Standards of Performance for Stationary Gas Turbines

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule; amendments.

SUMMARY:

EPA is proposing to revise certain portions of the standards of performance for stationary gas turbines. We are proposing these revisions to clarify that EPA is not imposing new requirements for turbines constructed after 1977. Owners and operators of existing and new turbines may use monitoring that meets the pre-existing monitoring requirements. In addition, we have described a number of acceptable compliance monitoring options that owners and operators may elect to use for these units.

In the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register, we are taking direct final action on these proposed revisions because we view these revisions as noncontroversial, and we anticipate no adverse comments. We have explained our reasons for the revisions in the preamble to the direct final rule.

DATES:

Comments must be received on or before March 27, 2006, unless a public hearing is requested. If requested by March 13, 2006, a public hearing will be held on March 27, 2006 and the comment period will be extended until April 25, 2006. Inquiries regarding a public hearing should be directed to the contact person listed below.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-2002-0053 by one of the following methods:

• Federal eRulemaking portal http://www.regulations.gov . Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments;
• E-mail: a-and-r-docket@epa.gov
• Fax comments to (202) 566-1741; or
• Mail: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, U.S. EPA, Mailcode: 6102T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW., Washington, DC 20460.
• Hand Delivery: Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, U.S. EPA, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.

Instructions. Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-2002-0053. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change and may be made available on-line at http://www.regulations.gov , including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an “anonymous access” system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through http://www.regulations.gov , your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.

Docket. All documents in the docket are listed in the http://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 either electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air and Radiation Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the Air Docket is (202) 566-1742. A reasonable fee may be charged for copying docket materials.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mr. Jaime Pagan, Combustion Group, Emission Standards Division (C439-01), U.S. EPA, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711; telephone number (919) 541-5340; facsimile number (919) 541-5450; electronic mail address “pagan.jaime@epa.gov.”

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Comments. If we receive no significant adverse comments, we will take no further action on the proposed amendments. If we receive significant adverse comments, we will withdraw only those provisions on which we received adverse comments, and they will not take effect. We will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register indicating which provisions will become effective and which provisions are being withdrawn. If part or all of the direct final rule amendments in the Rules and Regulations section of this Federal Register are withdrawn, all comments pertaining to those provisions will be addressed in a subsequent final action based on the proposed amendments. We will not institute a second comment period on the subsequent final action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time.

Regulated Entities. Entities potentially regulated by this action are those that own and operate stationary gas turbines, and are the same as the existing rule in 40 CFR part 60, subpart GG. Regulated categories and entities include:

This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this action. If you have questions regarding the applicability of this action to a particular entity, consult the contact person listed in the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

Submitting CBI. Do not submit this information to EPA through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information in a disk or CD ROM that you mail to EPA, mark the outside of the disk or CD ROM as CBI and then identify electronically within the disk or CD ROM the specific information that is claimed as CBI. In addition to one complete version of the comment that includes information claimed as CBI, a copy of the comment that does not contain the information claimed as CBI must be submitted for inclusion in the public docket. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2.

Public Hearing. If a public hearing is held, it will be held at 10 a.m. at the EPA Facility Complex in Research Triangle Park, NC, or at an alternate site nearby. Persons interested in presenting oral testimony or inquiring as to whether a hearing is to be held should contact Ms. Pamela Garrett, EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Emission Standards Division, Combustion Group (C439-01), Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone number (919) 541-7966, e-mail address: garrett.pamela@epa.gov, at least 2 days in advance of the potential date of the public hearing. Persons interested in attending the public hearing must also call Ms. Garrett to verify the time, date, and location of the hearing. The public hearing will provide interested parties the opportunity to present data, views, or arguments concerning these proposed emission standards.

Worldwide Web (WWW). In addition to being available in the docket, an electronic copy of today's proposal will also be available through the WWW. Following the Administrator's signature, a copy of this action will be posted on EPA's Technology Transfer Network (TNN) policy and guidance page for newly proposed or promulgated rules at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/ . The TTN at EPA's Web site provides information and technology exchange in various areas of air pollution control.

Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

For a complete discussion of all of the administrative requirements applicable to this action, see the direct final rule in the Rules and Regulations sections of today's Federal Register.

Regulatory Flexibility Analysis

The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to notice and comment rulemaking requirements under the Administrative Procedure Act or any other statute unless the agency certifies that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small entities include small businesses, small organizations, and small governmental jurisdictions.

For purposes of assessing the impacts of the proposed rule on small entities, small entity is defined as: (1) A small business whose parent company has fewer than 100 or 1,000 employees, or fewer than 4 billion kilowatt-hour per year of electricity usage, depending on the size definition for the affected North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) code; (2) a small governmental jurisdiction that is a government of a city, county, town, school district or special district with a population of less than 50,000; and (3) a small organization that is any not-for-profit enterprise which is independently owned and operated and is not dominant in its field. It should be noted that small entities in six NAICS codes may be affected by the proposed rule amendments, and the small business definition applied to each industry by NAICS code is that listed in the Small Business Administration size standards (13 CFR part 121).

After considering the economic impacts of the proposed rule amendments on small entities, I certify that today's action will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. This conclusion is based on the fact that today's action does not impose any new requirements in the 40 CFR part 60, subpart GG regulations. Furthermore, the stringency of the emission standards is not affected by this action. We continue to be interested in the potential impacts of the proposed rule on small entities and welcome comments on issues related to such impacts.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 60

• Environmental protection
• Administrative practice and procedure
• Air pollution control
• Intergovernmental relations
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements