Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Georgia: Early Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area, 9206-9211 [E8-2706]
Download as PDF
9206
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
TABLE 52.1031.—EPA-APPROVED RULES AND REGULATIONS
State
citation
Title/subject
*
141 ...........
Date adopted by state
Date
approved by
EPA
Federal Register citation
52.1020
*
4/19/07
2/20/08
*
*
[Insert Federal Register
page number where the
document begins].
*
(c)(63) ...........
*
Conformity of General
Federal Actions.
*
*
*
Note.—1. The regulations are effective
statewide unless stated otherwise in
comments section.
[FR Doc. E8–2884 Filed 2–19–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52
[EPA–R04–OAR–2007–0150–200711(a);
FRL–8528–8]
Approval and Promulgation of
Implementation Plans for Air Quality
Planning Purposes; Georgia: Early
Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Nonattainment Area
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: On December 31, 2006, the
State of Georgia, through the
Environmental Protection Division
(EPD) of the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources, submitted a
voluntary State Implementation Plan
(SIP) revision requesting approval of an
Early Progress Plan for the sole purpose
of establishing motor vehicle emission
budgets (MVEBs) for the Atlanta 8-hour
ozone nonattainment area. The Atlanta
8-hour ozone nonattainment area is
comprised of the following twenty
counties: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll,
Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta,
DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth,
Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton,
Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and
Walton counties in their entireties
(hereafter referred to as the ‘‘Atlanta 8Hour Ozone Area’’). EPA is approving
Atlanta’s Early Progress Plan, including
the new regional MVEBs for nitrogen
oxides (NOX) and volatile organic
compounds (VOC) for 2006. This
approval of the Early Progress Plan for
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area is based
on EPA’s determination that Georgia has
demonstrated that the SIP revision
containing these MVEBs, when
considered with the emissions from all
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
Jkt 214001
*
*
sources, shows some progress toward
attainment from the base year (i.e.,
2002) through an interim target year
(i.e., 2006).
DATES: This direct final rule is effective
April 21, 2008 without further notice,
unless EPA receives adverse comment
by March 21, 2008. If EPA receives such
comments, it will publish a timely
withdrawal of the direct final rule in the
Federal Register and inform the public
that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R04–
OAR–2007–0150, by one of the
following methods:
a. www.regulations.gov: Follow the
on-line instructions for submitting
comments.
b. E-mail: Benjamin.Lynorae@epa.gov.
c. Fax: (404) 562–9019.
d. Mail: EPA–R04–OAR–2007–0150,
Air Quality Modeling and
Transportation Section, Air Planning
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960.
e. Hand Delivery or Courier: Lynorae
Benjamin, Air Quality Modeling and
Transportation Section, Air Planning
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the
Regional Office’s normal hours of
operation. The Regional Office’s official
hours of business are Monday through
Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal
holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket ID No. EPA–R04–OAR–2007–
0150. 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
PO 00000
Frm 00036
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
*
*
Amendment to incorporate
new fine particulate
matter provisions.
*
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Do not submit through
www.regulations.gov or e-mail,
information that you consider to be CBI
or otherwise protected. 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. For additional information
about EPA’s public docket visit the EPA
Docket Center homepage at https://
www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the
electronic docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although
listed in the index, some information is
not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other
material, such as copyrighted material,
is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy
form. Publicly available docket
materials are available either
electronically in www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy at the Air Quality
Modeling and Transportation Section,
Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and
Toxics Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. EPA
requests that if at all possible, you
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
contact the person listed in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to
schedule your inspection. The Regional
Office’s official hours of business are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30,
excluding federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Lynorae Benjamin of the Air Quality
Modeling and Transportation Section at
the Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides
and Toxics Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303–8960. Ms.
Benjamin’s telephone number is (404)
562–9040. She can also be reached via
electronic mail at
Benjamin.Lynorae@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
II. What Is the Background for EPA’s Action?
III. What Are the Regional MVEBs for the
Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
IV. What Are the Criteria for Early Progress
Plans?
V. Why is EPA Taking This Action?
VI. What is the Effect of EPA’s Action?
VII. What is EPA’s Analysis of the Request?
VIII. What Is the Status of EPA’s Adequacy
Determination for MVEBs for the Atlanta
8-Hour Ozone Area?
IX. Final Actions on Atlanta’s Early Progress
Plan Including Approval of the 2006
MVEBs
X. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
EPA is approving Atlanta’s Early
Progress Plan, including the new
regional MVEBs for NOX and VOC for
2006. This approval of the Early
Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area is based on EPA’s
determination that Georgia has
demonstrated that the MVEBs are
consistent with emissions from all
sources in the nonattainment area
(when projected from the base to a
future year) and are included in a SIP
revision showing some progress toward
attainment. These regional MVEBs
apply to the entire Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area.
This direct final rulemaking is in
response to Georgia’s January 12, 2007,
SIP submittal, which supersedes
Georgia’s October 26, 2006, submittal
that included a request for parallel
processing.1 This revision is a voluntary
SIP revision provided by Georgia for the
sole purpose of establishing MVEBs for
the purpose of implementing
1 Georgia’s January 12, 2007, submittal was sent
to EPA for approval with a December 31, 2006,
cover letter but the SIP submittal is actually dated
for January 12, 2007, and thus will be referred to
throughout this rulemaking as Georgia’s January 12,
2007, SIP submittal.
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
Jkt 214001
transportation conformity in the Atlanta
8-Hour Ozone Area. This submission is
not being evaluated in terms of meeting
SIP requirements for an attainment
demonstration or rate-of-progress plan
which may be required for the Atlanta
8-Hour Ozone Area.
II. What Is the Background for EPA’s
Action?
Ground-level ozone is not emitted
directly by sources. Rather, emissions of
NOX and VOC from sources react in the
presence of sunlight to form groundlevel ozone. NOX and VOC are referred
to as precursors of ozone. The Clean Air
Act (CAA) establishes a process for air
quality management through the setting
of the national ambient air quality
standards (NAAQS) to protect public
health and welfare. Transportation
conformity is a component of the air
quality management process that must
be implemented in areas that are
designated nonattainment or were
previously designated nonattainment
and are required to develop a CAA
section 175A maintenance plan for a
NAAQS affected by emissions from
motor vehicles. Ozone is one such
NAAQS.
On April 30, 2004, EPA designated
the 20-county Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone
Area as a ‘‘marginal’’ 8-hour ozone
nonattainment area (see, 69 FR 23857,
April 30, 2004). Thirteen counties 2 in
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area were
previously designated nonattainment for
the 1-hour ozone standard and have 1hour MVEBs for NOX and VOC
established in the Georgia SIP. The
remaining seven counties 3 of the 20county Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area were
designated attainment for the 1-hour
ozone standard and as such did not
have 1-hour MVEBs for NOX and VOC.
