NOTICES
Clean Air Interstate Rule; Proposed 2011 Allocation of Remaining 2010 Vintage NOx Allowances Set Aside to Offset SO2 Emissions from Qualifying Units
[41 Pa.B. 2660]
[Saturday, May 21, 2011]The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is providing notice and an opportunity for comment on the proposed allocation of the remaining 2010 vintage Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) nitrogen oxides (NOx) allowances set aside for the owners or operators of qualifying fossil fuel-fired units that did not receive any sulfur dioxide (SO2) allowances under the United States Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Acid Rain Program. The 30-day public comment period will end on June 20, 2011. These allocations are proposed to be made to CAIR SO2 for the purpose of offsetting SO2 emissions in accordance with 25 Pa. Code § 145.212(f)(2) and (5) (relating to CAIR NOx allowance allocations).
The Commonwealth's CAIR NOx Annual Trading Program budget contained 99,049 CAIR NOx allowances for 2010, of which 97,761 were allocated to CAIR units at 40 Pa.B. 297 (January 9, 2010). The remaining 1,288 CAIR NOx allowances, 1.3% of the CAIR NOx Annual Trading Program budget, were set aside for certain Independent Power Producers (IPP) that were exempted from many of the provisions of the Federal Acid Rain Program but were not exempted from the CAIR requirements. The additional CAIR NOx allowances will help offset the cost of complying with the SO2 emission trading requirements of the CAIR rule. The Department received two requests for allocations of CAIR NOx allowances by the January 31, 2011, and finalized those 555 NOx allowance allocations at 41 Pa.B. 1580 (March 19, 2011), leaving 733 CAIR NOx allowances.
In accordance with 25 Pa. Code § 145.212(f)(5), the Department has considered written requests from the owners/operators of qualifying IPPs, received after January 31, 2011, for these remaining 733 vintage 2010 CAIR NOx allowances. On a prorated basis, the Department is proposing to allocate these allowances on a ratio of 1 CAIR NOx allowance to every 8 tons of SO2 emitted by the unit in 2010, minus any excess CAIR NOx allowances already allocated to the unit for the 2010 control period that were not used to cover NOx emissions for the 2010 control period. The result is proposed allocation of an additional 535 CAIR NOx allowances.
The following table identifies the facilities from which the Department received requests after January 31, 2011. For several of the units, application of the previous formula renders their additional allowable allocation zero, as indicated as follows, due to the units' excess 2010 CAIR NOx allowances from the January 9, 2010, allocation. For every facility that submitted a request, the table lists the Facility name, ORIS number and Unit identification number, if applicable, and Number of CAIR NOx allowances proposed in this notice to be allocated.
Facility name ORIS # Unit ID # of NOx allowances Ebensburg Power Company 10603 90 Gilberton Power Company 10113 0 Northeastern Power Company 50039 0 Piney Creek Power Plant 54144 180 Scrubgrass Generating Plant 50974 Unit 1
Unit 2119
117Wheelabrator-
Frackville50879 29 St. Nicholas Cogeneration 54634 0 Action at the Federal or State level could affect the allocated NOx allowances. CAIR NOx allowances do not constitute property rights.
Written Comments
Written comments on the proposed additional CAIR NOx allowance allocations should be sent to the attention of Randy Bordner, Environmental Group Manager, Air Resource Management Division, Bureau of Air Quality, DEP, P. O. Box 8468, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8468 or ranbordner@state.pa.us no later than June 20, 2011. Any written comments (including e-mails) should include the name, affiliation (if any), mailing address and telephone number of the interested person and contain ''2010 vintage CAIR NOx allowances set aside to offset SO2 emissions'' in the subject line.
Questions concerning this notice should be directed to Randy Bordner at (717) 772-3921. TDD users may contact the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 to discuss how the Department can best accommodate their needs.
MICHAEL L. KRANCER,
Secretary
[Pa.B. Doc. No. 11-854. Filed for public inspection May 20, 2011, 9:00 a.m.]
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