[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 60 (Monday, March 31, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 14207-14209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-05339]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 63
[EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0083; FRL-5919.3-02-OAR]
RIN 2060-AW52
Partial Administrative Stay of National Emission Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants: Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing
Facilities Technology Review
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule; partial stay.
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SUMMARY: By a letter dated August 14, 2024, and supplemented by a
letter dated March 5, 2025, the EPA's Office of Air and Radiation
announced the convening of a proceeding for reconsideration of certain
requirements in the final rule, ``National Emission Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants: Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing
Facilities Technology Review,'' published on April 3, 2024. In this
action, the EPA is staying provisions establishing compliance deadlines
in 2025 for requirements that were added or revised by the April 3,
2024, final rule for 90 days pending reconsideration.
DATES: Effective March 31, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Electronic copies of this document are available on the
EPA's website at https://www.epa.gov/stationary-sources-air-pollution/integrated-iron-and-steel-manufacturing-national-emission. Copies of
this document are also available at https://www.regulations.gov, at
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0083.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For questions about this action,
contact U.S. EPA, Attn: Katie Boaggio, Mail Drop: D243-02, 109 T.W.
Alexander Drive, P.O. Box 12055, RTP, NC 27711; telephone number: (919)
541-2223; and email address: boaggio.katie@epa.gov.
[[Page 14208]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On April 3, 2024, the EPA completed a technology review under Clean
Air Act (CAA) section 112(d)(6) of the National Emissions Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants (NESHAP) for Integrated Iron and Steel
Manufacturing Facilities that revised standards that were issued in
2003 and reviewed in 2020. Additionally, EPA set standards under CAA
sections 112(d)(2) and 112(d)(3) for previously unregulated hazardous
air pollutant emissions. The NESHAP amendments are codified at 40 CFR
part 63, subpart FFFFF. For further information on the 2024 rule, see
89 FR 23294 (April 3, 2024).
On June 3 and 4, 2024, several interested parties submitted
administrative petitions to the EPA seeking reconsideration of various
aspects of the 2024 rule pursuant to section 307(d)(7)(B) of the CAA
(42 U.S.C. 7607(d)(7)(B)). Copies of these petitions are included in
the docket, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0083.
On August 14, 2024, the EPA issued a letter stating our intention
to exercise our discretion to reconsider three issues raised in the
petitions, address some items of correction, and continue reviewing the
petitions for reconsideration. Later, on March 5, 2025, the EPA issued
a second letter modifying the scope of the already convened
discretionary reconsideration proceeding by identifying some items from
the petitions for reconsideration as appropriate for mandatory
reconsideration based on the criteria in CAA section 307(d)(7)(B).
Copies of both EPA response letters are included in the docket, Docket
ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2002-0083. Under CAA section 307(d)(7)(B), 42 U.S.C.
7607(d)(7)(B), the Administrator shall convene a proceeding for
reconsideration of a rule when the person raising an objection to a
rule can demonstrate: (1) that it was either impractical to raise the
objection during the period for public comment or that the grounds for
the objection arose after the period for public comment; and (2) that
the objection is of central relevance to the outcome of the rule.
The March 5, 2025 letter announced that, in addition to the
discretionary reconsideration issues identified in the August 14, 2024
letter, the following topics from two petitions will be reconsidered
pursuant to CAA section 307(d)(7)(B): (1) work practice standards for
unmeasured fugitive and intermittent particulate from unplanned bleeder
valve openings; (2) the opacity limit for planned bleeder valve
openings; (3) work practice standards for bell leaks; and (4) the
opacity limit for slag processing and handling.
In particular, the petitioners identified two errors in the final
rule regulatory text related to the work practice standards for
unplanned bleeder valve openings (issue 1) and identified ambiguity in
the regulatory text for the work practice standards for bell leaks
(issue 3). In the August 14, 2024 letter, the EPA initially identified
these as items that could be corrected in a short-term corrections
document; however, after further evaluation of the issues, the EPA
concluded that making the changes necessary to address these items
would require public notice and comment because the regulatory text
containing the errors and ambiguity was introduced between the proposed
rule and final rule and thus was not subject to public notice and
comment as required by the CAA. Accordingly, in the March 5, 2025
letter, we found that the petitioners had demonstrated that it was
impractical to raise their objections to these provisions during the
period for public comment.
We also found that their objections to the errors and ambiguity in
the regulatory text for work practice standards for unplanned bleeder
valve openings and bell leaks are of central relevance to the outcome
of the rule. For bell leaks, we finalized language that was not
proposed and directly impacts the ability for industry to comply with
the standard. For unplanned bleeder valve openings, we inadvertently
defined bleeder valve openings incorrectly that also directly impacts
the ability for industry to comply with the standard as written.
