Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Virginia; Revision to Nitrogen Oxides Budget Trading Program
Federal Register, Volume 76 Issue 215 (Monday, November 7, 2011)
Federal Register Volume 76, Number 215 (Monday, November 7, 2011)
Rules and Regulations
Pages 68638-68641
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office www.gpo.gov
FR Doc No: 2011-28640
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EPA-R03-OAR-2011-0773; FRL-9487-6
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Virginia; Revision to Nitrogen Oxides Budget Trading Program
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision pertains to regulatory language in its nitrogen oxides (NOX) Budget Trading Program that inadvertently ended its NOX budget at the end of the 2008 ozone season. EPA is approving this revision in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: This rule is effective on January 6, 2012 without further notice, unless EPA receives adverse written comment by December 7, 2011. If EPA receives such comments, it will publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform the public that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-
R03-OAR-2011-0773 by one of the following methods:
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www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
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Email: fernandez.cristina@epa.gov.
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Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2011-0773, Cristina Fernandez, Associate Director, Office of Air Program Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
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Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-
2011-0773. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change, and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you
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consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your email address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy during normal business hours at the Air Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal are available at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 629 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Marilyn Powers, (215) 814-2308, or by email at powers.marilyn@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
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Background
Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' ``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. On September 27, 2010, the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ) submitted a formal revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP).
The SIP revision pertains to the NOX budget established in Virginia regulation 9VAC5 Chapter 140 Part I (NOX Budget Trading Program), which was adopted by the Commonwealth and approved into its SIP to meet the requirements of the NOX SIP Call. Virginia determined that regulatory language inadvertently ended the State budget at the end of the 2008 ozone season. Because the NOX SIP Call requirements continue to apply to the affected states, revision of the applicable end date in regulation 9VAC5 Chapter 140, Part I is required in order for the budget to apply to ozone season 2009 and beyond. It should be noted that Virginia has continued to comply with the requirements of the NOX SIP Call through its approved Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) NOX Ozone Season Trading Program at 9VAC5 Chapter 140, Part III. As explained in the preamble for CAIR (70 FR 25162, May 12, 2005), states could meet the requirements of the NOX SIP Call by achieving all of the emissions reductions required under CAIR from electric generating units (EGUs) by participating in the CAIR Ozone Season NOX Trading Program, and by bringing its non-EGUs that were participating in the NOX SIP Call Budget Trading Program into the CAIR Ozone Season NOX Trading Program using the same non-EGU budget and applicability requirements that were in their NOX SIP Call Budget Trading Program. Virginia chose to implement its CAIR ozone season NOX obligations by participating in the CAIR Ozone Season NOX Trading Program and brought their non-EGUs into this program, which was approved into the Virginia SIP on December 28, 2007 (72 FR 73602).
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Summary of SIP Revision
On September 27, 2010, VADEQ submitted a SIP revision that extends the NOX SIP Call budget beyond the 2008 ozone season. The SIP revision consists of amendments to sections 5-140-900, 5-140-920, and 5-140-930 that extend the EGU NOX budget of 17,091 tons and the non-EGU budget of 4,104 tons to the 2009 ozone season and each ozone season thereafter.
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General Information Pertaining to SIP Submittals From the Commonwealth of Virginia
In 1995, Virginia adopted legislation that provides, subject to certain conditions, for an environmental assessment (audit) ``privilege'' for voluntary compliance evaluations performed by a regulated entity. The legislation further addresses the relative burden of proof for parties either asserting the privilege or seeking disclosure of documents for which the privilege is claimed. Virginia's legislation also provides, subject to certain conditions, for a penalty waiver for violations of environmental laws when a regulated entity discovers such violations pursuant to a voluntary compliance evaluation and voluntarily discloses such violations to the Commonwealth and takes prompt and appropriate measures to remedy the violations. Virginia's Voluntary Environmental Assessment Privilege Law, Va. Code Sec. 10.1-
1198, provides a privilege that protects from disclosure documents and information about the content of those documents that are the product of a voluntary environmental assessment. The Privilege Law does not extend to documents or information (1) that are generated or developed before the commencement of a voluntary environmental assessment; (2) that are prepared independently of the assessment process; (3) that demonstrate a clear, imminent and substantial danger to the public health or environment; or (4) that are required by law.
