Environmental Protection Agency July 10, 2006 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) and Operating Permits Program revisions submitted by the state of Nebraska. This action revises monitoring requirements which were found to be less stringent than the applicable Federal rule; adds permits-by- rule provisions, which would provide a streamlined approach for issuing construction/operating permits for hot mix asphalt plants and small animal incinerators' and deletes the chemical compound ethylene glycol monobutyl ether from the list of regulated hazardous air pollutants in Appendices II and III. Approval of these revisions will ensure consistency between the state and Federally-approved rules, and ensure Federal enforceability of the state's revised air program rules.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of New Jersey. This revision establishes an updated ten-year carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan for the Nine Not-Classified Areas in the State (the City of Atlantic City, the City of Burlington, the Borough of Freehold, the Town of Morristown, the Borough of Penns Grove, the City of Perth Amboy, the Borough of Somerville, the Toms River Area, and the City of Trenton) and Camden County. In addition, this action approves revisions to the CO, NOX, VOC, and PM2.5 motor vehicle emissions budgets for Northern New Jersey. Finally, this notice approves revisions to the general conformity budget for McGuire Air Force Base and the 2002 ozone, PM2.5, and CO base year emissions inventories, where applicable. The Nine Not Classified Areas and Camden County were redesignated to attainment of the CO National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) on February 5, 1996 and maintenance plans were also approved at that time. By this action, EPA is approving the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection's (New Jersey) second maintenance plans for these areas because they provide for continued attainment of the CO NAAQS for an additional ten years. The intended effect of this rulemaking is to approve a SIP revision that will insure continued maintenance of the CO NAAQS.

EPA's grant regulations (40 CFR 35.115) require the Agency to evaluate the performance of agencies which receive grants. EPA's regulations for regional consistency (40 CFR 56.7) require that the Agency notify the public of the availability of the reports of such evaluation. EPA performed end-of-year evaluations of three state air pollution control programs (Iowa Department of Natural Resources; Kansas Department of Health and Environment; Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality); and one local air pollution control program (Unified Government of Wyandotte County, Kansas). These evaluations were conducted to assess the agencies' performance under the grants awarded by EPA under authority of section 105 of the Clean Air Act.

This document announces that the EPA Administrator has responded to a petition asking EPA to object to an operating permit issued by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP). Specifically, the Administrator has partially granted and partially denied a joint petition submitted by the South Jersey Environmental Alliance (SJEJA), and the New Jersey Public Interest Research Group (NJPIRG), to object to the state operating permit issued to the Camden Cogeneration Plant. Pursuant to section 505(b)(2) of the Clean Air Act (Act), Petitioner (SJEJA) may seek judicial review of those portions of the CCP petition which EPA denied in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit. Any petition for review shall be filed within 60 days from the date this notice appears in the Federal Register, pursuant to section 307 of the Act.

EPA is proposing partial approval of revisions to the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) and nonattainment new source review (NSR) construction permit programs of the State of Indiana. On December 31, 2002, EPA published revisions to the federal PSD and nonattainment NSR regulations. These revisions are commonly referred to as ``NSR Reform'' regulations and became effective on March 3, 2003. These regulatory revisions include provisions for baseline emissions determinations, actual-to-future actual methodology, Plantwide Applicability Limits (PAL), Clean Units, and Pollution Control Projects (PCP). On June 24, 2005, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued its ruling on challenges to the December 2002 NSR reform revisions. Although the Court did uphold most of EPA's rules, it vacated both the Clean Unit and the PCP provisions. In addition, the Court remanded to EPA provision that requires recordkeeping and reporting for sources that elect to use the actual- to-projected actual emission test only where there is a reasonable possibility that a project may result in a significant net emissions increase. IDEM is seeking partial approval for rules to implement the NSR Reform provisions that have not been vacated by the June 24, 2005, court decision. This action affects major stationary sources in Indiana that are subject to or potentially subject to the PSD or nonattainment NSR construction permit program.