Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plan; Illinois

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[IL 150; FRL-5804-2]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plan; Illinois

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this action USEPA is approving the State Implementation

Plan (SIP) revision request submitted by the Illinois Environmental

Protection Agency (IEPA) on August 15, 1996. In the August 15 request,

IEPA requested that the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson, Illinois be

granted a carbon monoxide (CO) variance with specified conditions

beginning January 19, 1996, and ending August 4, 1997. This variance

exempts the Marathon Oil Company from the emission limits specified in

the relevant CO SIP approved May 31, 1972 and revised February 21,

1980, thereby allowing its fluid bed catalytic cracking unit (FCCU) to

emit 300 parts per million (ppm) of CO corrected for 50 percent excess

air (Corrected) instead of the SIP emission limit of 200 ppm Corrected.

The conditions require that the Marathon Oil Company utilize all means

possible to minimize emissions and implement a plan of compliance

submitted as part of the SIP revision. In this action, USEPA is

approving the requested SIP revision through a ``direct final''

rulemaking; the rationale for this approval is set forth below.

Elsewhere in this Federal Register, USEPA is proposing approval and

soliciting comment on this direct final action; if adverse comments are

received, USEPA will withdraw the direct final and address the comments

received in a new final rule; otherwise, no further rulemaking will

occur on this requested SIP revision. The USEPA is approving this SIP

revision request because modeling shows that the emission limits are

adequate to protect the CO national ambient air quality standards

(NAAQS).

DATES: This action is effective on June 9, 1997, unless USEPA receives

adverse or critical comments by May 8, 1997. If the effective date is

delayed, timely notification will be published in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be mailed to: J. Elmer Bortzer,

Chief, Regulation Development Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J),

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson

Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

Copies of the State submittal and USEPA's analysis of it are

available for inspection at: Regulation Development Section, Air

Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region

5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Bahr, Environmental Engineer,

Regulation Development Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard,

Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-4366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

The Marathon Oil Company is located in Crawford County, Illinois

which is designated attainment for CO (See 40 CFR 81.314). On May 31,

1972 (37 FR 10862) the USEPA approved the ``State of Illinois Air

Pollution Implementation Plan'' as the Illinois SIP. On February 21,

1980, the USEPA approved revisions to the SIP, incorporating section

216.361 in Title 35 of the Illinois Administrative Code (35 IAC

216.361) as part of the Illinois SIP (45 FR 11472). The SIP limits

petroleum and petrochemical processes to emit no more than 200 ppm

Corrected of CO. The FCCU operated by the Marathon Oil Company is such

a petroleum process and therefore cannot legally emit CO in excess of

this limit.

On August 4 and 5 of 1993, stack tests showed the FCCU at the

Marathon Oil Company to be emitting above the 200 ppm limit. The State

issued a Compliance Inquiry Letter (CIL) on March 2, 1995, concerning

the stack tests. The Marathon Oil Company then performed a test on

March 14, finding the FCCU to be emitting less than 200 ppm Corrected.

The USEPA issued a notice of violation (NOV), concerning the 1993 test

results, on April 13, 1995. Then, on May 23, 1995, the Marathon Oil

Company filed a petition with the State for a variance from 35 IAC.

Adm. Code Sec. 216.361(a).

On May 16, 1996, Illinois approved the variance for the period

beginning on January 19, 1996, and ending August 4, 1997, as Illinois

Pollution Control Board Variance 95-150 (PCB 95-150). The effective

date of the Variance was January 19, 1996. A plan of compliance was

also approved as part of that variance.

IEPA submitted the variance as a SIP revision request on August 15,

1996. The USEPA found the submittal to be complete in a completeness

letter to IEPA on December 20, 1996.

II. Analysis of State Submittal

What Illinois designates as a variance can be considered for a SIP

revision if there is evidence that no exceedances of the NAAQS would

occur under the variance, and the applicable prevention of significant

deterioration (PSD) requirements are acceptably addressed.

A. Air Quality Modeling

In support of the SIP revision request and to show the CO NAAQS to

be protected, IEPA submitted dispersion modeling performed by a

contractor for the Marathon Oil Company. The basic study entitled

``Screening Modeling of Air Emissions from the CO Boiler Bypass Stack

at Robinson'' was completed May 9, 1994, and was the only analysis

submitted with the original request. The USEPA requested a more

detailed report and was supplied with an attachment on October 3, 1996,

which was inadvertently omitted from the revision request. This report

entitled ``Atmospheric Dispersion Modeling of Carbon Monoxide Emissions

from the CO Boiler at the Robinson Refinery'' had been completed on May

1, 1995.

The analysis used The Industrial Source Complex--Short Term Model

to calculate maximum downwind concentrations of CO for several

scenarios. The highest ambient concentration resulting from an effluent

concentration of 300 ppm was .03 ppm on a one hour average basis and

.007 ppm on an eight hour averaging basis. The NAAQS for CO are 35 ppm

on a one hour averaging basis and 9 ppm for an 8 hour averaging basis.