Consequently, the transportation
partners in this Area used a
combination of the budget test and the
interim 2002 baseline test to
demonstrate transportation conformity
for the 8-hour ozone standard, as
required by the transportation
conformity rule at 40 CFR
93.109(e)(2)(iii). Specifically, for the 13county 1-hour ozone area, the MVEBs in
the Georgia SIP for the 1-hour ozone
standard were used to demonstrate
transportation conformity for the 8-hour
ozone standard. For the remaining seven
2 The Atlanta 1-hour ozone area was comprised
of the following thirteen counties: Cherokee,
Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette,
Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and
Rockdale counties in their entireties.
3 The seven additional counties that are included
in the 8-hour ozone nonattainment for Atlanta are:
Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Hall, Newton, Spalding
and Walton counties in their entireties.
PO 00000
Frm 00037
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
9207
counties, the 2002 baseline test, as
agreed to through interagency
consultation, was used to demonstrate
transportation conformity for the 8-hour
ozone standard. Thirteen counties of the
Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area were within
a 1-hour ozone attainment area subject
to a CAA section 175A maintenance
plan for the 1-hour ozone standard.
On June 8, 2007, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (D.C.
Circuit) issued a decision vacating
portions of EPA’s Phase I 8-Hour Ozone
Implementation Rule. This decision
does not impact Georgia’s request for
approval of the voluntary Early Progress
Plan. In its June 8th decision, the Court
clarified that for areas with 1-hour
MVEBs, the transportation conformity
rule’s requirement to use 1-hour MVEBs
for 8-hour conformity determinations
until they are replaced by 8-hour
budgets fulfills the CAA’s antibacksliding requirements. Consistent
with EPA’s conformity regulations at 40
CFR Part 93 and prior to EPA’s
adequacy finding for the 8-hour ozone
MVEBs in Atlanta’s Early Progress Plan,
the Atlanta Regional Commission and
the Gainesville-Hall Metropolitan
Planning Organization were meeting the
requirement to use the 1-hour ozone
MVEBs as an interim test for conformity
determinations.
III. What Are the Regional MVEBs for
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
Pursuant to the CAA, states are
required to submit, at various times,
control strategy SIPs and maintenance
plans for ozone nonattainment areas.
These control strategy SIPs (e.g.,
reasonable further progress SIPs and
attainment demonstration SIPs) and
maintenance plans create MVEBs for
criteria pollutants and/or their
precursors to address pollution from
cars and trucks. Pursuant to 40 CFR part
93, an MVEB is required to be
established for: (1) The attainment year
for an attainment plan; (2) the last year
of the maintenance plan; or (3) the target
year for a reasonable further progress
plan. Additionally, through an Early
Progress Plan, a state may voluntarily
establish MVEBs for an area so long as
these MVEBs are consistent with a
demonstration that shows some
progress, between a base and future
year, towards attainment. The MVEB is
the portion of the total allowable
emissions in a SIP that is allocated to
highway and transit vehicle use and
emissions. See, 40 CFR 93.101. The
MVEB serves as a ceiling on emissions
from an area’s planned transportation
system. The MVEB concept is further
explained in the preamble to the
November 24, 1993, transportation
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
9208
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
conformity rule (58 FR 62188). The
preamble also describes how to
establish the MVEB in the SIP and
revise the MVEB.
The State of Georgia, after interagency
consultation with the transportation
partners for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone
Area, elected to develop regional
MVEBs for NOX and VOC for this entire
area through an Early Progress Plan. The
regional MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Nonattainment Area are
established for the year 2006, and are
defined in the table below.
TABLE 1.—ATLANTA 8-HOUR OZONE
AREA MVEBS
[Tons per day]
2006
NOX ..............................................
VOC ..............................................
306.75
172.27
Through this rulemaking, EPA is
approving the 2006 regional MVEBs for
NOX and VOC for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area because EPA has
determined that the MVEBs contained
in the Early Progress SIP revision are
consistent with emissions from all
sources within the nonattainment area
(when projected from the base to a
future year) in showing some progress
toward attainment. In a previous action,
EPA has already found these MVEBs
adequate, so they must be used for
future conformity determinations.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
IV. What Are the Criteria for Early
Progress Plans?
EPA allows for the establishment of
MVEBs for the 8-hour ozone standard
prior to a state submitting its first
required 8-hour ozone SIP that would
include new MVEBs. Although
voluntary, these ‘‘early’’ MVEBs must be
established through a plan that meets all
the requirements of a SIP submittal.
This plan is known as the ‘‘Early
Progress Plan.’’ Specifically and in
reference to Early Progress Plans, the
preamble of the July 1, 2004, final
transportation conformity rule (see, 69
FR 40019) reads as follows:
‘‘The first 8-hour ozone SIP could be a
control strategy SIP required by the Clean Air
Act (e.g., rate-of-progress SIP or attainment
demonstration) or a maintenance plan.
However, 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas
‘are free to establish, through the SIP process,
a motor vehicle emissions budget or budgets
that addresses the new NAAQS in advance
of a complete SIP attainment demonstration.
That is, a state could submit a motor vehicle
emission budget that does not demonstrate
attainment but is consistent with projections
and commitments to control measures and
achieves some progress toward attainment’
(August 15, 1997, 62 FR 43799). A SIP
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
Jkt 214001
submitted earlier than otherwise required can
demonstrate a significant level of emissions
reductions from current level of emissions,
instead of a specific percentage required by
the Clean Air Act for moderate and above
ozone areas.’’
The Early Progress Plan must
demonstrate that the SIP revision
containing the MVEBs, when
considered with emissions from all
sources, and when projected from the
base year to a future year, show some
progress toward attainment. EPA has
previously indicated that a 5 percent to
10 percent reduction in emissions from
all sources could represent a significant
level of emissions reductions from
current levels (69 FR 40019). This
allowance is provided so that areas have
an opportunity to use the budget test to
demonstrate conformity as opposed to
the interim conformity tests (i.e., 2002
baseline test and/or ‘‘build-no greaterthan-no build test’’) 4. The budget test
with an adequate or approved SIP
budget is generally more protective of
air quality and provides a more relevant
basis for conformity determinations
than the interim emissions test. (69 FR
40026).
It should also be noted that the Early
Progress Plan is not a required plan and
does not substitute for required
submissions such as an attainment
demonstration or rate-of-progress plan,
if such plans become required for the
Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area.
