Outer Continental Shelf Air Regulations; Consistency Update for North Carolina
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 wit...
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
( printed page 86095)
mandated by section 328(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The portion of the OCS air regulations that is being updated pertains to the requirements for OCS sources for which North Carolina is the designated COA. North Carolina's 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.
DATES:
Written comments must be received on or before January 11, 2024.
ADDRESSES:
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-2023-0535 at
https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be confidential business information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (
i.e.,
on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit
https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kathleen Weil, Air Permits Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is (404) 562-9170. Ms. Weil can also be reached via electronic mail at
weil.kathleen@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On September 4, 1992, EPA promulgated 40 CFR part 55, which established requirements to control air pollution from OCS sources in order to attain and maintain Federal and State ambient air quality standards and to comply with the provisions of part C of title I of the CAA. The regulations at 40 CFR part 55 apply to all OCS sources except those located in the Gulf of Mexico west of 87.5 degrees longitude.
See40 CFR 55.3(a). Section 328 of the CAA requires that for such sources located within 25 miles of a State's seaward boundary, the requirements shall be the same as would be applicable if the sources were located in the COA. Because the OCS requirements are based on onshore requirements, and onshore requirements may change, section 328(a)(1) requires that EPA update the OCS requirements as necessary to maintain consistency with onshore requirements.
Pursuant to 40 CFR 55.12, consistency reviews will occur: (1) At least annually where an OCS activity is occurring within 25 miles of a State seaward boundary; (2) upon receipt of a Notice of Intent (NOI) under 40 CFR 55.4; or (3) when a State or local agency submits a rule to EPA to be considered for incorporation by reference in 40 CFR part 55. This proposed action is being taken in preparation for a potential upcoming OCS project due to receipt of an NOI. Public comments received in writing within 30 days of publication of this document will be considered by EPA before publishing a final rule.
Section 328(a) of the CAA requires that EPA establish requirements to control air pollution from OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries that are the same as onshore requirements. To comply with this statutory mandate, EPA must incorporate applicable onshore rules into 40 CFR part 55 as they exist onshore. This limits EPA's flexibility in deciding which requirements will be incorporated into 40 CFR part 55 and prevents EPA from making substantive changes to the requirements it incorporates. As a result, EPA may be incorporating rules into 40 CFR part 55 that do not conform to all of EPA's State Implementation Plan (SIP) guidance or certain requirements of the CAA. Consistency updates may result in the inclusion of State or local rules or regulations into 40 CFR part 55, even though the same rules may ultimately be disapproved for inclusion as part of the SIP. Inclusion in the OCS rule does not imply that a rule meets the requirements of the CAA for SIP approval, nor does it imply that the rule will be approved by EPA for inclusion in the SIP.
II. EPA Analysis
EPA reviewed North Carolina's rules for inclusion in 40 CFR part 55 to ensure that they are rationally related to the attainment or maintenance of Federal or State ambient air quality standards and compliance with part C of title I of the CAA, that they are not designed expressly to prevent exploration and development of the OCS, and that they are potentially applicable to OCS sources.
See40 CFR 55.1. EPA has also evaluated the rules to ensure they are not arbitrary or capricious.
See40 CFR 55.12(e). In addition, EPA has excluded administrative or procedural rules, and requirements that regulate toxics which are not related to the attainment and maintenance of Federal and State ambient air quality standards.[1]
III. Proposed Action
EPA last did a consistency update for North Carolina on March 3, 2009 (74 FR 9166). In that action, EPA incorporated by reference into 40 CFR part 55 all North Carolina regulations that EPA believed were relevant to the OCS requirements. For this proposed action, EPA has reviewed changes that North Carolina has made to its underlying regulatory programs since the last consistency update. This proposed action will have no effect on any provisions that were not subject to changes by North Carolina and were also previously incorporated by reference into Part 55 through EPA's March 3, 2009, rulemaking. The rules that EPA proposes to incorporate are applicable provisions of the North Carolina Administrative Code (NCAC) and are listed in detail at the end of this Notice. The intended effect of proposing approval of the OCS requirements for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ) is to regulate emissions from OCS sources in accordance with the requirements for onshore sources. EPA is soliciting public comments on the issues discussed in this document. These comments will be considered before taking final action.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
In this document, EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance with the requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, and as discussed in Sections II and III of this preamble, EPA is proposing to incorporate by reference the North Carolina rules set forth below. EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials available through
www.regulations.gov
and at the EPA Region 4 Office (please contact the person identified in the
FOR FURTHER
( printed page 86096)
INFORMATION CONTACT
section of this preamble for more information).
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to establish requirements to control air pollution from OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries that are the same as onshore air pollution control requirements. To comply with this statutory mandate, the EPA must incorporate applicable onshore rules into 40 CFR part 55 as they exist onshore.
