Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Louisiana Stage II Program

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[LA-9-1-5734; FRL-4840-4]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Louisiana

Stage II Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is taking action to approve the Louisiana Stage II

State Implementation Plan (SIP), which includes a SIP Supplement dated

November 15, 1992, and State regulations (title 33, chapter 21. Control

of Emission of Organic Compounds, section 2132. Stage II Vapor Recovery

Systems for Control of Vehicle Refueling Emissions at Gasoline

Dispensing Facilities, and section 6523. Fee Schedule Listing), as a

revision to the Louisiana SIP for ozone. On November 10, 1992,

Louisiana submitted a SIP revision request to the EPA to satisfy the

requirement of section 182(b)(3) of the Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA)

of 1990. This SIP revision requires owners and operators of gasoline

dispensing facilities to install and operate Stage II vapor recovery

equipment in the Louisiana ozone nonattainment areas classified as

moderate or worse. This revision applies to the Louisiana parishes of

Ascension, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston,

and Pointe Coupee.

DATES: This final rule will be effective May 24, 1994, unless notice is

received by April 25, 1994, that adverse or critical comments will be

submitted. If the effective date is delayed, timely notice will be

published in the Federal Register (FR).

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to James F. Davis at USEPA, Region 6

(6T-AP), 1445 Ross Avenue, suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733. The

State submittal and the technical support document (TSD) are available

for public review at the above address and at the Louisiana Department

of Environmental Quality, H.B. Garlock Building, 7290 Bluebonnet, Baton

Rouge, Louisiana 70810. Interested persons wanting to examine these

documents should make an appointment with the appropriate office at

least 24 hours before the visiting day.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: James F. Davis at (214) 655-7584. A

copy of today's revision to the Louisiana SIP is also available for

inspection at: Air Docket 6102, US Environmental Protection Agency, 401

M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under section 182(b)(3) of the CAAA, the EPA

was required to issue guidance as to the effectiveness of Stage II

systems. The EPA issued technical guidance in November 1991 and

enforcement guidance in December 1991 to meet this requirement.1

In addition, on April 16, 1992, the EPA published the ``General

Preamble for the Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act

Amendments of 1990'' (General Preamble) (57 FR 13498). The guidance

documents and the General Preamble interpret the Stage II statutory

requirement and indicate what the EPA believes a State submittal needs

to include to meet that requirement.

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\1\These two documents are entitled ``Technical Guidance--Stage

II Vapor Recovery Systems for Control of Vehicle Refueling Emissions

at Gasoline Dispensing Facilities'' (EPA-450/3-91-022) and

``Enforcement Guidance for Stage II Vehicle Refueling Control

Programs.''

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The EPA has designated the Baton Rouge and Lake Charles areas as

ozone nonattainment in the State of Louisiana. The Baton Rouge

nonattainment area is classified as serious and contains the following

six parishes: Ascension, East Baton Rouge, West Baton Rouge, Iberville,

Livingston, and Pointe Coupee. The Lake Charles ozone nonattainment

area is classified as marginal and therefore is not required to

implement a Stage II program. The designations for ozone were published

in the FR on November 6, 1991, and November 30, 1992, and have been

codified in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). See 56 FR 56694

(November 6, 1991) and 57 FR 56762 (November 30, 1992), codified at 40

CFR 81.300 through 81.437. Under section 182(b)(3) of the CAAA,

Louisiana was required to submit Stage II vapor recovery rules for the

Baton Rouge nonattainment area by November 15, 1992. On November 10,

1992, Governor Edwin W. Edwards submitted to the EPA, Stage II vapor

recovery rules and a SIP Supplement dated November 15, 1992, which were

adopted by the State on November 10, 1992, and were published in the

Louisiana Register on November 20, 1992. By today's action, the EPA is

approving this submittal. The EPA has reviewed the State submittal

against the statutory requirements and for consistency with EPA

guidance. A summary of the EPA's analysis is provided below. In

addition, a more detailed analysis of the State submittal is contained

in a TSD, dated September 24, 1993, which is available from the EPA

Region 6 Office, listed above.

