2 Id.
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(64 FR 35713) (the regional haze rule or
RHR). The RHR revised the existing
visibility regulations to integrate into
the regulation, provisions addressing
regional haze impairment and
established a comprehensive visibility
protection program for Class I areas. The
requirements for regional haze, found at
40 CFR 51.308 and 51.309, are included
in EPA’s visibility protection
regulations at 40 CFR 51.300–309. Some
of the main elements of the regional
haze requirements are summarized in
section III of this rulemaking. The
requirement to submit a regional haze
SIP applies to all 50 states, the District
of Columbia and the Virgin Islands.3 40
CFR 51.308(b) requires states to submit
the first implementation plan
addressing regional haze visibility
impairment no later than December 17,
2007.
C. Roles of Agencies in Addressing
Regional Haze
Successful implementation of the
regional haze program will require longterm regional coordination among
states, tribal governments and various
Federal agencies. As noted above,
pollution affecting the air quality in
Class I areas can be transported over
long distances, even hundreds of
kilometers. Therefore, to effectively
address the problem of visibility
impairment in Class I areas, states need
to develop strategies in coordination
with one another, taking into account
the effect of emissions from one
jurisdiction on the air quality in
another.
Because the pollutants that lead to
regional haze impairment can originate
from across state lines, even across
international boundaries, EPA has
encouraged the States and Tribes to
address visibility impairment from a
regional perspective. Five regional
planning organizations 4 (RPOs) were
created nationally to address regional
haze and related issues. One of the main
objectives of the RPOs is to develop and
analyze data and conduct pollutant
transport modeling to assist the States or
Tribes in developing their regional haze
plans.
The Western Regional Air Partnership
(WRAP),5 one of the five RPOs
3 Albuquerque/Bernalillo County in New Mexico
must also submit a regional haze SIP to completely
satisfy the requirements of section 110(a)(2)(D) of
the CAA for the entire State of New Mexico under
the New Mexico Air Quality Control Act (section
74–2–4).
4 See https://www.epa.gov/air/visibility/regional.
html for description of the regional planning
organizations.
5 The WRAP Web site can be found at https://
www.wrapair.org.
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nationally, is a voluntary partnership of
State, Tribal, Federal, and local air
agencies dealing with air quality in the
West. WRAP member States include:
Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado,
Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, North
Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah,
Washington, and Wyoming. WRAP
Tribal members include Campo Band of
Kumeyaay Indians, Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes, Cortina Indian
Rancheria, Hopi Tribe, Hualapai Nation
of the Grand Canyon, Native Village of
Shungnak, Nez Perce Tribe, Northern
Cheyenne Tribe, Pueblo of Acoma,
Pueblo of San Felipe, and ShoshoneBannock Tribes of Fort Hall.
As a result of the regional planning
efforts in the West, all states in the
WRAP region contributed information
to a Technical Support System (TSS)
which provides an analysis of the
causes of haze, and the levels of
contribution from all sources within
each state to the visibility degradation of
each Class I area. The WRAP States
consulted in the development of
reasonable progress goals, using the
products of this technical consultation
process to co-develop their reasonable
progress goals for the Western Class I
areas. The modeling done by the WRAP
relied on assumptions regarding
emissions over the relevant planning
period and embedded in these
assumptions were anticipated emissions
reductions in each of the States in the
WRAP, including reductions from
BART and other measures to be adopted
as part of the State’s long term strategy
for addressing regional haze. The
reasonable progress goals in the draft
and final regional haze SIPs that have
now been prepared by States in the
West accordingly are based, in part, on
the emissions reductions from nearby
States that were agreed on through the
WRAP process.
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II. Requirements for Regional Haze
SIPs
A. The CAA and the Regional Haze Rule
Regional haze SIPs must assure
reasonable progress towards the
national goal of achieving natural
visibility conditions in Class I areas.
Section 169A of the CAA and EPA’s
implementing regulations require states
to establish long-term strategies for
making reasonable progress toward
meeting this goal. Implementation plans
must also give specific attention to
certain stationary sources that were in
existence on August 7, 1977, but were
not in operation before August 7, 1962,
and require these sources, where
appropriate, to install BART controls for
the purpose of eliminating or reducing
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visibility impairment. The specific
regional haze SIP requirements are
discussed in further detail below.
B. Determination of Baseline, Natural,
and Current Visibility Conditions
The RHR establishes the deciview
(dv) as the principal metric for
measuring visibility. This visibility
metric expresses uniform changes in
haziness in terms of common
increments across the entire range of
visibility conditions, from pristine to
extremely hazy conditions. Visibility is
determined by measuring the visual
range (or deciview), which is the
greatest distance, in kilometers or miles,
at which a dark object can be viewed
against the sky. The deciview is a useful
measure for tracking progress in
improving visibility, because each
deciview change is an equal incremental
change in visibility perceived by the
human eye. Most people can detect a
change in visibility at one deciview.6
The deciview is used in expressing
reasonable progress goals (which are
interim visibility goals towards meeting
the national visibility goal), defining
baseline, current, and natural
conditions, and tracking changes in
visibility. The regional haze SIPs must
contain measures that ensure
‘‘reasonable progress’’ toward the
national goal of preventing and
remedying visibility impairment in
Class I areas caused by manmade air
pollution by reducing anthropogenic
emissions that cause regional haze. The
national goal is a return to natural
conditions, i.e., manmade sources of air
pollution would no longer impair
visibility in Class I areas.
To track changes in visibility over
time at each of the 156 Class I areas
covered by the visibility program (40
CFR 81.401–437), and as part of the
process for determining reasonable
progress, states must calculate the
degree of existing visibility impairment
at each Class I area at the time of each
regional haze SIP submittal and
periodically review progress every five
years midway through each 10-year
implementation period. To do this, the
RHR requires states to determine the
degree of impairment (in deciviews) for
the average of the 20% least impaired
(‘‘best’’) and 20% most impaired
(‘‘worst’’) visibility days over a specified
time period at each of their Class I areas.
In addition, states must also develop an
estimate of natural visibility conditions
for the purpose of comparing progress
toward the national goal. Natural
6 The preamble to the RHR provides additional
details about the deciview. 64 FR 35714, 35725
(July 1, 1999).
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visibility is determined by estimating
the natural concentrations of pollutants
that cause visibility impairment and
then calculating total light extinction
based on those estimates. EPA has
provided guidance to states regarding
how to calculate baseline, natural and
current visibility conditions in
documents titled, EPA’s Guidance for
Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions
Under the Regional Haze Rule,
September 2003, (EPA–454/B–03–005
located at https://www.epa.gov/ttncaaa1/
t1/memoranda/rh_envcurhr_gd.pdf),
(hereinafter referred to as ‘‘EPA’s 2003
Natural Visibility Guidance’’), and
Guidance for Tracking Progress Under
the Regional Haze Rule (EPA–454/B–
03–004 September 2003 located at
https://www.epa.gov/ttncaaa1/t1/
memoranda/rh_tpurhr_gd.pdf)),
(hereinafter referred to as ‘‘EPA’s 2003
Tracking Progress Guidance’’).
For the first regional haze SIPs that
were due by December 17, 2007,
‘‘baseline visibility conditions’’ were the
starting points for assessing ‘‘current’’
visibility impairment. Baseline visibility
conditions represent the degree of
visibility impairment for the 20% least
impaired days and 20% most impaired
days for each calendar year from 2000
to 2004. Using monitoring data for 2000
through 2004, states are required to
calculate the average degree of visibility
impairment for each Class I area, based
on the average of annual values over the
five-year period. The comparison of
initial baseline visibility conditions to
natural visibility conditions indicates
the amount of improvement necessary
to attain natural visibility, while the
future comparison of baseline
conditions to the then current
conditions will indicate the amount of
progress made. In general, the 2000–
2004 baseline time period is considered
the time from which improvement in
visibility is measured.
C. Consultation With States and Federal
Land Managers
The RHR requires that states consult
with Federal Land Managers (FLMs)
before adopting and submitting their
SIPs. 40 CFR 51.308(i). States must
provide FLMs an opportunity for
consultation, in person and at least 60
days prior to holding any public hearing
on the SIP. This consultation must
include the opportunity for the FLMs to
discuss their assessment of visibility
impairment in any Class I area and to
offer recommendations on the
development of the reasonable progress
goals and on the development and
implementation of strategies to address
visibility impairment. Further, a state
must include in its SIP a description of
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how it addressed any comments
provided by the FLMs. Finally, a SIP
must provide procedures for continuing
consultation between the state and
FLMs regarding the state’s visibility
protection program, including
development and review of SIP
revisions, five-year progress reports, and
the implementation of other programs
having the potential to contribute to
impairment of visibility in Class I areas.
D. Best Available Retrofit Technology
Section 169A of the CAA directs
states to evaluate the use of retrofit
controls at certain larger, often
uncontrolled, older stationary sources in
order to address visibility impacts from
these sources. Specifically, section
169A(b)(2)(A) of the CAA requires
States to revise their SIPs to contain
such measures as may be necessary to
make reasonable progress towards the
natural visibility goal, including a
requirement that certain categories of
existing major stationary sources 7 built
between 1962 and 1977, to procure,
install, and operate the ‘‘Best Available
Retrofit Technology’’ (‘‘BART’’) as
determined by the state. States are
directed to conduct BART
determinations for such sources that
may be anticipated to cause or
contribute to any visibility impairment
in a Class I area. The regional haze SIP
must include source-specific BART
emission limits and compliance
schedules for each source subject to
BART. Once a State has made its BART
determination, the BART controls must
be installed and in operation as
expeditiously as practicable, but no later
than five years after the date EPA
approves the regional haze SIP. See
CAA section 169A(g)(4)); 40 CFR
51.308(e)(1)(iv).
EPA previously approved Idaho’s
BART determination for the sources
subject to BART in its jurisdiction. See
76 FR 36329.8 Please refer to that action
for details of the BART requirements
and EPA’s rationale for approval of the
BART provisions in the Idaho Regional
Haze SIP submission.
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E. Determination of Reasonable Progress
Goals
The vehicle for ensuring continuing
progress towards achieving the natural
visibility goal is the submission of a
7 The set of ‘‘major stationary sources’’ potentially
subject to BART is listed in CAA section 169A(g)(7).
8 Upon EPA’s final action, The Amalgamated
Sugar Company (TASCO) filed a petition for review
in the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals challenging
EPA’s approval of Idaho’s BART determination for
TASCO. See Amalgamated Sugar v. EPA, Ninth
Circuit Petition No. 11–72445. The case is pending
before the 9th Circuit.
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series of regional haze SIPs from the
states that establish two reasonable
progress goals (RPGs) (i.e., two distinct
goals, one for the ‘‘best’’ and one for the
‘‘worst’’ days) for every Class I area for
each (approximately) 10-year
implementation period. The RHR does
not mandate specific milestones or rates
of progress, but instead calls for states
to establish goals that provide for
‘‘reasonable progress’’ toward achieving
natural (i.e., ‘‘background’’) visibility
conditions. In setting RPGs, states must
provide for an improvement in visibility
for the most impaired days over the
(approximately) 10-year period of the
SIP, and ensure no degradation in
visibility for the least impaired days
over the same period.
States have significant discretion in
establishing RPGs, but are required to
consider the following factors
established in section 169A of the CAA
and in EPA’s RHR at 40 CFR
51.308(d)(1)(i)(A): (1) The costs of
compliance; (2) the time necessary for
compliance; (3) the energy and non-air
quality environmental impacts of
compliance; and (4) the remaining
useful life of any potentially affected
sources. States must demonstrate in
their SIPs how these factors are
considered when selecting the RPGs for
the best and worst days for each
applicable Class I area. States have
considerable flexibility in how they take
these factors into consideration, as
noted in EPA’s Guidance for Setting
Reasonable Progress Goals under the
Regional Haze Program, July 1, 2007,
Memorandum from William L. Wehrum,
Acting Assistant Administrator for Air
and Radiation, to EPA Regional
Administrators, EPA Regions 1–10 (pp.
4–2, 5–1) (‘‘EPA’s Reasonable Progress
Guidance’’). In setting the RPGs, states
must also consider the rate of progress
needed to reach natural visibility
conditions by 2064 (referred to as the
‘‘uniform rate of progress’’ (URP) or the
‘‘glidepath’’) and the emission reduction
measures needed to achieve that rate of
progress over the 10-year period of the
SIP. Uniform progress towards
achievement of natural conditions by
the year 2064 represents a rate of
progress which states are to use for
analytical comparison to the amount of
progress they expect to achieve. In
setting RPGs, each state with one or
more Class I areas (‘‘Class I state’’) must
also consult with potentially
‘‘contributing states,’’ i.e., other nearby
states with emission sources that may be
affecting visibility impairment at the
state’s Class I areas. See 40 CFR
51.308(d)(1)(iv).
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F. Long Term Strategy
Consistent with the requirement in
section 169A(b) of the CAA that states
include in their regional haze SIP a 10
to 15 year strategy for making
reasonable progress, 40 CFR
51.308(d)(3) of the RHR requires that
states include a LTS in their regional
haze SIPs. The LTS is the compilation
of all control measures a state will use
during the implementation period of the
specific SIP submittal to meet
applicable RPGs. The LTS must include
‘‘enforceable emissions limitations,
compliance schedules, and other
measures as necessary to achieve the
reasonable progress goals’’ for all Class
I areas within, or affected by emissions
from, the state. See 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3).
When a state’s emissions are
reasonably anticipated to cause or
contribute to visibility impairment in a
Class I area located in another state, the
RHR requires the impacted state to
coordinate with the contributing states
in order to develop coordinated
emissions management strategies. See
40 CFR 51.308(d)(3)(i). In such cases,
the contributing state must demonstrate
that it has included, in its SIP, all
measures necessary to obtain its share of
the emissions reductions needed to
meet the RPGs for the Class I area. The
RPOs have provided forums for
significant interstate consultation, but
additional consultations between states
may be required to sufficiently address
interstate visibility issues. This is
especially true where two states belong
to different RPOs.
States should consider all types of
anthropogenic sources of visibility
impairment in developing their LTS,
including stationary, minor, mobile, and
area sources. At a minimum, states must
describe how each of the following
seven factors listed below are taken into
account in developing their LTS: (1)
Emissions reductions due to ongoing air
pollution control programs, including
measures to address RAVI; (2) measures
to mitigate the impacts of construction
activities; (3) emissions limitations and
schedules for compliance to achieve the
RPG; (4) source retirement and
replacement schedules; (5) smoke
management techniques for agricultural
and forestry management purposes
including plans as currently exist
within the state for these purposes; (6)
enforceability of emissions limitations
and control measures; and (7) the
anticipated net effect on visibility due to
projected changes in point, area, and
mobile source emissions over the period
addressed by the LTS. See 40 CFR
51.308(d)(3)(v).
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G. Coordinating Regional Haze and
Reasonably Attributable Visibility
Impairment
As part of the RHR, EPA revised 40
CFR 51.306(c) regarding the LTS for
RAVI to require that the RAVI plan must
provide for a periodic review and SIP
revision not less frequently than every
three years until the date of submission
of the state’s first plan addressing
regional haze visibility impairment,
which was due December 17, 2007, in
accordance with 40 CFR 51.308(b) and
(c). On or before this date, the state must
revise its plan to provide for review and
revision of a coordinated LTS for
addressing RAVI and regional haze, and
the state must submit the first such
coordinated LTS with its first regional
haze SIP. Future coordinated LTS’s, and
periodic progress reports evaluating
progress towards RPGs, must be
submitted consistent with the schedule
for SIP submission and periodic
progress reports set forth in 40 CFR
51.308(f) and 51.308(g), respectively.
The periodic review of a state’s LTS
must report on both regional haze and
RAVI impairment and must be
submitted to EPA as a SIP revision.