V. Why Is EPA Taking This Action?
On January 16, 2007, EPA received a
request to approve the Early Progress
Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area
for the sole purpose of establishing 8hour ozone MVEBs for the entire 20county 8-hour ozone nonattainment
area. EPA’s evaluation indicates that
Georgia has demonstrated that the
MVEBs in the Early Progress Plan are
consistent with a demonstration that
shows some progress towards
attainment of the 8-hour ozone
standard.
VI. What Is the Effect of EPA’s Action?
Approval of Atlanta’s Early Progress
Plan into the Georgia SIP would
establish regional 8-hour ozone MVEBs
for NOX and VOC for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area. The regional MVEBs for the
year 2006 are 306.75 tons per day (tpd)
for NOX and 172.27 tpd for VOC. As of
April 24, 2007, the effective date of
EPA’s adequacy finding for these
MVEBs, conformity determinations in
Atlanta must meet the budget test using
these 8-hour MVEBs, instead of the 14 See, EPA’s Transportation Conformity Rule at 40
CFR part 93 for more information on the interim
tests.
PO 00000
Frm 00038
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
hour ozone MVEBs and 2002 baseline
year test. The CAA requires that
conformity of the transportation plans
and transportation improvement
programs be determined within two
years of EPA’s adequacy finding for
MVEBs, or within two years of EPA’s
approval of the SIP that includes them
if the MVEBs have not already been
found adequate (see, CAA section
176(c)(2)(E)).
Submittal (and consequently
approval) of Atlanta’s Early Progress
Plan does not satisfy the requirement for
Georgia to provide a full 8-hour ozone
attainment demonstration or rate-ofprogress plan, when these SIP revisions
become required for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area. In its revision, Georgia
indicated that they have included
reductions from outside the
nonattainment area towards the progress
demonstration for the Atlanta Early
Progress SIP. However, since the
development of this SIP revision by
Georgia, the D.C. Circuit Court of
Appeals vacated and remanded the
policy provision of EPA’s Phase II
Ozone Implementation Rule (70 FR
71612, November 11, 2005) that allowed
rate of progress/reasonable further
progress credit for reductions to come
from outside the nonattainment area.
See, NRDC v. EPA, 2007 U.S. App. Lexis
25796 (November 2, 2007). EPA is now
reconsidering its Phase II Rule. See,
https://www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/
pdfs/20061211_reconsideration_fs.pdf,
for more information. Even if EPA
determines, after reconsideration, that it
is not appropriate to allow credit for
reductions from outside the
nonattainment area, it is still
appropriate to approve this voluntary
Early Progress Plan because sufficient
reductions occur within the
nonattainment area. Additionally, the
reductions from outside the
nonattainment were not used by the
State of Georgia to demonstrate the
progress necessary for this
nonattainment area to establish Early
Progress MVEBs.
VII. What Is EPA’s Analysis of the
Request?
On January 16, 2007, EPA received a
request for approval of an Early Progress
Plan for the sole purpose of establishing
MVEBs for the 20-county Atlanta 8Hour Ozone Area. The submittal utilizes
a base year of 2002 to establish NOX and
VOC MVEBs for the year 2006. The
planning assumptions used to develop
the MVEBs were discussed and agreed
to by the Atlanta interagency
consultation group, which consists of
the transportation and air quality
partners in the Atlanta 8-hour ozone
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
nonattainment area. The total emissions
in 2002 from point, area, nonroad and
mobile sources for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area equaled 642.3 tpd of NOX
and 713.7 tpd of VOC. The projected
total emissions for the aforementioned
source categories for 2006 for Atlanta
equaled 525.4 tpd of NOX and 602.4 tpd
of VOC. This represents an 18 percent
reduction in NOX and a 16 percent
reduction in VOC emissions from 2002
to 2006 from sources located within the
20-county nonattainment area, which is
a greater reduction than necessary to
represent a significant level of emissions
reductions. Tables 2 and 3 below show
the 2002 actual emissions and 2006
emission projections for point, area,
nonroad and mobile source reductions.
TABLE 2.—ATLANTA 8-HOUR OZONE
AREA NOX EMISSIONS
[Tons per day]
Source category
Point ......................
Area ......................
On-road Mobile* ...
Nonroad ................
Total ** ...........
2002
2006
139.8
32.5
342.14
127.9
80.8
32.7
306.72
105.1
642.3
525.4
* Calculated using MOBILE 6.2.
** There may be a slight difference for this
total due to various rounding conventions used
by the State to generate the emissions for
point, area, onroad mobile and nonroad
sources.
TABLE 3.—ATLANTA 8-HOUR OZONE
AREA VOC EMISSIONS
[Tons per day]
Source category
Point ......................
Area ......................
On-road Mobile* ...
Nonroad ................
Total ** ...........
2002
2006
20.6
347.6
224.66
120.9
19.6
326.4
***172.22
84.2
713.7
***602.4
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
* Calculated using MOBILE 6.2.
** There may be a slight difference for this
total due to various rounding conventions used
by the State to generate the emissions for
point, area, onroad mobile and nonroad
sources.
*** Including the senior inspection & maintenance exemption, this total is 172.27 tpd, indicating a grand total of 602.45.
The 2006 MVEBs, as discussed in
Section III of this rulemaking, are
consistent with Georgia’s 2002 emission
baseline and 2006 projected inventories
for on-road mobile sources. Atlanta’s
Early Progress Plan, including the 2006
MVEBs, is approvable because the SIP
revision meets all applicable
requirements for a voluntary Early
Progress Plan. In a separate action, EPA
has already found these MVEBs
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
Jkt 214001
adequate for transportation conformity
purposes. Please see Section VIII of this
rulemaking for more details on the
adequacy process.
VIII. What Is the Status of EPA’s
Adequacy Determination for MVEBs for
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new
transportation projects, such as the
construction of new highways, must
‘‘conform’’ to (i.e., be consistent with)
the part of the state’s air quality plan (or
SIP) that addresses pollution from cars
and trucks. ‘‘Conformity’’ to the SIP
means that transportation activities will
not cause new air quality violations,
worsen existing violations, or delay
timely attainment of the NAAQS. If a
transportation plan does not ‘‘conform,’’
most new projects that would expand
the capacity of roadways cannot go
forward. Regulations at 40 CFR part 93
set forth EPA policy, criteria, and
procedures for demonstrating and
assuring conformity of such
transportation activities to a SIP. The
regional emissions analysis is one, but
not the only, requirement for
implementing transportation
conformity. Transportation conformity
is a requirement for nonattainment and
maintenance areas. Maintenance areas
are those that were previously
nonattainment for a particular NAAQS
but have since been redesignated to
attainment with a maintenance plan for
that NAAQS.
