Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources and Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources: Large Municipal Waste Combustion Units

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 60

[AD-FRL-5880-3]

RIN 2016-AD04

Emission Guidelines for Existing Sources and Standards of

Performance for New Stationary Sources: Large Municipal Waste

Combustion Units

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: On December 19, 1995, pursuant to sections 111 and 129 of the

Clean Air Act, EPA promulgated emission guidelines applicable to

existing municipal waste combustor (MWC) units and new source

performance standards applicable to new MWC units. The guidelines and

standards are codified at 40 CFR Part 60, subparts Cb and Eb,

respectively. See 60 FR 65387. On April 8, 1997, the United States

Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit vacated subparts

Cb and Eb as they apply to MWC units with the capacity to combust less

than or equal to 250 tons per day of municipal solid waste (MSW), and

all cement kilns combusting MSW, consistent with their opinion in Davis

County Solid Waste Management and Recovery District v. EPA, 101 F.3d

1395 (D.C. Cir. 1996), as amended, 108 F.3d 1454 (D.C. Cir. 1997). As a

result, subparts Cb and Eb apply only to MWC units with the capacity to

combust more than 250 tons per day of MSW per unit (large MWC units).

This notice proposes to amend the guidelines and the standards for

MWC units to make them consistent with the Davis decision and

subsequent court vacatur order. The guidelines and standards proposed

for amendment have remained in effect for large MWC units since

December 19, 1995 because the court did not vacate or stay the rules as

they apply to these units. They will remain in effect during proposal

and promulgation of these amendments.

The amended guidelines and standards would result in the 1995 rule

being applicable only to MWC units with the capacity to combust greater

than 250 tons per day of MSW per unit. In this document, these units

are referred to as large MWC units or large MWC's.

The proposed amendments would affect the applicability of the

guidelines and standards, and add supplemental emission limits for four

pollutants (hydrogen chloride, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and

lead) to the guidelines. The proposed amendments would not add any

additional emission limits to the standards.

The 1995 guidelines and standards applied to MWC units at plants

greater than 35 megagrams per day combustion capacity (approximately 39

tons per day). Because the proposed amendments would restrict coverage

of the 1995 guidelines and standards to only MWC units with combustion

capacities greater than 250 tons per day consistent with the Davis

decision, and because no petitions to review the 1995 rules as they

applied to large MWC units were filed, the Agency does not anticipate

receiving adverse comments. Consequently, in this issue of the Federal

Register, a companion direct final rule is being published. If no

significant material adverse comments are received on this proposal by

the date specified below, no further action will be taken with respect

to this proposal and the direct final rule will become final. The

regulatory text for this proposal is the same as the regulatory text

for the companion direct final rule which can be found in the final

rules section of this Federal Register.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 24, 1997.

Additionally, a hearing will be convened if requests to speak are

received by September 9, 1997. If requests to speak are received, the

hearing will take place on September 16, 1997 beginning at 10:00 a.m. A

message regarding the status of the public hearing may be accessed by

calling (919) 541-5264.

ADDRESSES: Comments. Comments should be submitted (in duplicate, if

possible) to: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center (MC-

6102), Attention Docket Number A-90-45/Section VIII-D, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC

20460. Note that this is a different docket section number than that

specified for comments on the technical amendments included elsewhere

in a notice in today's Federal Register. Refer to SUPPLEMENTARY

INFORMATION for information regarding electronic submittal of

comments.

Public Hearing. If a public hearing is held, it will be held at

EPA's Office of Administration Auditorium, Research Triangle Park,

North Carolina, or at an alternate site nearby. Persons interested in

presenting oral testimony should notify Ms. Donna Collins, Combustion

Group, Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711,

telephone (919) 541-5578. The final meeting status and location can be

determined by calling (919) 541-5264.

Docket. Docket Nos. A-90-45 and A-89-08, containing supporting

information for this rulemaking, are available for public inspection

and copying between 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, at

EPA's Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center (Mail Code 6102),

401 M Street, SW, Washington, DC 20460, or by calling (202) 260-7548.

The docket is located at the above address in Room M-1500, Waterside

Mall (ground floor, central mall). A reasonable fee may be charged for

copying.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Walter Stevenson at (919) 541-

5264, Combustion Group, Emission Standards Division (MD-13), U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina

27711.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: If no significant material adverse comments

are received on these proposed amendments by the specified date, no

further activity is contemplated in relation to this proposal, and the

companion direct final rule (see the final rules section of this

Federal Register) will automatically become effective on the date

specified therein. If significant material adverse comments are

received on this proposal, the companion direct final rule will be

withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a

subsequent final rule based on this proposal. Any parties interested in

commenting should do so during this comment period.

The regulatory text for this proposal is being published with the

companion direct final rule and is incorporated by reference herein. In

the regulatory text, the effective dates and the compliance dates are

keyed to the promulgation date for both the guidelines and the

standards. In the regulatory text of the guidelines, the State plan

submittal dates and required final compliance dates are also dependent

upon the promulgation date of these amendments. Therefore, if EPA were

to withdraw the direct final rule as a result of comments on this

proposal, the aforementioned dates would be revised to reflect the

subsequent final promulgation date.

For further supplementary information, the detailed rationale, and

the specific amendments being proposed, see the information provided in

the companion direct final rule in the

[[Page 44932]]

direct final rules section of this issue of the Federal Register.

Electronic Submittal of Comments

Comments and data may be submitted in hard copy or electronically.

Electronic submittals should be sent to A-and-R-D[email protected].

No Confidential Business Information (CBI) should be submitted through

e-mail. Electronic comments must be submitted as an ASCII file avoiding

the use of special characters and any form of encryption. Electronic

comments on this proposed rule may be filed online at many Federal

Depository Libraries.

Comments and data will also be accepted on disks in WordPerfect 5.1

or 6.1 file format or ASCII file format. All comments and data for this

proposal, whether in paper form or in electronic forms such as through

e-mail or on disk, must be identified by the docket number A-90-45/

Section VIII-D.

Executive Order 12866 Review

Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), EPA

must determine whether the regulatory action is ``significant'' and,

therefore, subject to OMB review and the requirements of the Executive

Order. The EPA considered the 1995 guidelines and standards to be

significant and the rules were reviewed by OMB in 1995 (see 60 FR

65405). The amendments proposed today would not result in any

additional control requirements and this regulatory action is

considered ``not significant'' under Executive Order 12866.

Unfunded Mandates Act

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 statement to accompany any rule where the estimated

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

will be $100 million or more in any 1 year. Section 203 requires EPA to

establish a plan for informing and advising any small governments that

may be significantly impacted by the rule. An unfunded mandates

statement was prepared and published in the 1995 promulgation notice

(see 60 FR 65405 to 65412).

The EPA has determined that the proposed amendments do not include

any new Federal mandates. Therefore, the requirements of the Unfunded

Mandates Act do not apply to this proposed rule.

Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)

Section 605 of the RFA requires Federal agencies to give special

consideration to the impacts of regulations on small entities, which

are small businesses, small organizations, and small governments.

During the 1995 rulemaking, EPA estimated that few, if any, small

entities would be affected by the promulgated guidelines and standards

and, therefore, a regulatory flexibility analysis was not required (see

60 FR 65413). The rules as amended today would not establish any new

requirements; therefore, pursuant to the provisions of 5 U.S.C. 605(b),

EPA certifies that the amendments to the guidelines and standards will

not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small

entities, and a regulatory flexibility analysis is not required.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 60

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements.

Dated: August 15, 1997.

Carol M. Browner,

Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97-22371 Filed 8-22-97; 8:45 am]

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