Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Texas; Emissions Inventories for the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-Brazoria Ozone Nonattainment Areas, 9204-9207 [2015-03449]
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 34 / Friday, February 20, 2015 / Rules and Regulations
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
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Filing a petition for reconsideration by
the Administrator of this final rule does
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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. Parties with
objections to this direct final rule are
encouraged to file a comment in
response to the parallel notice of
proposed rulemaking for this action
published in the proposed rules section
of today’s Federal Register, rather than
file an immediate petition for judicial
review of this direct final rule, so that
EPA can withdraw this direct final rule
and address the comment in the
proposed rulemaking. This action may
not be challenged later in proceedings to
enforce its requirements. (See section
307(b)(2).)
1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane
(CHF2OCF2OCF2CF2OCHF2 or HFE–43–
10pccc), 1,2-bis(difluoromethoxy)1,1,2,2-tetrafluoroethane
(CHF2OCF2CF2OCHF2 or HFE–
338pcc13), and trans 1-chloro-3,3,3trifluoroprop-1-ene (CF3CHCHCl) were
added to the list of negligibly reactive
compounds excluded from the
definition of ‘‘Volatile Organic Material
(VOM)’’ or ‘‘Volatile Organic Compound
(VOC)’’ at 35 IAC 211.7150(a).
(i) Incorporation by reference.
Illinois Administrative Code Title 35:
Environmental Protection; Subtitle B:
Air Pollution; Chapter I: Pollution
Control Board; Subchapter c: Emission
Standards and Limitations for
Stationary Sources; Part 211: Definitions
and General Provisions; Subpart B:
Definitions; Section 211.7150: Volatile
Organic Material (VOM) or Volatile
Organic Compound (VOC), effective
November 27, 2013.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air
pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations,
Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic
compounds.
[EPA–R06–OAR–2014–0554; FRL–9923–19–
Region 6]
Dated: December 30, 2014.
Susan Hedman,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.
AGENCY:
PART 52—APPROVAL AND
PROMULGATION OF
IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
1. The authority citation for part 52
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
2. Section 52.720 is amended by
adding paragraph (c)(202) to read as
follows:
■
Identification of plan.
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*
*
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(c) * * *
(202) On June 10, 2014, Illinois
submitted revised regulations that are
consistent with 40 CFR 51.100(s)(1). The
compounds (difluoromethoxy)
(difluoro)methane (CHF2OCHF2 or HFE–
134), bis(difluoromethoxy)
(difluoro)methane (CHF2OCF2OCHF2 or
HFE–236cal2), 1-(difluoromethoxy)-2[(difluoromethoxy) ((difluoro)methoxy]-
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BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
Approval and Promulgation of
Implementation Plans; Texas;
Emissions Inventories for the DallasFort Worth and Houston-GalvestonBrazoria Ozone Nonattainment Areas
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
§ 52.720
[FR Doc. 2015–03450 Filed 2–19–15; 8:45 am]
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is approving revisions to
the Texas State Implementation Plan
(SIP) submitted to meet Emissions
Inventory (EI) requirements of the Clean
Air Act (CAA) for the Dallas-Fort Worth
(DFW) and the Houston-GalvestonBrazoria (HGB) nonattainment areas.
EPA is approving the SIP revisions
because they satisfy the CAA EI
requirements for the DFW and HGB
nonattainment areas under the 2008
eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS). EPA is
approving the revisions pursuant to
section 110 and part D of the CAA and
EPA’s regulations.
DATES: This direct final rule will be
effective April 21, 2015 without further
notice, unless EPA receives adverse
comment by March 23, 2015. If EPA
receives adverse comment, we will
publish a timely withdrawal of the
direct final rule in the Federal Register
SUMMARY:
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informing the public that the rule will
not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket No. EPA–R06–
OAR–2014–0554, by one of the
following methods:
• www.regulations.gov. Follow the
online instructions.
• Email: Ms. Nevine Salem at
salem.nevine@epa.gov.
• Mail or delivery: Mr. Guy
Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning Section
(6PD–L), Environmental Protection
Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200,
Dallas, Texas 75202–2733.
Instructions: Direct your comments to
Docket No. EPA–R06–OAR–2014–0554.
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 information that you
consider to be CBI or otherwise
protected through www.regulations.gov
or email. 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 email
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: The index to the docket for
this action is available electronically at
www.regulations.gov and in hard copy
at EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue,
Suite 700, Dallas, Texas. While all
documents in the docket are listed in
the index, some information may be
publicly available only at the hard copy
location (e.g., copyrighted material), and
some may not be publicly available at
either location (e.g., CBI).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Nevine Salem, (214) 665–7222,
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salem.nevine@epa.gov. To inspect the
hard copy materials, please schedule an
appointment with Ms. Salem or Mr. Bill
Deese at 214–665–7253.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document wherever
‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we mean
the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA’s Evaluation
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
A. The 2008 Ozone National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and
Emissions Inventory Requirements
On March 12, 2008 EPA revised the
eight-hour ozone NAAQS from 0.08
parts per million (ppm) to 0.075 ppm.
(73 FR 16436, March 27, 2008). On July
12, 2012 EPA designated nonattainment
areas for the 2008 ozone NAAQS (2008
ozone nonattainment areas) (77 FR
30088, May 21, 2012). The DFW and
HGB areas were designated as
nonattainment areas for the 2008 ozone
NAAQS. Id. The DFW area consists of
Collin, Dallas, Denton, Ellis, Johnson,
Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and
Wise counties. The HGB area consists of
Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend,
Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery
and Waller counties.
CAA sections 172(c)(3) and 182(a)(1)
require states to develop and submit as
a SIP revision an emissions inventory
for all areas designated as
nonattainment for the ozone NAAQS. 42
U.S.C. 172(c) and 182(a). An emissions
inventory is an estimation of actual
emissions of air pollutants in an area.
Ground-level ozone, O3, is a gas that is
formed by the reaction of volatile
organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides
of nitrogen (NOX) in the atmosphere in
the presence of sunlight. These
precursor emissions are emitted by
many types of pollution sources,
including power plants and industrial
emissions sources, on-road and off-road
motor vehicles and engines, and smaller
sources, collectively referred to as area
9205
sources. The EIs provide data for a
variety of air quality planning tasks
including establishing baseline emission
levels, calculating federally required
emission reduction targets, emission
inputs into air quality simulation
models, and tracking emissions over
time. The total EI of VOC and NOX for
an area are summarized from the
estimates developed for five general
categories of emissions sources: Point,
area, on-road mobile, non-road mobile,
and biogenic. EPA’s proposed 2008
ozone standard SIP requirements rule
suggested that states use 2011 as a base
year to address EI requirements (78 FR
34178, 34190, June 6, 2013).
B. SIP Revision Submitted on July 16,
2014
Texas adopted a SIP revision
addressing the emissions inventory
requirements for the DFW and HGB
areas on July 2, 2014 and submitted it
to EPA on July 16, 2014. Tables 1 and
2 are the DFW and HGB emissions
inventories in the SIP revision.
TABLE 1—DFW 2011 EMISSIONS INVENTORY
[tons per day or tpd]
Source type
NOX
VOC
Point .................................................................................................................................................................................
Area .................................................................................................................................................................................
On-road Mobile ................................................................................................................................................................
Non-road Mobile ..............................................................................................................................................................
39.95
42.64
238.87
120.61
29.80
292.49
98.36
55.00
Total ..........................................................................................................................................................................
442.08
475.65
TABLE 2—HGB 2011 EMISSIONS INVENTORY
[tpd]
Source type
NOX
VOC
108.44
21.14
196.21
121.11
94.83
308.73
82.62
49.93
Total ..........................................................................................................................................................................
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Point .................................................................................................................................................................................
Area .................................................................................................................................................................................
On-road Mobile ................................................................................................................................................................
Non-road Mobile ..............................................................................................................................................................
446.90
536.12
C. CAA Requirements for the SIP
Revision
The primary CAA requirements
pertaining to the SIP revision submitted
by Texas are found in CAA sections
110(l), 172(c)(3) and 182(a)(1). 42 U.S.C.
110(l), 172(c)(3), and 182(a). CAA
section 110(l) requires that a SIP
revision submitted to EPA be adopted
after reasonable notice and public
hearing. Section 110(l) also requires that
EPA not approve a SIP revision if the
revision would interfere with any
applicable requirement concerning
attainment and reasonable further
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progress, or any other applicable
requirement of the CAA. CAA sections
172(c)(3) and 182(a) requires a SIP
revision that contains a comprehensive,
accurate, current inventory of actual
emissions from all sources.
