
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 154 (Thursday, August 9, 2012)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47536-47539]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-19318]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2012-0332; FRL-9687-8]


Revisions to the California State Implementation Plan, Mojave 
Desert, Northern Sierra, Sacramento Metropolitan and San Diego Air 
Pollution Agencies

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District (MDAQMD), Northern Sierra

[[Page 47537]]

Air Quality Management District (NSAQMD), Sacramento Metropolitan Air 
Quality Management District (SMAQMD) and San Diego County Air Pollution 
Control District (SDCAPCD) portions of the California State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern volatile organic 
compound (VOC) emissions from automotive parts and component, 
automobile refinishing, metal parts and products, and miscellaneous 
coating and refinishing operations. We are approving local rules that 
regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act as amended in 
1990 (CAA or the Act).

DATES: This rule is effective on October 9, 2012 without further 
notice, unless EPA receives adverse comments by September 10, 2012. If 
we receive such comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the 
Federal Register to notify the public that this direct final rule will 
not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, identified by docket number EPA-R09-OAR-
2012-0332, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-
line instructions.
    2. Email: steckel.andrew@epa.gov.
    3. Mail or deliver: Andrew Steckel (Air-4), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 
94105-3901.
    Instructions: All comments 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 Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information that you 
consider CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as 
such and should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or email. 
www.regulations.gov is an ``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will not 
know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the 
body of your comment. If you send email directly to EPA, your email 
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the 
public comment. 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: Generally, documents in the docket for this action are 
available electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA 
Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all 
documents in the docket are listed at www.regulations.gov, some 
information may be publicly available only at the hard copy location 
(e.g., copyrighted material, large maps), and some may not be publicly 
available in either location (e.g., CBI). To inspect the hard copy 
materials, please schedule an appointment during normal business hours 
with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adrianne Borgia, EPA Region IX, (415) 
972-3576, borgia.adrianne@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

I. The State's Submittal
    A. What rules did the State submit?
    B. Are there other versions of these rules?
    C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?
II. EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. EPA recommendations to further improve the rules.
    D. Public Comment and Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State' Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules we are approving with the dates that they 
were adopted by the local air agencies and submitted by the California 
Air Resources Board (CARB).

                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               Local agency                   Rule No.             Rule title             Adopted     Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NSAQMD....................................          228  Surface Coating of Metal          04/25/11     09/27/11
                                                          Parts and Products.
SDCAPCD...................................         66.1  Miscellaneous Coating........     02/24/10     07/20/10
MDAQMD....................................         1116  Automotive Refinishing.......     08/23/10     04/05/11
SMAQMD....................................          459  Automotive, Mobile Equipment      08/25/11     02/23/12
                                                          and Associated Parts and
                                                          Components Coating
                                                          Operations.
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B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    We approved an earlier version of MDAQMD Rule 1116 into the SIP on 
April 10, 2000 (65 FR 18901). No other version of SDCAPCD Rule 66.1 or 
Northern Sierra Rule 228 has been submitted, although EPA previously 
approved SDCAPCD Rule 66. An earlier version of SMAQMD Rule 459 was 
approved into the SIP on November 13, 1998 (63 FR 63410).

C. What is the purpose of the submitted rules?

    VOCs help produce ground-level ozone and smog, which harm human 
health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires States 
to submit regulations that control VOC emissions by limiting VOC 
content in coatings used for metal parts and products, miscellaneous 
uses, automobile refinishing processes and automotive equipment, parts 
and compounds. In addition, the rules also limit emission of VOCs by 
regulating organic solvent cleaning, storage and disposal relating to 
the coating operations. EPA's technical support documents (TSDs) have 
more information about these rules.

II. EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is EPA evaluating the rules?

    Generally, SIP rules must be enforceable (see section 110(a) of the 
Act), and must not relax existing requirements (see sections 110(1) and 
193). In addition, SIP rules must implement Reasonably Available 
Control Measures (RACM), including Reasonably Available Control 
Technology (RACT), in moderate and above ozone nonattainment areas. 
Guidance and policy documents that we use to evaluate enforceability 
and RACT requirements consistently include the following:

    1. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, 
and Deviations'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook),
    2. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies'' EPA, Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook),
    3. ``Suggested Control Measure for Automotive Coatings'' CARB, 
October 2005,

[[Page 47538]]

    4. ``Control Techniques Guidelines for Automobile and Light-Duty 
Truck Assembly Coatings,'' EPA (EPA-453/R-08-006) September 2008,
    5. ``Control Techniques Guidelines for Miscellaneous Metal and 
Plastic Parts Coatings,'' EPA, (EPA-453/R-08-003), September 2008,
    6. ``Control Techniques Guidelines for Control of Volatile 
Organic Emissions From Existing Stationary Sources,'' Volume I: 
Control Methods for Surface Coating Operations (EPA-450/2-76-028, 
11/76), and
    7. ``Control Techniques Guidelines Control of Volatile Organic 
Emissions From Solvent Metal Cleaning'', (EPA-450/2-77-022, 11/77).

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    We believe these rules are consistent with the relevant policy and 
guidance regarding enforceability, RACT and SIP relaxations. The TSDs 
have more information on our evaluation.

C. EPA recommendations to further improve the rules

    The TSDs describe additional rule revisions that we recommend for 
the next time the local agency modifies the rules.

D. Public comment and final action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, EPA is fully 
approving the submitted rules because we believe they fulfill all 
relevant requirements. We do not think anyone will object to this 
approval, so we are finalizing it without proposing it in advance. 
However, in the Proposed Rules section of this Federal Register, we are 
simultaneously proposing approval of the same submitted rules. If we 
receive adverse comments by September 10, 2012, we will publish a 
timely withdrawal in the Federal Register to notify the public that the 
direct final approval will not take effect and we will address the 
comments in a subsequent final action based on the proposal. If we do 
not receive timely adverse comments, the direct final approval will be 
effective without further notice on October 9, 2012. This will 
incorporate these rules into the federally enforceable SIP.
    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.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a 
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act 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 Clean Air Act. 
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 Clean Air Act; and
     Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to 
address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, 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.
    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).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by October 9, 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 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, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: May 22, 2012.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.

    Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is 
amended as follows:

PART 52 [AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for Part 52 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

[[Page 47539]]

Subpart F--California

0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(381)(i) (J), 
(c)(388)(i)(F), (c)(404)(i)(B), and (c)(411) to read as follows:


Sec.  52.220  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (381) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (J) San Diego Air Pollution Control District.
    (1) Rule 66.1, ``Miscellaneous Surface Coating Operations and Other 
Processes Emitting Volatile Organic Compounds,'' adopted on February 
24, 2010.
* * * * *
    (388) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (F) Mojave Desert Air Quality Management District.
    (1) Rule 1116, ``Automotive Refinishing Operations,'' amended on 
August 23, 2010.
* * * * *
    (404) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (B) Northern Sierra Air Quality Management District.
    (1) Rule 228, ``Surface Coating of Metal Parts and Products,'' 
amended on April 25, 2011.
* * * * *
    (411) New and amended regulations for the following APCDs were 
submitted on February 23, 2012.
    (i) Incorporation by reference.
    (A) Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District.
    (1) Rule 459, ``Automotive, Mobile Equipment, and Associated Parts 
and Components Coating Operations,'' amended August 25, 2011.

[FR Doc. 2012-19318 Filed 8-8-12; 8:45 am]
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