Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Louisiana; Approval of 8-Hour Ozone Section 110(a)(1) Maintenance Plans for the Parishes of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary, 62579-62585 [E7-21687]
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approves a state rule implementing a
Federal standard, and does not alter the
relationship or the distribution of power
and responsibilities established in the
Clean Air Act. This rule also is not
subject to Executive Order 13045
‘‘Protection of Children from
Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks’’ (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997),
because it is not economically
significant.
In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA’s
role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of
the Clean Air Act. In this context, in the
absence of a prior existing requirement
for the state to use voluntary consensus
standards (VCS), EPA has no authority
to disapprove a SIP submission for
failure to use VCS. It would thus be
inconsistent with applicable law for
EPA, when it reviews a SIP submission,
to use VCS in place of a SIP submission
that otherwise satisfies the provisions of
the Clean Air Act. Thus, the
requirements of section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C.
272 note) do not apply. This rule does
not impose an information collection
burden under the provisions of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
The Congressional Review Act, 5
U.S.C. section 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 rule 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. section 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 January 7, 2008.
Filing a petition for reconsideration by
the Administrator of this final rule does
not affect the finality of this rule 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
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enforce its requirements. (See section
307(b)(2).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air
pollution control, PM10, particulate
matter, Intergovernmental relations,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
Dated: October 22, 2007.
Robert E. Roberts,
Regional Administrator, Region VIII.
40 CFR part 52 is amended to read as
follows:
I
PART 52—[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 52
continues to read as follows:
I
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart G—Colorado
2. Section 52.332 is amended by
adding paragraph (p) to read as follows:
I
§ 52.332
matter.
Control strategy: Particulate
*
*
*
*
*
(p) Revisions to the Colorado State
Implementation Plan, PM10 Revised
Maintenance Plan for Denver, as
adopted by the Colorado Air Quality
Control Commission on December 15,
2005, State effective on March 2, 2006,
and submitted by the Governor’s
designee on September 25, 2006. The
revised maintenance plan satisfies all
applicable requirements of the Clean Air
Act.
[FR Doc. E7–21611 Filed 11–5–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R06–OAR–2006–0271; FRL–8491–4]
Approval and Promulgation of Air
Quality Implementation Plans;
Louisiana; Approval of 8-Hour Ozone
Section 110(a)(1) Maintenance Plans
for the Parishes of Beauregard, Grant,
and St. Mary
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: EPA is approving revisions to
the Louisiana State Implementation
Plan (SIP) concerning the 8-hour ozone
maintenance plans for the parishes of
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary. On
August 23, 2006, the State of Louisiana
submitted separate SIP revisions
containing 8-hour ozone maintenance
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62579
plans for Beauregard and Grant
Parishes, and on October 10, 2006,
Louisiana submitted an 8-hour ozone
maintenance plan for St. Mary Parish.
These plans ensure the continued
attainment of the 8-hour ozone National
Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS)
through the year 2014. These
maintenance plans meet the statutory
and regulatory requirements, and are
consistent with EPA’s guidance. EPA is
approving the revisions pursuant to
section 110 of the Federal Clean Air Act
(CAA).
DATES: This rule is effective on January
7, 2008 without further notice, unless
EPA receives relevant adverse comment
by December 6, 2007. If EPA receives
such comment, EPA will publish a
timely withdrawal in the Federal
Register informing the public that this
rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket No. EPA–R06–
OAR–2006–0271, by one of the
following methods:
• Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
• EPA Region 6 ‘‘Contact Us’’ Web
site: https://epa.gov/region6/
r6coment.htm. Please click on ‘‘6PD’’
(Multimedia) and select ‘‘Air’’ before
submitting comments.
• E-mail: Mr. Guy Donaldson at
donaldson.guy@epa.gov. Please also
send a copy by email to the person
listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT section below.
• Fax: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air
Planning Section (6PD–L), at fax
number 214–665–7263.
• Mail: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief,
Air Planning Section (6PD–L),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1445
Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas
75202–2733.
• Hand or Courier Delivery: Mr. Guy
Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning Section
(6PD–L), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200,
Dallas, Texas 75202–2733. Such
deliveries are accepted only between the
hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays
except for legal holidays. Special
arrangements should be made for
deliveries of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket ID No. EPA–R06–OAR–2006–
0271. EPA’s policy is that all comments
received will be included in the public
docket without change and may be
made available online at
www.regulations.gov, including any
personal information provided, unless
the comment includes information
claimed to be Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
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62580
Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 6, 2007 / Rules and Regulations
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected through www.regulations.gov
or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web
site is an ‘‘anonymous access’’ system,
which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless
you provide it in the body of your
comment. If you send an e-mail
comment directly to EPA without going
through www.regulations.gov your email address will be automatically
captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the public
docket and made available on the
Internet. If you submit an electronic
comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name and other contact
information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD–ROM
you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties
and cannot contact you for clarification,
EPA may not be able to consider your
comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form
of encryption, and be free of any defects
or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket
are listed in the www.regulations.gov
index. Although listed in the index,
some information is not publicly
available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, will be publicly
available only in hard copy. Publicly
available docket materials are available
either electronically in
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at
the Air Planning Section (6PD–L),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1445
Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas
75202–2733. The file will be made
available by appointment for public
inspection in the Region 6 FOIA Review
Room between the hours of 8:30 a.m.
and 4:30 p.m. weekdays except for legal
holidays. Contact the person listed in
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
paragraph below or Mr. Bill Deese at
214–665–7253 to make an appointment.
If possible, please make the
appointment at least two working days
in advance of your visit. There will be
a 15 cent per page fee for making
photocopies of documents. On the day
of the visit, please check in at the EPA
Region 6 reception area at 1445 Ross
Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas.
The State submittal is also available
for public inspection at the State Air
Agency listed below during official
business hours by appointment:
Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality, Public Records
Center, Room 127, 602 N. Fifth Street,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821.
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ellen Belk, Air Planning Section (6PD–
L), Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700,
Dallas, Texas 75202–2733, telephone
(214) 665–2164; fax number 214–665–
7263; e-mail address
belk.ellen@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, whenever
‘‘we’’ ‘‘us’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we mean
the EPA.
Outline
I. Background
II. Analysis of the State’s Submittals
III. The State of Louisiana’s Request To Relax
the Federal Reid Vapor Pressure
Standard in Grant Parish
IV. Final Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
Under section 107 of the 1977 CAA,
Louisiana’s Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes were designated as
nonattainment areas because they did
not meet the National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) for 1-hour
ozone (40 CFR 81.319). As required by
section 110 of the CAA, the state of
Louisiana submitted a SIP to EPA on
December 10, 1979. This SIP was
approved by EPA on October 29, 1981
(46 FR 53412). Under the 1990 CAA
Amendments, the Beauregard, Grant,
and St. Mary Parish nonattainment areas
continued to be designated
nonattainment for the 1-hour ozone
NAAQS by operation of law since
Louisiana had not yet collected the
required three years of data necessary to
petition for redesignation to attainment.
On December 12, 1994, Louisiana
submitted a request to redesignate
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes to attainment for the 1-hour
ozone standard. At the same time, the
State submitted the required ozone
monitoring data and maintenance plan
for each parish (each area includes only
the one Parish) to ensure the areas
would remain in attainment for 1-hour
ozone for a period of 10 years. The
maintenance plans submitted by
Louisiana followed EPA guidance for
limited maintenance areas, which
provides for 1-hour ozone areas that
have design values less than 85% of the
applicable standard. In this case, the
applicable standard was the 1-hour
ozone standard of 0.12 parts per million
(ppm). At the time of the redesignation
request, the design values for
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes were 0.106, 0.071, and 0.092
ppm, respectively. Since each of these
values was at or below the 85%
threshold of 0.106 ppm, EPA approved
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Louisiana’s requests to redesignate
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes to attainment for the 1-hour
ozone standard and approved the
Parishes’ maintenance plans, on August
18, 1995 (60 FR 43020), with an
effective date of October 17, 1995.
