Environmental Protection Agency March 22, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request for a new collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

EPA is proposing to update a portion of the Outer Continental Shelf (``OCS'') Air Regulations. Requirements applying to OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries must be updated periodically to remain consistent with the requirements of the corresponding onshore area (``COA''), as mandated by section 328(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990 (``the Act''). The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements for OCS sources for which the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (``Santa Barbara APCD'' or ``District'') is the designated COA. The intended effect of approving the OCS requirements for the Santa Barbara APCD is to regulate emissions from OCS sources in accordance with the requirements onshore. The changes to the existing requirements discussed below are proposed to be incorporated by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations and listed in the appendix to the OCS air regulations.

EPA is proposing to determine that the Macon, Georgia, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the Macon Area'' or ``the Area'') has attained the 1997 annual average PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The Macon Area is comprised of Bibb County in its entirety and a portion of Monroe County. This proposed determination of attainment is based upon complete, quality-assured and certified ambient air monitoring data for the 2007-2009 period showing that the Area has monitored attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. If EPA finalizes this proposed determination of attainment, the requirements for the Area to submit an attainment demonstration and associated reasonably available control measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions related to attainment of the standard shall be suspended so long as the Area continues to attain the annual PM2.5 NAAQS.

On May 24, 2010, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), the National Wildlife Federation, the World Wildlife Fund and the Friends of the Earth petitioned the Administrator to reconsider an EPA rule, published on March 26, 2010 (75 FR 14670), which amended the Renewable Fuel Standard Program pursuant to Clean Air Act section 211(o). The petitioners alleged that EPA failed to properly require producers of renewable fuels to verify domestic crops and crop residues used to produce the renewable fuels complied with the applicable land use restrictions. Additionally, the CATF alleged that EPA did not properly account for the ``global rebound effect'' in the final analysis of the lifecycle greenhouse gas (GHG) emission impacts of renewable fuel production and use. On February 17, 2011, the Administrator denied the petitions for reconsideration and the accompanying requests for stays in implementing the regulations. This Notice announces the availability of EPA's decision.

EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove a revision to the Oklahoma State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Oklahoma through the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) on February 19, 2010 that addresses regional haze for the first implementation period. This revision was submitted to address the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and our rules that require states to prevent any future and remedy any existing man-made 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''). States are required to assure reasonable progress toward the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. EPA is proposing to approve a portion of this SIP revision as meeting certain requirements of the regional haze program and to partially approve and partially disapprove those portions addressing the requirements for best available retrofit technology (BART) and the long-term strategy (LTS). EPA is proposing a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to implement sulfur dioxide (SO2) emission limits on six sources to address these issues. EPA also is proposing to disapprove the State's submitted alternative to BART; EPA is taking no action on the submitted reasonable progress goals at this time. In addition, EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove a portion of a revision to the Oklahoma SIP submitted by the State of Oklahoma on May 10, 2007 and supplemented on December 10, 2007. We are taking action on that portion of the submittals addressing the requirements of CAA as it applies to visibility for the 1997 8-hour ozone and 1997 particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). This portion of the submittals addresses the requirement that Oklahoma's SIP contain adequate provisions to prohibit emissions from interfering with measures required in another state to protect visibility. In this action, we propose a FIP to address the deficiencies in this portion of Oklahoma's SIP submittals. The proposed FIP will prevent emissions from six Oklahoma sources from interfering with other states' measures to protect visibility and to implement sulfur dioxide emission limits on these six sources to prevent such interference.