Air Plan Approval; Pennsylvania; Oil and Natural Gas Control Measures for 2008 and 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R03-OAR-2023-0300; FRL-11403-02-R3]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; Pennsylvania; Oil and Natural Gas Control Measures for 2008 and 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards</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 state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The revision establishes and requires reasonably available control technology (RACT) requirements for the 2008 and 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for each category of volatile organic compound (VOC) sources in Pennsylvania covered by the EPA's 2016 Control Techniques Guidelines (CTG) for the oil and gas industry. EPA is also approving Allegheny County, Pennsylvania's SIP revision, which incorporates by reference the above Pennsylvania regulations for the 2016 CTG for oil and gas into the Allegheny County SIP with minor changes to reference Allegheny County's existing regulations. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective on October 31, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2023-0300. 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> Michael O'Shea, 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) 814-2064. Dr. O'Shea can also be reached via electronic mail at <E T="03">oshea.michael@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> On December 12, 2022, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) submitted a revision to its SIP establishing RACT requirements for the 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS to control VOC emissions from sources covered by EPA's 2016 CTG for the oil and gas industry. On September 8, 2023, PADEP submitted, on behalf of Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD), a revision to the Allegheny County SIP (Allegheny County SIP submission/submittal) incorporating by reference (IBR) the aforementioned Pennsylvania regulations. <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> On June 28, 2024 (89 FR 53932), EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Allegheny County. In the NPRM, EPA proposed approval of Pennsylvania's SIP submittal and ACHD's SIP submittal. The formal SIP revisions were submitted by Pennsylvania on December 12, 2022 and by PADEP on behalf of ACHD on September 8, 2023. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The Pennsylvania submittal establishes RACT requirements for the 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS for each category of VOC sources in Pennsylvania covered by EPA's October 27, 2016 “Final Control Techniques Guidelines for the Oil and Natural Gas Industry” (EPA's 2016 Oil and Gas CTG) (81 FR 74798). The Allegheny County, Pennsylvania submittal addresses the same CTG by incorporating the Pennsylvania regulations into the Allegheny County SIP with minor changes to reference Allegheny County's existing regulations. These SIP revisions were submitted to meet the requirement in CAA section 182(b)(2)(A) and (B) that states with ozone nonattainment areas classified as Moderate or above must revise their SIPs to include provisions to implement RACT for each category of VOC sources covered by a CTG document. CAA section 184(b)(1)(B) also extends this RACT obligation to all areas of states within the Ozone Transport Region (OTR). The entire state of Pennsylvania is within the OTR (See CAA section 184(a)), and has one ozone nonattainment area classified as moderate or above. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> A more complete discussion of the purpose and history of these SIP revisions can be found in EPA's NPRM. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  The PADEP and ACHD SIP submittals are located in the docket for this final rule and can be found under Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2023-0300 at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  The Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE area is classified as Serious nonattainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS ( <E T="03">See</E> 89 FR 61025 (July 30, 2024)). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Summary of the SIP Revisions and EPA's Analysis</HD> Pennsylvania's and Allegheny County's SIP submissions included two separate sets of nearly identical regulations for two types of oil and natural gas sources as defined by Pennsylvania and Allegheny County: “conventional” oil and gas sources, and “unconventional” oil and gas sources. EPA's 2016 Oil and Gas CTG does not distinguish between the two types of sources. Despite being separate, both regulations (Regulation #7-544, entitled “Control of VOC Emissions from Unconventional Oil and Natural Gas Sources,” and Regulation #7-580, entitled “Control of VOC Emissions from Conventional Oil and Natural Gas Sources,”)  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> are nearly identical and have no technical differences. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> ACHD is incorporating by reference the requirements of regulations 7-544 and 7-580 into Allegheny County's regulations. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  The NPRM incorrectly identified Regulation #7-544 as Conventional well regulations and Regulation #7-580 as Unconventional regulations. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  Both final regulations can be found in the Pennsylvania Bulletin at 52 Pa. B. 7635, and 52 Pa. B. 7587 (December 10, 2022), at <E T="03">www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol52/52-50/1925.html&d=reduce</E> (conventional) and <E T="03">www.pacodeandbulletin.gov/Display/pabull?file=/secure/pabulletin/data/vol52/52-50/1924.html&d=reduce</E> (unconventional). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  The ACHD Rules and Regulations in Article XXI, Air Pollution Controls, are amended. The SIP revision adds § 2105.87, “Control of VOC Emissions from Unconventional and Conventional Oil and Natural Gas Industry Sources,” to Article XXI. Section 2105.87 IBRs PADEP's final regulations, which are found at 52 Pa.B. 5287 and 52 Pa.B. 7635. </FTNT> Regulation #7-580 amends 25 Pennsylvania Code (Pa. Code) Chapter 129 by adding provisions (sections 129.131 through 129.140) imposing RACT-level controls for VOC emissions from certain sources within “conventional” oil and natural gas operations, including recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Regulation #7-544 amends 25 Pa. Code Chapters 121 and 129 by adding provisions (sections 129.121 through 129.130) imposing RACT-level VOC emissions controls for certain sources in “unconventional” oil and natural gas operations, including recordkeeping and reporting requirements. Both sets of regulations apply to similar sources of VOC emissions, including pneumatic controllers, diaphragm pumps, compressors, fugitive emission components, and storage vessels within certain areas. EPA reviewed Pennsylvania's and Allegheny County's SIP submissions containing regulations establishing RACT requirements for categories of sources identified in EPA's 2016 Oil and Gas CTG for both the 2008 and 2015 Ozone NAAQS, and proposed to approve these submissions as SIP revisions in our June 28, 2024 NPRM. A full discussion of EPA's rationale for approving these SIP submissions is available in the NPRM and also in the EPA's technical support document (TSD) accompanying the NPRM, which is in the docket for this action. EPA's analysis included a discussion of PADEP's economic feasibility analyses for sources covered by the CTG recommendations and of PADEP's comparison of their regulations to those adopted by other states and localities. EPA's analysis also compared requirements for testing, recordkeeping, and reporting of information in PADEP's oil and gas regulations to the 2016 Oil and Gas CTG's recommendations. Other specific requirements of the RACT SIPs and the rationale for EPA's proposed action are explained in more detail in the NPRM and the TSD. The NPRM and TSD are available in the docket for this rule at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2023-0300. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. EPA's Response to Comments Received</HD> EPA received two comments on the proposed rulemaking. One of the comments is not relevant to this action and will not be addressed. Our response to the relevant comment is below. Both comments are available in the docket for this action. <E T="03">Comment:</E> One commentor was supportive of the proposed revisions. They outlined the impact of air quality on daily life and the impact of reducing VOCs. Overall, the commentor supported the action. <E T="03">Response:</E> EPA thanks the commentor for this supportive comment. <HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. Final Action</HD> EPA is approving Pennsylvania's December 12, 2022 SIP submittal and Allegheny County's September 8, 2023 SIP submittal as satisfying the ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 28k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━