[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 248 (Wednesday, December 28, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 79806-79808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-27996]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0846; FRL-9304-02-R9]


Air Plan Approval; California; San Joaquin Valley Unified Air 
Pollution Control District; South Coast Air Quality Management District

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to approve
    revisions to the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control 
District (SJVUAPCD) and South Coast Air Quality Management District 
(SCAQMD) portions of the California State Implementation Plan (SIP). 
These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 
and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from flares. We are approving 
these local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean 
Air Act (CAA or the Act).

DATES: These rules are effective on January 27, 2023.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0846. All documents in the docket are 
listed on the https://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in 
the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., 
Confidential Business Information (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 through https://www.regulations.gov, or please 
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section for additional availability information. 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: Donnique Sherman, EPA Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4129 or by 
email at [email protected].

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

[[Page 79807]]

Table of Contents

I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Environmental Justice
V. Incorporation by Reference
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Proposed Action

    On January 25, 2022 (87 FR 3736), the EPA proposed to approve the 
following rules into the California SIP.

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                                                                                     Adopted/
            Local agency                Rule #              Rule title                amended        Submitted
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
SCAQMD..............................     1118.1  Control of Emissions from Non-       01/04/2019      04/24/2019
                                                  Refinery Flares.
SJVUAPCD............................       4311  Flares.........................      12/17/2020      03/12/2021
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 is designed to decrease VOC, sulfur dioxide, and 
nitrogen oxides emissions from non-refinery flares. SJVUAPCD Rule 4311 
is designed to decrease NOX and VOC flare emissions from 
refineries, unrecoverable gases from oil wells, vented gases from blast 
furnaces, unused gases from coke ovens, and gaseous wastes from 
chemical industries. We proposed to approve these rules because we 
determined that they comply with the relevant CAA requirements. Our 
proposed action contains more information on the rules and our 
evaluation.

II. Public Comments and EPA Responses

    The EPA's proposed action provided a 30-day public comment period. 
During the comment period we received one comment in support of EPA's 
January 25, 2022 proposed action. We acknowledge the comment, and we 
are approving the rules into the SIP.

III. EPA Action

    No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the rules 
as described in our proposed action. Therefore, as authorized in 
section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is fully approving these rules 
into the California SIP. The December 17, 2020 version of SJVUAPCD Rule 
4311 will replace the previously approved version (76 FR 68106) of this 
rule in the SIP. The January 4, 2019 version of SCAQMD Rule 1118.1 is a 
new rule in the SIP.

IV. Environmental Justice Analysis

    SJVUAPCD evaluated the socioeconomic impact analysis of the 
amendments to Rule 4311.\1\ The District selected Eastern Research 
Group, Inc (ERG) to complete the analysis, in which they used 
CalEnviroScreen 3.0 \2\ to overlay the data on the impacts of the rule 
with data on poverty. They concluded that there was ``no statistical 
correlation between the affected facilities and poverty, but many of 
the potentially affected facilities are located in the census tracts 
with high percentages of the population living in poverty.'' \3\ 
SJVUAPCD Rule 4311 is expected to have a positive effect on the quality 
of air around the impacted facilities and reduce emissions. The EPA 
reviewed the District's socioeconomic analysis and did not identify any 
information in the record that impacts our proposed approval. SCAQMD 
did not submit a socioeconomic analysis with their April 24, 2019 Rule 
1118.1 submission.
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    \1\ SJVUAPCD, Final Staff Report, ``Potential Amendments to Rule 
4311--Flares,'' December 9, 2020.
    \2\ California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment 
(OEHHA). (2018). CalEnviroScreen 3.0 (updated June 2018). Available 
at https://oehha.ca.gov/calenviroscreen/maps-data (Accessed 
September 3, 2020)
    \3\ SJVUAPCD, Final Staff Report, ``Potential Amendments to Rule 
4311--Flares,'' December 9, 2020.
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V. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes 
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 
51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of the 
SJVUAPCD and SCAQMD rules identified in section I. of this preamble. 
These rules concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and 
oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from flares. The EPA has made, and will 
continue to make, these documents available through www.regulations.gov 
and at the EPA Region IX Office (please contact the person identified 
in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this preamble for 
more information).

VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Additional information about these statutes and Executive orders 
can be found at https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/laws-and-executive-orders.

A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive 
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review

    This action is not a significant regulatory action and was 
therefore not submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review.

B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)

    This action does not impose an information collection burden under 
the PRA because this action does not impose additional requirements 
beyond those imposed by state law.

C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)

    I certify that this action will not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities under the RFA. This 
action will not impose any requirements on small entities beyond those 
imposed by state law.

D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)

    This action does not contain any unfunded mandate as described in 
UMRA, 2 U.S.C. 1531-1538, and does not significantly or uniquely affect 
small governments. This action does not impose additional requirements 
beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, no additional costs to 
State, local, or tribal governments, or to the private sector, will 
result from this action.

E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism

    This action does not have federalism implications. It will 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.

F. Executive Order 13175: Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments

    This action does not have tribal implications, as specified in 
Executive Order 13175, because 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 and will not 
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal 
law. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not apply to this action.

[[Page 79808]]

G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental 
Health Risks and Safety Risks

    The EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 as applying only to those 
regulatory actions that concern environmental health or safety risks 
that the EPA has reason to believe may disproportionately affect 
children, per the definition of ``covered regulatory action'' in 
section 2-202 of the Executive order. This action is not subject to 
Executive Order 13045 because it does not impose additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by state law.

H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use

    This action is not subject to Executive Order 13211, because it is 
not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866.

I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)

    Section 12(d) of the NTTAA directs the EPA to use voluntary 
consensus standards in its regulatory activities unless to do so would 
be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise impractical. The EPA 
believes that this action is not subject to the requirements of section 
12(d) of the NTTAA because application of those requirements would be 
inconsistent with the CAA.

J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental 
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations

    As described above in section IV, the state evaluated environmental 
justice considerations as part of its SIP submittal for Rule 4311. The 
EPA considered the state's evaluation as part of EPA's review. Due to 
the nature of the action being taken here, this action is expected to 
have a neutral to positive impact on the air quality of the affected 
area. Thus, there is no information in the record inconsistent with the 
stated goals of E.O. 12898 of achieving environmental justice for 
people of color, low-income populations, and indigenous peoples.

K. Congressional Review Act (CRA)

    This action is subject to the CRA, and the EPA will submit a rule 
report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of 
the United States. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 
U.S.C. 804(2).

L. Petitions for Judicial Review

    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 February 27, 2023. 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, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: December 19, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental 
Protection Agency amends Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of 
Federal Regulations as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

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

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

Subpart F--California

0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs (c)(378)(i)(D)(2), 
(c)(564)(i)(A)(2) and (c)(587) to read as follows:


Sec.  52.220  Identification of plan-in part.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (378) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (D) * * *
    (2) Previously approved on November 11, 2011 in paragraph 
(c)(378)(i)(D)(1) of this section and now deleted with replacement in 
(c)(587)(i)(A)(1), Rule 4311 ``Flares,'' amended June 18, 2009.
* * * * *
    (564) * * *
    (i) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (2) Rule 1118.1, ``Control of Emissions from Non-Refinery Flares,'' 
adopted on January 4, 2019.
    (3) [Reserved]
* * * * *
    (587) Amended regulations for the following APCDs were submitted on 
March 12, 2021 by the Governor's designee as an attachment to a letter 
dated March 10, 2021.
    (i) Incorporation by reference. --(A) San Joaquin Valley Unified 
Air Pollution Control District.
    (1) Rule 4311, ``Flares,'' amended on December 17, 2020.
    (2) [Reserved]
    (B) [Reserved]
    (ii) [Reserved]

[FR Doc. 2022-27996 Filed 12-27-22; 8:45 am]
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