Additionally, industry petitioners provided new monitoring data to
the EPA in their petitions for reconsideration. This monitoring, which
was performed after the close of the comment period, demonstrates that
it may be infeasible for some sources to comply with the final rule's
opacity limits for planned bleeder valve openings (issue 2) and slag
processing and handling (issue 4). This monitoring was performed to
substantiate comments about operational variabilities industry had
submitted during the public comment period that EPA did not have time
to fully evaluate before promulgating the final rule. For this reason,
industry was not aware of the need for these data until after the rule
was published. Therefore, in support of their petitions for
reconsideration, industry provided a more robust dataset than the
information submitted pursuant to EPA's 2022 CAA section 114
information collection request during the development of the proposed
rule; the new data were not collected as part of the CAA section 114
request and were not available to the EPA until after the rule was
finalized. While the EPA concluded there are work practices available
to minimize opacity, these new data provide evidence that there is more
variability in each source's operations and opacity than we initially
accounted for.
Accordingly, in the March 5, 2025 letter, we found that the
petitioners had demonstrated that it was impractical to raise these
challenges to the feasibility of the proposed opacity standards during
the public comment period. If we had received the additional data
provided in the petitions during the public comment period, we may have
structured the opacity limits in such a way as to account for
additional variability. Based on this additional information provided
by the petitioners after promulgation of the final rule and after
further discussions and analyses, the EPA now understands that, in some
cases, the equipment and work practices required by the final rule will
not be sufficient or, in some cases, feasible to meet the standards as
currently written, making petitioners' objections of central relevance
to the outcome of the final rule.
As part of the reconsideration proceeding looking at the issues
identified in both the August 2024 and March 2025 EPA response letters,
the EPA will prepare a notice of proposed rulemaking that will provide
petitioners and the public an opportunity to comment on the issues
identified for both discretionary and mandatory reconsideration.
II. Stay of Certain Provisions
By this action, the EPA is staying the effectiveness of certain
aspects of the subpart revised by the final rule entitled, ``National
Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants: Integrated Iron and
Steel Manufacturing Facilities Technology Review,'' 89 FR 23294, for 90
days pursuant to its authority under section 307(d)(7)(B) of the CAA.
Specifically, the EPA is staying the effectiveness of all provisions
with April 3, 2025 compliance dates while the EPA addresses the
reconsideration issues in a separate action. Therefore, pursuant to
section 307(d)(7)(B) of the CAA, the EPA is staying the effectiveness
of these compliance requirements for 90 days. This stay will remain in
place until July 1, 2025, at which time those provisions will become
effective.
[[Page 14209]]
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 63
Environmental protection, Administrative practice and procedure,
Air pollution control, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Lee Zeldin,
Administrator.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the EPA amends title 40,
chapter I, part 63 of the Code of Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 63--NATIONAL EMISSION STANDARDS FOR HAZARDOUS AIR POLLUTANTS
FOR SOURCE CATEGORIES
0
1. The authority citation for part 63 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart FFFFF--National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
Pollutants for Integrated Iron and Steel Manufacturing Facilities
0
2. Amend Sec. 63.7790 by revising paragraph (a) to read as follows:
Sec. 63.7790 What emission limitations must I meet?
(a) You must meet each emission limit and opacity limit in table 1
to this subpart that applies to you except that the requirements in
table 1 to this subpart for planned bleeder valve openings at new and
existing blast furnaces are stayed from April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
* * * * *
Sec. 63.7793 [Amended]
0
3. Amend Sec. 63.7793 by staying paragraphs (c), (d), and (f) from
April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Sec. 63.7800 [Amended]
0
4. Amend Sec. 63.7800 by staying paragraphs (b)(8) and (9) from April
2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Sec. 63.7821 [Amended]
0
5. Amend Sec. 63.7821 by staying paragraphs (i), (k), and (l) from
April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Sec. 63.7823 [Amended]
0
6. Amend Sec. 63.7823 by staying paragraphs (c)(3), (d)(6), (f), and
(h) from April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Sec. 63.7833 [Amended]
0
7. Amend Sec. 63.7833 by staying paragraph (j) from April 2, 2025, to
July 1, 2025.
0
8. Amend Sec. 63.7842 by revising paragraph (d) to read as follows:
Sec. 63.7842 What records must I keep?
* * * * *
(d) You must keep the records required in Sec. Sec. 63.7823,
63.7833, and 63.7834 to show continuous compliance with each emission
limitation and operation and maintenance requirement that applies to
you. This includes a record of each large and small bell repair and
replacement, a record of the date on which the large bell opacity has
exceeded 20 percent, and the most current time period or throughput
over which no opacity was observed from the small bell. The
requirements of this paragraph for records for large and small bells
are stayed from April 2, 2025 to July 1, 2025.
* * * * *
Table 1 to Subpart FFFFF of Part 63 [Amended]
0
9. Amend table 1 to subpart FFFFF of part 63 by staying item 16 from
April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Table 2 to Subpart FFFFF of Part 63 [Amended]
0
10. Amend table 2 to subpart FFFFF of part 63 by staying item 16 from
April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
Table 3 to Subpart FFFFF of Part 63 [Amended]
0
11. Amend table 3 to subpart FFFFF of part 63 by staying item 16 from
April 2, 2025, to July 1, 2025.
[FR Doc. 2025-05339 Filed 3-28-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P