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H. Monitoring Strategy and Other
Implementation Plan Requirements
Section 51.308(d)(4) of the RHR
includes the requirement for a
monitoring strategy for measuring,
characterizing, and reporting of regional
haze visibility impairment that is
representative of all mandatory Class I
Federal areas within the state. The
strategy must be coordinated with the
monitoring strategy required in section
51.305 for RAVI. Compliance with this
requirement may be met through
‘‘participation’’ in the IMPROVE
network, i.e., review and use of
monitoring data from the network. The
monitoring strategy is due with the first
regional haze SIP, and it must be
reviewed every five years. The
monitoring strategy must also provide
for additional monitoring sites if the
IMPROVE network is not sufficient to
determine whether RPGs will be met.
The SIP must also provide for the
following:
• Procedures for using monitoring
data and other information in a state
with mandatory Class I areas to
determine the contribution of emissions
from within the state to regional haze
visibility impairment at Class I areas
both within and outside the state;
• Procedures for using monitoring
data and other information in a state
with no mandatory Class I areas to
determine the contribution of emissions
from within the state to regional haze
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visibility impairment at Class I areas in
other states;
• Reporting of all visibility
monitoring data to the Administrator at
least annually for each Class I area in
the state, and where possible, in
electronic format;
• Developing a statewide inventory of
emissions of pollutants that are
reasonably anticipated to cause or
contribute to visibility impairment in
any Class I area. The inventory must
include emissions for a baseline year,
emissions for the most recent year for
which data are available, and estimates
of future projected emissions. A state
must also make a commitment to update
the inventory periodically; and
• Other elements, including
reporting, recordkeeping, and other
measures necessary to assess and report
on visibility.
The RHR requires control strategies to
cover an initial implementation period
extending to the year 2018, with a
comprehensive reassessment and
revision of those strategies, as
appropriate, every 10 years thereafter.
Periodic SIP revisions must meet the
core requirements of section 51.308(d)
with the exception of BART. The
requirement to evaluate sources for
BART applies only to the first regional
haze SIP. Facilities subject to BART
must continue to comply with the BART
provisions of section 51.308(e), as noted
above. Periodic SIP revisions will assure
that the statutory requirement of
reasonable progress will continue to be
met. Each state also is required to
submit a report to EPA every five years
that evaluates progress toward achieving
the RPG for each Class I area within the
state and outside the state if affected by
emissions from within the state. 40 CFR
51.308(g). The first progress report is
due five years from submittal of the
initial regional haze SIP revision. At the
same time a 5-year progress report is
submitted, a state must determine the
adequacy of its existing SIP to achieve
the established goals for visibility
improvement. See 40 CFR 51.308(h).
III. EPA’s Analysis of the Idaho
Regional Haze SIP
A. Affected Class I Areas
There are five mandatory Class I
areas, or portions of such areas, within
Idaho. Craters of the Moon National
Monument, Sawtooth Wilderness Area,
and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area
lie completely within Idaho State
borders. Idaho is responsible for
developing reasonable progress goals for
these Class I areas. Hells Canyon
Wilderness Area is a shared Class I area
with Oregon, and Yellowstone National
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Park is a shared Class I area with
Wyoming. See 40 CFR 81.410. Through
agreement with Idaho, Oregon and
Wyoming respectively will address
reasonable progress goals, monitoring,
and other core requirements for these
Class I areas. Idaho consulted with
Oregon and Wyoming to determine
Idaho’s contribution to regional haze in
those Class I areas and to determine
appropriate measures for Idaho’s longterm strategy. See the Idaho Regional
Haze SIP submittal, chapter 13, section
13.2; see, also the WRAP Technical
Support Document, February 28, 2011 9
(WRAP TSD) supporting this action and
76 FR 36329.
The Idaho SIP submittal addresses the
three Class I areas that are completely
within the State border and, as
appropriate, the Class I areas with
shared jurisdiction with Oregon and
Wyoming and Class I areas in
neighboring states and the visibility
impacts of Idaho sources on Class I
areas in neighboring states.
B. Baseline and Natural Conditions
EPA previously evaluated and
approved Idaho’s identification of
baseline and natural conditions for
Craters of the Moon National
Monument, Sawtooth Wilderness Area,
and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area,
and the statewide emissions inventory
of pollutants that are from Idaho that
impact nearby Class I areas. See 76 FR
1579, Jan. 11, 2011 and 76 FR 36329,
June 22, 2011 (proposed and final rule
respectively). However, that discussion
is relevant when evaluating the States’
Reasonable Progress Goals which we are
proposing to approve today. Thus, the
discussion below summarizes EPA’s
previous explanation of the baseline and
natural conditions in these Class I areas.
Idaho established baseline and natural
visibility conditions as well as the
uniform rate of progress (URP) to
achieve natural visibility conditions in
2064 for all three of the Class I areas
within its borders. While Idaho is
responsible for establishing baseline and
natural conditions for these three areas,
the SIP submittal also included these
conditions for Hells Canyon Wilderness
Area and Yellowstone National Park, as
determined by WRAP and established
by Oregon and Wyoming.
Baseline visibility was calculated
from monitoring data collected by
IMPROVE monitors for the mostimpaired (20% worst) days and the
least-impaired (20% best) days. Idaho
9 EPA evaluated the technical work products of
the WRAP used by Idaho in support if this Regional
Haze SIP submittal. The results of that evaluation
are included in the document ‘‘WRAP Technical
Support Document’’ or WRAP TSD.
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used the WRAP derived natural
visibility conditions. In general, WRAP
based their natural condition estimates
on EPA guidance, Guidance for
Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions
Under the Regional Haze Program
(EPA–45/B–03–0005 September 2003)
but incorporated refinements which
EPA believes provides results more
appropriate for western states than the
general EPA default approach. See
WRAP TSD section 2.E.
Craters of the Moon National
Monument: An IMPROVE monitor is
located in Craters of the Moon National
Monument. Based on baseline 2000 to
2004 data, the average 20% worst days
visibility is 14 dv and the average 20%
best days visibility is 4.3 dv. Natural
visibility for the average 20% worst
days is 7.53 dv.
Sawtooth Wilderness Area: Sawtooth
Wilderness Area has an IMPROVE
monitor located within the Wilderness
Area. Based on baseline 2000 to 2004
data, the average 20% worst days
visibility is 13.78 dv and the average
20% best days visibility is 3.99 dv.
Natural visibility for the average 20%
worst days is 6.42 dv.
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area:
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area
visibility is represented by an IMPROVE
monitor located 20 km east of the
Wilderness Area in Sula, Montana. This
site also represents visibility in the
Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area in
Montana. Based on baseline 2000 to
2004 data, the average 20% worst days
visibility is 13.41 dv and the average
20% best days visibility is 2.58 dv for
both areas. Natural visibility for the
Selway-Bitteroot and the AnacondaPintler Wilderness Areas average 20%
worst days is 7.43 dv.
C. Idaho Emission Inventories
EPA previously evaluated and
approved Idaho’s emissions inventory of
pollutants that impact the three Class I
areas in Idaho, as well as the impacts of
emissions from Idaho on nearby Class I
areas in other states and the sources of
visibility impairment in the Class I areas
located in Idaho. See 76 FR 1579, and
76 FR 36329. As explained in more
detail in the notices for that rulemaking,
in general, smoke from wild and
prescribed fire, as measured by organic
and elemental carbon, dominates
visibility impairment in Idaho Class I
areas, with the exception of Craters of
the Moon National Monument where
ammonium nitrate dominates at 39%.
Smoke is the second largest contributor
to impairment at Craters of the Moon
National Monument at 37%, followed
by sulfate at 13%. Smoke represents
84% of impairment at the Sawtooth
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Wilderness Area, followed by sulfate at
7% and nitrate at 2%. Smoke represents
60% impairment at the SelwayBitterroot Wilderness Area, followed by
sulfate at 19% and nitrate at 7%. See
Tables 7–2, 7–20, and 7–31 in the SIP
submittal. Chapter 9 of the SIP
submission demonstrates that generally
half of the sulfate and 25% of the nitrate
contributing to impairment in Idaho
Class I areas originates from outside the
United States.
D. Sources of Visibility Impairment in
Idaho Class I Areas
Idaho used a two-step process to
identify the contribution of each source
or source category to existing visibility
impairment. First, ambient pollutant
concentration by species (sulfate,
nitrate, organic carbon, fine particulate,
etc) was determined from the IMPROVE
sampler representing each Class I area.
These concentrations were then used to
determine the extinction coefficient and
distribute existing impairment among
the measured pollutant species.
Extinction was then converted to
deciview values. Second, the
Comprehensive Air Quality Model with
Extensions (CAMx) and Particulate
Matter Source Apportionment
Technology (PSAT) models were used
to determine which sources and source
categories contributed to the ambient
concentration of each pollutant species.
Thus, impairment was distributed by
source and source category.
The WRAP and Western States
selected CAMx in conjunction with
PSAT first to determine source
contribution to ambient sulfate and
nitrate concentrations and then to
decide which geographic source regions
contribute to haze at specific Class I
areas. Description of these tools and our
evaluation of them are described in
more detail in section 6 of the WRAP
TSD.
Figure 7–1 in the Idaho Regional Haze
SIP submittal presents the light
extinction for the base year at each Class
I area by visibility impairing pollutant
species for the average of the 20% worst
days. In addition the SIP submission
identifies in Figures 7.2 through Figure
7.52, light extinction by pollutant
species for the average of the 20% worst
and average of the 20% best days for
each of the Class I areas.
To determine potential impacts of
emission sources in Idaho on Class I
areas in other states, Idaho used the
WRAP analysis of interstate impacts.
Ambient sulfate and nitrate
concentrations for the 20% worst and
best days for baseline (2002–2004) and
2018 at each western Class I area is
distributed among all states in the
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WRAP. The SIP submittal provides an
analysis of the Class I areas in nearby
states. See chapter 9.3 of the Idaho
Regional Haze SIP submission. The
Class I areas are:
Shared Class I Areas With Oregon and
Wyoming
• Hells Canyon Wilderness Area:
Idaho contributes 9.6% of the sulfate,
35% of the nitrate, 63% of the organic
and elemental carbon, 42% of the fine
particulate and 44% of the coarse
particulate in the Hells Canyon
Wilderness Area.
• Yellowstone National Park: Idaho
contributes 8% of the sulfate, 24% of
the nitrate, 15% of the organic carbon,
17% of the elemental carbon, 28% of
the fine and coarse particulate in
Yellowstone National Park.
Class I Areas outside Idaho: See
section 9.3 of the SIP submittal for a
detailed presentation of the contribution
of Idaho sources on Class I areas outside
Idaho.
• Glacier National Park in Montana:
Idaho is ranked 3rd behind Montana
and Washington in contribution of
visibility impairing pollutants on the
20% worst days.
• Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area
in Montana: Idaho is ranked 3rd behind
Oregon and Washington in contribution
to visibility impairing pollutants on the
20% worst days.
• Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in
Montana: Idaho is ranked 3rd behind
Montana and Washington in
contribution to visibility impairing
pollutants on the 20% worst days.
• Gates of the Mountain Wilderness
in Montana: Idaho is ‘‘ranked 3rd’’
behind Montana and Washington in
contribution to visibility impairing
pollutants on the 20% worst days.
• North Absaroka Wilderness in
Wyoming: Idaho is ranked 2nd behind
Wyoming in contribution to visibility
impairing pollutants on the 20% worst
days.
• Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming:
Idaho is ranked 2nd behind Wyoming in
contribution to visibility impairing
pollutants on the 20% worst days.
• Eagle Cap Wilderness Area Oregon:
Idaho is ranked 3rd behind Oregon and
Washington in contribution to visibility
impairing pollutant on the 20% worst
days.
• Jarbidge Wilderness Area in
Nevada: Idaho is ranked 1st in
contribution of sulfate and nitrate to the
Jarbidge Wilderness area.
E. Best Available Retrofit Technology
EPA previously reviewed and
approved Idaho’s BART determinations
for all sources subject to BART in Idaho.
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See 76 FR 36329. As explained in the
Federal Register notice the State made
BART determinations for the following
sources:
• Amalgamated Sugar: Paul Facility
• Amalgamated Sugar: Twin Falls
• Amalgamated Sugar: Nampa
• NuWest/Agrium
• J.R. Simplot Don Plant
• Monsanto/P4 Production
• Potlatch Pulp and Paper
BART for all but two of the BARTeligible sources (Amalgamated Sugar
Nampa and Monsanto/P4 Production) is
existing control because they were
determined to not cause or contribute to
visibility impairment in any Class I area.
At Amalgamated Sugar, Nampa, the
Riley Boiler is the only emission unit at
the facility that is subject to BART.
BART for the Riley Boiler was
determined to be Low NOX Burners
with overfire air for NOX, wet flue gas
desulfurization for SO2 and the existing
baghouse for particulate matter.
BART for Monsanto/P4 Production
SO2 emissions is the hydro-sonic wet
scrubbers to remove sub-micron
particles and lime-concentrated dualalkai (LCDA) scrubbers on their calciner
kiln which reduced emissions from
12,252 tons per year (tpy) in 2004 to a
permitted potential to emit of 626 tpy.
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F. Determination of Reasonable Progress
Goals
1. Idaho’s Reasonable Progress Analysis
The RHR requires States to show
‘‘reasonable progress’’ toward natural
visibility conditions over the time
period of the SIP, with 2018 as the first
milestone year. The RHR at 40 CFR
51.308(d)(1) also requires that the State
establish a goal, expressed in deciviews
(dv), for each Class I area within the
State that provides for reasonable
progress towards achieving natural
visibility conditions by 2064. As such
the State must establish a Reasonable
Progress Goal (RPG) for each Class I area
that provides for visibility improvement
for the most-impaired (20% worst) days
and ensures no degradation in visibility
for the least-impaired (20% best) days in
2018.
RPGs are estimates of the progress to
be achieved by 2018 through
implementation of the LTS which
includes anticipated emission
reductions from all State and Federal
regulatory requirements implemented
between the baseline and 2018,
including but not limited to BART and
any additional controls for non-BART
sources or emission activities including
any Federal requirements that reduce
visibility impairing pollutants. As
explained above, the rate needed to
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achieve natural conditions by 2064 is
referred to as the uniform rate of
progress or URP.
If the State establishes a reasonable
progress goal that provides for a slower
rate of improvement than the rate that
would be needed to attain natural
conditions by 2064, the State must
demonstrate based on the factors in 40
CFR 51.308(d)(1)(i)(A), that the rate of
progress for the implementation plan to
attain natural conditions by 2064 is not
reasonable; and the progress goal
adopted by the State is reasonable. The
State must provide to the public for
review as part of its implementation
plan an assessment of the number of
years it would take to attain natural
conditions if visibility continues at the
rate of progress selected by the state. 40
CFR 51.308(d)(B)(ii).
The primary tool relied upon by Idaho
for determining regional haze
improvements by 2018 and for
establishing the RPGs, was the CMAQ
modeling conducted by WRAP. The
CMAQ model was used to estimate 2018
visibility conditions in Idaho and all
Western Class I areas, based on
application of the regional haze
strategies included in this plan.
WRAP developed air quality
modeling inputs including annual
meteorology and emissions inventories
for: (1) A 2002 actual emissions base
case, (2) a planning case to represent the
2000–04 regional haze baseline period
using average emissions for key
emissions categories, and (3) a projected
2018 case to determine improvements
achievable by 2018. EPA approves the
use of the CMAQ model to determine
future visibility conditions in Idaho
Class I areas. A more detailed
description of the CMAQ modeling
performed by WRAP can be found in the
WRAP TSD.
In setting the RPGs for its Class I
areas, Idaho considered a number of
factors including the statutory four
factors: Cost of compliance, time
necessary for compliance, the non-air
environmental and energy impacts, and
remaining useful life of any potentially
affected sources. 40 CFR
51.308(d)(1)(i)(A). Based on these four
factors, Idaho considered whether it was
reasonable to control anthropogenic
sources of visibility impairing emissions
under its regulatory jurisdiction. Idaho
focused its evaluation of sources for the
purpose of achieving further reasonable
progress on SO2 and NOX because these
pollutants have the greatest visibility
impairing characteristics and because
organic and elemental carbon primarily
originates from wildfire. In
consideration of the amount of SO2 and
NOX emitted, Idaho identified the
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following source categories subject to
the statutory four-factor analysis: (1)
External combustion boilers; (2)
elemental phosphorus production; (3)
sulfuric acid processing plants; (4) pulp
and paper processing; (5) cement
manufacturing; (6) sugar beet
processing; and (7) natural gas
compressing stations. Idaho’s four-factor
analysis of the significant stationary
source categories is summarized below.
