[Federal Register: June 20, 2002 (Volume 67, Number 119)]
[Rules and Regulations]               
[Page 41840-41843]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20jn02-17]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[LA-35-2-7339a; FRL-7234-3]

 
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Louisiana; 
Control of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds From Industrial 
Wastewater Facilities

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to 
the Louisiana State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revisions 
incorporate regulations to control Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) 
emissions from industrial wastewater facilities by means of Reasonable 
Available Control Technology (RACT). The intended effect of these rules 
is to reduce VOC emissions into the ambient air and thereby reduce 
ground-level ozone concentrations. This action applies to Ascension, 
Calcasieu, East Baton Rouge, Iberville, Livingston, Pointe Coupee, and 
West Baton Rouge Parishes. This action is being taken in accordance 
with the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: This rule is effective on August 19, 2002 without further 
notice, unless we receive adverse comment by July 22, 2002. If we 
receive such comment, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the 
Federal Register informing the public that this rule will not take 
effect.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to Mr. Thomas H. Diggs, 
Chief, Air Planning Section (6PD-L), at the EPA Region 6 Office listed 
below. Copies of documents relevant to this action are available for 
public inspection during normal business hours at the following 
locations. Anyone wanting to examine these documents should make an 
appointment with the appropriate office at least two working days in 
advance.
    Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, Air Planning Section 
(6PD-L), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.
    Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of 
Environmental Assessment, H. B. Garlock Building, 7290 Bluebonnet 
Blvd., Baton Rouge, Louisiana, 70810.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joe Kordzi, Air Planning Section (6PD-
L), EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, telephone 
(214) 665-7186.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and 
``our'' refers to EPA.

Table of Contents

I. What is the background on this action?
II. What has the State submitted?
III. What analysis was done by the EPA on the State's submittal?
IV. What action is EPA taking?
V. Why is this a ``Final Action?''
VI. What administrative requirements apply for this action?

I. What Is the Background on This Action?

    Section 172(c)(1) of the CAA contains general requirements for 
States to adopt RACT \1\ rules for major stationary sources of VOCs 
located in ozone nonattainment areas.
    Section 182(b)(2) \2\ of the CAA requires that states submit a 
revision to their SIP to include provisions to require RACT for each 
category of VOC \3\

[[Page 41841]]