On April 30, 2004, EPA designated
and classified areas for the new 8-hour
ozone NAAQS (69 FR 23858), and
published the final phase 1 rule for
implementation of the 8-hour ozone
NAAQS (69 FR 23951). Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes were
designated as unclassifiable/attainment
for the 8-hour ozone standard, effective
June 15, 2004. The three attainment
areas consequently are required to
submit a 10-year maintenance plan
under section 110(a)(1) of the CAA and
the Phase I rule. On May 20, 2005, EPA
issued guidance providing information
regarding how a state might fulfill the
maintenance plan obligation established
by the Act and the Phase I rule
(Memorandum from Lydia N. Wegman
to Air Division Directors, Maintenance
Plan Guidance Document for Certain 8hour Ozone Areas Under Section
110(a)(1) of Clean Air Act, May 20,
2005). This SIP revision satisfies the
section 110(a)(1) CAA requirements for
a plan that provides for implementation,
maintenance, and enforcement of the 8hour ozone NAAQS in the Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parish 8-hour ozone
unclassifiable/attainment areas.
On December 22, 2006, the United
States Court of Appeals for the District
of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion
that vacated EPA’s Phase 1
Implementation Rule for the 8-hour
Ozone Standard. (South Coast Air
Quality Management District. v. EPA,
472 F.3d 882 (D.C. Cir. 2006). Petitions
for rehearing were filed with the Court,
and on June 8, 2007, the Court modified
the scope of the vacatur of the Phase I
rule. The Court vacated those portions
of the Rule that provide for regulation
of 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas
under Subpart 1 in lieu of Subpart 2 and
that allow backsliding with respect to
new source review, penalties,
milestones, contingency plans, and
motor vehicle emission budgets.
Consequently, the Court’s modified
ruling does not alter any requirements
under the Phase 1 8-hour ozone
implementation rule for maintenance
plans.
II. Analysis of the State’s Submittals
On August 23, 2006, the State of
Louisiana submitted separate SIP
revisions containing 8-hour ozone
maintenance plans for Beauregard and
Grant Parishes, and on October 10,
2006, Louisiana submitted an 8-hour
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ozone maintenance plan for St. Mary
Parish. (The August 23, 2006 submittal
for Grant Parish superseded a previous
one dated March 2006, and included
substantive changes to the contingency
plan section. The August 23, 2006
submittal for Grant Parish was preceded
by a proposal in June 2006, and a public
hearing July 25, 2006.) These August
and October revisions provide 8-hour
ozone maintenance plans for the three
parishes named above, as required by
section 110(a)(1) of the CAA and the
provisions of EPA’s Phase 1
Implementation Rule (see 40 CFR
51.905(a)(4)). The purpose of these
plans is to ensure continued attainment
and maintenance of the NAAQS for 8hour ozone in Beauregard, Grant, and
St. Mary Parishes.
In this action, EPA is approving the
State’s 8-hour ozone maintenance plans
for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, and
St. Mary Parishes because EPA finds
that the LDEQ submittal meets the
requirements of section 110(a)(1) of the
CAA, EPA’s rule, and is consistent with
EPA’s guidance. As required, these
plans provide for continued attainment
and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone
NAAQS in the area for 10 years from the
effective date of the area’s designation
as unclassifiable/attainment for the 8hour ozone NAAQS, and include
components illustrating how each
Parish will continue in attainment of the
8-hour ozone NAAQS and contingency
measures. Each of the section 110(a) (1)
plan components is discussed below.
(a) Attainment Inventory. The LDEQ
developed comprehensive inventories of
VOC and NOX emissions from area,
stationary, and mobile sources using
2002 as the base year to demonstrate
maintenance of the 8-hour ozone
NAAQS for Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes. The year 2002 is an
appropriate year for the LDEQ to base
attainment level emissions because
States may select any one of the three
years on which the 8-hour attainment
designation was based (2001, 2002, and
2003). The State’s submittals contain the
detailed inventory data and summaries
by source category. The 2002 base year
inventory is a good choice. Using the
2002 inventory as a base year reflects
one of the years used for calculating the
air quality design values on which the
8-hour ozone designation decisions
were based. It also is one of the years
in the 2002–2004 period used to
establish baseline visibility levels for
the regional haze program.
A practical reason for selecting 2002
as the base year emission inventory is
that Section 110(a)(2)(B) of the CAA and
the Consolidated Emissions Reporting
Rule (67 FR 39602, June 10, 2002)
require States to submit emissions
inventories for all criteria pollutants and
their precursors every three years, on a
schedule that includes the emissions
year 2002. The due date for the 2002
emissions inventory is established in
the rule as June 2004. In accordance
with these requirements, the State of
Louisiana compiles a statewide EI for
point sources on an annual basis. For
stationary point sources, for Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes, the LDEQ
provided estimates for each commercial
or industrial operation that emits 100
tons or more per year of VOC or NOX
in Appendix A of each maintenance
plan. Stationary non-point source data
was provided by E.H. Pechan &
Associates, Inc., through the Central
62581
Regional Air Planning Association
(CENRAP) using the methodology in
‘‘Consolidation of Emissions
Inventories’’, section C, page 26. Onroad mobile emissions of VOC and NOX
were estimated using EPA’s MOBILE6.2
motor vehicle emissions factor
computer model. Non-road mobile
emissions data were derived from the
‘‘Emission Inventory Development For
Mobile Sources and Agricultural Dust
Sources for the Central States’’
produced by Sonoma Technology, Inc.
for CENRAP in October 2004 using
EPA’s NONROAD 2004 non-road mobile
emissions computer model. EPA finds
that the LDEQ prepared the 2002 base
year emissions inventories for the three
Parishes consistent with EPA’s longestablished guidance memoranda.
In projecting data for the attainment
year 2014 inventory, LDEQ used several
methods to project data from the base
year 2002 to the years 2008, 2011, and
2014. These projected inventories were
developed using EPA-approved
technologies and methodologies. Point
source and non-point source projections
were derived from the Emissions
Growth Analysis System version 4.0
(EGAS 4.0). Non-road mobile
projections were derived from EGAS
4.0, as well as from the National Mobile
Inventory Model.
The following tables provide VOC and
NOX emissions data for the 2002 base
attainment year inventory, as well as
projected VOC and NOX emission
inventory data for the years 2008, 2011,
and 2014. Please see the Technical
Support Document (TSD) for additional
emissions inventory data including
projections by source category for each
parish.
BEAUREGARD PARISH VOC AND NOX EMISSIONS INVENTORY BASELINE (2002) AND PROJECTIONS
(2008, 2011, AND 2014)
2002 tons
per day
Emissions
Total VOC ........................................................................................................................
Total NOX .........................................................................................................................
As shown in the table above, total
VOC and total NOX emissions for
Beauregard Parish are projected to
13.91
20.88
2008 tons
per day
13.96
20.79
2011 tons
per day
13.96
20.78
2014 tons
per day
14.02
20.84
remain nearly the same over the 10-year
period of the maintenance plan.
GRANT PARISH VOC AND NOX EMISSIONS INVENTORY BASELINE (2002) AND PROJECTIONS (2008, 2011, AND 2014)
2002 tons
per day
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Emissions
Total VOC ........................................................................................................................
Total NOX .........................................................................................................................
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8.99
5.73
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2008 tons
per day
8.23
5.13
06NOR1
2011 tons
per day
7.57
4.82
2014 tons
per day
7.09
4.58
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As shown in the table above, total
VOC and total NOX emissions for Grant
Parish are projected to decrease
somewhat over the 10-year period of the
maintenance plan.
ST. MARY PARISH VOC AND NOX EMISSIONS INVENTORY BASELINE (2002) AND PROJECTIONS
(2008, 2011, AND 2014)
2002 tons
per day
Emissions
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Total VOC ........................................................................................................................
Total NOX .........................................................................................................................
Emission projections for future years
in St. Mary Parish indicate a downward
trend in VOC emissions through 2014.
NOX emission projections through 2014
reflect an increase of 2.05 tons per day
by the year 2014, or approximately 5%,
from 37.10 to 39.15 tpd. This small
projected increase which occurs over a
12-year period is a result of calculations
for the point and non-point source
emissions categories. Emissions from
non-road mobile and on-road mobile
sources are projected to decrease. In
contrast, VOC emissions are projected to
decrease by 3.73 tons per day, or
approximately 20%, from 18.74 to 15.01
tpd. The projected 20% reduction in
VOC emissions is expected to
sufficiently offset the projected 5%
increase in NOX emissions, enabling the
area to continue to maintain the 8-hour
ozone standard.
Please see the TSD for more
information on EPA’s analysis and
review of the State’s methodologies,
modeling data and performance, etc. for
developing the base and attainment year
inventories. As shown in the tables
above, the State has demonstrated that
the future year 8-hour ozone emissions
will be less than the 2002 base
attainment year’s emissions. The
attainment inventories submitted by the
LDEQ for these areas are consistent with
the criteria as discussed in the EPA
Maintenance Plan Guidance memo
dated May 20, 2005. EPA finds that the
future emissions levels in 2008, 2011
and 2014 are expected to be similar to
or less than the emissions levels in
2002.
(b) Maintenance Demonstration. The
primary purpose of a maintenance plan
is to demonstrate how an area will
continue to remain in compliance with
the 8-hour ozone standard for the 10
year period following the effective date
of designation as unclassifiable/
attainment. The end projection year is
10 years from the effective date of the
attainment designation, which for
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes was June 15, 2004. Therefore,
these plans must demonstrate
attainment through 2014. As discussed
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37.10
in section (a) Attainment Inventory
above, Louisiana has identified the level
of ozone-forming emissions in
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes that were consistent with
attainment of the NAAQS for ozone in
2002. Louisiana has projected VOC and
NOX emissions for the years 2008, 2011,
and 2014 in Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes and EPA finds that the
future emissions levels in those years
are expected to be similar or below the
emissions levels in 2002. Please see the
TSD for more information on EPA’s
review and evaluation of the State’s
2008, 2011, and 2014 projected
emissions inventories.
Louisiana relies on several air quality
measures that will provide for
additional 8-hour ozone emissions
reductions in Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes. These measures include
the following, among others: (1)
Implementation of EPA’s National Rule
for VOC Emission Standards for
Automobile Refinish Coatings,
Consumer Products, and Architectural
Coatings, (2) enacting of specific
requirements from EPA’s Tier 2 Motor
Vehicle Emission Standards, EPA’s
Heavy-Duty Engine and Vehicle
Standards, as well as EPA’s gasoline and
highway diesel fuel sulfur control
requirements, (3) EPA’s required control
of emissions from non-road diesel
engines and fuels, and (4)
implementation of the Federal Clean Air
Interstate Rule (CAIR) (70 FR 25162).
The purpose of these control measures
is to reduce levels of 8-hour ozone,
including the areas of Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes.
As an additional demonstration of
maintenance, Louisiana references the
EPA modeling conducted for CAIR in
the maintenance plan submittals.
Louisiana is a state that must implement
CAIR, and the EPA CAIR modeling
indicates that all Louisiana parishes will
be in attainment with the 8-hour ozone
standard by 2010, with continued
attainment projected through 2015. This
analysis is consistent with the
projections discussed above in (a)
Attainment Inventory.
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2008 tons
per day
16.29
37.79
2011 tons
per day
15.50
38.43
2014 tons
per day
15.01
39.15
(c) Ambient Air Quality Monitoring.
In May 2003, after a technical and
statistical analysis, the Regional Office
agreed with the State of Louisiana that
the Ragley monitoring site in
Beauregard Parish and the Bentley
monitoring site in Grant Parish could be
discontinued upon submittal of a
revised maintenance plan, which turned
out to be November 28, 2005 for Grant
Parish and May 19, 2006 for Beauregard
Parish. The Bentley site in Grant Parish,
however, was destroyed by fire on
August 13, 2005, before the end of the
2005 ozone season. Since there was not
adequate time to establish a new
monitor for the remainder of the 2005
ozone season, EPA calculated its 2005
design value with the available
information as 73 ppb. (The ozone
season in the State of Louisiana is from
January to December for the Parishes
discussed in this notice.) In the same
May 2003 letter, after the completion of
the technical and statistical analysis, the
Regional Office agreed with the State
that the Morgan City monitoring site in
St. Mary Parish could be discontinued
at the end of the 2003 ozone season.
Nevertheless, the State of Louisiana has
committed in its maintenance plans for
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes to provide operation of an
appropriate ozone monitoring network
and to work with EPA in compliance
with 40 CFR part 58 with regard to the
continued adequacy of such a network,
if EPA determines monitoring is needed.
The Ragley monitoring site in
Beauregard Parish has monitored
attainment with the 8-hour ozone
standard since 1998 through 2005. The
8-hour ozone NAAQS is 0.08 parts per
million based on the three-year average
of the fourth-highest daily maximum 8hour average ozone concentration
measured at each monitor within an
area. The standard is considered to be
attained at 84 parts per billion (ppb).
The three most recent 8-hour ozone
design values for the Ragley site in
Beauregard Parish are 73 ppb for 2003,
73 ppb for 2004, and 75 ppb for 2005.
The Bentley monitoring site in Grant
Parish has monitored attainment with
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the 8-hour ozone standard since 1998
through 2004. The most recent 8-hour
ozone design values for the Bentley site
in Grant Parish are 78 ppb for 2002, 74
ppb for 2003, 73 ppb for 2004, and 73
ppb for 2005. The design value for 2005
is calculated to be 73 ppb, based upon
the 8 months and 12 days of available
data.
In St. Mary Parish, the Morgan City
monitoring site has monitored
attainment with the 8-hour ozone
standard since 2001 through 2005. The
State did not discontinue the monitor
after the end of the 2003 ozone season
as allowed but continued to operate it
through the 2005 ozone season. The
three most recent 8-hour ozone design
values for St. Mary Parish are 74 ppb for
2003, 73 ppb for 2004, and 76 ppb for
2005.
(d) Contingency Plan. The section
110(a) (1) maintenance plans include
contingency provisions to correct
promptly any violation of the NAAQS
that occurs. The contingency indicator
for the Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parish maintenance plans is based on
updates to the emission inventories. The
triggering mechanism for activation of
contingency measures is a ten percent or
greater increase in emissions of either
VOC or NOX based on the 2002
emissions inventory. In these
maintenance plans, if contingency
measures are triggered, LDEQ is
committing to implement the measures
as expeditiously as practicable, but no
longer than 24 months following the
trigger.
The following contingency measures
are identified for implementation: (1)
Lowering VOC RACT applicability
thresholds for Stage 1 gasoline controls,
(2) NOX controls on major sources (100
tpy and greater), (3) Emission offsets for
permits (1.10 ratio for VOC and NOX),
and (4) Other measures deemed
appropriate at the time as a result of
advances in control technologies. These
contingency measures and schedules for
implementation satisfy EPA’s longstanding guidance on the requirements
of section 110(a) (1) of Continued
Attainment. Continued attainment of
the 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the areas of
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes will depend, in part, on the air
quality measures discussed previously
(see II. b) above). In addition, Louisiana
commits to verify the 8-hour ozone
status in each maintenance plan through
annual and periodic evaluations of the
emissions inventories. In the annual
evaluations, Louisiana will review VOC
and NOX emission data from stationary
point sources. During the periodic
evaluations (every three years),
Louisiana will update the emissions
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16:30 Nov 05, 2007
Jkt 214001
inventory for all emissions source
categories, and compare the updated
emissions inventory data to the
projected 2008, 2011 and 2014
attainment emissions inventories to
verify continued attainment of the 8hour ozone standard.
III. The State of Louisiana’s Request To
Relax the Federal Reid Vapor Pressure
Standard in Grant Parish
The State of Louisiana has submitted
a request to EPA to relax the federal
Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) standard
from 7.8 psi to 9.0 psi in Grant Parish
during the ozone control season (June 1
to September 15). The Grant Parish
section 110(a) (1) maintenance plan
provides a modeled analysis of
emissions from on-road mobile sources,
including a comparison of VOC
emissions using both the 7.8 and 9.0 psi
RVP gasoline, for the three projection
years: 2008, 2011, and 2014. The
following Table provides the data
resulting from the State’s analysis
comparing projected VOC emissions in
Grant Parish for an RVP of 7.8 psi and
9.0 psi.
GRANT PARISH: RVP COMPARISON
EFFECT ON VOC EMISSIONS
7.8 psi
RVP
VOC
(tpd)
Year
2002
2008
2011
2014
..........................
..........................
..........................
..........................
9.0 psi
RVP
VOC
(tpd)
1.27
0.80
0.63
0.52
N/A
0.90
0.70
0.57
The Table above shows that Grant
Parish is projected to continue to attain
the 8-hour ozone standard with either a
7.8 or 9.0 psi RVP gasoline. The overall
effect on VOC emissions from the
difference between 7.8 and 9.0 psi RVP
gasoline is 0.1 tpd or less for each of the
three projection years. Further, each of
the projected VOC emission inventories
using 9.0 psi RVP gasoline is less than
the baseline VOC emission inventory for
the 2002 attainment year. Based upon
this data, the Grant Parish 8-hour
maintenance plan demonstrates that the
use of either 7.8 or 9.0 psi RVP gasoline
in the parish will allow the area to
continue to meet the 8-hour ozone
NAAQS.
EPA has promulgated regulations
establishing the volatility standards. In
a separate rulemaking, EPA will address
the State’s request.
IV. Final Action
Pursuant to section 110 of the Act,
EPA is approving the 8-hour ozone
maintenance plans for Beauregard,
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62583
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes, which
were submitted by LDEQ on August 23,
2006, August 23, 2006, and October 10,
2006, respectively, which ensure
continued attainment of the 8-hour
ozone NAAQS through the year 2014.
We have evaluated the State’s
submittals and have determined that
they meet the applicable requirements
of the Clean Air Act and EPA
regulations, and are consistent with EPA
policy.
EPA is publishing this rule without
prior proposal because we view this as
a non-controversial amendment and
anticipate no adverse comments.
However, in the proposed rules section
of this Federal Register publication, we
are publishing a separate document that
will serve as the proposal to approve the
SIP revision if relevant adverse
comments are received. This rule will
be effective on January 7, 2008 without
further notice unless we receive adverse
comment by December 6, 2007. If we
receive adverse comments, we will
publish a timely withdrawal in the
Federal Register informing the public
that the rule will not take effect. We will
address all public comments in a
subsequent final rule based on the
proposed rule. We will not institute a
second comment period on this action.
Any parties interested in commenting
must do so now. Please note that if we
receive adverse comment on an
amendment, paragraph, or section of
this rule and if that provision may be
severed from the remainder of the rule,
we may adopt as final those provisions
of the rule that are not the subject of an
adverse comment.
V. Statutory and Executive Order
Reviews
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR
51735, October 4, 1993), this action is
not a ‘‘significant regulatory action’’ and
therefore is not subject to review by the
Office of Management and Budget. For
this reason, this action is also not
subject to Executive Order 13211,
‘‘Actions Concerning Regulations That
Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use’’ (66 FR 28355, May
22, 2001). This action merely approves
state law as meeting Federal
requirements and imposes no additional
requirements beyond those imposed by
state law. Accordingly, the
Administrator certifies that this rule
will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities under the Regulatory Flexibility
Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because this
rule approves pre-existing requirements
under State law and does not impose
any additional enforceable duty beyond
that required by State law, it does not
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 6, 2007 / Rules and Regulations
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).
This rule also does not have tribal
implications because it will not have a
substantial direct effect on one or more
Indian tribes, on the relationship
between the Federal Government and
Indian tribes, or on the distribution of
power and responsibilities between the
Federal Government and Indian tribes,
as specified by Executive Order 13175
(65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This
action also does not have Federalism
implications because it does not have
substantial direct effects on the States,
on the relationship between the national
government and the States, or on the
distribution of power and
responsibilities among the various
levels of government, as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255,
August 10, 1999). This action merely
approves a state rule implementing a
Federal standard, and does not alter the
relationship or the distribution of power
and responsibilities established in the
CAA. This rule also is not subject to
Executive Order 13045 ‘‘Protection of
Children from Environmental Health
Risks and Safety Risks’’ (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997), because it is not
economically significant.
In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA’s
role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of
the Clean Air Act. In this context, in the
absence of a prior existing requirement
for the State to use voluntary consensus
standards (VCS), EPA has no authority
to disapprove a SIP submission for
failure to use VCS. It would thus be
inconsistent with applicable law for
EPA, when it reviews a SIP submission,
to use VCS in place of a SIP submission
that otherwise satisfies the provisions of
the CAA. Thus, the requirements of
section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not
apply. This rule does not impose an
information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction
Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
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 rule 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 CAA,
petitions for judicial review of this
action must be filed in the United States
Court of Appeals for the appropriate
circuit by January 7, 2008. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the
Administrator of this final rule does not
affect the finality of this rule 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).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air
pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic
compounds.
Dated: October 26, 2007.
Lawrence E. Starfield,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6.
I
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52—[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 52
continues to read as follows:
I
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart T—Louisiana
2. In § 52.970, the table in paragraph
(e) entitled, ‘‘EPA APPROVED
LOUISIANA NONREGULATORY
PROVISIONS AND QUASIREGULATORY MEASURES’’, is
amended by adding three new entries to
the end of the table as follows:
I
§ 52.970
*
Identification of plan.
*
*
(e) * * *
*
*
EPA-APPROVED LOUISIANA NONREGULATORY PROVISIONS AND QUASI-REGULATORY MEASURES
State submittal
date/effective
date
Name of SIP provision
Applicable geographic or nonattainment area
*
*
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 Maintenance Plan.
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 Maintenance Plan.
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 Maintenance Plan.
*
*
Beauregard Parish, LA ..................
8/23/06
Grant Parish, LA ............................
8/23/06
St. Mary Parish, LA .......................
9/27/06
3. Section 52.975, entitled,
‘‘Redesignations and maintenance
plans; ozone’’, is amended by adding a
new paragraph (h) as follows:
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with RULES
I
§ 52.975 Redesignations and maintenance
plans; ozone.
*
*
*
*
*
(h) Approval. The Louisiana
Department of Environmental Quality
(LDEQ) submitted 8-hour ozone
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16:30 Nov 05, 2007
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EPA approval date
*
*
11/06/07 [Insert FR page number
where document begins].
11/06/07 [Insert FR page number
where document begins].
11/06/07 [Insert FR page number
where document begins].
maintenance plans for the areas of
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes on August 23, 2006, August 23,
2006, and October 10, 2006,
respectively. The three areas are
designated unclassifiable/attainment for
the 8-hour ozone standard. EPA
determined these requests for
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes were complete on October 9,
2006, October 9, 2006, and November
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Frm 00026
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
Explanation
*
30, 2006, respectively. The maintenance
plans meet the requirements of section
110(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, and are
consistent with EPA’s maintenance plan
guidance document dated May 20, 2005.
