[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 206 (Thursday, October 28, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59682-59684]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-23538]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0620; FRL-9188-01-R9]


Air Plan Approval; California; Ventura County Air Pollution 
Control District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve revisions to the Ventura County Air Pollution Control District 
(VCAPCD) portion of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 
These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 
from surface cleaning and degreasing operations, and from batch loaded 
vapor degreasing operations. We are proposing to approve changes to 
SIP-approved local rules to regulate these emission sources under the 
Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act). We are taking comments on this proposal 
and plan to follow with a final action.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 29, 2021.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0620 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at 
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public 
docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, 
video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written 
comment is considered the official comment and should include 
discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not 
consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary 
submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For 
additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public 
comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and 
general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. If you need assistance in a 
language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities 
who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact 
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert Schwartz or Doris Lo, EPA 
Region IX, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 
972-3959 or by email at [email protected].

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

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 rule revisions?
II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action
    A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?
    B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?
    C. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules
    D. Public Comment and Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. The State's Submittal

A. What rules did the State submit?

    Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal with the dates 
that they were adopted by the local air agency and submitted by the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB).

[[Page 59683]]



                                            Table 1--Submitted Rules
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                                                                                    Revised and
            Local agency                Rule No.              Rule title              adopted        Submitted
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VCAPCD.............................            74.6  Surface Cleaning and             11/10/2020      07/26/2021
                                                      Degreasing.
VCAPCD.............................          74.6.1  Batch Loaded Vapor               11/10/2020      07/26/2021
                                                      Degreasers.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On September 25, 2021, the EPA determined that the submittal for 
VCAPCD Rule 74.6 and Rule 74.6.1 met the completeness criteria in 40 
CFR part 51 Appendix V, which must be met before formal EPA review.

B. Are there other versions of these rules?

    We approved earlier versions of Rule 74.6 and Rule 74.6.1 into the 
SIP on October 25, 2005.\1\ The VCAPCD adopted revisions to the SIP-
approved versions on November 10, 2020, and CARB submitted them to us 
on July 26, 2021. If we take final action to approve the November 10, 
2020 versions of Rule 74.6 and Rule 74.6.1, these versions will replace 
the previously approved versions of these rules in the SIP.
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    \1\ 70 FR 61561.
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C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?

    Emissions of VOCs contribute to the production of 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. The District revised Rule 74.6 to contain more stringent 
solvent cleaning VOC limits, remove an inappropriate exemption for 
sources covered by a National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air 
Pollutants (NESHAP) standard, and to add several housekeeping updates. 
Rule 74.6.1 was revised to include more stringent requirements for 
alternative cleaning systems, recordkeeping, and test methods; to 
remove an inappropriate exemption for sources covered by a NESHAP 
standard, and to add several housekeeping updates. The EPA's technical 
support document (TSD) has more information about these rules.

II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action

A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?

    Rules in the SIP must be enforceable (see CAA section 110(a)(2)), 
must not interfere with applicable requirements concerning attainment 
and reasonable further progress or other CAA requirements (see CAA 
section 110(l)), and must not modify certain SIP control requirements 
in nonattainment areas without ensuring equivalent or greater emissions 
reductions (see CAA section 193).
    Generally, SIP rules must require reasonably available control 
technology (RACT) for each category of sources covered by a Control 
Techniques Guidelines (CTG) document as well as each major source of 
VOCs in ozone nonattainment areas classified as Moderate or above (see 
CAA section 182(b)(2)). The VCAPCD regulates an ozone nonattainment 
area classified as a Serious nonattainment area for the 2008 and 2015 
8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (40 CFR 81.305). 
Therefore, these rules must implement RACT.
    Guidance and policy documents that we used to evaluate 
enforceability, revision/relaxation and rule stringency requirements 
for the applicable criteria pollutants include the following:

1. ``State Implementation Plans; General Preamble for the 
Implementation of Title I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990,'' 
57 FR 13498 (April 16, 1992); 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992).
2. ``Issues Relating to VOC Regulation Cutpoints, Deficiencies, and 
Deviations,'' EPA, May 25, 1988 (the Bluebook, revised January 11, 
1990).
3. ``Guidance Document for Correcting Common VOC & Other Rule 
Deficiencies,'' EPA Region 9, August 21, 2001 (the Little Bluebook).
4. ``Control of Volatile Organic Emissions from Solvent Metal 
Cleaning,'' EPA-450/2-77-022, November 1977.
5. ``Control Techniques Guidelines for Industrial Cleaning 
Solvents,'' EPA-453/R-06-001, September 2006.

B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?

    These rules meet CAA requirements and are consistent with relevant 
guidance regarding enforceability, RACT, and SIP revisions. The 
District revised Rule 74.6 to contain more stringent solvent cleaning 
VOC limits and to remove an inappropriate exemption for sources covered 
by a NESHAP standard. Rule 74.6.1 was revised to include more stringent 
requirements for alternative cleaning systems, recordkeeping, and test 
methods, and to remove an inappropriate exemption for sources covered 
by a NESHAP standard. The TSD has more information on our evaluation.

C. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules

    We recommend that the District revise Rule 74.6 to contain 
consistent record retention requirements of at least five years in all 
applicable provisions of the rule. The TSD includes additional 
recommendations for the next time the local agency modifies the rules.

D. Public Comment and Proposed Action

    As authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA proposes to 
fully approve the submitted rules because they fulfill all relevant 
requirements. We will accept comments from the public on this proposal 
until November 29, 2021.

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule 
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance 
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by 
reference the VCAPCD rules described in Table 1 of this preamble. The 
EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials available 
through https://www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region IX Office 
(please contact the persons identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this preamble for more information).

IV. 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, the EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this proposed action merely proposes to approve state law 
as meeting federal requirements and does not impose additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this 
proposed action:
     Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to 
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 
2011);

[[Page 59684]]

     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 the 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, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian tribe 
has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 
Indian country, the rule does not have tribal implications and will not 
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal 
law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 
2000).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: October 23, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-23538 Filed 10-27-21; 8:45 am]
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