Interstate Transport of Fine Particulate Matter: Revision of Federal Implementation Plan Requirements for Texas

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to withdraw the federal implementation plan (FIP) provisions that require affected electricity generating units (EGUs) in Texas to participate in Phase 2 of the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) trading programs for annual emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and nitrogen oxides (NOX). Withdrawal of the FIP requirements is intended to address a decision of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Circuit) remanding the CSAPR Phase 2 SO2 budget for Texas to the EPA for reconsideration. The EPA is also proposing to determine that, following withdrawal of the FIP requirements, sources in Texas will not contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other state with regard to the 1997 national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter (PM2.5), and that the EPA therefore will have no obligation to issue new FIP requirements for Texas sources to address transported PM2.5 pollution under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(I) with regard to that NAAQS. Finally, the proposal includes a sensitivity analysis showing that the set of actions the EPA has taken or expects to take in response to the D.C. Circuit's decision, including the removal of Texas EGUs from the two CSAPR trading programs as well as the recent removal of Florida EGUs from Phase 2 of the CSAPR trading programs for ozone- season NOX emissions, would not adversely impact the analytic demonstration for the Agency's 2012 determination that CSAPR participation meets the Regional Haze Rule's criteria to qualify as an alternative to the application of best available retrofit technology (BART). No changes to the Regional Haze Rule are proposed as part of this rulemaking.