Approval of Source-Specific Air Quality Implementation Plan; New York; Sylvamo Ticonderoga Mill

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R02-OAR-2023-0237; FRL 11904-02-R2]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Approval of Source-Specific Air Quality Implementation Plan; New York; Sylvamo Ticonderoga Mill</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 approving a revision to the State of New York's State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) related to a Source-specific SIP (SSSIP) revision for the Sylvamo Ticonderoga Mill (formerly known as International Paper), located at 568 Shore Airport Rd., Ticonderoga, New York (the Facility). The control options in this SSSIP revision implement Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) for nitrogen oxide (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) emissions from the relevant Facility sources, which include one power boiler, one lime kiln, and one recovery furnace. This SSSIP revision is intended to implement NO <E T="52">X</E> RACT for the relevant Facility sources in accordance with the requirements for implementation of the 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS. This action will not interfere with ozone NAAQS requirements and meets all applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The EPA proposed to approve this rule on May 23, 2024, and received two comments, neither of which were relevant to the rulemaking. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective on October 21, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID Number EPA-R02-OAR-2023-0237. 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">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 electronically through <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Stephanie Lin, Air Programs Branch, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 Office, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866, 212-637-3711, or by email at <E T="03">lin.stephanie@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> For additional information on regulatory background and the EPA's technical findings relating to the Facility RACT, the reader can refer to the Technical Support Document (TSD) that is contained in the EPA docket assigned to this <E T="04">Federal Register</E> document. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. What is the background for this action?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Environmental Justice Considerations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. What comments were received in response to the EPA's proposed action?</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 the background for this action?</HD> This action relates to a SSSIP revision that concerns the Facility which is a fully integrated pulp and paper manufacturer of printing papers. The Facility processes hardwood and softwood logs and chips using the kraft pulping process and produces approximately 900 tons per day of uncoated free sheet paper for commercial printing. Converted kraft pulp is washed, bleached, and prepared for finishing by two paper machines. The sources at issue in this action are the Facility's one power boiler, one lime kiln, and one recovery furnace. NYSDEC RACT regulations establish presumptive RACT requirements for these sources in (1) 6 NYCRR part 227, “Stationary Combustion Installations,” subpart 227-2, “Reasonably Available Control Technology for Major Facilities of Oxides of Nitrogen,” last approved by the EPA on July 12, 2013, <E T="03">see</E> 78 FR 41846 (July 12, 2013); and (2) 6 NYCRR part 212, “Process Operations,” subpart 212-3, “Reasonably Available Control Technology for Major Facilities,” last approved by the EPA on October 1, 2021, <E T="03">see</E> 87 FR 54375 (October 1, 2021). However, as explained above, the State regulations allow Source-specific RACT determinations if the presumptive RACT requirements are not technologically or economically feasible; such Source-specific determinations must be submitted to the EPA as a SSSIP revision. This SSSIP revision was submitted by NYSDEC on November 23, 2022, and it replaces and supersedes the SSSIPs that were submitted by the State on September 16, 2008, and August 30, 2010. On May 23, 2024, the EPA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that proposed to approve a SSSIP revision to address NO <E T="52">X</E> RACT emission limits for the one power boiler, one lime kiln, and one recovery furnace for consistency with the CAA and the EPA regulations, as interpreted through EPA actions and guidance. See 89 FR 45616. Specifically, the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking addressed the following: (1) A case-by-case emission limit and RACT control options for the power boiler due to its unique fuel mix; (2) an emission limit for the lime kiln that is not covered by other New York Source-specific RACT regulations, and therefore must follow 6 NYCRR part 212 as a process operation;  <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> and (3) an emission limit for the recovery furnace that is not covered by other Source-specific New York RACT regulations, and therefore must follow 6 NYCRR part 212 as a process operation. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  Under 6 NYCRR part 212, Definitions (18), `Process operation.' Any industrial, institutional, commercial, agricultural or other activity, operation, manufacture or treatment in which chemical, biological and/or physical properties of the material or materials are changed, or in which the material(s) is conveyed or stored without changing the material(s) if the conveyance or storage system is equipped with a vent(s) and is non-mobile, and that emits air contaminants to the outdoor atmosphere. A process operation does not include an open fire, operation of a combustion installation, or incineration of refuse other than by-products or wastes from a process operation(s). </FTNT> The EPA is determining through this final action that the NO <E T="52">X</E> RACT emission limits submitted by the State in this November 23, 2022 SSSIP revision for the Facility's power boiler, lime kiln, and recovery furnace are the lowest emission limits with the application of control technology that are reasonably available given technological and economic feasibility considerations. These respective NO <E T="52">X</E> RACT emission limits are contained in the Facility's title V operating permit, 5-1548-00008/00081, under Condition 52, Condition 78, and Condition 85. This operating permit was issued by the State on March 19, 2022, and expires on March 18, 2027. The specific details for how the NO <E T="52">X</E> emission limits comprise RACT for the power boiler, lime kiln and recovery furnace, and the rationale for the EPA's approval action, are explained in the EPA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking and are not restated in this final action. For this detailed information, the reader is referred to the EPA's Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. 89 FR 45616 (May 23, 2024). <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Environmental Justice Considerations</HD> The State of New York did not evaluate environmental justice considerations as part of its SSSIP submittal. The EPA performed an environmental justice analysis solely for the purpose of providing additional context and transparency to the public. The CAA and applicable implementing regulations neither prohibit nor require an evaluation of environmental justice concerns. Thus, the analysis is not a basis of this action. The EPA created a Community Report (the Report) using Version 2.2 of its Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping tool EJ Screen (EJScreen). EJScreen is EPA's environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining environmental and demographic socioeconomic indicators. EJScreen users choose a geographic area; the tool then provides demographic socioeconomic and environmental information for that area. It is important to understand that EJScreen in not a detailed risk analysis. It is a screening tool that examines some of the relevant issues related to environmental justice, and there is uncertainty in the date included. The Report is contained in the EPA docket assigned to this <E T="04">Federal Register</E> document. The Report addresses a 1-mile ring centered at the Facility. All thirteen EJ Screen environmental indexes are evaluated in the Report: (1) Particulate matter; (2) ozone; (3) diesel particulate matter; (4) air toxics cancer risks; (5) air toxics respiratory health index; (6) toxics releases to air; (7) traffic proximity; (8) lead paint; (9) superfund proximity; (10) risk management plan (RMP) facility proximity; (11) hazardous waste proximity; (12) underground storage tanks; and (13) wastewater discharge. Specific background and source information on these indexes and environmental indicators can be found in the EPA's “EJScreen Technical Documentation for Version 2.2.”  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> We analyze both EJ Indexes and Supplemental Indexes because they offer different perspectives on community level vulnerability based on different factors. The EPA used the National percentile ins ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 21k characters. 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