Air Plan Approval and Air Quality Designation; MO; Redesignation of the Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Missouri-Illinois Area to Attainment of the 1997 Annual Standard for Fine Particulate Matter and Approval of Associated Maintenance Plan, 636-651 [2018-00037]
Download as PDF
636
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factors of the employees of Business I
violates § 2590.702(c) of this chapter and,
consequently, the requirement in paragraph
(d)(3) of this section.
Example 5. (i) Facts. Association J
sponsors a group health plan that is available
to all members. According to the bylaws of
Association J, membership is open to any
entity whose principal place of business is in
State K, which has only one major
metropolitan area, the capital city of State K.
Members whose principal place of business
is in the capital city of State K are charged
more for premiums than members whose
principal place of business is outside of the
capital city.
(ii) Conclusion. In this Example 5, making
a distinction between members whose
principal place of business is in the capital
city of State K, as compared to some other
area in State K, is a permitted distinction
between similarly situated individuals under
§ 2590.702(d) of this chapter, provided the
distinction is not directed at individuals
under § 2590.702(d)(3) of this chapter.
Accordingly, Association J’s rule for charging
different premiums based on principal place
of business does not violate paragraph (d)(3)
of this section.
Example 6. (i) Facts. Association L
sponsors a group health plan, available to all
members. According to the bylaws of
Association L, membership is open to any
entity whose principal place of business is in
State M. Sole Proprietor N’s principal place
of business is in City O, within State M. It
is the only member whose principal place of
business is in City O, and it is otherwise
similarly situated with respect to all other
members of the association. After learning
that Sole Proprietor N has been diagnosed
with cancer, based on the cancer diagnosis,
Association L changes its premium structure
to charge higher premiums for members
whose principal place of business is in City
O.
(ii) Conclusion. In this Example 6, cancer
is a health factor under § 2590.702(a) of this
chapter. Making a distinction based on a
health factor, between members that are
otherwise similarly situated is in this case a
distinction directed at an individual under
§ 2590.702(d)(3) of this chapter and is not a
permitted distinction. Accordingly, by
charging higher premiums to members whose
principal place of business is City O,
Association L violates § 2590.702(c) of this
chapter and, consequently, paragraph (d)(4)
of this section.
(e) Dual treatment of working owners
as employers and employees—(1) A
working owner of a trade or business
may qualify as both an employer and as
an employee of the trade or business for
purposes of the requirements in
paragraph (b) of this section, including
paragraph (b)(2) that each employer
member of the group or association
participating in the group health plan
must be a person acting directly as an
employer of one or more employees
who are participants covered under the
plan, and paragraph (b)(6) that the group
or association does not make health
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coverage offered to employer members
through the association available other
than to employees and former
employees of employer members and
the family members or other
beneficiaries of those employees and
former employees.
(2) The term ‘‘working owner’’ as used
in this paragraph (e) means any
individual:
(i) Who has an ownership right of any
nature in a trade or business, whether
incorporated or unincorporated,
including partners and other selfemployed individuals;
(ii) Who is earning wages or selfemployment income from the trade or
business for providing personal services
to the trade or business;
(iii) Who is not eligible to participate
in any subsidized group health plan
maintained by any other employer of
the individual or of the spouse of the
individual; and
(iv) Who either:
(A) Works at least 30 hours per week
or at least 120 hours per month
providing personal services to the trade
or business, or
(B) Has earned income from such
trade or business that at least equals the
working owner’s cost of coverage for
participation by the working owner and
any covered beneficiaries in the group
health plan sponsored by the group or
association in which the individual is
participating.
(3) Absent knowledge to the contrary,
the group or association sponsoring the
group health plan may reasonably rely
on written representations from the
individual seeking to participate as a
working owner as a basis for concluding
that the conditions in paragraph (e)(2)
are satisfied.
Jeanne Klinefelter Wilson,
Deputy Assistant Secretary, Employee
Benefits Security Administration, Department
of Labor.
[FR Doc. 2017–28103 Filed 1–4–18; 8:45 am]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52 and 81
[EPA–R07–OAR–2017–0734; FRL 9972–64–
Region 7]
Air Plan Approval and Air Quality
Designation; MO; Redesignation of the
Missouri Portion of the St. Louis
Missouri-Illinois Area to Attainment of
the 1997 Annual Standard for Fine
Particulate Matter and Approval of
Associated Maintenance Plan
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Advanced notice of proposed
rulemaking.
AGENCY:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is issuing this Advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR)
to inform the public of currently
available information that will be used
by the Administrator to issue a
subsequent action to propose
redesignation of the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis MO-IL nonattainment area
for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS, (hereafter
referred to as the ‘‘St. Louis area’’ or
‘‘area’’). On September 2, 2011,
Missouri, through the Missouri
Department of Natural Resources
(MDNR) submitted a request for EPA to
redesignate the Missouri portion of the
St. Louis MO-IL nonattainment area to
attainment for the 1997 Annual National
Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) for fine particulate matter
(PM2.5) and approve a state
implementation plan (SIP) revision
containing a maintenance plan for the
Missouri portion of the area. In advance
of any potential rulemaking to address
the state of Missouri’s request, EPA is
specifically requesting early input and
comments on its interpretation that
currently available data support a
finding that the area will be attaining
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS based
on air quality monitoring data from
2015–2017, and on EPA’s advanced
notice of its expectation that the state’s
plan for maintaining the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS for the St. Louis Area
(maintenance plan) including the
associated motor vehicle emission
budgets (MVEBs) for nitrogen oxides
(NOX) and PM2.5 for the years 2008–
2025 is approvable. EPA will take any
information received from this ANPR
into consideration when developing a
proposed action for redesignating the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis Area
to attainment for the 1997 Annual PM2.5
NAAQS.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before February 5, 2018.
SUMMARY:
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Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R07–
OAR–2017–0734 to https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Once submitted, comments cannot be
edited or removed from Regulations.gov.
The EPA may publish any comment
received to its public docket. Do not
submit electronically any information
you consider to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be
accompanied by a written comment.
The written comment is considered the
official comment and should include
discussion of all points you wish to
make. The EPA will generally not
consider comments or comment
contents located outside of the primary
submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or
other file sharing system). For
additional submission methods, the full
EPA public comment policy,
information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on
making effective comments, please visit
https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/
commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Lachala Kemp, Environmental
Protection Agency, Air Planning and
Development Branch, 11201 Renner
Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at
(913) 551 7214, or by email at
kemp.lachala@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’
and ‘‘our’’ refer to EPA. This section
provides additional information by
addressing the following:
ADDRESSES:
Table of Contents
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I. What is the purpose of this Advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking?
II. What future EPA action is discussed in
this Advanced Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking?
III. What is the background for EPA’s
advanced notice?
IV. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the
state’s request?
V. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the state’s
MVEBs?
VI. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the
state’s 2008 emissions inventory?
VII. Summary of Advanced Notice of
Proposed Actions
I. What is the purpose of this Advanced
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking?
The primary purpose of this
Advanced Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking or ANPR is to provide the
public an opportunity to provide input
on the EPA’s approach and initial
review of Missouri’s request to
redesignate the Missouri portion of the
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St. Louis bi-state nonattainment area to
attainment for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS.
Once the 2015–2017 quality assured and
certified air monitoring data for the
entire bi-state nonattainment area is
available, EPA intends to take action
determining if the area has met the
standard and if the state of Missouri has
satisfied the other requirements for
redesignating a nonattainment area to
attainment as provided by the Clean Air
Act (CAA or Act). Specifically, section
107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA allows for
redesignation to attainment provided
the following criteria are met: (1) The
Administrator determines that the area
has attained the applicable NAAQS, (2)
the Administrator has fully approved
the applicable implementation plan for
the area under CAA section 110(k), (3)
the Administrator determines that the
improvement in air quality is due to
permanent and enforceable reductions
in emissions resulting from
implementation of the applicable SIP
and applicable Federal air pollutant
control regulations and other permanent
and enforceable reductions, (4) the
Administrator has fully approved a
maintenance plan for the area as
meeting the requirements of CAA
section 175A, and (5) the state
containing such area has met all
requirements applicable to the area
under section 110 and part D of title I
of the CAA.
EPA has reviewed Missouri’s
submittal and additional information
and recognizes that the state’s
information supports the St. Louis area’s
redesignation for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS. Based on historical and air
quality data collected for the majority of
2017, it is extremely likely the area will
have an attaining design value based on
2015–2017 air quality data. Provided air
quality data for the remainder of the
2017 calendar year continues to support
a finding of attainment and EPA
approves the emissions inventory
submitted with the maintenance plan,
EPA expects to approve the area’s
redesignation.
II. What future EPA action is discussed
in this Advanced Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking?
EPA is providing advanced notice on
future actions related to Missouri’s
request that the Agency determine that
the St. Louis bi-state nonattainment area
for the 1997 annual PM2.5 National
Ambient Air Quality Standard attains
the standard and the Agency officially
redesignate the area from nonattainment
to attainment. Missouri submitted their
first request to determine attainment
and redesignation on September 1,
2011. The state then supplemented and
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637
revised their request on March 31, 2014,
and on September 17, 2014.1 In this
notice, when EPA refers to Missouri’s
submission, we are referring to
information provided in the 2011 and
2014 submissions and the additional
clarifying information together unless
otherwise specified. EPA is providing
advanced notice related to information
that supports redesignation from
nonattainment to attainment for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area for
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS and
evaluation of Missouri’s 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS maintenance plan, which
includes the 2008 and 2025 NOX and
PM2.5 MVEBs for the St. Louis area. EPA
evaluated Missouri’s request and plan
consistent with section 175A of the
CAA and EPA’s supplemental analysis
that the area will continue to maintain
for ten years following redesignation.
The Missouri counties comprising the
St. Louis area are Franklin, Jefferson, St.
Charles and St. Louis. The City of St.
Louis is also part of the nonattainment
area.
III. What is the background for EPA’s
advanced notice?
Fine particle pollution can be emitted
directly or formed secondarily in the
atmosphere. The main precursors of
secondary PM2.5 are sulfur dioxide
(SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), ammonia
(NH3), and volatile organic compounds
(VOC). See, e.g., 72 FR 20586, 72 FR
20589. Sulfates are a type of secondary
particle formed from SO2 emissions of
power plants and industrial facilities.
Nitrates, another common type of
secondary particle, are formed from
NOX emissions of power plants,
automobiles, and other combustion
sources of fossil fuel.
On July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated
the first air quality standards for PM2.5.
62 FR 38652. EPA promulgated an
annual standard at a level of 15
micrograms per cubic meter (mg/m3),
based on a three-year average of annual
mean PM2.5 concentrations. In the same
rulemaking, EPA promulgated a 24-hour
standard of 65 mg/m3, based on a threeyear average of the 98th percentile of 24hour concentrations. On October 17,
2006, at 71 FR 61144, EPA retained the
annual average NAAQS at 15 mg/m3 but
revised the 24-hour NAAQS to 35 mg/
m3, based again on the three-year
average of the 98th percentile of 24-hour
1 The date of the original submission is
September 2, 2011. Missouri supplemented and
revised their request on March 31, 2014, September
17, 2014, and May 23, 2017. The May 27, 2017,
letter requested EPA to take action on prior
submission, but did not include additional
documentation. EPA considered all submissions in
reviewing and proposing this action.
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concentrations.2 Under EPA regulations
at 40 CFR part 50, the primary and
secondary 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
are attained when the annual arithmetic
mean concentration, as determined in
accordance with 40 CFR part 50,
appendix N, is less than or equal to 15.0
mg/m3 at all relevant monitoring sites in
the subject area over a three-year period.
On January 5, 2005, at 70 FR 944, and
supplemented on April 14, 2005, at 70
FR 19844, EPA designated the St. Louis
area as nonattainment for the 1997 PM2.5
annual NAAQS. In that action, EPA
defined the 1997 annual PM2.5 St. Louis
nonattainment area to include Jefferson,
Franklin, St. Charles, and St. Louis
Counties along with the City of St. Louis
on the Missouri side, and Madison,
Monroe, and St. Clair Counties as well
as the Baldwin Township of Randolph
County on the Illinois side of the
nonattainment area.
On November 13, 2009, EPA
promulgated designations for the 24hour standard established in 2006,
designating the St. Louis area as
attainment for that NAAQS (74 FR
58688). That action clarified that the St.
Louis area was classified as
unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997
24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA did not
promulgate designations for the 2006
annual PM2.5 NAAQS because that
NAAQS was essentially identical to the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and today’s
action only addresses the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS designation.
All 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS areas were
designated under subpart 1. Subpart 1
contains the general requirements for
nonattainment areas for any pollutant
governed by a NAAQS and is less
prescriptive than the other subparts of
title I, part D. On April 25, 2007 (72 FR
20586), EPA promulgated its Clean Air
Fine Particle Implementation Rule,
codified at 40 CFR part 52, subpart Z,
in which the Agency provided guidance
for state and tribal plans to implement
the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. The DC Circuit
remanded the Clean Air Fine Particle
Implementation Rule and the final rule
entitled ‘‘Implementation of the New
Source Review (NSR) Program for
Particulate Matter Less than 2.5
Micrometers (PM2.5)’’ (73 FR 28321,
May 16, 2008) (collectively, ‘‘1997 PM2.5
Implementation Rules’’) to EPA on
2 In response to legal challenges of the annual
standard promulgated in 2006, the United States
Courts of Appeals for the District of Columbia
Circuit (D.C. Cir.) remanded that NAAQS to EPA for
further consideration. See American Farm Bureau
Federation and National Pork Producers Council, et
al. v. EPA, 559 F.3d (D.C. Cir. 2009). However,
given that the 1997 and 2006 annual NAAQS are
essentially identical, attainment of the 1997 annual
NAAQS would also indicate attainment of the
remanded 2006 annual NAAQS.
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January 4, 2013, in Natural Resources
Defense Council v. EPA, 706 F.3d 428
(D.C. Cir. 2013). The Court found that
EPA erred implementing the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS pursuant to the general
implementation provisions of subpart 1,
rather than the particulate matterspecific provisions of subpart 4.
On July 29, 2016, EPA issued a rule
entitled, ‘‘Fine Particulate Matter
National Ambient Air Quality
Standards: State Implementation Plan
Requirements’’ (PM2.5 SIP Requirements
Rule) that clarifies how states should
meet the statutory SIP requirements that
apply to areas designated nonattainment
for any PM2.5 NAAQS under subparts 1
and 4. See 81 FR 58010 (August 24,
2016). It does so by establishing
regulatory requirements and providing
guidance that is applicable to areas that
are currently designated nonattainment
for existing PM2.5 NAAQS and areas that
are designated nonattainment for any
PM2.5 NAAQS in the future. In addition,
the rule responds to the D.C. Circuit’s
remand of the 1997 PM2.5
Implementation Rules. As a result, the
requirements of the rule also govern
future actions associated with states’
ongoing implementation efforts for the
1997 and 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS.
In the PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule,
EPA revoked the 1997 primary Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS in areas that had always
been attainment for that NAAQS, and in
areas that had been designated as
nonattainment but that were
redesignated to attainment before
October 24, 2016, the rule’s effective
date. See 81 FR 58010 (August 24,
2016). EPA also finalized a provision
that revokes the 1997 primary Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS in areas that are
redesignated to attainment for that
NAAQS after October 24, 2016, effective
on the effective date of the redesignation
of the area to attainment for that
NAAQS. See 40 CFR 50.13(d). EPA is
providing advanced notice of its
expectation to redesignate the St. Louis
area to attainment for the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS and to approve the CAA
175A maintenance plan for the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS in a future action,
for the reasons described elsewhere in
this advanced notice.3 If the action is
finalized, the 1997 primary Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS will be revoked in the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis Area
3 CAA Section 175A(a) established the
requirements that must be fulfilled by
nonattainment areas in order to be redesignated to
attainment. That section only requires that
nonattainment areas for the primary standard
submit a plan addressing maintenance of the
primary NAAQS in order to be redesignated to
attainment; it does not require nonattainment areas
for secondary NAAQS to submit maintenance plans
in order to be redesignated to attainment.
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on the effective date of the
redesignation. Beginning on that date,
the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
Area will no longer be subject to
transportation or general conformity
requirements for the 1997 Annual PM2.5
NAAQS due to the revocation of the
primary NAAQS. See 81 FR 58125. The
Missouri portion of the St. Louis Area
will be required to implement the CAA
section 175A maintenance plan for the
1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS and the
prevention of significant deterioration
(PSD) program for the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS. Once approved, the
maintenance plan can only be revised if
the revision meets the requirements of
CAA Section 110(l) and, if applicable
CAA section 193. The Area would not
be required to submit a second 10-year
maintenance plan for the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS. See 81 FR 58144.
IV. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the
state’s request?
As stated above, EPA is providing
advanced notice that in a future action
it intends to formally act on Missouri’s
request to redesignate the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area to
attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS and Missouri’s plan for
maintaining the 1997 Annual PM2.5
NAAQS for the St. Louis portion of the
area, including finding the associated
MVEBs for 2008 and 2025 as adequate
using criteria in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and
(5). EPA is issuing this advanced notice
of proposed rulemaking because the
information currently before the agency
strongly supports a redesignation of the
St. Louis area to attainment for the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS, with the
exception of a small amount of air
quality data for the 2017 calendar year,
which EPA expects the states of
Missouri and Illinois to certify in early
2018. Assuming, as EPA fully expects,
that the remaining air quality data
continue to support a finding that the
area will have attained the 1997
standard based on monitoring data from
2015–2017, EPA intends to propose
approval of Missouri’s redesignation
request for its portion of the St. Louis
1997 PM2.5 nonattainment area. EPA’s
evaluation of whether Missouri’s
request for the area satisfies the five
redesignation criteria provided under
CAA section 107(d)(3)(E), based on
currently available information, is
discussed in greater detail in the
following paragraphs of this section.
Criteria (1)—Attainment of the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS
For redesignating a nonattainment
area to attainment, the CAA requires
EPA to determine that the area has
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attained the applicable NAAQS (CAA
section 107(d)(3)(E)(i)). An area’s
attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS is determined in accordance
with 40 CFR 50.7 and appendix N of
part 50, which requires three complete,
consecutive calendar years of qualityassured air quality monitoring data. To
attain this NAAQS, the three-year
average of the annual arithmetic mean
concentration, as determined in
accordance with 40 CFR part 50,
appendix N, must be less than or equal
to 15.0 mg/m3 at all relevant monitoring
sites in the subject area over a three-year
period. The relevant data must be
collected and quality-assured in
accordance with 40 CFR part 58 and
recorded in the EPA Air Quality System
(AQS) database.
On May 23, 2011, EPA determined
that the St. Louis area was attaining the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS (76 FR
29652). In that action, EPA reviewed
PM2.5 monitoring data from monitoring
stations in the area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS for 2007–2009. This data
was quality-assured and recorded in
AQS. The design value for 2007–2009
was 14.1 mg/m3 for the St. Louis area
which met the NAAQS. On June 27,
2012 (77 FR 38183), EPA also finalized
a determination that the St. Louis area
attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
by the applicable attainment date of
April 5, 2010.
In August of 2014, EPA Region 7
received notice that EPA Region 5
conducted a technical systems audit
regarding the weighing of PM2.5 samples
in Illinois. The audit revealed that the
Cook County Department of
Environmental Control, which weighs
all of the filters in Illinois’ monitoring
network, did not have the appropriate
equipment for determining whether the
laboratory conditions met the
temperature and humidity criteria in 40
CFR 50 appendix L for proper
conditioning of filters. The
instantaneous temperature and
humidity information collected during
the audit suggested that many of the
sample weighings failed to meet these
criteria. As a result, no filter-based PM2.5
site in Illinois has sufficient, valid
Federal Reference Method (FRM) data
from 2011 through 2013. EPA is aware
that the monitors in the Illinois portion
of the St. Louis area started recording
valid data in AQS in the 3rd quarter of
2014 and that a valid annual mean can
only be determined, to date, for the
years 2015 and 2016 from those Illinois
monitors. EPA completed a review of
the recorded data from the entire
nonattainment area from 2015, 2016,
and the first two quarters of 2017 and
believes that this data is indicative of air
quality that will support a finding that
the area is attaining the 1997 PM2.5
annual NAAQS based on 2015–2017 air
quality monitoring data. Assuming the
complete, quality assured data for 2017
continues to support that finding, EPA
in a future action intends to take future
action regarding Missouri’s request to
redesignate the Missouri portion of the
St. Louis area to attainment for the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
To evaluate how likely it is that the
area will have an attaining design value,
once all air quality data for the 2017
calendar year is complete and certified,
EPA calculated critical values that
would be required for the area to be in
violation of the NAAQS. EPA has
calculated the critical values in two
ways; for the entire year of 2017 and for
the remaining two quarters of 2017.
Table 1 provides the area’s critical
values. Both the annual and quarterly
critical values greatly exceed recently
recorded levels, indicating that it is
extremely unlikely that the area’s design
value will be in violation of the NAAQS
based on 2015–2017 air quality data.
The data analysis of critical values in
2017 demonstrates that all the monitors
should easily attain the PM2.5 NAAQS
as the critical values are well above
what is currently measured or
historically measured at any of the St.
Louis PM2.5 monitors.
TABLE 1—CRITICAL VALUES FOR THE ST. LOUIS AREA FOR THE 1997 ANNUAL PM2.5 NAAQS
[μg/m3]
State
County
Monitor
Missouri ..............
St. Louis City .......
Missouri ..............
Missouri ..............
Missouri ..............
Missouri ..............
Illinois .................
Illinois .................
Illinois .................
Illinois .................
Illinois .................
St. Louis City .......
Jefferson ..............