This modeling was reviewed by the USEPA and was found to be acceptable

and demonstrates that no exceedances of the NAAQS would occur under a

CO emission limit of 300 ppm.

B. Prevention of Significant Deterioration

The Marathon Oil Company's FCCU was constructed in 1975, prior to

the promulgation of PSD rules. The original permit was not a PSD permit

and the original capacity or potential to emit, has not changed since

the original construction. Therefore, PSD does not apply.

C. Test Methods

Illinois' August 15, 1996, submittal did not include revisions to

or discussion of compliance test methods. The current SIP, which

includes Crawford County limits and selected test methods that were

simultaneously approved on May 31, 1972 (37 FR 10862), applies the

stack test method in 35 IAC Sec. 216.101 as the reference test method

for evaluating compliance with

[[Page 16705]]

the Crawford County limits. The State's recent submittal did not

request revisions to the applicable test methods. This indicates that

the SIP continues to apply the test methodology in 35 IAC Sec. 216.101

as the applicable reference test method for all of Crawford County's

sources.

D. Plan of Compliance

The plan of compliance calls for revising the refinery gas burners,

inspection and repair of the damper controls, installation of a flame

temperature measuring devise, burner improvements, and boiler testing

and optimization, all to be concluded before June 14, 1997. The USEPA

realizes that this plan has the potential for decreasing CO emissions

and the Marathon Oil Company shall implement the plan as written.

However, the plan does not demonstrate that it will achieve compliance,

and is therefore considered as routine maintenance measures and not a

compliance plan. The implementation of the plan does not exempt the

Marathon Oil Company from any regulations which apply to the facility.

III. USEPA's Rulemaking Action

USEPA is approving the SIP revision request submitted by the IEPA

on August 15, 1996, which grants the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson,

Illinois a CO variance with specified conditions beginning January 19,

1996, and ending August 4, 1997. Dispersion modeling has shown the CO

emission limit of 300 ppm to be protective of the NAAQS and is

therefore approved. This site-specific SIP revision consists of

variance PCB 95-150, which was adopted on May 16, 1996, and became

effective on January 19, 1996. This is a variance from section 35 IAC

216.361(a) as it applies to the Marathon Oil Company's fluid bed

catalytic cracking unit.

The USEPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because

USEPA views this as a noncontroversial revision and anticipates no

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

Register publication, the USEPA is proposing to approve the SIP

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

be effective on June 9, 1997, unless, by May 8, 1997, adverse or

critical comments are received.

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

before the effective date by publishing a subsequent rulemaking that

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

addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this action serving as a

proposed rule. The USEPA 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 June 9, 1997.

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting, allowing

or establishing a precedent for any future request for revision to any

SIP. Each request for revision to the SIP shall be considered

separately in light of specific technical, economic, and environmental

factors and in relation to relevant statutory and regulatory

requirements.

IV. 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 D. Nichols, Assistant Administrator

for Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and Budget has exempted

this regulatory action from Executive Order 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility

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

USEPA must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the

impact of any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C.

sections 603 and 604. Alternatively, USEPA 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 (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 Act, preparation of a flexibility

analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic

reasonableness of the State action. The Act forbids USEPA to base its

actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. EPA.,

427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).

C. Unfunded Mandates

Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995,

signed into law on March 22, 1995, USEPA must undertake various actions

in association with any proposed or final rule that includes a Federal

mandate that may result in estimated costs to state, local, or tribal

governments, or to the private sector, in the aggregate of $100 million

or more. This Federal action approves pre-existing requirements under

state or local law, and imposes no new requirements. Accordingly, no

additional costs to state, local, or tribal governments, or the private

sector, result from this action.

D. Petitions for Judicial Review

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Act, petitions for judicial review

of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for

the appropriate circuit by June 9, 1997. Filing a petition for

reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 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, Carbon monoxide,

Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and record keeping requirements.

Dated: March 19, 1997.

David A. Ullrich,

Acting Regional Administrator.

For the reasons stated in the preamble, 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.

2. Section 52.729 is added to read as follows:

Sec. 52.729 Control strategy: Carbon monoxide.

The following source specific emission controls are approved: (a)

Approval--On August 15, 1996, the Illinois Environmental Protection

Agency requested that the Marathon Oil Company in Robinson, Illinois be

[[Page 16706]]

granted a carbon monoxide (CO) state implementation plan (SIP) revision

with specified conditions. This SIP revision limits the Marathon Oil

Company's CO emissions from its fluid bed catalytic cracking unit CO

boiler to be no more than 300 parts per million of CO corrected for 50

percent excess air beginning January 19, 1996, and ending August 4,

1997. The variance became effective January 19, 1996. The SIP revision

request satisfies all applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act.

(b) [Reserved]

[FR Doc. 97-8898 Filed 4-7-97; 8:45 am]

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