[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 116 (Thursday, June 16, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 36282-36283]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13007]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 82

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0253; FRL-8506-03-OAR]
RIN 2060-AV29

Protection of Stratospheric Ozone: Standards Related to the
Manufacture of Class II Ozone-Depleting Substances for Feedstock;
Withdrawal of Proposed Rule

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)

ACTION: Proposed rule; withdrawal.

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SUMMARY: On September 29, 2021, the U.S. EPA issued a proposed
rulemaking to require the control, capture, and/or destruction of a
hydrofluorocarbon that would otherwise be emitted from manufacture of
hydrochlorofluorocarbons. Specifically, EPA proposed to require
companies to control, capture, and/or destroy HFC-23 byproduct
generated at plants that manufacture class II ozone-depleting
substances regulated under current Clean Air Act regulations, such as
HCFC-22. Upon our consideration of comments and based on further action
by EPA, EPA is now withdrawing the proposed requirements described in
that proposed rule. This document summarizes the proposed rule and
provides an explanation for the Agency's decision not to finalize the
proposed action.

DATES: The U.S. EPA is withdrawing the proposed rule published
September 29, 2021 (86 FR 53916), as of June 16, 2022.

ADDRESSES: EPA established a docket for this action under Docket ID No.
EPA-HQ-OAR-2021-0253. All documents in the docket are listed on the
http://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some
information may not be publicly available, e.g., 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 either
electronically through http://www.regulations.gov, or in hard copy at
the EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room Number 3334, 1301
Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room hours of
operation are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST),
Monday through Friday (except Federal Holidays). The telephone number
for the Public Reading Room is<PHONE_NUMBER>, and the telephone number
for the Docket Center is<PHONE_NUMBER>. For further information on the
EPA Docket Center services, please visit us online at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Feather, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Stratospheric Protection Division; telephone number
202-564-1230; or email address: [email protected]. You may also
visit our website at https://www.epa.gov/ozone-layer-protection for
further information.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,''
``us,'' ``the Agency,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. Acronyms that
are used in this rulemaking that may be helpful include:

AIM Act--American Innovation and Manufacturing Act
CAA--Clean Air Act
CBI--Confidential Business Information
CFR--Code of Federal Regulations
EPA--Environmental Protection Agency
FR--Federal Register
HCFC--Hydrochlorofluorocarbon
HFC--Hydrofluorocarbon
ODS--Ozone-depleting substances
U.S.C.--United States Code
I. General Information
    A. Does this action apply to me?
    B. Why is EPA issuing this withdrawal of the proposed rule?
    C. What is the Agency's authority for this action?
II. Background
III. How does EPA intend to proceed?
IV. Impact Analysis
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. General Information

A. Does this action apply to me?

    You may be interested in this action if you manufacture class II
ozone-depleting substances (ODS) listed at 40 CFR part 82, subpart A,
Appendix B, and hydrofluorocarbon-23 (HFC-23) is also generated as a
byproduct at your plant. This action may also be of interest to the
public in general.

B. Why is EPA issuing this withdrawal of the proposed rule?

    This document serves the following purposes:
    1. It announces to the public that EPA is withdrawing a proposed
rule for which the Agency no longer intends to issue a final rule; and
    2. It officially terminates the ongoing rulemaking activity, which
allows the Agency to close out the individual rulemaking entry for
these actions that appear in EPA's Semiannual Regulatory Agenda.

C. What is the Agency's authority for this action?

    The proposed action relied on authority provided by several
sections of the Clean Air Act (CAA).\1\ Section 603 provides authority
to establish monitoring and reporting requirements for ODS, and section
605 provides authority to phase out the production and consumption of
class II substances, to restrict the use of class II ODS, and to
promulgate regulations associated with the production of class II ODS.
EPA's regulations implementing the production and consumption controls
for class II substances, including provisions implementing exceptions
to those controls, can be found at 40 CFR part 82, subpart A.
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    \1\ The Clean Air Act provisions addressing stratospheric ozone
protection are codified at 42 U.S.C. 7671-7671q.
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    To the extent the proposal involved recordkeeping and reporting
requirements, it also relied on EPA's authority under section 114 of
the CAA, which authorizes the EPA Administrator to require
recordkeeping and reporting in carrying out any provision of the CAA
(with certain exceptions that were not applicable to the proposed
rulemaking). Additional authority for electronic reporting comes from
the Government Paperwork Elimination Act (44 U.S.C. 3504), which
provides ``(1) for the option of the electronic maintenance,
submission, or disclosure of information, when practicable as a
substitute for paper; and (2) for the use and acceptance of electronic
signatures, when practicable.''

II. Background

    EPA issued a proposed rule under sections 603 and 605 of the CAA,
42 U.S.C. 7671(b) and 7671(d), (86 FR 53916, September 29, 2021) (FRL-
8506-01-OAR) to require companies to control, capture, and/or destroy
HFC-23 byproduct generated at plants that manufacture class II ODS
(i.e., hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HCFCs)) regulated under current CAA
regulations.
    HFC-23 is a very potent greenhouse gas that is generated as a
byproduct during the manufacture of certain HCFCs, including HCFC-22.
Under the CAA and the implementing regulations, the production and
consumption of HCFCs are restricted with limited exceptions. One such
exception is production for use in transformation, or as a feedstock,
which is allowed indefinitely. The Agency planned to limit emissions of
HFC-23 from plants manufacturing HCFCs. In the proposal

that EPA is withdrawing, EPA proposed standards for these emissions
under the CAA. Specifically, EPA proposed that no later than October 1,
2022, as compared to the amount of HCFCs intentionally manufactured on
a facility line, no more than 0.1 percent of HFC-23 generated on the
line may be emitted. Proposed requirements were that HFC-23 byproduct
must be captured and employed for a commercial use or destroyed using a
technology approved by EPA, thereby ensuring it was not directly
emitted. The proposed rule being withdrawn also referenced another
proposed rulemaking under authority from the American Innovation and
Manufacturing Act of 2020 (AIM Act), and stated in footnote 6, ``If
that proposed approach under the AIM Act were to be finalized, all
generation of HFC-23 would be regulated, including HFC-23 generated as
a byproduct during production of HCFCs for feedstock use. Under such a
scenario, EPA anticipates that it would not finalize this proposal''
(86 FR 53918).
    On October 5, 2021, EPA finalized that rule, ``Phasedown of
Hydrofluorocarbons: Establishing the Allowance Allocation and Trading
Program under the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act'' (HFC
Allocation Framework Rule) at 86 FR 55116, which codified regulatory
standards for these HFC-23 byproducts (40 CFR 84.27). This HFC
Allocation Framework Rule used EPA's discretion under the AIM Act to
restrict the use of allocated allowances for HFC-23 byproducts to those
that were consumptive, or to otherwise destroy the HFC-23 byproducts,
and disallowed emitting HFC-23 at quantities greater than 0.1 percent
of the amount of chemical intentionally produced on a facility line.
The finalized HFC Allocation Framework Rule codified regulatory
requirements that are duplicative of the proposed requirements included
in the proposed rule being withdrawn.
    As noted, EPA stated in footnote 6 of the proposal that it
anticipated not finalizing this proposed rule if it were to finalize
HFC-23 requirements under the referenced AIM Act rulemaking. EPA
solicited comment on whether, in such a scenario, ``this CAA-specific
rulemaking would still be beneficial'' (86 FR 53918). One commenter
supported not finalizing this CAA-specific rulemaking if the AIM Act
HFC-23 requirements were finalized. A separate commenter supported
finalizing overlapping requirements due to a perceived benefit in
reducing HFC-23 emissions and implementing the requirements but did not
provide a supporting rationale. Additional comments on the proposed
rule were submitted and are not relevant to the Agency's decision on
whether to withdraw this proposed rule.

III. How does EPA intend to proceed?

    Given the issuance of the HFC Allocation Framework Rule that
codified regulatory standards that are duplicative of the requirements
proposed in the proposed rule being withdrawn through this document,
EPA has determined that finalizing the proposed rule would be
unnecessarily duplicative. We considered comments on this issue to the
proposed rule that is being withdrawn, but the one comment in favor of
overlapping requirements did not justify that approach. That comment
did not change our conclusion that the requirements proposed in the
proposed rule being withdrawn are duplicative of what EPA has already
established, and thus are not necessary.
    For these reasons, EPA is withdrawing the proposed rule that was
published on September 29, 2021 (86 FR 53916; FRL-8506-01-OAR).

IV. Impact Analysis

    Because EPA is not promulgating any regulatory requirements, there
are no compliance costs or impacts associated with this notice.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This document does not establish new regulatory requirements.
Hence, the requirements of other regulatory statutes and Executive
Orders that generally apply to rulemakings (e.g., the Unfunded Mandate
Reform Act) do not apply.

Michael S. Regan,
Administrator.
[FR Doc. 2022-13007 Filed 6-15-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P