Removal of Affirmative Defense Provisions From the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Oil and Natural Gas Production Facility and Natural Gas Transmission and Storage Facility Source Categories

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 63</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0406; FRL-10652-02-OAR]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2060-AV97</RIN> <SUBJECT>Removal of Affirmative Defense Provisions From the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Oil and Natural Gas Production Facility and Natural Gas Transmission and Storage Facility Source Categories</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 amendments to the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the oil and gas industry issued under the Clean Air Act (CAA). Specifically, the EPA is finalizing removal of the affirmative defense provisions in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for both the Oil and Natural Gas Production source category and the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage source category. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This final rule is effective October 22, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA has established a docket for this rulemaking under Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0406. 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 (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 as pdf versions that can only be accessed on the EPA computers in the docket office reading room. Certain databases and physical items cannot be downloaded from the docket but may be requested by contacting the docket office at 202-566-1744. The docket office has up to 10 business days to respond to these requests. With the exception of such material, publicly available docket materials are available electronically at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Matthew Witosky, Sector Policies and Programs Division (E143-05), Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12055, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27711; telephone number: (919) 541-2865; email address: <E T="03">witosky.matthew@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <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 and Administrative Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Final Rule Summary</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Rationale for the Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Response to Comments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Summary of Cost, Environmental, and Economic Impacts</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What are the affected sources?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What are the air quality impacts?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What are the cost impacts?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. What are the economic impacts?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. What are the benefits?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. 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> Categories and entities potentially regulated by this action are shown in table 1 of this preamble. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s100,10,r75"> <TTITLE>Table 1—NESHAP and Industrial Source Categories Affected by This Final Action</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Source category</CHED> <CHED H="1"> NAICS  <SU>1</SU> </CHED> <CHED H="1">NAICS code</CHED> <ENT>Crude Petroleum and Natural Gas Extraction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> </ENT> <ENT>211112</ENT> <ENT>Natural Gas Liquid Extraction.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> </ENT> <ENT>221210</ENT> <ENT>Natural Gas Distribution.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> </ENT> <ENT>486110</ENT> <ENT>Pipeline Distribution of Crude Oil.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="22"> </ENT> <ENT>486210</ENT> <ENT>Pipeline Transportation of Natural Gas.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Federal Government</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT>Not affected.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">State/Local/Tribal Government</ENT> <ENT/> <ENT>Not affected.</ENT> </ROW> <TNOTE> <SU>1</SU>  North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). </TNOTE> </GPOTABLE> This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be affected by this action. To determine whether your facility would be regulated by this action, you should examine the applicability criteria in the regulations. If you have any questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, contact the person listed in the preceding <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. <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, at Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0406 located at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/,</E> an electronic copy of this final rulemaking is available on the internet at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/controlling-air-pollution-oil-and-natural-gas-operations.</E> Following signature by the EPA Administrator, the EPA will post a copy of this final rulemaking at this same website. Following publication in the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> , the EPA will post the <E T="04">Federal Register</E> version of the final rulemaking. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. Judicial and Administrative Review</HD> Under Clean Air Act (CAA) section 307(b)(1), judicial review of this final rulemaking is available only by filing a petition for review in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit by December 23, 2024. Under CAA section 307(b)(2), the requirements established by this final rulemaking may not be challenged separately in any civil or criminal proceedings brought by the EPA to enforce the requirements. Section 307(d)(7)(B) of the CAA further provides that “[o]nly an objection to a rule or procedure which was raised with reasonable specificity during the period for public comment (including any public hearing) may be raised during judicial review.” This section also provides a mechanism for the EPA to convene a proceeding for reconsideration, “[i]f the person raising an objection can demonstrate to the EPA that it was impracticable to raise such objection within [the period for public comment] or if the grounds for such objection arose after the period for public comment, (but within the time specified for judicial review) and if such objection is of central relevance to the outcome of the rule.”Any person seeking to make such a demonstration to us should submit a Petition for Reconsideration to the Office of the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Room 3000, WJC West Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC 20460, with a copy to both the person(s) listed in the preceding <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section, and the Associate General Counsel for the Air and Radiation Law Office, Office of General Counsel (Mail Code 2344A), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Final Rule Summary</HD> In a proposal published December 1, 2023 (88 FR 83889), the EPA proposed to remove the provisions of an affirmative defense to civil penalties in the National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Oil and Natural Gas Production source category and the Natural Gas Transmission and Storage source category, 40 CFR 63.762(d) and 63.1272(d) in 40 CFR part 63, subparts HH and HHH, respectively. The EPA is finalizing removal of these affirmative defense provisions as proposed. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. Rationale for the Final Rule</HD> In 1998, the EPA promulgated National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for the Oil and Natural Gas Production Facility and Natural Gas Transmission and Storage Facility Source Categories, 40 CFR part 63, subparts HH and HHH (64 FR 32610; June 17, 1999) (“Oil and Gas NESHAP”). In 2012, the EPA amended the Oil and Gas NESHAP (77 FR 49490; August 16, 2012). The 2012 amendments included provisions allowing owners and operators to assert an affirmative defense to civil penalties for violations caused by malfunction ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 39k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━