Air Plan Approval; Missouri; Ameren Sioux Sulfur Dioxide Consent Agreement

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the State of Missouri. This final action will amend the SIP to incorporate an additional sulfur dioxide (SO₂) emissions limit for the Ameren Missouri (Ameren)—Sioux Energy Center (Sioux). Specifically, the EPA is approving into the SIP an additional SO₂ emissions limit and associated operating restrictions, monitoring, recordkeeping, and reporting (referred to as “MRR”), and testing compliance requirements established in a consent agreement as permanent and enforceable SO₂ control measures.

DATES:

This final rule is effective on December 16, 2022.

ADDRESSES:

The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2022-0722. All documents in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. 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 through www.regulations.gov or please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section for additional information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jason Heitman, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 Office, Air Quality Planning Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219; telephone number: (913) 551-7664; email address: heitman.jason@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Throughout this document “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to EPA.

Table of Contents

I. What is being addressed in this document?

II. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?

III. What action is the EPA taking?

IV. Environmental Justice Concerns

V. Incorporation by Reference

VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What is being addressed in this document?

The EPA is taking final action to approve source-specific revisions to the Missouri SIP. On September 1, 2022, the EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) which proposed to approve the SIP revisions as submitted by Missouri on April 21, 2022 (87 FR 53703). The revisions include a specific SO₂ emissions limit and associated operating restrictions, MRR, and testing compliance requirements for the Ameren Sioux Facility as contained in Consent Agreement number APCP-2021-018. A copy of the Consent Agreement is included in the docket for this rulemaking. More detail on the EPA's analysis of the revisions can be found in the NPRM included in this docket.

II. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?

The State's submission has met the public notice requirements for SIP submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submission also satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. The State provided public notice on this SIP revision from December 27, 2021, to February 3, 2022, and received one comment. In addition, as explained above, the revision meets the substantive SIP requirements of the Clean Air Act, including section 110 and implementing regulations.

III. What action is the EPA taking?

On September 1, 2022, the EPA published a NPRM proposing to approve Missouri's April 21, 2022, SIP revision submittal (87 FR 53703). The EPA sought public comment on the NPRM and received no comments. Therefore, the EPA is taking final action to amend the Missouri SIP to include source-specific revisions pertaining to the Ameren Sioux Facility as contained in Consent Agreement number APCP-2021-018. Approval of these revisions will ensure consistency between State and federally approved rules. As described in the NPRM, the EPA has determined that these changes meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act and will not adversely impact air quality or the stringency of the SIP.

IV. Environmental Justice Concerns

When the EPA establishes a new or revised NAAQS, the CAA requires the EPA to designate all areas of the U.S. as either nonattainment, attainment, or unclassifiable. Area designations address environmental justice concerns by ensuring that the public is properly informed about the air quality in an area. In this action, the EPA is approving an additional emissions limit for a source into the Missouri SIP.

The EPA utilized the EJSCREEN tool to evaluate environmental and demographic indicators within the area. The tool outputs report is contained in the docket for this action. While the EPA's EJSCREEN tool demonstrates that demographic indicators are consistent or lower than national averages, there are vulnerable populations in the area including low-income populations and persons over 64 years of age.

Based on the information presented in this document, this proposed action does not result in disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations, low-income populations and/or indigenous peoples.

V. Incorporation by Reference

In this document, 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 Missouri Consent Agreement discussed in Section I of this preamble and as set forth below in the amendments to 40 CFR part 52. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials generally available through www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region 7 Office (please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this preamble for more information).

Therefore, these materials have been approved by the EPA for inclusion in the State Implementation Plan, have been incorporated by reference by the EPA into that plan, are fully federally enforceable under sections 110 and 113 of the CAA as of the effective date of the final rulemaking of the EPA's approval, and will be incorporated by reference in the next update to the SIP compilation.

VI. 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, EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. 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 (Public Law 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 the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTA) because this rulemaking does not involve technical standards; and
• Does not provide 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).
• This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act, and the EPA will submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. This action is not a “major rule” as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
• Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by January 17, 2023. 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
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements
• Sulfur oxides

For the reasons stated in the preamble, the EPA amends 40 CFR part 52 as set forth below:

PART 52—APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

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

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

Subpart AA—Missouri

2. In § 52.1320, the table in paragraph (d) is amended by adding an entry for “(37)” in numerical order to read as follows: