Air Plan Revisions; Arizona; Maricopa County Air Quality Department

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0349; FRL-12130-01-R9]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Revisions; Arizona; Maricopa County Air Quality Department</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing a limited approval and limited disapproval of revisions to the Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD or “County”) portion of the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from loading of organic liquids and gasoline. We are proposing action on local rules to regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or “Act”). We are also proposing to disapprove the MCAQD's reasonably available control technology (RACT) demonstration for the source categories associated with these rules for the 2008 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) in the Phoenix-Mesa ozone nonattainment area. We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on or before December 9, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0349 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> For comments submitted at <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> , follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> If you need assistance in a language other than English or if you are a person with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Donnique Sherman, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4129; email at <E T="03">sherman.donnique@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document, “we,” “us” and “our” refer to the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2"> I. The State's Submittal </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. What rules did the State submit?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Are there other versions of these rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. How is the EPA evaluating the rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Do the rules meet the evaluation criteria?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Were there any newly identified deficiencies with the December 3, 2020, submitted rules?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. The EPA's Recommendations To Further Improve the Rules</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Proposed Action and Public Comment</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. The State's Submittal</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. What rules did the State submit?</HD> Table 1 lists the rules addressed by this proposal with the dates that they were adopted by the MCAQD and submitted to the EPA by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ or “State”). <GPOTABLE COLS="5" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s50,12,r100,12,12"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Submitted Rules</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Local agency</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule title</CHED> <CHED H="1">Revised</CHED> <CHED H="1">Submitted</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>352</ENT> <ENT>Gasoline Cargo Tank Testing and Use</ENT> <ENT>11/18/2020</ENT> <ENT>12/03/2020</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>353</ENT> <ENT>Storage and Loading of Gasoline at a Gasoline Dispensing Facility (GDF)</ENT> <ENT>11/18/2020</ENT> <ENT>12/03/2020</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> On June 3, 2021, the SIP submittal containing the documents listed in Table 1 was deemed complete by operation of law. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Are there other versions of these rules?</HD> We conditionally approved earlier versions of Rule 352 and Rule 353 into the SIP on February 26, 2020 (85 FR 10986), based on a commitment made by the MCAQD to remedy the deficiencies identified in that action. In order to fulfill that commitment, the MCAQD adopted revisions to the SIP-approved versions of these rules on November 18, 2020, and ADEQ submitted them to the EPA on December 3, 2020. The February 26, 2020 conditional approval, and an explanation of how the SIP submittal proposed for approval here addresses the deficiencies identified in the conditional approval, are discussed in more detail below. If we finalize this proposal for a limited approval and limited disapproval of the November 18, 2020 versions of these rules, then these versions will replace the conditionally approved versions of these rules in the SIP. <HD SOURCE="HD2">C. What is the purpose of the submitted rule revisions?</HD> Emissions of VOC contribute to the formation of ground-level ozone which harms human health and the environment. Section 110(a) of the CAA requires states to submit plans that provide for implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the NAAQS. In addition, CAA section 182(b)(2) requires that SIPs for ozone nonattainment areas classified as “Moderate” or higher implement RACT for sources covered by a control techniques guidelines (CTG) document. The MCAQD regulates a portion of the Phoenix-Mesa area designated as nonattainment for ozone and classified as Moderate nonattainment for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> Therefore, the MCAQD is required to submit SIP revisions that implement RACT-level controls for all sources covered by a CTG. The MCAQD submitted Rule 352 and Rule 353 to establish RACT-level controls for VOC emissions from sources covered by the CTGs listed in Table 2. Rule 352 limits VOC emissions from gasoline cargo tanks that are used to load or unload gasoline within Maricopa County. Rule 353 limits VOC emissions from storage and loading of gasoline at gasoline dispensing facilities (GDFs). <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  On November 12, 2019 (84 FR 60920), the EPA issued a determination that the Phoenix-Mesa ozone nonattainment area attained the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by the Moderate area attainment date of July 20, 2018. That determination did not constitute a redesignation of the area to attainment for the 2008 ozone standard. The designation status of the Phoenix-Mesa area will remain Moderate nonattainment for the 2008 ozone NAAQS until such time as the EPA determines that the area meets Clean Air Act requirements for redesignation to attainment. </FTNT> <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L2,i1" CDEF="s50,r150"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Rules and Associated CTGs</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Associated CTGs</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Rule 352</ENT> <ENT>Control of Volatile Organic Compound Leaks from Gasoline Tank Trucks and Vapor Collection Systems (EPA-450/2-78-051).</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Rule 353</ENT> <ENT>Design Criteria for Stage I Vapor Control Systems—Gasoline Service Stations (EPA-450/R-75-102).</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> Section III.D of the preamble to the EPA's final rule to implement the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS (80 FR 12264, March 6, 2015) discusses RACT requirements. It states in part that RACT SIPs must contain adopted RACT regulations, certifications where appropriate that existing provisions are RACT, and/or negative declarations that there are no sources in the nonattainment areas subject to a specific CTG. The County's RACT SIP  <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> provides MCAQD's analysis of its compliance with the CAA section 182 RACT requirements for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS. On February 26, 2020, the EPA conditionally approved MCAQD Rule 352, Rule 353, and the County's RACT demonstration for the CTGs associated with these rules, into the Arizona SIP. The rules contained deficiencies which precluded full SIP approval and were conditionally approved based on a commitment by the MCAQD and the ADEQ to provide, within one year, a SIP submission that would address those deficiencies. The MCAQD subsequently revised these rules to address the identified deficiencies and the ADEQ submitted the revised rules on December 3, 2020. The EPA's technical support document (TSD) has more information about these rules. <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  “Analysis of Reasonably Available Control Technology for the 2008 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) State Implementation Plan (RACT SIP)” submitted June 22, 2017. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. The EPA's Evaluation and Action</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. How is t ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 28k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━