[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 214 (Monday, November 7, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 66985-66987]
[FR Doc No: 2022-24076]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R08-OAR-2022-0612; FRL-10300-01-R8]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Colorado;
Revisions to Colorado Code of Regulations; Regulation Number 3

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
approve revisions to Regulation Number 3 of the Colorado Code of
Regulations (CCR) submitted to the EPA by the State of Colorado on
March 22, 2021. These revisions reflect changes made by the State to
update dates of incorporation by reference of sections of the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) related to Global Warming Potentials (GWPs).
The revisions also include updated references to other sections of the
CCR that were previously moved to a new location as well as changes to
Regulation 3 to reflect digitalization of public notice and comment
procedures. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to the Clean Air Act
(CAA).

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before December 7, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R08-
OAR-2022-0612, to the Federal Rulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
www.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, the full EPA public comment
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general
guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available electronically in
www.regulations.gov. To reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission, for
this action we do not plan to offer hard copy review of the docket.
Please email or call the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section if you need to make alternative arrangements for access
to the docket.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matthew Lang, Air and Radiation
Division, EPA, Region 8, Mailcode 8ARD-IO, 1595 Wynkoop Street, Denver,
Colorado 80202-1129, telephone number:<PHONE_NUMBER>, email address:
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.

I. Background

    On March 22, 2021, the State of Colorado submitted SIP revisions to
EPA for approval which included Serious ozone nonattainment area
required elements for the Denver Metro/North Front Range nonattainment
area, conformity related revisions, and revisions to Regulation Number
3 and Regulation Number 7 of the CCR. In this action we are solely
addressing the submitted revisions to Regulation 3. All other
components of the March 22, 2021 submittal are not being addressed in
this rulemaking. The revisions that are the subject of this proposed
rule include revisions to Regulation 3, Parts A (Concerning General
Provisions Applicable to Reporting and Permitting), Part B (Concerning
Construction Permits) and Part D (Concerning Major Stationary Source
New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration) and are
described further in section II of this preamble. Revisions to
Regulation 3, Part C that are included in the State's submittal are
included for completeness and are not being proposed for approval into
the Colorado SIP by the EPA since Regulation 3, Part C is not included
in the SIP. Therefore, the revisions to Regulation 3, Part C that are
included in the State's submittal are not being addressed in this
action.

II. The EPA's Evaluation

    On March 22, 2021, the State of Colorado submitted revisions titled
``Regulation Number 3, Regulation Number 7, Air Quality Standards,
Designations and Emission Budgets, and Ozone State Implementation Plan
Element.'' \1\ Colorado met the reasonable notice and public hearing
requirements of CAA section 110(l) for these revisions through
reasonable notice published on September 26, 2020, in the Denver Post,
and a public hearing held on December 16-18, 2020.\2\
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    \1\ Letter dated March 22, 2021, From Jill Hunsaker Ryan,
Executive Director, CDPHE, to Deb Thomas, Acting Regional
Administrator, EPA, Region 8 (``CO SIP Revision'').
    \2\ CO SIP Revision, Document Set 1, Attachments 2 and 5.
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A. Revisions to Regulation 3, Part A (General Provisions Applicable to
Reporting and Permitting)

Sections 1.B.10 and 1.B.44.b(i)
    In the submitted revisions, the date of incorporation by reference
of Table A-1--Global Warming Potentials at 40 CFR part 98, subpart A
was updated to reflect revisions made to Table A-1 by the EPA on
December 11, 2014.\3\ The previous date of incorporation by reference
of November 29, 2013, is replaced with December 11, 2014, by the
State's submitted revisions in both sections 1.B.10 and 1.B.44.b(i). No
other revisions to Regulation 3, Part A were submitted.
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    \3\ CO SIP Revision, Document Set 4, Attachment 2, Pages 1-2.
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B. Revisions to Regulation 3, Part B (Construction Permits)