sources covered by a Control Techniques Guideline (CTG). RACT is 
required for major sources in moderate and above ozone nonattainment 
areas and for minor sources where EPA has issued a CTG. The CTGs 
provide information on available air pollution control techniques and 
provide recommendations on what the EPA considers the ``presumptive 
norm'' for RACT.
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    \1\ The EPA has defined RACT as the lowest emission limitation 
that a particular source is capable of meeting by the application of 
control technology that is reasonably available, considering 
technological and economic feasibility (see 44 FR 53761, September 
17, 1979).
    \2\ Section 182(b)(2) applies to ozone nonattainment areas 
classified as moderate or above. Although Calcasieu Parish is a 
former nonattainment area, now reclassified to ozone attainment (see 
62 FR 5555, February 6, 1997), the State of Louisiana opted to 
expand the scope of the industrial wastewater rules to include this 
parish.
    \3\ VOC refers to a class of chemicals that react in the 
atmosphere in the presence of sunlight to form ozone. Sources 
include vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, oil-based paints and 
industrial operations. A regulatory definition of VOCs can be found 
at 40 CFR Part 51.100(s)
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    Under section 183 of the CAA as amended in 1990, entitled ``Federal 
Ozone Measures,'' the EPA was required to issue CTGs for 13 source 
categories by November 15, 1993. Two specific source categories, 
aerospace coatings and solvents, and shipbuilding operations were 
listed. The other 11 categories (as listed in 57 FR 18077, April 28, 
1992) are Synthetic Organic Chemical Manufacturing industry (SOCMI) 
distillation, SOCMI reactors, wood furniture, plastic parts business 
machines, plastic parts coating (other), offset lithography, industrial 
wastewater, SOCMI batch processing, volatile organic liquid storage 
tanks, and clean-up solvents. To date, CTGs have been published for 
four of the thirteen source categories: SOCMI distillation, SOCMI 
reactors, wood furniture, and shipbuilding.
    The EPA also made available Alternative Control Technology (ACT) 
documents for the CTG source categories for which CTG documents have 
not yet been published. These ACT documents provide much of the same 
information as the CTG documents, however, instead of establishing a 
presumptive norm for RACT rule, these documents provide options for 
control.
    On April 28, 1992 (57 FR 18077), the EPA interpreted the CAA to 
allow a State to submit a non-CTG rule by November 15, 1992, or to 
defer submittal of a RACT rule for sources that the State anticipated 
would be covered by a post-enactment CTG. For post-enactment CTGs, the 
amended Act requires States to submit RACT rules in accordance with the 
schedule specified in the corresponding CTG document. If the EPA failed 
to issue a CTG by November 15, 1993, the responsibility shifted to the 
State to submit a non-CTG RACT rule for those sources by November 15, 
1994.
    In addition, if there are no major sources of VOC emissions in a 
CTG source category located in a nonattainment area, EPA policy allows 
a State to submit a formal statement of their nonexistence of such 
major sources (i.e., a negative declaration). On April 6 and June 20, 
1994, the State of Louisiana submitted letters of negative declaration 
for the following CTG source categories: aerospace coatings and 
solvents, shipbuilding operations, offset lithography, plastic parts--
business machines, plastic parts--other, and wood furniture. The EPA 
approved these letters on October 30, 1996, in 61 FR 55894.
    A CTG document was subsequently published in April 1996, for wood 
furniture which lowered the threshold for a source to be considered 
major in the wood furniture source category to 25 tons per year or more 
in an ozone nonattainment area. On January 28, 1997, the State of 
Louisiana submitted a letter of negative declaration for the wood 
furniture category based on the lower major source threshold. The EPA 
approved this letter of negative declaration on December 2, 1997 (FR 62 
63658), along with a conditional approval of a revision to the SIP to 
control VOC emissions utilizing RACT from the SOCMI batch processing 
source category. By this action, the EPA also fully approved revisions 
to the SIP to control VOC emissions utilizing RACT from the SOCMI 
distillation, SOCMI reactor, and clean-up solvents major source 
categories. On November 9, 1998 (FR 63 47429) EPA converted this SOCMI 
batch processing conditional approval to a full approval.
    As a result of this November 9, 1998 action, the applicable 
requirements relating to VOC RACT rules of 12 of the 13 CTG source 
categories were met. The industrial wastewater source category, which 
is the subject of this action, was the only remaining CTG source 
category for which no action had been taken.

II. What Has the State Submitted?

    On April 29, 1994, the EPA issued ACT documents for Industrial 
Wastewater, Shipbuilding and Automobile refinishing. The Industrial 
Wastewater ACT is a compendium of three references. First, options for 
controlling emissions from industrial wastewater are covered in the 
draft CTG issued September, 1992 and announced for comment on December, 
1993. Second, a document entitled ``Revisions to Impacts of the Draft 
Industrial Wastewater Control Techniques Guideline'' contains an 
overview of the changes that were made to the draft CTG to reflect 
changes to the Hazardous Organic NESHAP (HON). Also, the impacts of 
various control options were revised. Finally, the April 29, 1994 
memorandum explained that the HON could be used as model rule for VOC 
control.
    These documents were used by the Louisiana Department of 
Environmental Quality (LDEQ) in promulgating revisions, known as the 
``VOC RACT Rules,'' to the Louisiana Administrative Code, LAC 33:III, 
Chapter 21, on September 20, 1995. The VOC RACT Rules were submitted to 
the EPA on December 15, 1995. These rules in part implemented 
requirements to control emissions from industrial wastewater at 
facilities with the potential to emit more than 50 tons/year of VOC's. 
LDEQ's wastewater VOC rules appear in section 2153 of LAC 33:III.
    The LDEQ promulgated revisions to section 2153 on December 20, 
1996, and submitted them (along with other revisions to LAC 33.III) to 
the EPA on April 30, 1997. These revisions to section 2153 involved 
changes to various VOC emission test methods.
    The LDEQ again promulgated revisions to section 2153 on January 20, 
1998, and submitted them (along with other revisions to LAC 33.III) to 
the EPA on February 2, 2000. These revisions to section 2153 involved 
changes to affected source categories.
    The LDEQ again promulgated revisions to section 2153 on May 20, 
1999, and submitted them (along with other revisions to LAC 33.III) to 
the EPA on September 7, 1999. These revisions to section 2153 involved 
numerous changes that were necessary for approval of the VOC RACT rule 
by the EPA.

III. What Analysis Was Done by the EPA on the State's Submittal?

    The EPA has written a Technical Support Document that details the 
review that was performed on the wastewater VOC rules discussed above. 
Basically, these rules (LAC 33.III.2153) were compared to the HON to 
determine if they met the requirements of section 182(b)(2)(C) of the 
Clean Air Act.

IV. What Action Is EPA Taking?

    The EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
Louisiana SIP, to control VOC emissions from industrial wastewater 
facilities by means of RACT. Specifically, the EPA is approving LAC 
33.III.2153, and all revisions to section 2153 up to and including 
those adopted on May 20, 1999.

V. Why Is This a ``Final Action?''

    We are publishing this rule without prior proposal because we view 
this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipate no adverse comment. 
However, in the ``Proposed Rules''

[[Page 41842]]

section of today's Federal Register publication, we are publishing a 
separate document that will serve as the proposal to approve the 
revisions to incorporate regulations to control VOC emissions from 
industrial wastewater facilities by means of RACT if adverse comments 
are received. This rule will be effective on August 19, 2002 without 
further notice unless we receive adverse comment by July 22, 2002. If 
EPA receives adverse comment, we will publish a timely withdrawal in 
the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take 
effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule 
based on the proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment 
period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so 
at this time.

VI. What Administrative Requirements Apply for This Action?

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes 
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. 
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because 
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under state law and does 
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by 
state law, it 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).
    This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will 
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on 
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or 
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal 
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism 
implications because it does not have substantial direct effects on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely approves a state rule 
implementing a Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or 
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the CAA. 
This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 ``Protection of 
Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically significant.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. In this 
context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the State 
to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority to 
disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP 
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the CAA. Thus, the requirements of section 
12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 
(15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This rule does not impose an 
information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
    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 rule 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).
    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 August 19, 2002. 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, 
Hydrocarbons, Nitrogen dioxide, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: June 5, 2002.
Lawrence E. Starfield,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6.

    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 et seq.

Subpart T--Louisiana

    2. In Sec. 52.970 the table in paragraph (c) is amended under 
Chapter 21 by adding, immediately after ``Section 2151'' and before 
``Table 8'', a new centered heading entitled ``Subchapter M--Limiting 
Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Industrial Wastewater,'' 
immediately followed by a new Section 2153, Limiting Volatile Organic 
Compound Emissions from Industrial Wastewater to read as follows:


Sec. 52.970  Identification of plan.

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    (c) * * *

[[Page 41843]]



                                  EPA Approved Regulations in the Louisiana SIP
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                                                        State approval
         State citation              Title/subject           date          EPA approval date       Comments
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                              Chapter 21. Control of Emission of Organic Compounds
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                                                        *
Subchapter M,                         Limiting Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Industrial Wastewater
  Section 2153..................  Limiting Volatile   May, 1999, LR       June 20, 2002, and
                                   Organic Compound    25:850.             Federal Register
                                   Emissions from                          citation.
                                   Industrial
                                   Wastewater.

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                                                        *
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[FR Doc. 02-15453 Filed 6-19-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P