Air Plan Approval; Arizona; Maricopa County Air Quality Department; Volatile Organic Compounds and Particulate Matter; Solvent Cleaning; Architectural Coatings; Incinerators, Burn-Off Ovens, and Crematories

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0317, EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0321, EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0458; FRL-12915-02-R9]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; Arizona; Maricopa County Air Quality Department; Volatile Organic Compounds and Particulate Matter; Solvent Cleaning; Architectural Coatings; Incinerators, Burn-Off Ovens, and Crematories</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 taking final action to approve revisions to the Maricopa County Air Quality Department (MCAQD) portion of the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP). These revisions concern emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from solvent cleaning activities and architectural coatings and emissions of particulate matter (PM) from incinerators, burn-off ovens, and crematories. We are approving local rules that regulate these emission sources under the Clean Air Act (CAA or “Act”). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective January 12, 2026. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA has established dockets for this action. Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0317 pertains to Architectural Coatings, Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0321 pertains to Solvent Cleaning, and Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0458 pertains to Incinerators, Burn-Off Ovens, and Crematories. 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 through <E T="03">https://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. 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> Allison Kawasaki, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; telephone number: (415) 972-3922; email address: <E T="03">kawasaki.allison@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. Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Public Comments and EPA Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. EPA Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Proposed Action</HD> On September 11, 2025 (90 FR 43952, 90 FR 43955, and 90 FR 43983), the EPA proposed to approve the rules listed in table 1 into the Arizona SIP. We also proposed to rescind or replace the rules listed in table 2 from the Arizona SIP. <GPOTABLE COLS="5" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="xs60,8,r50,xs82,xs82"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Submitted Rule(s)</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>313</ENT> <ENT>Incinerators, Burn-Off Ovens, and Crematories</ENT> <ENT>December 11, 2024</ENT> <ENT>December 23, 2024.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>331</ENT> <ENT>Solvent Cleaning</ENT> <ENT>September 25, 2024</ENT> <ENT>October 3, 2024.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>335</ENT> <ENT>Architectural Coatings</ENT> <ENT>September 25, 2013</ENT> <ENT>September 8, 2017.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>335</ENT> <ENT>Architectural Coatings</ENT> <ENT>December 11, 2024</ENT> <ENT>December 23, 2024.</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <GPOTABLE COLS="6" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="xs60,r25,r40,xs64,xs72,xs52"> <TTITLE>Table 2—Rules Requested To Be Rescinded or Replaced</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Local agency</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule No.</CHED> <CHED H="1">Rule title</CHED> <ENT>34—Paragraphs F, G, H, I, J, K</ENT> <ENT>Organic Solvents—Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)</ENT> <ENT>June 23, 1980</ENT> <ENT>May 5, 1982</ENT> <ENT>47 FR 19326.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>35</ENT> <ENT>Incinerators</ENT> <ENT>August 12, 1971</ENT> <ENT>July 27, 1972</ENT> <ENT>37 FR 15080.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>331</ENT> <ENT>Solvent Cleaning</ENT> <ENT>April 21, 2004</ENT> <ENT>December 21, 2004</ENT> <ENT>69 FR 76417.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">MCAQD</ENT> <ENT>335</ENT> <ENT>Architectural Coatings</ENT> <ENT>July 13, 1988</ENT> <ENT>January 6, 1992</ENT> <ENT>57 FR 354.</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> We proposed to approve these rules and rule rescissions because we determined that they comply with the relevant CAA requirements. Our proposed actions contain more information on the rules and our evaluation. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Public Comments and EPA Responses</HD> The EPA's proposed actions provided a 30-day public comment period. During this period, we received one comment pertaining to MCAQD Rule 313, “Incinerators, Burn-Off Ovens, and Crematories,” revised December 11, 2024 (Rule 313), and five comments pertaining to our proposed approval of MCAQD Rule 331, “Solvent Cleaning,” revised September 25, 2024, (“Rule 331”) and rescission of Paragraphs F, G, H, I, J, K from MCAAQD Rule 34, “Organic Solvents—Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC),” revised June 23, 1980, (Rule 34). No comments were received on our proposal to approve the September 25, 2013 and December 11, 2024 versions of MCAQD Rule 335, “Architectural Coatings” (Rule 335). The full text of these comments is available in the rulemaking dockets. We have summarized these comments and included our responses below. <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Comments Received on Rule 313</HD> <E T="03">Comment:</E> For Rule 313, the commenter notes that the proposed rule revisions are only relevant to particulate matter and asserts that the incineration process potentially involves the generation and emission of toxic substances such as polyfluoroalkyl (PFA) compounds, dioxins, and heavy metals. The commenter recommends that, to improve overall health for the community, the MCAQD should consider regulating these pollutants from incineration activities in addition to just particulate matter and opacity. The comment also states that “preventative measures must be made to create lasting change in air quality.” Further, the commenter states that the air plan revisions should be used to make “more baseline laws” to stop larger scale pollutants. <E T="03">Response:</E> The comment is a recommendation for how the MCAQD should revise Rule 313, or local laws, to address other pollutants and not a comment for the EPA on our proposed approval of Rule 313 into the Arizona SIP. The EPA is not able to address a recommendation for MCAQD in our action. In the future, we suggest that the commenter use MCAQD's local rulemaking process for providing these types of recommendations. Further, the EPA's authority for approving SIPs under CAA section 110 is limited to the implementation, maintenance, and attainment of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). The regulation of pollutants that do not pertain to a NAAQS, as the commenter recommends, would be outside the EPA's legal authority for approving SIP revisions. There are federal regulations that further regulate air pollutants emitted by incinerators, including some of the pollutants identified by the commenter, but those regulations are developed under separate CAA authority and do not pertain to SIPs. Our Technical Support Document and MCAQD's submittal discussed these other regulations and are available in the docket for Rule 313 (Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0458). It is unclear what types of “preventative measures” or “baseline laws” the commenter is recommending, but we understand this comment to be related to the pollutants of concern identified by the commenter and not related to the pollutant regulated by Rule 313, particulate matter. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Comments Received on Rule 331 and Rule 34</HD> Four comments of the five comments received on Rules 331 and 34 were supportive of the EPA's September 11, 2025 proposal. We thank the commenters for their support. The fifth comment pertained to a recent Pima County, Arizona, permitting action that is not germane to this rulemaking. <HD SOURCE="HD1">III. EPA Action</HD> No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the rules as described in our proposed actions. Therefore, as authorized in section 110(k)(3) of the Act, the EPA is approving the rules listed in table 1 into the Arizona SIP and rescinding or replacing the rules in table 2. The December 11, 2024 version of Rule 313 will replace MCAQD Rule 35, “Incinerators,” revised August 12, 1971, in the SIP. The September 25, 2024 version of Rule 331 will replace the previously approved version of this rule in the SIP and Rule 34. The September 25, 2013 version of Rule 335 will replace the previously approved version of this rule in the SIP. <HD SOURCE="HD1">IV. Incorporation by Reference</HD> In this document, the EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is finalizing the incorporation by reference of four ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 19k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━