[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 177 (Monday, September 14, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55061-55063]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-22943]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-9933-86-OAR]
40 CFR Part 97
Allocations of Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Allowances From New
Unit Set-Asides for 2015 Control Periods
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of data availability (NODA).
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is providing notice
of the availability of preliminary lists of units eligible for
allocations of emission allowances under the Cross-State Air Pollution
Rule (CSAPR). Under the CSAPR federal implementation plans (FIPs),
portions of each covered state's annual emissions budgets for each of
the four CSAPR emissions trading programs are reserved for allocation
to electricity generating units that commenced commercial operation on
or after January 1, 2010 (new units) and certain other units not
otherwise obtaining allowance allocations under the FIPs. The
quantities of allowances allocated to eligible units from each new unit
set-aside (NUSA) under the FIPs are calculated in an annual one- or
two-round allocation process. EPA previously completed the first round
of NUSA allowance allocations for the 2015 control periods for all four
CSAPR trading programs and is now making available preliminary lists of
units eligible for allocations in the second round of the NUSA
allocation process for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading
Program. EPA has posted a spreadsheet containing the preliminary lists
on EPA's Web site. EPA will consider timely objections to the lists of
eligible units contained in the spreadsheet and will promulgate a
document responding to any such objections no later than November 15,
2015, the deadline for recording the second-round allocations of CSAPR
NOX Ozone Season allowances in sources' Allowance Management
System accounts. This notice of availability may concern CSAPR-affected
units in the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia,
Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky,
[[Page 55062]]
Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, New Jersey, New
York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina,
Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
DATES: Objections to the information referenced in this notice of
availability must be received on or before October 14, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Submit your objections via email to [email protected].
Include ``2015 NUSA allocations'' in the email subject line and include
your name, title, affiliation, address, phone number, and email address
in the body of the email.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Questions concerning this action
should be addressed to Robert Miller at (202) 343-9077 or
[email protected] or Kenon Smith at (202) 343-9164 or
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Under the CSAPR FIPs, the mechanisms by
which initial allocations of emission allowances are determined differ
for ``existing'' and ``new'' units. For ``existing'' units--that is,
units commencing commercial operation before January 1, 2010--the
specific amounts of CSAPR FIP allowance allocations for all control
periods have been established through rulemaking. EPA has announced the
availability of spreadsheets showing the CSAPR FIP allowance
allocations to existing units in previous notices of availability.\1\
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\1\ The latest spreadsheet of CSAPR FIP allowance allocations to
existing units, updated in 2014 to reflect changes to CSAPR's
implementation schedule but with allocation amounts unchanged since
June 2012, is available at http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/actions.html. See Availability of Data on Allocations of Cross-State
Air Pollution Rule Allowances to Existing Electricity Generating
Units, 79 FR 71674 (December 3, 2014).
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``New'' units--that is, units commencing commercial operation on or
after January 1, 2010--as well as certain older units that would not
otherwise obtain FIP allowance allocations do not have pre-established
allowance allocations. Instead, the CSAPR FIPs reserve a portion of
each state's total annual emissions budget for each CSAPR emissions
trading program as a new unit set-aside (NUSA) \2\ and establish an
annual process for allocating NUSA allowances to eligible units. States
with Indian country within their borders have separate Indian country
NUSAs. The annual process for allocating allowances from the NUSAs and
Indian country NUSAs to eligible units is set forth in the CSAPR
regulations at 40 CFR 97.411(b) and 97.412 (NOX Annual
Trading Program), 97.511(b) and 97.512 (NOX Ozone Season
Trading Program), 97.611(b) and 97.612 (SO2 Group 1 Trading
Program), and 97.711(b) and 97.712 (SO2 Group 2 Trading
Program). Each NUSA allowance allocation process involves up to two
rounds of allocations to new units followed by the allocation to
existing units of any allowances not allocated to new units. EPA
provides public notice at certain points in the process.
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\2\ The NUSA amounts range from two percent to eight percent of
the respective state budgets. The variation in percentages reflects
differences among states in the quantities of emission allowances
projected to be required by known new units at the time the budgets
were set or amended.
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EPA has already completed the first round of allocations of 2015
NUSA allowances for all four CSAPR trading programs, as announced in
notices of availability previously published in the Federal
Register.\3\ The first-round NUSA allocation process was discussed in
those previous notices of availability.
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\3\ 80 FR 30988 (June 1, 2015); 80 FR 44882 (July 28, 2015).
