<RULE>
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
<CFR>40 CFR Parts 52 and 70</CFR>
<DEPDOC>[EPA-R07-OAR-2024-0025; FRL-11676-02-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>
Final rule.
<SUM>
<HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD>
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP), Operating Permits Program, and 112(l) Plan for the State of Nebraska. This final action will amend the SIP to revise Nebraska air quality regulations and will add specific definitions from a Nebraska statute. These 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 approval of this rule revision is in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
</SUM>
<EFFDATE>
<HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD>
This final rule is effective on September 16, 2024.
</EFFDATE>
<HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD>
The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2024-0025. All documents in the docket are listed on the
<E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E>
website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available,
<E T="03">i.e.,</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 form. Publicly available docket materials are available through
<E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E>
or please contact the person identified in the
<E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E>
section for additional information.
<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 EPA.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD>
<EXTRACT>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. What is being addressed in this document?</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?</FP>
<FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. The EPA's Response to Comments</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. What is being addressed in this document?</HD>
The EPA is amending 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 approving 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 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.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?</HD>
The State's submission has met the public notice requirements for SIP submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submission also satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. The State provided public notice on this SIP revision from February 23, 2022 to March 29, 2022, and held a public hearing on March 30, 2022 and received no comments. In addition, as explained above and in more detail in the TSD which is part of this docket, the revision meets the substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, including CAA section 110 and implementing regulations.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">III. The EPA's Response to Comments</HD>
The public comment period on the EPA's proposed rule opened June 3, 2024, the date of its publication in the
<E T="04">Federal Register</E>
, and closed on July 3, 2024 (89 FR 47504). During this period, EPA received one comment. The comment did not identify a specific issue that was germane to our proposed rule. The comment can be found in the docket for this action.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. What action is the EPA taking?</HD>
We are amending the Nebraska SIP and Operating Permit Program by approving the State's request to revise Title 129—Nebraska Air Quality Regulations and certain definitions in Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1502.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">V. Incorporation by Reference</HD>
In this document, 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 Nebraska rules:
• Chapter 1—General Provisions; Definitions, which provides general provisions and definitions for air quality regulations;
• Chapter 2—Nebraska Air Quality Standards, which lists the ambient air quality standards;
• Chapter 3—Construction Permits, which regulates air construction permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 4—Prevention Of Significant Deterioration of Air Quality (PSD) which regulates PSD permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 6—Operating Permits which regulates air operating permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 7—General Permits which regulates air general permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 8—Permits-By-Rule which regulates air permit-by-rule permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 9—Permit Revisions; Reopening For Cause which regulates air permit revisions in Nebraska;
• Chapter 10—Permits—Public Participation which regulates public notice requirements for air permitting in Nebraska;
• Chapter 11—Emissions Reporting, When Required which regulates air emissions inventory in Nebraska;
• Chapter 14—Incinerators, Emission Standards which regulates emissions from incinerators in Nebraska;
• Chapter 15—Compliance which regulates compliance with air regulations in Nebraska;
• Chapter 16—Sulfur Compound and Nitrogen Oxides Emissions Standards which regulates emissions of sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides in Nebraska;
• Appendix I—Hazardous Air Pollutants Sorted by CAS Number which lists the hazardous air pollutants;
• Appendix II—Air Pollution Emergency Episodes which explains Nebraska's emergency episode procedures; and
• Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1502—Terms, Defined which contains definitions for Nebraska's air quality regulations.
The state effective date of these rules is September 28, 2022. The state effective date of Nebraska Revised Statute 81-1502 is March 21, 2019. The EPA has made, and will continue to make, these materials generally available through
<E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E>
and at the EPA Region 7 Office (please contact the person identified in the
<E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E>
section of this preamble for more information).
Also, in this document, as described in the amendments to 40 CFR part 52 set forth below, EPA is removing provisions of the EPA-Approved Nebraska Regulations and Statutes from the Nebraska State Implementation Plan, which is incorporated by reference in accordance with the requirements of 1 CFR part 51.
<HD SOURCE="HD1">VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</HD>
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this 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 14094 (88 FR 21879, April 11, 2023);
• Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501
<E T="03">et seq.</E>
);
• 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
<E T="03">et seq.</E>
);
• 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 subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) because it approves a state program;
• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
• 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 CAA.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does no
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