Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 63</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0330; FRL-4908.1-02-OAR]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2060-AV20</RIN> <SUBJECT>Review of Final Rule Reclassification of Major Sources as Area Sources Under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The EPA is finalizing requirements for sources that reclassify from major source status to area source status under the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) program. The requirements of this final rule apply to all sources that choose to reclassify after September 10, 2024. The final amendments include a requirement that sources subject to certain major source NESHAP used to meet the Agency's obligations under the Clean Air Act (CAA) for seven specific persistent and bioaccumulative pollutants must remain subject to those NESHAP even if the sources reclassify to area source status. This requirement is based on the EPA's analysis of the statute and of comments received on the EPA's 2023 proposal to amend requirements for NESHAP-regulated sources that choose to reclassify from major to area source status. These final amendments will assure that sources accounting for not less than 90 per centum of the aggregate emissions of each persistent and bioaccumulative hazardous air pollutant (HAP) listed in CAA remain subject to standards promulgated under the CAA, as the Act requires, and will thereby ensure continued health protections from NESHAP that regulate those HAP. Additionally, we are finalizing clarifications to notification requirements and updating language regarding submittal of confidential business information. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective September 10, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0330. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/</E> website. Although listed, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> Confidential Business Information 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 either electronically through <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/,</E> or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room Number 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room hours of operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST), Monday through Friday. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the EPA Docket Center is (202) 566-1742. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For questions about this final action, contact U.S. EPA, Attn: Nathan Topham, Mail Drop: D243-02, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12055, RTP, North Carolina 27711; telephone number: (919) 541-0483; email address: <E T="03">topham.nathan@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <E T="03">Preamble acronyms and abbreviations.</E> Throughout this action the use of “we,” “us,” or “our” is intended to refer to the EPA. We use multiple acronyms and terms in this preamble. While this list may not be exhaustive, to ease the reading of this preamble and for reference purposes, the EPA defines the following terms and acronyms here: <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CAA Clean Air Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CRA Congressional Review Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">CDX Central Data Exchange</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ERT Electronic Reporting Tool</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">FR Federal Register</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">HAP hazardous air pollutants(s)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">ICR Information Collection Request</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">MACT maximum achievable control technology</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">MM2A Major MACT to Area</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NESHAP national emission standards for hazardous air pollutants</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">NTTAA National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">PRA Paperwork Reduction Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RFA Regulatory Flexibility Act</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">RIN Regulatory Information Number</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">tpy tons per year</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-1">UMRA Unfunded Mandates Reform Act</FP> </EXTRACT> <E T="03">Background information.</E> On September 27, 2023, the EPA proposed revisions to the NESHAP General Provisions of 40 CFR part 63. In this action, we are finalizing certain decisions and revisions for the NESHAP General Provisions based on the 2023 proposal and in response to comments. Other proposed options are still being considered for possible future action, as discussed below. We summarize the comments we timely received regarding aspects of the proposed rule that are directly related to this final rule and provide our responses in this preamble. A “track changes” version of the regulatory language that incorporates the changes in this action is available in the docket. <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. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Judicial Review and Administrative Reconsideration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What is the statutory authority for this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What actions has the EPA taken under section 112(c)(6)?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What actions has the EPA taken dealing with major source reclassifications?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. What did we propose on September 27, 2023, regarding sources choosing to reclassify?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. What is included in this final rule?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What are the amendments to the General Provisions of 40 CFR part 63 promulgated as part of this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What are the effective and compliance dates of the standards?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. What is the rationale for our final decisions and amendments for the General Provisions of 40 CFR part 63?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Requirements and Limitations on Reclassification</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Other Aspects of the September 2023 Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive Order 14094: Modernizing Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Executive Order 13211: Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations and Executive Order 14096: Revitalizing Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. Congressional Review Act (CRA)</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. General Information</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Does this action apply to me?</HD> <E T="03">Regulated entities.</E> Categories and entities potentially impacted by this rule include major sources of HAP that are subject to certain major source NESHAP requirements and that reclassify from a major to an area source of HAP pursuant to the requirements in 40 CFR part 63, subpart A, implementing section 112 of the CAA. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of any aspect of this final rule, please contact the appropriate person listed in the preceding <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section of this preamble. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</HD> In addition to being available in the docket, an electronic copy of this final action will also be available on the internet. Following signature by the EPA Administrator, the EPA will post a copy of this final action at: <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/reclassification-major-sources-area-sources-under-section-112.</E> Following publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> (FR), the EPA will post the FR version and key technical documents at this same website. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. Judicial Review and Administrative Reconsideration</HD> Under CAA section 307(b)(1), judicial review of this final action is available only by filing a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (the Court) by November 12, 2024. Under CAA section 307(b)(2), the requirements established by this final rule may not be challenged separately in any civil or criminal proceedings brought by the EPA to enforce the requirements established herein. Section 307(d)(7)(B) of the CAA further provides that only an objection to a rule or procedure which was raised with reasonable specificity duri ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 113k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━