Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Allegheny County's Adoption of Control Techniques Guidelines for Four Industry Categories for Control of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to convert the conditional approval of revisions to the Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD) to a full approval. The SIP revision included amendments to the ACHD Rules and Regulations, Article XXI, Air Pollution Control, and meets the requirement to adopt Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for sources covered by EPA's Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) standards for the following categories: Miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. Upon review of the submittal, EPA found that the average monomer volatile organic compound (VOC) content limits were referenced but not included in the regulation for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. ACHD has revised the regulation and submitted the table of VOC content limits for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials to EPA in order to address specific RACT requirements for Allegheny County. EPA is, therefore, proposing to convert the conditional approval to a full approval of the revisions to the Pennsylvania SIP in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before December 10, 2015.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2014-0475 by one of the following methods:

A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

B. Email: fernandez.cristina@epa.gov.

C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2014-0475, 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-2014-0475. 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 in www.regulations.gov or may be viewed 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 Allegheny County Health Department, Bureau of Environmental Quality, Division of Air Quality, 301 39th Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15201 and at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air Quality Control, P.O. Box 8468, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17105.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Irene Shandruk, (215) 814-2166, or by email at shandruk.irene@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Section 172(c)(1) of the CAA provides that SIPs for nonattainment areas must include reasonably available control measures (RACM), including RACT, for sources of emissions. Section 182(b)(2)(A) provides that for certain nonattainment areas, states must revise their SIP to include RACT for sources of VOC emissions covered by a CTG document issued after November 15, 1990 and prior to the area's date of attainment. EPA defines RACT as “the lowest emission limitation that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of control technology that is reasonably available considering technological and economic feasibility.” 44 FR 53761 (September 17, 1979).

CTGs are documents issued by EPA intended to provide state and local air pollution control authorities information to assist them in determining RACT for VOC from various sources. Section 183(e)(3)(c) provides that EPA may issue a CTG in lieu of a national regulation as RACT for a product category where EPA determines that the CTG will be substantially as effective as regulations in reducing emissions of VOC in ozone nonattainment areas. The recommendations in the CTG are based upon available data and information and may not apply to a particular situation based upon the circumstances. States can follow the CTG and adopt state regulations to implement the recommendations contained therein, or they can adopt alternative approaches. In either case, states must submit their RACT rules to EPA for review and approval as part of the SIP process.

In 1977 and 1978, EPA published CTGs for miscellaneous metal and plastic parts surface coatings, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. After reviewing the 1977/1978 CTGs for these industries, conducting a review of currently existing state and local VOC emission reduction approaches for these industries, and taking into account any information that has become available since then, EPA developed new CTGs entitled Control Techniques Guidelines for Miscellaneous Metal and Plastic Parts Coatings (Publication No. EPA 453/R-08-003; September 2008); Control Techniques Guidelines for Automobile and Light-duty Assembly Coatings (Publication No. EPA 453/R-08-006; September 2008); Control Techniques Guidelines for Miscellaneous Industrial Adhesives (Publication No. EPA 453/R-08-005; September 2008); Control Techniques Guidelines for Fiberglass Boat Manufacturing Materials (Publication No. EPA 453/R-08-004; September 2008).

II. Summary of SIP Revision

On November 15, 2013, Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) submitted to EPA on behalf of ACHD a SIP revision concerning the adoption of the EPA CTGs for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials in Allegheny County. Allegheny County is adopting EPA's CTG standards for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. These regulations, with a state effective date of June 8, 2013, are contained in the ACHD Rules and Regulations, Article XXI, Air Pollution Control sections 2105.83 (Control of VOC Emissions from Miscellaneous Metal and/or Plastic Parts Surface Coating Processes), 2105.84 (Control of VOC Emissions from Automobile and Light-Duty Truck Assembly Coatings), 2105.85 (Control of VOC Emissions from Miscellaneous Industrial Adhesives), and 2105.86 (Control of VOC Emissions from Fiberglass Boat Manufacturing Materials) in order to establish: (1) Applicability for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials; (2) exemptions; (3) record-keeping and work practice requirements; and (4) emission limitations. Upon review of the November 15, 2013 submittal, EPA found that a table of average monomer VOC content limit for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials was referenced; however, the table was erroneously not included in the regulation. Pursuant to section 110(k)(4) of the CAA, PADEP submitted on behalf of ACHD a letter dated July 16, 2014 committing to submit a SIP revision to EPA addressing this error in order to satisfy the RACT requirements under the 8-hour ozone standard for Allegheny County.

On November 26, 2014 (79 FR 70470), EPA conditionally approved the SIP revisions concerning the adoption of these CTGs. On September 9, 2015, PADEP submitted to EPA on behalf of ACHD a supplemental SIP revision containing the missing table of VOC content limits, and thereby addressing the erroneous deficiency in the regulation for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials.

III. Proposed Action

EPA is proposing to convert from conditional approval to full approval the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania SIP revision submitted on November 15, 2013, as supplemented with the September 9, 2015 SIP submittal, which consists of amendments to the ACHD Rules and Regulations, Article XXI, Air Pollution Control for adopting RACT for sources covered by EPA's CTG standards for the following categories: Miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. Pursuant to section 110(k)(4) of the CAA, the conditional approval was based upon a letter from PADEP on behalf of ACHD dated July 16, 2014 committing to submit to EPA, no later than twelve months from EPA's final conditional approval of ACHD's adoption of CTGs for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials, an additional SIP revision to address the missing table of average monomer VOC content in the current regulation for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. On September 9, 2015, PADEP on behalf of ACHD submitted a supplemental SIP revision containing the table of monomer VOC content limits for fiberglass boat manufacturing materials. EPA has determined that ACHD has satisfied this condition, and therefore, EPA is proposing to remove the conditional nature of its approval and replace it with a full approval of Allegheny County's adoption of CTGs for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials will. 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 rulemaking, the EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by reference the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania rules regarding controls of VOC emissions discussed in Section III of this preamble. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, these documents generally available electronically through www.regulations.gov and/or may be viewed at the EPA Region III office (see the ADDRESSES section of this preamble for more information).

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA 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 proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed action:

• Is not a “significant regulatory action” subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
• 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 CAA; 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, this proposed rule, pertaining to ACHD's adoption of CTG standards for miscellaneous metal and/or plastic parts surface coating processes, automobile and light-duty truck assembly coatings, miscellaneous industrial adhesives, and fiberglass boat manufacturing materials, does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

• Environmental protection
• Air pollution control
• Incorporation by reference
• Intergovernmental relations
• Ozone
• Volatile organic compounds

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