The External Combustion Boilers
source category includes boilers used to
generate steam or hot water in
manufacturing, material processing,
mining, refining, and/or electricity. SOx
and NOX are the visibility impairing
pollutants of concern for this category.
Tables 11–2 and 11–3 in the Idaho SIP
submittal show a total of 3,118 tpy of
SO2 and 4,647 tpy of NOX in the
emission inventory for this category. SIP
submittal Table 11–7 presents a number
of control options for each visibility
impairing pollutant for different fuels.
See section 11.4.1 of the SIP submittal
for additional detail regarding the
State’s analysis of this source category.
Sulfuric Acid Contact Processing
emits sulfur dioxide as the only
visibility impairing pollutant of concern
from this type of facility. Idaho SIP
submittal Table 11–2 shows a total of
364 tpy of SO2 in the emission
inventory for this category. SIP
submittal Table 11–8 presents the cost
for two control technologies: increased
absorption efficiency to New Source
Performance Standards and tail gas
treatment. See SIP submittal section
11.4.3 for additional detail regarding the
State’s analysis of this source category.
Cement manufacturing emits NOX
which is the only visibility impairing
pollutant of concern. Idaho has only one
cement plant, Ash Grove Cement in
Inkom, Idaho. Both SO2 and NOX
emissions from the rotary kiln have
emission limits established in its PSD
permit. Sulfur dioxide is limited to 76
tpy from Kiln #1 and 21 tpy from kiln
#2. See Table 4–2 of the Permit to
Operate issued December 23, 2010, by
the Idaho Department of Environmental
Quality (IDEQ). Table 11–3 Idaho SIP
shows a total of 461 tpy of NOX in the
emission inventory for this category.
Table 11–9 of the SIP submittal presents
the estimated costs for compliance for
the control options. See SIP Submittal
section 11.4.4 for additional detail
regarding the State’s analysis of this
source category.
Interstate Transport of Natural Gas
(natural gas fueled internal combustion
engines for compressing stations on the
interstate natural gas pipeline) emits
NOX which is the only visibility
impairing pollutant of concern from the
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compressing stations. Table 11–3 in the
Idaho SIP shows a total of 2,590 tpy of
NOX in the emission inventory for this
category. Table 11–10 of the SIP
submittal presents the costs of control
options for both reciprocating engines
and gas turbines. See SIP submittal
section 11.4.6 for additional detail
regarding the State’s analysis of this
source category.
In spite of the relatively low cost
effectiveness for controls in these source
categories, Idaho concludes that
additional control measures for these
source categories are not reasonable at
this time. Idaho recognized that
according to the modeling, the Class I
areas are not expected to achieve the
URP for 2018. Nevertheless, Idaho also
concludes that the goals established for
each of Idaho’s Class I areas for the first
planning cycle of 2018 are reasonable.
These conclusions are based upon the
significant impact of wildfire on all of
Idaho’s Class I areas and the amount of
sulfate and nitrate originating outside
the United States. As discussed
previously in this notice, wildfire
significantly contributes to impairment
in all three Class I areas. More
specifically, anthropogenic and nonanthropogenic fire contributes between
37% and 84% to visibility impairment
in the Class I areas in Idaho. Nonanthropogenic fire emissions are 85%
and anthropogenic fire emissions are
15% of total fire emissions in Idaho.
(Calculated from Table 8–4 of the SIP
submission.) Idaho concluded that
additional controls on individual
sources, even if cost effective, will not
alter the magnitude of the visibility
impact attributable to wildfire.
Additionally, Idaho further refined its
analysis and considered a URP
individually for sulfate and nitrate
impairment. This analysis found that
due to the anticipated reductions of SO2
and NOX emissions in both Idaho and
neighboring states which will result
from required controls on point sources,
the remaining sulfate and nitrate
emissions are near to or exceed URP for
those pollutants. Idaho concluded that
additional controls on SO2 or NO2
sources are not helpful in achieving the
URP.
Idaho also qualitatively considered
two new developments in emission
source projections since the WRAP
modeling was completed that result in
lower emissions than the emission
estimates used in the WRAP modeling.
When the WRAP modeling was
performed, it was assumed that a new
coal-fired power plant would be built
and operating in Jerome, Idaho by 2018
and the expected emissions from this
proposed plant were incorporated into
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the model projections. Subsequently,
the Idaho Governor issued a moratorium
on new coal-fired power plants. Thus
the estimated emissions associated with
the new facility will not occur. Also,
requirements for new controls on
marine vessels operating within 200
miles of the West Coast were not
included in the projected improvements
in visibility. Both of these actions are
likely to result in lower emissions than
were used in the model and achieve
better visibility in future years than the
model predicts.
30255
2. Reasonable Progress Goals and
Demonstration of Reasonable Progress
and elemental carbon. Idaho also only
considered controls for SO2 and NOX
emissions which are typically
associated with anthropogenic sources.
Idaho determined that the major source
of organic and elemental carbon was
natural fire and after reviewing the
WRAP modeling results, Idaho found
that particulate matter (PM) emissions
from point sources only contribute a
minimal amount to the visibility
impairment in the Class I areas in Idaho.
Idaho concluded that little gain would
be achieved from further reduction in
sulfur dioxide, organic carbon and
nitrogen oxides from point sources in
Idaho at this time.
After conducting the CMAQ
modeling, Idaho established RPGs for
each Class I area and, based on the RPG
and linear progress to natural
conditions, it determined the number of
years needed to achieve natural
conditions. The results follow:
Craters of the Moon National
Monument;
• Baseline 20% worst days: 14 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% worst days: 13.06 dv
• 2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.49 dv
• Baseline 20% best days: 04.31 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% best days: 03.89 dv
• Years needed to achieve natural
conditions: 112 yrs
Sawtooth Wilderness Area;
• Baseline 20% worst days: 13.78 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% worst days: 13.22 dv
• 2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.06 dv
• Baseline 20% best days: 03.99 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% best days: 03.78 dv
• Years needed to achieve natural
conditions: 161 yrs
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area;
• Baseline 20% worst days: 13.41 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% worst days: 12.94 dv
• 2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.02 dv
• Baseline 20% best days: 02.58 dv
• 2018 RPG 20% best days: 02.48 dv
• Years needed to achieve natural
conditions: 221
Idaho concludes, after considering the
contribution of visibility impairment
coming from natural sources rather than
anthropogenic sources, the emissions
reductions of SO2 and NOX that can be
expected from anthropogenic sources,
the four-factor analysis, and ‘‘on-thebooks’’ controls and long term
strategies, that no additional control is
reasonable at this time and that Idaho’s
visibility goals are reasonable. The focus
should be on sources that could be
controlled. Thus, in its evaluation of
potential sources or source categories
for reasonable progress the state
primarily considered point sources.
Idaho determined that the key
pollutants contributing to visibility
impairment are SO2, NOX and organic
3. EPA’s Determination Whether the SIP
Meets 40 CFR 51.308(d)
In a previous action, EPA approved
Idaho’s determination of baseline and
natural visibility conditions in each
Class I area in Idaho. See 78 FR 36329.
The linear progress from baseline
visibility to natural visibility in 2064
defines the URP. ‘‘2018 URP’’ is the rate
of progress to be achieved by 2018 in
order to stay on track to achieve natural
conditions by 2064. EPA independently
evaluated whether there are reasonable
control measures available for sources
located within Idaho’s regulatory
jurisdiction that would achieve further
progress toward achieving the 2018
URP.
We began this analysis using a
screening methodology called ‘‘Q/d’’ to
determine which stationary (point)
sources would be candidates for
controls under reasonable progress. The
value Q/d is the ratio of the
mathematical sum of actual SO2, NOX
and PM emissions in tons per year,
denoted as ‘‘Q’’ divided by the distance
(in kilometers, denoted as ‘‘d’’) of the
point source to the nearest Class I area.
A high Q/d would indicate the
likelihood of the source causing or
contributing to impairment in that Class
I area.
To determine the Q/d value that
would provide assurance that a source
would, or would not cause or contribute
to impairment in any Class I area, we
considered the modeled visibility
impacts from the CALPUFF modeling
used to determine the BART eligible
sources subject to BART in EPA Region
10 and the distance of the source to the
nearest Class I area. There were 19
BART eligible sources used in this
analysis. See memorandum to the files
from Keith Rose, EPA Region 10, dated
March 21, 2012. All sources with a Q/
d ratio of less than 26.1 had visibility
impacts of less than 0.5 dv. The
resultant average of the range is about
0.3 dv, which is a more conservative
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reasonable progress threshold than the
0.5 dv that was used in determining
which sources would be subject-toBART under the federal BART
regulations. Since the threshold is more
conservative than the subject-to-BART
threshold, we believe that a Q/d value
of 20 is reasonable for determining
which sources the State should consider
for the reasonable progress analysis.
The evaluation of potential RP
sources involved all Idaho’s stationary
sources with actual SO2, NOX, or PM10
emissions greater than 40 tpy. We
identified 24 sources (both BART
eligible and non-BART eligible) as
exceeding the 40 tpy threshold. Of the
24 sources, 17 are not BART eligible and
all had Q/d ratios of less than 20. The
source with the highest ratio had a
Q/d value of 17.
EPA does not believe these 17 nonBART sources would cause or
contribute to impairment in any Class I
area. Therefore, EPA does not believe
that additional analysis of the 17 nonBART sources would result in an
outcome different from Idaho’s
conclusion that additional control of
these non-BART sources is not
reasonable at this time. Thus, EPA
agrees with Idaho’s conclusion that
additional controls of non-BART point
sources for reasonable progress
purposes are not reasonable at this time,
because even though there are cost
effective controls identified, visibility
improvement is anticipated to be
relatively small. This includes those
point sources in the four categories that
Idaho identified above for the fourfactor analysis: (1) External combustion
boilers; (2) sulfuric acid contact
processing; (3) cement manufacturing;
and (4) natural gas compressing stations.
It should be noted that while
elemental phosphorus production was
identified by Idaho as a potential source
category for the reasonable progress
analysis, the only source is Monsanto/
P4, a source subject to BART, for which
a control technology evaluation was
conducted and a BART determination
made. Implementation of BART for
Monsanto/P4 will result in an
approximate 9,000 tpy reduction in SO2,
roughly over half the total statewide
point source SO2 emissions in 2002. The
BART evaluation for NOX determined
there are no feasible NOX controls for
this process.
Idaho identified sugar beet processing
as a potential source for further fourfactor analysis. The boilers used in
sugar beet processing are addressed in
the evaluation of external boilers.
Likewise, Idaho identified pulp and
paper as a potential source for further
four-factor analysis. The only pulp mill
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in Idaho is the Potlatch Pulp & Paper
Mill located in Lewiston, Idaho. The
Potlatch facility is a BART-eligible
source and was addressed in our
previous Federal Register action dated
June 22, 2011 (76 FR 36329).
EPA also considered control measures
for anthropogenic fire; prescribed forest
fire and agricultural fire. Idaho operates
a robust enhanced smoke management
program for prescribed forest fire and
agricultural burning. The agricultural
smoke management program was
previously approved by EPA. See 73 FR
44915. There are no other source
categories that appear to emit visibility
impairing pollutants sufficient to
warrant consideration for additional
control.
The Idaho SIP results in improvement
in visibility on the 20% worst days and
no degradation in visibility on the 20%
best days, however the URP for 2018 is
not expected to be achieved in any Class
I area in Idaho. Nevertheless, as
explained below, EPA proposes to
approve the State’s determination that it
is not reasonable to achieve the UPR in
2018 and that these RPGs for the Class
I areas in Idaho presented in the SIP
submittal are reasonable.
a. Findings from the statutory fourfactor analysis. As discussed above,
based on the general level of review for
the major source categories, Idaho
determined it was not reasonable to
control additional source categories at
this time.
b. Evidence that natural sources affect
the ability to achieve the 2018 URP goal.
Idaho’s analysis in the SIP for natural
emission sources supports the finding
that the contributions of natural sources,
such as natural wildfire and windblown
dust, and the pollutants associated with
these sources (organic carbon, elemental
carbon, fine particulate, and coarse
particulate) are the primary reason for
not achieving the 2018 URP for Idaho
Class I areas. For example, the state
found that 82% of the organic carbon
emissions and 72% of the elemental
carbon emissions were from natural fire
and that natural fire and windblown
dust together contribute over 40% and
60% of PM2.5 and PM emissions. See
Table 11–1 of the SIP submittal.
c. Sources outside the modeling
domain. Sources of SO2 and NOX
emissions outside the modeling domain
contribute from 45 to 51% of the SO2
emissions, and from 25 to 37% of the
NOX emissions that impact visibility in
Class I areas in Idaho. See Table 12–2.
These sources are not under the
jurisdiction of Idaho nor surrounding
States, and therefore will not be
significantly controlled by 2018.
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d. Not reasonable to meet URP. 40
CFR 51.308(d)(1)(ii) provides that: If the
state establishes a RPG that provides for
a slower rate of improvement in
visibility than the rate that would be
needed to attain natural conditions by
2064, the state must demonstrate based
on the four-factors that the rate of
progress for the implementation plan to
attain natural conditions by 2064 is not
reasonable and that the progress goal
adopted by the state is reasonable. This
demonstration is twofold. Idaho
demonstrated that achieving the URP is
not reasonable due to the overwhelming
visibility impacts of wildfire and
emissions from sources outside the
modeling domain, both uncontrollable
source categories. Idaho’s analysis also
uses an approach based on looking at
each pollutant species, showing that
URP is achieved or almost achieved for
SO2 and NOX. This approach goes
beyond what was contemplated by the
RHR and but even without using the
pollutant species approach, the State’s
RPGs are reasonable because of the
source category analysis and the
contribution from sources outside the
modeling domain and from nonanthropogenic sources. Although Idaho
is anticipated to achieve reasonable and
significant reductions of NOX and SO2
during the first planning period,
reaching the URP is not reasonable since
the visibility benefits from potential SO2
and NOX controls on other source
categories is minimal, and the majority
of visibility impairment is due to
uncontrollable emissions.
As explained in the EPA’s RPG
Guidance, the 2018 URP estimate is not
a presumptive target and the State’s
RPGs may be lesser, greater or
equivalent to the glide path. The glide
path to 2064 represents a rate of
progress which states must use for
analytical comparison to the amount of
progress they expect to achieve. EPA
believes the RPGs established by Idaho
for the Class I areas in Idaho, although
not achieving the URP, are reasonable
because of the significant visibility
improvement expected from BART
controls for SO2 and NOX. Idaho
determined that other measures needed
to reach the URP are not reasonable at
this time because of the overwhelming
influence of natural fire to visibility
impairment and the fact that additional
control measures on sources of sulfate
and nitrate are not estimated to
contribute substantial visibility
improvement by the end of the first
planning period. Consequently, we
propose to find that the State has
demonstrated that its 2018 RPGs are
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reasonable and consistent with 40 CFR
51.308(d)(1) and 51.308(d)(1)(ii).
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G. Long Term Strategy
The Long Term Strategy required by
40 CFR 51.308(d)(3) is a compilation of
all existing and anticipated new air
pollution control measures (both those
identified in this plan as well as
measures resulting from other air
pollution requirements.) The LTS must
include ‘‘enforceable emission
limitations, compliance schedules, and
other measures as necessary to achieve
the reasonable progress goals’’ for all
Class I areas within or effected by
emissions from the State. 40 CFR
51.308(d)(3). In developing a LTS, Idaho
identified existing programs and rules,
additional new controls that may be
needed for other CAA requirements, and
additional measures which may be
required to achieve reasonable progress
in Class I areas in Idaho.
Idaho adequately addressed the RHR
requirements in developing its LTS. The
LTS provides sufficient documentation
to ensure that Idaho will meet its
emission reduction obligations for all
Class I areas it affects in the first
planning period. Idaho relied on
monitoring, emission inventories and
modeling information from the WRAP
as the technical basis for its LTS.
Coordination and consultation occurred
with other states through the WRAP, in
which all western states participated in
developing the technical analysis upon
which their SIPs are based. The state’s
analysis included identifying all
anthropogenic sources of visibility
impairment including major and minor
stationary sources, mobile sources, and
area sources. The anticipated net effect
on visibility over the first planning
period due to changes in point, area and
mobile source emissions is an
improvement in visibility in all Class I
areas in Idaho.
Idaho has a number of ongoing
programs and regulations that directly
protect visibility or provide for
improved visibility by generally
reducing emissions:
• Prevention of Significant
Deterioration/New Source Review
Regulations
Two primary regulatory programs for
addressing visibility impairment from
industrial sources are the BART and
Prevention of Significant Deterioration/
New Source Review (PSD/NSR) rules.
The PSD/NSR rules protect visibility in
Class I areas from emissions from new
industrial sources and major
modifications to existing sources.
Idaho’s regulations (IDAPA58.01.01.200
through 228) and SIP require visibility
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impact assessment and mitigation
associated with emissions from new and
modified major stationary sources
through protection of air quality related
values (AQRVs). AQRVs are scenic and
environmentally related resources that
may be adversely affected by a change
in air quality, including visibility, odor,
noise, vegetation, and soils. These
requirements were approved by EPA in
1983. Idaho’s continued implementation
of PSD/NSR requirements with FLM
involvement for Class I area impact
review will assist in maintaining the
least impaired days from further
degradation and assure that no Class I
area experiences degradation in
visibility resulting from expansion or
growth of stationary sources in the state.
• Regional Haze BART Controls
The RHR includes the requirements
for states to implement BART for
eligible sources within the State that
may reasonably cause or contribute to
any impairment of visibility in any
mandatory Class I area. 40 CFR
51.308(e). The installation of BART
emission limits is an integral part of the
state’s LTS. Idaho regulations in IDAPA
58.01.01 contain the requirements for
BART under the regional haze rule
including measures necessary to address
RAVI. Idaho has completed analysis of
the identified BART-eligible sources in
Idaho and has determined BART
emission limits for all BART-subject
sources. Each source subject to BART is
required to install and operate BART
five years after the EPA approval of the
implementation plan. Once controls are
implemented, facilities subject to BART
must ensure that control equipment is
properly operated and maintained. EPA
previously approved the BART portions
of the Idaho Regional Haze plan. 76 FR
36329.
• Local, State and Federal Mobile
Source Control Programs
Estimated mobile source emissions
show decreases in NOX, SO2, and VOCs
in Idaho during the period 2002–2018.
These declines in emissions are due to
numerous rules already in place, most
of which are federal regulations. The
Federal Motor Vehicle Control Program
(FMVCP) is the federal certification
program that requires all new cars sold
in 49 states to meet specific emission
standards. As part of the FMVCP, all
new cars must meet their applicable
emission standards on a standard test
cycle called the Federal Test Procedure
(FTP). These standards vary according
to vehicle age, with the newer vehicles
required to be considerably cleaner than
older models. The result of this decline
over time in allowable emissions from
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newly manufactured vehicles has been
a drop in overall emissions from the
vehicle fleet, as older, dirtier vehicles
are replaced with newer, cleaner
vehicles.
EPA’s Tier 2 emission standards for
passenger cars, light trucks and larger
passenger vehicles are focused on
reducing emissions most responsible for
ozone and particulate matter. The
control equipment introduced to meet
these standards will result in reductions
in visibility impairing pollutants.
Various federal rules establishing
emission standards and fuel
requirements for diesel on-road and
non-road equipment are expected to
significantly reduce emissions of
particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and
sulfur oxides from emission sources
over the first planning period.
• Implementation of Programs to Meet
PM10 NAAQS
Northern Ada County (Boise) and
Portneuf Valley (Pocatello) are PM10
maintenance areas. See 68 FR 61106 and
71 FR 39574. These areas previously
exceeded the PM10 NAAQS primarily
due to residential wood combustion and
road dust. To control the PM10
emissions and bring the area into
attainment, Idaho put in place strict
controls that regulate wood burning and
control road dust in these communities.
• Measures To Mitigate Impacts of
Construction Activities
In developing its LTS, Idaho
considered the impact of construction
activities on visibility in the Class I
areas in Idaho. State regulations IDAPA
58.01.01.651 and 652 require that
entities that cause or permit bulk
materials to be handled, transported, or
stored or who engage in industrial
activities or construction projects shall
take reasonable precautions to prevent
particulate matter from being airborne.
In determining ‘reasonable precautions’
the rule specifically identifies activities
and proximity to any Class I area. Types
of precautions include: use of water or
chemicals, application of dust
suppressants, use of control equipment,
covering truck loads, paving of roads,
and prompt removal of material.
• Emission Limitations and Schedules
for Compliance
Emission limits and compliance
schedules for stationary sources are
specified under Idaho and federal
regulations in accordance with the Act.
Additionally as discussed above, the
BART provisions previously approved
by EPA establish federally enforceable
emission limitations and compliance
schedule for BART sources. Idaho
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anticipates that future SIP updates may
identify additional emission controls
that could be implemented in the future
and commits to include limits and
compliance schedules as appropriate in
future Regional Haze plan updates.
• Source Retirement and Replacement
Schedules
Idaho’s continued implementation of
NSR and PSD requirements, with the
FLMs Review of impacts to Class I areas,
will assure that there is no degradation
of visibility in Idaho Class I areas on the
least impaired days from expansion or
growth of stationary sources in the
State. Idaho will track source retirement
and replacement and include known
retirement schedules in periodic
revisions to its Regional Haze SIP.
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• Smoke Management Techniques for
Agricultural and Forestry Burning
Smoke from wildland and prescribed
fire is a major contributor to visibility
impairment in Idaho’s Class I Areas.
Idaho’s implementation of effective
smoke management techniques through
regulation and an enhanced smoke
management plan will mitigate impacts
of planned burning on visibility in the
Class I areas. For example, Idaho
regulates agricultural burning through
its crop residue burning regulations. See
IDAPA 58.01.01.617–623. In accordance
with these regulations, Idaho requires
permits and daily burn approval for
crop residue burning. Idaho regulates
prescribed fire through IDAPA
58.01.01.614 and works cooperatively
with the Montana/Idaho Airshed Group
to address air quality impacts from
wildland fire. The Montana/Idaho
Airshed Group is composed of Federal,
State, Tribal and private land managers
dedicated to the preservation of air
quality in Idaho and Montana. The
Airshed Group manages prescribed fire
throughout Idaho and Montana by daily
authorization of individual burns.
• Enforceability of Emission Limitations
and Control Measures
The BART emission limits and
control measures are enforceable as a
matter of state law by virtue of IDAPA
58.01.01.655 through 668, and are
federally enforceable when approved as
part of its SIP. As previously mentioned,
EPA approved Idaho’s BART emission
limits and controls on June 22, 2011. 76
FR 36329.
Idaho projected the emissions
inventory changes to the point, area and
mobile sources by 2018. The changes
are predicted based on the WRAP’s most
recent emissions inventory and include
the BART and LST components known
at the time of the inventory
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development. Amore detailed
discussion of the reductions may be
found in section 8 of the SIP Submittal.
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other
Implementation Plan Requirements
The primary monitoring network for
regional haze in Idaho is the IMPROVE
network. As discussed above, there are
currently IMPROVE sites at Craters of
the Moon National Monument,
Sawtooth Wilderness Area and SelwayBitterroot Wilderness Area. IMPROVE
monitoring data from 2000–2004 serves
as the baseline for the regional haze
program, and is relied upon in the Idaho
Regional Haze submittal. Idaho commits
to rely on the IMPROVE network for
complying with the regional haze
monitoring requirement in EPA’s RHR
for the current and future regional haze
implementation periods. See section 4.4
of the SIP submittal. Data produced by
the IMPROVE monitoring network will
be used for preparing the five-year
progress reports and the 10-year SIP
revisions, each of which relies on
analysis of the preceding five years of
data.
I. Consultation With States and Federal
Land Managers
Through the WRAP, member states
and Tribes worked extensively with the
FLMs from the U.S. Departments of the
Interior and Agriculture to develop
technical analyses that support the
regional haze SIPs for the WRAP states.
The proposed Regional Haze plan for
Idaho was provided to the FLM for
comment between June 3, 2010 and
August 5, 2010. See section 13.1 of the
SIP submittal. Idaho also consulted with
the States of Washington, Oregon,
Nevada, Wyoming and Montana. Idaho
also commits to continued consultation
with the FLMs and the other states as
part of the continued implementation of
the plan and for future progress reports
and revisions. This continuing
consultation process will provide the
opportunity for on-going opportunities
to address a host of items including, for
example, the implementation of
emission control programs, changes to
the monitoring strategy or monitoring
locations, status of state actions to meet
commitments for future assessments or
rulemaking, and work on the five-year
reviews and ten-year revisions.
Additionally, Idaho consulted with the
tribes during development of their plan
through the WRAP activities and direct
outreach to the tribes. Accordingly,
Idaho adequately addressed the
consultation requirements in the RHR
and appropriately documented its
consultation with FLMs and other
states.
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J. Periodic SIP Revisions and Five-Year
Progress Reports
Section 51.308(f) of the RHR requires
that the regional haze plans be revised
and submitted to EPA by July 31, 2018
and every 10 years thereafter. 40 CFR
51.308(g) requires the state to submit a
progress report to EPA every five years
evaluating progress towards the
reasonable progress goals for each Class
I area in the State and each Class I area
located outside the State which may be
affected by emissions from within the
State. Idaho has committed to evaluate
and reassess its Regional Haze plan and
to provide a Regional Haze SIP revision
by July 31, 2018 for the next 10 year
planning cycle. See section 13.5 of the
SIP submission. Idaho has also
committed to submitting the five-year
review and report on the Regional Haze
plan. See section 13.1 of the SIP
submittal.
IV. What action is EPA proposing?
On June 22, 2011, EPA approved
portions of the Idaho Regional Haze
Plan submitted October 25, 2011,
including Idaho’s emission inventory,
determination of baseline and natural
condition and the BART controls and
emission limits. Today, for the reasons
explained above, EPA is proposing to
approve the remaining parts of the
Idaho Regional Haze submittal as
meeting the requirements set forth in
section 169A and 169B of the Act and
in 40 CFR 51.300–308 regarding
regional haze.
V. Scope of Action
Idaho has not demonstrated authority
to implement and enforce IDAPA
chapter 58 within ‘‘Indian Country’’ as
defined in 18 U.S.C. 1151.10 Therefore,
EPA proposes that this SIP approval not
extend to ‘‘Indian Country’’ in Idaho.
See CAA sections 110(a)(2)(A) (SIP shall
include enforceable emission limits),
110(a)(2)(E)(i) (State must have adequate
10 ‘‘Indian country’’ is defined under 18 U.S.C.
1151 as: (1) All land within the limits of any Indian
reservation under the jurisdiction of the United
States Government, notwithstanding the issuance of
any patent, and including rights-of-way running
through the reservation, (2) all dependent Indian
communities within the borders of the United
States, whether within the original or subsequently
acquired territory thereof, and whether within or
without the limits of a State, and (3) all Indian
allotments, the Indian titles to which have not been
extinguished, including rights-of-way running
through the same. Under this definition, EPA treats
as reservations trust lands validly set aside for the
use of a Tribe even if the trust lands have not been
formally designated as a reservation. In Idaho,
Indian country includes, but is not limited to, the
Coeur d’Alene Reservation, the Duck Valley
Reservation, the Reservation of the Kootenai Tribe,
the Fort Hall Indian Reservation, and the Nez Perce
Reservation as described in the 1863 Nez Perce
Treaty.
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authority under State law to carry out
SIP), and 172(c)(6) (nonattainment SIPs
shall include enforceable emission
limits). This is consistent with EPA’s
previous approval of Idaho’s PSD
program, in which EPA specifically
disapproved the program for sources
within Indian Reservations in Idaho
because the State had not shown it had
authority to regulate such sources. See
40 CFR 52.683(b). It is also consistent
with EPA’s approval of Idaho’s title V
air operating permits program. See 61
FR 64622, 64623 (December 6, 1996)
(interim approval does not extend to
Indian Country); 66 FR 50574, 50575
(October 4, 2001) (full approval does not
extend to Indian Country).
VI. Statutory and Executive Order
Reviews
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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 proposed 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 proposed action:
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• 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
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30259
• 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 rule
neither imposes substantial direct
compliance costs on tribal governments,
nor preempts tribal law. Therefore, the
requirements of section 5(b) and 5(c) of
the Executive Order do not apply to this
rule. Consistent with EPA policy, EPA
nonetheless provided a consultation
opportunity to Tribes in Idaho, Oregon,
and Washington in letters dated January
14, 2011. EPA received one request for
consultation, and we have followed-up
with that Tribe.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air
pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Particulate
matter, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Visibility,
and Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: May 15, 2012.
Michelle L. Pirzadeh,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2012–12411 Filed 5–21–12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 22, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30248-30259]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-12411]
=======================================================================
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R10-OAR-2010-0930, FRL-9675-7]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of
Idaho; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve portions of a State Implementation
Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of Idaho on October 25,
2010, as meeting the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act)
and federal regional haze program requirements. In a previous action on
June 22, 2011, EPA approved portions of the October 25, 2010, SIP
submittal as meeting the requirements for interstate transport for
visibility of the CAA and certain requirements of the regional haze
program including the requirements for best available retrofit
technology (BART). This Federal Register notice addresses the
requirements of the Act and EPA's rules that require states to prevent
any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of
visibility in mandatory Class I areas caused by emissions of air
pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area
(also referred to as the ``regional haze program'').This action
proposes to approve the remaining regional haze SIP elements for which
EPA previously took no action in the June 22, 2011, notice.
DATES: Written comments must be received at the address below on or
before June 21, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R10-
OAR-2010-0930 by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
Email: R10-Public_Comments@epa.gov.
Mail: Steve Body, EPA Region 10, Suite 900, Office of Air,
Waste and Toxics, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101
Hand Delivery: EPA Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Suite
900, Seattle, WA 98101. Attention: Steve Body, Office of Air, Waste and
Toxics, AWT-107. Such deliveries are only accepted during normal hours
of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R10-OAR-
2010-0930. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
www.regulations.gov, 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 www.regulations.gov or email. The
www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system, 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 email comment
directly to EPA, without going through www.regulations.gov, your email
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.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available (e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute). Certain other material,
such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard
copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either
electronically at www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of
Air, Waste and Toxics, EPA Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, WA
98101. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the individual
listed below to view a hard copy of the docket.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steve Body at telephone number (206)
553-0782, body.steve@epa.gov, or the above EPA, Region 10 address.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA. Information is organized
as follows:
Table of Contents
I. Background for EPA's Proposed Action
A. Definition of Regional Haze
B. Regional Haze Rules and Regulations
C. Roles of Agencies in Addressing Regional Haze
II. Requirements for Regional Haze SIPs
A. The CAA and the Regional Haze Rule
B. Determination of Baseline, Natural, and Current Visibility
Conditions
C. Consultation With States and Federal Land Managers
D. Best Available Retrofit Technology
E. Determination of Reasonable Progress Goals
F. Long Term Strategy
G. Coordinating Regional Haze and Reasonably Attributable
Visibility Impairment
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan
Requirements
III. EPA's Analysis of the Idaho Regional Haze SIP
A. Affected Class I Areas
B. Baseline and Natural Conditions
C. Idaho Emissions Inventories
D. Sources of Visibility Impairment in Idaho Class I Areas
E. Best Available Retrofit Technology
F. Determination of Reasonable Progress Goals
1. Idaho's Reasonable Progress Analysis
2. Reasonable Progress Goals and Demonstration of Reasonable
Progress
3. EPA's Determination Whether the SIP Submittal Meets 40 CFR
51.308(d)
G. Long Term Strategy
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Requirements
I. Consultation with States and Federal Land Managers
J. Periodic SIP Revisions and Five-Year Progress Reports
IV. What action is EPA proposing?
V. Scope of Action
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background for EPA's Proposed Action
In the CAA Amendments of 1977, Congress established a program to
protect and improve visibility in the national parks and wilderness
areas. See CAA section 169A. Congress amended the visibility provisions
in the CAA in 1990 to focus attention on the problem of regional haze.
See CAA section 169B. EPA promulgated regulations in 1999 to implement
sections 169A and 169B of the Act. These regulations require states to
develop and implement plans to ensure reasonable progress toward
improving visibility in mandatory Class
[[Page 30249]]
I Federal areas \1\ (Class I areas). 64 FR 35714 (July 1, 1999); see
also 70 FR 39104 (July 6, 2005) and 71 FR 60612 (October 13, 2006).
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\1\ Areas designated as mandatory Class I Federal areas consist
of national parks exceeding 6000 acres, wilderness areas and
national memorial parks exceeding 5000 acres, and all international
parks that were in existence on August 7, 1977. 42 U.S.C. 7472(a).
In accordance with section 169A of the CAA, EPA, in consultation
with the Department of Interior, promulgated a list of 156 areas
where visibility is identified as an important value. 44 FR 69122
(November 30, 1979). The extent of a mandatory Class I area includes
subsequent changes in boundaries, such as park expansions. 42 U.S.C.
7472(a). Although states and tribes may designate as Class I
additional areas which they consider to have visibility as an
important value, the requirements of the visibility program set
forth in section 169A of the CAA apply only to ``mandatory Class I
Federal areas.'' Each mandatory Class I Federal area is the
responsibility of a ``Federal Land Manager.'' 42 U.S.C. 7602(i).
When we use the term ``Class I area'' in this action, we mean a
``mandatory Class I Federal area.''
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On behalf of the State of Idaho, the Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality submitted its Regional Haze State Implementation
Plan (Regional Haze SIP submission or SIP submittal) to EPA on October
25, 2010. In a previous action EPA approved certain provisions in
Idaho's Regional Haze SIP submission. 76 FR 36329. This previous action
approved the provisions addressing Best Available Retrofit Technology
(BART) (40 CFR 51.308(e), calculation of baseline and natural
conditions (40 CFR 51.308(d)(2)) and state wide emission inventory of
pollutants that are reasonably anticipated to cause or contribute to
visibility impairment in any mandatory Class I area. In that same
action, EPA also approved portions of the October 25, 2010 SIP
submittal as meeting the requirements for interstate transport for
visibility of CAA section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(II).
In this action, EPA is proposing to approve the provisions of
Idaho's Regional Haze SIP submission that address the remaining
regional haze requirements for establishing Reasonable Progress Goals
(RPGs) and the Long Term Strategy (LTS).
A. Definition of Regional Haze
Regional haze is impairment of visual range or colorization caused
by emission of air pollution produced by numerous sources and
activities, located across a broad regional area. The sources include
but are not limited to, major and minor stationary sources, mobile
sources, and area sources including non-anthropogenic sources. These
sources and activities may emit fine particles (PM2.5)
(e.g., sulfates, nitrates, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and soil
dust), and their precursors (e.g., sulfur dioxide (SO2),
nitrogen oxides (NOX), and in some cases, ammonia
(NH3) and volatile organic compounds (VOC)). Atmospheric
fine particulate reduces clarity, color, and visual range of visual
scenes. Visibility reducing fine particulate is primarily composed of
sulfate, nitrate, organic carbon compounds, elemental carbon, and soil
dust, and impairs visibility by scattering and absorbing light. Fine
particulate can also cause serious health effects and mortality in
humans, and contributes to environmental effects such as acid
deposition and eutrophication. See 64 FR at 35715.
Data from the existing visibility monitoring network, the
``Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments'' (IMPROVE)
monitoring network, show that visibility impairment caused by air
pollution occurs virtually all the time at most national parks and
wilderness areas. The average visual range in many Class I areas in the
Western United States is 100-150 kilometers, or about one-half to two-
thirds the visual range that would exist without manmade air
pollution.\2\ Id. Visibility impairment also varies day-to-day and by
season depending on variation in meteorology and emission rates.
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\2\ Id.
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B. Regional Haze Rules and Regulations
In section 169A of the 1977 CAA Amendments, Congress created a
program for protecting visibility in the nation's national parks and
wilderness areas. This section of the CAA establishes as a national
goal the ``prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing,
impairment of visibility in Class I areas which impairment results from
manmade air pollution.'' CAA section 169A(a)(1). On December 2, 1980,
EPA promulgated regulations to address visibility impairment in Class I
areas that is ``reasonably attributable'' to a single source or small
group of sources, i.e., ``reasonably attributable visibility
impairment'' (RAVI). 45 FR 80084. These regulations represented the
first phase in addressing visibility impairment. EPA deferred action on
regional haze that emanates from a variety of sources until monitoring,
modeling and scientific knowledge about the relationships between
pollutants and visibility impairment were improved.
Congress added section 169B to the CAA in 1990 to address regional
haze issues. EPA promulgated a rule to address regional haze on July 1,
1999 (64 FR 35713) (the regional haze rule or RHR). The RHR revised the
existing visibility regulations to integrate into the regulation,
provisions addressing regional haze impairment and established a
comprehensive visibility protection program for Class I areas. The
requirements for regional haze, found at 40 CFR 51.308 and 51.309, are
included in EPA's visibility protection regulations at 40 CFR 51.300-
309. Some of the main elements of the regional haze requirements are
summarized in section III of this rulemaking. The requirement to submit
a regional haze SIP applies to all 50 states, the District of Columbia
and the Virgin Islands.\3\ 40 CFR 51.308(b) requires states to submit
the first implementation plan addressing regional haze visibility
impairment no later than December 17, 2007.
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\3\ Albuquerque/Bernalillo County in New Mexico must also submit
a regional haze SIP to completely satisfy the requirements of
section 110(a)(2)(D) of the CAA for the entire State of New Mexico
under the New Mexico Air Quality Control Act (section 74-2-4).
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C. Roles of Agencies in Addressing Regional Haze
Successful implementation of the regional haze program will require
long-term regional coordination among states, tribal governments and
various Federal agencies. As noted above, pollution affecting the air
quality in Class I areas can be transported over long distances, even
hundreds of kilometers. Therefore, to effectively address the problem
of visibility impairment in Class I areas, states need to develop
strategies in coordination with one another, taking into account the
effect of emissions from one jurisdiction on the air quality in
another.
Because the pollutants that lead to regional haze impairment can
originate from across state lines, even across international
boundaries, EPA has encouraged the States and Tribes to address
visibility impairment from a regional perspective. Five regional
planning organizations \4\ (RPOs) were created nationally to address
regional haze and related issues. One of the main objectives of the
RPOs is to develop and analyze data and conduct pollutant transport
modeling to assist the States or Tribes in developing their regional
haze plans.
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\4\ See https://www.epa.gov/air/visibility/regional.html for
description of the regional planning organizations.
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The Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP),\5\ one of the five
RPOs
[[Page 30250]]
nationally, is a voluntary partnership of State, Tribal, Federal, and
local air agencies dealing with air quality in the West. WRAP member
States include: Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana,
New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and
Wyoming. WRAP Tribal members include Campo Band of Kumeyaay Indians,
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes, Cortina Indian Rancheria, Hopi
Tribe, Hualapai Nation of the Grand Canyon, Native Village of Shungnak,
Nez Perce Tribe, Northern Cheyenne Tribe, Pueblo of Acoma, Pueblo of
San Felipe, and Shoshone-Bannock Tribes of Fort Hall.
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\5\ The WRAP Web site can be found at https://www.wrapair.org.
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As a result of the regional planning efforts in the West, all
states in the WRAP region contributed information to a Technical
Support System (TSS) which provides an analysis of the causes of haze,
and the levels of contribution from all sources within each state to
the visibility degradation of each Class I area. The WRAP States
consulted in the development of reasonable progress goals, using the
products of this technical consultation process to co-develop their
reasonable progress goals for the Western Class I areas. The modeling
done by the WRAP relied on assumptions regarding emissions over the
relevant planning period and embedded in these assumptions were
anticipated emissions reductions in each of the States in the WRAP,
including reductions from BART and other measures to be adopted as part
of the State's long term strategy for addressing regional haze. The
reasonable progress goals in the draft and final regional haze SIPs
that have now been prepared by States in the West accordingly are
based, in part, on the emissions reductions from nearby States that
were agreed on through the WRAP process.
II. Requirements for Regional Haze SIPs
A. The CAA and the Regional Haze Rule
Regional haze SIPs must assure reasonable progress towards the
national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I
areas. Section 169A of the CAA and EPA's implementing regulations
require states to establish long-term strategies for making reasonable
progress toward meeting this goal. Implementation plans must also give
specific attention to certain stationary sources that were in existence
on August 7, 1977, but were not in operation before August 7, 1962, and
require these sources, where appropriate, to install BART controls for
the purpose of eliminating or reducing visibility impairment. The
specific regional haze SIP requirements are discussed in further detail
below.
B. Determination of Baseline, Natural, and Current Visibility
Conditions
The RHR establishes the deciview (dv) as the principal metric for
measuring visibility. This visibility metric expresses uniform changes
in haziness in terms of common increments across the entire range of
visibility conditions, from pristine to extremely hazy conditions.
Visibility is determined by measuring the visual range (or deciview),
which is the greatest distance, in kilometers or miles, at which a dark
object can be viewed against the sky. The deciview is a useful measure
for tracking progress in improving visibility, because each deciview
change is an equal incremental change in visibility perceived by the
human eye. Most people can detect a change in visibility at one
deciview.\6\
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\6\ The preamble to the RHR provides additional details about
the deciview. 64 FR 35714, 35725 (July 1, 1999).
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The deciview is used in expressing reasonable progress goals (which
are interim visibility goals towards meeting the national visibility
goal), defining baseline, current, and natural conditions, and tracking
changes in visibility. The regional haze SIPs must contain measures
that ensure ``reasonable progress'' toward the national goal of
preventing and remedying visibility impairment in Class I areas caused
by manmade air pollution by reducing anthropogenic emissions that cause
regional haze. The national goal is a return to natural conditions,
i.e., manmade sources of air pollution would no longer impair
visibility in Class I areas.
To track changes in visibility over time at each of the 156 Class I
areas covered by the visibility program (40 CFR 81.401-437), and as
part of the process for determining reasonable progress, states must
calculate the degree of existing visibility impairment at each Class I
area at the time of each regional haze SIP submittal and periodically
review progress every five years midway through each 10-year
implementation period. To do this, the RHR requires states to determine
the degree of impairment (in deciviews) for the average of the 20%
least impaired (``best'') and 20% most impaired (``worst'') visibility
days over a specified time period at each of their Class I areas. In
addition, states must also develop an estimate of natural visibility
conditions for the purpose of comparing progress toward the national
goal. Natural visibility is determined by estimating the natural
concentrations of pollutants that cause visibility impairment and then
calculating total light extinction based on those estimates. EPA has
provided guidance to states regarding how to calculate baseline,
natural and current visibility conditions in documents titled, EPA's
Guidance for Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions Under the
Regional Haze Rule, September 2003, (EPA-454/B-03-005 located at https://www.epa.gov/ttncaaa1/t1/memoranda/rh_envcurhr_gd.pdf), (hereinafter
referred to as ``EPA's 2003 Natural Visibility Guidance''), and
Guidance for Tracking Progress Under the Regional Haze Rule (EPA-454/B-
03-004 September 2003 located at https://www.epa.gov/ttncaaa1/t1/memoranda/rh_tpurhr_gd.pdf)), (hereinafter referred to as ``EPA's
2003 Tracking Progress Guidance'').
For the first regional haze SIPs that were due by December 17,
2007, ``baseline visibility conditions'' were the starting points for
assessing ``current'' visibility impairment. Baseline visibility
conditions represent the degree of visibility impairment for the 20%
least impaired days and 20% most impaired days for each calendar year
from 2000 to 2004. Using monitoring data for 2000 through 2004, states
are required to calculate the average degree of visibility impairment
for each Class I area, based on the average of annual values over the
five-year period. The comparison of initial baseline visibility
conditions to natural visibility conditions indicates the amount of
improvement necessary to attain natural visibility, while the future
comparison of baseline conditions to the then current conditions will
indicate the amount of progress made. In general, the 2000-2004
baseline time period is considered the time from which improvement in
visibility is measured.
C. Consultation With States and Federal Land Managers
The RHR requires that states consult with Federal Land Managers
(FLMs) before adopting and submitting their SIPs. 40 CFR 51.308(i).
States must provide FLMs an opportunity for consultation, in person and
at least 60 days prior to holding any public hearing on the SIP. This
consultation must include the opportunity for the FLMs to discuss their
assessment of visibility impairment in any Class I area and to offer
recommendations on the development of the reasonable progress goals and
on the development and implementation of strategies to address
visibility impairment. Further, a state must include in its SIP a
description of
[[Page 30251]]
how it addressed any comments provided by the FLMs. Finally, a SIP must
provide procedures for continuing consultation between the state and
FLMs regarding the state's visibility protection program, including
development and review of SIP revisions, five-year progress reports,
and the implementation of other programs having the potential to
contribute to impairment of visibility in Class I areas.
D. Best Available Retrofit Technology
Section 169A of the CAA directs states to evaluate the use of
retrofit controls at certain larger, often uncontrolled, older
stationary sources in order to address visibility impacts from these
sources. Specifically, section 169A(b)(2)(A) of the CAA requires States
to revise their SIPs to contain such measures as may be necessary to
make reasonable progress towards the natural visibility goal, including
a requirement that certain categories of existing major stationary
sources \7\ built between 1962 and 1977, to procure, install, and
operate the ``Best Available Retrofit Technology'' (``BART'') as
determined by the state. States are directed to conduct BART
determinations for such sources that may be anticipated to cause or
contribute to any visibility impairment in a Class I area. The regional
haze SIP must include source-specific BART emission limits and
compliance schedules for each source subject to BART. Once a State has
made its BART determination, the BART controls must be installed and in
operation as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than five years
after the date EPA approves the regional haze SIP. See CAA section
169A(g)(4)); 40 CFR 51.308(e)(1)(iv).
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\7\ The set of ``major stationary sources'' potentially subject
to BART is listed in CAA section 169A(g)(7).
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EPA previously approved Idaho's BART determination for the sources
subject to BART in its jurisdiction. See 76 FR 36329.\8\ Please refer
to that action for details of the BART requirements and EPA's rationale
for approval of the BART provisions in the Idaho Regional Haze SIP
submission.
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\8\ Upon EPA's final action, The Amalgamated Sugar Company
(TASCO) filed a petition for review in the 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals challenging EPA's approval of Idaho's BART determination for
TASCO. See Amalgamated Sugar v. EPA, Ninth Circuit Petition No. 11-
72445. The case is pending before the 9th Circuit.
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E. Determination of Reasonable Progress Goals
The vehicle for ensuring continuing progress towards achieving the
natural visibility goal is the submission of a series of regional haze
SIPs from the states that establish two reasonable progress goals
(RPGs) (i.e., two distinct goals, one for the ``best'' and one for the
``worst'' days) for every Class I area for each (approximately) 10-year
implementation period. The RHR does not mandate specific milestones or
rates of progress, but instead calls for states to establish goals that
provide for ``reasonable progress'' toward achieving natural (i.e.,
``background'') visibility conditions. In setting RPGs, states must
provide for an improvement in visibility for the most impaired days
over the (approximately) 10-year period of the SIP, and ensure no
degradation in visibility for the least impaired days over the same
period.
States have significant discretion in establishing RPGs, but are
required to consider the following factors established in section 169A
of the CAA and in EPA's RHR at 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1)(i)(A): (1) The costs
of compliance; (2) the time necessary for compliance; (3) the energy
and non-air quality environmental impacts of compliance; and (4) the
remaining useful life of any potentially affected sources. States must
demonstrate in their SIPs how these factors are considered when
selecting the RPGs for the best and worst days for each applicable
Class I area. States have considerable flexibility in how they take
these factors into consideration, as noted in EPA's Guidance for
Setting Reasonable Progress Goals under the Regional Haze Program, July
1, 2007, Memorandum from William L. Wehrum, Acting Assistant
Administrator for Air and Radiation, to EPA Regional Administrators,
EPA Regions 1-10 (pp. 4-2, 5-1) (``EPA's Reasonable Progress
Guidance''). In setting the RPGs, states must also consider the rate of
progress needed to reach natural visibility conditions by 2064
(referred to as the ``uniform rate of progress'' (URP) or the
``glidepath'') and the emission reduction measures needed to achieve
that rate of progress over the 10-year period of the SIP. Uniform
progress towards achievement of natural conditions by the year 2064
represents a rate of progress which states are to use for analytical
comparison to the amount of progress they expect to achieve. In setting
RPGs, each state with one or more Class I areas (``Class I state'')
must also consult with potentially ``contributing states,'' i.e., other
nearby states with emission sources that may be affecting visibility
impairment at the state's Class I areas. See 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1)(iv).
F. Long Term Strategy
Consistent with the requirement in section 169A(b) of the CAA that
states include in their regional haze SIP a 10 to 15 year strategy for
making reasonable progress, 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3) of the RHR requires
that states include a LTS in their regional haze SIPs. The LTS is the
compilation of all control measures a state will use during the
implementation period of the specific SIP submittal to meet applicable
RPGs. The LTS must include ``enforceable emissions limitations,
compliance schedules, and other measures as necessary to achieve the
reasonable progress goals'' for all Class I areas within, or affected
by emissions from, the state. See 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3).
When a state's emissions are reasonably anticipated to cause or
contribute to visibility impairment in a Class I area located in
another state, the RHR requires the impacted state to coordinate with
the contributing states in order to develop coordinated emissions
management strategies. See 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3)(i). In such cases, the
contributing state must demonstrate that it has included, in its SIP,
all measures necessary to obtain its share of the emissions reductions
needed to meet the RPGs for the Class I area. The RPOs have provided
forums for significant interstate consultation, but additional
consultations between states may be required to sufficiently address
interstate visibility issues. This is especially true where two states
belong to different RPOs.
States should consider all types of anthropogenic sources of
visibility impairment in developing their LTS, including stationary,
minor, mobile, and area sources. At a minimum, states must describe how
each of the following seven factors listed below are taken into account
in developing their LTS: (1) Emissions reductions due to ongoing air
pollution control programs, including measures to address RAVI; (2)
measures to mitigate the impacts of construction activities; (3)
emissions limitations and schedules for compliance to achieve the RPG;
(4) source retirement and replacement schedules; (5) smoke management
techniques for agricultural and forestry management purposes including
plans as currently exist within the state for these purposes; (6)
enforceability of emissions limitations and control measures; and (7)
the anticipated net effect on visibility due to projected changes in
point, area, and mobile source emissions over the period addressed by
the LTS. See 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3)(v).
[[Page 30252]]
G. Coordinating Regional Haze and Reasonably Attributable Visibility
Impairment
As part of the RHR, EPA revised 40 CFR 51.306(c) regarding the LTS
for RAVI to require that the RAVI plan must provide for a periodic
review and SIP revision not less frequently than every three years
until the date of submission of the state's first plan addressing
regional haze visibility impairment, which was due December 17, 2007,
in accordance with 40 CFR 51.308(b) and (c). On or before this date,
the state must revise its plan to provide for review and revision of a
coordinated LTS for addressing RAVI and regional haze, and the state
must submit the first such coordinated LTS with its first regional haze
SIP. Future coordinated LTS's, and periodic progress reports evaluating
progress towards RPGs, must be submitted consistent with the schedule
for SIP submission and periodic progress reports set forth in 40 CFR
51.308(f) and 51.308(g), respectively. The periodic review of a state's
LTS must report on both regional haze and RAVI impairment and must be
submitted to EPA as a SIP revision.
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan Requirements
Section 51.308(d)(4) of the RHR includes the requirement for a
monitoring strategy for measuring, characterizing, and reporting of
regional haze visibility impairment that is representative of all
mandatory Class I Federal areas within the state. The strategy must be
coordinated with the monitoring strategy required in section 51.305 for
RAVI. Compliance with this requirement may be met through
``participation'' in the IMPROVE network, i.e., review and use of
monitoring data from the network. The monitoring strategy is due with
the first regional haze SIP, and it must be reviewed every five years.
The monitoring strategy must also provide for additional monitoring
sites if the IMPROVE network is not sufficient to determine whether
RPGs will be met.
The SIP must also provide for the following:
Procedures for using monitoring data and other information
in a state with mandatory Class I areas to determine the contribution
of emissions from within the state to regional haze visibility
impairment at Class I areas both within and outside the state;
Procedures for using monitoring data and other information
in a state with no mandatory Class I areas to determine the
contribution of emissions from within the state to regional haze
visibility impairment at Class I areas in other states;
Reporting of all visibility monitoring data to the
Administrator at least annually for each Class I area in the state, and
where possible, in electronic format;
Developing a statewide inventory of emissions of
pollutants that are reasonably anticipated to cause or contribute to
visibility impairment in any Class I area. The inventory must include
emissions for a baseline year, emissions for the most recent year for
which data are available, and estimates of future projected emissions.
A state must also make a commitment to update the inventory
periodically; and
Other elements, including reporting, recordkeeping, and
other measures necessary to assess and report on visibility.
The RHR requires control strategies to cover an initial
implementation period extending to the year 2018, with a comprehensive
reassessment and revision of those strategies, as appropriate, every 10
years thereafter. Periodic SIP revisions must meet the core
requirements of section 51.308(d) with the exception of BART. The
requirement to evaluate sources for BART applies only to the first
regional haze SIP. Facilities subject to BART must continue to comply
with the BART provisions of section 51.308(e), as noted above. Periodic
SIP revisions will assure that the statutory requirement of reasonable
progress will continue to be met. Each state also is required to submit
a report to EPA every five years that evaluates progress toward
achieving the RPG for each Class I area within the state and outside
the state if affected by emissions from within the state. 40 CFR
51.308(g). The first progress report is due five years from submittal
of the initial regional haze SIP revision. At the same time a 5-year
progress report is submitted, a state must determine the adequacy of
its existing SIP to achieve the established goals for visibility
improvement. See 40 CFR 51.308(h).
III. EPA's Analysis of the Idaho Regional Haze SIP
A. Affected Class I Areas
There are five mandatory Class I areas, or portions of such areas,
within Idaho. Craters of the Moon National Monument, Sawtooth
Wilderness Area, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area lie completely
within Idaho State borders. Idaho is responsible for developing
reasonable progress goals for these Class I areas. Hells Canyon
Wilderness Area is a shared Class I area with Oregon, and Yellowstone
National Park is a shared Class I area with Wyoming. See 40 CFR 81.410.
Through agreement with Idaho, Oregon and Wyoming respectively will
address reasonable progress goals, monitoring, and other core
requirements for these Class I areas. Idaho consulted with Oregon and
Wyoming to determine Idaho's contribution to regional haze in those
Class I areas and to determine appropriate measures for Idaho's long-
term strategy. See the Idaho Regional Haze SIP submittal, chapter 13,
section 13.2; see, also the WRAP Technical Support Document, February
28, 2011 \9\ (WRAP TSD) supporting this action and 76 FR 36329.
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\9\ EPA evaluated the technical work products of the WRAP used
by Idaho in support if this Regional Haze SIP submittal. The results
of that evaluation are included in the document ``WRAP Technical
Support Document'' or WRAP TSD.
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The Idaho SIP submittal addresses the three Class I areas that are
completely within the State border and, as appropriate, the Class I
areas with shared jurisdiction with Oregon and Wyoming and Class I
areas in neighboring states and the visibility impacts of Idaho sources
on Class I areas in neighboring states.
B. Baseline and Natural Conditions
EPA previously evaluated and approved Idaho's identification of
baseline and natural conditions for Craters of the Moon National
Monument, Sawtooth Wilderness Area, and Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Area, and the statewide emissions inventory of pollutants that are from
Idaho that impact nearby Class I areas. See 76 FR 1579, Jan. 11, 2011
and 76 FR 36329, June 22, 2011 (proposed and final rule respectively).
However, that discussion is relevant when evaluating the States'
Reasonable Progress Goals which we are proposing to approve today.
Thus, the discussion below summarizes EPA's previous explanation of the
baseline and natural conditions in these Class I areas.
Idaho established baseline and natural visibility conditions as
well as the uniform rate of progress (URP) to achieve natural
visibility conditions in 2064 for all three of the Class I areas within
its borders. While Idaho is responsible for establishing baseline and
natural conditions for these three areas, the SIP submittal also
included these conditions for Hells Canyon Wilderness Area and
Yellowstone National Park, as determined by WRAP and established by
Oregon and Wyoming.
Baseline visibility was calculated from monitoring data collected
by IMPROVE monitors for the most-impaired (20% worst) days and the
least-impaired (20% best) days. Idaho
[[Page 30253]]
used the WRAP derived natural visibility conditions. In general, WRAP
based their natural condition estimates on EPA guidance, Guidance for
Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions Under the Regional Haze
Program (EPA-45/B-03-0005 September 2003) but incorporated refinements
which EPA believes provides results more appropriate for western states
than the general EPA default approach. See WRAP TSD section 2.E.
Craters of the Moon National Monument: An IMPROVE monitor is
located in Craters of the Moon National Monument. Based on baseline
2000 to 2004 data, the average 20% worst days visibility is 14 dv and
the average 20% best days visibility is 4.3 dv. Natural visibility for
the average 20% worst days is 7.53 dv.
Sawtooth Wilderness Area: Sawtooth Wilderness Area has an IMPROVE
monitor located within the Wilderness Area. Based on baseline 2000 to
2004 data, the average 20% worst days visibility is 13.78 dv and the
average 20% best days visibility is 3.99 dv. Natural visibility for the
average 20% worst days is 6.42 dv.
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area: Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness
Area visibility is represented by an IMPROVE monitor located 20 km east
of the Wilderness Area in Sula, Montana. This site also represents
visibility in the Anaconda-Pintler Wilderness Area in Montana. Based on
baseline 2000 to 2004 data, the average 20% worst days visibility is
13.41 dv and the average 20% best days visibility is 2.58 dv for both
areas. Natural visibility for the Selway-Bitteroot and the Anaconda-
Pintler Wilderness Areas average 20% worst days is 7.43 dv.
C. Idaho Emission Inventories
EPA previously evaluated and approved Idaho's emissions inventory
of pollutants that impact the three Class I areas in Idaho, as well as
the impacts of emissions from Idaho on nearby Class I areas in other
states and the sources of visibility impairment in the Class I areas
located in Idaho. See 76 FR 1579, and 76 FR 36329. As explained in more
detail in the notices for that rulemaking, in general, smoke from wild
and prescribed fire, as measured by organic and elemental carbon,
dominates visibility impairment in Idaho Class I areas, with the
exception of Craters of the Moon National Monument where ammonium
nitrate dominates at 39%. Smoke is the second largest contributor to
impairment at Craters of the Moon National Monument at 37%, followed by
sulfate at 13%. Smoke represents 84% of impairment at the Sawtooth
Wilderness Area, followed by sulfate at 7% and nitrate at 2%. Smoke
represents 60% impairment at the Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area,
followed by sulfate at 19% and nitrate at 7%. See Tables 7-2, 7-20, and
7-31 in the SIP submittal. Chapter 9 of the SIP submission demonstrates
that generally half of the sulfate and 25% of the nitrate contributing
to impairment in Idaho Class I areas originates from outside the United
States.
D. Sources of Visibility Impairment in Idaho Class I Areas
Idaho used a two-step process to identify the contribution of each
source or source category to existing visibility impairment. First,
ambient pollutant concentration by species (sulfate, nitrate, organic
carbon, fine particulate, etc) was determined from the IMPROVE sampler
representing each Class I area. These concentrations were then used to
determine the extinction coefficient and distribute existing impairment
among the measured pollutant species. Extinction was then converted to
deciview values. Second, the Comprehensive Air Quality Model with
Extensions (CAMx) and Particulate Matter Source Apportionment
Technology (PSAT) models were used to determine which sources and
source categories contributed to the ambient concentration of each
pollutant species. Thus, impairment was distributed by source and
source category.
The WRAP and Western States selected CAMx in conjunction with PSAT
first to determine source contribution to ambient sulfate and nitrate
concentrations and then to decide which geographic source regions
contribute to haze at specific Class I areas. Description of these
tools and our evaluation of them are described in more detail in
section 6 of the WRAP TSD.
Figure 7-1 in the Idaho Regional Haze SIP submittal presents the
light extinction for the base year at each Class I area by visibility
impairing pollutant species for the average of the 20% worst days. In
addition the SIP submission identifies in Figures 7.2 through Figure
7.52, light extinction by pollutant species for the average of the 20%
worst and average of the 20% best days for each of the Class I areas.
To determine potential impacts of emission sources in Idaho on
Class I areas in other states, Idaho used the WRAP analysis of
interstate impacts. Ambient sulfate and nitrate concentrations for the
20% worst and best days for baseline (2002-2004) and 2018 at each
western Class I area is distributed among all states in the WRAP. The
SIP submittal provides an analysis of the Class I areas in nearby
states. See chapter 9.3 of the Idaho Regional Haze SIP submission. The
Class I areas are:
Shared Class I Areas With Oregon and Wyoming
Hells Canyon Wilderness Area: Idaho contributes 9.6% of
the sulfate, 35% of the nitrate, 63% of the organic and elemental
carbon, 42% of the fine particulate and 44% of the coarse particulate
in the Hells Canyon Wilderness Area.
Yellowstone National Park: Idaho contributes 8% of the
sulfate, 24% of the nitrate, 15% of the organic carbon, 17% of the
elemental carbon, 28% of the fine and coarse particulate in Yellowstone
National Park.
Class I Areas outside Idaho: See section 9.3 of the SIP submittal
for a detailed presentation of the contribution of Idaho sources on
Class I areas outside Idaho.
Glacier National Park in Montana: Idaho is ranked 3rd
behind Montana and Washington in contribution of visibility impairing
pollutants on the 20% worst days.
Cabinet Mountain Wilderness Area in Montana: Idaho is
ranked 3rd behind Oregon and Washington in contribution to visibility
impairing pollutants on the 20% worst days.
Bob Marshall Wilderness Area in Montana: Idaho is ranked
3rd behind Montana and Washington in contribution to visibility
impairing pollutants on the 20% worst days.
Gates of the Mountain Wilderness in Montana: Idaho is
``ranked 3rd'' behind Montana and Washington in contribution to
visibility impairing pollutants on the 20% worst days.
North Absaroka Wilderness in Wyoming: Idaho is ranked 2nd
behind Wyoming in contribution to visibility impairing pollutants on
the 20% worst days.
Bridger Wilderness in Wyoming: Idaho is ranked 2nd behind
Wyoming in contribution to visibility impairing pollutants on the 20%
worst days.
Eagle Cap Wilderness Area Oregon: Idaho is ranked 3rd
behind Oregon and Washington in contribution to visibility impairing
pollutant on the 20% worst days.
Jarbidge Wilderness Area in Nevada: Idaho is ranked 1st in
contribution of sulfate and nitrate to the Jarbidge Wilderness area.
E. Best Available Retrofit Technology
EPA previously reviewed and approved Idaho's BART determinations
for all sources subject to BART in Idaho.