On January 12, 1998, the Commonwealth of Virginia Office of the Attorney General provided a legal opinion that states that the Privilege Law, Va. Code Sec. 10.1-1198, precludes granting a privilege to documents and information ``required by law,'' including documents and information ``required by Federal law to maintain program delegation, authorization or approval,'' since Virginia must ``enforce Federally authorized environmental programs in a manner that is no less stringent than their Federal counterparts. * * *'' The opinion concludes that ``regarding Sec. 10.1-1198, therefore, documents or other information needed for civil or criminal enforcement under one of these programs could not be privileged because such documents and information are essential to pursuing enforcement in a manner required by Federal law to maintain program delegation, authorization or approval.'' Virginia's Immunity law, Va. Code Sec. 10.1-1199, provides that ``to the extent consistent with requirements imposed by Federal law,'' any person making a voluntary disclosure of information to a state agency regarding a violation of an environmental statute, regulation, permit, or administrative order is granted immunity from administrative or civil penalty. The Attorney General's January 12, 1998 opinion states that the quoted language renders this statute inapplicable to enforcement of any Federally authorized programs, since ``no immunity could be afforded from administrative, civil, or criminal penalties because granting such immunity would not be consistent with
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Federal law, which is one of the criteria for immunity.''
Therefore, EPA has determined that Virginia's Privilege and Immunity statutes will not preclude the Commonwealth from enforcing its program consistent with the Federal requirements. In any event, because EPA has also determined that a state audit privilege and immunity law can affect only state enforcement and cannot have any impact on Federal enforcement authorities, EPA may at any time invoke its authority under the CAA, including, for example, sections 113, 167, 205, 211 or 213, to enforce the requirements or prohibitions of the state plan, independently of any state enforcement effort. In addition, citizen enforcement under section 304 of the CAA is likewise unaffected by this, or any, state audit privilege or immunity law.
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Final Action
EPA is approving the SIP revision submitted by VADEQ on September 27, 2009 that extends the NOX SIP Call budget beyond the 2008 ozone season. EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no adverse comment. However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of today's Federal Register, EPA is publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision if adverse comments are filed. This rule will be effective on January 6, 2012 without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by December 7, 2011. If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take effect. EPA will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment.
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Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
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General Requirements
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
Does not have Federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Is not an economically significant regulatory action based on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent with the CAA; and
Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
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Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).
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Petitions for Judicial Review
Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by January 6, 2012. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action 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. Parties with objections to this direct final rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed rules section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed rulemaking. This action to extend Virginia's budget under the NOX SIP Call 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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Sulfur oxides.
Dated: October 25, 2011.
W.C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
40 CFR Part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--AMENDED
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The authority citation for 40 CFR part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart VV--Virginia
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In Sec. 52.2420, the table in paragraph (c) is amended by revising the entries for Sections 5-140-900, 5-140-920, and 5-140-930 to read as follows:
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Sec. 52.2420 Identification of plan.
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(c) * * *
EPA-Approved Virginia Regulations and Statutes
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State effective Explanation former SIP
State citation Title/subject date EPA approval date citation
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9 VAC 5, State trading program budget
Chapter 140
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Part I NOX Budget Trading Program
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Article 10 State Trading Program Budget and Compliance Supplement Pool
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5-140-900......................... State trading program budget..... 12/31/08.......... 11/7/11 Insert page number Revise applicable year to
where the document begins. 2004 and each year
thereafter.
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5-140-920......................... Total electric generating unit 12/31/08.......... 11/7/11 Insert page number Add subsection B, which
allocations. where the document begins. extends the NOX budget
beyond 2008.
5-140-930......................... Total non-electric generating 12/31/08.......... 11/7/11 Insert page number Add subsection B, which
unit allocations. where the document begins. extends the NOX budget
beyond 2008.
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FR Doc. 2011-28640 Filed 11-4-11; 8:45 am
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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