Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for the Indian Wells Valley PM10, 56848-56857 [2021-22168]
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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
a. In paragraph (a), by removing
‘‘which will not exceed 94 percent’’ and
adding ‘‘policy’’ before ‘‘reserve’’ in the
first sentence; and
■ b. By revising paragraph (d).
The revision reads as follows:
■
§ 8.13
Policy loans.
*
*
*
*
*
(d) Notwithstanding any other
provisions of this section, the variable
loan rate shall not exceed 12 percent or
be lower than 5 percent per annum. For
policyholders with an existing fixed-rate
loan who subsequently apply for an
additional loan on the same policy, the
existing fixed-rate loan shall be
refinanced into the new variable-rate
loan at the prevailing variable rate at the
time of the new loan application.
[FR Doc. 2021–22208 Filed 10–12–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8320–01–P
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA–R09–OAR–2021–0549; FRL–8856–01–
R9]
Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for
the Indian Wells Valley PM10 Planning
Area; California
Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:
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FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) is proposing to approve
the ‘‘Indian Wells Valley Second 10Year PM10 Maintenance Plan’’ (‘‘Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan’’ or
‘‘Plan’’) as a revision to the state
implementation plan (SIP) for the State
of California. The Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan includes, among
other elements, a base year emissions
inventory, a maintenance
demonstration, contingency provisions,
and motor vehicle emissions budgets for
use in transportation conformity
determinations. The EPA is proposing
these actions because the SIP revision
meets the applicable statutory and
regulatory requirements for such plans
and motor vehicle emissions budgets.
Lastly, the EPA is beginning the
adequacy process for the 2020 and 2025
motor vehicle emissions budgets in the
Plan through this proposed rule.
DATES: Comments must be received on
or before November 12, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments,
identified by Docket ID No. EPA–R09–
OAR–2021–0549, at https://
www.regulations.gov. For comments
SUMMARY:
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submitted at 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, please
contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
For the full EPA public comment policy,
information about CBI or multimedia
submissions, and general guidance on
making effective comments, please visit
https://www.epa.gov/dockets/
commenting-epa-dockets. If you need
assistance in a language other than
English or if you are a person with
disabilities who needs a reasonable
accommodation at no cost to you, please
contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
Ashley Graham, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA
94105. By phone: (415) 972–3877 or by
email at graham.ashleyr@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document, ‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’
and ‘‘our’’ refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
A. The PM10 National Ambient Air Quality
Standards
B. The Indian Wells Valley PM10 Planning
Area
II. Procedural Requirements for Adoption
and Submittal of State Implementation
Plan Revisions
III. Requirements for Second 10-Year
Maintenance Plans
IV. Evaluation of the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan
A. Emissions Inventories
B. Maintenance Demonstration
C. Verification of Continued Attainment
D. Contingency Provisions
E. Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for
Transportation Conformity
V. Proposed Action and Request for Public
Comment
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
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I. Background
A. The PM10 National Ambient Air
Quality Standards
Under section 109 of the Clean Air
Act (CAA or ‘‘Act’’), the EPA
established national ambient air quality
standards (NAAQS or ‘‘standards’’) for
certain pervasive air pollutants (referred
to as ‘‘criteria pollutants’’) and conducts
periodic reviews of the NAAQS to
determine whether they should be
revised or whether new NAAQS should
be established. The EPA sets the
NAAQS for criteria pollutants at levels
required to protect public health and
welfare.1 Particulate matter is one of the
ambient pollutants for which the EPA
has established NAAQS.2
In 1987, the EPA established primary
and secondary NAAQS for particles
with an aerodynamic diameter less than
or equal to a nominal 10 microns in
diameter (PM10).3 At that time, the EPA
established two PM10 standards; an
annual standard and a 24-hour
standard.4 The annual PM10 standard
was subsequently revoked.5 More
recently, the EPA announced that it was
retaining the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS as a
24-hour standard of 150 micrograms per
cubic meter (mg/m3).6 In this document,
‘‘PM10 NAAQS’’ or ‘‘PM10 standard’’
refer to the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS.
An area attains the 24-hour standard
of 150 mg/m3 when the expected number
of days per calendar year with a 24-hour
1 For a given air pollutant, ‘‘primary’’ standards
are those determined by the EPA as requisite to
protect the public health. ‘‘Secondary’’ standards
are those determined by the EPA as requisite to
protect the public welfare from any known or
anticipated adverse effects associated with the
presence of such air pollutant in the ambient air.
CAA section 109(b).
2 Particulate matter is the generic term for a broad
class of chemically and physically diverse
substances that exist as discrete particles (liquid
droplets or solids) over a wide range of sizes.
Particles originate from a variety of anthropogenic
stationary and mobile sources as well as from
natural sources. Particles may be emitted directly or
form in the atmosphere by transformations of
gaseous emissions such as sulfur dioxide (SO2),
oxides of nitrogen (NOX), volatile organic
compounds (VOC), and ammonia (NH3). The
chemical and physical properties of particulate
matter vary greatly with time, region, meteorology,
and source category. SO2, NOX, VOC, and NH3 are
referred to as PM10 precursors. As discussed later
in this proposed rule, precursors do not contribute
significantly to elevated ambient PM10
concentrations in the Indian Wells Valley planning
area. Some California air quality plans use the term
reactive organic gases (ROG) instead of VOC. The
terms cover essentially the same compounds, and
herein we use the term VOC.
3 52 FR 24634 (July 1, 1987).
4 The primary and secondary standards were set
at the same level for both the 24-hour and the
annual PM10 standards.
5 In 2006, the EPA retained the 24-hour PM
10
standards but revoked the annual standards. 71 FR
61144 (October 17, 2006).
6 78 FR 3086 (January 15, 2013).
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concentration above the standard
(referred to as an ‘‘exceedance’’),7
averaged over three years, is equal to or
less than one. The expected number of
exceedances averaged over a three-year
period at any given monitor is known as
the PM10 design value. The PM10 design
value for the area is the highest design
value within the nonattainment area.8
Generally, the EPA determines
whether an area’s air quality is meeting
the PM10 NAAQS based on the most
recent complete,9 quality-assured, and
certified data measured at established
state and local air monitoring stations
(SLAMS) in the nonattainment area and
entered into the EPA Air Quality System
(AQS) database. Data from air
monitoring sites operated by state, local,
or tribal agencies in compliance with
the EPA’s monitoring requirements
must be submitted to AQS. These
monitoring agencies annually certify
that these data are accurate to the best
of their knowledge. Accordingly, the
EPA relies primarily on data in AQS
when determining the attainment status
of an area.10 All valid data are reviewed
to determine the area’s air quality status
in accordance with 40 CFR part 50,
appendix K.
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B. The Indian Wells Valley PM10
Planning Area
Under section 107 of the CAA, the
EPA is required to designate all areas of
the country as attainment,
nonattainment, or unclassifiable for
each of the NAAQS. In response to an
area designation of nonattainment,
states are required to adopt and submit
SIP revisions that, among other things,
provide for attainment of the NAAQS
within such area. Once a nonattainment
area attains the NAAQS and meets
certain other prerequisites, the state may
7 An exceedance is defined as a daily value that
is above the level of the 24-hour standard (i.e., 150
mg/m3) after rounding to the nearest 10 mg/m3 (i.e.,
values ending in five or greater are to be rounded
up). Thus, a recorded value of 154 mg/m3 would not
be an exceedance because it would be rounded to
150 mg/m3. A recorded value of 155 mg/m3 would
be an exceedance because it would be rounded to
160 mg/m3. 40 CFR part 50, Appendix K, section
1.0.
8 40 CFR 50.6 and 40 CFR part 50, appendix K.
The comparison with the allowable expected
exceedance rate of one per year is made in terms
of a number rounded to the nearest tenth (fractional
values equal to or greater than 0.05 are to be
rounded up; e.g., an exceedance rate of 1.05 would
be rounded to 1.1, which is the lowest rate for
nonattainment). 40 CFR part 50, appendix K,
section 2.1(b).
9 For PM , a complete year of air quality data
10
includes all four calendar quarters with each
quarter containing a minimum of 75 percent of the
scheduled PM10 sampling days. 40 CFR part 50,
Appendix K, section 2.3(a).
10 40 CFR 50.6; 40 CFR part 50, appendix J; 40
CFR part 53; and 40 CFR part 58, appendices A, C,
D, and E.
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request that the EPA redesignate the
area to attainment.
Through its enactment of the CAA
Amendments of 1990, Congress
designated certain areas of the country
as nonattainment areas for the PM10
NAAQS. The Searles Valley planning
area was one of the areas designated as
nonattainment.11 In 1991, the EPA
classified the Searles Valley planning
area, as a ‘‘Moderate’’ PM10
nonattainment area.12
The Searles Valley planning area
included three subregions (Coso
Junction, Indian Wells Valley, and
Trona) under the planning jurisdiction
of different air pollution control
agencies. On August 6, 2002, the EPA
changed the boundaries of the Searles
Valley PM10 nonattainment area by
dividing this area into three separate,
newly created PM10 nonattainment
areas, including the Indian Wells Valley
planning area.13 The Indian Wells
Valley planning area is under the
planning jurisdiction of the Eastern
Kern Air Pollution Control District
(EKAPCD or ‘‘District’’). The planning
area boundaries include the portion of
Kern County contained within the
United States Geological Survey
Hydrologic Unit #108090205.14 It covers
approximately 300 square miles and is
populated by about 30,000 persons,
with only one community of significant
size, Ridgecrest.
On May 7, 2003, the EPA determined
that the Indian Wells Valley planning
area had attained the 24-hour PM10
NAAQS.15 The determination was based
on complete, quality-assured, and
certified ambient air monitoring data
that showed the area monitored
attainment of the PM10 NAAQS during
1999–2001.16 Based on the
determination, the EPA finalized
approval of the maintenance plan and
redesignated the Indian Wells Valley
planning area to attainment, effective
June 6, 2003.17
EKAPCD is a monitoring organization
within the California Air Resources
Board (CARB) Primary Quality
Assurance Organization. EKAPCD
operates the PM10 monitoring network
in the Indian Wells Valley area. CARB
submits annual monitoring network
plans to the EPA that cover monitors
operated by EKAPCD. These network
plans describe the monitoring network
11 CAA section 107(d)(4)(B)(i) and 52 FR 29383
(August 7, 1987).
12 56 FR 56694 (November 6, 1991).
13 67 FR 50805.
14 For the definition of the Indian Wells Valley
planning area, see 40 CFR 81.305.
15 68 FR 24368.
16 67 FR 77196 (December 17, 2002).
17 68 FR 24368.
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56849
operated by EKAPCD within the Indian
Wells Valley area and discuss the status
of the air monitoring network, as
required under 40 CFR 58.10. The EPA
regularly reviews these annual plans for
compliance with the applicable
reporting requirements in 40 CFR part
58. With respect to PM10, the EPA has
found that CARB’s network plans meet
the applicable reporting requirements
for the area under 40 CFR part 58,
appendix D.18 EKAPCD and CARB
annually certify that the data they
submit to AQS are complete and
quality-assured.19
EKAPCD operates one PM10 SLAMS
monitoring site, Ridgecrest (AQS ID: 06–
029–0018), within the Indian Wells
Valley PM10 planning area.20 The
monitor is located at the northeast
corner of Sydnor Avenue and Primavera
Street in Ridgecrest, California 21 (see
Figure 8 in the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan) and was sited to
monitor the highest concentration in the
area at a neighborhood scale. SLAMS
monitors produce data comparable to
the NAAQS, and therefore the monitor
must be an approved federal reference
method, federal equivalent method
(FEM), or approved regional method.
The Ridgecrest monitor measures hourly
PM10 concentrations on a daily, yearround basis using a method that has
been designated as an FEM by the EPA.
Table 1 shows the maximum
monitored 24-hour PM10 concentrations
at the Ridgecrest monitoring site for
2002–2020. The table reflects that
values for the Indian Wells Valley area
are typically well below the PM10
NAAQS of 150 mg/m3.
18 For example, see letter dated November 5,
2020, from Gwen Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality
Analysis Office, EPA Region IX, to Ravi
Ramalingam, Chief, Consumer Products and Air
Quality Assessment Branch, Air Quality Planning
and Science Division, CARB.
