AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Direct final rule.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking a direct final action to approve a negative declaration submitted to satisfy the requirements of the Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills for the State of Vermont. The negative declaration certifies that there are no existing facilities in the State of Vermont that must comply with this rule.

DATES:

This direct final rule will be effective May 26, 2020 without further notice, unless the EPA receives adverse comments by April 23, 2020. If the EPA receives adverse comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-OAR-2020-0083 at https://www.regulations.gov, or via email to kilpatrick.jessica@epa.gov. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, the EPA may publish any comments received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the “For Further Information Contact” section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/​dockets/​commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jessica Kilpatrick, Air Permits, Toxics, & Indoor Programs Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 1, 5 Post Office Square, Mail Code: 05-2, Boston, MA 02109-0287. Telephone: 617-918-1652. Fax: 617-918-0652. Email: kilpatrick.jessica@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background

II. Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Regulations

III. Final Action

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

Section 111(d) of the CAA establishes standards of performance for existing sources, specifically pertaining to the remaining useful life of a source. Air pollutants included under this section are those which have not already been established as air quality criteria pollutants via 42 U.S.C. 7408(a) or hazardous air pollutants via 42 U.S.C. 7412. Section 111(d)(1) requires states to submit to the EPA for approval a plan that establishes standards of performance. The plan must provide that the state will implement and enforce the standards of performance. A federal plan is prescribed if a state does not submit a state-specific plan or the submitted plan is disapproved. If a state has no designated facilities for a standards of performance source category, it may submit a negative declaration in lieu of a state plan for that source category according to 40 CFR 60.23a(b) and 62.06.

II. Municipal Solid Waste Landfill Regulations

A municipal solid waste (MSW) landfill is defined in 40 CFR 60.41f as, “an entire disposal facility in a contiguous geographical space where household waste is placed in or on land.” Other substances may be placed in the landfill which are regulated under RCRA Subtitle D, 40 CFR 257.2. MSW landfills emit gases generated by the decomposition of organic compounds or evolution of new organic compounds from the deposited waste. The EPA regulations specifically delineate measures to control methane and nonmethane organic compound (NMOC) emissions, which can adversely impact public health.

Standards of Performance for new MSW landfills, as codified at 40 CFR part 60 subpart XXX (subpart XXX), set standards for air emissions, operating standards for collection and control systems, test methods and procedures, compliance provisions, monitoring of operations, reporting requirements, recordkeeping requirements, and specifications for active collection systems. Subpart XXX applies to facilities that commenced construction, reconstruction, or modification after July 17, 2014. The Emission Guidelines and Compliance Times for Municipal Solid Waste Landfills, as codified at 40 CFR part 60 subpart Cf (subpart Cf, or Emission Guidelines) apply to states with MSW landfills that accepted waste after November 8, 1987 and commenced construction, reconstruction, or modification before July 17, 2014. Such landfills are considered to be “existing” landfills. In states with facilities meeting the applicability criteria of an existing MSW landfill, the Administrator of an air quality program must submit a state plan to the EPA that implements the Emission Guidelines.

The Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (VT DEC) has determined that there is only one MSW landfill (a “new” landfill) in the State subject to federal Clean Air Act landfill regulations pursuant to part 60 subpart XXX. The landfill, New England Waste Services of Vermont, Inc. of Coventry, Vermont, commenced construction on an expansion to its design capacity on August 19, 2019, and is thus currently regulated under Subpart XXX. Therefore, the VT DEC submitted a negative declaration to EPA on September 10, 2019 pursuant to the requirements at 40 CFR 60.23a(b) and 62.06, certifying that there are no existing source MSW landfills in the State of Vermont subject to the requirements of 40 CFR part 60 subpart Cf.

III. Final Action

The EPA is approving the Vermont negative declaration. This negative declaration satisfies the requirements of 40 CFR 60.23a(b) and 62.06, serving in lieu of a CAA 111(d) state plan for existing source MSW landfills.

The EPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register publication, the EPA is publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal to approve the negative declaration should relevant adverse comments be filed. This rule will be effective May 26, 2020 without further notice unless the Agency receives relevant adverse comments by April 23, 2020.

If the EPA receives such comments, we will publish a notice withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. The EPA will not institute a second comment period on the proposed rule. All parties interested in commenting on the proposed rule should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public is advised that this rule will be effective on May 26, 2020 and no further action will be taken on the proposed rule. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comments on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of adverse comments.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a 111(d) plan submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable Federal regulations (40 CFR 62.04). Thus, in reviewing 111(d) plan submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:

• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
• Is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action because this action is not significant under Executive Order 12866;
• Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
• Is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
• Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
• Does not have Federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
• Is not an economically significant regulatory action based on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
• Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent with the Clean Air Act; and
• Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this rule is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does not have tribal implications and will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).

The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. This action is not a “major rule” as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by May 26, 2020. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements (See section 307(b)(2)).

Parties with objections to this direct final rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed rules section of this issue of the Federal Register, rather than file an immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that the EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address comment(s) in the final rulemaking.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 62

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

Part 62 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 62—APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF STATE PLAN FOR DESIGNATED FACILITIES AND POLLUTANTS

1. The authority citation for part 62 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart UU—Vermont

2. Revise § 62.11485 to read as follows: