Petition To Remove the Stationary Combustion Turbines Source Category From the List of Categories of Major Sources of Hazardous Air Pollutants

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 63</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-0408; FRL-7821-02-OAR]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2060-AU78</RIN> <SUBJECT>Petition To Remove the Stationary Combustion Turbines Source Category From the List of Categories of Major Sources of Hazardous Air Pollutants</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notification of denial of petition to delist. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The U.S Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing the Agency's decision to deny a petition requesting the removal of the Stationary Combustion Turbines source category from the list of categories of major sources of hazardous air pollutants (HAP) subject to regulation the Clean Air Act (CAA). The petition was submitted jointly by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Public Power Association, the Gas Turbine Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (“the petitioners”). The EPA is denying the petition based on the EPA's determination that the petition is incomplete and because we have found that the submitted information is inadequate to determine that no source in the category emits HAP in quantities that may cause a lifetime risk of cancer greater than 1-in-1 million to the individual in the population who is most exposed to emissions of such pollutants from the source. We have reached this decision based on review of the risk analysis and other information submitted by petitioners and on consideration of turbine testing results received from a CAA information request. The EPA is denying the petition with prejudice and will deny any future petition to delist as a matter of law unless such future petition is accompanied by substantial new information or analysis. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed June 17, 2024. See <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> for filing information. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> In addition to being available in the docket, an electronic copy of this action is available on the internet. Following signature, the EPA will post a copy of this action at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/stationary-combustion-turbines-national-emission-standards.</E> Following publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> , the EPA will post the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> version of this action at this same website. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For questions about this action contact Ms. Angela M. Ortega, Sector Policies and Programs Division (D243-01), Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, P.O. Box 12055, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711; telephone number: (919) 541-4197; and email address: <E T="03">ortega.angela@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Docket.</E> The EPA has established a docket for this rulemaking under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2020-0408. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> All documents in the docket are listed in <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Although listed, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> 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. With the exception of such material, publicly available docket materials are available electronically in <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  As explained in a memorandum to the docket, the docket for this action includes the documents and information in Docket ID Nos. EPA-HQ-OAR-2017-0688 (Stationary Combustion Turbines NESHAP Risk and Technology Review), EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0196 (Proposal to stay the enforcement of the combustion turbines National Emission Standards Hazardous Air Pollutants for new sources in the lean premix gas-fired turbines and diffusion flame gas-fired turbines subcategories), EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0189 (Proposal to delist four subcategories from the Stationary Combustion Turbines source category), and EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0060 (National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Stationary Combustion Turbines). </FTNT> <E T="03">Judicial review.</E> Section 307(b)(1) of the CAA governs judicial review of final actions by the EPA. This section provides, in part, that petitions for review must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit: (i) when the Agency action consists of “nationally applicable regulations promulgated, or final actions taken, by the Administrator,” or (ii) when such action is locally or regionally applicable, but “such action is based on a determination of nationwide scope or effect and if in taking such action the Administrator finds and publishes that such action is based on such a determination.” For locally or regionally applicable final actions, the CAA reserves to the EPA complete discretion to decide whether to invoke the exception in (ii). <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>   <E T="03">Sierra Club</E> v. <E T="03">EPA,</E> 47 F.4th 738, 745 (D.C. Cir. 2022) (“EPA's decision whether to make and publish a finding of nationwide scope or effect is committed to the agency's discretion and thus is unreviewable”); <E T="03">Texas</E> v. <E T="03">EPA,</E> 983 F.3d 826, 834-35 (5th Cir. 2020). </FTNT> This final action is “nationally applicable” within the meaning of CAA section 307(b)(1). In this final action, the Administrator is denying a petition to delist the entire Stationary Combustion Turbines source category under CAA section 112(c)(9)(B). This action results in the continued applicability of the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Stationary Combustion Turbines to all turbines meeting the rule's applicability criteria located in any state in the nation. For these reasons, this final action is nationally applicable. 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 District of Columbia Circuit within 60 days from April 16, 2024. Filing a petition for reconsideration of this final action by the Administrator 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 must be filed and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. Under CAA section 307(b)(2) (42 U.S.C. 7607(b)(2)), the requirements established by this final action may not be challenged separately in any civil or criminal proceedings brought by the EPA to enforce the requirements. <E T="03">Organization of this document.</E> The information in this preamble is organized as follows: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. General Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What action is the EPA taking?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Background Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Treatment of Petitions To Delist a Source Category From Regulation Under CAA Section 112</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What is a source category delisting petition and what are the criteria for delisting a source category?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What is the process for delisting a source category?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Risk Review Methodology and Findings</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. The EPA's Risk Assessment Methodology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. The EPA's 2020 Risk Review Findings</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. CAA Section 114 Information Request</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Evaluation of the Petition</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Description of the Petition</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Petitioners' Risk Assessment Methodology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Basis for Emission Estimates</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. HAP and Turbines Not Included in Petition</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. What is the rationale for denying the petition?</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. General Information</HD> The EPA has received, has reviewed, and is now denying a petition that requests the removal of a source category from the list of major source categories of HAP, under CAA section 112. In section I.A., we summarize the action we are taking today. In section I.B., we provide information about the NESHAP program set forth in CAA section 112 and the regulatory history and information for the source category at issue. In section II., we discuss the delisting criteria outlined in the CAA and the Agency's process for delisting a source category. Section III. discusses the EPA's residual risk review methodologies and findings in the 2020 Stationary Combustion Turbines NESHAP Risk and Technology Review (2020 RTR) as well as the CAA section 114 information request that the EPA issued subsequent to the 2020 RTR. Section IV. presents the details of the petition to delist and the Agency's technical evaluation of the petition. Finally, in section V., we discuss the EPA's response to the petition. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. What action is the EPA taking?</HD> This action presents the Agency's decision to deny a petition requesting the removal of the Stationary Combustion Turbines source category from the list of categories of major sources of HAP subject to regulation under CAA section 112. The petition was submitted jointly by American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, the American Petroleum Institute, the American Public Power Association, the Gas Turbine Association, the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (“ ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 96k characters. 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