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In the case of second-round allocations of NUSA allowances, the
annual allocations for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading
Program occur before the annual allocations for the other three CSAPR
trading programs because of differences in the emissions reporting and
compliance deadlines for the various programs. This notice of
availability concerns the second round of NUSA allowance allocations
for the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading Program for the 2015
control period.\4\
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\4\ At this time, EPA is not aware of any unit eligible for a
second-round allocation from any Indian country NUSA.
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The units eligible to receive second-round NUSA allocations for the
CSAPR NOX Ozone Season Trading Program are defined in
Sec. Sec. 97.511(a)(1)(iii) and 97.512(a)(9)(i). Generally, eligible
units include any CSAPR-affected unit that commenced commercial
operation between May 1 of the year before the control period in
question and August 31 of the year of the control period in question.
In the case of the 2015 control period, an eligible unit therefore must
have commenced commercial operation between May 1, 2014 and August 31,
2015 (inclusive).
The total quantity of allowances to be allocated through the 2015
NUSA allowance allocation process for each state and emissions trading
program--in the two rounds of the allocation process combined--is
generally the state's 2015 emissions budget less the sum of (1) the
total of the 2015 CSAPR FIP allowance allocations to existing units and
(2) the amount of the 2015 Indian country NUSA, if any.\5\ The amounts
of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season NUSA allowances may be increased
in certain circumstances as set forth in Sec. 97.512(a)(2).
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\5\ The quantities of allowances to be allocated through the
NUSA allowance allocation process may differ slightly from the NUSA
amounts set forth in Sec. Sec. 97.410(a), 97.510(a), 97.610(a), and
97.710(a) because of rounding in the spreadsheet of CSAPR FIP
allowance allocations to existing units.
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Second-round NUSA allocations for a given state, trading program,
and control period are made only if the NUSA contains allowances after
completion of the first-round allocations.
The amounts of second-round CSAPR NOX Ozone Season
allowance allocations to eligible new units from each NUSA are
calculated according to the procedures set forth in Sec. 97.512(a)(9),
(10) and (12). Generally, the procedures call for each eligible unit to
receive a second-round 2015 NUSA allocation equal to the positive
difference, if any, between its emissions during the 2015
NOX ozone season (i.e., May 1, 2015 through September 30,
2015) as reported under 40 CFR part 75 and any first-round allocation
the unit received, unless the total of such allocations to all eligible
units would exceed the amount of allowances in the NUSA, in which case
the allocations are reduced on a pro-rata basis.
Any allowances remaining in the CSAPR NOX Ozone Season
NUSA for a given state and control period after the second round of
NUSA allocations to new units will be allocated to the existing units
in the state according to the procedures set forth in Sec.
97.512(a)(10) and (12).
EPA notes that an allocation or lack of allocation of allowances to
a given EGU does not constitute a determination that CSAPR does or does
not apply to the EGU. EPA also notes that allocations are subject to
potential correction if a unit to which NUSA allowances have been
allocated for a given control period is not actually an affected unit
as of the start of that control period.\6\
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\6\ See 40 CFR 97.511(c).
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The preliminary lists of units eligible for second-round 2015 NUSA
allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season allowances are set
forth in an Excel spreadsheet titled
``CSAPR_NUSA_2015_NOx_OS_2nd_Round_Prelim_Data'' available on EPA's Web
site at http://www.epa.gov/crossstaterule/actions.html. The spreadsheet
contains a separate worksheet for each state covered by that program
showing each unit preliminarily identified as eligible for a second-
round NUSA allocation.
[[Page 55063]]
Each state worksheet also contains a summary showing (1) the
quantity of allowances initially available in that state's 2015 NUSA,
(2) the sum of the 2015 NUSA allowance allocations that were made in
the first-round to new units in that state (if any), and (3) the
quantity of allowances in the 2015 NUSA available for distribution in
second-round allocations to new units (or ultimately for allocation to
existing units).
Objections should be strictly limited to whether EPA has correctly
identified the new units eligible for second-round 2015 NUSA
allocations of CSAPR NOX Ozone Season allowances according
to the criteria described above and should be emailed to the address
identified in ADDRESSES. Objections must include: (1) Precise
identification of the specific data the commenter believes are
inaccurate, (2) new proposed data upon which the commenter believes EPA
should rely instead, and (3) the reasons why EPA should rely on the
commenter's proposed data and not the data referenced in this notice of
availability.
Authority: 40 CFR 97.511(b).
Reid P. Harvey,
Director, Clean Air Markets Division.
[FR Doc. 2015-22943 Filed 9-11-15; 8:45 am]
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