See42 U.S.C. 7627(a)(1); 40 CFR 55.12. Thus, in promulgating OCS consistency updates, EPA's role is to maintain consistency between OCS regulations and the regulations of onshore areas, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this proposed action simply proposes to update the existing OCS requirements that have been revised since the last consistency review to make them consistent with requirements onshore, without the exercise of any policy direction by EPA. For that reason, this proposed 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 14094 (88 FR 21879, April 11, 2023);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501et 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. 601et 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);
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 CAA.
Additionally, Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994) directs Federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their mission by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs, policies, and activities on minority populations (people of color and/or Indigenous peoples) and low-income populations.
EPA believes that this specific proposed action does not concern human health or environmental conditions and therefore cannot be evaluated with respect to potentially disproportionate and adverse effects on people of color, low-income populations and/or Indigenous peoples. This proposed action simply fulfills EPA's statutory mandate to ensure regulatory consistency between the COA and inner OCS consistent with the Stated objectives of CAA section 328(a)(1). Specifically, section 328(a)(1) requires EPA to establish requirements to control air pollution from OCS sources “to attain and maintain Federal and State ambient air quality standards and to comply with the provisions of part C of [title I of the CAA]” and, for inner OCS sources (located within 25 miles of the seaward boundary of such States), to establish requirements that are “the same as would be applicable if the source were located in the COA.” This section of the Act also States that “the Administrator shall update such requirements as necessary to maintain consistency with onshore regulations and this chapter.” As noted in the preamble, compliance with this requirement limits EPA's discretion in deciding what will be incorporated into 40 CFR part 55.
The State regulations relevant to the OCS that are proposed for incorporation into the CFR went through North Carolina's public rulemaking process, including public notice and comment. This proposed action seeks to incorporate into the CFR those State regulations, which are already effective onshore, to ensure regulatory consistency with the COA as mandated by CAA section 328(a)(1). This is a routine and ministerial consistency update that does not directly affect any human health or environmental conditions. In addition, EPA is providing for meaningful public involvement on this rule through the notice and comment process.
This proposed rule to incorporate by reference sections of the NCAC into the CFR does not apply on any Indian reservation land as defined in 18 U.S.C. 1151 or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, this rule incorporating by reference sections of the NCAC 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).
This proposed action does not impose any new information collection burden under the PRA. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has previously approved the information collection activities contained in the existing regulations at 40 CFR part 55 and, by extension, this update to Part 55, and has assigned OMB control number 2060-0249. This proposed action does not impose a new information burden under PRA because this proposed action only proposes to update the State rules that are incorporated by reference into 40 CFR part 55, Appendix A.[2]
Requirements that apply to OCS sources located within 25 miles of States' seaward boundaries, by State.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
(17) * * *
(i) * * *
( printed page 86097)
(A) State of North Carolina Air Pollution Control Requirements Applicable to OCS Sources, November 8, 2023
* * * * *
3. Appendix A to part 55 is amended by revising paragraph (a)(1) under the heading “North Carolina” to read as follows:
Appendix A to Part 55—Listing of State and Local Requirements Incorporated by Reference Into Part 55, by State
* * * * *
North Carolina:
(a) * * *
(1) The following State of North Carolina requirements are applicable to OCS sources, November 8, 2023, State of North Carolina—Department of Environmental Quality.
The following sections of subchapter 02D and 02Q:
15A NCAC Subchapter 02D—Air Pollution Control Requirements
Section .0100—Definitions and References
02D. 0101 Definitions (Effective 01/01/2018)
02D. 0103 Copies of Referenced Federal Regulations (Effective 09/01/2023)
02D. 0104 Incorporation by reference (Effective 01/01/2018)
02D. 0105 Mailing List (Effective 01/01/2018)
Section .0200—Air Pollution Sources
02D. 0201 Classification of air pollution sources (Effective 01/01/2018)
02D. 0202 Registration of air pollution sources (Effective 01/01/2018)
1.
Each COA which has been delegated the authority to implement and enforce 40 CFR part 55 will use its administrative and procedural rules as onshore. However, in those instances where EPA has not delegated authority to implement and enforce 40 CFR part 55, EPA will use its own administrative and procedural requirements to implement the substantive requirements.
See 40 CFR 55.14(c)(4).
Use this for formal legal and research references to the published document.
88 FR 86094
Web Citation
Suggested Web Citation
Use this when citing the archival web version of the document.
“Outer Continental Shelf Air Regulations; Consistency Update for North Carolina,” thefederalregister.org (December 12, 2023), https://thefederalregister.org/documents/2023-27091/outer-continental-shelf-air-regulations-consistency-update-for-north-carolina.