When reviewing submitted ‘‘control
strategy’’ SIPs or maintenance plans
containing MVEBs, EPA must
affirmatively find the MVEB contained
therein ‘‘adequate’’ for use in
determining transportation conformity.
Once EPA affirmatively finds the
submitted MVEB is adequate for
transportation conformity purposes, that
MVEB can be used by state and Federal
agencies in determining whether
proposed transportation projects
‘‘conform’’ to the SIP as required by
section 176(c) of the CAA.
EPA’s substantive criteria for
determining ‘‘adequacy’’ of an MVEB
are set out in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). The
process for determining ‘‘adequacy’’
consists of three basic steps: Public
notification of a SIP submission, a
public comment period, and EPA’s
adequacy finding. This process for
determining the adequacy of submitted
SIP MVEBs was initially outlined in
EPA’s May 14, 1999, guidance,
‘‘Conformity Guidance on
Implementation of March 2, 1999,
Conformity Court Decision.’’ This
guidance was finalized in the
Transportation Conformity Rule
Amendments for the ‘‘New 8-Hour
PO 00000
Frm 00039
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
9209
Ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air
Quality Standards and Miscellaneous
Revisions for Existing Areas;
transportation conformity rule
amendments—Response to Court
Decision and Additional Rule Change,’’
on July 1, 2004 (69 FR 40004). EPA
follows this guidance and rulemaking in
making its adequacy determinations.
Atlanta’s Early Progress Plan
submission contained new regional NOX
and VOC MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area for the year 2006. The
availability of the Georgia SIP
submission with the Atlanta MVEBs
was available for public comment on
EPA’s adequacy Web page on October
30, 2006, at: https://www.epa.gov/otaq/
stateresources/transconf/currsips.htm.
The EPA public comment period on
adequacy of the 2006 regional MVEBs
for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area
closed on November 29, 2006. EPA did
not receive any comments or requests
for the submittal.
EPA could not complete its adequacy
process until the final submission of the
Early Progress Plan was provided to
EPA by the State of Georgia. EPA
received the final submission on
January 16, 2007. On January 24, 2007,
EPA Region 4 sent a letter to Georgia
informing them that EPA had found the
MVEBs in Atlanta Early Progress Plan,
dated January 12, 2007, to be adequate
for transportation conformity purposes.
In the January 24, 2007, letter, EPA
explained that the MVEBs would be
made available for use upon the
effective date of EPA’s notice of
adequacy for these MVEBs in the
Federal Register.
On April 9, 2007, EPA published a
notice of adequacy in the Federal
Register, and explained to the public
that the notice was simply an
announcement of a finding that EPA
had already made. Further, the April 9,
2007, Federal Register notice explained
that EPA Region 4 had sent a letter to
Georgia on January 24, 2007, to inform
the State that the MVEBs in the Atlanta
Early Progress Plan, dated January 12,
2007, were adequate for the purposes of
transportation conformity (72 FR
17550).
In the April 9, 2007, Federal Register
notice, EPA inadvertently mislabeled
the Atlanta 8-hour ozone NOX MVEB as
172.27 tpd and the VOC MVEB as
306.75 tpd. As announced in EPA’s
letter to Georgia on January 24, 2007,
the 2006 MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area, as established by the Early
Progress Plan for Atlanta are actually
306.75 tpd for NOX and 172.27 tpd for
VOC. EPA corrected this error in a
Federal Register notice published on
August 24, 2007 (72 FR 48635). This
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
9210
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
finding was also announced on EPA’s
conformity Web site: https://
www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/
transconf/pastsips.htm.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
IX. Final Actions on Atlanta’s Early
Progress Plan and the 2006 MVEBs
EPA is now taking direct final action
to approve the January 12, 2007, SIP
revision containing Atlanta’s Early
Progress Plan, which includes regional
MVEBs for 2006 for the entire Atlanta 8Hour Ozone Area. EPA is approving the
Early Progress Plan and the regional
MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone
Nonattainment Area because the plan
meets all the requirements of a SIP
submittal, and because the MVEBs,
when considered with emissions from
all sources, are contained in a SIP that
shows some progress towards
attainment from the base year of 2002 to
the target year of 2006. EPA previously
made these MVEBs available for use by
the transportation partners through
EPA’s adequacy process. These MVEBs
are currently being used in this area to
demonstrate transportation conformity.
EPA is publishing this rule without
prior proposal because the Agency
views this as a noncontroversial
submittal and anticipates no adverse
comments. However, in the proposed
rules section of this Federal Register
publication, EPA is publishing a
separate document that will serve as the
proposal to approve the SIP revision
should adverse comments be filed. This
rule will be effective April 21, 2008
without further notice unless the
Agency receives adverse comments by
March 21, 2008.
If EPA receives such comments, then
EPA will publish a document
withdrawing the final rule and
informing the public that the rule will
not take effect. All public comments
received will then be addressed in a
subsequent final rule based on the
proposed rule. EPA will not institute a
second comment period. Parties
interested in commenting should do so
at this time. If no such comments are
received, the public is advised that this
rule will be effective on April 21, 2008
and no further action will be taken on
the proposed rule.
X. 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,
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
Jkt 214001
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 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
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 SIP revision 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
PO 00000
Frm 00040
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
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 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 April 21, 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, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations,
Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
Dated: February 6, 2008.
J.I. Palmer, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
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 L—Georgia
2. Section 52.570 (e) is amended by
adding a new entry at the end of the
table for ‘‘27. Atlanta Early Progress
Plan’’ to read as follows:
I
§ 52.570
*
Identification of plan.
*
*
(e) * * *
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
*
*
Federal Register / Vol. 73, No. 34 / Wednesday, February 20, 2008 / Rules and Regulations
9211
EPA-APPROVED GEORGIA NON-REGULATORY PROVISIONS
Name of nonregulatory SIP
provision
*
27. Atlanta Early Progress
Plan.
Applicable geographic or nonattainment area
*
*
*
*
Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta,
DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall,
Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton
counties.
[FR Doc. E8–2706 Filed 2–19–08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 180
[EPA–HQ–OPP–2007–0223; FRL–8344–7]
1-Propanesulfonic acid, 2-methyl-2-[(1oxo-2-propenyl)amino]-, monosodium
salt, polymer with ethenol and ethenyl
acetate; Exemption from the
Requirement of a Tolerance
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
sroberts on PROD1PC70 with RULES
AGENCY:
SUMMARY: This regulation establishes an
exemption from the requirement of a
tolerance for residues of 1propanesulfonic acid, 2-methyl-2-[(1oxo-2-propenyl)amino]-, monosodium
salt, polymer with ethenol and ethenyl
acetate (CAS Reg. No. 107568–12–7)
when used as an inert ingredient in a
pesticide chemical formulation. Keller
and Heckman, LLP submitted a petition
to EPA under the Federal Food, Drug,
and Cosmetic Act (FFDCA), as amended
by the Food Quality Protection Act of
1996 (FQPA) requesting an exemption
from the requirement of a tolerance.