19 For example, see letter dated June 21, 2021,
from Sylvia Vanderspek, Chief, Air Quality
Planning Branch, CARB, to Gwen Yoshimura,
Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region
9.
20 The EPA approved the relocation of the
Ridgecrest monitor from the California Ave (06–
029–0015) site to the Ward Ave site (06–029–0018)
on June 27, 2018. See letter dated June 27, 2018,
from Gwen Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality
Analysis Office, Air Division, EPA Region IX, to
Glen E. Stephens, P.E., Air Pollution Control
Officer, EKAPCD.
21 Monitoring site address is 2051 Ward Ave.,
Ridgecrest, CA 93555.
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TABLE 1—INDIAN WELLS VALLEY PM10 TABLE 2—INDIAN WELLS VALLEY PM10 reasonable notice and opportunity for
public hearing prior to adoption and
MAXIMUM 24-HOUR VALUES
DESIGN VALUES
[Ridgecrest monitor, AQS identification
number 06–029–0015/06–029–0018]
Year
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
[Ridgecrest monitor, AQS identification
number 06–029–0015/06–029–0018]
Maximum
value
(μg/m3)
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
......................................
84
162
47
55
65
72
57
46
52
143
43
56
51
44
66
60
107
177
401
Sources: EPA Air Quality System Quicklook
Report 2001–2021, accessed February 8,
2021, and EPA Air Quality System Maximum
Values Report 2019–2020, accessed August
10, 2021.
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Table 2 shows the estimated number
of exceedances for the Indian Wells
Valley PM10 area for the three-year
design value periods starting in 2002
and ending in 2020. As shown in Table
1, one exceedance of the PM10 NAAQS
was recorded in 2003 at the Ridgecrest
monitor. The District attributed the
February 2, 2003 exceedance to
transport of windblown dust from the
Owens Lake area, citing high PM10
concentration readings at several nearby
sites.22 Because the monitor operated on
a one-in-six day sampling schedule
during that time, the resulting estimated
number of exceedances (i.e., 24-hour
design values) for the 2001–2003, 2002–
2004, and 2003–2005 periods are 2.0 at
the Ridgecrest monitor. Since that time,
the Indian Wells Valley has attained the
PM10 NAAQS.
22 Email dated August 20, 2021, from Jeremiah
Cravens, EKAPCD, to Ashley Graham, EPA Region
IX. See also EPA Air Quality System Raw Data
Qualifier Report 2003, accessed August 10, 2021.
The report shows that the District flagged the
February 2, 2003 exceedance with the ‘‘High
Winds’’ qualifier with a request to exclude the data
as an exceptional event. The State did not submit
documentation and a request for the EPA to concur
on the exceedance as an exceptional event pursuant
to 40 CFR 50.14.
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Design value period
2000–2002
2001–2003
2002–2004
2003–2005
2004–2006
2005–2007
2006–2008
2007–2009
2008–2010
2009–2011
2010–2012
2011–2013
2012–2014
2013–2015
2014–2016
2015–2017
2016–2018
2017–2019
2018–2020
Design value
(μg/m3)
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
............................
0.0
2.0
2.0
2.0
a 0.0
a 0.0
a 0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.0
0.3
0.7
Sources: EPA Air Quality System Design
Value Report 2001–2021, accessed February
8, 2021 and EPA Air Quality System Design
Value Report 2020, accessed August 10,
2021.
a Invalid design value due to incomplete
data in data years 2004, 2005, and 2006.
In California, CARB is the state
agency responsible for the adoption and
submission to the EPA of California SIPs
and SIP revisions, and it has broad
authority to establish emissions
standards and other requirements for
mobile sources. Local and regional air
pollution control districts in California
are responsible for the regulation of
stationary sources and are generally
responsible for the development of air
quality plans. In the eastern portion of
Kern County, EKAPCD develops and
adopts air quality plans to address CAA
planning requirements applicable to the
Indian Wells Valley planning area. Such
plans are then submitted to CARB for
adoption and submittal to the EPA as
revisions to the California SIP.
On July 30, 2020, CARB submitted the
‘‘Revised PM10 Maintenance Plan for
Indian Wells Valley Attainment/
Maintenance Area’’ (‘‘Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan’’) for the 24hour PM10 NAAQS.23
II. Procedural Requirements for
Adoption and Submittal of State
Implementation Plan Revisions
CAA sections 110(a)(1) and (2) and
section 110(l) require states to provide
23 The submittal package included the following
two documents that make up the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan: ‘‘Revised PM10
Maintenance Plan for Indian Wells Valley
Attainment/Maintenance Area’’ and ‘‘Indian Wells
Valley Condensable PM10 Emission Inventory.’’
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submission of a SIP or SIP revision. To
meet these procedural requirements,
every SIP submission should include
evidence that the state provided
adequate public notice and an
opportunity for a public hearing
consistent with the EPA’s implementing
regulations in 40 CFR 51.102.
CARB’s July 30, 2020 SIP submittal
package includes documentation of the
public processes used by the District
and CARB to adopt the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan. As
documented in the submittal package,
on April 1, 2020, the District published
a notice in the Bakersfield Californian,
a newspaper of general circulation in
Kern County, that a public hearing to
consider adoption of the Plan would be
held on May 7, 2020. As documented in
EKAPCD Resolution No. 2020–003–05
included in the SIP revision submittal
package, the Air Pollution Control
Board of the EKAPCD adopted the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
on May 7, 2020, following the public
hearing. On May 22, 2020, CARB
published on its website a notice of
public hearing to be held on June 25,
2020, to consider adoption of the Plan.
As evidenced by CARB Resolution 20–
18, CARB adopted the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan on June 25,
2020, following a public hearing. Based
on documentation included in the July
30, 2020 SIP revision submittal package,
we find that both the District and CARB
have satisfied the applicable statutory
and regulatory requirements for
reasonable public notice and hearing
prior to adoption and submission of the
Plan. Therefore, we find that the
submission of the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan meets the procedural
requirements for public notice and
hearing in CAA sections 110(a) and
110(l) and in 40 CFR 51.102.24
III. Requirements for Second 10-Year
Maintenance Plans
Section 175A of the CAA provides the
general framework for maintenance
plans. The initial 10-year maintenance
plan must provide for maintenance of
the NAAQS for at least 10 years after
redesignation, including any additional
control measures necessary to ensure
such maintenance. In addition,
maintenance plans are to contain
contingency provisions necessary to
ensure the prompt correction of a
violation of the NAAQS that occurs after
redesignation. The contingency
24 On January 30, 2021, the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan was deemed complete by
operation of law under CAA section 110(k)(1)(B).