St. Louis County ..
St. Louis City .......
Madison ...............
Madison ...............
Madison ...............
St. Clair ...............
Jersey ..................
Blair Street
(FRM).
South Broadway
Arnold West .......
Ladue .................
Forest Park ........
Alton ...................
Wood River ........
Granite City ........
East St. Louis ....
Jerseyville ..........
AQS site ID
2015
2016
2017 1
DV 2
Critical
value 3
Critical
value
3rd/4th qtrs 4
29–510–0085
10.4
8.5
7.4
8.8
26.1
44.8
29–510–0007
29–099–0019
29–189–3001
29–510–0094
17–119–2009
17–119–3007
17–119–1007
17–163–0010
17–083–1001
11.1
11.6
10.3
9.2
9.0
9.1
10.4
10.7
7.7
8.1
8.3
8.7
8.7
8.8
8.7
9.1
10.0
7.9
7.0
8.0
9.2
7.7
8.6
8.2
8.8
8.3
8.9
8.7
9.3
9.4
8.5
8.8
8.7
9.4
9.7
8.2
25.8
25.1
26.0
27.1
27.2
27.2
25.5
24.3
29.4
44.6
42.2
42.8
46.5
45.8
46.2
42.2
40.3
49.9
1 Only
first 2 quarters of 2017 data are complete and reported to AQS.
design values not yet valid since only the first 2 quarters of 2017 data being reported to AQS.
determine the critical value for the 2012 NAAQS, and knowing that the average annual value over 3 years must be less than or equal to
3, EPA used the following formula (y1 + y2 + y3)/3 <= 15 solving for year 3 (y3). Where y3 = 45 ¥ y1 ¥ y2 is the critical value for y3 in
15 μg/m
the equation.
4 Having 2 quarters of data in 2017 (y3), EPA was able to determine how high the average of the last two quarters could be by utilizing the following formula (Q12 + Q34)/2 <= annual critical value where Q34 <= 2 * CV ¥ Q12.
2 2015–2017
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3 To
If there is any indication that the area
is not attaining the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS, EPA will not go forward with
acting on Missouri’s request to
redesignate the area. MDNR has
committed to continue monitoring in
this area in accordance with 40 CFR part
58.
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In summary, EPA is providing for the
public’s review the currently available
air quality data, including all data
submitted by Missouri to AQS, as well
as EPA’s analysis of the critical values
for both 2017 and the last two quarters
of 2017 which indicate it is extremely
likely that the area will have an
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attaining design value once the 2017
data are complete and quality-assured.
EPA is requesting the public’s
comments and feedback on the data and
analysis provided, and is providing
advanced notice that it intends to use
this information in support of a
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proposal for redesignation of the St.
Louis area.
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Criteria (2)—the Area Has a Fully
Approved SIP Under Section 110(k);
and Criteria (5)—The Missouri Portion
of the St. Louis Area Has Met All
Applicable Requirements Under Section
110 and Part D of the CAA
For redesignating a nonattainment
area to attainment, the CAA requires
EPA to determine that the state has met
all applicable requirements under
section 110 and part D of title I of the
CAA (CAA section 107(d)(3)(E)(v)) and
that the state has a fully approved SIP
under section 110(k) for the area (CAA
section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii)). EPA is
providing advanced notice of its review
of Missouri’s redesignation and believes
Missouri has submittal all applicable
SIP requirements for purposes of
redesignation for the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area under section 110 of
the CAA (general SIP requirements) and
part D of title I.
EPA has ascertained which
requirements are applicable to the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area
and, if applicable, determined that they
are, or will be, fully approved through
this action under section 110(k) of the
CAA. See sections (a) and (b) below.
EPA notes that SIPs must be fully
approved only with respect to
requirements that were due prior to
submittal of the complete redesignation
request.
a. The Missouri Portion of the St. Louis
Area Has Met All Applicable
Requirements for Purposes of
Redesignation Under Section 110 and
Part D of the CAA
General SIP requirements. Section
110(a)(2) of title I of the CAA delineates
the general requirements for a SIP,
which include enforceable emissions
limitations and other control measures,
means, or techniques; provisions for the
establishment and operation of
appropriate devices necessary to collect
data on ambient air quality; and
programs to enforce the limitations.
General SIP elements and requirements
are delineated in section 110(a)(2).
These ‘‘infrastructure’’ requirements
include, but are not limited to, the
following: (1) Submittal of a SIP that has
been adopted by the state after
reasonable public notice and hearing;
(2) provisions for establishment and
operation of appropriate procedures
needed to monitor ambient air quality;
(3) implementation of a source permit
program; provisions for the
implementation of part C requirements
(Prevention of Significant Deterioration
(PSD)); (4) provisions for the
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implementation of part D requirements
(Nonattainment New Source Review
(NNSR) permit programs); (5) provisions
for air pollution modeling; and (6)
provisions for public and local agency
participation in planning and emission
control rule development.
EPA has long interpreted section
110(a)(2) elements that are neither
connected with nonattainment plan
submissions nor linked with an area’s
attainment status not to be applicable
requirements for purposes of
redesignation, under the theory that
states were required to fulfill these
obligations as to a particular NAAQS
regardless of the designation status of
any specific area. As noted above, this
advanced notice of redesignation also
has the effect of revoking the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS for the St. Louis Area, and thus
the section 110(a)(2) general SIP
requirements will no longer be in force
for the 1997 standard upon the effective
date of the redesignation. However, the
1997 standard was superseded by the
more stringent 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS, and
all states are required to comply with
section 110(a)(2) for that more stringent
standard. The Missouri portion of the
St. Louis area (and Missouri in general)
continues to be subject to the section
110(a)(2) general SIP requirements for
the more stringent 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS
notwithstanding the expected
redesignation and revocation. In any
case, EPA has previously approved
provisions of Missouri’s SIP addressing
CAA section 110(a)(2) requirements
including provisions addressing the
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS on May 8, 2007 (72
FR 25975), and June 21, 2013 (78 FR
37457). In summary, EPA does not
interpret the section 110(a)(2)
requirements to be applicable for
purposes of redesignation under
sections 107(d)(3)(E)(ii) and (v), and in
any case those provisions have been
fully approved.
Part D Requirements. EPA is
providing advanced notice that upon
final approval of the 2008
comprehensive emissions inventory
discussed in section VII of this
rulemaking, the Missouri SIP will meet
the applicable SIP requirements for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area for
purposes of redesignation under part D
of the CAA. Subpart 1 of part D, found
in sections 171–179 of the CAA, sets
forth the basic nonattainment
requirements applicable to all
nonattainment areas. For purposes of
evaluating this redesignation request,
the applicable part D, subpart 1 SIP
requirements for all nonattainment areas
are contained in sections 172(c)(1)–(9)
and in section 176. A thorough
discussion of the applicable
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requirements contained in section 172
can be found in the General Preamble
for Implementation of title I (57 FR
13498, April 16, 1992). In section V of
this proposed rulemaking, EPA
discusses the relationship between this
proposed redesignation action and
subpart 4 of part D.
Subpart 1 section 172 Requirements.
Sections 172 to 175 of the CAA, set forth
the basic nonattainment plan
requirements applicable to PM2.5
nonattainment areas. Under CAA
section 172, states with nonattainment
areas must submit plans providing for
timely attainment and meet a variety of
other requirements. On May 23, 2011
(76 FR 29652), EPA made a
determination that the St. Louis area
had attained the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS. This determination was based
upon complete, quality-assured, and
certified ambient air monitoring data
that showed that the area monitored
attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS during the 2007–2009
monitoring period. Pursuant to 40 CFR
51.1004(c), upon determination by EPA
that an area designated nonattainment
for the PM2.5 NAAQS has attained the
standard, the requirement for such an
area to submit an attainment
demonstration and associated
reasonably achievable control
technology (RACT)/reasonably
achievable control measures (RACM), a
reasonable further progress (RFP) plan,
contingency measures, and other
planning SIPs related to the attainment
of the PM2.5 NAAQS are suspended
until the area is redesignated to
attainment or EPA determines that the
area has violated the PM2.5 NAAQS, at
which time such plans are again
required to be submitted. As a result of
the determination of attainment, the
only remaining requirement under CAA
section 172 to be considered is the
emissions inventory required to be
submitted and approved by EPA under
CAA section 172(c)(3).
In this advanced notice, as discussed
further in section VI, EPA is providing
advanced notice of Missouri’s 2008 base
year emissions inventory and intends to
approve the emissions inventory in a
future action in accordance with section
172(c)(3) of the CAA.4 Because Missouri
withdrew their nonattainment SIP
submittal, which included the 2002
baseyear emissions inventory after EPA
finalized the Clean Data Determination
(76 FR 29652) for the Missouri portion
of the St. Louis nonattainment area in
4 EPA’s longstanding guidance on redesignations,
entitled ‘‘Processing Redesignations to Attainment,’’
John Calcagni 1992, notes that the subpart 1
emissions inventory requirement is satisfied by the
maintenance plan inventory requirements.
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2011, EPA believes the 2008 base year
emissions inventory is an appropriate
baseyear emissions inventory
requirement under section 172(c)(3) of
the CAA. For more information on
EPA’s analysis of the 2008 base year
emissions inventory, see EPA’s
‘‘Emissions Inventory and Motor
Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB)
Technical Support Document (TSD) for
the Redesignation Request and
Maintenance Plan for the St Louis,
Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment
Area’’, available online at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No.
EPA–R07–OAR–2017–0734.
The General Preamble for
Implementation of title I also discusses
the evaluation of these requirements in
the context of EPA’s consideration of a
redesignation request. The General
Preamble sets forth EPA’s view of
applicable requirements for purposes of
evaluating redesignation requests when
an area is attaining the standard. See
General Preamble for Implementation of
title I (57 FR 13498, April 16, 1992).
Because attainment has been reached
for the area, no additional measures are
needed for attainment, and CAA section
172(c)(1) requirements for an attainment
demonstration and RACT/RACM are no
longer considered to be applicable for
purposes of redesignation as long as the
area continues to attain the standard
until redesignation. See 40 CFR
51.1004(c). The RFP requirement under
CAA section 172(c)(2) and contingency
measures requirement under CAA
section 172(c)(9) are similarly not
relevant for purposes of redesignation.
Section 172(c)(4) of the CAA requires
the identification and quantification of
allowable emissions for new and
modified major stationary sources in an
area, and CAA section 172(c)(5) requires
source permits for the construction and
operation of new and modified major
stationary sources anywhere in the
nonattainment area. EPA has
determined that, since the PSD
requirements will apply after
redesignation, areas being redesignated
need not comply with the requirement
that a nonattainment NSR (NNSR)
program be approved prior to
redesignation, provided that the area
demonstrates maintenance of the
NAAQS without part D NSR. A more
detailed rationale for this view is
described in a memorandum from Mary
Nichols, Assistant Administrator for Air
and Radiation, dated October 14, 1994,
entitled, ‘‘Part D New Source Review
Requirements for Areas Requesting
Redesignation to Attainment.’’
Nevertheless, Missouri currently has an
approved NNSR program and Missouri’s
PSD program for the 1997 annual PM2.5
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NAAQS will become effective in the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area
upon redesignation to attainment.
Section 172(c)(6) of the CAA requires
the SIP to contain control measures
necessary to provide for attainment of
the NAAQS. Because attainment has
been reached for the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area, no additional
measures are needed to provide for
attainment.
Section 172(c)(7) of the CAA requires
the SIP to meet the applicable
provisions of CAA section 110(a)(2). As
noted previously, we believe the
Missouri SIP meets the requirements of
CAA section 110(a)(2) that are
applicable for purposes of
redesignation.
Subpart 1 Section 176 Conformity
Requirements. Section 176(c) of the
CAA requires states to establish criteria
and procedures to ensure that Federally
supported or funded projects conform to
the air quality planning goals in the
applicable SIP. The requirement to
determine transportation conformity
applies to transportation plans,
programs, and projects developed,
funded or approved under Title 23 of
the United States Code (U.S.C.) and the
Federal Transit Act (transportation
conformity) as well as to all other
Federally supported or funded projects
(general conformity). EPA approved the
most recent revisions to the
transportation conformity SIP for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area on
August 29, 2013 (78 FR 53247).
Thus, for purposes of redesignating
the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area to attainment, EPA is providing
advanced notice of our determination
and believes Missouri has satisfied all
applicable requirements for purposes of
redesignation for the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area under CAA section
110, and upon final approval of the
2008 base year emissions inventory, also
will have satisfied all applicable
requirements under part D of title I of
the CAA.
Subpart 4 Requirements. As discussed
above, in NRDC v. EPA, the Circuit held
that EPA should have implemented the
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS pursuant to the
particulate matter-specific provisions of
subpart 4. On remand, EPA identified
all areas designated nonattainment for
either the 1997 or the 2006 PM2.5
NAAQS, including the St. Louis Area,
as moderate nonattainment areas for
purposes of Subpart 4 in the
Classification and Deadlines Rule.
Moderate nonattainment areas are
subject to the requirements of sections
189(a), (c), and (e), including: (1) An
approved permit program for
construction of new and modified major
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641
stationary sources (section 189(a)(1)(A));
(2) an attainment demonstration (section
189(a)(1)(B)); (3) provisions for RACM
(section 189(a)(1)(C)); (4) quantitative
milestones demonstrating RFP toward
attainment by the applicable attainment
date (section 189(c)); and (5) precursor
control (section 189(e)).14
With respect to the specific
attainment planning requirements under
subpart 4,5 EPA applies the same
interpretation that it applies to
attainment planning requirements under
Subpart 1 or any of the other pollutantspecific subparts. That is, under its
long-standing interpretation of the CAA,
where an area is already attaining the
standard, EPA does not consider those
attainment planning requirements to be
applicable for purposes of evaluating a
request for redesignation, that is, CAA
section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii) or (v), because
requirements that are designed to help
an area achieve attainment no longer
have meaning where an area is already
meeting the standard. EPA has proposed
to determine that the area has attained
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 Standard.
Therefore, under its longstanding
interpretation, EPA is providing
advance notice that the requirements to
submit an attainment demonstration
under section 189(a)(1)(B) and a RFP
demonstration under section 189(c)(1)
are not applicable for purposes of
evaluating Missouri’s redesignation
request.
The permit requirements of subpart 4,
contained in section 189(a)(1)(A), refer
to and apply the subpart 1 permit
provisions requirements of sections 172
and 173 to PM10, without adding to
them. Consequently, EPA believes that
section 189(a)(1)(A) does not itself
impose for redesignation purposes any
additional requirements for moderate
areas beyond those contained in subpart
1.6 As discussed above, EPA has long
relied on the interpretation that a fully
approved nonattainment new source
review program is not considered an
applicable requirement for
redesignation, provided the area can
maintain the standard with a PSD
program after redesignation. A detailed
rationale for this view is described in
the Nichols Memorandum. See also
rulemakings for the Illinois portion of
the St. Louis Area (77 FR 34819, 77 FR
34826, June 12, 2012); Louisville,
Kentucky (66 FR 53665–66 FR 53669,
October 23, 2001); Grand Rapids,
Michigan (61 FR 31831, 61 FR 31834–
5 These planning requirements include the
attainment demonstration, quantitative milestone
requirements, and RACM analysis.
6 The potential effect of section 189(e) on section
189(a)(1)(A) for purposes of evaluating this
redesignation is discussed below.
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61 FR 31837, June 21, 1996); ClevelandAkron-Lorain, Ohio 61 FR 20458, 61 FR
20469–61 FR 20470, May 7, 1996);
Detroit, Michigan (60 FR, 12467–60 FR
12468, March 7, 1995).
Subpart 4 and the Control of PM2.5
Precursors. CAA section 189(e) provides
that control requirements for major
stationary sources of direct PM10
(including PM2.5) shall also apply to PM
precursors from those sources, except
where EPA determines that major
stationary sources of such precursors
‘‘do not contribute significantly to PM10
levels which exceed the standard in the
area.’’ The CAA does not explicitly
address whether it would be appropriate
to include a potential exemption from
precursor controls for all source
categories under certain circumstances.
In implementing subpart 4 with regard
to controlling PM10, EPA permitted
states to determine that a precursor was
‘‘insignificant’’ where the state could
show in its attainment plan that it
would expeditiously attain without
adoption of emission reduction
measures aimed at that precursor. This
approach was upheld in Association of
Irritated Residents v. EPA, 423 F.3d 989
(9th Cir. 2005) and extended to PM2.5
implementation in the PM
Implementation Rule. A state may
develop its attainment plan and adopt
reasonably available control measures
that target only those precursors that are
necessary to control for purposes of
timely attainment. See 81 FR 58020. In
the rule, EPA also finalized application
of 189(e) to the NNSR permitting
program, requiring states to determine
whether a new major source of a
precursor might have a significant
contribution to air quality before
allowing exemption of controls of a
precursor from a new major stationary
source or major modification in the text
of that program. See 81 FR 58026.
Therefore, because the requirement of
section 189(e) is primarily actionable in
the context of addressing precursors in
an attainment plan and in NNSR
permitting, a precursor exemption
analysis under section 189(e) and EPA’s
implementing regulations is not an
applicable requirement that needs to be
fully approved in the context of a
redesignation under CAA section
107(d)(3)(E)(ii). As discussed above, for
areas that are attaining the standard,
EPA does not interpret attainment
planning requirements of subparts 1 and
4 to be applicable requirements for the
purposes of redesignating an area to
attainment nor does it interpret NNSR to
be an applicable requirement if the area
can maintain the NAAQS with a PSD
program after redesignation. However,
to the extent that Missouri is required to
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conduct a precursor exemption analysis
in order to satisfy 189(e) in the context
of its RACM determination for the St.
Louis Area, which is required pursuant
to the Sixth Circuit’s decision in Sierra
Club, EPA proposes to find that the
requirements of section 189(e), as
interpreted by EPA’s regulations, are
met in this case. The area has attained
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and
therefore, no additional controls of any
pollutant, including any PM2.5
precursors, are necessary to bring the
area into attainment.7 For these reasons,
EPA is providing advance notice that it
believes Missouri has satisfied all
applicable requirements for purposes of
redesignation of it portion of the St.
Louis area under section 110 and part D
of the CAA.
b. The Missouri Portion of the St. Louis
Area Has a Fully Approved Applicable
SIP Under Section 110(k) of the CAA
Upon final approval of the
comprehensive emissions inventory in a
future notice, EPA will have fully
approved the state’s SIP for the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area for the 1997
annual PM2.5 nonattainment area under
section 110(k) of the CAA for all
requirements applicable for purposes of
redesignation. EPA may rely on prior
SIP approvals in approving a
redesignation request (see Calcagni
Memorandum at p. 3; Southwestern
Pennsylvania Growth Alliance v.
Browner, 144 F.3d 984, 989–90 (6th Cir.
1998); Wall, 265 F.3d 426 (6th Cir. 2001,
upholding this interpretation)) plus any
additional measures it may approve in
conjunction with a redesignation action
(see 68 FR 25426 (May 12, 2003) and
citations therein). Following passage of
the CAA of 1970, Missouri has adopted
and submitted, and EPA has fully
approved at various times, provisions
addressing the various SIP elements
applicable for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS in the St. Louis area (e.g., 78 FR
37457, June 21, 2013).
As indicated above, EPA believes that
the section 110 elements not connected
with nonattainment plan submissions
and not linked to the area’s
nonattainment status are not applicable
requirements for purposes of
redesignation. EPA has previously
approved all part D subpart 1
7 The Missouri portion the St. Louis area contains
no major stationary sources of ammonia, and
existing major stationary sources of VOC are
adequately controlled under other provisions of the
CAA regulating the ozone NAAQS. The St. Louis
area has reduced VOC emissions through the
implementation of various control programs
including VOC Reasonably Available Control
Technology regulations and various on-road and
non-road motor vehicle control programs.
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requirements applicable for purposes of
this redesignation.
Criteria (3)—The Air Quality
Improvement Is Due to Permanent and
Enforceable Reductions in Emissions
Resulting From Implementation of the
SIP and Applicable Federal Air
Pollution Control Regulations and Other
Permanent and Enforceable Reductions
(Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iii))
For redesignating a nonattainment
area to attainment, section
107(d)(3)(E)(iii) of the CAA requires
EPA to determine that the air quality
improvement in the area is due to
permanent and enforceable reductions
in emissions resulting from
implementation of the SIP and
applicable Federal air pollution control
regulations and other permanent and
enforceable reductions. EPA is
providing advanced notice that it
believes that Missouri has demonstrated
that the observed air quality
improvement in the St. Louis area is due
to permanent and enforceable
reductions in emissions resulting from
implementation of the SIP, Federal
measures, and other state adopted
measures discussed below.
In making this demonstration, MDNR
has calculated the change in emissions
from a nonattainment year inventory to
an attainment year inventory. For the
nonattainment inventory, Missouri
developed a 2002 base year emissions
inventory, which the state subsequently
withdrew once a Clean Data
Determination was finalized for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis
nonattainment area. For purposes of
their redesignation request, Missouri
developed a baseyear emissions
inventory for 2008, one of the years the
St. Louis area monitored attainment of
the standard. See section b. below for
discussion on development of these
inventories. The reduction in emissions
and the corresponding improvement in
air quality over this time period can be
attributed to a number of permanent and
enforceable regulatory control measures
that St. Louis and upwind areas have
implemented in recent years.
a. Permanent and Enforceable Controls
Implemented
The following is a discussion on the
permanent and enforceable measures
that have been implemented in the
area.8 Reductions in PM2.5 precursor
emissions have occurred statewide and
8 It should be noted that the mobile source
controls discussed below also provide reductions in
VOC and/or SO2 emissions. While those emissions
may be reduced, the submitted maintenance plan
and redesignation request do not rely on these
emission reductions.