This regulation eliminates the need to
establish a maximum permissible level
for residues of 1-propanesulfonic acid,
2-methyl-2-[(1-oxo-2-propenyl)amino]-,
monosodium salt, polymer with ethenol
and ethenyl acetate.
DATES: This regulation is effective
February 20, 2008. Objections and
requests for hearings must be received
on or before April 21, 2008, and must
be filed in accordance with the
instructions provided in 40 CFR part
178 (see also Unit I.C. of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION).
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a
docket for this action under docket
identification (ID) number EPA–HQ–
OPP–2007–0223. To access the
electronic docket, go to https://
www.regulations.gov, select ‘‘Advanced
Search,’’ then ‘‘Docket Search.’’ Insert
VerDate Aug<31>2005
15:54 Feb 19, 2008
State submittal
date/effective
date
Jkt 214001
the docket ID number where indicated
and select the ‘‘Submit’’ button. Follow
the instructions on the regulations.gov
website to view the docket index or
access available documents. All
documents in the docket are listed in
the docket index available in
regulations.gov. Although listed in the
index, some information is not publicly
available, e.g., Confidential Business
Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Certain other material, such as
copyrighted material, is not placed on
the Internet and will be publicly
available only in hard copy form.
Publicly available docket materials are
available in the electronic docket at
https://www.regulations.gov, or, if only
available in hard copy, at the OPP
Regulatory Public Docket in Rm. S–
4400, One Potomac Yard (South Bldg.),
2777 S. Crystal Dr., Arlington, VA. The
Docket Facility is open from 8:30 a.m.
to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday,
excluding legal holidays. The Docket
Facility telephone number is (703) 305–
5805.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Karen Samek, Registration Division
(7505P), Office of Pesticide Programs,
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington,
DC 20460–0001; telephone number:
(703) 347–8825; e-mail address:
samek.karen@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. General Information
A. Does this Action Apply to Me?
You may be potentially affected by
this action if you are an agricultural
producer, food manufacturer, or
pesticide manufacturer. Potentially
affected entities may include, but are
not limited to:
• Crop production (NAICS code 111).
• Animal production (NAICS code
112).
• Food manufacturing (NAICS code
311).
• Pesticide manufacturing (NAICS
code 32532).
This listing is not intended to be
exhaustive, but rather provides a guide
PO 00000
Frm 00041
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
EPA approval date
*
1/12/07
*
2/20/08 [Insert first page of
publication].
for readers regarding entities likely to be
affected by this action. Other types of
entities not listed in this unit could also
be affected. The North American
Industrial Classification System
(NAICS) codes have been provided to
assist you and others in determining
whether this action might apply to
certain entities. To determine whether
you or your business may be affected by
this action, you should carefully
examine the applicability provisions in
Unit II. If you have any questions
regarding the applicability of this action
to a particular entity, consult the person
listed under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION
CONTACT.
B. How Can I Access Electronic Copies
of this Document?
In addition to accessing an electronic
copy of this Federal Register document
through the electronic docket at https://
www.regulations.gov, you may access
this ‘‘Federal Register’’ document
electronically through the EPA Internet
under the ‘‘Federal Register’’ listings at
https://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr. You may
also access a frequently updated
electronic version of 40 CFR part 180
through the Government Printing
Office’s pilot e-CFR site at https://
www.gpoaccess.gov/ecfr.
C. Can I File an Objection or Hearing
Request?
Under section 408(g) of FFDCA, as
amended by FQPA, any person may file
an objection to any aspect of this
regulation and may also request a
hearing on those objections. The EPA
procedural regulations which govern the
submission of objections and requests
for hearings appear in 40 CFR part 178.
You must file your objection or request
a hearing on this regulation in
accordance with the instructions
provided in 40 CFR part 178. To ensure
proper receipt by EPA, you must
identify docket ID number EPA–HQ–
OPP–2007–0223 in the subject line on
the first page of your submission. All
requests must be in writing, and must be
mailed or delivered to the Hearing Clerk
on or before April 21, 2008.
E:\FR\FM\20FER1.SGM
20FER1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9206-9211]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2706]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2007-0150-200711(a); FRL-8528-8]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans for Air Quality
Planning Purposes; Georgia: Early Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: On December 31, 2006, the State of Georgia, through the
Environmental Protection Division (EPD) of the Georgia Department of
Natural Resources, submitted a voluntary State Implementation Plan
(SIP) revision requesting approval of an Early Progress Plan for the
sole purpose of establishing motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for
the Atlanta 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. The Atlanta 8-hour ozone
nonattainment area is comprised of the following twenty counties:
Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb,
Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton,
Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton counties in their entireties
(hereafter referred to as the ``Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area''). EPA is
approving Atlanta's Early Progress Plan, including the new regional
MVEBs for nitrogen oxides (NOX) and volatile organic
compounds (VOC) for 2006. This approval of the Early Progress Plan for
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area is based on EPA's determination that
Georgia has demonstrated that the SIP revision containing these MVEBs,
when considered with the emissions from all sources, shows some
progress toward attainment from the base year (i.e., 2002) through an
interim target year (i.e., 2006).
DATES: This direct final rule is effective April 21, 2008 without
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by March 21, 2008.
If EPA receives such comments, it will publish a timely withdrawal of
the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform the public
that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2007-0150, by one of the following methods:
a. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
b. E-mail: Benjamin.Lynorae@epa.gov.
c. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
d. Mail: EPA-R04-OAR-2007-0150, Air Quality Modeling and
Transportation Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61
Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
e. Hand Delivery or Courier: Lynorae Benjamin, Air Quality Modeling
and Transportation Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and
Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's normal hours
of operation. The Regional Office's official hours of business are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-
2007-0150. 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 whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit through www.regulations.gov or e-
mail, information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected.
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. For additional
information about EPA's public docket visit the EPA Docket Center
homepage at https://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket
materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy at the Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section,
Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you
[[Page 9207]]
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding
federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lynorae Benjamin of the Air
Quality Modeling and Transportation Section at the Air Planning Branch,
Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia
30303-8960. Ms. Benjamin's telephone number is (404) 562-9040. She can
also be reached via electronic mail at Benjamin.Lynorae@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
II. What Is the Background for EPA's Action?
III. What Are the Regional MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
IV. What Are the Criteria for Early Progress Plans?
V. Why is EPA Taking This Action?
VI. What is the Effect of EPA's Action?
VII. What is EPA's Analysis of the Request?
VIII. What Is the Status of EPA's Adequacy Determination for MVEBs
for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
IX. Final Actions on Atlanta's Early Progress Plan Including
Approval of the 2006 MVEBs
X. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
EPA is approving Atlanta's Early Progress Plan, including the new
regional MVEBs for NOX and VOC for 2006. This approval of
the Early Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area is based on
EPA's determination that Georgia has demonstrated that the MVEBs are
consistent with emissions from all sources in the nonattainment area
(when projected from the base to a future year) and are included in a
SIP revision showing some progress toward attainment. These regional
MVEBs apply to the entire Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area.
This direct final rulemaking is in response to Georgia's January
12, 2007, SIP submittal, which supersedes Georgia's October 26, 2006,
submittal that included a request for parallel processing.\1\ This
revision is a voluntary SIP revision provided by Georgia for the sole
purpose of establishing MVEBs for the purpose of implementing
transportation conformity in the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area. This
submission is not being evaluated in terms of meeting SIP requirements
for an attainment demonstration or rate-of-progress plan which may be
required for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Georgia's January 12, 2007, submittal was sent to EPA for
approval with a December 31, 2006, cover letter but the SIP
submittal is actually dated for January 12, 2007, and thus will be
referred to throughout this rulemaking as Georgia's January 12,
2007, SIP submittal.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. What Is the Background for EPA's Action?
Ground-level ozone is not emitted directly by sources. Rather,
emissions of NOX and VOC from sources react in the presence
of sunlight to form ground-level ozone. NOX and VOC are
referred to as precursors of ozone. The Clean Air Act (CAA) establishes
a process for air quality management through the setting of the
national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to protect public health
and welfare. Transportation conformity is a component of the air
quality management process that must be implemented in areas that are
designated nonattainment or were previously designated nonattainment
and are required to develop a CAA section 175A maintenance plan for a
NAAQS affected by emissions from motor vehicles. Ozone is one such
NAAQS.
On April 30, 2004, EPA designated the 20-county Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area as a ``marginal'' 8-hour ozone nonattainment area (see, 69
FR 23857, April 30, 2004). Thirteen counties \2\ in the Atlanta 8-Hour
Ozone Area were previously designated nonattainment for the 1-hour
ozone standard and have 1-hour MVEBs for NOX and VOC
established in the Georgia SIP. The remaining seven counties \3\ of the
20-county Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area were designated attainment for the
1-hour ozone standard and as such did not have 1-hour MVEBs for
NOX and VOC. Consequently, the transportation partners in
this Area used a combination of the budget test and the interim 2002
baseline test to demonstrate transportation conformity for the 8-hour
ozone standard, as required by the transportation conformity rule at 40
CFR 93.109(e)(2)(iii). Specifically, for the 13-county 1-hour ozone
area, the MVEBs in the Georgia SIP for the 1-hour ozone standard were
used to demonstrate transportation conformity for the 8-hour ozone
standard. For the remaining seven counties, the 2002 baseline test, as
agreed to through interagency consultation, was used to demonstrate
transportation conformity for the 8-hour ozone standard. Thirteen
counties of the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area were within a 1-hour ozone
attainment area subject to a CAA section 175A maintenance plan for the
1-hour ozone standard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The Atlanta 1-hour ozone area was comprised of the following
thirteen counties: Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas,
Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Henry, Paulding, and Rockdale
counties in their entireties.
\3\ The seven additional counties that are included in the 8-
hour ozone nonattainment for Atlanta are: Barrow, Bartow, Carroll,
Hall, Newton, Spalding and Walton counties in their entireties.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On June 8, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit
(D.C. Circuit) issued a decision vacating portions of EPA's Phase I 8-
Hour Ozone Implementation Rule. This decision does not impact Georgia's
request for approval of the voluntary Early Progress Plan. In its June
8th decision, the Court clarified that for areas with 1-hour MVEBs, the
transportation conformity rule's requirement to use 1-hour MVEBs for 8-
hour conformity determinations until they are replaced by 8-hour
budgets fulfills the CAA's anti-backsliding requirements. Consistent
with EPA's conformity regulations at 40 CFR Part 93 and prior to EPA's
adequacy finding for the 8-hour ozone MVEBs in Atlanta's Early Progress
Plan, the Atlanta Regional Commission and the Gainesville-Hall
Metropolitan Planning Organization were meeting the requirement to use
the 1-hour ozone MVEBs as an interim test for conformity
determinations.
III. What Are the Regional MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
Pursuant to the CAA, states are required to submit, at various
times, control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans for ozone
nonattainment areas. These control strategy SIPs (e.g., reasonable
further progress SIPs and attainment demonstration SIPs) and
maintenance plans create MVEBs for criteria pollutants and/or their
precursors to address pollution from cars and trucks. Pursuant to 40
CFR part 93, an MVEB is required to be established for: (1) The
attainment year for an attainment plan; (2) the last year of the
maintenance plan; or (3) the target year for a reasonable further
progress plan. Additionally, through an Early Progress Plan, a state
may voluntarily establish MVEBs for an area so long as these MVEBs are
consistent with a demonstration that shows some progress, between a
base and future year, towards attainment. The MVEB is the portion of
the total allowable emissions in a SIP that is allocated to highway and
transit vehicle use and emissions. See, 40 CFR 93.101. The MVEB serves
as a ceiling on emissions from an area's planned transportation system.
The MVEB concept is further explained in the preamble to the November
24, 1993, transportation
[[Page 9208]]
conformity rule (58 FR 62188). The preamble also describes how to
establish the MVEB in the SIP and revise the MVEB.
The State of Georgia, after interagency consultation with the
transportation partners for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area, elected to
develop regional MVEBs for NOX and VOC for this entire area
through an Early Progress Plan. The regional MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-
Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area are established for the year 2006, and
are defined in the table below.
Table 1.--Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area MVEBs
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX.......................................................... 306.75
VOC.......................................................... 172.27
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through this rulemaking, EPA is approving the 2006 regional MVEBs
for NOX and VOC for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area because
EPA has determined that the MVEBs contained in the Early Progress SIP
revision are consistent with emissions from all sources within the
nonattainment area (when projected from the base to a future year) in
showing some progress toward attainment. In a previous action, EPA has
already found these MVEBs adequate, so they must be used for future
conformity determinations.
