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Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; State of Florida; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan
[May 25, 2012]

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; State of Florida; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan


May 25, 2012 (Environmental Protection Agency Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- SUMMARY: EPA is proposing a limited approval of two revisions to the Florida state implementation plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Florida through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) on March 19, 2010, and August 31, 2010. Additionally, EPA is proposing a limited approval of a draft SIP revision submitted by FDEP on April 13, 2012, for parallel processing. Collectively, these three SIP revisions address regional haze for the first implementation period. Specifically, these SIP revisions address the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act), and EPA's rules that require states 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"). States are required to assure reasonable progress towards the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. EPA is proposing a limited approval of these SIP revisions to implement the regional haze requirements for Florida on the basis that these revisions, as a whole, strengthen the Florida SIP. Previously, EPA proposed a limited disapproval of the Florida regional haze SIP because of deficiencies in Florida's regional haze SIP arising from the remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) to EPA of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). Consequently, EPA is not proposing to take action in this rulemaking to address the State's reliance on CAIR to meet certain regional haze requirements. /1/ /1/ See footnote 4 for further information. END FOOTNOTE DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 25, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0935, by one of the following methods: 1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

2. Email: [email protected].


3. Fax: 404-562-9019.

4. Mail: EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0935, Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.

5. Hand Delivery or Courier: Lynorae Benjamin, Chief, Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's normal hours of operation. The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.

Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. "EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0935." EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit through www.regulations.gov or email, information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an "anonymous access" system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.

Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara Waterson or Michele Notarianni, Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Sara Waterson can be reached at telephone number (404) 562-9061 and by electronic mail at [email protected]. Michele Notarianni can be reached at telephone number (404) 562-9031 and by electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Table of Contents I. What Action is EPA proposing to take? II. What is parallel processing? III. What is the background for EPA's proposed action? A. The Regional Haze Problem B. Requirements of the CAA and EPA's Regional Haze Rule (RHR) C. Roles of Agencies in Addressing Regional Haze IV. What are the requirements for the Regional Haze SIPs? A. The CAA and the RHR B. Determination of Baseline, Natural, and Current Visibility Conditions C. Determination of Reasonable Progress Goals (RPGs) D. Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) E. Long-Term Strategy (LTS) F. Coordinating Regional Haze and Reasonably Attributable Visibility Impairment (RAVI) LTS G. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan Requirements H. Consultation With States and Federal Land Managers (FLMs) V. What is EPA's analysis of Florida's Regional Haze SIP revisions? A. Affected Class I Areas B. Determination of Baseline, Natural, and Current Visibility Conditions 1. Estimating Natural Visibility Conditions 2. Estimating Baseline Conditions 3. Summary of Baseline and Natural Conditions 4. Uniform Rate of Progress C. Long-Term Strategy/Strategies 1. Emissions Inventory for 2018 With Federal and State Control Requirements 2. Modeling To Support the LTS and Determine Visibility Improvement for Uniform Rate of Progress 3. Relative Contributions to Visibility Impairment: Pollutants, Source Categories, and Geographic Areas 4. Procedure for Identifying Sources To Evaluate for Reasonable Progress Controls in Florida and Surrounding Areas 5. Application of the Four CAA Factors in the Reasonable Progress Analysis 6. BART 7. RPGs D. Coordination of RAVI and Regional Haze Requirements E. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan Requirements F. Consultation With States and FLMs 1. Consultation With Other States 2. Consultation With the FLMs G. Periodic SIP Revisions and Five-Year Progress Reports VI. What action is EPA taking? VII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews A. Executive Order 12866, Regulatory Planning and Review B. Paperwork Reduction Act C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act E. Executive Order 13132, Federalism F. Executive Order 13175, Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments G. Executive Order 13045, Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks H. Executive Order 13211, Actions That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) I. What action is EPA proposing to take? --This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below-- Proposed rule.

CFR Part: "40 CFR Part 52" Citation: "77 FR 31240" Document Number: "EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0935, FRL-9677-9" Federal Register Page Number: "31240" "Proposed Rules"

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