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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 59 / Tuesday, March 30, 2021 / Rules and Regulations COVID19. Please call or email the contact listed above if you need alternative access to material indexed but not provided in the docket.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, we, us, and our means the EPA.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
EPAR06OAR20160611; FRL10021
20Region 6

Air Plan Approval; Texas; Interstate Visibility Transport Environmental Protection Agency EPA.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act CAA or the Act, the Environmental Protection Agency EPA
is disapproving elements of two State Implementation Plan SIP submissions from the State of Texas for the 2012
PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard NAAQS and the 2015 Ozone NAAQS. These submittals address how the existing SIP provides for implementation, maintenance, and enforcement of the 2012 PM2.5 and 2015
Ozone NAAQS infrastructure SIP or iSIP. The i-SIP requirements are to ensure that the Texas SIP is adequate to meet the states responsibilities under the CAA for these NAAQS. Specifically, this disapproval addresses the interstate visibility transport requirements of the i-SIP for the 2012 PM2.5 and 2015 Ozone NAAQS under CAA section 110a2DiII. In addition to this disapproval, we are finalizing our determination that the requirements of those i-SIP elements are met through the Federal Implementation Plans FIPs in place for the Texas Regional Haze program, and no further federal action is required.
DATES: This rule is effective on April 29, 2021.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPAR06OAR20160611. All documents in the docket are listed on the https 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. Publicly available docket materials are available electronically through https www.regulations.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Jennifer Huser, EPA Region 6 Office, Regional Haze and SO2 Section, 214
6657347, huser.jennifer@epa.gov. Out of an abundance of caution for members of the public and our staff, the EPA
Region 6 office will be closed to the public to reduce the risk of transmitting
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SUMMARY:

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I. Background The background for this action is discussed in detail in our October 27, 2020 proposal 85 FR 68021. In that document, we proposed to disapprove the interstate visibility transport elements of two SIP submissions from the State of Texas: One for the 2012
PM2.5 NAAQS and the other for 2015
Ozone NAAQS. We simultaneously proposed, in exercising our authority under section 110c of the Act, to find that the interstate visibility transport requirements that were intended to be addressed by those infrastructure SIPs are met through the Best Available Retrofit Technology BART-alternative FIPs already in place for the Texas Regional Haze program, and that no further action is required.
The public comment period for the proposed action closed on November 27, 2020. We received one public comment concerning our proposed action. The comment is included in the publicly posted docket associated with this action at https
www.regulations.gov. Below we provide a summary of the comment along with our detailed responses. After careful consideration, we have decided to finalize our action with no changes from the proposed action.
II. Response to Comments Comment: The commenter raised concerns regarding the necessity of implementing a FIP and stated that a FIP is a good resource for states that are not complying with requirements for NAAQS set under the CAA. However, the commenter explains that Texas had submitted multiple SIPs in which requirements outside of the regional haze and visibility transport were met.
The commenter asserts that the original regional haze SIP met EPA requirements when it was developed, but the D.C.
Circuit remanded the Clean Air Interstate Rule CAIR which was a central part of Texas SIP. The commenter further contends that when EPA replaced CAIR with the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule CSAPR, the FIP
imposed requirements on sources in Texas rather than allowing Texas to find the best method to utilize the new rule and submit a SIP revision. The commenter asserts that the final regional haze FIP imposed the trading program for SO2 on specific Electric Generating
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Units EGUs and did not allow out-ofstate trading. By the time the final regional haze FIP for Texas was issued in 2017, Texas could have proposed a revised SIP that satisfied the NAAQS
requirements without targeting specific EGUs. The commenter concludes that just because CSAPR is better than BART
does not mean it should be the only option.
Response: First, we note that comments regarding CAIR and CSAPR, as well as EPAs 2012 limited disapproval of the 2009 Texas Regional Haze SIP or EPAs obligation to promulgate a FIP to address the BART
requirements for EGUs in Texas, are beyond the scope of this action, and as such, we will not be responding to them. However, because we are relying on the Texas regional haze FIP to fulfill the visibility transport requirements, we will address comments only as they are relevant to the current action. We agree with the commenter that Texas could have proposed a revised SIP to address the requirements. However, in response to court deadlines and without a revised Texas SIP submission, EPA was required to adopt a FIP to address BART. Texas may submit a SIP to replace the BART FIP at any point, including a SIP that includes an approach to implementing necessary emission reductions that is different from the trading program included in EPAs FIP, but the State has not done so to date.
EPA further notes that it is not implementing a new FIP in this action but is instead finding that an existing regional haze FIP also satisfies the interstate visibility transport requirements in CAA section 110a2DiII. In our August 12, 2020 final rulemaking on Texas regional haze,1 we affirmed our previous finding that Texas participation in CSAPR to satisfy NOX BART and our SO2
intrastate trading program, as amended, fully addressed Texas interstate visibility transport obligations for the following six NAAQS: 1 1997 8-hour ozone; 2 1997 PM2.5 annual and 24
hour; 3 2006 PM2.5 24-hour; 4 2008
8-hour ozone; 5 2010 1-hour NO2; and 6 2010 1-hour SO2. This action was based on our determination in the October 2017 FIP that the regional haze measures in place for Texas are adequate to ensure that emissions from the State do not interfere with measures to protect visibility in nearby states, because the emission reductions are consistent with the level of emissions reductions relied upon by other states during interstate consultation under 40
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FR 156 August 12, 2020.

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