IV. What Are the Criteria for Early Progress Plans?
EPA allows for the establishment of MVEBs for the 8-hour ozone
standard prior to a state submitting its first required 8-hour ozone
SIP that would include new MVEBs. Although voluntary, these ``early''
MVEBs must be established through a plan that meets all the
requirements of a SIP submittal. This plan is known as the ``Early
Progress Plan.'' Specifically and in reference to Early Progress Plans,
the preamble of the July 1, 2004, final transportation conformity rule
(see, 69 FR 40019) reads as follows:
``The first 8-hour ozone SIP could be a control strategy SIP
required by the Clean Air Act (e.g., rate-of-progress SIP or
attainment demonstration) or a maintenance plan. However, 8-hour
ozone nonattainment areas `are free to establish, through the SIP
process, a motor vehicle emissions budget or budgets that addresses
the new NAAQS in advance of a complete SIP attainment demonstration.
That is, a state could submit a motor vehicle emission budget that
does not demonstrate attainment but is consistent with projections
and commitments to control measures and achieves some progress
toward attainment' (August 15, 1997, 62 FR 43799). A SIP submitted
earlier than otherwise required can demonstrate a significant level
of emissions reductions from current level of emissions, instead of
a specific percentage required by the Clean Air Act for moderate and
above ozone areas.''
The Early Progress Plan must demonstrate that the SIP revision
containing the MVEBs, when considered with emissions from all sources,
and when projected from the base year to a future year, show some
progress toward attainment. EPA has previously indicated that a 5
percent to 10 percent reduction in emissions from all sources could
represent a significant level of emissions reductions from current
levels (69 FR 40019). This allowance is provided so that areas have an
opportunity to use the budget test to demonstrate conformity as opposed
to the interim conformity tests (i.e., 2002 baseline test and/or
``build-no greater-than-no build test'') \4\. The budget test with an
adequate or approved SIP budget is generally more protective of air
quality and provides a more relevant basis for conformity
determinations than the interim emissions test. (69 FR 40026).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ See, EPA's Transportation Conformity Rule at 40 CFR part 93
for more information on the interim tests.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
It should also be noted that the Early Progress Plan is not a
required plan and does not substitute for required submissions such as
an attainment demonstration or rate-of-progress plan, if such plans
become required for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area.
V. Why Is EPA Taking This Action?
On January 16, 2007, EPA received a request to approve the Early
Progress Plan for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area for the sole purpose of
establishing 8-hour ozone MVEBs for the entire 20-county 8-hour ozone
nonattainment area. EPA's evaluation indicates that Georgia has
demonstrated that the MVEBs in the Early Progress Plan are consistent
with a demonstration that shows some progress towards attainment of the
8-hour ozone standard.
VI. What Is the Effect of EPA's Action?
Approval of Atlanta's Early Progress Plan into the Georgia SIP
would establish regional 8-hour ozone MVEBs for NOX and VOC
for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area. The regional MVEBs for the year 2006
are 306.75 tons per day (tpd) for NOX and 172.27 tpd for
VOC. As of April 24, 2007, the effective date of EPA's adequacy finding
for these MVEBs, conformity determinations in Atlanta must meet the
budget test using these 8-hour MVEBs, instead of the 1-hour ozone MVEBs
and 2002 baseline year test. The CAA requires that conformity of the
transportation plans and transportation improvement programs be
determined within two years of EPA's adequacy finding for MVEBs, or
within two years of EPA's approval of the SIP that includes them if the
MVEBs have not already been found adequate (see, CAA section
176(c)(2)(E)).
Submittal (and consequently approval) of Atlanta's Early Progress
Plan does not satisfy the requirement for Georgia to provide a full 8-
hour ozone attainment demonstration or rate-of-progress plan, when
these SIP revisions become required for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area.
In its revision, Georgia indicated that they have included reductions
from outside the nonattainment area towards the progress demonstration
for the Atlanta Early Progress SIP. However, since the development of
this SIP revision by Georgia, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated
and remanded the policy provision of EPA's Phase II Ozone
Implementation Rule (70 FR 71612, November 11, 2005) that allowed rate
of progress/reasonable further progress credit for reductions to come
from outside the nonattainment area. See, NRDC v. EPA, 2007 U.S. App.
Lexis 25796 (November 2, 2007). EPA is now reconsidering its Phase II
Rule. See, https://www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/pdfs/20061211_
reconsideration_fs.pdf, for more information. Even if EPA determines,
after reconsideration, that it is not appropriate to allow credit for
reductions from outside the nonattainment area, it is still appropriate
to approve this voluntary Early Progress Plan because sufficient
reductions occur within the nonattainment area. Additionally, the
reductions from outside the nonattainment were not used by the State of
Georgia to demonstrate the progress necessary for this nonattainment
area to establish Early Progress MVEBs.
VII. What Is EPA's Analysis of the Request?
On January 16, 2007, EPA received a request for approval of an
Early Progress Plan for the sole purpose of establishing MVEBs for the
20-county Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area. The submittal utilizes a base year
of 2002 to establish NOX and VOC MVEBs for the year 2006.
The planning assumptions used to develop the MVEBs were discussed and
agreed to by the Atlanta interagency consultation group, which consists
of the transportation and air quality partners in the Atlanta 8-hour
ozone
[[Page 9209]]
nonattainment area. The total emissions in 2002 from point, area,
nonroad and mobile sources for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area equaled
642.3 tpd of NOX and 713.7 tpd of VOC. The projected total
emissions for the aforementioned source categories for 2006 for Atlanta
equaled 525.4 tpd of NOX and 602.4 tpd of VOC. This
represents an 18 percent reduction in NOX and a 16 percent
reduction in VOC emissions from 2002 to 2006 from sources located
within the 20-county nonattainment area, which is a greater reduction
than necessary to represent a significant level of emissions
reductions. Tables 2 and 3 below show the 2002 actual emissions and
2006 emission projections for point, area, nonroad and mobile source
reductions.
Table 2.--Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area NOX Emissions
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source category 2002 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point........................................... 139.8 80.8
Area............................................ 32.5 32.7
On-road Mobile*................................. 342.14 306.72
Nonroad......................................... 127.9 105.1
-----------------------
Total **.................................... 642.3 525.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Calculated using MOBILE 6.2.
** There may be a slight difference for this total due to various
rounding conventions used by the State to generate the emissions for
point, area, onroad mobile and nonroad sources.
Table 3.--Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area VOC Emissions
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source category 2002 2006
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point........................................... 20.6 19.6
Area............................................ 347.6 326.4
On-road Mobile*................................. 224.66 ***172.22
Nonroad......................................... 120.9 84.2
-----------------------
Total **.................................... 713.7 ***602.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Calculated using MOBILE 6.2.
