Environmental Protection Agency October 23, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing approval of the State of Florida's March 10, 2015, State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision, submitted by the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP). This submittal fulfills Florida's commitment to EPA to provide a regional haze SIP revision with a Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions limit for Unit 1 at the Lakeland ElectricC.D. McIntosh Power Plant (McIntosh) reflecting best operating practices for good combustion. States are required to address the BART provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and EPA's regional haze regulations as part of a program to prevent any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas (national parks and wilderness areas) caused by emissions of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area (also referred to as the ``regional haze program'') and to assure reasonable progress toward the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. In this action, EPA is approving the BART NOx emissions limit for Unit 1 at McIntosh into the Florida SIP.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving into Oregon's State Implementation Plan (SIP) a submittal from the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ) dated July 7, 2014, containing revisions to the Lane Regional Air Protection Agency's (LRAPA) open burning rules adopted on March 14, 2008. The revised LRAPA open burning rules make clarifications and provide for additional controls of open burning activities in Lane County, would reduce particulate emissions in Lane County, and would strengthen Oregon's SIP. The EPA is also approving a submittal from the ODEQ dated June 30, 2014, to update Oregon Administrative Rules (OAR) that relate to procedures in contested cases (appeals), enforcement procedures, and civil penalties. The EPA is approving most of the submitted provisions because the revisions clarify and strengthen the SIP and are consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA is not approving certain provisions of the submitted rules that do not relate to the requirements for SIPs under section 110 of the CAA. Finally, the EPA is correcting the SIP pursuant to the authority of section 110(k)(6) of the CAA to remove certain provisions previously approved by the EPA that do not relate to the requirements for SIPs under section 110 of the CAA.

In this action, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a federal plan to implement the greenhouse gas (GHG) emission guidelines (EGs) for existing fossil fuel-fired electric generating units (EGUs) under the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EGs were proposed in June 2014 and finalized on August 3, 2015 as the Carbon Pollution Emission Guidelines for Existing Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units (also known as the Clean Power Plan or EGs). This proposal presents two approaches to a federal plan for states and other jurisdictions that do not submit an approvable plan to the EPA: a rate- based emission trading program and a mass-based emission trading program. These proposals also constitute proposed model trading rules that states can adopt or tailor for implementation of the final EGs. The federal plan is an important measure to ensure that congressionally mandated emission standards under the authority of the CAA are implemented. The proposed federal plan is related to but separate from the final EGs. The final EGs establish the best system of emission reduction (BSER) for applicable fossil fuel-fired EGUs in the form of a carbon dioxide (CO2) emission performance rate for steam- fired EGUs and a CO2 emission performance rate for natural gas-fired combined cycle (NGCC) units, and provide guidance and criteria for the development of approvable state plans. The purpose of the proposed federal plan is to establish requirements directly applicable to a state's affected EGUs that meet these emission performance levels, or the equivalent statewide goal, in order to achieve reductions in CO2 emissions in the case where a state or other jurisdiction does not submit an approvable plan. The stringency of the emission performance levels established in the final EGs will be the same whether implemented through a state plan or a federal plan. The EPA is also proposing enhancements to the CAA section 111(d) framework regulations related to the process and timing for state plan submissions and EPA actions. The EPA intends to finalize both the rate-based and mass-based model trading rules in summer 2016.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing new source performance standards (NSPS) under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 111(b) that, for the first time, will establish standards for emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) for newly constructed, modified, and reconstructed affected fossil fuel-fired electric utility generating units (EGUs). This action establishes separate standards of performance for fossil fuel-fired electric utility steam generating units and fossil fuel-fired stationary combustion turbines. This action also addresses related permitting and reporting issues. In a separate action, under CAA section 111(d), the EPA is issuing final emission guidelines for states to use in developing plans to limit CO2 emissions from existing fossil fuel-fired EGUs.