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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 8 / Wednesday, January 13, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
section 307b2 of the CAA, the requirements established by this final rule may not be challenged separately in any civil or criminal proceedings brought by the EPA to enforce these requirements. The Administrator has determined that this action is subject to section 307d of the CAA 42 U.S.C.
7607d1V. Section 307d7B of the CAA further provides that only an objection to a rule or procedure which was raised with reasonable specificity during the period for public comment including any public hearing may be raised during judicial review. This section also provides a mechanism for the EPA to convene a proceeding for reconsideration if the person raising an objection can demonstrate to the EPA
that it was impracticable to raise such objection within the period for public comment or if the grounds for such objection arose after the period for public comment, but within the time specified for judicial review and if such objection is of central relevance to the outcome of the rule. Any person seeking to make such a demonstration to us should submit a Petition for Reconsideration to the Office of the Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Room 3000, WJC
South Building, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave.
NW, Washington, DC 20460, with a copy to both the persons listed in the preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section, and the Associate General Counsel for the Air and Radiation Law Office, Office of General Counsel Mail Code 2344A, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
20460.
II. Executive Summary A. What is the purpose of this regulatory action?
In Executive Order 13783 Promoting Energy Independence and Economic Growth, all executive departments and agencies, including the EPA, were directed to immediately review existing regulations that potentially burden the development or use of domestically produced energy resources and appropriately suspend, revise, or rescind those that unduly burden the development of domestic energy resources beyond the degree necessary to protect the public interest or otherwise comply with the law. 1
Moreover, the Executive Order directed the EPA to undertake this process of review with regard to the Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas 1 Executive Order 13783, Section 1c, 82 FR
16093, March 31, 2017.

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Emissions from New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources:
Electric Utility Generating Units, 80 FR
64510 October 23, 2015 2015 Rule.
In a document signed the same day as Executive Order 13783 and published in the Federal Register at 82 FR 16330
April 4, 2017, the EPA announced that, consistent with the Executive Order, it was initiating a review of the 2015 Rule and providing notice of a forthcoming proposed rulemaking consistent with the Executive Order.
After due deliberation, the EPA issued a proposed rulemaking, Review of Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating UnitsProposed Rule, 83 FR 65424
December 20, 2018 2018 Proposal.
Here the EPA is finalizing a rulemaking with respect to whether GHG emissions from EGUs contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution, in reliance on a methodology articulated herein for determining whether GHG emissions from other NSPS source categories contribute significantly to dangerous air pollution. Any action regarding the proposal to revise the standards of performance, including the underlying determinations of the BSER, for new, reconstructed, and modified coal-fired EGUs, including certain technical issues, is beyond the scope of this final rule and comments received on the 2018
Proposal will be addressed in a separate future action.
B. What is the summary of the major provisions in this action?
The EPA is finalizing a pollutantspecific SCF for GHG emissions from EGUs. That finding is based on an emissions threshold framework for determining significance, as well as secondary criteria to be applied in certain circumstances, for other NSPS
source categories.
C. What are the costs and benefits?
In 2015, the EPA promulgated Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units, 80 FR 64510 October 23, 2015
2015 Rule. When the EPA promulgated the 2015 Rule, it took note of both utility announcements and U.S. Energy Information Administration EIA
modeling and, based on that information, concluded that even in the absence of this rule, 1 existing and anticipated economic conditions are such that few, if any, coal-fired EGUs will be built in the foreseeable future, and that 2 utilities and project
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developers are expected to choose new generation technologies primarily natural gas combined cycle NGCC that would meet the final standards and also renewable generating sources that are not affected by these final standards.
See 80 FR 64515 October 23, 2015. The EPA, therefore, projected that the 2015
Rule would result in negligible CO2
emission changes, quantified benefits, and costs by 2022 as a result of the performance standards for newly constructed EGUs. Id. The Agency went on to say that it had been notified of few power sector new source performance standards NSPS
modifications or reconstructions.
Based on that additional information, the EPA said it expects that few EGUs will trigger either the modification or the reconstruction provisions of the 2015 Rule. Id. at 64516.
The EPA has concluded that the projections described in the 2015 Rule remain generally correct.2 In the period of analysis,3 the EPA expects there to be few, if any, newly constructed, reconstructed, or modified sources that will trigger the provisions the EPA is promulgating in this action.
Consequently, the EPA projects that there will be no significant changes in carbon dioxide CO2 emissions or in compliance costs as a result of this final rule.
III. Summary of Previous Rulemaking Actions On December 20, 2018, the EPA
published a proposal to revise certain parts of the 2015 Rule; Review of Standards of Performance for Greenhouse Gas Emissions From New, Modified, and Reconstructed Stationary Sources: Electric Utility Generating Units. 83 FR 65424 2018 Proposal.
The majority of that proposal was dedicated to the issue of the best system of emission reduction BSER for newly constructed, modified, and reconstructed coal-fired EGUs.
Comments received on that issue are not being addressed in this rule and will be addressed in any future EPA action. In that proposal, the EPA solicited comment on whether to make a pollutant-specific significant contribution determination for GHG
emissions from EGUs, 83 FR 65432 n.
25, which is the subject of this action.
2 In the reference case for the most recent Annual Energy Outlook AEO2020, the EIA projected no additions of new planned or unplanned coal capacity through 2050 www.eia.gov/aeo2020; Table 9. Electricity Generating Capacity.
3 Standards developed under the NSPS program must, by statutory requirement, be reviewed, at least, every 8 years.

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