Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Revised Visible Emissions Rules for Allegheny County Pertaining to Blast Furnace Slips

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[PA097-4030; FRL-5635-4]

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;

Pennsylvania; Revised Visible Emissions Rules for Allegheny County

Pertaining to Blast Furnace Slips

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Agency procedures for approving minor State

Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions, this action identifies a plan

revision submitted by Pennsylvania on behalf of Allegheny County which

EPA approved and incorporates the relevant material into the Code of

Federal Regulations. This revision deletes the exemption of blast

furnace slips from Allegheny County's visible emissions regulations.

This action lists the SIP revision that EPA has approved and

incorporates the relevant material into the code of Federal

Regulations. This action is being taken under section 110 of the Clean

Air Act.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This action is effective October 22, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Marcia L. Spink, Associate

Director, Air Programs, Mailcode 3AT00, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Region III, 841 Chestnut Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

19107. Copies of the documents relevant to this action are available

for public inspection during normal business hours at the Air,

Radiation, and Toxics Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Region III, 841 Chestnut Building, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107;

the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460; and the

Allegheny County Health Department, Bureau of Air Pollution Control,

301 39th Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15201.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold A. Frankford, (215) 566-2108 or

by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: EPA has approved the following minor SIP

request under section 110(a) of the Clean Air Act (CAA):

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State Pollutant Subject matter Source Submittal date Approval date

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Allegheny County................... PM10.................. Blast furnace slips USX Corporation; September 25, 1989... December 27, 1989.

(Article XX, Sections Shenango Steel

401.B.1 and 518). Corporation.

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EPA has determined that this SIP revision complies with all

applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act and EPA requirements

concerning such revisions. Due to the minor nature of this revision,

EPA concluded that conducting notice-and-comment rulemaking prior to

approving the revisions would have been ``unnecessary and contrary to

the public interest,'' and hence, was not required by the

Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. 553(b). Each of these SIP

approvals became final and effective on the date of EPA approval as

listed in the chart above.

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or

allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for

revision to any state 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.

Administrative Requirements

A. Executive Order 12866

This action has been classified as a Table 3 action for signature

by the Regional Administrator under the procedures published in the

Federal Register on January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225), as revised by a

July 10, 1995 memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator for

Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has

exempted this regulatory action from E.O. 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act

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.

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

Clean Air Act 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, the

Administrator certifies 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 flexibility

analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic

reasonableness of state action. The Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base

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

EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 255-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).

C. Unfunded Mandates

Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995

(``Unfunded Mandates Act''), signed into law on March 22, 1995, EPA

must prepare a budgetary impact statement to accompany any proposed or

final rule that includes a Federal mandate that may result in estimated

costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate; or to

private sector, of $100 million or more. Under Section 205, EPA must

select the most cost-effective and least burdensome alternative that

achieves the objectives of the rule and is consistent with statutory

requirements. Section 203 requires EPA to establish a plan for

informing and advising any small governments that may be significantly

or uniquely impacted by the rule.

EPA has determined that the approval action proposed/promulgated

does not include a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs

of $100 million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments

in the aggregate, or to the private sector. This Federal action

approves pre-existing requirements under State or local law, and

imposes no new Federal requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs

to State, local, or tribal governments, or to the private sector,

result from this action.

[[Page 54737]]

D. Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office

Under 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A) added by the Small Business Regulatory

Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, EPA submitted a report containing

this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S.

House of Representatives and the Comptroller General of the General

Accounting Office prior to publication of the rule in today's Federal

Register. This rule is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C.

804(2).

E. Petitions for Judicial Review

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for

judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court

of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by December 23, 1996. Filing a

petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule

pertaining to EPA's approval of Allegheny County's provisions for blast

furnace slips does not affect the finality of this rule 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, Particulate matter, Reporting

and recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: October 2, 1996.

Stanley L. Laskowski,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.

40 CFR part 52 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 NN--Pennsylvania

2. Section 52.2020 is amended by adding paragraph (c)(100) to read

as follows:

Sec. 52.2020 Identification of plan.

* * * * *

(c) * * *

(100) Revisions to Article XX (Air Pollution Control) of the

Allegheny County Health Department Rules and Regulations submitted on

September 25, 1989 by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental

Resources:

(i) Incorporation by Reference

(A) Letter of September 25, 1989 from the Pennsylvania Department

of Environmental Resources transmitting revisions to Article XX (Air

Pollution Control) of the Allegheny County Health Department Rules and

Regulations governing visible emissions.

(B) Revision to Article XX, Section 401.B (Visible Emissions-

Exclusion) and deletion of Article XX, Section 518 (Blast Furnace

Slips), effective July 1, 1989.

(ii) Additional Material

(A) Remainder of September 25, 1989 State submittal pertaining to

Article XX, Sections 401 and 518.

[FR Doc. 96-27001 Filed 10-21-96; 8:45 am]

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