 PRIVATE  UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

REGION 8

999 18TH STREET- SUITE 200

DENVER, CO   80202-2466

Phone 800-227-8917

http://www.epa.gov/region08

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	Ref:  8P-AR

	Date:  October 10, 2006

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 MEMORANDUM

SUBJECT:	Conference Call with Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action Regarding
Submitted Adverse Comments Concerning the Denver Early Action Compact
(EAC) – Ref. 71 FR 45492, August 9, 2006

FROM:	Timothy J. Russ

		Environmental Scientist

		USEPA Region 8

TO:		Docket:  EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0090

	 A conference call was held on October 5, 2006 with Jeremy Nichols of
Rocky Mountain Clean Air Action and staff from EPA’s Region 8 Air
Program and the Region 8 Office of Regional Counsel (ORC) to discuss
concerns expressed by the above environmental organization, in its
letter to the docket dated September 8, 2006, regarding EPA’s proposed
rule of August 9, 2006 to defer the Denver EAC’s effective date of
nonattainment to April 15, 2008.

	Major concerns were; (1) EPA’s proposal to grant the April 15, 2008
deferred effective date for the Denver EAC while the Colorado Air
Quality Control Commission (AQCC) was currently engaged in rulemaking
activities involving revisions to section XII of Colorado’s Regulation
No. 7 and, (2) how long would it take EPA to act on the Regulation No. 7
SIP revisions once they were submitted by the Governor.

For our response to issue 1:  If approved by the AQCC and Colorado
Legislature, the revisions to Regulation No. 7 would require additional
volatile organic compound (VOC) emission reductions from oil and gas
facilities that are located in the Denver EAC area.  Final rulemaking
action by the AQCC would not happen until at least November 16, 2006 and
not until early 2007 by the State Legislature.  To accommodate this
concern, EPA distributed via e-mail and discussed, with the above
environmental organization, the timeframe below for possible action by
EPA on the Denver EAC effective date deferral.

State process for the Reg 7 section XII SIP revisions:

August 17, 2006 – Colorado Air Quality Control Commission (AQCC)
proposed for public comment revisions to Reg. 7 to address emissions
from the oil and gas industry 

November 16, 2006 – completion of 90-day public process including a
public hearing will occur which may be directly followed by a final
adoption by the AQCC (if necessary, the AQCC could continue the public
hearing into their December, 2006 meeting and take final action then)

If the AQCC takes final action in November or December 2006, then the
Reg 7 SIP revisions will be posted for Legislative review for 30 days
beginning January 15, 2007.  (NOTE - The Colorado Legislature is only in
session the first week of January through the first week of May each
year.)

 

February 15, 2007- If by this date no Legislator asks to review the Reg
7 SIP revisions, they are automatically approved

February 15, 2007 through possibly early May 2007 - If a Legislator asks
for a review, then the Reg 7 SIP revisions must undergo the entire
legislative process (committee review/approval. etc.) and be attached to
a Bill for action and approval by the full Legislature.   During this
process, the Reg 7 section XII SIP revisions could be modified or
amended and then approved by the Legislature.

Potential Deferred Effective Date Rulemaking timeline by EPA for the
Denver EAC:

Timing:   EPA proceeds with a final rule in November, 2006 that would
grant a deferred effective date to July 1, 2007 for the Denver EAC.  If
Colorado adopts Reg. 7, EPA anticipates that it would undertake
rulemaking to determine whether to extend the deferred effective date
beyond July 1, 2007. A likely schedule for such rulemaking is: 

March 1, 2007, EPA proposes whether to extend the final deferred
effective date for the Denver EAC to April 15, 2008.  This opens a
30-day comment period.

April 1, 2007 – comment period closes

April 2007 – evaluate comments

May 1, 2007 – EPA prepares final rule and starts concurrence process

May  25, 2007 – Administrator’s signature on rule

June 1, 2007 – publication w/ 30-day effective date

The above scenario would allow both the AQCC and Colorado Legislature to
complete their respective functions and also allow EPA appropriate
amount of time to complete rulemaking the rules adopted by Colorado.

	For our response to issue 2:  We indicated that EPA could only act on a
SIP revision once it was actually submitted by the Governor.  This would
all be dependent on how quickly the Regulation No. 7 revisions proceeded
through the Colorado Legislative process.  We also discussed necessary
time frames for processing SIP rules through EPA and for publication by
the Office of the Federal Register.	

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