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in upwind areas as a result of Federal
emission control measures, with
additional emission reductions expected
to occur in the future. Federal emission
control measures include the following:
Tier 2 vehicle standards and lowsulfur gasoline. Implementation of the
Tier 2 vehicle standards began in 2004,
and as newer, cleaner cars enter the
national fleet, these standards continue
to significantly reduce NOX emissions.
The standards require all classes of
passenger vehicles in any
manufacturer’s fleet to meet an average
standard of 0.07 grams of NOX per mile.
In addition, starting in January of 2006,
the Tier 2 rule reduced the allowable
sulfur content of gasoline to 30 parts per
million (ppm). Most gasoline sold prior
to this had a sulfur content of
approximately 300 ppm. EPA expects
that these standards will reduce NOX
emissions from vehicles by
approximately 74 percent by 2030,
translating to nation-wide reductions of
nearly 3 million tons annually by 2030.
Heavy-duty gasoline and diesel
highway vehicle standards and ultralow-sulfur diesel rule. On October 6,
2000, EPA promulgated a rule to reduce
NOX and VOC emissions from heavyduty gasoline and diesel highway
vehicles that began to take effect in 2004
(65 FR 59896). On January 18, 2001, (66
FR 5002) EPA promulgated a second
phase of standards and testing
procedures began in 2007 to reduce
particulate matter from heavy-duty
highway engines, and reduce highway
diesel fuel sulfur content to 15 ppm
since the sulfur in fuel damages high
efficiency catalytic exhaust emission
control devices. The total program is
estimated to achieve a ninety percent
reduction in PM2.5 emissions and a
ninety-five percent reduction in NOX
emission for new engines using lowsulfur diesel fuel, compared to existing
engines using higher-content sulfur
diesel fuel. EPA expects that this rule
will reduce NOX emissions by 2.6
million tons nation-wide by 2030 when
the heavy-duty vehicle fleet is
completely replaced with newer heavyduty vehicles that comply with these
emission standards.
Tier 4 Non-Road Diesel Engine Rule.
This rule, which applies to diesel
engines used in industries such as
construction, agriculture, and mining,
was promulgated in 2004 and fully
phased in 2014. This rule reduced
allowable non-road diesel fuel sulfur
levels from approximately 3,000 ppm to
500 ppm in 2007 and further reduced
those levels to 15 ppm starting in 2010
(a 99 percent reduction). This rule also
achieved significant reductions for up to
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90 percent for NOX and particulate
matter emissions nationwide.
Nonroad Large spark-ignition engines
and recreational engines standards. The
nonroad spark-ignition and recreational
engine standards, effective in July 2003,
regulate NOX, and hydrocarbons, and
carbon monoxide from groups of
previously unregulated non-road
engines. (67 FR 68242). These engine
standards apply to large spark-ignition
engines (e.g., forklifts and airport
ground service equipment), recreational
vehicles (e.g., off-highway motorcycles
and all-terrain-vehicles), and
recreational marine diesel engines sold
in the United States and imported after
the effective date of these standards.
When all of the nonroad sparkignition and recreational engine
standards are fully implemented, an
overall seventy-two percent reduction in
hydrocarbons, eighty percent reduction
in NOX, and fifty-six percent reduction
in carbon monoxide emissions is
expected by 2020. These controls will
help reduce ambient concentrations of
fine particulate matter.
Tier 3 Motor Vehicles Emission and
Fuel Standards: On April 24, 2014 (79
FR 23414), EPA finalized a rule
designed to reduce air pollution from
passenger cars and trucks. The vehicle
emissions standard began in 2017, and
combined with the reduction of gasoline
sulfur content will significantly reduce
motor vehicle emissions including NOX,
VOC, PM2.5, Carbon Monoxide and air
toxics by 2030, which will help the area
maintain the 1997 PM2.5 annual
NAAQS.
NOX SIP Call. On October 27, 1998
(63 FR 57356), EPA issued the NOX SIP
Call pursuant to the CAA to require
twenty-two states and the District of
Columbia to reduce NOX, a precursor to
ozone and PM2.5 pollution, and
providing a mechanism (the NOX
Budget Trading Program) that states
could use to achieve those reductions.
Affected states were required to comply
with Phase I of the SIP Call beginning
in 2004, and Phase II beginning in 2007.
By the end of 2008, ozone season NOX
emissions from sources subject to the
NOX SIP Call dropped by sixty-two
percent from 2000 emissions levels. All
NOX SIP Call states have SIPs that
currently satisfy their obligations under
the NOX SIP Call, and the emission
reductions required under the SIP Call
are permanent and enforceable.
As part of the NOX SIP Call, the
eastern third of Missouri was required
to comply with Phase II of the program.
In response, Missouri developed rules
governing the control of NOX emissions
from EGUs, major non-EGU industrial
boilers, major cement kilns, and large
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643
internal combustion engines. EPA
approved Missouri’s Phase II NOX SIP
Call rules on August 15, 2006 (71 FR
46860). Implementation of the Phase II
rules was projected to result in an
eighty-two percent NOX reduction from
1995 levels. Missouri rules which
address the NOX SIP call include:
• 10 CSR 10–6.350, ‘‘Emissions
limitations and Emissions Trading of
Oxides of Nitrogen’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.360, ‘‘Controlling NOX
Emissions From Electric Generating
Units and Non-Electric Generating
Boilers’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.380, ‘‘Control of NOX
Emissions From Portland Cement Kilns’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.390, ‘‘Control of NOX
Emissions From Large Stationary
Internal Combustion Engines’’
Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and
the Cross State Air Pollution Rule
(CSAPR). The Clean Air Interstate Rule
(CAIR) was promulgated in 2005 and
required twenty-eight eastern states and
the District of Columbia to significantly
reduce emissions of SO2 and NOX from
electric generating units (EGUs) in order
to limit the interstate transport of these
pollutants and the ozone and fine
particulate matter these pollutants form
in the atmosphere. 70 FR 25162 (May
12, 2005). In 2008, the D.C. Circuit
initially vacated CAIR and ordered EPA
to replace CAIR in its entirety, North
Carolina v. EPA, 531 F.3d 896 (D.C. Cir.
2008), but ultimately remanded the rule
to EPA without vacatur in order to
preserve the environmental benefits
provided by CAIR, North Carolina v.
EPA, 550 F.3d 1176, 1178 (D.C. Cir.
2008). On August 8, 2011, acting on the
Court’s remand, EPA promulgated
CSAPR in order to replace CAIR and
address interstate transport of emissions
and the resulting secondary formation of
ozone and fine particulate matter (76 FR
48208).9 CSAPR requires substantial
reductions of SO2 and NOX emissions
from EGUs in twenty-eight states in the
eastern United States. As a general
matter, because CSAPR is CAIR’s
replacement, emissions reductions
associated with CAIR will for most areas
be made permanent and enforceable
through implementation of CSAPR.
Implementation of the rule was
scheduled to begin on January 1, 2012,
when CSAPR’s cap-and-trade programs
would have superseded the CAIR capand-trade programs. Numerous parties
filed petitions for review of CSAPR in
the D.C. Circuit and on August 21, 2012,
9 CAIR addressed the 1997 PM
2.5 annual standard
and the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. CSAPR
addresses contributions from upwind states to
downwind nonattainment and maintenance of the
2006 24-hour PM2.5 standard as well as the ozone
and PM2.5 NAAQS addressed by CAIR.
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the court issued its ruling vacating and
remanding CSAPR to EPA and ordering
continued implementation of CAIR.
EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v.
EPA, 696 F.3d 7, 38 (D.C. Cir. 2012). The
D.C. Circuit’s vacatur of CSAPR was
reversed by the United States Supreme
Court on April 29, 2014, and the case
was remanded to the D.C. Circuit to
resolve remaining issues in accordance
with the Supreme Court’s ruling. EPA v.
EME Homer City Generation, L.P., 134 S.
Ct. 1584 (2014). On remand, the D.C.
Circuit affirmed CSAPR in most
respects, but invalidated without
vacating some of the CSAPR budgets as
to a number of states. EME Homer City
Generation, L.P. v. EPA, 795 F.3d 118.
(D.C. Cir. 2015) (EME Homer City II).
The CSAPR budgets for Missouri are not
affected by the Court’s decision. The
litigation over CSAPR ultimately
delayed implementation of that rule for
three years, from January 1, 2012, when
CSAPR’s cap-and-trade programs were
originally scheduled to replace the CAIR
cap-and-trade programs, to January 1,
2015. Thus, the rule’s Phase 2 budgets
were originally promulgated to begin on
January 1, 2014, but began on January 1,
2017.
As noted above, CAIR was
promulgated in 2005 and incentivized
early reductions from sources in all
covered states, including those upwind
of the St. Louis area. On December, 14,
2007, EPA approved Missouri’s CAIR
rules into the SIP and the state’s CAIR
rules became effective in 2009 (72 FR
71073). The Missouri rule written to
comply with the NOX SIP Call
requirements for EGUs was replaced
with the CAIR NOX regulations, 10 CSR
10–6.362, Clean Air Interstate Rule
Annual NOX Trading program and 10
CSR 10–6.364, Clean Air Interstate Rule
Seasonal NOX Trading program, and
include limits for non-EGU boilers,
specifically Trigen Units 5 and 6 and
Anheuser Busch Unit 6. However, these
three units have all been retired, and
received retired unit exemptions that
prohibit these units from operating.
Missouri’s SIP redesignation request
lists CAIR as a control measure. CAIR
was in effect and achieving emission
reductions in Missouri when the St.
Louis area began monitoring attainment
of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The
quality-assured, certified monitoring
data used to demonstrate the area’s
attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS by the April 5, 2010, attainment
deadline was influenced by reductions
achieved by CAIR. Furthermore,
because PM2.5 concentrations in the St.
Louis area are likely impacted by the
transport SO2 and NOX emissions
produced upwind, the area’s air quality
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is likely affected by regulation of
emissions from power plants in other
states.
On November 21, 2014, the
Administrator signed an action that
published in the Federal Register on
December 3, 2014 (79 FR 71163),
amending the regulatory text of CSAPR
to reflect the Court’s October 23, 2014,
order tolling all deadlines in CSAPR by
three years, including provisions
governing the sunsetting of CAIR. CAIR
therefore sunset at the end of 2014 and
was replaced by CSAPR beginning
January 1, 2015, which continue to
remain in place. Relative to CAIR,
CSAPR required similar or greater
emission reductions from relevant
upwind areas starting in 2015 and
beyond, and Missouri’s emissions
budgets were not affected by the Court’s
remand of some of the ozone-season and
SO2 budgets. The emission reductions
associated with CAIR that helped the St.
Louis area achieve attainment of the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS can
therefore be considered permanent and
enforceable for purposes of
redesignation under section
107(d)(3)(E)(iii) of the CAA.
State and Local Measures. In addition
to the above Federal measures, Missouri
has several other state regulations that
provide permanent and enforceable
controls for PM2.5 and PM2.5 precursor
emissions in the St. Louis area. These
SIP approved rules include:
• 10 CSR 10–6.405 ‘‘Restriction of
Particulate Matter Emissions from Fuel
Burning Equipment Used for Indirect
Heating’’
• 10 CSR 10–5.040 ‘‘Use of Fuel in
Hand-Fired Equipment Prohibited’’
• 10 CSR 10–5.070 ‘‘Open Burning
Restrictions’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.170 ‘‘Restriction of
Particulate Matter to the Ambient Air
Beyond the Premises of Origin’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.220 ‘‘Restriction of
Emission of Visible Air Contaminants’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.260 ‘‘Restriction of
Emission of Sulfur Compounds’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.330 ‘‘Restriction of
Emissions from Batch-Type Charcoal
Kilns’’
• 10 CSR 10–6.400 ‘‘Restriction of
Emission of Particulate Matter from
Industrial Processes’’
Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance
Program. To meet nonattainment area
requirements for the one-hour ozone
standard, Missouri implemented an
inspection and maintenance program
beginning in 2000 in the counties of St.
Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson and the
City of St. Louis. Missouri codified the
program through state rule 10 CSR 10–
5.380, ‘‘Motor Vehicle Emissions
Inspection,’’ and EPA approved an
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additional revision this rule on May 12,
2003 (68 FR 25414). While this program
was established to address ozone
formation, the reduction in NOX
emissions impact PM2.5 in this area. The
mobile source emissions inventory
projections used in this demonstration
incorporates the inspection and
maintenance program rule, 10 CSR 10–
5.381, which replaced the 10–5.380
rule. The state has implemented 10 CSR
10–5.381 since 2007 and EPA approved
this rule in 80 FR 11323, March 3, 2015.
Permanent and Enforceable Controls
Used to Attain the Standard for the
Illinois portion of the nonattainment
area. The same Federal control
measures listed above for the Missouri
side of the area are also applicable to the
Illinois side of the St. Louis area
(defined as Madison, Monroe, and St.
Clair Counties as well as the Baldwin
Township of Randolph County). These
include the Federal mobile source
measures and Federal upwind trading
programs. Illinois also operates an
Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) program,
and has adopted a state rule to control
NOX and SO2 from EGUs. Illinois also
has a number of other state regulations
in place to control PM2.5 and PM2.5
precursors. Additional information
regarding NOX and VOC emissions
controls for the Illinois portion of the
area can be found in the Illinois
maintenance plan for the nonattainment
area under the 1997 ozone standard. See
docket ID EPA–R05–OAR–2010–0523;
FRL–9619–8 for more information.
b. Emission Reductions
The St. Louis area attained the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS based on
monitoring data for the three-year
period from 2007–2009. During the
development of the nonattainment SIP,
which was subsequently withdrawn by
the state, MDNR selected 2002 as the
baseyear and since then has selected
2008 as the attainment emission
inventory year. The attainment
inventory identifies a level of emissions
in the area that is sufficient to attain the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for direct
PM2.5 and the PM2.5 precursors SO2,
NOX, NH3 and VOC. Point source
information was compiled from the
2008 NEI and the annual emissions
reports submitted to MDNR by sources
and EPA’s Clean Air Markets Division
database for electric utilities. Area,
nonroad and onroad attainment year
inventories originated from the 2008
NEI v1.5 provided by EPA. For more
information on EPA’s analysis of the
2002 and 2008 emissions inventories,
see EPA’s ‘‘Emissions Inventory and
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget
(MVEB) Technical Support Document
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(TSD) for the Redesignation Request and
Maintenance Plan for the St Louis,
Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment
Area,’’ or appendix B, E and F of the
state submittal, available on line at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No.
EPA–R07–OAR–2017–0734.
Using the inventory described above,
as well as emissions inventories
provided by Illinois, Missouri has
documented changes in emissions from
2002 NEI to 2008 for the St. Louis area
as shown in table 3 below. This table
demonstrates that the entire St. Louis
area has reduced emissions during the
period except as described below.
TABLE 3—COMPARISON OF 2002 NEI AND 2008 BASEYEAR INVENTORY FOR THE ST. LOUIS NONATTAINMENT AREA
[tpy]
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Point Sources .....................
.............................................
¥7.11
164.12
¥13,095.20
¥17,471.79
¥1,113.84
+134.22
+44,701.42
¥3,811.29
¥6,569.97
¥816.76
Totals ...........................
.............................................
157.01
¥30,566.99
¥979.62
+40,890.13
¥7,386.76
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Area Sources ......................
.............................................
¥453.09
¥433.02
¥5,546.29
¥1,967.73
¥799.57
¥2,757.16
¥5,721.41
¥141.18
¥7,169.82
¥16,890.58
Totals ...........................
.............................................
¥886.11
¥7,514.02
¥3,556.73
¥5,862.59
¥24,060.40
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
On-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
¥177.76
6.88
¥31,503.01
¥4,646.94
¥631.79
¥102.62
¥1,452.91
¥556.81
¥18,830.40
¥2,555.87
Totals ...........................
.............................................
¥170.88
¥36,149.95
¥734.41
¥2,009.72
¥21,386.27
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Off-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
+5.84
¥1.24
¥6,714.58
+1,063.95
¥386.84
+33.13
¥1,531.01
¥93.56
¥3,962.38
131.75
Totals ...........................
.............................................
+4.60
¥5,650.63
¥353.71
¥1,624.57
¥3,830.63
Missouri Totals .....
.............................................
¥632.13
¥56,859.08
¥2,932.04
+35,996.09
¥36,532.57
Illinois Totals ........
.............................................
¥263.26
¥23,022.51
¥2,692.43
¥4,602.84
¥20,131.46
Grand Total ...
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County name
.............................................
¥895.39
¥79,881.59
¥5,624.47
+31,393.25
¥56,664.03
There is an increase of total SO2
emissions from 2002 to 2008 of
35,996.09 tons on the Missouri side of
the nonattainment area. This increase is
a result of two factors described below.
First, over 20,700 tons of the SO2
increase can be attributed to a change in
emission factors between 2002 and 2008
for the Doe Run Primary Lead Smelter
in Herculaneum, MO, but that source
has since shut down.10 The second
factor which contributes to the increase
in SO2 emissions is a ten percent
increase in electricity demand at four
Missouri EGUs. Between 2002 and 2008
a 10 percent increase in electricity
demand coupled with increases in SO2
emission rates from the Ameren utilities
lead to increasing SO2 emissions
between 2002 and 2008. Overall
emissions from 2002 to 2008 are
trending down for direct PM2.5 and the
three other PM2.5 precursors and EPA
believes that the effect of these
decreases cumulatively outweigh the
increase seen in SO2 emissions during
the same time, thus supporting EPA’s
position set forth in this ANPR. In
10 This facility shut down in 2011 pursuant to a
federally enforceable Consent Decree. https://
www.epa.gov/enforcement/doe-run-resourcescorporation-settlement.
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NH3
NOX
addition, in the years following 2008,
substantial SO2 reductions have been
realized in the St. Louis utility sector
within the nonattainment area from a
combination of controls, fuel switching
and shutdowns, and EPA believes SO2
emissions from the utility sector will
not increase back to 2002 or 2008 levels
further supporting EPA’s position in
this ANPR.
Based on the information summarized
above, and information provided in the
technical support, which is a part of the
docket for this action, EPA is providing
advanced notice of its determination
that Missouri has adequately
demonstrated that the improvement in
air quality is due to permanent and
enforceable emissions reductions.
Criteria (4)—The Area Has a Fully
Approved Maintenance Plan Pursuant
to Section 175A of the CAA (Section
107(d)(3)(E)(iv))
In conjunction with its request to
redesignate the St. Louis area to
attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS, MDNR submitted a SIP
revision on September 1, 2011,
supplemented on March 31, 2014, and
further clarified on September 17, 2014,
to provide for the maintenance of the
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PM2.5-Pri
SO2
VOC
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for at least
ten years after the effective date of
redesignation to attainment. EPA is
providing advanced notice that it
believes this maintenance plan meets
the requirements for approval under
section 175A of the CAA.
a. Maintenance Plan Requirements
Section 175A of the CAA sets forth
the elements of a maintenance plan for
areas seeking redesignation from
nonattainment to attainment. Under
section 175A, the plan must
demonstrate continued attainment of
the applicable NAAQS for at least ten
years after the Administrator approves a
redesignation to attainment. Because the
1997 p.m.2.5 NAAQS will be revoked
for the area if the area is redesignated to
attainment, Missouri is not required
submit a revised maintenance plan eight
years after the redesignation. To address
the possibility of future NAAQS
violations, the maintenance plan must
contain such contingency measures, as
EPA deems necessary, to assure prompt
correction of any future 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS violations. The Calcagni
Memorandum provides further guidance
on the content of a maintenance plan,
explaining that a maintenance plan
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should address five requirements: (1)
The attainment emissions inventory, (2)
a maintenance demonstration, (3) a
commitment to maintain the existing
monitoring network, (4) verification of
continued attainment, and (5) a
contingency plan to plan or prevent or
correct future violations. As discussed
below, EPA is proposing that MDNR’s
maintenance plan includes all the
necessary components and is thus
proposing to approve it as a revision to
the Missouri SIP.
b. Maintenance Plan Base Year
Inventory
As discussed previously, the 2008
inventory is referenced as the baseyear
and is used for the year of attainment is
called the Attainment Year Inventory.
The 2008 inventory is the inventory
which all future years will be compared
to in order to show maintenance.
However, MDNR created a different
2008 onroad inventory for the
comparison to future years in the
maintenance plan. As explained
previously, for the 2008 onroad
attainment inventory, MDNR used NEI
data which was developed using
Mobile6.2 to compare with the 2002
nonattainment base year. A second 2008
onroad inventory was developed
utilizing MOVES2010 to establish a
maintenance base year for comparison
to the future 2017 and 2025 MOVESbased future year inventories. This
allows for a smooth transition to the
updated model and to prevent
comparing a MOVES2010 version of
2008 attainment year with the Mobile6.2
version of the 2002 nonattainment base
year inventory. Therefore, the 2008
onroad mobile source inventory used for
supporting maintenance was developed
using the most current version of EPA’s
highway mobile source emissions
model, MOVES2010a.
Emissions projections to support
maintenance through 2025 have been
prepared for the years 2017 and 2025.
While Missouri’s maintenance plan
projects maintenance of the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2025, as
noted above, EPA believes that the St.
Louis area will continue to maintain the
standard through 2027 for several
reasons: All of the Federal regulatory
requirements that enabled the area to
attain the NAAQS will continue to be in
effect and enforceable after the ten-year
maintenance period. Overall emissions
are projected to decline steadily through
2025. Because it is unlikely that
emissions will suddenly increase in
2026 and 2027 in an amount that results
in overall emissions in the area
exceeding an attainment year inventory
levels. EPA expects that the St. Louis
area will continue to maintain the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2027.
EPA has reviewed the documentation
provided by MDNR and is providing
advanced notice that the EPA believes
the emissions inventory is acceptable.
For more information on EPA’s analysis
of the 2008 emissions inventory, see
EPA’s TSD as part of this advanced
notice of proposed rulemaking, or
Appendix B, E and F of the state’s 2014
submittal and additional clarifying
information provided on September 17,
2014, available on line at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No.
EPA–R07–OAR–2017–0734.
c. Maintenance Demonstration
Section 175A requires a state seeking
redesignation to attainment to submit a
SIP revision to provide for the
maintenance of the NAAQS in the Area
‘‘for at least ten years after the
redesignation.’’ EPA has interpreted this
as a showing of maintenance ‘‘for a
period of ten years following
redesignation.’’ Calcagni Memorandum,
p. 9. Where the emissions inventory
method of showing maintenance is
used, the purpose is to show that
emissions during the maintenance
period will not increase over the
attainment year inventory. Calcagni
Memorandum, pp. 9–10.
As discussed in detail in the
subsection below, Missouri’s
maintenance plan submission expressly
documents that the area’s emissions
inventories will remain below the
attainment year inventories through
2025. For a demonstration of
maintenance, emissions inventories are
required to be projected to future dates
to assess the influence of future growth
and controls; however, the maintenance
demonstration need not be based on air
quality modeling. See Wall v. EPA, 265
F.3d 426 (6th Cir.2001); Sierra Club v.
EPA, 375 F. 3d 537 [(7th Cir.2004)]. See
also 66 FR 53099–66 FR 53100; 68 FR
25430–68 FR 25432. MDNR uses
projection inventories to show that the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area
will remain in attainment. MDNR
developed projection inventories for an
interim year of 2017 and a maintenance
plan end year of 2025 to show that
future emissions of direct PM2.5, NOX,
SO2, NH3 and VOC will remain at or
below the attainment year 2008
emissions levels in the St. Louis area
through the year 2025. In light of more
recent information on CSAPR, Missouri
submitted on September 17, 2014, a
revision that updated their future year
projections for EGU facilities using the
presumption that CSAPR will be in
place to control emissions from sources.
Non-EGU Point source and nonpoint
sources were developed using growth
factors created from the EGAS model
(https://www.epa.gov/economic-andcost-analysis-air-pollution-regulations)
using economic growth projections from
the Policy Insight® Model for Regional
Economic Model, Inc. (REMI) to project
the future year inventory. EPA’s
Nonroad Model and EPA’s onroad
mobile model, MOVES, were utilized to
project mobile source future inventories.
EPA has reviewed the documentation
provided by MDNR and is providing
advanced notice that it finds the
methodologies acceptable. Table 4–6
below shows the inventory summaries
for the 2008 attainment year, 2017
interim year, and the 2025 maintenance
plan end year for the entire area.
TABLE 4—2008 EMISSIONS INVENTORY SUMMARY
[tpy]
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
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Point Sources .....................
.............................................
1,308.64
208.31
31,103.26
16,981.51
3,493.39
2,448.15
201,700.73
21,853.56
5,067.89
4,277.72
Totals ...........................
.............................................
1,516.95
48,084.77
5,941.54
252,431.33
9,345.61
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Area Sources ......................
.............................................
3,514.98
3,354.13
4,382.94
1,638.36
14,033.64
5,161.76
11,510.48
246.67
38,215.34
7,796.34
Totals ...........................
.............................................
6,869.11
6,021.30
19,195.40
11,757.15
46,011.68
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647
TABLE 4—2008 EMISSIONS INVENTORY SUMMARY—Continued
[tpy]
NOX
NH3
PM2.5-Pri
SO2
VOC
State
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
On-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
1,056.17
250.58
58,819.58
15,012.94
2,179.28
577.99
426.65
116.76
23,793.80
5,069.55
Totals ...........................
.............................................
1,306.75
73,832.52
2,757.27
543.41
28,863.35
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Off-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
15.68
2.89
20,722.57
8,475.24
1,199.82
425.71
544.3
300.72
11,545.53
2,972.77
Totals ...........................
.............................................
18.57
29,197.81
1,625.53
845.02
14,518.30
Grand Total ..........
.............................................
9,711.38
157,136.40
29,515.74
265,576.91
98,738.94
TABLE 5—2017 EMISSIONS INVENTORY SUMMARY
[tpy]
NOX
NH3
PM2.5-Pri
SO2
VOC
State
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Point Sources .....................
.............................................
1,308.64
221.12
31,661.08
11,891.31
3,692.74
2,601.95
107,713.00
20,221.18
6,363.13
4,962.34
Totals ...........................
.............................................
1,529.76
43,552.39
6,294.69
127,934.18
11,325.47
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Area Sources ......................
.............................................
3,514.98
3,364.32
4,446.97
1,694.82
14,165.78
4,706.63
11,534.82
258.36
44,057.17
8,607.70
Totals ...........................
.............................................
6,879.30
6,141.79
18,872.41
11,793.18
52,664.87
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
On-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
722.47
186.79
22,904.99
5,623.42
913.15
231.68
191.12
49.31
10,867.41
2,364.85
Totals ...........................
.............................................
909.26
28,528.41
1,144.83
240.43
13,232.26
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Off-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
15.75
3.46
10,505.88
8,673.75
787.35
370.28
193.55
390.79
7,398.02
2,303.43
Totals ...........................
.............................................
19.21
19,179.63
1,157.63
584.34
9,701.45
Grand Total ..........
.............................................
9,337.53
97,402.22
27,469.56
140,552.13
86,924.05
TABLE 6—2025 EMISSIONS INVENTORY SUMMARY
[tpy]
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Point Sources .....................
.............................................
1,308.64
242.69
32,603.86
12,822.94
4,403.28
2,865.19
108,617.07
21,853.56
7,809.01
5,541.80
Totals ...........................
.............................................
1,551.33
45,426.80
7,268.47
130,470.63
13,350.81
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Area Sources ......................
.............................................
3,514.98
3,374.17
4,531.02
1,735.20
14,314.86
4,668.15
11,606.89
268.04
49,458.63
9,249.75
Totals ...........................
.............................................
6,889.15
6,266.22
18,983.01
11,874.93
58,708.38
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
On-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
691.88
178.80
16,568.44
3,616.52
533.34
181.73
189.22
49.15
8,035.80
1,592.92
Totals ...........................
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State
.............................................
870.68
20,184.96
715.07
238.37
9,628.72
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Off-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
17.63
3.99
8,895.81
9,028.03
640.68
331.2
219.9
438.02
7,178.29
2,037.10
Totals ...........................
.............................................
21.62
17,923.84
971.88
657.92
9,215.39
Grand Total ..........
.............................................
9,332.78
89,801.82
27,938.43
143,241.85
90,903.30
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Table 7 below compares the 2008 base
year to the 2025 projection year and
shows that the St. Louis area is
projected to reduce SO2 emissions by
122,335 tpy, NOX emissions by 67,335
tpy, direct PM2.5 emissions by 1,577 tpy,
NH3 emissions by 379 tpy, and VOC
emissions by 7,836 tpy.
TABLE 7—COMPARISON OF 2008 BASE YEAR AND 2025 PROJECTION YEAR
[tpy]
NOX
SO2
VOC
Source category
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Point Sources .....................
.............................................
0.00
34.38
+1,500.60
¥4,158.57
+909.89
+417.04
¥93,083.66
¥28,877.04
+2,741.12
+1,264.08
Totals ...........................
.............................................
34.38
¥2,657.97
1,326.93
¥121,960.70
+4,005.20
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Area Sources ......................
.............................................
0.00
20.04
+148.08
+96.84
+281.22
¥493.61
+96.41
+21.37
+11,243.29
+1,453.41
Totals ...........................
.............................................
20.04
244.92
¥212.39
117.78
+12,696.70
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
On-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
¥364.29
¥71.78
¥42,251.14
¥11,396.42
¥1,645.94
¥396.26
¥237.43
¥67.61
¥15,758.00
¥3,476.63
Totals ...........................
.............................................
¥436.07
¥53,647.56
¥2,042.20
¥305.04
¥19,234.63
Missouri ..............................
Illinois ..................................
Off-Road Mobile Sources ...
.............................................
1.95
1.10
¥11,826.76
+552.79
¥559.14
¥94.51
¥324.40
+137.30
¥4,367.24
¥935.67
Totals ...........................
.............................................
+3.05
¥11,273.97
¥653.65
¥187.10
¥5,302.91
Missouri Totals
(Safety Margin).
.............................................
¥362.34
¥52,429.22
¥1,013.97
¥93,549.08
¥6,140.83
Illinois Totals
(Safety Margin).
.............................................
¥16.26
¥14,905.36
¥567.34
¥28,785.98
¥1,694.81
.............................................
¥378.60
¥67,334.58
¥1,577.31
¥122,335.06
¥7,835.64
Grand Total ...
NH3
PM2.5-Pri
State
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* Note: A negative value indicates a projected decrease in emissions from 2008 to 2025. A positive value indicates a projected increase in
emissions from 2008 to 2025.
Table 5–4 of Missouri’s September 17,
2014 submittal shows that in the 2017
interim year, emissions levels in the
area will remain below the 2008 base
year for all pollutant categories.
While MDNR’s maintenance plan
projects maintenance of the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2025, as
noted above, EPA is providing advanced
notice that it expects St. Louis Area will
continue to maintain the standard
through 2028 for several reasons: All of
the Federal regulatory requirements that
enabled the Area to attain the NAAQS
will continue to be in effect and
enforceable after the ten-year
maintenance period and overall
emissions are projected to decline
significantly through 2025. Again,
because there is no indication that
emissions will suddenly increase in
2026, 2027 and 2028 in an amount that
results in overall emissions in the area
exceeding attainment year inventory
levels, EPA is providing advanced
notice that it expects that the St. Louis
Area will continue to maintain the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2028.
d. Monitoring Network
There are currently 6 monitors
measuring PM2.5 in the Missouri portion
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of the St. Louis area.11 MDNR has
committed to continue operation of the
network in the area in compliance with
40 CFR part 58 and have thus addressed
the requirement for monitoring. EPA
approved Missouri’s 2016 monitoring
plan on December 29, 2016, see https://
www.epa.gov/ks/region-7-air-qualityprogram.
e. Verification of Continued Attainment
MDNR has the legal authority to
enforce and implement the
requirements of the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS maintenance plan. This
includes the authority to adopt,
implement and enforce any subsequent
emissions control contingency measures
determined to be necessary to correct
future PM2.5 attainment problems.
MDNR will track the progress of the
maintenance plan by performing future
reviews of triennial emission
inventories for the St. Louis area as
required in the Air Emissions Reporting
Rule (AERR). For these periodic
inventories, MDNR will review the
11 One monitor in the Missouri portion of the St.
Louis area is a middle scale monitor and is not
comparable to the 1997 PM2.5 Annual NAAQS.
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assumptions made for the purpose of
the maintenance demonstration
concerning projected growth of activity
levels.
f. Contingency Measures in the
Maintenance Plan.
Section 175A of the CAA requires that
a maintenance plan include such
contingency measures as EPA deems
necessary to assure that the state will
promptly correct a violation of the
NAAQS that occurs after redesignation.
The maintenance plan should identify
the contingency measures to be adopted,
a schedule and procedure for adoption
and implementation, and a time limit
for action by the state. A state should
also identify specific indicators to be
used to determine when the
contingency measures need to be
implemented. The maintenance plan
must include a requirement that a state
will implement all measures with
respect to control of the pollutant that
were contained in the SIP before
redesignation of the area to attainment
in accordance with section 175A(d).
The contingency plan included in the
submittal includes a triggering
mechanism to determine when
contingency measures are needed and a
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process of developing and
implementing appropriate control
measures. MDNR will use actual
ambient monitoring data as the
triggering event to determine when
contingency measures should be
implemented.
Missouri has identified two different
levels of corrective responses should the
annual PM2.5 level exceed the NAAQS
in any year. A level I trigger occurs
when the annual average monitored
PM2.5 concentration exceeds 15.0 mg/m3
in any year at any monitoring station in
the nonattainment area as described in
the state’s submittal for the St. Louis
area.
MDNR will evaluate a level I
condition, if it occurs, as expeditiously
as practicable to determine the causes of
the ambient PM2.5 increase. If adverse
emission trends are likely to continue,
MDNR will first evaluate and
subsequently adopt and implement
control measures, taking into
consideration the ease of
implementation and the technical and
economic feasibility of selected
measures, as outlined in the state’s plan
no later than twenty-four months after
quality-assured ambient data has been
entered into EPA’s Air Quality System
(AQS) database indicating a level I
trigger.
A level II trigger is activated when
any violation of the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS at any Federal reference
method monitor in the St. Louis
maintenance area is recorded, based on
quality-assured monitoring data. In this
event, MDNR will conduct a
comprehensive study to determine the
cause of the violation within six months
of the triggering event. Selected
measures will be implemented as
expeditiously as practicable, taking into
consideration the ease of
implementation and the technical and
economic feasibility of selected
measures, as outlined in the state’s plan
no later than twenty-four months after
quality-assured ambient data has been
entered into EPA’s AQS database
indicating a level II trigger.
The comprehensive measures will be
selected from the following types of
measures, as further detailed in the
state’s submission, or from any other
measure deemed appropriate and
effective at the time the selection is
made by MDNR:
• Controls for local individual
sources with significant effects on the
monitored violation;
• Revisions to current rules that
control PM2.5 and PM2.5 precursor
emissions such as lowering limits and
broadening applicability thresholds of
current rules; and
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• Establishing new rules that control
PM2.5 and PM2.5 precursor emissions.
In addition to the triggers indicated
above, Missouri commits to compiling
and monitoring PM2.5 and PM2.5
precursor emissions inventories for the
Missouri portion of the area every three
years throughout the duration of the
maintenance period to facilitate the
emissions trends analysis included in
the contingency plan under levels I and
II.
EPA is providing advanced notice of
its analysis that that the maintenance
plan adequately addresses the five basic
components of a maintenance plan:
Attainment emission inventory,
maintenance demonstration, monitoring
network, verification of continued
attainment, and a contingency plan.
Therefore, EPA is providing advanced
notice that it in a future action, it
intends to find that the maintenance
plan SIP revision submitted by MDNR
for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area meets the requirements of section
175A of the CAA and is approvable.
In addition, EPA is providing
advanced notice that it intends to
determine that the state submission has
met the public notice requirements for
SIP submissions in accordance with 40
CFR 51.102. The submission also
satisfied the completeness criteria of 40
CFR part 51, appendix V. As explained
above and in more detail in the
technical support document which is
part of this document, the revision
meets the substantive SIP requirements
of the CAA, including section 110 and
implementing regulations.
V. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the
state’s MVEBs?
Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new
transportation plans, programs, and
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 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
or any interim milestones. 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
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649
maintenance areas. Maintenance areas
are areas that were previously
nonattainment for a particular NAAQS
but have since been redesignated to
attainment with an approved CAA
section 175A maintenance plan for that
NAAQS.
Under the CAA, states are required to
submit at various times, control strategy
SIPs and maintenance plans for
nonattainment areas. These control
strategy SIPs (including RFP and
attainment demonstration) and
maintenance plans create MVEBs for
criteria pollutants and/or their
precursors to address pollution from
cars and trucks. Per 40 CFR part 93, a
MVEB must be established for the last
year of the maintenance plan. A state
may adopt MVEBs for other years as
well. A MVEB is the portion of the total
allowable emissions in the maintenance
demonstration that is allocated to
highway and transit vehicle use and
emissions. See 40 CFR 93.101. The
MVEBs serve as a ceiling on emissions
from an area’s planned transportation
system. The MVEBs concept is further
explained in the preamble to the
November 24, 1993, Transportation
Conformity Rule. See 58 FR 62188. The
preamble also describes how to
establish the MVEBs in the SIP and how
to revise the MVEBs.
After interagency consultation with
the transportation partners for the St.
Louis area, Missouri developed MVEBs
for NOX and PM2.5 for the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis nonattainment
area. Missouri has developed these
MVEBs for 2008 and 2025. The MVEBs
reflect the total on-road emissions for
2008 and 2025, plus an allocation from
the available NOX and PM2.5 safety
margin. Under 40 CFR 93.101, the term
‘‘safety margin’’ is the difference
between the attainment level (from all
sources) and the projected level of
emissions (from all sources) in the
maintenance plan. All or a portion of
the safety margin can be allocated to the
transportation sector; however, the total
emissions from all sources must remain
below the attainment level (40 CFR
93.124(a)). The NOX and PM2.5 MVEBs
and allocation from the safety margin
were developed in consultation with the
transportation partners and were added
to account for uncertainties in
population growth, changes in modeled
vehicle miles traveled, and new
emission factor models. The NOX and
PM2.5 MVEBs for the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area are identified in Table
9, below.
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TABLE 8—MISSOURI PORTION OF THE adequacy of the budgets either in the
ST. LOUIS AREA PM2.5 AND NOX final rulemaking on this maintenance
plan and redesignation request or by
2008 AND 2025 MVEBS
[tpy]
PM2.5
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
2008 Motor Vehicle Emissions
Budgets ....................................
2025 Mobile Emissions ...............
2025 Safety Margin Allocated
(20%) .......................................
2025 Motor Vehicle Emissions
Budgets ....................................
NOX
2,179
533
58,820
16,568
107
3,314
640
19,882
In an effort to accommodate future
variations in travel demand models
(TDM) results and the vehicle miles
traveled forecast when no change to the
network is planned, MDNR consulted
with the interagency consultation group,
including U.S. EPA Region 7, to
determine a reasonable approach to
address this variation. The projected
2025 annual on-road motor vehicle
emissions for direct PM2.5 and NOX are
533 and 16,568 tons, respectively.
A safety margin is necessary to
accommodate the variability, or worstcase scenarios that can occur due to
future planning assumptions. The
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area’s
available total safety margin for NOX is
52,429 and direct PM2.5 is 1,014.
However, Missouri is only using a
portion of this available safety margin.
The worst-case daily motor vehicle
emissions projection for PM2.5 is twenty
percent above the projected 2025 onroad emissions. For the PM2.5 MVEB,
the needed annual safety margin would
be twenty percent above the projected
533 tons for 2025 onroad emissions.
Therefore, the needed annual safety
margin for PM2.5 would be 107 tons
resulting in an overall MVEB of 640 tons
per year. The worst-case daily motor
vehicle emissions projection for NOX is
twenty percent above the projected
16,568 tons for 2025 on-road emissions.
Therefore, the needed annual safety
margin for the NOX MVEB would be
3,314 tons, resulting in an overall MVEB
of 19,882 tons per year.
The maintenance plan establishes
2008 and 2025 MVEBs for direct PM2.5
and NOX for the St. Louis area. EPA is
providing advanced notice that in a
future action it will initiate the process
for determining whether or not the
MVEBs are adequate for transportation
conformity purposes. The publication of
the future notice starts a 30-day public
comment period on the adequacy of the
submitted MVEBs. The comment period
will be concurrent with the comment
period on of the future action and
comments should be submitted to the
docket for that rulemaking. EPA may
choose to make its determination on the
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informing the state of the determination
in writing, and publishing a notice in
the Federal Register. EPA will also
update its adequacy web page to reflect
the decision on the adequacy of the
budgets (https://www.epa.gov/state-andlocal-transportation).12 EPA, through is
providing advanced notice, that it
intends to propose to approve the
MVEBs for use to determine
transportation conformity in the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area.
EPA has reviewed the budgets and the
entire maintenance plan and
redesignation request. In conducting
that review we applied the adequacy
criteria found in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4)
and found that the budgets satisfy all of
these criteria. For more information on
EPA’s review, see EPA’s ‘‘Emissions
Inventory and Motor Vehicle Emissions
Budget (MVEB) Technical Support
Document (TSD) for the Redesignation
Request and Maintenance Plan for the St
Louis, Missouri 1997 PM2.5
Nonattainment Area’’ available on line
at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No.
EPA–OAR–R07–2017–0734.
As discussed throughout this notice
EPA’s review of the redesignation
request and maintenance plan for this
area shows that the area has attained the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS and will
continue to maintain that NAAQS
through 2028. While budgets were
submitted for 2008 and 2025, EPA is
providing advanced notice that the
submitted motor vehicle emissions
budgets for NOX and PM2.5 for 2025 are
consistent with maintenance of the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS through at least
2028 for the reasons discussed above.
We are providing advanced notice
that we intend to approve the
redesignation request, maintenance plan
and the NOX and PM2.5 budgets
contained in the maintenance plan in a
subsequent action.
VI. What is EPA’s initial analysis of the
state’s 2008 emissions inventory?
EPA has reviewed Missouri’s
documentation of the emissions
inventory techniques and data sources
used for the derivation of the 2008
emissions estimates and has found that
Missouri has thoroughly documented
the derivation of these emissions
inventories. The submittal from the state
shows that at the time the 2008
emissions inventory was the most
12 For additional information on the adequacy
process, refer to 40 CFR 93.118(f) and the
discussion of the adequacy process in the preamble
to the 2004 final transportation conformity rule. (69
FR 40039–40043)
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Sfmt 4702
complete emissions inventory for PM2.5
and PM2.5 precursors in the St. Louis
area. Based upon EPA’s review, we
propose to find that 2008 emissions
inventories are as complete and accurate
as possible given the input data
available to Missouri. Therefore, we are
providing advanced notice and taking
comment on the 2008 NH3, VOC, NOX,
direct PM2.5 and SO2 emissions
inventories as a base year inventory.