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measures must include, at a minimum,
a requirement that the state will
implement all control measures
contained in the nonattainment SIP
prior to redesignation.
Section 175A(b) of the CAA requires
states to submit a subsequent
maintenance plan revision (‘‘second 10year maintenance plan’’) eight years
after redesignation. The Act requires
only that this second 10-year
maintenance plan maintain the
applicable NAAQS for 10 years after the
expiration of the first 10-year
maintenance plan. Beyond these
provisions, section 175A of the CAA
does not define the content of a second
10-year maintenance plan.
The primary guidance on
maintenance plans and redesignation
requests is a September 4, 1992
memorandum from John Calcagni, titled
‘‘Procedures for Processing Requests to
Redesignate Areas to Attainment’’
(‘‘Calcagni Memo’’).25 The Calcagni
Memo outlines the key elements of a
maintenance plan, which include an
attainment emissions inventory,
maintenance demonstration, monitoring
and verification of continued
attainment, and a contingency plan.
Maintenance plan submittals are SIP
revisions, and as such, the EPA is
obligated under CAA section 110(k) to
approve them or disapprove them
depending upon whether they meet the
applicable CAA requirements for such
plans.
IV. Evaluation of the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan
A. Emissions Inventories
A maintenance plan for the PM10
NAAQS should include an inventory of
direct PM10 emissions in the area.26 The
inventory should be consistent with the
EPA’s most recent guidance on
emissions inventories for nonattainment
areas available at the time; must be
comprehensive, including emissions
from stationary point sources, area
sources, and mobile sources; and must
be based on actual emissions during the
appropriate season, if applicable.27
The specific PM10 emissions
inventory requirements are set forth in
the Air Emissions Reporting
Requirements rule,28 which requires
that emissions inventories report
filterable and condensable components,
as applicable.29 The EPA has provided
additional guidance for developing
PM10 emissions inventories in ‘‘PM10
Emissions Inventory Requirements,’’
EPA–454/R–94–033 (September 1994)
and ‘‘Emissions Inventory Guidance for
Implementation of Ozone and
Particulate Matter National Ambient Air
Quality Standards (NAAQS) and
Regional Haze Regulations’’ (May 2017).
The Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan includes inventories
for total primary PM10 and for the PM10
precursors NOX, SOX, and ammonia for
the years 2013 (the final year of the first
maintenance period) through 2025 (the
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final year of the second maintenance
period).30 The 2017 emissions inventory
represents current emissions and was
used to project emissions through 2025,
as discussed further in section IV.B of
this document. The emissions
inventories in the Plan include
estimates from all relevant source
categories that the Plan divides among
fuel combustion, waste disposal,
cleaning and surface coatings, industrial
processes, miscellaneous processes, onroad motor vehicles, and off-road motor
vehicles.31 CARB and the District
developed the emissions inventories
based on the methods and assumptions
presented in detail in Appendix D
(‘‘IWV Precursor Emission Inventories
2002–2025’’).32 The direct PM10 and
PM10 precursor emissions are presented
in tables 2 and 3 and Appendix D of the
Plan, and the specific filterable and
condensable components of the direct
PM10 emissions estimates are identified
in the accompanying document titled
‘‘Indian Wells Valley Condensable PM10
Emission Inventory.’’ Table 3 provides a
summary of the 2017 direct PM10 base
year emissions inventory in tons per day
(tpd) for the Indian Wells Valley area.
Because the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan depends on direct
PM10 emissions to demonstrate
compliance, the EPA reviewed those
direct PM10 emissions estimates and not
the District’s emissions estimates for
PM10 precursor emissions.
TABLE 3—INDIAN WELLS PM10 BASE YEAR (2017) EMISSIONS INVENTORY
[Annual average, tpd]
Source category
Subcategory
Stationary Point Sources ............................................................
Fuel Combustion ........................................................................
Waste Disposal ..........................................................................
Cleaning & Surface Coatings ....................................................
Industrial Processes ...................................................................
Miscellaneous Processes ..........................................................
On-Road Motor Vehicles ...........................................................
Off-Road Motor Vehicles ...........................................................
0.031
0.002
0.001
0.019
1.199
0.039
1.172
All Stationary, Areawide, and Mobile Sources ..........................
2.462
Areawide Sources .......................................................................
Mobile Sources ...........................................................................
Total .....................................................................................
PM10
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Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 3 and Appendix D.
a Emissions inventories are required to include direct PM
10 emissions, separately reported as PM10 filterable and condensable emissions. 40
CFR 51.15(a)(1)(vii). The accompanying document titled ‘‘Indian Wells Valley Condensable PM10 Emission Inventory’’ provides this information.
Totals may not add up due to rounding.
25 Memorandum dated September 4, 1992, from
John Calcagni, Director, EPA Air Quality
Management Division, to Regional Office Air
Division Directors, Subject: Procedures for
Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to
Attainment.
26 PM
10 precursor emissions should also be
included depending upon the contribution of
secondary particulate matter to high ambient PM10
concentrations in the area. In this instance, an
inventory of PM10 precursor emissions is not
required because PM10 precursor controls were not
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relied upon to achieve attainment of the PM10
NAAQS in the Indian Wells Valley planning area
nor are they relied upon to demonstrate
maintenance of the NAAQS (see Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan, section IV, and 67 FR
77196, 77201 (December 17, 2002)). While not
required, the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan includes inventories of NOX, SOX, and
ammonia in appendix D (‘‘IWV Precursor Emission
Inventories’’).
27 CAA section 172(c)(3).
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28 40
CFR part 51, subpart A.
CFR 51.15(a)(1)(vii).
30 Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
sections IV.B and IV.D, and Appendix D.
31 Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
sections IV.B and IV.D.
32 While Appendix D is titled ‘‘IWV Precursor
Emission Inventories 2002–2005,’’ the appendix
presents the full emissions inventory
documentation for direct PM10 in addition to PM10
precursors.
