90 FR 62 pgs. 14414-14415 - Interim Final Determination To Defer Sanctions, Placer County Air Pollution Control District
Type: RULEVolume: 90Number: 62Pages: 14414 - 14415
Pages: 14414, 14415Docket number: [EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0620; FRL-12530-02-R9]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2025-05376 Filed 4-1-25; 8:45 am]
Agency: Environmental Protection Agency
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0620; FRL-12530-02-R9]
Interim Final Determination To Defer Sanctions, Placer County Air Pollution Control District
AGENCY:
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION:
Interim final determination.
SUMMARY:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making an interim final determination that the California Air Resources Board (CARB) has submitted a Clean Air Act (CAA or "Act") State implementation plan (SIP) revision on behalf of the Placer County Air Pollution Control District (PCAPCD or "District") that corrects deficiencies concerning the District's nonattainment new source review stationary source permitting program. This determination is based on a proposed approval, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, of PCAPCD Rule 502, "New Source Review." The effect of this interim final determination is to defer sanctions that were triggered by the EPA's previous limited disapproval of PCAPCD Rule 502 in 2023.
DATES:
This interim final determination is effective on April 2, 2025. However, comments will be accepted on or before May 2, 2025.
ADDRESSES:
Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0620 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 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 ( i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. 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 FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kira Wiesinger, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; phone: (415) 972-3827; email: wiesinger.kira@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, "we," "us," and "our" refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
On September 26, 2023, 1 we published a limited disapproval of PCAPCD Rule 502 as adopted locally on August 12, 2021, based on deficiencies identified in the submitted rule. This limited disapproval action started a sanctions clock for imposition of offset sanctions 18 months after October 26, 2023, and highway sanctions 6 months later, pursuant to section 179 of the CAA and our regulations at 40 CFR 52.31. Under 40 CFR 52.31(d)(1), offset sanctions apply 18 months after the effective date of a disapproval and highway sanctions apply six months after the offset sanctions, unless we determine that the deficiencies forming the basis of the disapproval have been corrected.
Footnotes:
1 ?88 FR 65816.
On June 13, 2024, the PCAPCD amended Rule 502 to address the deficiencies identified in our September 26, 2023 limited disapproval action. The State submitted this amended rule to the EPA on November 15, 2024. In the Proposed Rules section of this Federal Register , we are proposing an approval of this rule because we believe it corrects the deficiencies identified in our September 26, 2023 disapproval action and meets other applicable CAA requirements. Based on our proposed action, we are taking this final rulemaking action, effective on publication, to defer the imposition of the offset sanctions and the highway sanctions that were triggered by our September 26, 2023 limited disapproval.
The EPA is providing the public with an opportunity to comment on this deferral of sanctions. If comments are submitted that change our assessment described in this final determination and our proposed approval of PCAPCD Rule 502, we intend to take subsequent final action to reimpose sanctions pursuant to 40 CFR 52.31(d). If no comments are submitted that change our assessment, then all sanctions and sanction clocks associated with our September 26, 2023 final action will be permanently terminated on the effective date of a final rule approval.
II. EPA Action
We are making an interim final determination to defer the imposition of the offset and highway sanctions associated with our limited disapproval of PCAPCD Rule 502 (as adopted in 2021) based on our concurrent proposed finding that the State's SIP revision corrects the deficiencies that initiated sanctions.
[top] Because the EPA has preliminarily determined that the State has corrected the deficiencies identified in our September 26, 2023 limited disapproval action, relief from sanctions should be provided as quickly as possible. Therefore, the EPA is invoking the good cause exception under the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in not providing an opportunity for
Footnotes:
2 ?5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B).
The EPA believes that notice-and-comment rulemaking before the effective date of this action is impracticable and contrary to the public interest. The EPA has reviewed the State's submittal and, through its proposed action, is indicating that it is more likely than not that the State has corrected the deficiencies that were the basis for the limited disapproval that started the sanctions clocks. Therefore, it is not in the public interest to apply sanctions. The EPA believes that it is necessary to use the interim final rulemaking process to defer sanctions while the EPA completes its rulemaking process on the approvability of the State's submittal. Moreover, with respect to the effective date of this action, the EPA is invoking the good cause exception to the 30-day notice requirement of the APA because the purpose of this notice is to relieve a restriction. 3
Footnotes:
3 ?5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1).
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This action defers Federal sanctions and imposes no additional requirements. For that reason, this action:
• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
• Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. );
• Is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq. );
• Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
• Does not have federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
• Is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997) because it is not a significant regulatory action under section 3(f)(1) of Executive Order 12866, and because it does not concern an environmental health risk or safety risk;
• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
• Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent with the CAA.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian Tribe has demonstrated that a Tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does not have Tribal implications and will not impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act, and the EPA will submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. This action is not a "major rule" as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). The CRA allows the issuing agency to make a rule effective sooner than otherwise provided by the CRA if the agency makes a good cause finding that notice and comment rulemaking procedures are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest (5 U.S.C. 808(2)). The EPA has made a good cause finding for this action as discussed in section II of this preamble, including the basis for that finding.
Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by June 2, 2025. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review, nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Ammonia, Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: March 14, 2025.
Cheree D. Peterson,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2025-05376 Filed 4-1-25; 8:45 am]
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