** There may be a slight difference for this total due to various
rounding conventions used by the State to generate the emissions for
point, area, onroad mobile and nonroad sources.
*** Including the senior inspection & maintenance exemption, this total
is 172.27 tpd, indicating a grand total of 602.45.
The 2006 MVEBs, as discussed in Section III of this rulemaking, are
consistent with Georgia's 2002 emission baseline and 2006 projected
inventories for on-road mobile sources. Atlanta's Early Progress Plan,
including the 2006 MVEBs, is approvable because the SIP revision meets
all applicable requirements for a voluntary Early Progress Plan. In a
separate action, EPA has already found these MVEBs adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. Please see Section VIII of this
rulemaking for more details on the adequacy process.
VIII. What Is the Status of EPA's Adequacy Determination for MVEBs for
the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area?
Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation projects, such
as the construction of new highways, must ``conform'' to (i.e., be
consistent with) the part of the state's air quality plan (or SIP) that
addresses pollution from cars and trucks. ``Conformity'' to the SIP
means that transportation activities will not cause new air quality
violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of
the NAAQS. If a transportation plan does not ``conform,'' most new
projects that would expand the capacity of roadways cannot go forward.
Regulations at 40 CFR part 93 set forth EPA policy, criteria, and
procedures for demonstrating and assuring conformity of such
transportation activities to a SIP. The regional emissions analysis is
one, but not the only, requirement for implementing transportation
conformity. Transportation conformity is a requirement for
nonattainment and maintenance areas. Maintenance areas are those that
were previously nonattainment for a particular NAAQS but have since
been redesignated to attainment with a maintenance plan for that NAAQS.
When reviewing submitted ``control strategy'' SIPs or maintenance
plans containing MVEBs, EPA must affirmatively find the MVEB contained
therein ``adequate'' for use in determining transportation conformity.
Once EPA affirmatively finds the submitted MVEB is adequate for
transportation conformity purposes, that MVEB can be used by state and
Federal agencies in determining whether proposed transportation
projects ``conform'' to the SIP as required by section 176(c) of the
CAA.
EPA's substantive criteria for determining ``adequacy'' of an MVEB
are set out in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). The process for determining
``adequacy'' consists of three basic steps: Public notification of a
SIP submission, a public comment period, and EPA's adequacy finding.
This process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP MVEBs was
initially outlined in EPA's May 14, 1999, guidance, ``Conformity
Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999, Conformity Court
Decision.'' This guidance was finalized in the Transportation
Conformity Rule Amendments for the ``New 8-Hour Ozone and PM2.5
National Ambient Air Quality Standards and Miscellaneous Revisions for
Existing Areas; transportation conformity rule amendments--Response to
Court Decision and Additional Rule Change,'' on July 1, 2004 (69 FR
40004). EPA follows this guidance and rulemaking in making its adequacy
determinations.
Atlanta's Early Progress Plan submission contained new regional
NOX and VOC MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area for the
year 2006. The availability of the Georgia SIP submission with the
Atlanta MVEBs was available for public comment on EPA's adequacy Web
page on October 30, 2006, at: https://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/
transconf/currsips.htm. The EPA public comment period on adequacy of
the 2006 regional MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area closed on
November 29, 2006. EPA did not receive any comments or requests for the
submittal.
EPA could not complete its adequacy process until the final
submission of the Early Progress Plan was provided to EPA by the State
of Georgia. EPA received the final submission on January 16, 2007. On
January 24, 2007, EPA Region 4 sent a letter to Georgia informing them
that EPA had found the MVEBs in Atlanta Early Progress Plan, dated
January 12, 2007, to be adequate for transportation conformity
purposes. In the January 24, 2007, letter, EPA explained that the MVEBs
would be made available for use upon the effective date of EPA's notice
of adequacy for these MVEBs in the Federal Register.
On April 9, 2007, EPA published a notice of adequacy in the Federal
Register, and explained to the public that the notice was simply an
announcement of a finding that EPA had already made. Further, the April
9, 2007, Federal Register notice explained that EPA Region 4 had sent a
letter to Georgia on January 24, 2007, to inform the State that the
MVEBs in the Atlanta Early Progress Plan, dated January 12, 2007, were
adequate for the purposes of transportation conformity (72 FR 17550).
In the April 9, 2007, Federal Register notice, EPA inadvertently
mislabeled the Atlanta 8-hour ozone NOX MVEB as 172.27 tpd
and the VOC MVEB as 306.75 tpd. As announced in EPA's letter to Georgia
on January 24, 2007, the 2006 MVEBs for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Area,
as established by the Early Progress Plan for Atlanta are actually
306.75 tpd for NOX and 172.27 tpd for VOC. EPA corrected
this error in a Federal Register notice published on August 24, 2007
(72 FR 48635). This
[[Page 9210]]
finding was also announced on EPA's conformity Web site: https://
www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/pastsips.htm.
IX. Final Actions on Atlanta's Early Progress Plan and the 2006 MVEBs
EPA is now taking direct final action to approve the January 12,
2007, SIP revision containing Atlanta's Early Progress Plan, which
includes regional MVEBs for 2006 for the entire Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone
Area. EPA is approving the Early Progress Plan and the regional MVEBs
for the Atlanta 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area because the plan meets
all the requirements of a SIP submittal, and because the MVEBs, when
considered with emissions from all sources, are contained in a SIP that
shows some progress towards attainment from the base year of 2002 to
the target year of 2006. EPA previously made these MVEBs available for
use by the transportation partners through EPA's adequacy process.
These MVEBs are currently being used in this area to demonstrate
transportation conformity.
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the
Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no
adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this
Federal Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate document
that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision should
adverse comments be filed. This rule will be effective April 21, 2008
without further notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by
March 21, 2008.
If EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a document
withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will
not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in
a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public
is advised that this rule will be effective on April 21, 2008 and no
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.
X. 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 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 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 SIP revision
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. 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 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 April 21, 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, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: February 6, 2008.
J.I. Palmer, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
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 L--Georgia
0
2. Section 52.570 (e) is amended by adding a new entry at the end of
the table for ``27. Atlanta Early Progress Plan'' to read as follows:
Sec. 52.570 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
[[Page 9211]]
EPA-Approved Georgia Non-regulatory Provisions
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State submittal
Name of nonregulatory SIP provision Applicable geographic or date/effective EPA approval date
nonattainment area date
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * *
27. Atlanta Early Progress Plan........ Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, 1/12/07 2/20/08 [Insert first
Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, page of publication].
Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas,
Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton,
Gwinnett, Hall, Henry,
Newton, Paulding,
Rockdale, Spalding and
Walton counties.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[FR Doc. E8-2706 Filed 2-19-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P