The EPA therefore approved the 8-hour
ozone maintenance plans for the areas
E:\FR\FM\06NOR1.SGM
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Federal Register / Vol. 72, No. 214 / Tuesday, November 6, 2007 / Rules and Regulations
of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
parishes on November 6, 2007.
*
*
*
*
*
[FR Doc. E7–21687 Filed 11–5–07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND
HUMAN SERVICES
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services
42 CFR Parts 411, 412, 413, and 489
[CMS–1533–CN3]
RIN 0938–A070
Medicare Program; Changes to the
Hospital Inpatient Prospective
Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2008
Rates; Correction
Centers for Medicare &
Medicaid Services (CMS), HHS.
ACTION: Correction of final rule with
comment period.
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This document corrects wage
index, case-mix index, and geographic
adjustment factor errors in the final rule
with comment period that appeared in
the August 22, 2007 Federal Register
entitled ‘‘Medicare Program; Changes to
the Hospital Inpatient Prospective
Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2008
Rates Final Rule’’; and the correction
notice that appeared in the October 10,
2007 Federal Register entitled
‘‘Medicare Program; Changes to the
Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment
Systems and Fiscal Year 2008 Rates;
Correction’’.
DATES:
Effective Date: October 1, 2007.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Miechal Lefkowitz, (410) 786–5316.
Valerie Miller, (410) 786–4535.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
mstockstill on PROD1PC66 with RULES
I. Background
In FR Doc 07–3820 of August 22, 2007
(72 FR 47130) and in FR Doc. 07–4875
of October 10, 2007 (72 FR 57634), there
were a number of technical and
typographical errors that are identified
and corrected in the Correction of Errors
section of this notice.
We issued the fiscal year (FY) 2008
hospital inpatient prospective payment
systems (IPPS) final rule with comment
period on August 1, 2007. The FY 2008
IPPS final rule with comment period
appeared in the August 22, 2007
Federal Register, hereinafter referred to
as the FY 2008 IPPS final rule with
comment period.
We issued a correction notice for the
FY 2008 IPPS final rule with comment
VerDate Aug<31>2005
16:30 Nov 05, 2007
Jkt 214001
period on September 28, 2007. The
correction notice appeared in the
October 10, 2007 Federal Register
hereinafter referred to as the second FY
2008 IPPS correction notice.
The provisions in this correction
notice are effective as if they had been
included in the FY 2008 IPPS final rule
with comment period. Accordingly, the
corrections are effective October 1,
2007.
II. Summary of Errors
We recently discovered a small
number of inadvertent technical or
typographical errors. Therefore, this
notice corrects the errors that appeared
in the FY 2008 IPPS final rule with
comment period and the second FY
2008 IPPS correction notice.
In the second FY 2008 IPPS correction
notice (72 FR 57637), there were
typographical errors in some of the case
mix indices listed in Table 2. The case
mix index (CMI) values for some of the
providers listed in Table 2 of that
correction notice were intended to be
the same as the CMI values in Table 2
of the FY 2008 IPPS final rule with
comment period. However, there was an
inadvertent typographical error that
resulted in the CMI values for certain
providers being displayed on the wrong
line. Therefore, in this notice, we are
correcting some of the entries in Table
2 to reflect the proper CMI values for
these providers.
Table 2 also contained errors in wage
indices for providers 140B10 and
220074. Each hospital is a part of a
multicampus hospital, and each
hospital is reclassified to the labor
market area where other hospitals
associated with its provider number are
located. We note that these hospitals
were properly assigned the reclassified
wage index in the FY 2008 IPPS final
rule with comment period. However, in
the second FY 2008 IPPS correction
notice, Table 2 inadvertently listed each
hospital’s geographic area wage index
rather than the hospital’s reclassified
wage index. Provider 140B10 was
mistakenly assigned 1.0583, the area
wage index for Lake County-Kenosha
County, IL–WA (CBSA 29404).
Therefore, in section III. item 1 of this
notice (correction of Table 2), the wage
index for provider 140B10 is corrected
to 1.0472, the reclassified wage index
for Chicago-Naperville-Joliet, IL (CBSA
16974). In addition, provider 220074
was mistakenly assigned 1.0533, the
area wage index value for ProvidenceNew Bedford-Fall River, RI–MA (CBSA
39300). Therefore, in section III. item 1
of this notice (correction of Table 2), the
wage index for provider 220074 is
corrected to 1.1304, the reclassified
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Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
62585
wage index for Boston-Quincy, MA
(CBSA 14484).
In Tables 2, 4A, and 4C of the FY
2008 IPPS final rule with comment
period and the second FY 2008 IPPS
correction notice, there was also an
inadvertent error in the wage index
calculation for two core-based statistical
areas (CBSAs). In calculating the wage
indices in the FY 2008 IPPS final rule
with comment period, a provider was
inadvertently included in CBSA 16180
Carson City, NV, when it is actually
geographically located in CBSA 39900
Reno-Sparks, NV. The effect of this
change is that the wage indices for the
eight providers in these two CBSAs will
change. Therefore, in section III. of this
notice, we are correcting the wage
indices for these providers in these two
CBSAs in Tables 2, 4A, and 4C. We note
that wage index corrections may be
retroactive to the beginning of the
Federal fiscal year if the requirements
specified in § 412.64(k)(2)(ii) are met.
The requirements in § 412.64(k)(2)(ii)
are as follows: (1) The fiscal
intermediary or Medicare
Administrative Contractor (FI/MAC) or
CMS made an error in tabulating data
used for the wage index calculation; (2)
the hospital knew about the error in its
wage data and requested the FI/MAC
and CMS to correct the error both
within the established schedule for
making corrections to the wage data
(which is at least before the beginning
of the fiscal year for the applicable
update to the hospital inpatient
prospective payment system) and using
the established process; and (3) CMS
agreed before October 1 that the FI/MAC
or CMS made an error in tabulating the
hospital’s wage data and the wage index
should be corrected. Since the wage
indices errors that are corrected in this
notice meet the requirements specified
in § 412.64 of our regulations, these
corrections are effective October 1,
2007.
Table 4C of the second FY 2008 IPPS
correction notice also contained
typographical errors in the geographic
adjustment factor (GAF) for two CBSAs,
CBSA 13820 (Birmingham-Hoover, AL)
and CBSA 26620 (Huntsville, AL).
Therefore, in this notice, we are
correcting the GAFs for these CBSAs.
We note that the wage indices for these
CBSAs were correct in the second FY
2008 IPPS correction notice and are
included in this notice to provide the
reader with the wage indices and along
with the corrected GAFs.
III. Correction of Errors
In FR Doc. 07–4875 of October 10,
2007 (72 FR 57634), make the following
corrections:
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Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 6, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 62579-62585]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-21687]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R06-OAR-2006-0271; FRL-8491-4]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Louisiana; Approval of 8-Hour Ozone Section 110(a)(1) Maintenance Plans
for the Parishes of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EPA is approving revisions to the Louisiana State
Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning the 8-hour ozone maintenance plans
for the parishes of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary. On August 23,
2006, the State of Louisiana submitted separate SIP revisions
containing 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for Beauregard and Grant
Parishes, and on October 10, 2006, Louisiana submitted an 8-hour ozone
maintenance plan for St. Mary Parish. These plans ensure the continued
attainment of the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard
(NAAQS) through the year 2014. These maintenance plans meet the
statutory and regulatory requirements, and are consistent with EPA's
guidance. EPA is approving the revisions pursuant to section 110 of the
Federal Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: This rule is effective on January 7, 2008 without further
notice, unless EPA receives relevant adverse comment by December 6,
2007. If EPA receives such comment, EPA will publish a timely
withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that this rule
will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-
2006-0271, by one of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov.
Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
EPA Region 6 ``Contact Us'' Web site: https://epa.gov/
region6/r6coment.htm. Please click on ``6PD'' (Multimedia) and select
``Air'' before submitting comments.
E-mail: Mr. Guy Donaldson at donaldson.guy@epa.gov. Please
also send a copy by email to the person listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section below.
Fax: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning Section (6PD-
L), at fax number 214-665-7263.
Mail: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning Section (6PD-
L), Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200,
Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.
Hand or Courier Delivery: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air
Planning Section (6PD-L), Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross
Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733. Such deliveries are
accepted only between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. weekdays except
for legal holidays. Special arrangements should be made for deliveries
of boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R06-OAR-
2006-0271. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information
[[Page 62580]]
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information
that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through
www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an
``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through www.regulations.gov your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Air Planning Section
(6PD-L), Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700,
Dallas, Texas 75202-2733. The file will be made available by
appointment for public inspection in the Region 6 FOIA Review Room
between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays except for legal
holidays. Contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT paragraph below or Mr. Bill Deese at 214-665-7253 to make an
appointment. If possible, please make the appointment at least two
working days in advance of your visit. There will be a 15 cent per page
fee for making photocopies of documents. On the day of the visit,
please check in at the EPA Region 6 reception area at 1445 Ross Avenue,
Suite 700, Dallas, Texas.
The State submittal is also available for public inspection at the
State Air Agency listed below during official business hours by
appointment:
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Public Records
Center, Room 127, 602 N. Fifth Street, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70821.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Belk, Air Planning Section (6PD-
L), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite
700, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, telephone (214) 665-2164; fax number
214-665-7263; e-mail address belk.ellen@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we''
``us'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.
Outline
I. Background
II. Analysis of the State's Submittals
III. The State of Louisiana's Request To Relax the Federal Reid
Vapor Pressure Standard in Grant Parish
IV. Final Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
Under section 107 of the 1977 CAA, Louisiana's Beauregard, Grant,
and St. Mary Parishes were designated as nonattainment areas because
they did not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
for 1-hour ozone (40 CFR 81.319). As required by section 110 of the
CAA, the state of Louisiana submitted a SIP to EPA on December 10,
1979. This SIP was approved by EPA on October 29, 1981 (46 FR 53412).
Under the 1990 CAA Amendments, the Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parish nonattainment areas continued to be designated nonattainment for
the 1-hour ozone NAAQS by operation of law since Louisiana had not yet
collected the required three years of data necessary to petition for
redesignation to attainment.
On December 12, 1994, Louisiana submitted a request to redesignate
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes to attainment for the 1-hour
ozone standard. At the same time, the State submitted the required
ozone monitoring data and maintenance plan for each parish (each area
includes only the one Parish) to ensure the areas would remain in
attainment for 1-hour ozone for a period of 10 years. The maintenance
plans submitted by Louisiana followed EPA guidance for limited
maintenance areas, which provides for 1-hour ozone areas that have
design values less than 85% of the applicable standard. In this case,
the applicable standard was the 1-hour ozone standard of 0.12 parts per
million (ppm). At the time of the redesignation request, the design
values for Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes were 0.106, 0.071,
and 0.092 ppm, respectively. Since each of these values was at or below
the 85% threshold of 0.106 ppm, EPA approved Louisiana's requests to
redesignate Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes to attainment for
the 1-hour ozone standard and approved the Parishes' maintenance plans,
on August 18, 1995 (60 FR 43020), with an effective date of October 17,
1995.
On April 30, 2004, EPA designated and classified areas for the new
8-hour ozone NAAQS (69 FR 23858), and published the final phase 1 rule
for implementation of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS (69 FR 23951). Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes were designated as unclassifiable/
attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard, effective June 15, 2004. The
three attainment areas consequently are required to submit a 10-year
maintenance plan under section 110(a)(1) of the CAA and the Phase I
rule. On May 20, 2005, EPA issued guidance providing information
regarding how a state might fulfill the maintenance plan obligation
established by the Act and the Phase I rule (Memorandum from Lydia N.
Wegman to Air Division Directors, Maintenance Plan Guidance Document
for Certain 8-hour Ozone Areas Under Section 110(a)(1) of Clean Air
Act, May 20, 2005). This SIP revision satisfies the section 110(a)(1)
CAA requirements for a plan that provides for implementation,
maintenance, and enforcement of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parish 8-hour ozone unclassifiable/
attainment areas.
On December 22, 2006, the United States Court of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion that vacated EPA's Phase
1 Implementation Rule for the 8-hour Ozone Standard. (South Coast Air
Quality Management District. v. EPA, 472 F.3d 882 (D.C. Cir. 2006).
Petitions for rehearing were filed with the Court, and on June 8, 2007,
the Court modified the scope of the vacatur of the Phase I rule. The
Court vacated those portions of the Rule that provide for regulation of
8-hour ozone nonattainment areas under Subpart 1 in lieu of Subpart 2
and that allow backsliding with respect to new source review,
penalties, milestones, contingency plans, and motor vehicle emission
budgets. Consequently, the Court's modified ruling does not alter any
requirements under the Phase 1 8-hour ozone implementation rule for
maintenance plans.
II. Analysis of the State's Submittals
On August 23, 2006, the State of Louisiana submitted separate SIP
revisions containing 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for Beauregard and
Grant Parishes, and on October 10, 2006, Louisiana submitted an 8-hour
[[Page 62581]]
ozone maintenance plan for St. Mary Parish. (The August 23, 2006
submittal for Grant Parish superseded a previous one dated March 2006,
and included substantive changes to the contingency plan section. The
August 23, 2006 submittal for Grant Parish was preceded by a proposal
in June 2006, and a public hearing July 25, 2006.) These August and
October revisions provide 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for the three
parishes named above, as required by section 110(a)(1) of the CAA and
the provisions of EPA's Phase 1 Implementation Rule (see 40 CFR
51.905(a)(4)). The purpose of these plans is to ensure continued
attainment and maintenance of the NAAQS for 8-hour ozone in Beauregard,
Grant, and St. Mary Parishes.
In this action, EPA is approving the State's 8-hour ozone
maintenance plans for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes because EPA finds that the LDEQ submittal meets the
requirements of section 110(a)(1) of the CAA, EPA's rule, and is
consistent with EPA's guidance. As required, these plans provide for
continued attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the
area for 10 years from the effective date of the area's designation as
unclassifiable/attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, and include
components illustrating how each Parish will continue in attainment of
the 8-hour ozone NAAQS and contingency measures. Each of the section
110(a) (1) plan components is discussed below.
(a) Attainment Inventory. The LDEQ developed comprehensive
inventories of VOC and NOX emissions from area, stationary,
and mobile sources using 2002 as the base year to demonstrate
maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS for Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes. The year 2002 is an appropriate year for the LDEQ to
base attainment level emissions because States may select any one of
the three years on which the 8-hour attainment designation was based
(2001, 2002, and 2003). The State's submittals contain the detailed
inventory data and summaries by source category. The 2002 base year
inventory is a good choice. Using the 2002 inventory as a base year
reflects one of the years used for calculating the air quality design
values on which the 8-hour ozone designation decisions were based. It
also is one of the years in the 2002-2004 period used to establish
baseline visibility levels for the regional haze program.
A practical reason for selecting 2002 as the base year emission
inventory is that Section 110(a)(2)(B) of the CAA and the Consolidated
Emissions Reporting Rule (67 FR 39602, June 10, 2002) require States to
submit emissions inventories for all criteria pollutants and their
precursors every three years, on a schedule that includes the emissions
year 2002. The due date for the 2002 emissions inventory is established
in the rule as June 2004. In accordance with these requirements, the
State of Louisiana compiles a statewide EI for point sources on an
annual basis. For stationary point sources, for Beauregard, Grant, and
St. Mary Parishes, the LDEQ provided estimates for each commercial or
industrial operation that emits 100 tons or more per year of VOC or
NOX in Appendix A of each maintenance plan. Stationary non-
point source data was provided by E.H. Pechan & Associates, Inc.,
through the Central Regional Air Planning Association (CENRAP) using
the methodology in ``Consolidation of Emissions Inventories'', section
C, page 26. On-road mobile emissions of VOC and NOX were
estimated using EPA's MOBILE6.2 motor vehicle emissions factor computer
model. Non-road mobile emissions data were derived from the ``Emission
Inventory Development For Mobile Sources and Agricultural Dust Sources
for the Central States'' produced by Sonoma Technology, Inc. for CENRAP
in October 2004 using EPA's NONROAD 2004 non-road mobile emissions
computer model. EPA finds that the LDEQ prepared the 2002 base year
emissions inventories for the three Parishes consistent with EPA's
long-established guidance memoranda.
In projecting data for the attainment year 2014 inventory, LDEQ
used several methods to project data from the base year 2002 to the
years 2008, 2011, and 2014. These projected inventories were developed
using EPA-approved technologies and methodologies. Point source and
non-point source projections were derived from the Emissions Growth
Analysis System version 4.0 (EGAS 4.0). Non-road mobile projections
were derived from EGAS 4.0, as well as from the National Mobile
Inventory Model.
The following tables provide VOC and NOX emissions data
for the 2002 base attainment year inventory, as well as projected VOC
and NOX emission inventory data for the years 2008, 2011,
and 2014. Please see the Technical Support Document (TSD) for
additional emissions inventory data including projections by source
category for each parish.
Beauregard Parish VOC and NOX Emissions Inventory Baseline (2002) and Projections
(2008, 2011, and 2014)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002 tons 2008 tons 2011 tons 2014 tons
Emissions per day per day per day per day
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total VOC................................................... 13.91 13.96 13.96 14.02
Total NOX................................................... 20.88 20.79 20.78 20.84
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
As shown in the table above, total VOC and total NOX
emissions for Beauregard Parish are projected to remain nearly the same
over the 10-year period of the maintenance plan.
Grant Parish VOC and NOX Emissions Inventory Baseline (2002) and Projections (2008, 2011, and 2014)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002 tons 2008 tons 2011 tons 2014 tons
Emissions per day per day per day per day
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total VOC................................................... 8.99 8.23 7.57 7.09
Total NOX................................................... 5.73 5.13 4.82 4.58
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 62582]]
As shown in the table above, total VOC and total NOX
emissions for Grant Parish are projected to decrease somewhat over the
10-year period of the maintenance plan.
St. Mary Parish VOC and NOX Emissions Inventory Baseline (2002) and Projections
(2008, 2011, and 2014)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002 tons 2008 tons 2011 tons 2014 tons
Emissions per day per day per day per day
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total VOC................................................... 18.74 16.29 15.50 15.01
Total NOX................................................... 37.10 37.79 38.43 39.15
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emission projections for future years in St. Mary Parish indicate a
downward trend in VOC emissions through 2014. NOX emission
projections through 2014 reflect an increase of 2.05 tons per day by
the year 2014, or approximately 5%, from 37.10 to 39.15 tpd. This small
projected increase which occurs over a 12-year period is a result of
calculations for the point and non-point source emissions categories.
Emissions from non-road mobile and on-road mobile sources are projected
to decrease. In contrast, VOC emissions are projected to decrease by
3.73 tons per day, or approximately 20%, from 18.74 to 15.01 tpd. The
projected 20% reduction in VOC emissions is expected to sufficiently
offset the projected 5% increase in NOX emissions, enabling
the area to continue to maintain the 8-hour ozone standard.
Please see the TSD for more information on EPA's analysis and
review of the State's methodologies, modeling data and performance,
etc. for developing the base and attainment year inventories. As shown
in the tables above, the State has demonstrated that the future year 8-
hour ozone emissions will be less than the 2002 base attainment year's
emissions. The attainment inventories submitted by the LDEQ for these
areas are consistent with the criteria as discussed in the EPA
Maintenance Plan Guidance memo dated May 20, 2005. EPA finds that the
future emissions levels in 2008, 2011 and 2014 are expected to be
similar to or less than the emissions levels in 2002.
(b) Maintenance Demonstration. The primary purpose of a maintenance
plan is to demonstrate how an area will continue to remain in
compliance with the 8-hour ozone standard for the 10 year period
following the effective date of designation as unclassifiable/
attainment. The end projection year is 10 years from the effective date
of the attainment designation, which for Beauregard, Grant, and St.
Mary Parishes was June 15, 2004. Therefore, these plans must
demonstrate attainment through 2014. As discussed in section (a)
Attainment Inventory above, Louisiana has identified the level of
ozone-forming emissions in Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes
that were consistent with attainment of the NAAQS for ozone in 2002.
Louisiana has projected VOC and NOX emissions for the years
2008, 2011, and 2014 in Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes and
EPA finds that the future emissions levels in those years are expected
to be similar or below the emissions levels in 2002. Please see the TSD
for more information on EPA's review and evaluation of the State's
2008, 2011, and 2014 projected emissions inventories.
Louisiana relies on several air quality measures that will provide
for additional 8-hour ozone emissions reductions in Beauregard, Grant,
and St. Mary Parishes. These measures include the following, among
others: (1) Implementation of EPA's National Rule for VOC Emission
Standards for Automobile Refinish Coatings, Consumer Products, and
Architectural Coatings, (2) enacting of specific requirements from
EPA's Tier 2 Motor Vehicle Emission Standards, EPA's Heavy-Duty Engine
and Vehicle Standards, as well as EPA's gasoline and highway diesel
fuel sulfur control requirements, (3) EPA's required control of
emissions from non-road diesel engines and fuels, and (4)
implementation of the Federal Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) (70 FR
25162). The purpose of these control measures is to reduce levels of 8-
hour ozone, including the areas of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary
Parishes.
As an additional demonstration of maintenance, Louisiana references
the EPA modeling conducted for CAIR in the maintenance plan submittals.
Louisiana is a state that must implement CAIR, and the EPA CAIR
modeling indicates that all Louisiana parishes will be in attainment
with the 8-hour ozone standard by 2010, with continued attainment
projected through 2015. This analysis is consistent with the
projections discussed above in (a) Attainment Inventory.
(c) Ambient Air Quality Monitoring. In May 2003, after a technical
and statistical analysis, the Regional Office agreed with the State of
Louisiana that the Ragley monitoring site in Beauregard Parish and the
Bentley monitoring site in Grant Parish could be discontinued upon
submittal of a revised maintenance plan, which turned out to be
November 28, 2005 for Grant Parish and May 19, 2006 for Beauregard
Parish. The Bentley site in Grant Parish, however, was destroyed by
fire on August 13, 2005, before the end of the 2005 ozone season. Since
there was not adequate time to establish a new monitor for the
remainder of the 2005 ozone season, EPA calculated its 2005 design
value with the available information as 73 ppb. (The ozone season in
the State of Louisiana is from January to December for the Parishes
discussed in this notice.) In the same May 2003 letter, after the
completion of the technical and statistical analysis, the Regional
Office agreed with the State that the Morgan City monitoring site in
St. Mary Parish could be discontinued at the end of the 2003 ozone
season. Nevertheless, the State of Louisiana has committed in its
maintenance plans for Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes to
provide operation of an appropriate ozone monitoring network and to
work with EPA in compliance with 40 CFR part 58 with regard to the
continued adequacy of such a network, if EPA determines monitoring is
needed.
