ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
<CFR>40 CFR Parts 52 and 70</CFR>
<DEPDOC>[EPA-R07-OAR-2024-0025; FRL-11676-01-R7]</DEPDOC>
<SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; Nebraska; Revisions to Title 129 of the Nebraska Administrative Code; Nebraska Air Quality Regulations</SUBJECT>
<HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD>
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
<HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD>
Proposed rule.
<SUM>
<HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD>
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve revisions to the Nebraska State Implementation Plan (SIP), Operating Permits Program, and 112(l) Plan. The revisions were submitted by the State of Nebraska on December 2, 2022. This proposed action will amend the SIP to revise Nebraska air quality regulations and will add specific definitions from a Nebraska statute. These proposed changes include new and renumbered rules, the consolidation of 43 chapters into 16 chapters, replacement of duplicative language with references to state statute and federal regulation, revisions to reflect changes to state and federal law, and other changes to state regulations. The EPA's proposed approval of this rule revision is in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
</SUM>
<DATES>
<HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD>
Comments must be received on or before July 3, 2024.
</DATES>
<HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD>
You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2024-0025 to
<E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E>
Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
<E T="03">Instructions:</E>
All submissions received must include the Docket ID No. for this rulemaking. Comments received will be posted without change to
<E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E>
including any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, see the “Written Comments” heading of the
<E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E>
section of this document.
<FURINF>
<HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD>
William Stone, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 7 Office, Air Permitting and Planning Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219; telephone number: (913) 551-7714; email address:
<E T="03">stone.william@epa.gov.</E>
</FURINF>
<SUPLINF>
<HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD>
Throughout this document “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the EPA.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD>
<EXTRACT>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Written Comments</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. What is being addressed in this document?</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. What action is the EPA taking?</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Incorporation by Reference</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP>
</EXTRACT>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Written Comments</HD>
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2024-0025, at
<E T="03"> https://www.regulations.gov.</E>
Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
<E T="03">Regulations.gov</E>
. 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 (
<E T="03">i.e.</E>
on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit
<E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E>
<HD SOURCE="HD1">II. What is being addressed in this document?</HD>
The EPA is proposing to amend Nebraska's SIP and Operating Permits Program to include revisions to title 129 of the Nebraska Administrative Code and to add specific definitions from Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1502. The EPA is proposing to approve revisions to the Nebraska SIP received on December 2, 2022. The revisions are to Title 129—Nebraska Air Quality Regulations and include specific definitions from Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1502. These proposed changes include new and renumbered rules, the consolidation of 43 chapters into 16 chapters, replacement of duplicative language with references to state statute and federal regulation, approval of specific definitions in state statute, revisions to reflect changes to state and federal law, and other changes to state regulations.
In addition to the changes discussed above, the state's revision to title 129 includes state rules that allow small projects to start construction prior to receiving a construction permit. To be eligible for this program, the new source or modification to an existing source must not be subject to Nonattainment New Source Review (NSR), case-by-case Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) or Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) or be a source seeking federally enforceable permit restrictions to avoid review under Nonattainment NSR, case-by-case MACT or PSD. The source is prohibited from operating until a construction permit has been issued. Since the source is not allowed to hook up the equipment to the exhaust stack or operate the equipment in any way that may emit any pollutant prior to receiving a construction permit, there is no change to emissions or air quality as a result of these revisions. Nebraska Department of Environment and Energy's (NDEE's) requirements for reviewing the permit application and protecting air quality are unchanged by these revisions. In the Technical Support Document (TSD) for Chapter 3 included in the docket for this action, we include more information about this change.
This revision is in compliance with federal requirements, including: (1) CAA section 110(a)(2)(c), which requires states to include a minor NSR program in their SIP to regulate modifications and new construction of stationary sources within the area as necessary to assure the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are achieved; (2) The regulatory requirements under 40 CFR 51.160, including § 51.160(b), which requires states to have legally enforceable procedures to prevent construction or modification of a source if it would violate any SIP control strategies or interfere with attainment or maintenance of the NAAQS; and (3) the statutory requirements under CAA section 110(l), which provides that the EPA cannot approve a SIP revision if the revision would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further
progress, or any other applicable requirement of the CAA.
The state also revised the carbon monoxide threshold for minor construction permitting from 50 tons per year to 100 tons per year. In the TSD for Chapter 3 included in the docket for this action, we explain how allowing NDEE to increase the permitting threshold for Carbon Monoxide (CO) for minor construction permits meets the requirements of section 110(l) of the CAA. The summary includes the state's monitoring and emissions trends for CO and an explanation of how Nebraska's construction permitting program protects protect air quality in Nebraska from exceeding the NAAQS. In this analysis we also stated that the state of Nebraska operates two CO monitors and both are in attainment for the 1-hour and 8-hour 1971 CO NAAQS, with design values less than 16% of the 8-hour NAAQS.
In addition, title 129 has been revised to include an exemption to emission standards for oxides of nitrogen at nitric acid production installations if the installation is subject to 40 CFR part 60 Subpart Ga Standards of Performance for Nitric Acid Plants for Which Construction, Reconstruction, or Modification Commenced After October 14, 2011 or other more stringent federal standards or a more stringent permit limit. Section 110(l) of the CAA states that EPA cannot approve a SIP revision if the revision would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress (RFP), or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. The new exemptions to the nitrogen oxide limit of this regulation only apply to sources subject to the NSPS or other more stringent limits. This means that any source that becomes exempt from the nitrogen oxide limit in title 129, is controlled for this pollutant by the NSPS or other more stringent limits. In addition to this regulatory backstop EPA acknowledges that the state of Nebraska in currently in attainment with all NAAQS. For these reasons, we find that this action will not interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress (as defined in section 171 of the CAA), or any other applicable requirement of the CAA as required under section 110(l). This change is further explained the TSD for Chapter 16.
This action also proposes to remove the total reduced sulfur (TRS) ambient standard from the SIP. On April 16, 2024, Nebraska requested that EPA not approve this portion of Chapter 2 from the December 2, 2022 submission. This standard was approved into the SIP initially in Chapter 4, but has no federal basis, so the state has proposed to remove it from the SIP, but retain it as a state only standard. Because Nebraska's December 2, 2022 submission requested that the EPA replace rules that were approved in the SIP with the amended title 129 rules, and because Nebraska has withdrawn the amended title 129 rules related to TRS, the EPA proposes to remove rules related to TRS from the SIP. In th
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