29 40
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As discussed in Appendix D of the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
direct PM10 emissions estimates for
stationary point sources reflect actual
emissions reported to the District in
2017 by owners or operators of
industrial point sources in the Indian
Wells Valley planning area. Areawide
sources, such as consumer products and
agricultural burning, occur over a wide
geographic area. Emissions for these
categories are estimated by both CARB
and the District using various models
and methodologies.
Emissions from on-road mobile
sources, which include passenger
vehicles, buses, and trucks, were
estimated using outputs from CARB’s
EMFAC2017 model.33 These emissions
were calculated by applying
EMFAC2017 emissions factors to the
transportation activity data provided by
the Kern Council of Governments
(KCOG) from their 2018 Regional
Transportation Plan/2019 Federal
Transportation Improvement Program
(2018 RTP/2019 FTIP).34 KCOG is the
metropolitan planning organization
representing Kern County and the 11
incorporated cities within Kern County.
Emissions from off-road mobile
sources (e.g., cargo handling equipment,
pleasure craft, recreational vehicles, and
locomotives) were estimated using a
suite of category-specific models or,
where a new model was not available,
the OFFROAD2007 model. Many of the
newer models were developed to
support recent regulations, including inuse off-road equipment.
Based on the estimates for the year
2017 in Table 3, areawide and off-road
mobile sources account for a majority
(approximately 96 percent) of total PM10
emissions in the Indian Wells Valley
planning area.35 Fugitive windblown
dust and unpaved road dust account for
a majority of the areawide emissions (54
percent and 17 percent, respectively),
whereas aircraft account for a majority
33 EMFAC is short for EMission FACtor. The EPA
approved EMFAC2017 for SIP development and
transportation conformity purposes in California on
August 15, 2019. 84 FR 41717. EMFAC2017 was the
most recently approved version of the EMFAC
model that was available at the time of preparation
of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan.
34 The Kern Council of Governments Board of
Directors adopted the 2018 RTP/2019 FTIP on
August 16, 2018.
35 Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
Appendix C.
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of the off-road mobile source emissions
(98 percent).
The EPA considers the selection of
the 2017 base year inventory to be
appropriate given that it is the most
recent emissions inventory associated
with the triennial reporting schedule
required under the Air Emissions
Reporting Requirements rule. Moreover,
preparation of an annual average daily
inventory, as opposed to a seasonal or
episodic inventory, is appropriate given
that elevated PM10 concentrations in the
Indian Wells Valley do not exhibit a
clear seasonal or episodic pattern. Based
on our review of the documentation
provided with the plan, we find that the
2017 emissions inventory for direct
PM10 is based on reasonable
assumptions and methodologies, and
that the inventory is comprehensive,
current, accurate, and consistent with
applicable CAA provisions and the
Calcagni Memo.
B. Maintenance Demonstration
Section 175A(a) of the CAA requires
that the maintenance plan ‘‘provide for
the maintenance of the national primary
ambient air quality standard for such air
pollutant in the area concerned for at
least 10 years after the redesignation.’’ A
state may generally demonstrate
maintenance of the NAAQS by either
showing that future emissions of a
pollutant or its precursors will not
exceed the level of the attainment
inventory, or by conducting modeling
that shows that the future mix of
sources and emissions rates will not
cause a violation of the NAAQS.36
Projected emissions inventories for
future years must account for, among
other things, the ongoing effects of
economic growth and adopted
emissions control requirements, and the
inventories are expected to be the best
available representation of future
emissions. The plan submission should
include documentation explaining how
the state calculated the emissions data
for the base year and projected
inventories.
The Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan demonstrates
continued maintenance of the PM10
NAAQS by projecting the direct PM10
emissions in the area through 2025 and
showing that future emissions of PM10
36 Calcagni
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will not exceed the level of the
attainment inventory. As discussed in
section IV.A, the Plan includes
emissions inventories representing
actual emissions in 2013 (the final year
of the first maintenance period) through
2017 (the Plan’s base year inventory),
and projected emissions for 2018
through 2025 (the final year of the
second maintenance period) for sources
in the Indian Wells Valley planning
area.37
Projected inventories are derived by
applying expected growth trends for
each source category and are based on
data that reflect historical trends,
current conditions, and recent economic
and demographic forecasts with
expected emissions reductions resulting
from adopted control measures to the
base year inventory. For the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
emissions projections for 2018 through
2025 were generated by applying growth
and control profiles to the 2017 base
year inventory. Growth forecasts for
most point and areawide sources were
developed by CARB. Mobile sources
were forecast using total vehicle miles
traveled projections provided by KCOG.
Off-road sources were forecast using
various growth surrogates as shown in
Table 7 of Appendix D of the Plan.
Appendix D documents the methods
and assumptions used to develop the
emissions projections upon which the
maintenance demonstration relies and
presents the detailed source-categoryspecific estimates for each of the
analysis years.
Table 4 presents a summary of the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan’s estimates of direct PM10
emissions in an interim year (2020) and
the horizon year (2025) along with the
corresponding emissions estimates for
the year 2013 (the final year of the first
maintenance period) and the 2017 base
year. For simplicity, Table 4 shows
emissions for just one of the interim
years (i.e., 2020) between the base year
and the horizon year, but as discussed
above, the Plan provides emissions
estimates for each year from 2013
through 2025.38
37 Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
sections IV.B and IV.D, and Appendix D.
38 Id. at Table 2 and Table 3.
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TABLE 4—INDIAN WELLS PM10 EMISSIONS INVENTORY, 2013, 2017, 2020, AND 2025
[Annual average, tpd]
Source
category
Subcategory
Stationary Point Sources ......
Fuel Combustion ..........................................
Waste Disposal ............................................
Cleaning & Surface Coatings .......................
Industrial Processes .....................................
Miscellaneous Processes .............................
On-Road Motor Vehicles ..............................
Off-Road Motor Vehicles ..............................
0.018
0.000
0.000
0.009
1.424
0.051
1.228
0.031
0.002
0.001
0.019
1.199
0.039
1.172
0.027
0.002
0.001
0.020
1.193
0.037
1.167
0.018
0.002
0.001
0.021
1.262
0.036
1.161
All Stationary,
Sources.
2.679
2.462
2.446
2.501
Areawide Sources .................
