Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California State Implementation Plan Revision, San Diego County Air Pollution Control District

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[CA83-1-6565a; FRL-5054-6]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California

State Implementation Plan Revision, San Diego County Air Pollution

Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action on revisions to the

California State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions concern rules

from the San Diego County Air Pollution Control District (SDCAPCD).

This approval action will remove these rules from the federally

approved SIP, as requested by the state. The removal of these rules

from the SIP acknowledges that these rules are no longer necessary for

achieving and maintaining the federal air quality standards because the

sources subject to these rules no longer exist in the SDCAPCD. The

rules that are being rescinded were originally approved into the SIP in

order to regulate emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in

accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act, as amended in

1990 (CAA or the Act). They were adopted to control VOC emissions from

the separation of oil-water mixtures. On the effective date of this

action, any sanction or Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) requirement

is permanently lifted.

EPA is finalizing the recision of these rules from the California

SIP under provisions of the CAA regarding EPA action on SIP submittals,

SIPs for national primary and secondary ambient air quality standards

and plan requirements for nonattainment areas.

DATES: This final rule action is effective on October 28, 1994, unless

adverse or critical comments are received by September 28, 1994. If the

effective date is delayed, a timely notice will be published in the

Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the rule revisions and EPA's evaluation report for

each rule are available for public inspection at EPA's Region IX office

during normal business hours. Copies of the submitted rule revisions

are available for inspection at the following locations:

Rulemaking Section (A-5-3), Air and Toxics Division, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA

94105;

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket 6102, 401 ``M''

Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460;

California Air Resources Board, Stationary Source Division, Rule

Evaluation Section, 2020 ``L'' Street, Sacramento, CA 92123-1095;

San Diego Air Pollution Control District, 9150 Chesapeake Drive, San

Diego, CA 92123-1096.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Erik H. Beck, Rulemaking Section (A-5-3), Air and Toxics Division, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San

Francisco, CA 94105-3901, Telephone: (415) 744-1190.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Applicability

The rules being rescinded from the California SIP include: SDCAPCD

Rule 61.9, ``Separation of Organic Compounds from Water'' and Rule 65,

``Volatile Organic Compound Water Separators''. This request to rescind

was submitted to EPA on May 24, 1994. Rule 61.9 was adopted by the

SDCAPCD on March 14, 1989, and was incorporated into the SIP on October

26, 1992 (57 FR 48457). Rule 65 was originally submitted to EPA as a

SIP revision on June 30, 1972 and was approved into the SIP on

September 22, 1972 (37 FR 19812). SIP revisions to this rule were

submitted to EPA on October 13, 1977 and were approved into the SIP on

August 31, 1978 (43 FR 38826).

Background

On March 3, 1978, EPA promulgated a list of ozone nonattainment

areas under the provisions of the Clean Air Act, as amended in 1977

(1977 Act or pre-amended Act), that included San Diego County. 43 FR

8964, 40 CFR 81.305. Because this area was unable to meet the statutory

attainment date of December 31, 1982, California requested under

section 172(a)(2), and EPA approved, an extension of the attainment

date to December 31, 1987. (40 CFR 52.222). On May 26, 1988, EPA

notified the Governor of California, pursuant to section 110(a)(2) of

the 1977 Act, that the above district's portion of the California SIP

was inadequate to attain and maintain the ozone standard and requested

that deficiencies in the existing SIP be corrected (EPA's SIP-Call). On

November 15, 1990, the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 were enacted.

Public Law 101-549, 104 Stat. 2399, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

In amended section 182(a)(2)(A) of the CAA, Congress statutorily

adopted the requirement that nonattainment areas fix their deficient

reasonably available control technology (RACT) rules for ozone and

established a deadline of May 15, 1991 for states to submit corrections

of those deficiencies.

Section 182(a)(2)(A) applies to areas designated as nonattainment

prior to enactment of the amendments and classified as marginal or

above as of the date of enactment. It requires such areas to adopt and

correct RACT rules pursuant to pre-amended section 172(b) as

interpreted in pre-amendment guidance.\1\ EPA's SIP-Call used that

guidance to indicate the necessary corrections for specific

nonattainment areas. San Diego County is classified as Severe;\2\

therefore, this area was subject to the RACT fix-up requirement and the

May 15, 1991 deadline.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\1\Among other things, the pre-amendment guidance consists of

those portions of the proposed post-1987 ozone and carbon monoxide

policy that concern RACT, 52 FR 45044 (November 24, 1987); ``Issues

Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and Deviations,

Clarification to Appendix D of November 24, 1987 Federal Register

Notice'' (Blue Book) (notice of availability was published in the

Federal Register on May 25, 1988); and the existing control

technique guidelines (CTGs).

\2\San Diego County retained its designation of nonattainment

and was classified by operation of law pursuant to sections 107(d)

and 181(a) upon the date of enactment of the CAA. See 55 FR 56694

(November 6, 1991).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

The State of California submitted many revised RACT rules for

incorporation into its SIP on May 24, 1994, as well as the request to

remove Rule 61.9 from the California SIP, which is being acted on in

this notice. This notice addresses EPA's direct-final action for

SDCAPCD Rule 61.9 and Rule 65.

The May 24, 1994 submittal to EPA from the State of California did

not include a request to remove Rule 65 from the SIP. This request was

made in the April 5, 1991 submittal to EPA which transmitted SDCAPCD

Rule 61.9 for inclusion into the California SIP. With the adoption of

Rule 61.9 by the SDCAPCD, Rule 65 was superseded by Rule 61.9. However,

when EPA incorporated Rule 61.9 into the California SIP on October 26,

1992 (57 FR 48457), EPA did not remove Rule 65 from the SIP. That

administrative oversight is being corrected with this notice, pursuant

to section 110(k)(6).

For purposes of its local regulations, SDCAPCD deleted Rule 65 on

March 14, 1989, and deleted Rule 61.9 on April 19, 1994. The SIP

submittals requesting deletion of these rules were found to be complete

on May 21, 1991 (Rule 65) and on July 14, 1994 (Rule 61.9) pursuant to

EPA's completeness criteria that are set forth in 40 CFR part 51,

distinguished appendix V.\3\

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\3\EPA adopted the completeness criteria on February 16, 1990

(55 FR 5830) and, pursuant to section 110(k)(1)(A) of the CAA,

revised the criteria on August 26, 1991 (56 FR 42216).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

These rules were originally adopted by the District to control VOC

emissions from devices that remove oils from contaminated water. VOCs

contribute to the production of ground level ozone and smog.

EPA Evaluation

EPA has evaluated the SDCAPCD's request to remove Rule 61.9 and

Rule 65 from the California SIP and has determined that this request is

consistent with the CAA, EPA regulations, and EPA policy because the

SDCAPCD has demonstrated that there are no sources within the

nonattainment area that would be subject to these requirements.\4\ EPA

has verified the absence of these sources by exhaustively searching

EPA's Aerometric Information Retrieval System (AIRS) database for the

existence of firms using wastewater separators, firms that had used

wastewater separators in the past, and for the existence of firms whose

industrial processes would suggest that they would use wastewater

separators. No firms meeting these criteria were found. Therefore,

SDCAPCD Rule 61.9 and 65 are being rescinded from the California SIP.

The final action on Rule 61.9 serves as a final determination that the

deficiency in this rule has been corrected. Therefore, if this direct

final action is not withdrawn, on October 28, 1994, any sanction or FIP

clock is stopped and any imposed sanctions would be permanently lifted.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

\4\Pursuant to section 193 of the CAA, EPA cannot approve the

deletion of a SIP requirement that was in effect prior to enactment

of the 1990 CAA Amendments unless EPA determines that the SIP

revision will provide for equivalent or greater reductions in

emissions. Because there have been no sources subject to this

regulation in the SDCAPCD since 1986, EPA believes that the deletion

of this regulation will not result in the increase of emissions of

VOCs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or

allowing or establishing a precedent for any future implementation

plan. Each request for revision to the state implementation plan shall

be considered separately in light of specific technical, economic, and

environmental factors and in relation to relevant statutory and

regulatory requirements.

EPA is publishing this document without prior proposal because the

Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no

adverse comments. However, in a separate document in this Federal

Register publication, the EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision

should adverse or critical comments be filed. This action will be

effective October 28, 1994, unless by September 28, 1994, adverse or

critical comments are received.

If the EPA receives such comments, this action will be withdrawn

before the effective date by publishing a subsequent notice that will

withdraw the final action. All public comments received will then be

addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this action, in

conjunction with the document in the proposed rules section of today's

Federal Register, serving as a proposed rule. The EPA will not

institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties

interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time. If

no such comments are received, the public is advised that this action

will be effective on October 28, 1994.

Regulatory Process

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA

must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of

any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.

Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a

significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small

entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises and

government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than

50,000.

The removal of these rules from the SIP does not create any new

requirements, because there are no longer any sources subject to these

rules in the District. Therefore, because the Federal SIP-approval does

not impose any new requirements, I certify that it does not have a

significant impact on any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the

nature of the Federal-state relationship under the CAA, preparation of

a regulatory flexibility analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into

the economic reasonableness of state action. The CAA forbids EPA to

base its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v.

United States E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (S. Ct. 1976); 42 U.S.C.

7410 (a)(2).

The Office of Management and Budget has exempted this regulatory

action from Executive Order 12866 review.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental Protection, Air pollution control, Hydrocarbons,

Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone,

Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

Note: Incorporation by reference of the State Implementation

Plan for the State of California was approved by the Director of the

Federal Register on July 1, 1982.

Date: August 10, 1994.

Felicia Marcus,

Regional Administrator.

Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is

amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

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

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.]

Subpart F--California

2. Section 52.220 is amended by revising paragraphs (c)(6) and

(c)(183)(i)(A)(2); and by adding paragraph (c)(41)(ii)(A)(1) to read as

follows:

Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(6) Revised regulations for all APCD's submitted on June 30, 1972,

by the Governor, except for:

(i) San Diego County Air Pollution Control District.

(A) Rule 65 is now removed without replacement as of March 14,

1989.

* * * * *

(41) * * *

(ii) * * *

(A) * * *

(1) Rule 65 is now removed without replacement as of March 14,

1989.

* * * * *

(183) * * *

(i) * * *

(A) * * *

(2) Rule 61.9, adopted on March 14, 1989, is now removed without

replacement as of April 19, 1994.

* * * * *

[FR Doc. 94-21170 Filed 8-26-94; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-M