Applicability

Under section 182(b)(3) of the CAAA, States were required by

November 15, 1992, to adopt regulations requiring owners or operators

of gasoline dispensing systems to install and operate vapor recovery

equipment at their facilities. The CAAA specifies that these State

rules must apply to any facility that dispenses more than 10,000

gallons of gasoline per month or, in the case of an independent small

business marketer, any facility that dispenses more than 50,000 gallons

of gasoline per month. Section 324 of the CAAA defines an independent

small business marketer, which is fully set forth in the TSD. The State

has adopted the statutory definition of independent small business

marketer in its regulations.

The State has adopted a general applicability requirement of 10,000

gallons per month. The State has also chosen to exempt independent

small business marketers dispensing under 50,000 gallons per month.

As more fully discussed in the EPA's Enforcement Guidance and the

General Preamble (57 FR 13514), the State has provided that the gallons

of gasoline dispensed per month will be based on the average gasoline

throughput for the most recent two year period without facility

shutdown, and calculated monthly. If two year data is not available,

the calculation is based on the monthly average for the most recent 12

calendar months (including only those months for which the facility was

operating). The EPA finds the applicability requirements in the

Louisiana Stage II rule to be acceptable.

Implementation of Stage II

The CAAA specifies the time by which certain facilities must comply

with the State regulation. For facilities that are not owned or

operated by an independent small business marketer, these times,

calculated from the time of State adoption of the regulation, are: (1)

Six months for facilities for which construction began after November

15, 1990; (2) one year for facilities that dispense at least 100,000

gallons of gasoline per month; and (3) two years for all other

facilities. The Louisiana Stage II rule time schedule sets a compliance

schedule of six months after State rule promulgation, one year after

State rule promulgation, and two years after State rule promulgation,

respectively for the above three deadlines. For independent small

business marketers, section 324(a) of the CAAA provides that the time

periods may be: (1) 33 percent of the facilities owned by an

independent small business marketer by the end of the first year after

the regulations take effect; (2) 66 percent of such facilities by the

end of the second year; and (3) 100 percent of such facilities after

the third year. Although Louisiana promulgated its Stage II regulations

on November 20, 1992, five days after the SIP was required to be

submitted, the EPA believes it is appropriate to accept the State's

compliance schedule.

The EPA is approving the submitted time table for the following

reasons. First, the CAAA states that the adoption date must be used to

calculate the compliance schedule for Stage II implementation at

facilities. In this case, the EPA accepts Louisiana's approach of

triggering compliance dates from the date when the regulations were

promulgated. The compliance deadlines triggered by this date begin only

five days after the time schedule specified by the CAAA. The EPA

considers an additional five days to be of minimal impact and will have

no adverse impact on the integrity of the program. Also, the timetable

initiation date established by the State on November 20, 1992, began

shortly after adoption of the regulations. Secondly, remedying this

deficiency by amending the compliance schedule would cause further

delay in the implementation of Stage II in Louisiana, in that a State

revision to the Stage II rule could establish a new and later adoption

date and hence later compliance deadlines. Lastly, the Louisiana rule

otherwise fulfills the Stage II requirements, and the EPA believes it

will provide substantial air quality benefits to the regulated area.

Therefore, the EPA believes it is in the public interest to approve and

make enforceable this requirement at the earliest time feasible.

Additional Program Requirements

The State requires that Stage II systems be tested and certified to

meet a 95 percent emission reduction efficiency. The EPA has indicated

three acceptable methods of demonstrating a 95 percent emission

reduction efficiency: (1) A method tested and approved by the

California Air Resources Board (CARB); (2) a testing program that is

equivalent to the CARB program, that will be conducted by the Program

Oversight Agency (POA), or by a third party recognized by the POA, and

submitted and approved by the EPA for incorporation into the SIP; or

(3) a system approved by the CARB. The State has chosen to use a system

approved by the CARB, or an equivalent certification authority approved

by the administrative authority*. The State regulations define the

administrative authority* to include both the State Department of

Environmental Quality and the EPA. Thus, equivalent system

certification authorities would have to be formally approved by the EPA

and could be incorporated into the SIP.

The State requires sources to verify proper installation and

function of Stage II equipment through use of a liquid blockage test

and a leak test prior to system operation and every five years or upon

major modification of a facility's Stage II equipment (i.e., 75 percent

or more Stage II equipment change).

