Environmental Protection Agency July 23, 2012 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The EPA (also, ``the Agency'' or ``we'') is amending an existing exclusion to reflect changes in ownership and name for the ConocoPhillips Billings, Montana Refinery. Today's amendment documents these changes.

In accordance with section 113(g) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``Act''), notice is hereby given of a proposed consent decree to address a lawsuit filed by Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, et al. v. EPA, No. 1:12-cv-00338-ESH (D.D.C). On or about March 2, 2012, Southern Alliance for Clean Energy, et al. filed a complaint that EPA failed to perform its nondiscretionary duty pursuant to section 505(b)(2) of the Act, to grant or deny, within 60 days after it was filed, a petition (``Shawnee Petition'') requesting that EPA object to a proposed title V operating permit for the Tennessee Valley Authority's Fossil Plant issued by the Commonwealth of Kentucky (``Shawnee Permit''). Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, EPA would be required to sign its response to Plaintiffs' petition by September 1, 2012.

EPA is proposing to approve a revision to the Mississippi State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted by the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) through the Division of Air Pollution Control to EPA on May 12, 2011. The SIP revision modifies Mississippi's New Source Review (NSR) Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program. The May 12, 2011, SIP revision incorporates by reference the federal NSR PSD requirements for the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) as amended in EPA's 2008 NSR PM2.5 Implementation Rule (hereafter referred to as the ``NSR PM2.5 Rule'') and the 2010 PM2.5 PSD Increment, Significant Impact Levels (SILs) and Significant Monitoring Concentration (SMC) Rule (hereafter referred to the ``PM2.5 PSD Increment-SILs-SMC Rule'') into the Mississippi SIP. EPA is proposing to approve portions of Mississippi's SIP revision because the Agency has preliminarily determined that the provisions proposed for approval are consistent with section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and EPA regulations regarding NSR permitting.

EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove revisions to the State Implementation Plans (SIPs) for Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina submitted on September 23, 2009, October 6, 2009 and September 18, 2009, respectively. EPA is proposing to approve the determinations, contained in those submittals, that the existing SIPs for Florida, Mississippi, and South Carolina are adequate to meet the obligation under section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) to address interstate transport requirements with regard to the 2006 24-hour particulate matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). Specifically, the interstate transport requirements contained in section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) of the CAA prohibit a state's emissions from significantly contributing to nonattainment or interfering with the maintenance of the NAAQS in any other state. EPA is proposing to approve the States' determinations that their existing SIPs satisfy this requirement and to conclude that additional control measures are not necessary under section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) because emissions from Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina do not contribute significantly to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS in any other state. EPA is also proposing to disapprove the SIP submissions from Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina to the extent that they rely on the Clean Air Interstate Rule to meet the 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) requirements for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. Because the Clean Air Interstate Rule has been remanded by the court and did not address the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS, it cannot be relied upon to satisfy any requirements related to that NAAQS. In this action, EPA is only addressing the SIP revisions respecting section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I). The SIP revisions respecting the remainder of section 110(a)(2)(D)(i) and sections 110(a)(2)(A)-(M), except for sections 110(a)(2)(C) and 110(a)(2)(I) nonattainment area requirements, are being addressed in separate actions.

EPA is taking final action to approve in part, and conditionally approve in part, the State Implementation Plan (SIP) submission, submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), to demonstrate that the State meets the requirements of sections 110(a)(1) and (2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Section 110(a) of the CAA requires that each state adopt and submit a SIP for the implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of each NAAQS promulgated by EPA, which is commonly referred to as an ``infrastructure'' SIP. TDEC certified that the Tennessee SIP contains provisions that ensure the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS are implemented, enforced, and maintained in Tennessee (hereafter referred to as ``infrastructure submission''). With the exception of sub-element 110(a)(2)(E)(ii), which pertains to the requirements of section 128(a)(1) of the CAA, Tennessee's infrastructure submission, provided to EPA on December 14, 2007, addresses all the required infrastructure elements for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS.