81 FR 17390 - Approval of California Air Plan Revisions, San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District and South Coast Air Quality Management District

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 60 (March 29, 2016)

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) and the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of oxides of nitrogen (NO<INF>X</INF>) from fan-driven natural-gas-fired central furnaces for residences and businesses. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 60 (Tuesday, March 29, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 17390-17392]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06962]



[[Page 17390]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2015-0552; FRL-9943-40-Region9]


Approval of California Air Plan Revisions, San Joaquin Valley 
Unified Air Pollution Control District and South Coast Air Quality 
Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to approve revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air 
Pollution Control District (SJVUAPCD) and the South Coast Air Quality 
Management District (SCAQMD) portions of the California State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of oxides 
of nitrogen (NOX) from fan-driven natural-gas-fired central 
furnaces for residences and businesses. We are approving local rules 
that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or 
the Act).

DATES: These rules will be effective on April 28, 2016.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established docket number EPA-R09-OAR-2015-0552 
for this action. Generally, documents in the docket for this action are 
available electronically at http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy 
at EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105-
3901. While all documents in the docket are listed at http://www.regulations.gov, some information may be publicly available only at 
the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material, large maps, multi-
volume reports), and some may not be available in either location 
(e.g., confidential business information (CBI)). To inspect the hard 
copy materials, please schedule an appointment during normal business 
hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin Gong, EPA Region IX, (415) 972 
3073, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and 
``our'' refer to the EPA.

Table of Contents

I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Incorporation by Reference
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Proposed Action

    On November 7, 2015 in 80 FR 68484, the EPA proposed to approve the 
following rules into the California SIP.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            Local agency                Rule No.              Rule title              Amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SJVUAPCD...........................            4905  Natural-Gas-Fired, Fan-Type        01/22/15        04/07/15
                                                      Central Furnaces.
SCAQMD.............................            1111  Reduction of NOX Emissions         09/05/14        04/07/15
                                                      From Natural-Gas-Fired,
                                                      Fan-Type Central Furnaces.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We proposed to approve these rule because we determined that they 
complied with the relevant CAA requirements. Our proposed action 
contains more information on the rules and our evaluation.

II. Public Comments and EPA Responses

    The EPA's proposed action provided a 30-day public comment period. 
On December 7, 2015, we received two emails from Harvey Eder 
representing the Public Solar Power Coalition (PSPC). One email 
included the subject line, ``FW: docket ID EPA-R09-2015-0552, Can,t 
Email You Again All of The Record from me HE/PSPC inc. into record by 
reference from 6/2014 etc. to today SC PM 2.5 SC SIP EPA-R09-OAR-2015-
0204 to Extreme.'' The second email included the subject line, ``FW: 
Part 3 of 3 there may be a Part 4/This isDocut ID EPA-R09-OAR-2015-
0552, emissions of NOX from fan-driven natural-gas-firedd 
furnaces for res & business SCD R1111/SJV 4905 +FRL-9936-70-Region 9 
(pt 1 & 2 also Inc This etc. Incorporate allfrom . . .'' We received an 
additional email from PSPC on December 9, 2015 labeled as ``part 1 of 
3,'' after the close of the comment period. We have summarized below 
the substance of the emailed comments from PSPC to the extent possible. 
The comments and our responses are as follows:
    Comment #1: PSPC listed several external sources in reference to 
our proposal. These included the following: Documents attributed to a 
California Superior Court case where PSPC was a plaintiff against the 
SCAQMD; references to information attributed to the International 
Energy Agency and the California Governor's Office of Planning and 
Research; documents previously submitted for comment in other EPA 
dockets (including EPA-R09-OAR-2015-0204); communications with local 
and federal officials; and Santa Cruz County and Los Angeles County 
planning documents. None of these documents were summarized or provided 
as attachments to comments on docket EPA-R09-OAR-2015-0552.
    Response #1: In PSPC's emails to the EPA, PSPC did not provide 
attachments or provide source materials supporting its claims. The 
emails attempted to incorporate by reference various news articles, 
reports, and other documents in support of PSPC's stated claims and 
assertions (see additional discussion in Comments #2 and #3). However, 
such a practice is in violation of EPA's commenting guidelines, 
available at http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets#rules. 
In particular, the comments do not comply with the restriction that 
``EPA will not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system).'' \1\
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    \1\ United States Environmental Protection Agency. ``Commenting 
on EPA Dockets--Rules and Restrictions.'' Last updated December 21, 
2015. http://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
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    Moreover, submitting general documents on a topic fails to raise 
any particular issue with reasonable specificity as required by the 
Clean Air Act and the Administrative Procedures Act. See generally 
Mossville Envtl. Action Now v. EPA, 370 F.3d 1232, 1238 (D.C. Cir. 
2004) (``Petitioners also point to a sentence in the letter requesting 
the EPA to use `all reasonably available data, including the data 
provided under Subpart F.' Petitioners' argument that, because Subpart 
F contains data for both the ten and 400 ppm standards, the EPA was on 
notice fails for the same reasons as articulated above.'') Therefore, 
EPA is not making any changes to our proposed approval on the basis of 
this comment.
    Comment #2: PSPC commented that a range of solar-related 
technologies, including solar seasonal heating, concentrating solar, 
and photovoltaic-powered heating and cooling systems are an alternative 
to natural gas-fired home furnaces that are subject to this rule. PSPC 
claims that the EPA should