II. EPA’s Evaluation
EPA has reviewed the revision for the
consistency with the requirements of
EPA regulations. A summary of EPA’s
analysis is provided below. For a full
discussion of our evaluation, please see
our Technical Support Document (TSD).
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CAA sections 172 (c)(3) and 182(a)(1)
require a current inventory of actual
emissions from all sources of relevant
pollutants in the nonattainment areas.
EPA Air Emissions Reporting
regulations call for states to provide an
emissions inventory from all sources
every 3 years and required a complete
inventory for 2011 (40 CFR 51.30).
Additionally, in proposed rulemaking
for the 2008 ozone standard we
proposed that the states use 2011 as the
base year for EI for the reasonable
further progress emissions reduction SIP
requirement (June 6, 2013, 78 FR 34178,
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34190). Texas has developed a 2011
base year emissions inventory for the
DFW and HGB nonattainment areas.
The 2011 base year emissions includes
all point, area, non-road mobile, and onroad mobile source emissions. EPA is
approving the emission inventory for
DFW and HGB because it contains a
comprehensive, accurate, current
inventory of actual emissions from all
sources in accordance with CAA
sections 172(c)(3) and 182(a).
Additionally we find that (1) Texas
adopted the EI for DFW and HGB after
reasonable notice and public hearing
and (2) approval would not interfere
with any applicable requirement
concerning attainment and reasonable
further progress or any other applicable
requirement of the CAA in accordance
with CAA Section 110(1). A technical
support document (TSD) was prepared
which details our evaluation. Our TSD
may be accessed online at
www.regulations.gov, Docket No. EPA–
R06–OAR–2014–0554.
III. Final Action
We are approving a Texas SIP revision
submitted to address the emissions
inventory requirements for the DFW and
HGB 2008 ozone nonattainment areas.
The inventories we are approving are
listed in Tables 1 and 2 above.
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 April 21, 2015 without
further notice unless we receive relevant
adverse comment by March 23, 2015. If
we receive relevant 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 relevant 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.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order
Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is
required to approve a SIP submission
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that complies with the provisions of the
Act and applicable Federal regulations.
42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a).
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions,
EPA’s role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of
the CAA. Accordingly, this action
merely approves state law as meeting
Federal requirements and does not
impose additional requirements beyond
those imposed by state law. For that
reason, this action:
• Is not a ‘‘significant regulatory
action’’ subject to review by the Office
of Management and Budget under
Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735,
October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821,
January 21, 2011);
• Does not impose an information
collection burden under the provisions
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
• Is certified as not having a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5
U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
• 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);
• Does not have Federalism
implications as specified in Executive
Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10,
1999);
• Is not an economically significant
regulatory action based on health or
safety risks subject to Executive Order
13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
• Is not a significant regulatory action
subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR
28355, May 22, 2001);
• Is not subject to requirements of
section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because
application of those requirements would
be inconsistent with the CAA; and
• Does not provide EPA with the
discretionary authority to address, as
appropriate, disproportionate human
health or environmental effects, using
practicable and legally permissible
methods, under Executive Order 12898
(59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, the SIP is not approved
to apply on any Indian reservation land
or in any other area where EPA or an
Indian tribe has demonstrated that a
tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of
Indian country, the rule does not have
tribal implications as specified by
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249,
November 9, 2000), nor will it impose
substantial direct costs on tribal
governments or preempt tribal law.
The Congressional Review Act, 5
U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small
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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 April 21, 2015. 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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic
compounds.
Dated: February 9, 2015.
Ron Curry,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52—APPROVAL AND
PROMULGATION OF
IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
1. The authority citation for part 52
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart SS—Texas
2. In § 52.2270 (e), the second table
titled ‘‘EPA Approved Nonregulatory
Provisions and Quasi-Regulatory
Measures in the Texas SIP’’ is amended
by adding an entry at the end for ‘‘2011
Emissions Inventory for the 2008 Ozone
NAAQS.’’
The addition reads as follows:
■
§ 52.2270
*
Identification of plan.
*
*
(e) * * *
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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 34 / Friday, February 20, 2015 / Rules and Regulations
EPA APPROVED NON-REGULATORY PROVISIONS AND QUASI-REGULATORY MEASURES IN THE TEXAS SIP
Name of SIP provision
Applicable geographic or
nonattainment area
State submittal/
effective date
*
*
2011 Emissions Inventory for the
2008 Ozone NAAQS.
*
Dallas-Fort Worth and HoustonGalveston-Brazoria
Ozone
Nonattainment Areas.
