Air Plan Approval and Disapproval; Pennsylvania; Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Under the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R03-OAR-2019-0562; FRL-11960-02-R3]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval and Disapproval; Pennsylvania; Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) Under the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)</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 revising our December 14, 2020 action that fully approved two state implementation plan (SIP) revisions, both submitted to EPA on August 13, 2018 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, through the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP). Those SIP revisions addressed reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements for the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), including those related to control techniques guidelines (CTGs) for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and the addition of regulations controlling VOC emissions from industrial cleaning solvents. The SIP revisions also included certain clarifying amendments to Pennsylvania code related to major source RACT regulations. Upon reconsideration, EPA is revising our prior action to partially approve and partially disapprove the August 13, 2018 submittals. Specifically, EPA is approving certain clarifying amendments as well as a negative declaration submitted by PADEP. EPA is disapproving the remainder of both SIP submittals related to CTGs and control of VOC emissions from industrial cleaning solvents. This action is being taken under 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> EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2019-0562. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">www.regulations.gov</E> website. Although listed in the index, 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 form. Publicly available docket materials are available through <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> or please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section for additional availability information. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Ellen Schmitt, Planning & Implementation Branch (3AD30), Air & Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1600 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. The telephone number is (215) 814-5787. Ms. Schmitt can also be reached via electronic mail at <E T="03">schmitt.ellen@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> On August 13, 2018, PADEP submitted to EPA two SIP revisions to satisfy certain RACT requirements for sources of VOC emissions required by sections 182(b)(2) and 184(b)(l)(B) of the CAA and the implementing regulations for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS (80 FR 12264, March 6, 2015; 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 51, subpart AA). On December 14, 2020 (85 FR 80616), EPA published a full approval of PADEP's two August 13, 2018 SIP submittals. The approval was challenged in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, and on September 3, 2021, that court granted EPA's request for remand without vacatur of the Agency's final full approval. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> Subsequently, a petitioner filed litigation in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania on May 16, 2023, arguing that EPA had unreasonably delayed in our reconsideration of the final approval of the August 13, 2018 SIP submittals. On December 15, 2023, the court filed a consent decree requiring that EPA complete our reconsideration of the December 14, 2020 final rule by November 15, 2024. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  A copy of the court order is located in the docket for this action. Docket Id. EPA-R03-OAR-2019-0562 in <E T="03">regulations.gov.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  A copy of the court order is located in the docket for this action. Docket Id. EPA-R03-OAR-2019-0562 in <E T="03">regulations.gov.</E> </FTNT> After reconsidering this full approval, EPA proposed to revise our prior action and in a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) (May 17, 2024, 89 FR 43359), the Agency proposed to partially approve and partially disapprove parts of the August 13, 2018 SIP submittals. In the May 2024 NPRM, EPA proposed approval of certain clarifying amendments as well as a negative declaration submitted by PADEP. EPA proposed disapproval of the remainder of both SIP submittals related to CTGs and control of VOC emissions from industrial cleaning solvents. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Summary of SIP Revisions and EPA Analysis</HD> PADEP submitted two SIP submittals to EPA on August 13, 2018. The first of these submittals is entitled “Certification of Reasonably Available Control Technology for Control Techniques Guidelines Under the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards and Incorporation of 25 Pa Code Chapter 122 (Relating to National Standards of Performance for New Stationary Sources) into the Commonwealth's State Implementation Plan.” PADEP submitted this SIP revision for the purposes of meeting the RACT requirements under CAA sections 182(b)(2) and 184(b)(1)(B) and implementing the regulations for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Specifically, this submittal: (1) certifies that PADEP's adoption and implementation of regulations to control VOC emissions is consistent with EPA's CTGs and represents RACT for these covered CTG sources for the 2008 ozone standard; (2) incorporates 25 Pa. Code Chapter 122 (relating to national standards of performance for new stationary sources) into the Pennsylvania SIP and certifies that those provisions continue to represent RACT for facilities subject to such standards of performance; and (3) incorporates specific permit conditions from certain facilities for the purpose of establishing source-specific RACT-level controls for those facilities. The second August 13, 2018 SIP submittal, entitled “Control of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Industrial Cleaning Solvents; General Provisions; Aerospace Manufacturing and Rework; Additional RACT Requirements for Major Sources of NO <E T="52">X</E> and VOCs,” includes: (1) the addition of 25 Pa. Code 129.63a (relating to the control of VOC from industrial cleaning solvents (ICS)); (2) amendments to 25 Pa. Code sections 121.1 and 129.51 (definitions and “general” provisions, respectively) in order to support the addition and implementation of 25 Pa. Code section 129.63a; (3) an administrative numbering correction a number correction to the VOC emission limit table in 25 Pa. Code section 129.73 (relating to aerospace manufacturing and re-work); and (4) amendments to 25 Pa. Code sections 129.96, 129.97, 129.99, and 129.100 to clarify certain requirements and to update the list of exemptions. After reconsideration, EPA, in our 89 FR 43359, May 17, 2024 NPRM, proposed a partial disapproval and partial approval of the August 13, 2018 SIP submittals. In the NPRM associated with this action, EPA proposed to determine that the Agency erred in previously approving: the CTG portion of PADEP's RACT certification SIP, PADEP's determination that NSPS provisions meet CTG requirements and therefore are sufficient to implement RACT, <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> PADEP's determination that particular emission limitations in certain permits constitute RACT, and PADEP's determination that the 2006 ICS CTG is equal to RACT for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQs. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> As explained in greater detail in our May 17, 2024 NPRM, PADEP failed in their August 13, 2018 SIP submittals to provide a sufficiently robust and well-developed record for their RACT determinations. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  While EPA proposed to disapprove PADEP's determination that NSPS provisions meet RACT requirements, the Agency did not propose to disapprove PADEP's request to incorporate by reference the NSPS requirements on their own. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  EPA also proposed to disapprove PADEP's amendments to 25 Pa. Code sections 121.1 and 129.51 as they support the addition and implementation of section 129.63a, which EPA proposed to disapprove. </FTNT> The May 2024 NPRM proposed to retain our approval of PADEP's negative declaration for one CTG source category, “Control of Volatile Organic Compound Emissions from Large Petroleum Dry Cleaners,”  <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> as there are no sources in Pennsylvania (excluding Philadelphia County and Allegheny County). <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> In our May 17, 2024 NPRM, we also proposed to retain our approval of PADEP's amendments to 25 Pa. Code sections 122.1, 122.2, 122.3, 129.73, 129.96, 129.97, 129.99, and 129.100, as these amendments do not impact how PADEP determined that RACT was met by certain sources. <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  EPA-450/3-82-009; September 1982. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>  The record in our original action in support of this negative declaration, as discussed in that action (85 FR at 80617, December 14, 2020, and the associated technical support document (TSD)), was sufficiently robust and well-developed. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. EPA's Response to Comments Received</HD> <E T="03">Comments:</E> EPA received comments from one commenter, PADEP. In their comments, PADEP states that the Department “continues to certify that their current VOC CTG based rul ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 26k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━