Final approval of the 2008 base year
emissions inventory will satisfy the
emissions inventory requirement under
section 172(c)(3) of the CAA. For more
information on EPA’s analysis of the
2008 base year emissions inventory, see
EPA’s ‘‘Emissions Inventory and Motor
Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB)
Technical Support Document (TSD) for
the Redesignation Request and
Maintenance Plan for the St, Louis,
Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment
Area’’ available on line at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No.
EPA–OAR–R07–2017–0734.
VII. Summary of Advanced Notice of
Proposed Actions
EPA is providing advanced notice on
several actions regarding the area’s
redesignation and maintenance of the
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. We are processing
this as an advanced notice of proposed
action because we are soliciting
comments on the information provided
in this notice and the appropriate of
EPA’s future action. First, EPA is giving
advanced notice that in a future action
it intends to determine, based on data
for the 2015–2017 monitoring period,
and after review of all available data in
AQS, that the Missouri portion of the St.
Louis area is attaining the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA is also providing
advanced notice that it believes the St.
Louis area has met the criteria under
CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) for
redesignation from nonattainment to
attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS. Therefore, EPA is providing
advanced notice and taking comment on
Missouri’s request to redesignate the St.
Louis area and change the legal
designation of Franklin, Jefferson, St.
Charles, and St. Louis and the City of St.
Louis from nonattainment to attainment
for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
Second, EPA is providing advanced
notice and taking comment on the
maintenance plan for the St. Louis area,
including the PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs for
2008 and 2025 submitted by Missouri.
The maintenance plan demonstrates
that the area will continue to maintain
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and the
budgets meet all of the adequacy criteria
contained in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and
(5).
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In addition, EPA is providing
advanced notice of proposed approval
of Missouri’s 2008 base year emissions
inventory in accordance with section
172(c)(3) of the CAA. If finalized,
approval of the redesignation request
would change the official designation of
St. Louis area for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS, found at 40 CFR part 81, from
nonattainment to attainment.
Dated: December 15, 2017.
James B. Gulliford,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.
[FR Doc. 2018–00037 Filed 1–4–18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 81
[EPA–HQ–OAR–2017–0548; FRL–9972–84–
OAR]
EPA Responses to Certain State
Designation Recommendations for the
2015 Ozone National Ambient Air
Quality Standards: Notice of
Availability and Public Comment
Period
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notification of availability and
public comment period.
AGENCY:
Notice is hereby given that
the Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) has posted on our public
electronic docket and internet website
responses to certain state and tribal area
designation recommendations for the
2015 Ozone National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) (2015
Ozone NAAQS). These responses
SUMMARY:
include our intended designations for
the affected areas. The EPA invites the
public to review and provide input on
our intended designations during the
comment period specified in the DATES
section. The EPA sent its responses
directly to the states and tribes on or
about December 20, 2017. The EPA
intends to make final designation
determinations for the areas of the
country addressed by these responses
no earlier than 120 days from the date
the EPA notified states and tribes of the
agency’s intended designations.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before February 5, 2018. Please refer
to SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for
additional information on the comment
period.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–HQ–
OAR–2017–0548, at https://
www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments.
Once submitted, comments cannot be
edited or removed from regulations.gov.
The EPA may publish any comment
received to our public docket. Do not
submit electronically any information
you consider to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other
information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Multimedia
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be
accompanied by a written comment.
The written comment is considered the
official comment and should include
discussion of all points you wish to
make. The EPA will generally not
consider comments or comment
contents located outside of the primary
submission (i.e., on the Web, Cloud, or
other file sharing system). For
additional submission methods, the full
651
EPA public comment policy,
information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on
making effective comments, please visit
https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/
commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For
general questions concerning this
action, please contact Denise Scott, U.S.
EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and
Standards, Air Quality Policy Division,
C539–01, Research Triangle Park, NC
27709, telephone (919) 541–4280, email
at scott.denise@epa.gov. The EPA
contacts listed at the beginning of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION can answer
questions regarding areas in a particular
EPA Regional office.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Regional Office Contacts:
Region I—Richard Burkhart (617) 918–
1664
Region II—Omar Hammad (212) 637–
3347
Region III—Maria Pino (215) 814–2181
Region IV—Jane Spann (404) 562–9029
Region V—Kathleen D’Agostino (312)
886–1767
Region VI—Carrie Paige (214) 665–6521
Region VII—Lachala Kemp (913) 551–
7214
Region VIII—Chris Dresser (303) 312–
6385
Region IX—Laura Lawrence (415) 972–
3407
Region X—Karl Pepple (206) 553–1778
The public may inspect the
recommendations from the states and
tribes, our recent letters notifying the
affected states and tribes of our intended
designations, and area-specific technical
support information at the following
locations:
daltland on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with PROPOSALS
Regional offices
States
Dave Conroy, Chief, Air Programs Branch, EPA New England, 1 Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA 02114–2023, (617) 918–1661.
Richard Ruvo, Chief, Air Programs Branch, EPA Region II, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, NY 10007–1866, (212) 637–4014.
Cynthia H. Stahl, Acting Associate Director, Office of Air Program Planning, EPA Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103–
2187, (215) 814–2180.
R. Scott Davis, Chief, Air Planning Branch, EPA Region IV, Sam Nunn
Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street SW, 12th Floor, Atlanta,
GA 30303, (404) 562–9127.
John Mooney, Chief, Air Programs Branch, EPA Region V, 77 West
Jackson Street, Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 886–6043.
Alan Shar, Acting Chief, Air Planning Section, EPA Region VI, 1445
Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202, (214) 665–6691.
Mike Jay, Chief, Air Programs Branch, EPA Region VII, 11201 Renner
Blvd., Lenexa, KS 66129, (913) 551–7460.
Monica Morales, Air Program Director, EPA Region VIII, 1595
Wynkoop Street, Denver, CO 80202–1129, (303) 312–6936.
Doris Lo, Air Planning Office, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street,
San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 972–3959.
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island,
and Vermont.
New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and Virgin Islands.
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:13 Jan 04, 2018
Jkt 244001
PO 00000
Frm 00038
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Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and
West Virginia.
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and Tennessee.
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin.
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska.
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming.
American Samoa, Arizona, California, Guam, Hawaii, Nevada, Northern
Mariana Islands, Navajo Nation, and the Hopi Tribe.
Sfmt 4702
E:\FR\FM\05JAP1.SGM
05JAP1
Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 4 (Friday, January 5, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 636-651]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-00037]
=======================================================================
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52 and 81
[EPA-R07-OAR-2017-0734; FRL 9972-64-Region 7]
Air Plan Approval and Air Quality Designation; MO; Redesignation
of the Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Missouri-Illinois Area to
Attainment of the 1997 Annual Standard for Fine Particulate Matter and
Approval of Associated Maintenance Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Advanced notice of proposed rulemaking.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is issuing this
Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPR) to inform the public of
currently available information that will be used by the Administrator
to issue a subsequent action to propose redesignation of the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis MO-IL nonattainment area for the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS, (hereafter referred to as the ``St. Louis
area'' or ``area''). On September 2, 2011, Missouri, through the
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) submitted a request for
EPA to redesignate the Missouri portion of the St. Louis MO-IL
nonattainment area to attainment for the 1997 Annual National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for fine particulate matter
(PM2.5) and approve a state implementation plan (SIP)
revision containing a maintenance plan for the Missouri portion of the
area. In advance of any potential rulemaking to address the state of
Missouri's request, EPA is specifically requesting early input and
comments on its interpretation that currently available data support a
finding that the area will be attaining the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS based on air quality monitoring data from 2015-
2017, and on EPA's advanced notice of its expectation that the state's
plan for maintaining the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS for the St.
Louis Area (maintenance plan) including the associated motor vehicle
emission budgets (MVEBs) for nitrogen oxides (NOX) and
PM2.5 for the years 2008-2025 is approvable. EPA will take
any information received from this ANPR into consideration when
developing a proposed action for redesignating the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis Area to attainment for the 1997 Annual PM2.5
NAAQS.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before February 5, 2018.
[[Page 637]]
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-
OAR-2017-0734 to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The EPA may publish any
comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI)
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA
will generally not consider comments or comment contents located
outside of the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA
public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions,
and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lachala Kemp, Environmental Protection
Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard,
Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at (913) 551 7214, or by email at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and
``our'' refer to EPA. This section provides additional information by
addressing the following:
Table of Contents
I. What is the purpose of this Advanced Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking?
II. What future EPA action is discussed in this Advanced Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking?
III. What is the background for EPA's advanced notice?
IV. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's request?
V. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's MVEBs?
VI. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's 2008 emissions
inventory?
VII. Summary of Advanced Notice of Proposed Actions
I. What is the purpose of this Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking?
The primary purpose of this Advanced Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
or ANPR is to provide the public an opportunity to provide input on the
EPA's approach and initial review of Missouri's request to redesignate
the Missouri portion of the St. Louis bi-state nonattainment area to
attainment for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. Once the 2015-2017
quality assured and certified air monitoring data for the entire bi-
state nonattainment area is available, EPA intends to take action
determining if the area has met the standard and if the state of
Missouri has satisfied the other requirements for redesignating a
nonattainment area to attainment as provided by the Clean Air Act (CAA
or Act). Specifically, section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA allows for
redesignation to attainment provided the following criteria are met:
(1) The Administrator determines that the area has attained the
applicable NAAQS, (2) the Administrator has fully approved the
applicable implementation plan for the area under CAA section 110(k),
(3) the Administrator determines that the improvement in air quality is
due to permanent and enforceable reductions in emissions resulting from
implementation of the applicable SIP and applicable Federal air
pollutant control regulations and other permanent and enforceable
reductions, (4) the Administrator has fully approved a maintenance plan
for the area as meeting the requirements of CAA section 175A, and (5)
the state containing such area has met all requirements applicable to
the area under section 110 and part D of title I of the CAA.
EPA has reviewed Missouri's submittal and additional information
and recognizes that the state's information supports the St. Louis
area's redesignation for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Based
on historical and air quality data collected for the majority of 2017,
it is extremely likely the area will have an attaining design value
based on 2015-2017 air quality data. Provided air quality data for the
remainder of the 2017 calendar year continues to support a finding of
attainment and EPA approves the emissions inventory submitted with the
maintenance plan, EPA expects to approve the area's redesignation.
II. What future EPA action is discussed in this Advanced Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking?
EPA is providing advanced notice on future actions related to
Missouri's request that the Agency determine that the St. Louis bi-
state nonattainment area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 National
Ambient Air Quality Standard attains the standard and the Agency
officially redesignate the area from nonattainment to attainment.
Missouri submitted their first request to determine attainment and
redesignation on September 1, 2011. The state then supplemented and
revised their request on March 31, 2014, and on September 17, 2014.\1\
In this notice, when EPA refers to Missouri's submission, we are
referring to information provided in the 2011 and 2014 submissions and
the additional clarifying information together unless otherwise
specified. EPA is providing advanced notice related to information that
supports redesignation from nonattainment to attainment for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS and evaluation of Missouri's 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS maintenance plan, which includes the 2008 and
2025 NOX and PM2.5 MVEBs for the St. Louis area.
EPA evaluated Missouri's request and plan consistent with section 175A
of the CAA and EPA's supplemental analysis that the area will continue
to maintain for ten years following redesignation. The Missouri
counties comprising the St. Louis area are Franklin, Jefferson, St.
Charles and St. Louis. The City of St. Louis is also part of the
nonattainment area.
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\1\ The date of the original submission is September 2, 2011.
Missouri supplemented and revised their request on March 31, 2014,
September 17, 2014, and May 23, 2017. The May 27, 2017, letter
requested EPA to take action on prior submission, but did not
include additional documentation. EPA considered all submissions in
reviewing and proposing this action.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. What is the background for EPA's advanced notice?
Fine particle pollution can be emitted directly or formed
secondarily in the atmosphere. The main precursors of secondary
PM2.5 are sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides
(NOX), ammonia (NH3), and volatile organic
compounds (VOC). See, e.g., 72 FR 20586, 72 FR 20589. Sulfates are a
type of secondary particle formed from SO2 emissions of
power plants and industrial facilities. Nitrates, another common type
of secondary particle, are formed from NOX emissions of
power plants, automobiles, and other combustion sources of fossil fuel.
On July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated the first air quality standards
for PM2.5. 62 FR 38652. EPA promulgated an annual standard
at a level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter ([mu]g/m\3\), based on a
three-year average of annual mean PM2.5 concentrations. In
the same rulemaking, EPA promulgated a 24-hour standard of 65 [mu]g/
m\3\, based on a three-year average of the 98th percentile of 24-hour
concentrations. On October 17, 2006, at 71 FR 61144, EPA retained the
annual average NAAQS at 15 [mu]g/m\3\ but revised the 24-hour NAAQS to
35 [mu]g/m\3\, based again on the three-year average of the 98th
percentile of 24-hour
[[Page 638]]
concentrations.\2\ Under EPA regulations at 40 CFR part 50, the primary
and secondary 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS are attained when the
annual arithmetic mean concentration, as determined in accordance with
40 CFR part 50, appendix N, is less than or equal to 15.0 [micro]g/m\3\
at all relevant monitoring sites in the subject area over a three-year
period.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ In response to legal challenges of the annual standard
promulgated in 2006, the United States Courts of Appeals for the
District of Columbia Circuit (D.C. Cir.) remanded that NAAQS to EPA
for further consideration. See American Farm Bureau Federation and
National Pork Producers Council, et al. v. EPA, 559 F.3d (D.C. Cir.
2009). However, given that the 1997 and 2006 annual NAAQS are
essentially identical, attainment of the 1997 annual NAAQS would
also indicate attainment of the remanded 2006 annual NAAQS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On January 5, 2005, at 70 FR 944, and supplemented on April 14,
2005, at 70 FR 19844, EPA designated the St. Louis area as
nonattainment for the 1997 PM2.5 annual NAAQS. In that
action, EPA defined the 1997 annual PM2.5 St. Louis
nonattainment area to include Jefferson, Franklin, St. Charles, and St.
Louis Counties along with the City of St. Louis on the Missouri side,
and Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties as well as the Baldwin
Township of Randolph County on the Illinois side of the nonattainment
area.
On November 13, 2009, EPA promulgated designations for the 24-hour
standard established in 2006, designating the St. Louis area as
attainment for that NAAQS (74 FR 58688). That action clarified that the
St. Louis area was classified as unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997
24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA did not promulgate designations for
the 2006 annual PM2.5 NAAQS because that NAAQS was
essentially identical to the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and
today's action only addresses the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
designation.
All 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS areas were designated under subpart
1. Subpart 1 contains the general requirements for nonattainment areas
for any pollutant governed by a NAAQS and is less prescriptive than the
other subparts of title I, part D. On April 25, 2007 (72 FR 20586), EPA
promulgated its Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule, codified
at 40 CFR part 52, subpart Z, in which the Agency provided guidance for
state and tribal plans to implement the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS.
The DC Circuit remanded the Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule
and the final rule entitled ``Implementation of the New Source Review
(NSR) Program for Particulate Matter Less than 2.5 Micrometers
(PM2.5)'' (73 FR 28321, May 16, 2008) (collectively, ``1997
PM2.5 Implementation Rules'') to EPA on January 4, 2013, in
Natural Resources Defense Council v. EPA, 706 F.3d 428 (D.C. Cir.
2013). The Court found that EPA erred implementing the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS pursuant to the general implementation
provisions of subpart 1, rather than the particulate matter-specific
provisions of subpart 4.
On July 29, 2016, EPA issued a rule entitled, ``Fine Particulate
Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards: State Implementation
Plan Requirements'' (PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule) that
clarifies how states should meet the statutory SIP requirements that
apply to areas designated nonattainment for any PM2.5 NAAQS
under subparts 1 and 4. See 81 FR 58010 (August 24, 2016). It does so
by establishing regulatory requirements and providing guidance that is
applicable to areas that are currently designated nonattainment for
existing PM2.5 NAAQS and areas that are designated
nonattainment for any PM2.5 NAAQS in the future. In
addition, the rule responds to the D.C. Circuit's remand of the 1997
PM2.5 Implementation Rules. As a result, the requirements of
the rule also govern future actions associated with states' ongoing
implementation efforts for the 1997 and 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS.
In the PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule, EPA revoked the 1997
primary Annual PM2.5 NAAQS in areas that had always been
attainment for that NAAQS, and in areas that had been designated as
nonattainment but that were redesignated to attainment before October
24, 2016, the rule's effective date. See 81 FR 58010 (August 24, 2016).
EPA also finalized a provision that revokes the 1997 primary Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS in areas that are redesignated to attainment for
that NAAQS after October 24, 2016, effective on the effective date of
the redesignation of the area to attainment for that NAAQS. See 40 CFR
50.13(d). EPA is providing advanced notice of its expectation to
redesignate the St. Louis area to attainment for the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS and to approve the CAA 175A maintenance plan for
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS in a future action, for the
reasons described elsewhere in this advanced notice.\3\ If the action
is finalized, the 1997 primary Annual PM2.5 NAAQS will be
revoked in the Missouri portion of the St. Louis Area on the effective
date of the redesignation. Beginning on that date, the Missouri portion
of the St. Louis Area will no longer be subject to transportation or
general conformity requirements for the 1997 Annual PM2.5
NAAQS due to the revocation of the primary NAAQS. See 81 FR 58125. The
Missouri portion of the St. Louis Area will be required to implement
the CAA section 175A maintenance plan for the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS and the prevention of significant deterioration
(PSD) program for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Once
approved, the maintenance plan can only be revised if the revision
meets the requirements of CAA Section 110(l) and, if applicable CAA
section 193. The Area would not be required to submit a second 10-year
maintenance plan for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS. See 81 FR
58144.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ CAA Section 175A(a) established the requirements that must
be fulfilled by nonattainment areas in order to be redesignated to
attainment. That section only requires that nonattainment areas for
the primary standard submit a plan addressing maintenance of the
primary NAAQS in order to be redesignated to attainment; it does not
require nonattainment areas for secondary NAAQS to submit
maintenance plans in order to be redesignated to attainment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
IV. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's request?
As stated above, EPA is providing advanced notice that in a future
action it intends to formally act on Missouri's request to redesignate
the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area to attainment for the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS and Missouri's plan for maintaining the
1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS for the St. Louis portion of the
area, including finding the associated MVEBs for 2008 and 2025 as
adequate using criteria in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and (5). EPA is issuing
this advanced notice of proposed rulemaking because the information
currently before the agency strongly supports a redesignation of the
St. Louis area to attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS, with the exception of a small amount of air quality data for the
2017 calendar year, which EPA expects the states of Missouri and
Illinois to certify in early 2018. Assuming, as EPA fully expects, that
the remaining air quality data continue to support a finding that the
area will have attained the 1997 standard based on monitoring data from
2015-2017, EPA intends to propose approval of Missouri's redesignation
request for its portion of the St. Louis 1997 PM2.5
nonattainment area. EPA's evaluation of whether Missouri's request for
the area satisfies the five redesignation criteria provided under CAA
section 107(d)(3)(E), based on currently available information, is
discussed in greater detail in the following paragraphs of this
section.
Criteria (1)--Attainment of the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS
For redesignating a nonattainment area to attainment, the CAA
requires EPA to determine that the area has
[[Page 639]]
attained the applicable NAAQS (CAA section 107(d)(3)(E)(i)). An area's
attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS is determined in
accordance with 40 CFR 50.7 and appendix N of part 50, which requires
three complete, consecutive calendar years of quality-assured air
quality monitoring data. To attain this NAAQS, the three-year average
of the annual arithmetic mean concentration, as determined in
accordance with 40 CFR part 50, appendix N, must be less than or equal
to 15.0 [micro]g/m\3\ at all relevant monitoring sites in the subject
area over a three-year period. The relevant data must be collected and
quality-assured in accordance with 40 CFR part 58 and recorded in the
EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database.
On May 23, 2011, EPA determined that the St. Louis area was
attaining the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS (76 FR 29652). In that
action, EPA reviewed PM2.5 monitoring data from monitoring
stations in the area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for
2007-2009. This data was quality-assured and recorded in AQS. The
design value for 2007-2009 was 14.1 [mu]g/m\3\ for the St. Louis area
which met the NAAQS. On June 27, 2012 (77 FR 38183), EPA also finalized
a determination that the St. Louis area attained the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date of April 5,
2010.
In August of 2014, EPA Region 7 received notice that EPA Region 5
conducted a technical systems audit regarding the weighing of
PM2.5 samples in Illinois. The audit revealed that the Cook
County Department of Environmental Control, which weighs all of the
filters in Illinois' monitoring network, did not have the appropriate
equipment for determining whether the laboratory conditions met the
temperature and humidity criteria in 40 CFR 50 appendix L for proper
conditioning of filters. The instantaneous temperature and humidity
information collected during the audit suggested that many of the
sample weighings failed to meet these criteria. As a result, no filter-
based PM2.5 site in Illinois has sufficient, valid Federal
Reference Method (FRM) data from 2011 through 2013. EPA is aware that
the monitors in the Illinois portion of the St. Louis area started
recording valid data in AQS in the 3rd quarter of 2014 and that a valid
annual mean can only be determined, to date, for the years 2015 and
2016 from those Illinois monitors. EPA completed a review of the
recorded data from the entire nonattainment area from 2015, 2016, and
the first two quarters of 2017 and believes that this data is
indicative of air quality that will support a finding that the area is
attaining the 1997 PM2.5 annual NAAQS based on 2015-2017 air
quality monitoring data. Assuming the complete, quality assured data
for 2017 continues to support that finding, EPA in a future action
intends to take future action regarding Missouri's request to
redesignate the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area to attainment
for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
To evaluate how likely it is that the area will have an attaining
design value, once all air quality data for the 2017 calendar year is
complete and certified, EPA calculated critical values that would be
required for the area to be in violation of the NAAQS. EPA has
calculated the critical values in two ways; for the entire year of 2017
and for the remaining two quarters of 2017. Table 1 provides the area's
critical values. Both the annual and quarterly critical values greatly
exceed recently recorded levels, indicating that it is extremely
unlikely that the area's design value will be in violation of the NAAQS
based on 2015-2017 air quality data. The data analysis of critical
values in 2017 demonstrates that all the monitors should easily attain
the PM2.5 NAAQS as the critical values are well above what
is currently measured or historically measured at any of the St. Louis
PM2.5 monitors.
