[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 35 (Monday, February 23, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Page 9456]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03583]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9923-16-Region 6]
Clean Air Act Operating Permit Program; Petitions for Objection
to State Operating Permits for Luminant Generating Company, LLC Steam
Electric Generating Stations Martin Lake, Monticello, and Big Brown in
Texas
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of final action.
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SUMMARY: Pursuant to Clean Air Act (CAA) Section 505(b)(2) and 40 CFR
70.8(d), the EPA Administrator signed an Order, dated January 23, 2015,
denying in part three petitions asking the EPA to object to operating
permits issued by the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)
to Luminant Generating Company, LLC (Luminant) relating to three coal
fired steam electric generating stations (SES) located in East and
Northeast Texas. Title V operating permit number O53 was issued by the
TCEQ to Luminant for the Martin Lake SES located in Rusk County, Texas.
Title V operating permit number O64 was issued to Luminant for the
Monticello SES located in Titus County, Texas, while title V operating
permit number O65 was issued to Luminant for the Big Brown SES located
in Freestone County, Texas. The EPA's January 23, 2015 Order responds
to the three petitions submitted by the Environmental Integrity Project
(EIP) representing themselves and on behalf of Sierra Club
(collectively, the Petitioners): the petition addressing the Martin
Lake permit was received on February 26, 2014, while the petitions
addressing the Monticello permit and Big Brown permit were both
received on March 4, 2014. Sections 307(b) and 505(b)(2) of the Act
provide that a petitioner may ask for judicial review of those portions
of the Orders that deny objections raised in the petitions by the
United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit. Any
petition for review shall be filed within 60 days from the date this
notice appears in the Federal Register, pursuant to section 307(b) of
the Act.
ADDRESSES: You may review copies of the final Orders, the petitions,
and other supporting information at EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue,
Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.
For Information: Please contact Brad Toups at (214) 665-7258, email
address: [email protected] or the above EPA, Region 6 address, to view
copies of the final Orders, petitions, and other supporting
information. You may view the hard copies Monday through Friday, from
9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., excluding Federal holidays. If you wish to
examine these documents, you should make an appointment at least 24
hours before the visiting day. Additionally, the final January 23, 2015
Order is available electronically at: http://www.epa.gov/region07/air/title5/petitiondb/petitions/luminant_response2014.pdf.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The CAA affords the EPA a 45-day period to
review, and object, as appropriate, to a title V operating permit
proposed by a state permitting authority. Section 505(b)(2) of the CAA
authorizes any person to petition the EPA Administrator, within 60 days
after the expiration of this review period, to object to a title V
operating permit if the EPA has not done so. Petitions must be based
only on objections to the permit that were raised with reasonable
specificity during the public comment period provided by the state,
unless the petitioner demonstrates that it was impracticable to raise
these issues during the comment period or unless the grounds for the
issue arose after this period.
The EPA received three petitions from the Petitioners, one dated
February 26, 2014 for the Martin Lake permit, and one each dated March
3, 2014 for the Monticello and Big Brown permits, to object to
operating permits issued to Luminant Generating Company, LLC relating
respectively to facilities located in Rusk, Titus, and Freestone
counties, Texas.
The Order issued on January 23, 2015 responds to claim V.A of the
Martin Lake Petition (pp. 5-9), the Monticello Petition (pp. 5-11) and
the Big Brown Petition (pp. 7-14) raised by EIP, the Sierra Club having
withdrawn all of their objections prior to the issuance of the order.
The EIP requested that the Administrator object to the proposed
operating permits issued by the TCEQ to Luminant on several bases. The
three petitions did not raise identical claims; however, three common
claims are addressed in the issued order. The remaining issues are to
be withdrawn by the petitioner in accordance with a settlement
agreement reached on January 22, 2015 between the Petitioner and the
EPA.
The claims are described in detail in Section IV of the Order. In
summary, the issues raised are that: (1) the Compliance Assurance
Monitoring (CAM) provisions in the Martin Lake, Monticello and Big
Brown permits do not assure compliance with the applicable particulate
matter (PM) emission limit during periods of startup, shutdown,
maintenance and malfunction; (2) the record supporting the CAM opacity
indicator ranges for PM for Monticello Units 1, 2 and 3 is deficient
and not based on reliable data; and (3) the Big Brown permit must be
revised to ensure that any credible evidence may be used to demonstrate
noncompliance with applicable requirements.
Due to significant overlap in the issues raised in the Petitions
and the similarity of the relevant permit conditions in each of the
three permits, the EPA is responding to the identified portion of all
three Petitions in this Order on January 23, 2015. The EPA's rationale
for denying the addressed claims is described in the Order.
Dated: February 9, 2015.
Ron Curry,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2015-03583 Filed 2-20-15; 8:45 am]
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