[Federal Register: March 15, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 49)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 12591-12592]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr15mr05-5]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 62
[R01-OAR-2004-ME-0002; A-1-FRL-7884-7]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Maine; Control of Total Reduced Sulfur From Kraft Pulp Mills:
Withdrawal of Direct Final Rule; and Correction
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Withdrawal of direct final rule, correcting amendment.
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SUMMARY: This document withdraws the direct final rule published in the
Federal Register on March 1, 2005. 70 FR 9872. In that rule, we
approved a revision to the State of Maine's plan for controlling total
reduced sulfur (``TRS'') from kraft pulp mills under section 111(d) of
the Clean Air Act (``CAA'') (the ``111(d) plan''). That revision
extended the compliance date for brown stock washers to April 17, 2007.
EPA stated in the direct final rule that if it received adverse comment
by March 31, 2005, the rule would be withdrawn and not take effect. We
are withdrawing the direct final rule today because we received an
adverse comment concerning our approval to extend the
[[Page 12592]]
compliance date for brown stock washers. EPA will address this comment
and any others received concerning Maine's revision to its 111(d) plan
in a subsequent final action based upon the proposed rule that was
issued simultaneously with the direct final rule. 70 FR 9901. As
explained in the direct final rule and the proposed rule, EPA will not
institute a second comment period on this action. 70 FR 9874; 70 FR
9901. In addition, this document corrects a statement in the preamble
of the direct final rule. In that preamble, the Agency inaccurately
summarized the provisions of CAA section 111(d). This mistake has no
bearing on the substance of EPA's proposed approval of Maine's revision
to its 111(d) plan.
DATES: The direct final rule is withdrawn as of March 15, 2005. EPA
will continue to take comments on the proposed rule until March 31,
2005. Please see EPA's direct final rule published on March 1, 2005 (70
FR 9872) for instructions for submitting comments.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ian D. Cohen, Air Permits, Toxics, and
Indoor Air Programs Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New
England Regional Office, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAP), Boston,
MA 02114-2023, cohen.ian@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The statement in the preamble to the direct
final rule that we are correcting today concerns the summary of section
111(d) that we provided in the statutory background section of the
notice. Specifically, we stated:
Section 111(d) of the CAA allows EPA to approve state plans to
regulate emissions from existing sources of ``designated
pollutants,'' i.e., pollutants not listed as criteria pollutants
under CAA section 108(a) nor as hazardous air pollutants (``HAPs'')
under section 112(b)(1), but to which a standard of performance for
new sources applies under section 111.''
70 FR 9872, 9873 (column 3). This summary of CAA section 111(d)(1) is
inaccurate and incomplete. As an initial matter, we intended for the
above statement to summarize one of our regulations. The above
statement incorrectly summarizes that regulation because the regulation
refers to section 112(b)(1)(A) of the Act, not section 112(b)(1). Upon
further examination of the regulation, we recognize that we erred in
relying on the regulation because that regulation interprets section
111(d) of the 1970 CAA, not the 1990 Act, which represents existing
law. See 40 C.F.R. 60.21(a) (promulgated in November 1975). This is
evidenced, in part, by the fact that the CAA, as amended in 1990, does
not include a ``section 112(b)(1)(A)'' to which the regulation refers.
The above-quoted statement therefore does not take into account or, in
any way, address the 1990 CAA, in which Congress amended section
111(d).\1\
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\1\ A commenter on the direct final rule noted that the above-
quoted statement does not take into account section 111(d), as
amended in 1990.
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As explained in our January 30, 2004, proposed rule concerning
emissions of hazardous air pollutants from Electric Utility Units, we
believe that we can regulate hazardous air pollutants from certain
source categories under CAA section 111(d). 69 FR 4652, 4684-86 (Jan.
30, 2004). Nevertheless, the question of whether we can regulate
hazardous air pollutants from particular source categories under CAA
section 111(d), as amended in 1990, is not material to our approval of
the State of Maine's section 111(d) plan revision, since that revision
concerns TRS, which is not a hazardous air pollutant. Thus, we revise
the statutory background in the preamble of the direct final rule
approving the TRS section 111(d) plan, to read as follows:
Section 111(d) of the CAA provides that where EPA has issued
section 111(b) standards for new sources of a listed source category
for a particular pollutant, EPA shall establish regulations for
existing sources in that category that emit the pollutant at issue.
The regulations that EPA establishes are to set forth a procedure
similar to that provided for under CAA section 110, where each State
submits a plan to the Administrator for review and approval. Section
111(d) does contain certain exceptions for regulation under that
provision. Those exceptions are not relevant here.
Specifically, the above corrected statement replaces the first sentence
that appears under the heading ``Background and Purpose'' in the direct
final rule, see 70 FR 9873, column 3. We are correcting this statement
in the direct final rule because the rationale underlying EPA's
approval of Maine's revision to its 111(d) plan is set forth only in
the direct final rule, not in the proposed rule that was issue on March
1, 2005. See 70 FR 9901 (``For additional information, see the direct
final rule''). Because interested parties must prepare any comments on
the proposed rule by reference to the content of the direct final rule
that was published on March 1, 2005, we take action today to correct
the statutory background statement included in that notice.
Furthermore, EPA approved Maine's TRS section 111(d) plan in 1990,
and approved revisions to that plan in 1994 and 2003. The issue
addressed in the direct final rule published on March 1, 2005, does not
concern whether EPA has authority to regulate TRS from kraft pulp mill
plants under section 111(d), but rather, whether EPA reasonably
approved Maine's proposed extension of the compliance date for certain
facilities. Accordingly, the above revised statement accurately
summarizes the statutory background that is relevant to the proposed
extension of the compliance date for brown stock washers. See 70 FR
9872, 9874 (March 1, 2005) for a summary and explanation of the
proposed compliance date extension.
II. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This action merely corrects a statement in the preamble of the
direct final rule published on March 1, 2005, and nothing in this
action changes the analysis found in section V, ``Statutory and
Executive Order Reviews,'' of the direct final rule. Please, refer to
that direct final rule (70 FR 9874, 9875) for information regarding
applicable Statutory and Executive Order Reviews.
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule,
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. This correction to
rule document 05-3908 is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C.
804(2).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 62
Environmental protection, Total reduced sulfur.
Dated: March 9, 2005.
Ira W. Leighton,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA New England.
[FR Doc. 05-5133 Filed 3-14-05; 8:45 am]
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