*
7/16/2014
EPA approval date
Comments
*
*
2/20/2015 [Insert Federal Register citation].
*
Environmental Protection
Agency.
ACTION: Final rule.
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is taking final action to
approve the State of Missouri’s request
to redesignate the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis MO–IL nonattainment
area, the ‘‘St. Louis area’’ or ‘‘area’’ to
attainment for the 1997 8-hour National
Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS or Standard) for ozone (O3).
The Missouri counties comprising the
St. Louis area are Franklin, Jefferson, St.
Charles, and St. Louis along with the
City of St. Louis. EPA’s approval of the
redesignation request is based on the
determination that the St. Louis area has
met the criteria for redesignation to
attainment set forth in the Clean Air Act
(CAA), including the determination that
the St. Louis area has attained the 1997
8-hour O3 standard. Additionally, EPA
is approving the state’s plan for
maintaining the 1997 O3 standard in the
St. Louis area for 10 years beyond
redesignation. In a separate action the
state of Illinois submitted a similar
redesignation request for the Illinois
portion of the St. Louis MO–IL 1997 8hour O3 area. On June 12, 2012, the EPA
published a document in the Federal
Register taking final action to address
the Illinois portion of the St. Louis area.
DATES: Effective date: This final rule is
effective on February 20, 2015.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a
docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPA–R07–OAR–2014–0900. All
documents in the docket are listed on
the www.regulations.gov Web site.
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 through
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at
the Environmental Protection Agency,
Air Planning and Development Branch,
11201 Renner Boulevard, Lenexa,
Kansas 66219. The Regional Office’s
official hours of business are Monday
through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
excluding Federal holidays. The
interested persons wanting to examine
these documents should make an
appointment with the office at least 24
hours in advance.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms.
Lachala Kemp, Environmental
Protection Agency, Air Planning and
Development Branch, 11201 Renner
Boulevard, Lenexa, KS 66219 at (913)
551–7214 or by email at kemp.lachala@
epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document whenever
‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we refer
to EPA. This section provides additional
information by addressing the
following:
Table of Contents
[FR Doc. 2015–03449 Filed 2–19–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52 and 81
[EPA–R07–OAR–2014–0900; FRL–9923–14–
Region 7]
Approval and Promulgation of
Implementation Plans; Attainment
Redesignation for Missouri Portion of
the St. Louis MO–IL Area; 1997 8-Hour
Ozone Standard and Associated
Maintenance Plan
AGENCY:
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SUMMARY:
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I. What is the background for this rule?
II. Summary of SIP Revisions
III. What action is EPA taking??
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What is the background for this rule?
On July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated a
revised 8-hour O3 NAAQS of 0.08 parts
per million (ppm) (62 FR 38856). EPA
published a final rule designating and
classifying areas under the 8-hour O3
NAAQS on April 30, 2004 (69 FR
23857). In that rulemaking, the St. Louis
area was designated as nonattainment
for the 1997 8-hour O3 standard and
classified as a moderate nonattainment
area under subpart 2 of the CAA.
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On November 3, 2011, Missouri
requested redesignation of the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area to
attainment of the 1997 8-hour O3
standard, and requested approval of the
Missouri SIP revision containing a
maintenance plan for the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area. Missouri
submitted a supplement to this request
on April 29, 2014.
On June 9, 2011 (76 FR 33647), EPA
issued a final rulemaking determining
that the entire St. Louis MO–IL area
attained the 1997 8-hour O3 NAAQS
based on three years of complete,
quality assured O3 data for the period of
2008–2010.
On December 31, 2014(79 FR 78755),
EPA published a notice of proposed
rulemaking (NPR) proposing to approve
Missouri’s request to redesignate the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area to
attainment of the 1997 8-hour O3
standard, and also proposing to approve
Missouri’s maintenance plan for the
area. The proposed rulemaking provides
a detailed discussion and sets forth the
basis for determining that Missouri’s
redesignation request meets the CAA
requirements for redesignation to
attainment for the 1997 8-hour O3
NAAQS.