Mobile Sources .....................
Total ...............................
2013
Areawide,
and
Mobile
2017
2020
2025
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Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 2 and Table 3.
Totals may not add up due to rounding.
The emissions estimates in the Plan
predict a gradual change in direct PM10
emissions within the Indian Wells
Valley planning area over time, with
slight decreases in certain categories
(e.g., fuel combustion, on-road motor
vehicles, off-road motor vehicles) nearly
offsetting slight increases in certain
other source categories (i.e., industrial
processes, miscellaneous processes)
relative to the 2017 base year emissions.
By 2025, overall direct PM10 emissions
are estimated to be approximately 0.039
tpd (1.6 percent) higher than in the 2017
base year. However, despite the
expected growth in the area, the Plan’s
projected PM10 emissions through 2025
are approximately 0.178 tpd (6.6
percent) lower than emissions in 2013,
the final year of the first maintenance
period and a year in which there were
no recorded exceedances of the PM10
NAAQS.
Based on our review, we find that the
projected emissions inventories for
direct PM10 for years 2018 through 2025
are based on reasonable methods,
growth factors, and assumptions, and
are based on the most current and
accurate information available to CARB
and EKAPCD at the time the Plan and
its inventories were being developed.
Given that the projections of direct PM10
emissions show future emissions
increases through 2025 are within 1.6
percent of those in 2017 and below
those in 2013 (both of which reflect
attainment conditions), we find that the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
provides an adequate basis to
demonstrate maintenance of the PM10
NAAQS within the Indian Wells Valley
planning area through 2025. Lastly, we
find that by providing emissions
projections through 2025, the Plan
demonstrates maintenance of the PM10
NAAQS for more than 10 years after the
expiration of the first 10-year
maintenance plan (i.e., 2023) in
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accordance with section 175A(b) of the
CAA.
C. Verification of Continued Attainment
Once an area has been redesignated,
the state should continue to operate an
appropriate air quality monitoring
network, in accordance with 40 CFR
part 58, to verify the attainment status
of the area.39 Data collected by the
monitoring network are also needed to
implement the contingency provisions
of the maintenance plan.
As discussed in section I.B, EKAPCD
monitors ambient concentrations of
PM10 in the Indian Wells Valley
planning area at the Ridgecrest
monitoring station. In section V.A
(‘‘Tracking’’) of the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan, the District commits
to continue to operate and maintain a
PM10 air quality monitor in Ridgecrest
in accordance with 40 CFR part 58. We
find that the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan contains adequate
provisions for continued ambient PM10
monitoring to verify continued
attainment through the maintenance
period.
The EPA also recommends that the
state verify continued attainment
through methods in addition to the
ambient air monitoring program, e.g.,
through periodic review of the factors
used in development of the attainment
inventory to show no significant
change.40 In the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan, EKAPCD commits to
perform periodic reviews of the air
monitoring data and emissions
inventory, to review the inputs and
assumptions used to develop the
emissions inventory on an annual basis,
and, if the District finds that these
inputs have changed significantly, to
request that CARB update the existing
inventory and to compare the revised
39 Calcagni
Memo, 11.
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D. Contingency Provisions
Section 175A(d) of the CAA requires
that maintenance plans include
contingency provisions, as the EPA
deems necessary, to promptly correct
any violations of the NAAQS that occur
after redesignation of the area. Such
provisions must include a requirement
that the state will implement all
measures with respect to the control of
the relevant air pollutants that were
contained in the SIP for the area before
redesignation of the area as an
attainment area. These contingency
provisions are distinguished from
contingency measures required for
nonattainment areas under CAA section
172(c)(9) in that they are not required to
be fully adopted measures that will take
effect without further action by the state
for the maintenance plan to be
approved. However, the contingency
provisions of a maintenance plan are
considered to be an enforceable part of
the SIP and should ensure that
contingency measures are adopted
expeditiously once they are triggered.
The maintenance plan should clearly
identify the measures to be adopted,
include a schedule and procedure for
adoption and implementation of the
measures, and contain a specific
timeline for action by the state. In
addition, the state should identify the
specific indicators or triggers that will
41 Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, section
VI (‘‘Subsequent Maintenance Plan Revisions’’).
40 Id.
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inventory with the inventories in the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan.41 We find that the District’s
commitment to verify continued
attainment of the PM10 NAAQS through
continued ambient air monitoring and
annual review of the inputs and
assumptions used to develop the
emissions inventories in the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan are
acceptable.
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be used to determine when the
contingency measures need to be
implemented.
The District has adopted a
contingency plan to address possible
future PM10 air quality problems in the
Indian Wells Valley planning area. The
contingency plan is included in section
V of the Plan.
As noted by the District in the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
contingency provisions are typically
implemented when air quality
deteriorates beyond a specified level,
such as a certain number of exceedances
of the standard or a violation of the
standard. In this case, the contingency
provisions will be triggered when the
number of exceedances at the monitor,
averaged over three years, is greater than
1.05. However, the contingency plan
also includes a screening process that
allows the District and CARB, subject to
EPA review, to exclude exceedances
from the trigger calculation if the
agencies collectively determine that
information developed by the District is
sufficient to support exclusion. The
purpose of the screening process is to
differentiate between exceedances that
are not within the District or State
control (i.e., exceedances that occur
despite the implementation of
reasonable measures), and exceedances
that are within the District’s or State’s
control and should be included in the
trigger calculation. It is important to
note that, should the District or State
exclude an exceedance from the
contingency trigger calculation using
this process, it would not constitute the
EPA’s concurrence that the exceedance
was caused by an exceptional event.
The exceedance will therefore continue
to be included in design value
calculations for the Indian Wells Valley
planning area unless CARB, following
opportunity for public comment,
submits a request for the EPA to concur
on the exceedance as an exceptional
event pursuant to 40 CFR 50.14, and the
EPA reviews the submittal and formally
concurs.
Under the contingency trigger
screening process, within 60 days of the
end of each calendar quarter, the
District will complete the following:
Provide a list of exceedances that
occurred during that previous quarter to
CARB, identify those exceedances that
the District believes to be exceedances
that are not within the District’s or
State’s control, and flag the relevant
data and provide an initial description
in AQS. The State then has 60 days to
review the information, during which
time it may request additional
information from the District to
supplement the District’s analysis.