[[Page 30254]]
See 76 FR 36329. As explained in the Federal Register notice the State
made BART determinations for the following sources:
Amalgamated Sugar: Paul Facility
Amalgamated Sugar: Twin Falls
Amalgamated Sugar: Nampa
NuWest/Agrium
J.R. Simplot Don Plant
Monsanto/P4 Production
Potlatch Pulp and Paper
BART for all but two of the BART-eligible sources (Amalgamated
Sugar Nampa and Monsanto/P4 Production) is existing control because
they were determined to not cause or contribute to visibility
impairment in any Class I area. At Amalgamated Sugar, Nampa, the Riley
Boiler is the only emission unit at the facility that is subject to
BART. BART for the Riley Boiler was determined to be Low NOX
Burners with overfire air for NOX, wet flue gas
desulfurization for SO2 and the existing baghouse for
particulate matter.
BART for Monsanto/P4 Production SO2 emissions is the
hydro-sonic wet scrubbers to remove sub-micron particles and lime-
concentrated dual-alkai (LCDA) scrubbers on their calciner kiln which
reduced emissions from 12,252 tons per year (tpy) in 2004 to a
permitted potential to emit of 626 tpy.
F. Determination of Reasonable Progress Goals
1. Idaho's Reasonable Progress Analysis
The RHR requires States to show ``reasonable progress'' toward
natural visibility conditions over the time period of the SIP, with
2018 as the first milestone year. The RHR at 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1) also
requires that the State establish a goal, expressed in deciviews (dv),
for each Class I area within the State that provides for reasonable
progress towards achieving natural visibility conditions by 2064. As
such the State must establish a Reasonable Progress Goal (RPG) for each
Class I area that provides for visibility improvement for the most-
impaired (20% worst) days and ensures no degradation in visibility for
the least-impaired (20% best) days in 2018.
RPGs are estimates of the progress to be achieved by 2018 through
implementation of the LTS which includes anticipated emission
reductions from all State and Federal regulatory requirements
implemented between the baseline and 2018, including but not limited to
BART and any additional controls for non-BART sources or emission
activities including any Federal requirements that reduce visibility
impairing pollutants. As explained above, the rate needed to achieve
natural conditions by 2064 is referred to as the uniform rate of
progress or URP.
If the State establishes a reasonable progress goal that provides
for a slower rate of improvement than the rate that would be needed to
attain natural conditions by 2064, the State must demonstrate based on
the factors in 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1)(i)(A), that the rate of progress for
the implementation plan to attain natural conditions by 2064 is not
reasonable; and the progress goal adopted by the State is reasonable.
The State must provide to the public for review as part of its
implementation plan an assessment of the number of years it would take
to attain natural conditions if visibility continues at the rate of
progress selected by the state. 40 CFR 51.308(d)(B)(ii).
The primary tool relied upon by Idaho for determining regional haze
improvements by 2018 and for establishing the RPGs, was the CMAQ
modeling conducted by WRAP. The CMAQ model was used to estimate 2018
visibility conditions in Idaho and all Western Class I areas, based on
application of the regional haze strategies included in this plan.
WRAP developed air quality modeling inputs including annual
meteorology and emissions inventories for: (1) A 2002 actual emissions
base case, (2) a planning case to represent the 2000-04 regional haze
baseline period using average emissions for key emissions categories,
and (3) a projected 2018 case to determine improvements achievable by
2018. EPA approves the use of the CMAQ model to determine future
visibility conditions in Idaho Class I areas. A more detailed
description of the CMAQ modeling performed by WRAP can be found in the
WRAP TSD.
In setting the RPGs for its Class I areas, Idaho considered a
number of factors including the statutory four factors: Cost of
compliance, time necessary for compliance, the non-air environmental
and energy impacts, and remaining useful life of any potentially
affected sources. 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1)(i)(A). Based on these four
factors, Idaho considered whether it was reasonable to control
anthropogenic sources of visibility impairing emissions under its
regulatory jurisdiction. Idaho focused its evaluation of sources for
the purpose of achieving further reasonable progress on SO2
and NOX because these pollutants have the greatest
visibility impairing characteristics and because organic and elemental
carbon primarily originates from wildfire. In consideration of the
amount of SO2 and NOX emitted, Idaho identified
the following source categories subject to the statutory four-factor
analysis: (1) External combustion boilers; (2) elemental phosphorus
production; (3) sulfuric acid processing plants; (4) pulp and paper
processing; (5) cement manufacturing; (6) sugar beet processing; and
(7) natural gas compressing stations. Idaho's four-factor analysis of
the significant stationary source categories is summarized below.
The External Combustion Boilers source category includes boilers
used to generate steam or hot water in manufacturing, material
processing, mining, refining, and/or electricity. SOx and
NOX are the visibility impairing pollutants of concern for
this category. Tables 11-2 and 11-3 in the Idaho SIP submittal show a
total of 3,118 tpy of SO2 and 4,647 tpy of NOX in
the emission inventory for this category. SIP submittal Table 11-7
presents a number of control options for each visibility impairing
pollutant for different fuels. See section 11.4.1 of the SIP submittal
for additional detail regarding the State's analysis of this source
category.
Sulfuric Acid Contact Processing emits sulfur dioxide as the only
visibility impairing pollutant of concern from this type of facility.
Idaho SIP submittal Table 11-2 shows a total of 364 tpy of
SO2 in the emission inventory for this category. SIP
submittal Table 11-8 presents the cost for two control technologies:
increased absorption efficiency to New Source Performance Standards and
tail gas treatment. See SIP submittal section 11.4.3 for additional
detail regarding the State's analysis of this source category.
Cement manufacturing emits NOX which is the only
visibility impairing pollutant of concern. Idaho has only one cement
plant, Ash Grove Cement in Inkom, Idaho. Both SO2 and
NOX emissions from the rotary kiln have emission limits
established in its PSD permit. Sulfur dioxide is limited to 76 tpy from
Kiln 1 and 21 tpy from kiln 2. See Table 4-2 of the
Permit to Operate issued December 23, 2010, by the Idaho Department of
Environmental Quality (IDEQ). Table 11-3 Idaho SIP shows a total of 461
tpy of NOX in the emission inventory for this category.
Table 11-9 of the SIP submittal presents the estimated costs for
compliance for the control options. See SIP Submittal section 11.4.4
for additional detail regarding the State's analysis of this source
category.
Interstate Transport of Natural Gas (natural gas fueled internal
combustion engines for compressing stations on the interstate natural
gas pipeline) emits NOX which is the only visibility
impairing pollutant of concern from the
[[Page 30255]]
compressing stations. Table 11-3 in the Idaho SIP shows a total of
2,590 tpy of NOX in the emission inventory for this
category. Table 11-10 of the SIP submittal presents the costs of
control options for both reciprocating engines and gas turbines. See
SIP submittal section 11.4.6 for additional detail regarding the
State's analysis of this source category.
In spite of the relatively low cost effectiveness for controls in
these source categories, Idaho concludes that additional control
measures for these source categories are not reasonable at this time.
Idaho recognized that according to the modeling, the Class I areas are
not expected to achieve the URP for 2018. Nevertheless, Idaho also
concludes that the goals established for each of Idaho's Class I areas
for the first planning cycle of 2018 are reasonable. These conclusions
are based upon the significant impact of wildfire on all of Idaho's
Class I areas and the amount of sulfate and nitrate originating outside
the United States. As discussed previously in this notice, wildfire
significantly contributes to impairment in all three Class I areas.
More specifically, anthropogenic and non-anthropogenic fire contributes
between 37% and 84% to visibility impairment in the Class I areas in
Idaho. Non-anthropogenic fire emissions are 85% and anthropogenic fire
emissions are 15% of total fire emissions in Idaho. (Calculated from
Table 8-4 of the SIP submission.) Idaho concluded that additional
controls on individual sources, even if cost effective, will not alter
the magnitude of the visibility impact attributable to wildfire.
Additionally, Idaho further refined its analysis and considered a URP
individually for sulfate and nitrate impairment. This analysis found
that due to the anticipated reductions of SO2 and
NOX emissions in both Idaho and neighboring states which
will result from required controls on point sources, the remaining
sulfate and nitrate emissions are near to or exceed URP for those
pollutants. Idaho concluded that additional controls on SO2
or NO2 sources are not helpful in achieving the URP.
Idaho also qualitatively considered two new developments in
emission source projections since the WRAP modeling was completed that
result in lower emissions than the emission estimates used in the WRAP
modeling. When the WRAP modeling was performed, it was assumed that a
new coal-fired power plant would be built and operating in Jerome,
Idaho by 2018 and the expected emissions from this proposed plant were
incorporated into the model projections. Subsequently, the Idaho
Governor issued a moratorium on new coal-fired power plants. Thus the
estimated emissions associated with the new facility will not occur.
Also, requirements for new controls on marine vessels operating within
200 miles of the West Coast were not included in the projected
improvements in visibility. Both of these actions are likely to result
in lower emissions than were used in the model and achieve better
visibility in future years than the model predicts.
2. Reasonable Progress Goals and Demonstration of Reasonable Progress
After conducting the CMAQ modeling, Idaho established RPGs for each
Class I area and, based on the RPG and linear progress to natural
conditions, it determined the number of years needed to achieve natural
conditions. The results follow:
Craters of the Moon National Monument;
Baseline 20% worst days: 14 dv
2018 RPG 20% worst days: 13.06 dv
2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.49 dv
Baseline 20% best days: 04.31 dv
2018 RPG 20% best days: 03.89 dv
Years needed to achieve natural conditions: 112 yrs
Sawtooth Wilderness Area;
Baseline 20% worst days: 13.78 dv
2018 RPG 20% worst days: 13.22 dv
2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.06 dv
Baseline 20% best days: 03.99 dv
2018 RPG 20% best days: 03.78 dv
Years needed to achieve natural conditions: 161 yrs
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area;
Baseline 20% worst days: 13.41 dv
2018 RPG 20% worst days: 12.94 dv
2018 URP 20% worst days: 12.02 dv
Baseline 20% best days: 02.58 dv
2018 RPG 20% best days: 02.48 dv
Years needed to achieve natural conditions: 221
Idaho concludes, after considering the contribution of visibility
impairment coming from natural sources rather than anthropogenic
sources, the emissions reductions of SO2 and NOX
that can be expected from anthropogenic sources, the four-factor
analysis, and ``on-the-books'' controls and long term strategies, that
no additional control is reasonable at this time and that Idaho's
visibility goals are reasonable. The focus should be on sources that
could be controlled. Thus, in its evaluation of potential sources or
source categories for reasonable progress the state primarily
considered point sources. Idaho determined that the key pollutants
contributing to visibility impairment are SO2,
NOX and organic and elemental carbon. Idaho also only
considered controls for SO2 and NOX emissions
which are typically associated with anthropogenic sources. Idaho
determined that the major source of organic and elemental carbon was
natural fire and after reviewing the WRAP modeling results, Idaho found
that particulate matter (PM) emissions from point sources only
contribute a minimal amount to the visibility impairment in the Class I
areas in Idaho. Idaho concluded that little gain would be achieved from
further reduction in sulfur dioxide, organic carbon and nitrogen oxides
from point sources in Idaho at this time.
3. EPA's Determination Whether the SIP Meets 40 CFR 51.308(d)
In a previous action, EPA approved Idaho's determination of
baseline and natural visibility conditions in each Class I area in
Idaho. See 78 FR 36329. The linear progress from baseline visibility to
natural visibility in 2064 defines the URP. ``2018 URP'' is the rate of
progress to be achieved by 2018 in order to stay on track to achieve
natural conditions by 2064. EPA independently evaluated whether there
are reasonable control measures available for sources located within
Idaho's regulatory jurisdiction that would achieve further progress
toward achieving the 2018 URP.
We began this analysis using a screening methodology called ``Q/d''
to determine which stationary (point) sources would be candidates for
controls under reasonable progress. The value Q/d is the ratio of the
mathematical sum of actual SO2, NOX and PM
emissions in tons per year, denoted as ``Q'' divided by the distance
(in kilometers, denoted as ``d'') of the point source to the nearest
Class I area. A high Q/d would indicate the likelihood of the source
causing or contributing to impairment in that Class I area.
To determine the Q/d value that would provide assurance that a
source would, or would not cause or contribute to impairment in any
Class I area, we considered the modeled visibility impacts from the
CALPUFF modeling used to determine the BART eligible sources subject to
BART in EPA Region 10 and the distance of the source to the nearest
Class I area. There were 19 BART eligible sources used in this
analysis. See memorandum to the files from Keith Rose, EPA Region 10,
dated March 21, 2012. All sources with a Q/d ratio of less than 26.1
had visibility impacts of less than 0.5 dv. The resultant average of
the range is about 0.3 dv, which is a more conservative
[[Page 30256]]
reasonable progress threshold than the 0.5 dv that was used in
determining which sources would be subject-to-BART under the federal
BART regulations. Since the threshold is more conservative than the
subject-to-BART threshold, we believe that a Q/d value of 20 is
reasonable for determining which sources the State should consider for
the reasonable progress analysis.
The evaluation of potential RP sources involved all Idaho's
stationary sources with actual SO2, NOX, or
PM10 emissions greater than 40 tpy. We identified 24 sources
(both BART eligible and non-BART eligible) as exceeding the 40 tpy
threshold. Of the 24 sources, 17 are not BART eligible and all had Q/d
ratios of less than 20. The source with the highest ratio had a Q/d
value of 17.
EPA does not believe these 17 non-BART sources would cause or
contribute to impairment in any Class I area. Therefore, EPA does not
believe that additional analysis of the 17 non-BART sources would
result in an outcome different from Idaho's conclusion that additional
control of these non-BART sources is not reasonable at this time. Thus,
EPA agrees with Idaho's conclusion that additional controls of non-BART
point sources for reasonable progress purposes are not reasonable at
this time, because even though there are cost effective controls
identified, visibility improvement is anticipated to be relatively
small. This includes those point sources in the four categories that
Idaho identified above for the four-factor analysis: (1) External
combustion boilers; (2) sulfuric acid contact processing; (3) cement
manufacturing; and (4) natural gas compressing stations.
It should be noted that while elemental phosphorus production was
identified by Idaho as a potential source category for the reasonable
progress analysis, the only source is Monsanto/P4, a source subject to
BART, for which a control technology evaluation was conducted and a
BART determination made. Implementation of BART for Monsanto/P4 will
result in an approximate 9,000 tpy reduction in SO2, roughly
over half the total statewide point source SO2 emissions in
2002. The BART evaluation for NOX determined there are no
feasible NOX controls for this process.
Idaho identified sugar beet processing as a potential source for
further four-factor analysis. The boilers used in sugar beet processing
are addressed in the evaluation of external boilers. Likewise, Idaho
identified pulp and paper as a potential source for further four-factor
analysis. The only pulp mill in Idaho is the Potlatch Pulp & Paper Mill
located in Lewiston, Idaho. The Potlatch facility is a BART-eligible
source and was addressed in our previous Federal Register action dated
June 22, 2011 (76 FR 36329).
EPA also considered control measures for anthropogenic fire;
prescribed forest fire and agricultural fire. Idaho operates a robust
enhanced smoke management program for prescribed forest fire and
agricultural burning. The agricultural smoke management program was
previously approved by EPA. See 73 FR 44915. There are no other source
categories that appear to emit visibility impairing pollutants
sufficient to warrant consideration for additional control.
