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Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Philadelphia County Reasonably Available Control Technology Under the 1997 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard; Withdrawal and New IssuanceJun 19, 2013 (Environmental Protection Agency Documents and Publications/ContentWorks via COMTEX) -- SUMMARY: On August 26, 2008, EPA published a proposed rule to approve a revision to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (Pennsylvania) State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) on behalf of Philadelphia Air Management Services (AMS). The SIP revision, submitted to EPA on September 29, 2006 (the 2006 SIP revision), consists of a demonstration that Philadelphia County is meeting the requirements of reasonably available control technology (RACT) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) for nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) under the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). EPA has determined that it cannot proceed with the final approval of the 2006 SIP revision. In light of the decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the Court) regarding EPA's Phase 2 Ozone Implementation Rule, EPA cannot approve that compliance with a cap-and-trade program satisfies the NOX RACT requirement for electric generating units (EGUs) in Philadelphia County, as presumed in the 2006 SIP revision. In addition, upon further review, EPA has determined that the 2006 SIP revision does not adequately address the RACT requirements under the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the major sources of VOC and NOX for which EPA has previously approved source-specific RACT determinations under the 1-hour ozone NAAQS. Therefore, EPA is withdrawing its August 26, 2008 proposed rule to approve Philadelphia County's 1997 8-hour RACT demonstration. On June 22, 2010, PADEP submitted another SIP revision (the 2010 SIP revision) that consists of AMS regulations to address specific RACT requirements for Philadelphia County. EPA is proposing conditional approval of Philadelphia County 1997 8-hour ozone RACT demonstration provided in the 2006 and 2010 SIP revisions, based upon AMS' commitment to submit additional SIP revisions addressing source-specific RACT controls for major sources of VOC and NOX in Philadelphia County. This proposed action and the withdrawal action are being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA). DATES: The proposed rule published on August 26, 2008 (73 FR 50270) is withdrawn as of July 19, 2013. Written comments on EPA's proposed conditional approval action must be received on or before July 19, 2013. ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0603 by one of the following methods: A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments. B. Email: [email protected]. C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0603, Cristina Fernandez, Associate Director, Office of Air Program Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. D. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0603. 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 information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or email. 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. 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 during normal business hours at the Air Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal are available at the Department of Public Health, Air Management Services, 321 University Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104. Copies are also available at Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air Quality Control, P.O. Box 8468, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Emlyn Velez-Rosa, (215) 814-2038, or by email at [email protected]. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 29, 2006, and on June 22, 2010, PADEP submitted on behalf of AMS two SIP revisions for Philadelphia County addressing the requirements of RACT under the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. I. Background Ozone is formed in the atmosphere by photochemical reactions between VOC, NOX, and carbon monoxide (CO) in the presence of sunlight. In order to reduce ozone concentrations in the ambient air, the CAA requires all nonattainment areas to apply controls on VOC and NOX emission sources to achieve emission reductions. Among effective control measures, RACT controls are a major group for reducing VOC and NOx emissions from stationary sources. Since the 1970's, EPA has consistently interpreted RACT to mean the lowest emission limit that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of the control technology that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility (See 72 FR 20586 at 20610, April 25, 2007). Section 172(c)(1) of the CAA provides that SIPs for nonattainment areas must include reasonably available control measures (RACM) for attainment of the NAAQS, including emissions reductions from existing sources through adoption of RACT. Section 182(a)(2)(A) of the CAA referred to as RACT fix-up requires the correction of RACT rules for which EPA identified deficiencies before the CAA was amended in 1990. Philadelphia County has no deficiencies to correct under this section of the CAA. Section 182(b)(2) and (f) of the CAA requires that moderate (or worse) ozone nonattainment areas, as well as marginal and attainment areas in the ozone transport region (OTR) established pursuant to section 184 of the CAA, implement RACT controls on all major VOC and NOx emission sources (point sources) and on all sources and source categories covered by a control technique guideline (CTG) issued by EPA. A major source in a nonattainment area is defined as any stationary source that emits or has the potential to emit NOx and VOC emissions above a certain applicability threshold that is based on the ozone nonattainment classification of the area: marginal, moderate, serious, or severe. (See "major stationary source" in 40 CFR 51.165). Philadelphia County was designated under the 1-hour ozone NAAQS as part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton severe ozone nonattainment area. See 56 FR 56694, at 56822 (November 6, 1991). The entire Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is also part of the OTR established under section 184 of the CAA. Therefore, Philadelphia County was subject to the CAA RACT requirements under the 1-hour ozone NAAQS. As a result, PADEP and AMS implemented numerous RACT controls applicable in Philadelphia County to meet the RACT requirements. On July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38856), EPA promulgated an 8-hour ozone NAAQS. On April 30, 2004, Philadelphia County was designated under the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS as part of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City moderate ozone nonattainment area. See 69 FR 23858, at 23931 (April 30, 2004). Therefore, PADEP is required to submit to EPA, on behalf of AMS, a SIP revision that addresses how Philadelphia County meets the RACT requirements under the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. Implementation of RACT controls is required in Philadelphia County for each category of VOC sources covered by a CTG document issued by EPA and all other major stationary sources of NOX and VOC. On November 29, 2005 (70 FR 71612), EPA published an ozone implementation rule to address nonattainment SIP requirements for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS (the Phase 2 Ozone Implementation Rule). This rule addressed various statutory requirements, including the requirement for RACT level controls for sources located within nonattainment areas generally, and controls for NOX emissions from EGUs in particular. In the Phase 2 Ozone Implementation Rule, EPA specifically required that states meet the RACT requirements under the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, either through a certification that previously adopted RACT controls in their SIP revisions approved by EPA under the 1-hour ozone NAAQS continue to represent adequate RACT control levels for 8-hour attainment purposes, or through the adoption of new or more stringent regulations that represent RACT control levels. See 70 FR 71655 (November 29, 2005). --This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below-- Proposed rule; withdrawal and new issuance. CFR Part: "40 CFR Part 52" Citation: "78 FR 36716" Document Number: "EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0603; FRL-9824-6" Federal Register Page Number: "36716" "Proposed Rules" |