The primary background for this
action is contained in EPA’s December
31, 2014, proposal to approve Missouri’s
redesignation request, and in EPA’s June
9, 2011, final rulemaking determining
that the area has attained the 1997 8hour O3 standard based on complete,
quality assured monitoring data for
2008–2010. In these rulemakings, we
noted that under EPA regulations at 40
CFR 50.10 and 40 CFR part 50,
appendix I provides that the 8-hour O3
standard is attained when the three-year
average of the annual fourth-highest
daily maximum 8-hour average O3
concentration is less than or equal to
0.08 ppm, when rounded at all
monitoring sites in the area. See 69 FR
23857 (April 30, 2004). To support the
redesignation of the area to attainment
of the NAAQS, the O3 data must be
complete for the three attainment years.
The data completeness requirement is
met when the average percent of days
with valid ambient monitoring data is
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 34 (Friday, February 20, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9204-9207]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03449]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R06-OAR-2014-0554; FRL-9923-19-Region 6]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Texas;
Emissions Inventories for the Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston-Galveston-
Brazoria Ozone Nonattainment Areas
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving
revisions to the Texas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted to
meet Emissions Inventory (EI) requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA)
for the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) and the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria
(HGB) nonattainment areas. EPA is approving the SIP revisions because
they satisfy the CAA EI requirements for the DFW and HGB nonattainment
areas under the 2008 eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS). EPA is approving the revisions pursuant to section
110 and part D of the CAA and EPA's regulations.
DATES: This direct final rule will be effective April 21, 2015 without
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by March 23, 2015.
If EPA receives adverse comment, we will publish a timely withdrawal of
the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing the public that
the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-
2014-0554, by one of the following methods:
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions.
Email: Ms. Nevine Salem at salem.nevine@epa.gov.
Mail or delivery: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning
Section (6PD-L), Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue,
Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-2014-
0554. 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 information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or email. 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 email 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: The index to the docket for this action is available
electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA Region 6,
1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas. While all documents in the
docket are listed in the index, some information may be publicly
available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material),
and some may not be publicly available at either location (e.g., CBI).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Nevine Salem, (214) 665-7222,
[[Page 9205]]
salem.nevine@epa.gov. To inspect the hard copy materials, please
schedule an appointment with Ms. Salem or Mr. Bill Deese at 214-665-
7253.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA's Evaluation
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
A. The 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and
Emissions Inventory Requirements
On March 12, 2008 EPA revised the eight-hour ozone NAAQS from 0.08
parts per million (ppm) to 0.075 ppm. (73 FR 16436, March 27, 2008). On
July 12, 2012 EPA designated nonattainment areas for the 2008 ozone
NAAQS (2008 ozone nonattainment areas) (77 FR 30088, May 21, 2012). The
DFW and HGB areas were designated as nonattainment areas for the 2008
ozone NAAQS. Id. The DFW area consists of Collin, Dallas, Denton,
Ellis, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall, Tarrant and Wise counties.
The HGB area consists of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston,
Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties.
CAA sections 172(c)(3) and 182(a)(1) require states to develop and
submit as a SIP revision an emissions inventory for all areas
designated as nonattainment for the ozone NAAQS. 42 U.S.C. 172(c) and
182(a). An emissions inventory is an estimation of actual emissions of
air pollutants in an area. Ground-level ozone, O3, is a gas
that is formed by the reaction of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
oxides of nitrogen (NOX) in the atmosphere in the presence
of sunlight. These precursor emissions are emitted by many types of
pollution sources, including power plants and industrial emissions
sources, on-road and off-road motor vehicles and engines, and smaller
sources, collectively referred to as area sources. The EIs provide data
for a variety of air quality planning tasks including establishing
baseline emission levels, calculating federally required emission
reduction targets, emission inputs into air quality simulation models,
and tracking emissions over time. The total EI of VOC and
NOX for an area are summarized from the estimates developed
for five general categories of emissions sources: Point, area, on-road
mobile, non-road mobile, and biogenic. EPA's proposed 2008 ozone
standard SIP requirements rule suggested that states use 2011 as a base
year to address EI requirements (78 FR 34178, 34190, June 6, 2013).
B. SIP Revision Submitted on July 16, 2014
Texas adopted a SIP revision addressing the emissions inventory
requirements for the DFW and HGB areas on July 2, 2014 and submitted it
to EPA on July 16, 2014. Tables 1 and 2 are the DFW and HGB emissions
inventories in the SIP revision.