[[Page 17391]]

consider such technologies as RACT for space heating applications that 
are currently being fulfilled by furnaces.
    Response #2: The EPA can identify no CAA requirement in PSPC's 
comment emails that would require the consideration of solar-based 
technologies as RACT in this context, as all natural gas-fired fan-
driven furnaces subject to these rules do not meet the major source 
threshold triggering a RACT requirement for ozone. The SIP must still 
implement all RACM/RACT for NOX, but these requirements are 
generally evaluated in the context of a broader RACM/RACT assessment. 
Furthermore, the revisions to South Coast Rule 1111 that are the 
subject of this action do not include any substantive revisions 
concerning control technologies or emission limits that PSPC's comment 
would be germane to.
    Comment #3: PSPC made several additional claims including: The 
solar technologies as described would be RACT for other source 
categories, including boilers and heaters not subject to the rules in 
this action; and water tank-based solar seasonal storage heating has 
secondary use in firefighting and public safety applications following 
earthquakes.
    Response #3: These claims are not relevant to our analysis of the 
approval of the rules and we are finalizing our proposed approval 
without change.

III. EPA Action

    No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the rules 
as described in our proposed action. Therefore, as authorized in 
section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is fully approving these rules 
into the California SIP.

IV. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes 
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 
51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of the 
SCAQMD and SJVUAPCD rules described in the amendments to 40 CFR part 52 
set forth below. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, these 
documents available electronically through www.regulations.gov and in 
hard copy at the appropriate EPA office (see the ADDRESSES section of 
this preamble for more information).

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a 
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and 
applicable federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). 
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:

 Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review by 
the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 
51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
 does not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
 is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility 
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
 does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
 does not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
 is not an economically significant regulatory action based on 
health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, 
April 23, 1997);
 is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive 
Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
 is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent 
with the Clean Air Act; and
 does not provide the EPA with the discretionary authority to 
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under 
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

    In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian tribe 
has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 
Indian country, the rule does not have tribal implications and will not 
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal 
law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 
2000).
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. The EPA will submit a report containing this action and 
other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by May 31, 2016. Filing a 
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 
does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of 
judicial review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for 
judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness 
of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in 
proceedings to enforce its requirements (see section 307(b)(2)).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    Dated: February 4, 2016.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
    Part 52, Chapter I, Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is 
amended as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

0
1. The authority citation for Part 52 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart F--California

0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(344)(i)(C)(2), 
(c)(379)(i)(A)(6), (c)(461)(i)(C)(2) and (c)(461)(i)(D) to read as 
follows:

[[Page 17392]]

Sec.  52.220  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (344) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (C) * * *
    (2) Previously approved on May 30, 2007 in paragraph 
(c)(344)(i)(C)(1) of this section and now deleted with replacement in 
paragraph (c)(461)(i)(D)(1), Rule 4905, ``Natural-Gas-Fired Fan-Type 
Central Furnaces,'' adopted on October 20, 2005.
* * * * *
    (379) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (6) Previously approved on August 4, 2010 in paragraph 
(c)(379)(i)(A)(3) of this section and now deleted with replacement in 
paragraph (c)(461)(i)(C)(2), Rule 1111, ``Reduction of NOX 
Emissions from Natural-Gas-Fired Fan-Type Central Furnaces,'' amended 
on November 6, 2009.
* * * * *
    (461) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (C) * * *
    (2) Rule 1111, ``Reduction of NOX Emissions From 
Natural-Gas-Fired, Fan-Type Central Furnaces,'' amended September 5, 
2014.
    (D) San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District.
    (1) Rule 4905, ``Natural-Gas-Fired, Fan-Type Central Furnaces,'' 
amended January 22, 2015.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2016-06962 Filed 3-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P