Sections III.C.1.e, III.C.4, and III.D.1
    The State's submitted revisions to Regulation 3, Part B include
several grammatical revisions, an updated reference to Regulation 23
regarding sources submitting applications for a Best Available Retrofit
Technology (BART) determination or BART alternative, and revisions to
public comment procedures under Part B.\4\ The updated reference
reflects the move of regional haze provisions from Regulation 3, Part F
to Regulation 23. The grammatical revisions and updated reference are
clerical in nature and do not substantively change these sections of
Regulation 3, Part B. In addition to these clerical revisions, the
State's submittal also included revisions to the public comment
procedures contained in sections III.C.4 and III.D.1 of Part B. The
revisions to section III.C.4 clarify that the Colorado Air Pollution
Control Division (APCD) may provide the county clerk of the county in
which a source is, or will be located, with copies of construction
permit applications, the preliminary analysis, and the draft permit or
information on how to access digital versions of these documents. The
revisions describe that such documents provided directly to the county
clerk may be in digital or hard copy format. The revisions to section
III.C.4 further clarify that when the APCD sends electronic notice to
persons requesting notice of permit applications subject to public
notice requirements that such electronic notice may include email
notification to persons on an email list maintained by the APCD. The
revision to section III.D.1, which outlines the timeframes that the
APCD will grant permits, clarifies that sources subject to the
provisions of Part D, section V and VI are those sources described in
the section that may require a public comment hearing.
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    \4\ CO SIP Revision, Document Set 4, Attachment 2, Pages 3-5.
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C. Revisions to Regulation 3, Part D (Concerning Major Stationary
Source New Source Review and Prevention of Significant Deterioration)

Sections II.A.11.a(viii), IV.A, IV.A.1, and IV.A.7
    The State's submitted revisions to Regulation 3, Part D include
clarifying revisions to public notice and comment procedures for New
Source Review (NSR) permit applications as well as revisions which
update language to align with corresponding federal language.\5\ In
sections II.A.11.a.(viii), IV.A, IV.A.1, and IV.A.7 of Part D, language
that requires filing of permit related materials with the county clerk
is removed. This removed language relating to the availability of
permit related materials is replaced with newly added language in
section IV.A of Part D detailing how the APCD will make available in at
least one location in each region in which a proposed source would be
constructed, copies of all materials submitted by an applicant, a copy
of the preliminary permit determination, and a copy or summary of other
material, if any, that were considered in making the preliminary
determination. Additionally, the revisions to section IV.A describe
that this requirement may be met by making such materials available at
a physical location or on a public website identified by the APCD. The
language added to section IV.A aligns with the language found at 40 CFR
51.166(q)(2)(ii). The submitted revisions to section IV.A also clarify
that the APCD will send written or electronic notice to persons
requesting notice of permit applications and that this notice may
include email notification to persons on an email list developed and
maintained by the APCD. Following a final decision on a permit
application subject to Part D, additional revisions to Part D, section
IV.A.7 require that the APCD make available for public inspection the
decision and all public comments in accordance with the defined
notification procedure in section IV.A. Finally, the state submittal
includes a clerical revision to the title of Regulation 3, Part D
section IV to reflect that this section describes public hearing
requirements in addition to public comment requirements.
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    \5\ CO SIP Revision, Document Set 4, Attachment 2, Pages 12-14.
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III. Proposed Action

    We are proposing to approve the revisions submitted by the State of
Colorado on March 22, 2021, to Regulation 3, Parts A, B and D because

the specific revisions that are the subject of this action do not
interfere with attainment or maintenance of any of the NAAQS and would
not interfere with any other applicable requirement of the CAA and are
therefore approvable under CAA 110(l) and 40 CFR 51.160-166.
Specifically, we are approving the previously described revisions to
sections 1.B.10 and 1.B.44.b(i) of Part A, sections III.C.1.e, III.C.4,
and III.D.1 of Part B, and sections II.A.11.a(viii), IV.A, IV.A.1, and
IV.A.7 of Part D. The EPA is soliciting public comments on the
revisions discussed in this document. The EPA will consider any
comments before taking final action.

IV. Incorporation by Reference

    In this document, the EPA is proposing to include regulatory text
in an EPA final rule that includes incorporation by reference. In
accordance with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to
incorporate by reference the revisions described in sections II.A, II.B
and II.C of this preamble. The EPA has made, and will continue to make,
these materials generally available through www.regulations.gov and at
the EPA Region 8 Office (please contact the person identified in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section of this preamble for more
information).

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable
Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
     Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21,
2011);
     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 an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     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; and
     Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has
demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian
country, the proposed 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).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide,
Greenhouse gases, Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental
relations, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting
and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic
compounds.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: October 30, 2022.
KC Becker,
Regional Administrator, Region 8.
[FR Doc. 2022-24076 Filed 11-4-22; 8:45 am]
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