Table 1--Critical Values for the St. Louis Area for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS
[[mu]g/m\3\]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Critical value
State County Monitor AQS site ID 2015 2016 2017 DV \2\ Critical 3rd/4th qtrs
\1\ value \3\ \4\
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri........................ St. Louis City..... Blair Street (FRM) 29-510-0085 10.4 8.5 7.4 8.8 26.1 44.8
Missouri........................ St. Louis City..... South Broadway.... 29-510-0007 11.1 8.1 7.0 8.7 25.8 44.6
Missouri........................ Jefferson.......... Arnold West....... 29-099-0019 11.6 8.3 8.0 9.3 25.1 42.2
Missouri........................ St. Louis County... Ladue............. 29-189-3001 10.3 8.7 9.2 9.4 26.0 42.8
Missouri........................ St. Louis City..... Forest Park....... 29-510-0094 9.2 8.7 7.7 8.5 27.1 46.5
Illinois........................ Madison............ Alton............. 17-119-2009 9.0 8.8 8.6 8.8 27.2 45.8
Illinois........................ Madison............ Wood River........ 17-119-3007 9.1 8.7 8.2 8.7 27.2 46.2
Illinois........................ Madison............ Granite City...... 17-119-1007 10.4 9.1 8.8 9.4 25.5 42.2
Illinois........................ St. Clair.......... East St. Louis.... 17-163-0010 10.7 10.0 8.3 9.7 24.3 40.3
Illinois........................ Jersey............. Jerseyville....... 17-083-1001 7.7 7.9 8.9 8.2 29.4 49.9
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Only first 2 quarters of 2017 data are complete and reported to AQS.
\2\ 2015-2017 design values not yet valid since only the first 2 quarters of 2017 data being reported to AQS.
\3\ To determine the critical value for the 2012 NAAQS, and knowing that the average annual value over 3 years must be less than or equal to 15 [micro]g/
m\3\, EPA used the following formula (y1 + y2 + y3)/3 <= 15 solving for year 3 (y3). Where y3 = 45 - y1 - y2 is the critical value for y3 in the
equation.
\4\ Having 2 quarters of data in 2017 (y3), EPA was able to determine how high the average of the last two quarters could be by utilizing the following
formula (Q12 + Q34)/2 <= annual critical value where Q34 <= 2 * CV - Q12.
If there is any indication that the area is not attaining the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS, EPA will not go forward with acting on
Missouri's request to redesignate the area. MDNR has committed to
continue monitoring in this area in accordance with 40 CFR part 58.
In summary, EPA is providing for the public's review the currently
available air quality data, including all data submitted by Missouri to
AQS, as well as EPA's analysis of the critical values for both 2017 and
the last two quarters of 2017 which indicate it is extremely likely
that the area will have an attaining design value once the 2017 data
are complete and quality-assured. EPA is requesting the public's
comments and feedback on the data and analysis provided, and is
providing advanced notice that it intends to use this information in
support of a
[[Page 640]]
proposal for redesignation of the St. Louis area.
Criteria (2)--the Area Has a Fully Approved SIP Under Section 110(k);
and Criteria (5)--The Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Area Has Met
All Applicable Requirements Under Section 110 and Part D of the CAA
For redesignating a nonattainment area to attainment, the CAA
requires EPA to determine that the state has met all applicable
requirements under section 110 and part D of title I of the CAA (CAA
section 107(d)(3)(E)(v)) and that the state has a fully approved SIP
under section 110(k) for the area (CAA section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii)). EPA
is providing advanced notice of its review of Missouri's redesignation
and believes Missouri has submittal all applicable SIP requirements for
purposes of redesignation for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area under section 110 of the CAA (general SIP requirements) and part D
of title I.
EPA has ascertained which requirements are applicable to the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area and, if applicable, determined
that they are, or will be, fully approved through this action under
section 110(k) of the CAA. See sections (a) and (b) below. EPA notes
that SIPs must be fully approved only with respect to requirements that
were due prior to submittal of the complete redesignation request.
a. The Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Area Has Met All Applicable
Requirements for Purposes of Redesignation Under Section 110 and Part D
of the CAA
General SIP requirements. Section 110(a)(2) of title I of the CAA
delineates the general requirements for a SIP, which include
enforceable emissions limitations and other control measures, means, or
techniques; provisions for the establishment and operation of
appropriate devices necessary to collect data on ambient air quality;
and programs to enforce the limitations. General SIP elements and
requirements are delineated in section 110(a)(2). These
``infrastructure'' requirements include, but are not limited to, the
following: (1) Submittal of a SIP that has been adopted by the state
after reasonable public notice and hearing; (2) provisions for
establishment and operation of appropriate procedures needed to monitor
ambient air quality; (3) implementation of a source permit program;
provisions for the implementation of part C requirements (Prevention of
Significant Deterioration (PSD)); (4) provisions for the implementation
of part D requirements (Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) permit
programs); (5) provisions for air pollution modeling; and (6)
provisions for public and local agency participation in planning and
emission control rule development.
EPA has long interpreted section 110(a)(2) elements that are
neither connected with nonattainment plan submissions nor linked with
an area's attainment status not to be applicable requirements for
purposes of redesignation, under the theory that states were required
to fulfill these obligations as to a particular NAAQS regardless of the
designation status of any specific area. As noted above, this advanced
notice of redesignation also has the effect of revoking the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS for the St. Louis Area, and thus the section
110(a)(2) general SIP requirements will no longer be in force for the
1997 standard upon the effective date of the redesignation. However,
the 1997 standard was superseded by the more stringent 2012
PM2.5 NAAQS, and all states are required to comply with
section 110(a)(2) for that more stringent standard. The Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area (and Missouri in general) continues to be
subject to the section 110(a)(2) general SIP requirements for the more
stringent 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS notwithstanding the expected
redesignation and revocation. In any case, EPA has previously approved
provisions of Missouri's SIP addressing CAA section 110(a)(2)
requirements including provisions addressing the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS on May 8, 2007 (72 FR 25975), and June 21, 2013 (78 FR 37457). In
summary, EPA does not interpret the section 110(a)(2) requirements to
be applicable for purposes of redesignation under sections
107(d)(3)(E)(ii) and (v), and in any case those provisions have been
fully approved.
Part D Requirements. EPA is providing advanced notice that upon
final approval of the 2008 comprehensive emissions inventory discussed
in section VII of this rulemaking, the Missouri SIP will meet the
applicable SIP requirements for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area for purposes of redesignation under part D of the CAA. Subpart 1
of part D, found in sections 171-179 of the CAA, sets forth the basic
nonattainment requirements applicable to all nonattainment areas. For
purposes of evaluating this redesignation request, the applicable part
D, subpart 1 SIP requirements for all nonattainment areas are contained
in sections 172(c)(1)-(9) and in section 176. A thorough discussion of
the applicable requirements contained in section 172 can be found in
the General Preamble for Implementation of title I (57 FR 13498, April
16, 1992). In section V of this proposed rulemaking, EPA discusses the
relationship between this proposed redesignation action and subpart 4
of part D.
Subpart 1 section 172 Requirements. Sections 172 to 175 of the CAA,
set forth the basic nonattainment plan requirements applicable to
PM2.5 nonattainment areas. Under CAA section 172, states
with nonattainment areas must submit plans providing for timely
attainment and meet a variety of other requirements. On May 23, 2011
(76 FR 29652), EPA made a determination that the St. Louis area had
attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. This determination was
based upon complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air
monitoring data that showed that the area monitored attainment of the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS during the 2007-2009 monitoring
period. Pursuant to 40 CFR 51.1004(c), upon determination by EPA that
an area designated nonattainment for the PM2.5 NAAQS has
attained the standard, the requirement for such an area to submit an
attainment demonstration and associated reasonably achievable control
technology (RACT)/reasonably achievable control measures (RACM), a
reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, contingency measures, and other
planning SIPs related to the attainment of the PM2.5 NAAQS
are suspended until the area is redesignated to attainment or EPA
determines that the area has violated the PM2.5 NAAQS, at
which time such plans are again required to be submitted. As a result
of the determination of attainment, the only remaining requirement
under CAA section 172 to be considered is the emissions inventory
required to be submitted and approved by EPA under CAA section
172(c)(3).
In this advanced notice, as discussed further in section VI, EPA is
providing advanced notice of Missouri's 2008 base year emissions
inventory and intends to approve the emissions inventory in a future
action in accordance with section 172(c)(3) of the CAA.\4\ Because
Missouri withdrew their nonattainment SIP submittal, which included the
2002 baseyear emissions inventory after EPA finalized the Clean Data
Determination (76 FR 29652) for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
nonattainment area in
[[Page 641]]
2011, EPA believes the 2008 base year emissions inventory is an
appropriate baseyear emissions inventory requirement under section
172(c)(3) of the CAA. For more information on EPA's analysis of the
2008 base year emissions inventory, see EPA's ``Emissions Inventory and
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB) Technical Support Document (TSD)
for the Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the St Louis,
Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment Area'', available online
at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2017-0734.
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\4\ EPA's longstanding guidance on redesignations, entitled
``Processing Redesignations to Attainment,'' John Calcagni 1992,
notes that the subpart 1 emissions inventory requirement is
satisfied by the maintenance plan inventory requirements.
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The General Preamble for Implementation of title I also discusses
the evaluation of these requirements in the context of EPA's
consideration of a redesignation request. The General Preamble sets
forth EPA's view of applicable requirements for purposes of evaluating
redesignation requests when an area is attaining the standard. See
General Preamble for Implementation of title I (57 FR 13498, April 16,
1992).
Because attainment has been reached for the area, no additional
measures are needed for attainment, and CAA section 172(c)(1)
requirements for an attainment demonstration and RACT/RACM are no
longer considered to be applicable for purposes of redesignation as
long as the area continues to attain the standard until redesignation.
See 40 CFR 51.1004(c). The RFP requirement under CAA section 172(c)(2)
and contingency measures requirement under CAA section 172(c)(9) are
similarly not relevant for purposes of redesignation.
Section 172(c)(4) of the CAA requires the identification and
quantification of allowable emissions for new and modified major
stationary sources in an area, and CAA section 172(c)(5) requires
source permits for the construction and operation of new and modified
major stationary sources anywhere in the nonattainment area. EPA has
determined that, since the PSD requirements will apply after
redesignation, areas being redesignated need not comply with the
requirement that a nonattainment NSR (NNSR) program be approved prior
to redesignation, provided that the area demonstrates maintenance of
the NAAQS without part D NSR. A more detailed rationale for this view
is described in a memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator
for Air and Radiation, dated October 14, 1994, entitled, ``Part D New
Source Review Requirements for Areas Requesting Redesignation to
Attainment.'' Nevertheless, Missouri currently has an approved NNSR
program and Missouri's PSD program for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS will become effective in the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area upon redesignation to attainment.
Section 172(c)(6) of the CAA requires the SIP to contain control
measures necessary to provide for attainment of the NAAQS. Because
attainment has been reached for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area, no additional measures are needed to provide for attainment.
Section 172(c)(7) of the CAA requires the SIP to meet the
applicable provisions of CAA section 110(a)(2). As noted previously, we
believe the Missouri SIP meets the requirements of CAA section
110(a)(2) that are applicable for purposes of redesignation.
Subpart 1 Section 176 Conformity Requirements. Section 176(c) of
the CAA requires states to establish criteria and procedures to ensure
that Federally supported or funded projects conform to the air quality
planning goals in the applicable SIP. The requirement to determine
transportation conformity applies to transportation plans, programs,
and projects developed, funded or approved under Title 23 of the United
States Code (U.S.C.) and the Federal Transit Act (transportation
conformity) as well as to all other Federally supported or funded
projects (general conformity). EPA approved the most recent revisions
to the transportation conformity SIP for the Missouri portion of the
St. Louis area on August 29, 2013 (78 FR 53247).
Thus, for purposes of redesignating the Missouri portion of the St.
Louis area to attainment, EPA is providing advanced notice of our
determination and believes Missouri has satisfied all applicable
requirements for purposes of redesignation for the Missouri portion of
the St. Louis area under CAA section 110, and upon final approval of
the 2008 base year emissions inventory, also will have satisfied all
applicable requirements under part D of title I of the CAA.
Subpart 4 Requirements. As discussed above, in NRDC v. EPA, the
Circuit held that EPA should have implemented the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS pursuant to the particulate matter-specific provisions of subpart
4. On remand, EPA identified all areas designated nonattainment for
either the 1997 or the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS, including the St.
Louis Area, as moderate nonattainment areas for purposes of Subpart 4
in the Classification and Deadlines Rule. Moderate nonattainment areas
are subject to the requirements of sections 189(a), (c), and (e),
including: (1) An approved permit program for construction of new and
modified major stationary sources (section 189(a)(1)(A)); (2) an
attainment demonstration (section 189(a)(1)(B)); (3) provisions for
RACM (section 189(a)(1)(C)); (4) quantitative milestones demonstrating
RFP toward attainment by the applicable attainment date (section
189(c)); and (5) precursor control (section 189(e)).14
With respect to the specific attainment planning requirements under
subpart 4,\5\ EPA applies the same interpretation that it applies to
attainment planning requirements under Subpart 1 or any of the other
pollutant- specific subparts. That is, under its long-standing
interpretation of the CAA, where an area is already attaining the
standard, EPA does not consider those attainment planning requirements
to be applicable for purposes of evaluating a request for
redesignation, that is, CAA section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii) or (v), because
requirements that are designed to help an area achieve attainment no
longer have meaning where an area is already meeting the standard. EPA
has proposed to determine that the area has attained the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 Standard. Therefore, under its longstanding
interpretation, EPA is providing advance notice that the requirements
to submit an attainment demonstration under section 189(a)(1)(B) and a
RFP demonstration under section 189(c)(1) are not applicable for
purposes of evaluating Missouri's redesignation request.
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\5\ These planning requirements include the attainment
demonstration, quantitative milestone requirements, and RACM
analysis.
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The permit requirements of subpart 4, contained in section
189(a)(1)(A), refer to and apply the subpart 1 permit provisions
requirements of sections 172 and 173 to PM10, without adding
to them. Consequently, EPA believes that section 189(a)(1)(A) does not
itself impose for redesignation purposes any additional requirements
for moderate areas beyond those contained in subpart 1.\6\ As discussed
above, EPA has long relied on the interpretation that a fully approved
nonattainment new source review program is not considered an applicable
requirement for redesignation, provided the area can maintain the
standard with a PSD program after redesignation. A detailed rationale
for this view is described in the Nichols Memorandum. See also
rulemakings for the Illinois portion of the St. Louis Area (77 FR
34819, 77 FR 34826, June 12, 2012); Louisville, Kentucky (66 FR 53665-
66 FR 53669, October 23, 2001); Grand Rapids, Michigan (61 FR 31831, 61
FR 31834-
[[Page 642]]
61 FR 31837, June 21, 1996); Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio 61 FR 20458,
61 FR 20469-61 FR 20470, May 7, 1996); Detroit, Michigan (60 FR, 12467-
60 FR 12468, March 7, 1995).
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\6\ The potential effect of section 189(e) on section
189(a)(1)(A) for purposes of evaluating this redesignation is
discussed below.
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Subpart 4 and the Control of PM2.5 Precursors. CAA
section 189(e) provides that control requirements for major stationary
sources of direct PM10 (including PM2.5) shall
also apply to PM precursors from those sources, except where EPA
determines that major stationary sources of such precursors ``do not
contribute significantly to PM10 levels which exceed the
standard in the area.'' The CAA does not explicitly address whether it
would be appropriate to include a potential exemption from precursor
controls for all source categories under certain circumstances. In
implementing subpart 4 with regard to controlling PM10, EPA
permitted states to determine that a precursor was ``insignificant''
where the state could show in its attainment plan that it would
expeditiously attain without adoption of emission reduction measures
aimed at that precursor. This approach was upheld in Association of
Irritated Residents v. EPA, 423 F.3d 989 (9th Cir. 2005) and extended
to PM2.5 implementation in the PM Implementation Rule. A
state may develop its attainment plan and adopt reasonably available
control measures that target only those precursors that are necessary
to control for purposes of timely attainment. See 81 FR 58020. In the
rule, EPA also finalized application of 189(e) to the NNSR permitting
program, requiring states to determine whether a new major source of a
precursor might have a significant contribution to air quality before
allowing exemption of controls of a precursor from a new major
stationary source or major modification in the text of that program.
See 81 FR 58026.
Therefore, because the requirement of section 189(e) is primarily
actionable in the context of addressing precursors in an attainment
plan and in NNSR permitting, a precursor exemption analysis under
section 189(e) and EPA's implementing regulations is not an applicable
requirement that needs to be fully approved in the context of a
redesignation under CAA section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii). As discussed above,
for areas that are attaining the standard, EPA does not interpret
attainment planning requirements of subparts 1 and 4 to be applicable
requirements for the purposes of redesignating an area to attainment
nor does it interpret NNSR to be an applicable requirement if the area
can maintain the NAAQS with a PSD program after redesignation. However,
to the extent that Missouri is required to conduct a precursor
exemption analysis in order to satisfy 189(e) in the context of its
RACM determination for the St. Louis Area, which is required pursuant
to the Sixth Circuit's decision in Sierra Club, EPA proposes to find
that the requirements of section 189(e), as interpreted by EPA's
regulations, are met in this case. The area has attained the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and therefore, no additional controls of
any pollutant, including any PM2.5 precursors, are necessary
to bring the area into attainment.\7\ For these reasons, EPA is
providing advance notice that it believes Missouri has satisfied all
applicable requirements for purposes of redesignation of it portion of
the St. Louis area under section 110 and part D of the CAA.
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\7\ The Missouri portion the St. Louis area contains no major
stationary sources of ammonia, and existing major stationary sources
of VOC are adequately controlled under other provisions of the CAA
regulating the ozone NAAQS. The St. Louis area has reduced VOC
emissions through the implementation of various control programs
including VOC Reasonably Available Control Technology regulations
and various on-road and non-road motor vehicle control programs.
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b. The Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Area Has a Fully Approved
Applicable SIP Under Section 110(k) of the CAA
Upon final approval of the comprehensive emissions inventory in a
future notice, EPA will have fully approved the state's SIP for the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 nonattainment area under section 110(k) of the CAA for
all requirements applicable for purposes of redesignation. EPA may rely
on prior SIP approvals in approving a redesignation request (see
Calcagni Memorandum at p. 3; Southwestern Pennsylvania Growth Alliance
v. Browner, 144 F.3d 984, 989-90 (6th Cir. 1998); Wall, 265 F.3d 426
(6th Cir. 2001, upholding this interpretation)) plus any additional
measures it may approve in conjunction with a redesignation action (see
68 FR 25426 (May 12, 2003) and citations therein). Following passage of
the CAA of 1970, Missouri has adopted and submitted, and EPA has fully
approved at various times, provisions addressing the various SIP
elements applicable for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS in the
St. Louis area (e.g., 78 FR 37457, June 21, 2013).
As indicated above, EPA believes that the section 110 elements not
connected with nonattainment plan submissions and not linked to the
area's nonattainment status are not applicable requirements for
purposes of redesignation. EPA has previously approved all part D
subpart 1 requirements applicable for purposes of this redesignation.
Criteria (3)--The Air Quality Improvement Is Due to Permanent and
Enforceable Reductions in Emissions Resulting From Implementation of
the SIP and Applicable Federal Air Pollution Control Regulations and
Other Permanent and Enforceable Reductions (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iii))
For redesignating a nonattainment area to attainment, section
107(d)(3)(E)(iii) of the CAA requires EPA to determine that the air
quality improvement in the area is due to permanent and enforceable
reductions in emissions resulting from implementation of the SIP and
applicable Federal air pollution control regulations and other
permanent and enforceable reductions. EPA is providing advanced notice
that it believes that Missouri has demonstrated that the observed air
quality improvement in the St. Louis area is due to permanent and
enforceable reductions in emissions resulting from implementation of
the SIP, Federal measures, and other state adopted measures discussed
below.
In making this demonstration, MDNR has calculated the change in
emissions from a nonattainment year inventory to an attainment year
inventory. For the nonattainment inventory, Missouri developed a 2002
base year emissions inventory, which the state subsequently withdrew
once a Clean Data Determination was finalized for the Missouri portion
of the St. Louis nonattainment area. For purposes of their
redesignation request, Missouri developed a baseyear emissions
inventory for 2008, one of the years the St. Louis area monitored
attainment of the standard. See section b. below for discussion on
development of these inventories. The reduction in emissions and the
corresponding improvement in air quality over this time period can be
attributed to a number of permanent and enforceable regulatory control
measures that St. Louis and upwind areas have implemented in recent
years.
a. Permanent and Enforceable Controls Implemented
The following is a discussion on the permanent and enforceable
measures that have been implemented in the area.\8\ Reductions in
PM2.5 precursor emissions have occurred statewide and
[[Page 643]]
in upwind areas as a result of Federal emission control measures, with
additional emission reductions expected to occur in the future. Federal
emission control measures include the following:
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\8\ It should be noted that the mobile source controls discussed
below also provide reductions in VOC and/or SO2
emissions. While those emissions may be reduced, the submitted
maintenance plan and redesignation request do not rely on these
emission reductions.
