Environmental Protection Agency February 12, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

Under the Federal Advisory Committee Act, EPA gives notice of a public meeting of the he National Advisory Committee (NAC) and the Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC). The NAC and GAC provide advice to the EPA Administrator on a broad range of environmental policy, technology, and management issues. NAC/GAC members represent academia, business/industry, non-governmental organizations, and state, local and tribal governments. The purpose of the meeting is for the NAC/GAC to provide advice on trade and environment issues related to the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation. A copy of the meeting agenda will be posted at https://www.epa.gov/faca/nac-gac.

The Environmental Protection Agency (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. The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements for OCS sources for which Massachusetts is the designated COA. The intended effect of approving the OCS requirements for the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection is to regulate emissions from OCS sources in accordance with the requirements for onshore sources. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts' requirements discussed in this document are proposed to be incorporated by reference into the Code of Federal Regulations and listed in the appendix to the OCS air regulations.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the Reasonably Available Control Measures/Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACM/RACT) and Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) elements of California's Moderate area plan for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS or ``standards'') in the Los AngelesSouth Coast nonattainment area. The EPA is also finalizing a determination that the State has corrected the deficiency that formed the basis for the EPA's prior partial disapproval of the Moderate area plan submitted for these NAAQS with respect to the RACM/RACT and RFP elements. Today's action terminates the sanctions clocks triggered by the partial disapproval of the Moderate area plan.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve and conditionally approve revisions to the Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD or ``District'') portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern the District's demonstration regarding Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) requirements for the 1997 8-hour ozone and the 2008 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS or ``standard'') in the portion of the Western Mojave Desert ozone nonattainment area under the jurisdiction of the MDAQMD. The EPA is also taking final action to approve MDAQMD negative declarations into the SIP for the 2008 ozone standard. We are approving and conditionally approving local SIP revisions under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing an approval of a revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Arkansas through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) that addresses regional haze for the first planning period. ADEQ submitted this revision to address certain requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and the EPA's regional haze rules for the protection of visibility. The EPA is taking final action to approve the State's SIP revision, which addresses nitrogen oxide (NOX) best available retrofit technology (BART) requirements for the Arkansas Electric Cooperative Corporation (AECC) Bailey Plant Unit 1; AECC McClellan Plant Unit 1; the American Electric Power/Southwestern Electric Power Company (AEP/SWEPCO) Flint Creek Plant Boiler No. 1; Entergy Arkansas, Inc. (Entergy) Lake Catherine Plant Unit 4; Entergy White Bluff Plant Units 1 and 2 and the Auxiliary Boiler. The SIP revision also addresses reasonable progress requirements for NOX for the Entergy Independence Plant Units 1 and 2. In conjunction with this final approval, we are finalizing in a separate rulemaking, which is also being published in this Federal Register, our withdrawal of federal implementation plan (FIP) emission limits for NOX that would otherwise apply to these nine units.