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Following CARB’s review, CARB will
transmit the information to the EPA,
including information for those
exceedances the District believes should
be excluded from the contingency plan
trigger calculation.
The Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan anticipates that the
EPA will review the submitted
information, notify the District if the
submitted information is insufficient to
support exclusion from the contingency
plan trigger calculation, include such
exceedances in calculating the trigger
for the contingency plan, and notify the
District if the contingency plan has been
triggered. The EPA intends to notify the
District, within 60 days of receipt,
whether submitted information is
sufficient or insufficient to support the
exclusion of a given exceedance from
the contingency plan trigger calculation
and to take the other actions described
in the plan. If the submitted information
is not sufficient, the EPA will include
the exceedance in the calculation to
determine if the contingency plan has
been triggered. If the State or District
subsequently provide additional
information sufficient to support the
conclusion that the exceedance meets
the criteria for exclusion from the trigger
calculation, the EPA will notify the
District that the calculation will be
adjusted.
Under the contingency plan, if the
EPA determines that contingency
provisions have been triggered, (i.e., the
number of exceedances, averaged over
three years, is greater than 1.05
excluding those exceedances identified
through the screening process),
EKAPCD commits to the following
steps:
(1) Within six months of EPA notification,
EKAPCD will complete an analysis of the
exceedances and available contingency
measures. During this time, the District will
determine the possible cause of the
exceedances and will consult with
community and local industry members to
determine if any voluntary or incentive
measures could be implemented to reduce
the magnitude of or eliminate the source of
emissions. If voluntary and incentive-based
measures do not adequately address the
problem, the EKAPCD will evaluate its
fugitive dust rules (402, 402.2, and 419), or
other rules as appropriate, to determine
where such rules could be improved or
expanded to achieve additional emissions
reductions. The measures that EKAPCD
would consider and analyze include but are
not limited to those listed in Table 5.
(2) Within 12 months of completing its
analysis, the District will adopt and
implement the new contingency measures.
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TABLE 5—EMISSIONS SOURCES AND
ASSOCIATED CONTROL MEASURES;
RULES TO REVISE IF CONTINGENCY
TRIGGERED
Emissions source
Construction and Earthmoving Activities ............................................
Storage Piles/Bulk Materials ............
Track-out/Carry-out ...........................
Agricultural Operations .....................
Paved and Unpaved Roads .............
Nuisance ...........................................
Open Areas ......................................
Rule
402
402
402
402.2
402 &
402.2
419
402 &
419
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan, Table 7.
Based on our review of the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan, as
summarized herein, we propose to find
that the contingency provisions of the
Plan clearly identify specific
contingency measures, contain a
triggering mechanism to determine
when contingency measures are needed,
contain a description of the process of
recommending and implementing
contingency measures, and contain
specific and appropriate timelines for
action. We also propose to find that the
contingency trigger screening process,
including the associated EPA review, is
reasonably designed to distinguish
between exceedances that are not within
the District or State control, and
exceedances that are within the
District’s or State’s control and for
which new or tightened control
measures might be effective. Thus, we
propose to conclude that the
contingency plan in the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan is adequate to
ensure correction of any violation of the
PM10 NAAQS that occurs after
redesignation, as required by section
175A(d) of the CAA.
E. Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for
Transportation Conformity
Section 176(c) of the CAA requires
federal actions in nonattainment and
maintenance areas to conform to the
SIP’s goals of eliminating or reducing
the severity and number of violations of
the NAAQS and achieving expeditious
attainment of the standards. Conformity
to the SIP’s goals means that such
actions will not: (1) Cause or contribute
to violations of the NAAQS, (2) worsen
the severity of an existing violation, or
(3) delay timely attainment of any
NAAQS or any interim milestone.
Actions involving Federal Highway
Administration (FHWA) or Federal
Transit Administration (FTA) funding
or approval are subject to the EPA’s
transportation conformity rule, codified
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at 40 CFR part 93, subpart A. Under this
rule, metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs) in nonattainment
and maintenance areas coordinate with
state and local air quality and
transportation agencies, the EPA,
FHWA, and FTA to demonstrate that an
area’s regional transportation plans and
transportation improvement programs
conform to the applicable SIP. This
demonstration is typically done by
showing that estimated emissions from
existing and planned highway and
transit systems are less than or equal to
the motor vehicle emissions budgets
(‘‘budgets’’) contained in submitted or
approved control strategy SIPs and
maintenance plans.42
These control strategy SIPs and
maintenance plans typically set budgets
for criteria pollutants and/or their
precursors to address pollution from
cars and trucks. Budgets are generally
established for specific years and
specific pollutants or precursors. PM10
maintenance plan submittals should
identify budgets for transportationrelated PM10 emissions in the last year
of the maintenance period.43
For budgets in a maintenance plan to
be approvable, they must meet, at a
minimum, the EPA’s adequacy
criteria.44 To meet these requirements,
the budgets must be consistent, when
considered with emissions from all
other sources, with maintenance of the
NAAQS and reflect all the motor vehicle
control measures relied upon for the
maintenance demonstration.
The EPA’s process for determining
adequacy of a budget consists of three
basic steps: (1) Notifying the public of
a SIP submittal, (2) providing the public
the opportunity to comment on the
budget during a public comment period,
and (3) making a finding of adequacy or
inadequacy. The process for
determining the adequacy of a
submitted budget is codified at 40 CFR
93.118(f). The EPA can notify the public
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by either posting an announcement that
the EPA has received SIP budgets on the
EPA’s adequacy website,45 or via a
Federal Register notice of proposed
rulemaking when the EPA reviews the
adequacy of a maintenance plan budget
simultaneously with its review and
action on the SIP submittal itself.46
The Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan includes budgets for
direct PM10 for the last year of the
maintenance Plan (2025) and an interim
year (2020). The applicable source
categories included in the budgets
include vehicle emissions (including
exhaust, brake wear, and tire wear),
entrained dust from vehicle travel over
paved and unpaved roads, and road
construction dust. To develop the
budgets, the District also rounded up
the motor vehicle emissions estimates to
the nearest tenth of a ton and included
a safety margin.47 The 2020 and 2025
annual average day conformity budgets
for PM10 are provided in Table 6.
