Air Plan Approval; North Dakota; Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan; Regional Haze Five Year Progress Report and Nitrogen Oxides Best Available Retrofit Technology Determination for Coal Creek Station for the First Implementation Period

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R08-OAR-2023-0641; FRL-12157-01-R8]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; North Dakota; Approval of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Regional Haze State Implementation Plan; Regional Haze Five Year Progress Report and Nitrogen Oxides Best Available Retrofit Technology Determination for Coal Creek Station for the First Implementation Period</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 certain portions of State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the State of North Dakota (North Dakota) on January 12, 2015, and August 11, 2022, to address regional haze. Specifically, the EPA is proposing to approve North Dakota's nitrogen oxides (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) determination for Coal Creek Station power plant (Coal Creek) for the first implementation period of the regional haze program and North Dakota's five-year regional haze progress report. This action addresses the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit's September 23, 2012 vacatur and remand of the portion of the EPA's 2012 Regional Haze Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) that promulgated a BART emission limit of 0.13 lb/MMBtu NO <E T="52">X</E> (30-day rolling average) for Coal Creek. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Written comments must be received on or before September 13, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R08-OAR-2023-0641, to the Federal Rulemaking Portal: <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from <E T="03">https://www.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://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> <E T="03">Docket:</E> All documents in the docket are listed in the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. Publicly available docket materials are available electronically in <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Please email or call the person listed in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section if you need to make alternative arrangements for access to the docket. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Holly DeJong, Air and Radiation Division, EPA, Region 8, Mailcode 8ARD-IO, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129, telephone number: (303) 312-6241, email address: <E T="03">dejong.holly@epa.gov;</E> or Joe Stein, Air and Radiation Division, EPA, Region 8, Mailcode 8ARD-IO, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-1129, telephone number: (303) 312-7078, email address: <E T="03">stein.joseph@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document wherever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, we mean the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. What action is the EPA proposing?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Legal Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Requirements of the Clean Air Act and the EPA's Regional Haze Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Best Available Retrofit Technology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Long-Term Strategy and Reasonable Progress Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Progress Report Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Consultation With Federal Land Managers</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. North Dakota's Regional Haze SIP Submittals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. August 11, 2022 SIP Submittal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2"> C. North Dakota's NO <E T="52">X</E> BART Determination </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Costs of Compliance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Energy and Non-Air Quality Environmental Impacts of Compliance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Pollution Control Equipment at the Source</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">4. Remaining Useful Life</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">5. Visibility Improvement</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">6. BART Demonstration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. January 12, 2015 Progress Report SIP Submittal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. North Dakota's Five-Year Progress Report Determination</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2"> IV. The EPA's Evaluation and Proposed Approval of North Dakota's NO <E T="52">X</E> BART Determination for Coal Creek Station Units 1 and 2 </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Basis of the EPA's Proposed Approval</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Costs of Compliance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">i. North Dakota's Selection of Baseline Emission Rates</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">ii. North Dakota's Characterization of Costs Using the Control Cost Manual</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">iii. Costs Associated With the Installation of New Controls</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Energy and Non-Air Quality Impacts of Compliance</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Pollution Control Equipment at the Source</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">4. Remaining Useful Life of Any Potentially Affected Sources</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">5. Visibility Improvement Anticipated to Result From Controls</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2"> 6. Summary of the EPA's Evaluation of North Dakota's NO <E T="52">X</E> BART Determination for Coal Creek Station Units 1 and 2 </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Clean Air Act Section 110(l)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Coordination With FLMs</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. The EPA's Evaluation of North Dakota's Five-Year Progress Report</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Summary of the EPA's Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Environmental Justice</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VIII. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IX. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. What action is the EPA proposing?</HD> On January 12, 2015, North Dakota submitted a SIP revision to address the regional haze program requirements to submit periodic progress reports under 40 CFR 51.308(g) and 40 CFR 51.308(h) (2015 progress report). On August 11, 2022, as part of a SIP revision North Dakota submitted to address regional haze for the second implementation period, the State also included a revised first implementation period NO <E T="52">X</E> BART determination for Coal Creek, pursuant to CAA section 169A, CAA section 169B, 40 CFR 51.308(f), and 40 CFR part 51, appendix Y (2022 SIP submittal). The EPA is proposing to approve North Dakota's 2015 progress report, and the portion of North Dakota's 2022 SIP submittal relating to the first implementation period NO <E T="52">X</E> BART determination for Coal Creek. The EPA will act on the portion of North Dakota's 2022 SIP submittal relating to the second implementation period requirements in a separate action. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Legal Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Requirements of the Clean Air Act and the EPA's Regional Haze Rule</HD> In section 169A of the CAA, Congress created a program for protecting visibility in national parks and wilderness areas. This section of the CAA establishes “as a national goal the prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I Federal areas which impairment results from manmade air pollution.”  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  42 U.S.C. 7491(a). Areas designated as mandatory Class I Federal areas consist of national parks exceeding 6,000 acres, wilderness areas and national memorial parks exceeding 5,000 acres, and all international parks that were in existence on August 7, 1977. 42 U.S.C. 7472(a). In accordance with section 169A of the CAA, the EPA, in consultation with the Department of Interior, promulgated a list of 156 areas where visibility is identified as an important value. 44 FR 69122 (November 30, 1979). The extent of a mandatory Class I area includes subsequent changes in boundaries, such as park expansions. 42 U.S.C. 7472(a). Although States and tribes may designate as Class I additional areas whose visibility they consider to be an important value, the requirements of the visibility program set forth in section 169A of the CAA apply only to “mandatory Class I Federal areas.” Each mandatory Class I Federal area is the responsibility of a “Federal Land Manager.” 42 U.S.C. 7602(i). When we use the term “Class I area” in this action, we mean a “mandatory Class I Federal area.” </FTNT> The EPA promulgated a rule to address regional haze on July 1, 1999. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> The Regional Haze Rule revised the existing visibility regulations  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> to integrate provisions addressing regional haze and established a comprehensive visibility protection program for Class I Federa ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 117k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━