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Tier 2 vehicle standards and low-sulfur gasoline. Implementation of
the Tier 2 vehicle standards began in 2004, and as newer, cleaner cars
enter the national fleet, these standards continue to significantly
reduce NOX emissions. The standards require all classes of
passenger vehicles in any manufacturer's fleet to meet an average
standard of 0.07 grams of NOX per mile. In addition,
starting in January of 2006, the Tier 2 rule reduced the allowable
sulfur content of gasoline to 30 parts per million (ppm). Most gasoline
sold prior to this had a sulfur content of approximately 300 ppm. EPA
expects that these standards will reduce NOX emissions from
vehicles by approximately 74 percent by 2030, translating to nation-
wide reductions of nearly 3 million tons annually by 2030.
Heavy-duty gasoline and diesel highway vehicle standards and ultra-
low-sulfur diesel rule. On October 6, 2000, EPA promulgated a rule to
reduce NOX and VOC emissions from heavy-duty gasoline and
diesel highway vehicles that began to take effect in 2004 (65 FR
59896). On January 18, 2001, (66 FR 5002) EPA promulgated a second
phase of standards and testing procedures began in 2007 to reduce
particulate matter from heavy-duty highway engines, and reduce highway
diesel fuel sulfur content to 15 ppm since the sulfur in fuel damages
high efficiency catalytic exhaust emission control devices. The total
program is estimated to achieve a ninety percent reduction in
PM2.5 emissions and a ninety-five percent reduction in
NOX emission for new engines using low-sulfur diesel fuel,
compared to existing engines using higher-content sulfur diesel fuel.
EPA expects that this rule will reduce NOX emissions by 2.6
million tons nation-wide by 2030 when the heavy-duty vehicle fleet is
completely replaced with newer heavy-duty vehicles that comply with
these emission standards.
Tier 4 Non-Road Diesel Engine Rule. This rule, which applies to
diesel engines used in industries such as construction, agriculture,
and mining, was promulgated in 2004 and fully phased in 2014. This rule
reduced allowable non-road diesel fuel sulfur levels from approximately
3,000 ppm to 500 ppm in 2007 and further reduced those levels to 15 ppm
starting in 2010 (a 99 percent reduction). This rule also achieved
significant reductions for up to 90 percent for NOX and
particulate matter emissions nationwide.
Nonroad Large spark-ignition engines and recreational engines
standards. The nonroad spark-ignition and recreational engine
standards, effective in July 2003, regulate NOX, and
hydrocarbons, and carbon monoxide from groups of previously unregulated
non-road engines. (67 FR 68242). These engine standards apply to large
spark-ignition engines (e.g., forklifts and airport ground service
equipment), recreational vehicles (e.g., off-highway motorcycles and
all-terrain-vehicles), and recreational marine diesel engines sold in
the United States and imported after the effective date of these
standards.
When all of the nonroad spark-ignition and recreational engine
standards are fully implemented, an overall seventy-two percent
reduction in hydrocarbons, eighty percent reduction in NOX,
and fifty-six percent reduction in carbon monoxide emissions is
expected by 2020. These controls will help reduce ambient
concentrations of fine particulate matter.
Tier 3 Motor Vehicles Emission and Fuel Standards: On April 24,
2014 (79 FR 23414), EPA finalized a rule designed to reduce air
pollution from passenger cars and trucks. The vehicle emissions
standard began in 2017, and combined with the reduction of gasoline
sulfur content will significantly reduce motor vehicle emissions
including NOX, VOC, PM2.5, Carbon Monoxide and
air toxics by 2030, which will help the area maintain the 1997
PM2.5 annual NAAQS.
NOX SIP Call. On October 27, 1998 (63 FR 57356), EPA issued the
NOX SIP Call pursuant to the CAA to require twenty-two
states and the District of Columbia to reduce NOX, a
precursor to ozone and PM2.5 pollution, and providing a
mechanism (the NOX Budget Trading Program) that states could
use to achieve those reductions. Affected states were required to
comply with Phase I of the SIP Call beginning in 2004, and Phase II
beginning in 2007. By the end of 2008, ozone season NOX
emissions from sources subject to the NOX SIP Call dropped
by sixty-two percent from 2000 emissions levels. All NOX SIP
Call states have SIPs that currently satisfy their obligations under
the NOX SIP Call, and the emission reductions required under
the SIP Call are permanent and enforceable.
As part of the NOX SIP Call, the eastern third of
Missouri was required to comply with Phase II of the program. In
response, Missouri developed rules governing the control of
NOX emissions from EGUs, major non-EGU industrial boilers,
major cement kilns, and large internal combustion engines. EPA approved
Missouri's Phase II NOX SIP Call rules on August 15, 2006
(71 FR 46860). Implementation of the Phase II rules was projected to
result in an eighty-two percent NOX reduction from 1995
levels. Missouri rules which address the NOX SIP call
include:
10 CSR 10-6.350, ``Emissions limitations and Emissions
Trading of Oxides of Nitrogen''
10 CSR 10-6.360, ``Controlling NOX Emissions From Electric
Generating Units and Non-Electric Generating Boilers''
10 CSR 10-6.380, ``Control of NOX Emissions From Portland
Cement Kilns''
10 CSR 10-6.390, ``Control of NOX Emissions From Large
Stationary Internal Combustion Engines''
Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and the Cross State Air Pollution
Rule (CSAPR). The Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) was promulgated in
2005 and required twenty-eight eastern states and the District of
Columbia to significantly reduce emissions of SO2 and
NOX from electric generating units (EGUs) in order to limit
the interstate transport of these pollutants and the ozone and fine
particulate matter these pollutants form in the atmosphere. 70 FR 25162
(May 12, 2005). In 2008, the D.C. Circuit initially vacated CAIR and
ordered EPA to replace CAIR in its entirety, North Carolina v. EPA, 531
F.3d 896 (D.C. Cir. 2008), but ultimately remanded the rule to EPA
without vacatur in order to preserve the environmental benefits
provided by CAIR, North Carolina v. EPA, 550 F.3d 1176, 1178 (D.C. Cir.
2008). On August 8, 2011, acting on the Court's remand, EPA promulgated
CSAPR in order to replace CAIR and address interstate transport of
emissions and the resulting secondary formation of ozone and fine
particulate matter (76 FR 48208).\9\ CSAPR requires substantial
reductions of SO2 and NOX emissions from EGUs in
twenty-eight states in the eastern United States. As a general matter,
because CSAPR is CAIR's replacement, emissions reductions associated
with CAIR will for most areas be made permanent and enforceable through
implementation of CSAPR.
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\9\ CAIR addressed the 1997 PM2.5 annual standard and
the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. CSAPR addresses contributions from
upwind states to downwind nonattainment and maintenance of the 2006
24-hour PM2.5 standard as well as the ozone and
PM2.5 NAAQS addressed by CAIR.
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Implementation of the rule was scheduled to begin on January 1,
2012, when CSAPR's cap-and-trade programs would have superseded the
CAIR cap-and-trade programs. Numerous parties filed petitions for
review of CSAPR in the D.C. Circuit and on August 21, 2012,
[[Page 644]]
the court issued its ruling vacating and remanding CSAPR to EPA and
ordering continued implementation of CAIR. EME Homer City Generation,
L.P. v. EPA, 696 F.3d 7, 38 (D.C. Cir. 2012). The D.C. Circuit's
vacatur of CSAPR was reversed by the United States Supreme Court on
April 29, 2014, and the case was remanded to the D.C. Circuit to
resolve remaining issues in accordance with the Supreme Court's ruling.
EPA v. EME Homer City Generation, L.P., 134 S. Ct. 1584 (2014). On
remand, the D.C. Circuit affirmed CSAPR in most respects, but
invalidated without vacating some of the CSAPR budgets as to a number
of states. EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v. EPA, 795 F.3d 118. (D.C.
Cir. 2015) (EME Homer City II). The CSAPR budgets for Missouri are not
affected by the Court's decision. The litigation over CSAPR ultimately
delayed implementation of that rule for three years, from January 1,
2012, when CSAPR's cap-and-trade programs were originally scheduled to
replace the CAIR cap-and-trade programs, to January 1, 2015. Thus, the
rule's Phase 2 budgets were originally promulgated to begin on January
1, 2014, but began on January 1, 2017.
As noted above, CAIR was promulgated in 2005 and incentivized early
reductions from sources in all covered states, including those upwind
of the St. Louis area. On December, 14, 2007, EPA approved Missouri's
CAIR rules into the SIP and the state's CAIR rules became effective in
2009 (72 FR 71073). The Missouri rule written to comply with the
NOX SIP Call requirements for EGUs was replaced with the
CAIR NOX regulations, 10 CSR 10-6.362, Clean Air Interstate
Rule Annual NOX Trading program and 10 CSR 10-6.364, Clean Air
Interstate Rule Seasonal NOX Trading program, and include limits for
non-EGU boilers, specifically Trigen Units 5 and 6 and Anheuser Busch
Unit 6. However, these three units have all been retired, and received
retired unit exemptions that prohibit these units from operating.
Missouri's SIP redesignation request lists CAIR as a control
measure. CAIR was in effect and achieving emission reductions in
Missouri when the St. Louis area began monitoring attainment of the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The quality-assured, certified
monitoring data used to demonstrate the area's attainment of the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS by the April 5, 2010, attainment deadline
was influenced by reductions achieved by CAIR. Furthermore, because
PM2.5 concentrations in the St. Louis area are likely
impacted by the transport SO2 and NOX emissions
produced upwind, the area's air quality is likely affected by
regulation of emissions from power plants in other states.
On November 21, 2014, the Administrator signed an action that
published in the Federal Register on December 3, 2014 (79 FR 71163),
amending the regulatory text of CSAPR to reflect the Court's October
23, 2014, order tolling all deadlines in CSAPR by three years,
including provisions governing the sunsetting of CAIR. CAIR therefore
sunset at the end of 2014 and was replaced by CSAPR beginning January
1, 2015, which continue to remain in place. Relative to CAIR, CSAPR
required similar or greater emission reductions from relevant upwind
areas starting in 2015 and beyond, and Missouri's emissions budgets
were not affected by the Court's remand of some of the ozone-season and
SO2 budgets. The emission reductions associated with CAIR
that helped the St. Louis area achieve attainment of the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS can therefore be considered permanent and
enforceable for purposes of redesignation under section
107(d)(3)(E)(iii) of the CAA.
State and Local Measures. In addition to the above Federal
measures, Missouri has several other state regulations that provide
permanent and enforceable controls for PM2.5 and
PM2.5 precursor emissions in the St. Louis area. These SIP
approved rules include:
10 CSR 10-6.405 ``Restriction of Particulate Matter
Emissions from Fuel Burning Equipment Used for Indirect Heating''
10 CSR 10-5.040 ``Use of Fuel in Hand-Fired Equipment
Prohibited''
10 CSR 10-5.070 ``Open Burning Restrictions''
10 CSR 10-6.170 ``Restriction of Particulate Matter to the
Ambient Air Beyond the Premises of Origin''
10 CSR 10-6.220 ``Restriction of Emission of Visible Air
Contaminants''
10 CSR 10-6.260 ``Restriction of Emission of Sulfur
Compounds''
10 CSR 10-6.330 ``Restriction of Emissions from Batch-Type
Charcoal Kilns''
10 CSR 10-6.400 ``Restriction of Emission of Particulate
Matter from Industrial Processes''
Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program. To meet nonattainment
area requirements for the one-hour ozone standard, Missouri implemented
an inspection and maintenance program beginning in 2000 in the counties
of St. Louis, St. Charles, and Jefferson and the City of St. Louis.
Missouri codified the program through state rule 10 CSR 10-5.380,
``Motor Vehicle Emissions Inspection,'' and EPA approved an additional
revision this rule on May 12, 2003 (68 FR 25414). While this program
was established to address ozone formation, the reduction in
NOX emissions impact PM2.5 in this area. The
mobile source emissions inventory projections used in this
demonstration incorporates the inspection and maintenance program rule,
10 CSR 10-5.381, which replaced the 10-5.380 rule. The state has
implemented 10 CSR 10-5.381 since 2007 and EPA approved this rule in 80
FR 11323, March 3, 2015.
Permanent and Enforceable Controls Used to Attain the Standard for
the Illinois portion of the nonattainment area. The same Federal
control measures listed above for the Missouri side of the area are
also applicable to the Illinois side of the St. Louis area (defined as
Madison, Monroe, and St. Clair Counties as well as the Baldwin Township
of Randolph County). These include the Federal mobile source measures
and Federal upwind trading programs. Illinois also operates an
Inspection/Maintenance (I/M) program, and has adopted a state rule to
control NOX and SO2 from EGUs. Illinois also has
a number of other state regulations in place to control
PM2.5 and PM2.5 precursors. Additional
information regarding NOX and VOC emissions controls for the
Illinois portion of the area can be found in the Illinois maintenance
plan for the nonattainment area under the 1997 ozone standard. See
docket ID EPA-R05-OAR-2010-0523; FRL-9619-8 for more information.
b. Emission Reductions
The St. Louis area attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
based on monitoring data for the three-year period from 2007-2009.
During the development of the nonattainment SIP, which was subsequently
withdrawn by the state, MDNR selected 2002 as the baseyear and since
then has selected 2008 as the attainment emission inventory year. The
attainment inventory identifies a level of emissions in the area that
is sufficient to attain the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for
direct PM2.5 and the PM2.5 precursors
SO2, NOX, NH3 and VOC. Point source
information was compiled from the 2008 NEI and the annual emissions
reports submitted to MDNR by sources and EPA's Clean Air Markets
Division database for electric utilities. Area, nonroad and onroad
attainment year inventories originated from the 2008 NEI v1.5 provided
by EPA. For more information on EPA's analysis of the 2002 and 2008
emissions inventories, see EPA's ``Emissions Inventory and Motor
Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB) Technical Support Document
[[Page 645]]
(TSD) for the Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the St
Louis, Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment Area,'' or appendix
B, E and F of the state submittal, available on line at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2017-0734.
Using the inventory described above, as well as emissions
inventories provided by Illinois, Missouri has documented changes in
emissions from 2002 NEI to 2008 for the St. Louis area as shown in
table 3 below. This table demonstrates that the entire St. Louis area
has reduced emissions during the period except as described below.
Table 3--Comparison of 2002 NEI and 2008 Baseyear Inventory for the St. Louis Nonattainment Area
[tpy]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
County name Source category NH3 NOX PM2.5-Pri SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Point Sources............... -7.11 -13,095.20 -1,113.84 +44,701.42 -6,569.97
Illinois.................................. ............................ 164.12 -17,471.79 +134.22 -3,811.29 -816.76
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 157.01 -30,566.99 -979.62 +40,890.13 -7,386.76
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Area Sources................ -453.09 -5,546.29 -799.57 -5,721.41 -7,169.82
Illinois.................................. ............................ -433.02 -1,967.73 -2,757.16 -141.18 -16,890.58
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ -886.11 -7,514.02 -3,556.73 -5,862.59 -24,060.40
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. On-Road Mobile Sources...... -177.76 -31,503.01 -631.79 -1,452.91 -18,830.40
Illinois.................................. ............................ 6.88 -4,646.94 -102.62 -556.81 -2,555.87
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ -170.88 -36,149.95 -734.41 -2,009.72 -21,386.27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Off-Road Mobile Sources..... +5.84 -6,714.58 -386.84 -1,531.01 -3,962.38
Illinois.................................. ............................ -1.24 +1,063.95 +33.13 -93.56 131.75
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ +4.60 -5,650.63 -353.71 -1,624.57 -3,830.63
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri Totals................... ............................ -632.13 -56,859.08 -2,932.04 +35,996.09 -36,532.57
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illinois Totals................... ............................ -263.26 -23,022.51 -2,692.43 -4,602.84 -20,131.46
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total................... ............................ -895.39 -79,881.59 -5,624.47 +31,393.25 -56,664.03
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is an increase of total SO2 emissions from 2002 to
2008 of 35,996.09 tons on the Missouri side of the nonattainment area.
This increase is a result of two factors described below. First, over
20,700 tons of the SO2 increase can be attributed to a
change in emission factors between 2002 and 2008 for the Doe Run
Primary Lead Smelter in Herculaneum, MO, but that source has since shut
down.\10\ The second factor which contributes to the increase in
SO2 emissions is a ten percent increase in electricity
demand at four Missouri EGUs. Between 2002 and 2008 a 10 percent
increase in electricity demand coupled with increases in SO2
emission rates from the Ameren utilities lead to increasing
SO2 emissions between 2002 and 2008. Overall emissions from
2002 to 2008 are trending down for direct PM2.5 and the
three other PM2.5 precursors and EPA believes that the
effect of these decreases cumulatively outweigh the increase seen in
SO2 emissions during the same time, thus supporting EPA's
position set forth in this ANPR. In addition, in the years following
2008, substantial SO2 reductions have been realized in the
St. Louis utility sector within the nonattainment area from a
combination of controls, fuel switching and shutdowns, and EPA believes
SO2 emissions from the utility sector will not increase back
to 2002 or 2008 levels further supporting EPA's position in this ANPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ This facility shut down in 2011 pursuant to a federally
enforceable Consent Decree. https://www.epa.gov/enforcement/doe-run-resources-corporation-settlement.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Based on the information summarized above, and information provided
in the technical support, which is a part of the docket for this
action, EPA is providing advanced notice of its determination that
Missouri has adequately demonstrated that the improvement in air
quality is due to permanent and enforceable emissions reductions.
Criteria (4)--The Area Has a Fully Approved Maintenance Plan Pursuant
to Section 175A of the CAA (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iv))
In conjunction with its request to redesignate the St. Louis area
to attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, MDNR
submitted a SIP revision on September 1, 2011, supplemented on March
31, 2014, and further clarified on September 17, 2014, to provide for
the maintenance of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for at least
ten years after the effective date of redesignation to attainment. EPA
is providing advanced notice that it believes this maintenance plan
meets the requirements for approval under section 175A of the CAA.
a. Maintenance Plan Requirements
Section 175A of the CAA sets forth the elements of a maintenance
plan for areas seeking redesignation from nonattainment to attainment.
Under section 175A, the plan must demonstrate continued attainment of
the applicable NAAQS for at least ten years after the Administrator
approves a redesignation to attainment. Because the 1997 p.m.2.5 NAAQS
will be revoked for the area if the area is redesignated to attainment,
Missouri is not required submit a revised maintenance plan eight years
after the redesignation. To address the possibility of future NAAQS
violations, the maintenance plan must contain such contingency
measures, as EPA deems necessary, to assure prompt correction of any
future 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS violations. The Calcagni
Memorandum provides further guidance on the content of a maintenance
plan, explaining that a maintenance plan
[[Page 646]]
should address five requirements: (1) The attainment emissions
inventory, (2) a maintenance demonstration, (3) a commitment to
maintain the existing monitoring network, (4) verification of continued
attainment, and (5) a contingency plan to plan or prevent or correct
future violations. As discussed below, EPA is proposing that MDNR's
maintenance plan includes all the necessary components and is thus
proposing to approve it as a revision to the Missouri SIP.
b. Maintenance Plan Base Year Inventory
As discussed previously, the 2008 inventory is referenced as the
baseyear and is used for the year of attainment is called the
Attainment Year Inventory. The 2008 inventory is the inventory which
all future years will be compared to in order to show maintenance.
However, MDNR created a different 2008 onroad inventory for the
comparison to future years in the maintenance plan. As explained
previously, for the 2008 onroad attainment inventory, MDNR used NEI
data which was developed using Mobile6.2 to compare with the 2002
nonattainment base year. A second 2008 onroad inventory was developed
utilizing MOVES2010 to establish a maintenance base year for comparison
to the future 2017 and 2025 MOVES-based future year inventories. This
allows for a smooth transition to the updated model and to prevent
comparing a MOVES2010 version of 2008 attainment year with the
Mobile6.2 version of the 2002 nonattainment base year inventory.
Therefore, the 2008 onroad mobile source inventory used for supporting
maintenance was developed using the most current version of EPA's
highway mobile source emissions model, MOVES2010a.
Emissions projections to support maintenance through 2025 have been
prepared for the years 2017 and 2025. While Missouri's maintenance plan
projects maintenance of the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through
2025, as noted above, EPA believes that the St. Louis area will
continue to maintain the standard through 2027 for several reasons: All
of the Federal regulatory requirements that enabled the area to attain
the NAAQS will continue to be in effect and enforceable after the ten-
year maintenance period. Overall emissions are projected to decline
steadily through 2025. Because it is unlikely that emissions will
suddenly increase in 2026 and 2027 in an amount that results in overall
emissions in the area exceeding an attainment year inventory levels.
EPA expects that the St. Louis area will continue to maintain the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2027.
EPA has reviewed the documentation provided by MDNR and is
providing advanced notice that the EPA believes the emissions inventory
is acceptable. For more information on EPA's analysis of the 2008
emissions inventory, see EPA's TSD as part of this advanced notice of
proposed rulemaking, or Appendix B, E and F of the state's 2014
submittal and additional clarifying information provided on September
17, 2014, available on line at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-
R07-OAR-2017-0734.
c. Maintenance Demonstration
Section 175A requires a state seeking redesignation to attainment
to submit a SIP revision to provide for the maintenance of the NAAQS in
the Area ``for at least ten years after the redesignation.'' EPA has
interpreted this as a showing of maintenance ``for a period of ten
years following redesignation.'' Calcagni Memorandum, p. 9. Where the
emissions inventory method of showing maintenance is used, the purpose
is to show that emissions during the maintenance period will not
increase over the attainment year inventory. Calcagni Memorandum, pp.