The Ragley monitoring site in Beauregard Parish has monitored
attainment with the 8-hour ozone standard since 1998 through 2005. The
8-hour ozone NAAQS is 0.08 parts per million based on the three-year
average of the fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone
concentration measured at each monitor within an area. The standard is
considered to be attained at 84 parts per billion (ppb). The three most
recent 8-hour ozone design values for the Ragley site in Beauregard
Parish are 73 ppb for 2003, 73 ppb for 2004, and 75 ppb for 2005. The
Bentley monitoring site in Grant Parish has monitored attainment with
[[Page 62583]]
the 8-hour ozone standard since 1998 through 2004. The most recent 8-
hour ozone design values for the Bentley site in Grant Parish are 78
ppb for 2002, 74 ppb for 2003, 73 ppb for 2004, and 73 ppb for 2005.
The design value for 2005 is calculated to be 73 ppb, based upon the 8
months and 12 days of available data.
In St. Mary Parish, the Morgan City monitoring site has monitored
attainment with the 8-hour ozone standard since 2001 through 2005. The
State did not discontinue the monitor after the end of the 2003 ozone
season as allowed but continued to operate it through the 2005 ozone
season. The three most recent 8-hour ozone design values for St. Mary
Parish are 74 ppb for 2003, 73 ppb for 2004, and 76 ppb for 2005.
(d) Contingency Plan. The section 110(a) (1) maintenance plans
include contingency provisions to correct promptly any violation of the
NAAQS that occurs. The contingency indicator for the Beauregard, Grant,
and St. Mary Parish maintenance plans is based on updates to the
emission inventories. The triggering mechanism for activation of
contingency measures is a ten percent or greater increase in emissions
of either VOC or NOX based on the 2002 emissions inventory.
In these maintenance plans, if contingency measures are triggered, LDEQ
is committing to implement the measures as expeditiously as
practicable, but no longer than 24 months following the trigger.
The following contingency measures are identified for
implementation: (1) Lowering VOC RACT applicability thresholds for
Stage 1 gasoline controls, (2) NOX controls on major sources
(100 tpy and greater), (3) Emission offsets for permits (1.10 ratio for
VOC and NOX), and (4) Other measures deemed appropriate at
the time as a result of advances in control technologies. These
contingency measures and schedules for implementation satisfy EPA's
long-standing guidance on the requirements of section 110(a) (1) of
Continued Attainment. Continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS in
the areas of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes will depend, in
part, on the air quality measures discussed previously (see II. b)
above). In addition, Louisiana commits to verify the 8-hour ozone
status in each maintenance plan through annual and periodic evaluations
of the emissions inventories. In the annual evaluations, Louisiana will
review VOC and NOX emission data from stationary point
sources. During the periodic evaluations (every three years), Louisiana
will update the emissions inventory for all emissions source
categories, and compare the updated emissions inventory data to the
projected 2008, 2011 and 2014 attainment emissions inventories to
verify continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone standard.
III. The State of Louisiana's Request To Relax the Federal Reid Vapor
Pressure Standard in Grant Parish
The State of Louisiana has submitted a request to EPA to relax the
federal Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) standard from 7.8 psi to 9.0 psi in
Grant Parish during the ozone control season (June 1 to September 15).
The Grant Parish section 110(a) (1) maintenance plan provides a modeled
analysis of emissions from on-road mobile sources, including a
comparison of VOC emissions using both the 7.8 and 9.0 psi RVP
gasoline, for the three projection years: 2008, 2011, and 2014. The
following Table provides the data resulting from the State's analysis
comparing projected VOC emissions in Grant Parish for an RVP of 7.8 psi
and 9.0 psi.
Grant Parish: RVP Comparison Effect on VOC Emissions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.8 psi 9.0 psi
Year RVP VOC RVP VOC
(tpd) (tpd)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002.............................................. 1.27 N/A
2008.............................................. 0.80 0.90
2011.............................................. 0.63 0.70
2014.............................................. 0.52 0.57
------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Table above shows that Grant Parish is projected to continue to
attain the 8-hour ozone standard with either a 7.8 or 9.0 psi RVP
gasoline. The overall effect on VOC emissions from the difference
between 7.8 and 9.0 psi RVP gasoline is 0.1 tpd or less for each of the
three projection years. Further, each of the projected VOC emission
inventories using 9.0 psi RVP gasoline is less than the baseline VOC
emission inventory for the 2002 attainment year. Based upon this data,
the Grant Parish 8-hour maintenance plan demonstrates that the use of
either 7.8 or 9.0 psi RVP gasoline in the parish will allow the area to
continue to meet the 8-hour ozone NAAQS.
EPA has promulgated regulations establishing the volatility
standards. In a separate rulemaking, EPA will address the State's
request.
IV. Final Action
Pursuant to section 110 of the Act, EPA is approving the 8-hour
ozone maintenance plans for Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes,
which were submitted by LDEQ on August 23, 2006, August 23, 2006, and
October 10, 2006, respectively, which ensure continued attainment of
the 8-hour ozone NAAQS through the year 2014. We have evaluated the
State's submittals and have determined that they meet the applicable
requirements of the Clean Air Act and EPA regulations, and are
consistent with EPA policy.
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because we view
this as a non-controversial amendment and anticipate no adverse
comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal
Register publication, we are publishing a separate document that will
serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision if relevant adverse
comments are received. This rule will be effective on January 7, 2008
without further notice unless we receive adverse comment by December 6,
2007. If we receive adverse comments, we will publish a timely
withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule
will not take effect. We will address all public comments in a
subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. We will not institute
a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in
commenting must do so now. Please note that if we receive adverse
comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that
provision may be severed from the remainder of the rule, we may adopt
as final those provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an
adverse comment.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211,
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action
merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law.
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under State law and does
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by
State law, it does not
[[Page 62584]]
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).
This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism
implications because it does not have substantial direct effects on the
States, on the relationship between the national government and the
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely approves a state rule
implementing a Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the CAA.
This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 ``Protection of
Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically significant.
In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise
satisfies the provisions of the CAA. Thus, the requirements of section
12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995
(15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This rule does not impose an
information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
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 rule 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 CAA, petitions for judicial review
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for
the appropriate circuit by January 7, 2008. Filing a petition for
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect
the finality of this rule 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).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental
relations, Ozone, Nitrogen dioxide, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: October 26, 2007.
Lawrence E. Starfield,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6.
0
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart T--Louisiana
0
2. In Sec. 52.970, the table in paragraph (e) entitled, ``EPA APPROVED
LOUISIANA NONREGULATORY PROVISIONS AND QUASI-REGULATORY MEASURES'', is
amended by adding three new entries to the end of the table as follows:
Sec. 52.970 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
Epa-Approved Louisiana Nonregulatory Provisions and Quasi-Regulatory Measures
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State
Name of SIP provision Applicable geographic submittal date/ EPA approval date Explanation
or nonattainment area effective date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 Beauregard Parish, LA 8/23/06 11/06/07 [Insert FR
Maintenance Plan. page number where
document begins].
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 Grant Parish, LA..... 8/23/06 11/06/07 [Insert FR
Maintenance Plan. page number where
document begins].
8-Hour Ozone Section 110 St. Mary Parish, LA.. 9/27/06 11/06/07 [Insert FR
Maintenance Plan. page number where
document begins].
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
0
3. Section 52.975, entitled, ``Redesignations and maintenance plans;
ozone'', is amended by adding a new paragraph (h) as follows:
Sec. 52.975 Redesignations and maintenance plans; ozone.
* * * * *
(h) Approval. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality
(LDEQ) submitted 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for the areas of
Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes on August 23, 2006, August 23,
2006, and October 10, 2006, respectively. The three areas are
designated unclassifiable/attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard. EPA
determined these requests for Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary Parishes
were complete on October 9, 2006, October 9, 2006, and November 30,
2006, respectively. The maintenance plans meet the requirements of
section 110(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act, and are consistent with EPA's
maintenance plan guidance document dated May 20, 2005. The EPA
therefore approved the 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for the areas
[[Page 62585]]
of Beauregard, Grant, and St. Mary parishes on November 6, 2007.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. E7-21687 Filed 11-5-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P