The Idaho SIP results in improvement in visibility on the 20% worst
days and no degradation in visibility on the 20% best days, however the
URP for 2018 is not expected to be achieved in any Class I area in
Idaho. Nevertheless, as explained below, EPA proposes to approve the
State's determination that it is not reasonable to achieve the UPR in
2018 and that these RPGs for the Class I areas in Idaho presented in
the SIP submittal are reasonable.
a. Findings from the statutory four-factor analysis. As discussed
above, based on the general level of review for the major source
categories, Idaho determined it was not reasonable to control
additional source categories at this time.
b. Evidence that natural sources affect the ability to achieve the
2018 URP goal. Idaho's analysis in the SIP for natural emission sources
supports the finding that the contributions of natural sources, such as
natural wildfire and windblown dust, and the pollutants associated with
these sources (organic carbon, elemental carbon, fine particulate, and
coarse particulate) are the primary reason for not achieving the 2018
URP for Idaho Class I areas. For example, the state found that 82% of
the organic carbon emissions and 72% of the elemental carbon emissions
were from natural fire and that natural fire and windblown dust
together contribute over 40% and 60% of PM2.5 and PM
emissions. See Table 11-1 of the SIP submittal.
c. Sources outside the modeling domain. Sources of SO2
and NOX emissions outside the modeling domain contribute
from 45 to 51% of the SO2 emissions, and from 25 to 37% of
the NOX emissions that impact visibility in Class I areas in
Idaho. See Table 12-2. These sources are not under the jurisdiction of
Idaho nor surrounding States, and therefore will not be significantly
controlled by 2018.
d. Not reasonable to meet URP. 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1)(ii) provides
that: If the state establishes a RPG that provides for a slower rate of
improvement in visibility than the rate that would be needed to attain
natural conditions by 2064, the state must demonstrate based on the
four-factors that the rate of progress for the implementation plan to
attain natural conditions by 2064 is not reasonable and that the
progress goal adopted by the state is reasonable. This demonstration is
twofold. Idaho demonstrated that achieving the URP is not reasonable
due to the overwhelming visibility impacts of wildfire and emissions
from sources outside the modeling domain, both uncontrollable source
categories. Idaho's analysis also uses an approach based on looking at
each pollutant species, showing that URP is achieved or almost achieved
for SO2 and NOX. This approach goes beyond what
was contemplated by the RHR and but even without using the pollutant
species approach, the State's RPGs are reasonable because of the source
category analysis and the contribution from sources outside the
modeling domain and from non-anthropogenic sources. Although Idaho is
anticipated to achieve reasonable and significant reductions of
NOX and SO2 during the first planning period,
reaching the URP is not reasonable since the visibility benefits from
potential SO2 and NOX controls on other source
categories is minimal, and the majority of visibility impairment is due
to uncontrollable emissions.
As explained in the EPA's RPG Guidance, the 2018 URP estimate is
not a presumptive target and the State's RPGs may be lesser, greater or
equivalent to the glide path. The glide path to 2064 represents a rate
of progress which states must use for analytical comparison to the
amount of progress they expect to achieve. EPA believes the RPGs
established by Idaho for the Class I areas in Idaho, although not
achieving the URP, are reasonable because of the significant visibility
improvement expected from BART controls for SO2 and
NOX. Idaho determined that other measures needed to reach
the URP are not reasonable at this time because of the overwhelming
influence of natural fire to visibility impairment and the fact that
additional control measures on sources of sulfate and nitrate are not
estimated to contribute substantial visibility improvement by the end
of the first planning period. Consequently, we propose to find that the
State has demonstrated that its 2018 RPGs are
[[Page 30257]]
reasonable and consistent with 40 CFR 51.308(d)(1) and
51.308(d)(1)(ii).
G. Long Term Strategy
The Long Term Strategy required by 40 CFR 51.308(d)(3) is a
compilation of all existing and anticipated new air pollution control
measures (both those identified in this plan as well as measures
resulting from other air pollution requirements.) The LTS must include
``enforceable emission limitations, compliance schedules, and other
measures as necessary to achieve the reasonable progress goals'' for
all Class I areas within or effected by emissions from the State. 40
CFR 51.308(d)(3). In developing a LTS, Idaho identified existing
programs and rules, additional new controls that may be needed for
other CAA requirements, and additional measures which may be required
to achieve reasonable progress in Class I areas in Idaho.
Idaho adequately addressed the RHR requirements in developing its
LTS. The LTS provides sufficient documentation to ensure that Idaho
will meet its emission reduction obligations for all Class I areas it
affects in the first planning period. Idaho relied on monitoring,
emission inventories and modeling information from the WRAP as the
technical basis for its LTS. Coordination and consultation occurred
with other states through the WRAP, in which all western states
participated in developing the technical analysis upon which their SIPs
are based. The state's analysis included identifying all anthropogenic
sources of visibility impairment including major and minor stationary
sources, mobile sources, and area sources. The anticipated net effect
on visibility over the first planning period due to changes in point,
area and mobile source emissions is an improvement in visibility in all
Class I areas in Idaho.
Idaho has a number of ongoing programs and regulations that
directly protect visibility or provide for improved visibility by
generally reducing emissions:
Prevention of Significant Deterioration/New Source Review
Regulations
Two primary regulatory programs for addressing visibility
impairment from industrial sources are the BART and Prevention of
Significant Deterioration/New Source Review (PSD/NSR) rules. The PSD/
NSR rules protect visibility in Class I areas from emissions from new
industrial sources and major modifications to existing sources. Idaho's
regulations (IDAPA58.01.01.200 through 228) and SIP require visibility
impact assessment and mitigation associated with emissions from new and
modified major stationary sources through protection of air quality
related values (AQRVs). AQRVs are scenic and environmentally related
resources that may be adversely affected by a change in air quality,
including visibility, odor, noise, vegetation, and soils. These
requirements were approved by EPA in 1983. Idaho's continued
implementation of PSD/NSR requirements with FLM involvement for Class I
area impact review will assist in maintaining the least impaired days
from further degradation and assure that no Class I area experiences
degradation in visibility resulting from expansion or growth of
stationary sources in the state.
Regional Haze BART Controls
The RHR includes the requirements for states to implement BART for
eligible sources within the State that may reasonably cause or
contribute to any impairment of visibility in any mandatory Class I
area. 40 CFR 51.308(e). The installation of BART emission limits is an
integral part of the state's LTS. Idaho regulations in IDAPA 58.01.01
contain the requirements for BART under the regional haze rule
including measures necessary to address RAVI. Idaho has completed
analysis of the identified BART-eligible sources in Idaho and has
determined BART emission limits for all BART-subject sources. Each
source subject to BART is required to install and operate BART five
years after the EPA approval of the implementation plan. Once controls
are implemented, facilities subject to BART must ensure that control
equipment is properly operated and maintained. EPA previously approved
the BART portions of the Idaho Regional Haze plan. 76 FR 36329.
Local, State and Federal Mobile Source Control Programs
Estimated mobile source emissions show decreases in NOX,
SO2, and VOCs in Idaho during the period 2002-2018. These
declines in emissions are due to numerous rules already in place, most
of which are federal regulations. The Federal Motor Vehicle Control
Program (FMVCP) is the federal certification program that requires all
new cars sold in 49 states to meet specific emission standards. As part
of the FMVCP, all new cars must meet their applicable emission
standards on a standard test cycle called the Federal Test Procedure
(FTP). These standards vary according to vehicle age, with the newer
vehicles required to be considerably cleaner than older models. The
result of this decline over time in allowable emissions from newly
manufactured vehicles has been a drop in overall emissions from the
vehicle fleet, as older, dirtier vehicles are replaced with newer,
cleaner vehicles.
EPA's Tier 2 emission standards for passenger cars, light trucks
and larger passenger vehicles are focused on reducing emissions most
responsible for ozone and particulate matter. The control equipment
introduced to meet these standards will result in reductions in
visibility impairing pollutants. Various federal rules establishing
emission standards and fuel requirements for diesel on-road and non-
road equipment are expected to significantly reduce emissions of
particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, and sulfur oxides from emission
sources over the first planning period.
Implementation of Programs to Meet PM10 NAAQS
Northern Ada County (Boise) and Portneuf Valley (Pocatello) are
PM10 maintenance areas. See 68 FR 61106 and 71 FR 39574.
These areas previously exceeded the PM10 NAAQS primarily due
to residential wood combustion and road dust. To control the
PM10 emissions and bring the area into attainment, Idaho put
in place strict controls that regulate wood burning and control road
dust in these communities.
Measures To Mitigate Impacts of Construction Activities
In developing its LTS, Idaho considered the impact of construction
activities on visibility in the Class I areas in Idaho. State
regulations IDAPA 58.01.01.651 and 652 require that entities that cause
or permit bulk materials to be handled, transported, or stored or who
engage in industrial activities or construction projects shall take
reasonable precautions to prevent particulate matter from being
airborne. In determining `reasonable precautions' the rule specifically
identifies activities and proximity to any Class I area. Types of
precautions include: use of water or chemicals, application of dust
suppressants, use of control equipment, covering truck loads, paving of
roads, and prompt removal of material.
Emission Limitations and Schedules for Compliance
Emission limits and compliance schedules for stationary sources are
specified under Idaho and federal regulations in accordance with the
Act. Additionally as discussed above, the BART provisions previously
approved by EPA establish federally enforceable emission limitations
and compliance schedule for BART sources. Idaho
[[Page 30258]]
anticipates that future SIP updates may identify additional emission
controls that could be implemented in the future and commits to include
limits and compliance schedules as appropriate in future Regional Haze
plan updates.
Source Retirement and Replacement Schedules
Idaho's continued implementation of NSR and PSD requirements, with
the FLMs Review of impacts to Class I areas, will assure that there is
no degradation of visibility in Idaho Class I areas on the least
impaired days from expansion or growth of stationary sources in the
State. Idaho will track source retirement and replacement and include
known retirement schedules in periodic revisions to its Regional Haze
SIP.
Smoke Management Techniques for Agricultural and Forestry
Burning
Smoke from wildland and prescribed fire is a major contributor to
visibility impairment in Idaho's Class I Areas. Idaho's implementation
of effective smoke management techniques through regulation and an
enhanced smoke management plan will mitigate impacts of planned burning
on visibility in the Class I areas. For example, Idaho regulates
agricultural burning through its crop residue burning regulations. See
IDAPA 58.01.01.617-623. In accordance with these regulations, Idaho
requires permits and daily burn approval for crop residue burning.
Idaho regulates prescribed fire through IDAPA 58.01.01.614 and works
cooperatively with the Montana/Idaho Airshed Group to address air
quality impacts from wildland fire. The Montana/Idaho Airshed Group is
composed of Federal, State, Tribal and private land managers dedicated
to the preservation of air quality in Idaho and Montana. The Airshed
Group manages prescribed fire throughout Idaho and Montana by daily
authorization of individual burns.
Enforceability of Emission Limitations and Control Measures
The BART emission limits and control measures are enforceable as a
matter of state law by virtue of IDAPA 58.01.01.655 through 668, and
are federally enforceable when approved as part of its SIP. As
previously mentioned, EPA approved Idaho's BART emission limits and
controls on June 22, 2011. 76 FR 36329.
Idaho projected the emissions inventory changes to the point, area
and mobile sources by 2018. The changes are predicted based on the
WRAP's most recent emissions inventory and include the BART and LST
components known at the time of the inventory development. Amore
detailed discussion of the reductions may be found in section 8 of the
SIP Submittal.
H. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan Requirements
The primary monitoring network for regional haze in Idaho is the
IMPROVE network. As discussed above, there are currently IMPROVE sites
at Craters of the Moon National Monument, Sawtooth Wilderness Area and
Selway-Bitterroot Wilderness Area. IMPROVE monitoring data from 2000-
2004 serves as the baseline for the regional haze program, and is
relied upon in the Idaho Regional Haze submittal. Idaho commits to rely
on the IMPROVE network for complying with the regional haze monitoring
requirement in EPA's RHR for the current and future regional haze
implementation periods. See section 4.4 of the SIP submittal. Data
produced by the IMPROVE monitoring network will be used for preparing
the five-year progress reports and the 10-year SIP revisions, each of
which relies on analysis of the preceding five years of data.
I. Consultation With States and Federal Land Managers
Through the WRAP, member states and Tribes worked extensively with
the FLMs from the U.S. Departments of the Interior and Agriculture to
develop technical analyses that support the regional haze SIPs for the
WRAP states. The proposed Regional Haze plan for Idaho was provided to
the FLM for comment between June 3, 2010 and August 5, 2010. See
section 13.1 of the SIP submittal. Idaho also consulted with the States
of Washington, Oregon, Nevada, Wyoming and Montana. Idaho also commits
to continued consultation with the FLMs and the other states as part of
the continued implementation of the plan and for future progress
reports and revisions. This continuing consultation process will
provide the opportunity for on-going opportunities to address a host of
items including, for example, the implementation of emission control
programs, changes to the monitoring strategy or monitoring locations,
status of state actions to meet commitments for future assessments or
rulemaking, and work on the five-year reviews and ten-year revisions.
Additionally, Idaho consulted with the tribes during development of
their plan through the WRAP activities and direct outreach to the
tribes. Accordingly, Idaho adequately addressed the consultation
requirements in the RHR and appropriately documented its consultation
with FLMs and other states.
J. Periodic SIP Revisions and Five-Year Progress Reports
Section 51.308(f) of the RHR requires that the regional haze plans
be revised and submitted to EPA by July 31, 2018 and every 10 years
thereafter. 40 CFR 51.308(g) requires the state to submit a progress
report to EPA every five years evaluating progress towards the
reasonable progress goals for each Class I area in the State and each
Class I area located outside the State which may be affected by
emissions from within the State. Idaho has committed to evaluate and
reassess its Regional Haze plan and to provide a Regional Haze SIP
revision by July 31, 2018 for the next 10 year planning cycle. See
section 13.5 of the SIP submission. Idaho has also committed to
submitting the five-year review and report on the Regional Haze plan.
See section 13.1 of the SIP submittal.
IV. What action is EPA proposing?
On June 22, 2011, EPA approved portions of the Idaho Regional Haze
Plan submitted October 25, 2011, including Idaho's emission inventory,
determination of baseline and natural condition and the BART controls
and emission limits. Today, for the reasons explained above, EPA is
proposing to approve the remaining parts of the Idaho Regional Haze
submittal as meeting the requirements set forth in section 169A and
169B of the Act and in 40 CFR 51.300-308 regarding regional haze.
V. Scope of Action
Idaho has not demonstrated authority to implement and enforce IDAPA
chapter 58 within ``Indian Country'' as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1151.\10\
Therefore, EPA proposes that this SIP approval not extend to ``Indian
Country'' in Idaho. See CAA sections 110(a)(2)(A) (SIP shall include
enforceable emission limits), 110(a)(2)(E)(i) (State must have adequate
[[Page 30259]]
authority under State law to carry out SIP), and 172(c)(6)
(nonattainment SIPs shall include enforceable emission limits). This is
consistent with EPA's previous approval of Idaho's PSD program, in
which EPA specifically disapproved the program for sources within
Indian Reservations in Idaho because the State had not shown it had
authority to regulate such sources. See 40 CFR 52.683(b). It is also
consistent with EPA's approval of Idaho's title V air operating permits
program. See 61 FR 64622, 64623 (December 6, 1996) (interim approval
does not extend to Indian Country); 66 FR 50574, 50575 (October 4,
2001) (full approval does not extend to Indian Country).
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\10\ ``Indian country'' is defined under 18 U.S.C. 1151 as: (1)
All land within the limits of any Indian reservation under the
jurisdiction of the United States Government, notwithstanding the
issuance of any patent, and including rights-of-way running through
the reservation, (2) all dependent Indian communities within the
borders of the United States, whether within the original or
subsequently acquired territory thereof, and whether within or
without the limits of a State, and (3) all Indian allotments, the
Indian titles to which have not been extinguished, including rights-
of-way running through the same. Under this definition, EPA treats
as reservations trust lands validly set aside for the use of a Tribe
even if the trust lands have not been formally designated as a
reservation. In Idaho, Indian country includes, but is not limited
to, the Coeur d'Alene Reservation, the Duck Valley Reservation, the
Reservation of the Kootenai Tribe, the Fort Hall Indian Reservation,
and the Nez Perce Reservation as described in the 1863 Nez Perce
Treaty.
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VI. 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 proposed 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 proposed 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 rule neither imposes substantial direct compliance costs on
tribal governments, nor preempts tribal law. Therefore, the
requirements of section 5(b) and 5(c) of the Executive Order do not
apply to this rule. Consistent with EPA policy, EPA nonetheless
provided a consultation opportunity to Tribes in Idaho, Oregon, and
Washington in letters dated January 14, 2011. EPA received one request
for consultation, and we have followed-up with that Tribe.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Particulate matter, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, Visibility, and Volatile
organic compounds.
Dated: May 15, 2012.
Michelle L. Pirzadeh,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 2012-12411 Filed 5-21-12; 8:45 am]
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