9-10.
As discussed in detail in the subsection below, Missouri's
maintenance plan submission expressly documents that the area's
emissions inventories will remain below the attainment year inventories
through 2025. For a demonstration of maintenance, emissions inventories
are required to be projected to future dates to assess the influence of
future growth and controls; however, the maintenance demonstration need
not be based on air quality modeling. See Wall v. EPA, 265 F.3d 426
(6th Cir.2001); Sierra Club v. EPA, 375 F. 3d 537 [(7th Cir.2004)]. See
also 66 FR 53099-66 FR 53100; 68 FR 25430-68 FR 25432. MDNR uses
projection inventories to show that the Missouri portion of the St.
Louis area will remain in attainment. MDNR developed projection
inventories for an interim year of 2017 and a maintenance plan end year
of 2025 to show that future emissions of direct PM2.5,
NOX, SO2, NH3 and VOC will remain at
or below the attainment year 2008 emissions levels in the St. Louis
area through the year 2025. In light of more recent information on
CSAPR, Missouri submitted on September 17, 2014, a revision that
updated their future year projections for EGU facilities using the
presumption that CSAPR will be in place to control emissions from
sources. Non-EGU Point source and nonpoint sources were developed using
growth factors created from the EGAS model (https://www.epa.gov/economic-and-cost-analysis-air-pollution-regulations) using economic
growth projections from the Policy Insight[supreg] Model for Regional
Economic Model, Inc. (REMI) to project the future year inventory. EPA's
Nonroad Model and EPA's onroad mobile model, MOVES, were utilized to
project mobile source future inventories.
EPA has reviewed the documentation provided by MDNR and is
providing advanced notice that it finds the methodologies acceptable.
Table 4-6 below shows the inventory summaries for the 2008 attainment
year, 2017 interim year, and the 2025 maintenance plan end year for the
entire area.
Table 4--2008 Emissions Inventory Summary
[tpy]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Source category NH3 NOX PM2.5-Pri SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Point Sources............... 1,308.64 31,103.26 3,493.39 201,700.73 5,067.89
Illinois.................................. ............................ 208.31 16,981.51 2,448.15 21,853.56 4,277.72
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 1,516.95 48,084.77 5,941.54 252,431.33 9,345.61
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Area Sources................ 3,514.98 4,382.94 14,033.64 11,510.48 38,215.34
Illinois.................................. ............................ 3,354.13 1,638.36 5,161.76 246.67 7,796.34
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 6,869.11 6,021.30 19,195.40 11,757.15 46,011.68
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 647]]
Missouri.................................. On-Road Mobile Sources...... 1,056.17 58,819.58 2,179.28 426.65 23,793.80
Illinois.................................. ............................ 250.58 15,012.94 577.99 116.76 5,069.55
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 1,306.75 73,832.52 2,757.27 543.41 28,863.35
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Off-Road Mobile Sources..... 15.68 20,722.57 1,199.82 544.3 11,545.53
Illinois.................................. ............................ 2.89 8,475.24 425.71 300.72 2,972.77
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 18.57 29,197.81 1,625.53 845.02 14,518.30
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total....................... ............................ 9,711.38 157,136.40 29,515.74 265,576.91 98,738.94
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 5--2017 Emissions Inventory Summary
[tpy]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Source category NH3 NOX PM2.5-Pri SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Point Sources............... 1,308.64 31,661.08 3,692.74 107,713.00 6,363.13
Illinois.................................. ............................ 221.12 11,891.31 2,601.95 20,221.18 4,962.34
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 1,529.76 43,552.39 6,294.69 127,934.18 11,325.47
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Area Sources................ 3,514.98 4,446.97 14,165.78 11,534.82 44,057.17
Illinois.................................. ............................ 3,364.32 1,694.82 4,706.63 258.36 8,607.70
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 6,879.30 6,141.79 18,872.41 11,793.18 52,664.87
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. On-Road Mobile Sources...... 722.47 22,904.99 913.15 191.12 10,867.41
Illinois.................................. ............................ 186.79 5,623.42 231.68 49.31 2,364.85
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 909.26 28,528.41 1,144.83 240.43 13,232.26
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Off-Road Mobile Sources..... 15.75 10,505.88 787.35 193.55 7,398.02
Illinois.................................. ............................ 3.46 8,673.75 370.28 390.79 2,303.43
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 19.21 19,179.63 1,157.63 584.34 9,701.45
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total....................... ............................ 9,337.53 97,402.22 27,469.56 140,552.13 86,924.05
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 6--2025 Emissions Inventory Summary
[tpy]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Source category NH3 NOX PM2.5-Pri SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Point Sources............... 1,308.64 32,603.86 4,403.28 108,617.07 7,809.01
Illinois.................................. ............................ 242.69 12,822.94 2,865.19 21,853.56 5,541.80
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 1,551.33 45,426.80 7,268.47 130,470.63 13,350.81
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Area Sources................ 3,514.98 4,531.02 14,314.86 11,606.89 49,458.63
Illinois.................................. ............................ 3,374.17 1,735.20 4,668.15 268.04 9,249.75
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 6,889.15 6,266.22 18,983.01 11,874.93 58,708.38
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. On-Road Mobile Sources...... 691.88 16,568.44 533.34 189.22 8,035.80
Illinois.................................. ............................ 178.80 3,616.52 181.73 49.15 1,592.92
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 870.68 20,184.96 715.07 238.37 9,628.72
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Off-Road Mobile Sources..... 17.63 8,895.81 640.68 219.9 7,178.29
Illinois.................................. ............................ 3.99 9,028.03 331.2 438.02 2,037.10
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 21.62 17,923.84 971.88 657.92 9,215.39
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total....................... ............................ 9,332.78 89,801.82 27,938.43 143,241.85 90,903.30
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 648]]
Table 7 below compares the 2008 base year to the 2025 projection
year and shows that the St. Louis area is projected to reduce
SO2 emissions by 122,335 tpy, NOX emissions by
67,335 tpy, direct PM2.5 emissions by 1,577 tpy,
NH3 emissions by 379 tpy, and VOC emissions by 7,836 tpy.
Table 7--Comparison of 2008 Base Year and 2025 Projection Year
[tpy]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
State Source category NH3 NOX PM2.5-Pri SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Point Sources............... 0.00 +1,500.60 +909.89 -93,083.66 +2,741.12
Illinois.................................. ............................ 34.38 -4,158.57 +417.04 -28,877.04 +1,264.08
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 34.38 -2,657.97 1,326.93 -121,960.70 +4,005.20
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Area Sources................ 0.00 +148.08 +281.22 +96.41 +11,243.29
Illinois.................................. ............................ 20.04 +96.84 -493.61 +21.37 +1,453.41
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ 20.04 244.92 -212.39 117.78 +12,696.70
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. On-Road Mobile Sources...... -364.29 -42,251.14 -1,645.94 -237.43 -15,758.00
Illinois.................................. ............................ -71.78 -11,396.42 -396.26 -67.61 -3,476.63
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ -436.07 -53,647.56 -2,042.20 -305.04 -19,234.63
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri.................................. Off-Road Mobile Sources..... 1.95 -11,826.76 -559.14 -324.40 -4,367.24
Illinois.................................. ............................ 1.10 +552.79 -94.51 +137.30 -935.67
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Totals................................ ............................ +3.05 -11,273.97 -653.65 -187.10 -5,302.91
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Missouri Totals (Safety Margin)... ............................ -362.34 -52,429.22 -1,013.97 -93,549.08 -6,140.83
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illinois Totals (Safety Margin)... ............................ -16.26 -14,905.36 -567.34 -28,785.98 -1,694.81
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Grand Total................... ............................ -378.60 -67,334.58 -1,577.31 -122,335.06 -7,835.64
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* Note: A negative value indicates a projected decrease in emissions from 2008 to 2025. A positive value indicates a projected increase in emissions
from 2008 to 2025.
Table 5-4 of Missouri's September 17, 2014 submittal shows that in
the 2017 interim year, emissions levels in the area will remain below
the 2008 base year for all pollutant categories.
While MDNR's maintenance plan projects maintenance of the 1997
Annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2025, as noted above, EPA is
providing advanced notice that it expects St. Louis Area will continue
to maintain the standard through 2028 for several reasons: All of the
Federal regulatory requirements that enabled the Area to attain the
NAAQS will continue to be in effect and enforceable after the ten-year
maintenance period and overall emissions are projected to decline
significantly through 2025. Again, because there is no indication that
emissions will suddenly increase in 2026, 2027 and 2028 in an amount
that results in overall emissions in the area exceeding attainment year
inventory levels, EPA is providing advanced notice that it expects that
the St. Louis Area will continue to maintain the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS through 2028.
d. Monitoring Network
There are currently 6 monitors measuring PM2.5 in the
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area.\11\ MDNR has committed to
continue operation of the network in the area in compliance with 40 CFR
part 58 and have thus addressed the requirement for monitoring. EPA
approved Missouri's 2016 monitoring plan on December 29, 2016, see
https://www.epa.gov/ks/region-7-air-quality-program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ One monitor in the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area
is a middle scale monitor and is not comparable to the 1997
PM2.5 Annual NAAQS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
e. Verification of Continued Attainment
MDNR has the legal authority to enforce and implement the
requirements of the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS maintenance plan. This includes the authority to
adopt, implement and enforce any subsequent emissions control
contingency measures determined to be necessary to correct future
PM2.5 attainment problems.
MDNR will track the progress of the maintenance plan by performing
future reviews of triennial emission inventories for the St. Louis area
as required in the Air Emissions Reporting Rule (AERR). For these
periodic inventories, MDNR will review the assumptions made for the
purpose of the maintenance demonstration concerning projected growth of
activity levels.
f. Contingency Measures in the Maintenance Plan.
Section 175A of the CAA requires that a maintenance plan include
such contingency measures as EPA deems necessary to assure that the
state will promptly correct a violation of the NAAQS that occurs after
redesignation. The maintenance plan should identify the contingency
measures to be adopted, a schedule and procedure for adoption and
implementation, and a time limit for action by the state. A state
should also identify specific indicators to be used to determine when
the contingency measures need to be implemented. The maintenance plan
must include a requirement that a state will implement all measures
with respect to control of the pollutant that were contained in the SIP
before redesignation of the area to attainment in accordance with
section 175A(d).
The contingency plan included in the submittal includes a
triggering mechanism to determine when contingency measures are needed
and a
[[Page 649]]
process of developing and implementing appropriate control measures.
MDNR will use actual ambient monitoring data as the triggering event to
determine when contingency measures should be implemented.
Missouri has identified two different levels of corrective
responses should the annual PM2.5 level exceed the NAAQS in
any year. A level I trigger occurs when the annual average monitored
PM2.5 concentration exceeds 15.0 [mu]g/m\3\ in any year at
any monitoring station in the nonattainment area as described in the
state's submittal for the St. Louis area.
MDNR will evaluate a level I condition, if it occurs, as
expeditiously as practicable to determine the causes of the ambient
PM2.5 increase. If adverse emission trends are likely to
continue, MDNR will first evaluate and subsequently adopt and implement
control measures, taking into consideration the ease of implementation
and the technical and economic feasibility of selected measures, as
outlined in the state's plan no later than twenty-four months after
quality-assured ambient data has been entered into EPA's Air Quality
System (AQS) database indicating a level I trigger.
A level II trigger is activated when any violation of the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS at any Federal reference method monitor
in the St. Louis maintenance area is recorded, based on quality-assured
monitoring data. In this event, MDNR will conduct a comprehensive study
to determine the cause of the violation within six months of the
triggering event. Selected measures will be implemented as
expeditiously as practicable, taking into consideration the ease of
implementation and the technical and economic feasibility of selected
measures, as outlined in the state's plan no later than twenty-four
months after quality-assured ambient data has been entered into EPA's
AQS database indicating a level II trigger.
The comprehensive measures will be selected from the following
types of measures, as further detailed in the state's submission, or
from any other measure deemed appropriate and effective at the time the
selection is made by MDNR:
Controls for local individual sources with significant
effects on the monitored violation;
Revisions to current rules that control PM2.5
and PM2.5 precursor emissions such as lowering limits and
broadening applicability thresholds of current rules; and
Establishing new rules that control PM2.5 and
PM2.5 precursor emissions.
In addition to the triggers indicated above, Missouri commits to
compiling and monitoring PM2.5 and PM2.5
precursor emissions inventories for the Missouri portion of the area
every three years throughout the duration of the maintenance period to
facilitate the emissions trends analysis included in the contingency
plan under levels I and II.
EPA is providing advanced notice of its analysis that that the
maintenance plan adequately addresses the five basic components of a
maintenance plan: Attainment emission inventory, maintenance
demonstration, monitoring network, verification of continued
attainment, and a contingency plan. Therefore, EPA is providing
advanced notice that it in a future action, it intends to find that the
maintenance plan SIP revision submitted by MDNR for the Missouri
portion of the St. Louis area meets the requirements of section 175A of
the CAA and is approvable.
In addition, EPA is providing advanced notice that it intends to
determine that the state submission has met the public notice
requirements for SIP submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The
submission also satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51,
appendix V. As explained above and in more detail in the technical
support document which is part of this document, the revision meets the
substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, including section 110 and
implementing regulations.
V. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's MVEBs?
Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation plans,
programs, and 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 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 or any interim milestones. 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 areas that were previously nonattainment for a particular NAAQS but
have since been redesignated to attainment with an approved CAA section
175A maintenance plan for that NAAQS.
Under the CAA, states are required to submit at various times,
control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans for nonattainment areas.
These control strategy SIPs (including RFP and attainment
demonstration) and maintenance plans create MVEBs for criteria
pollutants and/or their precursors to address pollution from cars and
trucks. Per 40 CFR part 93, a MVEB must be established for the last
year of the maintenance plan. A state may adopt MVEBs for other years
as well. A MVEB is the portion of the total allowable emissions in the
maintenance demonstration that is allocated to highway and transit
vehicle use and emissions. See 40 CFR 93.101. The MVEBs serve as a
ceiling on emissions from an area's planned transportation system. The
MVEBs concept is further explained in the preamble to the November 24,
1993, Transportation Conformity Rule. See 58 FR 62188. The preamble
also describes how to establish the MVEBs in the SIP and how to revise
the MVEBs.
After interagency consultation with the transportation partners for
the St. Louis area, Missouri developed MVEBs for NOX and
PM2.5 for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
nonattainment area. Missouri has developed these MVEBs for 2008 and
2025. The MVEBs reflect the total on-road emissions for 2008 and 2025,
plus an allocation from the available NOX and
PM2.5 safety margin. Under 40 CFR 93.101, the term ``safety
margin'' is the difference between the attainment level (from all
sources) and the projected level of emissions (from all sources) in the
maintenance plan. All or a portion of the safety margin can be
allocated to the transportation sector; however, the total emissions
from all sources must remain below the attainment level (40 CFR
93.124(a)). The NOX and PM2.5 MVEBs and
allocation from the safety margin were developed in consultation with
the transportation partners and were added to account for uncertainties
in population growth, changes in modeled vehicle miles traveled, and
new emission factor models. The NOX and PM2.5
MVEBs for the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area are identified in
Table 9, below.
[[Page 650]]
Table 8--Missouri Portion of the St. Louis Area PM2.5 and NOX 2008 and
2025 MVEBs
[tpy]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PM2.5 NOX
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets................ 2,179 58,820
2025 Mobile Emissions............................... 533 16,568
2025 Safety Margin Allocated (20%).................. 107 3,314
2025 Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets................ 640 19,882
------------------------------------------------------------------------
In an effort to accommodate future variations in travel demand
models (TDM) results and the vehicle miles traveled forecast when no
change to the network is planned, MDNR consulted with the interagency
consultation group, including U.S. EPA Region 7, to determine a
reasonable approach to address this variation. The projected 2025
annual on-road motor vehicle emissions for direct PM2.5 and
NOX are 533 and 16,568 tons, respectively.
A safety margin is necessary to accommodate the variability, or
worst-case scenarios that can occur due to future planning assumptions.
The Missouri portion of the St. Louis area's available total safety
margin for NOX is 52,429 and direct PM2.5 is
1,014. However, Missouri is only using a portion of this available
safety margin. The worst-case daily motor vehicle emissions projection
for PM2.5 is twenty percent above the projected 2025 on-road
emissions. For the PM2.5 MVEB, the needed annual safety
margin would be twenty percent above the projected 533 tons for 2025
onroad emissions. Therefore, the needed annual safety margin for
PM2.5 would be 107 tons resulting in an overall MVEB of 640
tons per year. The worst-case daily motor vehicle emissions projection
for NOX is twenty percent above the projected 16,568 tons
for 2025 on-road emissions. Therefore, the needed annual safety margin
for the NOX MVEB would be 3,314 tons, resulting in an
overall MVEB of 19,882 tons per year.
The maintenance plan establishes 2008 and 2025 MVEBs for direct
PM2.5 and NOX for the St. Louis area. EPA is
providing advanced notice that in a future action it will initiate the
process for determining whether or not the MVEBs are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. The publication of the future
notice starts a 30-day public comment period on the adequacy of the
submitted MVEBs. The comment period will be concurrent with the comment
period on of the future action and comments should be submitted to the
docket for that rulemaking. EPA may choose to make its determination on
the adequacy of the budgets either in the final rulemaking on this
maintenance plan and redesignation request or by informing the state of
the determination in writing, and publishing a notice in the Federal
Register. EPA will also update its adequacy web page to reflect the
decision on the adequacy of the budgets (https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation).\12\ EPA, through is providing advanced notice,
that it intends to propose to approve the MVEBs for use to determine
transportation conformity in the Missouri portion of the St. Louis
area. EPA has reviewed the budgets and the entire maintenance plan and
redesignation request. In conducting that review we applied the
adequacy criteria found in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and found that the
budgets satisfy all of these criteria. For more information on EPA's
review, see EPA's ``Emissions Inventory and Motor Vehicle Emissions
Budget (MVEB) Technical Support Document (TSD) for the Redesignation
Request and Maintenance Plan for the St Louis, Missouri 1997
PM2.5 Nonattainment Area'' available on line at
www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-R07-2017-0734.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ For additional information on the adequacy process, refer
to 40 CFR 93.118(f) and the discussion of the adequacy process in
the preamble to the 2004 final transportation conformity rule. (69
FR 40039-40043)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As discussed throughout this notice EPA's review of the
redesignation request and maintenance plan for this area shows that the
area has attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS and will
continue to maintain that NAAQS through 2028. While budgets were
submitted for 2008 and 2025, EPA is providing advanced notice that the
submitted motor vehicle emissions budgets for NOX and
PM2.5 for 2025 are consistent with maintenance of the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS through at least 2028 for the reasons
discussed above.
We are providing advanced notice that we intend to approve the
redesignation request, maintenance plan and the NOX and
PM2.5 budgets contained in the maintenance plan in a
subsequent action.
VI. What is EPA's initial analysis of the state's 2008 emissions
inventory?
EPA has reviewed Missouri's documentation of the emissions
inventory techniques and data sources used for the derivation of the
2008 emissions estimates and has found that Missouri has thoroughly
documented the derivation of these emissions inventories. The submittal
from the state shows that at the time the 2008 emissions inventory was
the most complete emissions inventory for PM2.5 and
PM2.5 precursors in the St. Louis area. Based upon EPA's
review, we propose to find that 2008 emissions inventories are as
complete and accurate as possible given the input data available to
Missouri. Therefore, we are providing advanced notice and taking
comment on the 2008 NH3, VOC, NOX, direct
PM2.5 and SO2 emissions inventories as a base
year inventory. Final approval of the 2008 base year emissions
inventory will satisfy the emissions inventory requirement under
section 172(c)(3) of the CAA. For more information on EPA's analysis of
the 2008 base year emissions inventory, see EPA's ``Emissions Inventory
and Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB) Technical Support Document
(TSD) for the Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the St,
Louis, Missouri 1997 PM2.5 Nonattainment Area'' available on
line at www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-R07-2017-0734.
VII. Summary of Advanced Notice of Proposed Actions
EPA is providing advanced notice on several actions regarding the
area's redesignation and maintenance of the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS. We are processing this as an advanced notice of proposed action
because we are soliciting comments on the information provided in this
notice and the appropriate of EPA's future action. First, EPA is giving
advanced notice that in a future action it intends to determine, based
on data for the 2015-2017 monitoring period, and after review of all
available data in AQS, that the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area
is attaining the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA is also
providing advanced notice that it believes the St. Louis area has met
the criteria under CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) for redesignation from
nonattainment to attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
Therefore, EPA is providing advanced notice and taking comment on
Missouri's request to redesignate the St. Louis area and change the
legal designation of Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis
and the City of St. Louis from nonattainment to attainment for the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
Second, EPA is providing advanced notice and taking comment on the
maintenance plan for the St. Louis area, including the PM2.5
and NOX MVEBs for 2008 and 2025 submitted by Missouri. The
maintenance plan demonstrates that the area will continue to maintain
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and the budgets meet all of the
adequacy criteria contained in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and (5).
[[Page 651]]
In addition, EPA is providing advanced notice of proposed approval
of Missouri's 2008 base year emissions inventory in accordance with
section 172(c)(3) of the CAA. If finalized, approval of the
redesignation request would change the official designation of St.
Louis area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, found at 40 CFR
part 81, from nonattainment to attainment.
Dated: December 15, 2017.
James B. Gulliford,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.
[FR Doc. 2018-00037 Filed 1-4-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P