Table 1--DFW 2011 Emissions Inventory
[tons per day or tpd]
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Source type NOX VOC
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Point......................................... 39.95 29.80
Area.......................................... 42.64 292.49
On-road Mobile................................ 238.87 98.36
Non-road Mobile............................... 120.61 55.00
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Total..................................... 442.08 475.65
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Table 2--HGB 2011 Emissions Inventory
[tpd]
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Source type NOX VOC
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Point......................................... 108.44 94.83
Area.......................................... 21.14 308.73
On-road Mobile................................ 196.21 82.62
Non-road Mobile............................... 121.11 49.93
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Total..................................... 446.90 536.12
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C. CAA Requirements for the SIP Revision
The primary CAA requirements pertaining to the SIP revision
submitted by Texas are found in CAA sections 110(l), 172(c)(3) and
182(a)(1). 42 U.S.C. 110(l), 172(c)(3), and 182(a). CAA section 110(l)
requires that a SIP revision submitted to EPA be adopted after
reasonable notice and public hearing. Section 110(l) also requires that
EPA not approve a SIP revision if the revision would interfere with any
applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further
progress, or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. CAA sections
172(c)(3) and 182(a) requires a SIP revision that contains a
comprehensive, accurate, current inventory of actual emissions from all
sources.
II. EPA's Evaluation
EPA has reviewed the revision for the consistency with the
requirements of EPA regulations. A summary of EPA's analysis is
provided below. For a full discussion of our evaluation, please see our
Technical Support Document (TSD).
CAA sections 172 (c)(3) and 182(a)(1) require a current inventory
of actual emissions from all sources of relevant pollutants in the
nonattainment areas. EPA Air Emissions Reporting regulations call for
states to provide an emissions inventory from all sources every 3 years
and required a complete inventory for 2011 (40 CFR 51.30).
Additionally, in proposed rulemaking for the 2008 ozone standard we
proposed that the states use 2011 as the base year for EI for the
reasonable further progress emissions reduction SIP requirement (June
6, 2013, 78 FR 34178,
[[Page 9206]]
34190). Texas has developed a 2011 base year emissions inventory for
the DFW and HGB nonattainment areas. The 2011 base year emissions
includes all point, area, non-road mobile, and on-road mobile source
emissions. EPA is approving the emission inventory for DFW and HGB
because it contains a comprehensive, accurate, current inventory of
actual emissions from all sources in accordance with CAA sections
172(c)(3) and 182(a). Additionally we find that (1) Texas adopted the
EI for DFW and HGB after reasonable notice and public hearing and (2)
approval would not interfere with any applicable requirement concerning
attainment and reasonable further progress or any other applicable
requirement of the CAA in accordance with CAA Section 110(1). A
technical support document (TSD) was prepared which details our
evaluation. Our TSD may be accessed online at www.regulations.gov,
Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-2014-0554.
III. Final Action
We are approving a Texas SIP revision submitted to address the
emissions inventory requirements for the DFW and HGB 2008 ozone
nonattainment areas. The inventories we are approving are listed in
Tables 1 and 2 above.
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 April 21, 2015
without further notice unless we receive relevant adverse comment by
March 23, 2015. If we receive relevant 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
relevant 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.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable
Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state
law. For that reason, this action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21,
2011);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
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);
Does not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Is not an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Is not subject to requirements of section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the CAA; and
Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has
demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian
country, the rule does not have tribal implications as specified by
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it
impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal
law.
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 April 21, 2015. 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, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: February 9, 2015.
Ron Curry,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart SS--Texas
0
2. In Sec. 52.2270 (e), the second table titled ``EPA Approved
Nonregulatory Provisions and Quasi-Regulatory Measures in the Texas
SIP'' is amended by adding an entry at the end for ``2011 Emissions
Inventory for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS.''
The addition reads as follows:
Sec. 52.2270 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
[[Page 9207]]
EPA Approved Non-regulatory Provisions and Quasi-Regulatory Measures in the Texas SIP
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Applicable geographic
Name of SIP provision or nonattainment State submittal/ EPA approval date Comments
area effective date
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* * * * * * *
2011 Emissions Inventory for Dallas-Fort Worth and 7/16/2014 2/20/2015 [Insert
the 2008 Ozone NAAQS. Houston-Galveston- Federal Register
Brazoria Ozone citation].
Nonattainment Areas.
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[FR Doc. 2015-03449 Filed 2-19-15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
