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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 39 / Tuesday, March 2, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
This final rule is effective April 1, 2021.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPAR05OAR20100037. All documents in the docket are listed in the http www.regulations.gov website.
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., Confidential Business Information 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 through http www.regulations.gov or at the EPA Region 5 office please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section for availability information.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Kathleen DAgostino, Environmental Scientist, Attainment Planning &
Maintenance Section, Air Programs Branch AR18J, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, 312 8861767, dagostino.kathleen@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document whenever we, us, or our is used, we mean EPA.

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DATES:

I. Background Information On February 6, 2013, EPA
promulgated a FIP that included BART
limits for certain taconite furnaces in Minnesota and Michigan 2013 Taconite FIP; 78 FR 8706. On February 4, 2020, EPA proposed to revise the 2013
Taconite FIP with respect to the NOX
BART emission limitations and compliance schedules for U.S. Steels Minntac facility in Minnesota. 85 FR
6125.
Specifically, EPA proposed that an aggregate emission limit of 1.6 lbs NOX
per million British Thermal Unit MMBtu, based on a 30-day rolling average, averaged across Minntacs five production lines, represents NOX BART
for the Minntac facility. An explanation of the CAA requirements, a detailed analysis of how these requirements apply to U.S. Steels Minntac facility, and EPAs reasons for proposing the revised limit and compliance schedule were provided in the notice of proposed rulemaking NPRM and will not be restated here. The public comment period for this proposed rule ended on March 5, 2020.
One commenter stated that EPA did not provide information regarding a public hearing and did not ask the
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public if they were interested in a public hearing. To address this comment, EPA held a virtual public hearing on October 14, 2020, and reopened the public comment period.
The second comment period closed on November 13, 2020. The commenter also stated that EPA did not demonstrate that the agency consulted with Federal Land Managers FLMs regarding the proposed FIP revision. In response to this comment, EPA engaged with the FLMs on the revision to the taconite FIP for Minntac. The FLMs have indicated that they have no comments on the FIP revision.
II. Public Comments During the first comment period EPA
received adverse comments submitted on behalf of the National Parks Conservation Association and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, an adverse comment submitted anonymously, and a comment from a private citizen in support of the February 4, 2020
proposal. We also received an anonymous comment that addresses subjects outside the scope of our proposed action. The adverse comments are summarized and addressed below.
No one presented testimony at the October 14, 2020 virtual public hearing.
The transcript of the hearing is available in the docket. We received no comments during the second comment period.
Comment 1: The 2013 FIP included case-by-case determinations and emission limits for each of the BART
units at Minntac, as follows: 1.2 lbs NOX/MMBtu when burning natural gas and 1.5 lbs NOX/MMBtu when co-firing coal and natural gas. This was done in accordance with the CAA where BART
is defined as an emission limitation based on the degree of reduction achievable through the application of the best system of continuous emission reduction for each pollutant which is emitted by an existing stationary facility. This emission limit is to be established on a case-by-case basis after considering the five statutory factors.
EPAs 2020 proposal would provide a single facility-wide NOX BART limit of 1.6 lbs/MMBtu that will apply on a rolling 30-day basis. Contrary to the CAA and BART Guidelines, for each Minntac source subject to BART, EPA
abandons its 2013 BART determination and now proposes a FIP revision that neglects its obligation to ensure limits reflect BART emission rates that are of the appropriate type and level for each source subject to BART. Without revised individual BART determinations for each of the five Minntac units EPA
cannot demonstrate that reductions
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achieved by the facility-wide limit will be equal to the reductions obtained by controlling the individual units. While the Minntac Spreadsheet in the docket contains information on 95th and 99th percentile and highest 720-hour averages, it seems EPA decided to ignore the percentile values, and rather propose U.S. Steels averaging approach.
Response: The August 15, 2012
Proposed FIP 77 FR 4931249313
included a five-step BART analysis for Minntacs five lines Lines 37. The five-step analysis was conducted in accordance with the BART Guidelines, appendix Y to 40 CFR part 51. EPA
proposed BART emission limits of 1.2
lbs NOX/MMBtu measured on a 30-day rolling average based on the use of low NOX burners. EPAs analysis and proposed determination that BART is based upon the use of low NOX burners remains valid. In the February 6, 2013
Final FIP 78 FR 8706, based on a comment from U.S. Steel regarding the appropriate emission limit when burning solid fuels and supplementary data submitted by U.S. Steel on October 15, 2012,1 EPA finalized a limit for each of Minntacs five lines of 1.5 lbs NOX/
MMBtu measured on a 30-day rolling average; however, a limit of 1.2 lbs NOX/MMBtu measured on a 30-day rolling average would apply for any 30
or more consecutive days when only natural gas is used. The final 2013 FIP
limits reflected what EPA determined could be reasonably achieved by the use of low NOX burners at taconite furnaces based on the limited emission data available.
At the time EPA promulgated the BART emission limits for Minntac, low NOX burners had only been in operation on Minntac Lines 6 and 7 since April 2011 and May 2010, respectively, and there were very little emission data available upon which to base a limit.
Since promulgation of the FIP, however, U.S. Steel submitted continuous emission monitoring system CEMS
data demonstrating that despite having optimized each burner,2 Minntac is unable to comply with the 1.2 lbs NOX/
MMBtu limit at all times when burning only natural gas.
EPA continues to rely on the BART
analysis set forth in the August 15, 2012
proposal concerning the selection of low NOX burners as the appropriate BART
1 See US Steel CommentsProposed FIP MN
and MI and 10152012 email from C. Bartovich to S. Rosenthal and attachments, included in the docket.
2 See IV.F. U.S. Steel Minntac Line 6 Low NO
X Burner Final Report, December 1, 2011, III.F. U.S.
Steel Minntac9.m. U.S. Steel Minntac Line 7 Burner Final Report, May 13, 2011, and Final Report Line 4 Burner 092917, included in the docket.

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