With respect to recordkeeping, the State has adopted those items

recommended in the EPA's guidance and specifies that sources subject to

Stage II must make the following documents available upon request: (1)

Application approval records and station operating license; (2) system

installation and testing results; (3) equipment maintenance and

compliance records; (4) training certification files; and (5)

inspection records. In addition, the State has committed in its SIP

supplement to maintain general station and enforcement files, including

information such as facility name, address, phone number, owner/

operator names, a State assigned reference number, date of initial

compliance with the regulations, number of pumps, monthly gasoline

throughput, and State enforcement actions. The State has also

established an inspection function consistent with that described in

the EPA's guidance. The State commits to conducting inspections of

facilities including a visual inspection of the Stage II equipment and

of the required records and a functional test of the Stage II

equipment. According to the Supplement, the State shall inspect each

facility at least one time per year. Finally, the State has established

procedures for enforcing violations of the Stage II requirements. Civil

penalties may be assessed of up to $25,000 per day per violation. The

EPA finds the State's program for implementation and enforcement of the

Stage II program to be consistent with the EPA guidelines.

Rulemaking Action

Since the EPA finds that the State has adopted a Stage II SIP in

accordance with section 182(b)(3) of the CAAA, as interpreted in the

EPA's guidance, the EPA is giving notice of its intent to approve the

submittal as a direct final action meeting the requirements of section

182(b)(3).

The EPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because

the EPA views this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipates no

adverse comments. This action will become effective May 24, 1994,

unless by April 25, 1994 notice is received that adverse or critical

comments will be submitted. If such notice is received, this action

will be withdrawn before the effective date by publishing two

subsequent documents. One document will withdraw the final action, and

another will begin a new rulemaking by announcing a proposal of the

action and establishing a comment period. If no such comments are

received, the public is advised that this action will be effective May

24, 1994.

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or

allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for

revision to any SIP. Each request for revision to a SIP shall be

considered in light of specific technical, economical, and

environmental factors and in relation to relevant statutory and

regulatory requirements.

Regulatory Process

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

SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the

CAAA do not create any new requirements, but simply approve

requirements that the State is already imposing. 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 CAAA, preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis would

constitute Federal inquiry into the economic reasonableness of State

action. The CAAA forbids the EPA to base its actions concerning SIPs on

such grounds (Union Electric Co. v. U.S. E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66

(S.Ct. 1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2)).

This action has been classified as a table two action by the

Regional Administrator under the procedures published in the FR on

January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225). On January 6, 1989, the Office of

Management and Budget (OMB) waived table two and table three SIP

revisions from the requirements of section three of Executive Order

12291 for a period of two years (54 FR 2222). The EPA has submitted a

request for a permanent waiver for table two and table three SIP

revisions. The OMB has agreed to continue the waiver until such time as

it rules on the EPA's request. This request is still applicable under

Executive Order 12866.

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 SIP for the State of

Louisiana was approved by the Director of the Federal Register on

July 1, 1982.

Dated: February 4, 1994.

Jane N. Saginaw,

Regional Administrator.

40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

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

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

Subpart T--Louisiana

2. Sec. 52.970 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(61) to read as

follows:

Sec. 52.970 Identification of plan.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(61) A revision to the Louisiana SIP to include revisions to LAC,

Title 33, ``Environmental Quality,'' Part III. Air, Chapter 21, Control

of Emission of Organic Compounds, Section 2132--Stage II Vapor Recovery

Systems for Control of Vehicle Refuelling Emissions at Gasoline

Dispensing Facilities effective November 20, 1992, and submitted by the

Governor by cover letter dated November 10, 1992.

(i) Incorporation by reference.

(A) Revisions to LAC, Title 33, ``Environmental Quality,'' Part

III. Air, Chapter 21, Control of Emission of Organic Compounds, Section

2132--Stage II Vapor Recovery Systems for Control of Vehicle Refuelling

Emissions at Gasoline Dispensing Facilities, effective November 20,

1992; and Chapter 65, Section 6523--Fee Schedule Listing, effective

November 20, 1992.

(ii) Additional materials.

(A) November 15, 1993, narrative plan addressing: legal authority,

control strategy, compliance schedules, air quality surveillance,

public notice, determination of regulated universe, Louisiana

Department of Environmental Quality recordkeeping, facility

recordkeeping, annual in-use above ground inspections, program

penalties, training, and benefits.

[FR Doc. 94-7056 Filed 3-24-94; 8:45 am]

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