TABLE 6—TRANSPORTATION CONFORMITY BUDGETS FOR THE INDIAN WELLS VALLEY PM10 AREA
[PM10 tpd, annual average]
Source category
2020
Vehicular Exhaust, Tire, and Brake Wear a .............................................................................................................
SAFE Rule Adjustment ............................................................................................................................................
Re-Entrained Paved Road Dust ..............................................................................................................................
Re-Entrained Unpaved Road Dust ..........................................................................................................................
Road Construction Dust ..........................................................................................................................................
Safety Margin ...........................................................................................................................................................
Total b .......................................................................................................................................................................
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget c ...........................................................................................................................
2025
0.04
0.00
0.11
0.13
0.03
0.0
0.31
0.40
0.04
0.00
0.12
0.13
0.10
0.10
0.49
0.50
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a This reflects the adjustment factor for the Safer Affordable Fuel-Efficient (SAFE) Vehicle Rule part one (84 FR 51310, September 27, 2019)
using EMFAC2017.
b Values from California Emissions Projection Analysis Model v1.00 may not add up due to rounding.
c Motor vehicle emissions budgets calculated are rounded up to the nearest tenth of a tpd.
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 5.
CARB developed the on-road mobile
portion of the emissions inventory for
the maintenance plan using California’s
on-road mobile source emissions
projection model, EMFAC2017, and
vehicle activity data provided by the
KCOG from its 2019 Federal
Transportation Improvement Program,
as amended July 2019. The EMFAC2017
model calculated tire wear, brake wear,
and exhaust emissions. Paved road dust
emissions were estimated using AP–42
with California-specific silt loading
data.48 The unpaved road dust
emissions were estimated using CARB’s
methodology 7.10, updated in 2012 for
non-farm roads. The road construction
dust emissions were estimated based on
road miles constructed according to data
from KCOG.
As discussed in the March 10, 2006
final transportation conformity
rulemaking, unlike the exception for
paved and unpaved road dust emissions
in PM2.5 analyses in 40 CFR
93.102(b)(3), the conformity rule does
not include an exception for PM10 for
paved and unpaved road dust emissions
to be determined significant. The EPA
intends for road dust emissions to be
included in all conformity analyses of
direct PM10 emissions because fugitive
dust from roadways and other sources
dominate PM10 emissions inventories.
The budgets in the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan, therefore, include
paved and unpaved road emissions.
Regional PM10 emissions analyses for
transportation conformity
42 Control strategy SIPs refer to reasonable further
progress and attainment demonstration SIPs. 40
CFR 93.101.
43 Transportation-related emissions of VOC and
NOX must also be specified in PM10 maintenance
plans if the EPA or the state find that
transportation-related emissions of one or both of
these precursors within the nonattainment area are
a significant contributor to the PM10 nonattainment
problem and has so notified the MPO and the U.S.
Department of Transportation (DOT), or the
applicable SIP (or SIP revision submission)
establishes an approved (or adequate) budget for
such emissions as part of the reasonable further
progress, attainment, or maintenance strategy. 40
CFR 93.102(b)(2)(iii). Neither of these conditions
apply to the Indian Wells PM10 maintenance area.
44 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
45 40 CFR 93.118(f)(1).
46 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2).
47 The text of the Plan identifies the safety margin
for VOC in 2020 only. However, Table 5 in the Plan
indicates that the safety margin is for PM10
emissions. CARB confirmed via email that the
reference to VOC in the text is a typographic error
and that the safety margin is for PM10 emissions.
See email dated February 4, 2021, from Nesamani
Kalandiyur, CARB, to Karina O’Connor, EPA Region
IX, Subject: ‘‘RE: Question Regarding Indian Wells
2nd Maintenance Plan.’’
48 AP–42 is an EPA document that includes a
compilation of emissions factors.
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determinations in PM10 nonattainment
and maintenance areas must account for
highway and transit project
construction-related fugitive PM10
emissions if the control strategy or
maintenance plan identifies such
emissions as a contributor to the air
quality problem, but it is not required if
such emissions are not identified as a
contributor to the air quality problem.49
Emissions estimates developed for the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
show that fugitive PM10 emissions from
highway and transit project construction
represent approximately 1.2 percent and
4.0 percent of the total annual-average
daily PM10 emissions in 2020 and 2025,
respectively.50 Based on these emissions
estimates, the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan concludes that
fugitive PM10 emissions from highways
and transit project construction are
significant and must be accounted for in
regional emissions analyses for
transportation conformity
determinations made for the Indian
Wells Valley planning area.
Consequently, the budgets in the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan reflect
highway and transit project
construction-related fugitive dust.
We evaluated the budgets against our
adequacy criteria in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4)
and (5) as part of our review of the
budget’s approvability and expect to
complete the adequacy review of the
budgets concurrent with our final action
on the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan. The EPA is not
required under its transportation
conformity rule to find budgets
adequate prior to proposing approval of
them.51 In this document, the EPA is
announcing that the adequacy process
for these budgets begins, and the public
has 30 days to comment on their
adequacy, per the transportation
conformity rule at 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2)(i)
and (ii).
As documented in the separate
memorandum included in the docket for
this rulemaking, we preliminarily
conclude that the budgets in the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan meet
each adequacy criterion.52 While
adequacy and approval are two separate
49 40
CFR 93.122(e).
Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table
50 Indian
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4.
51 Under the transportation conformity rule, the
EPA may review the adequacy of submitted budgets
simultaneously with the EPA’s approval or
disapproval of the submitted control strategy or
maintenance plan. 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2).
52 Memorandum dated February 4, 2021, from
Karina O’Connor, EPA, to Rulemaking Docket ID
EPA–R09–OAR–0549, Subject: ‘‘Adequacy
Documentation for Plan Motor Vehicle Emissions
Budgets in the Indian Wells Second PM10
Maintenance Plan.’’
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16:28 Oct 12, 2021
Jkt 256001
actions, reviewing the budgets in terms
of the adequacy criteria informs the
EPA’s decision to propose to approve
the budgets. We have completed our
detailed review of the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan and are
proposing herein to approve the Plan
including the demonstration of
maintenance of the PM10 NAAQS in the
area through the year 2025. We have
also reviewed the budgets in the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan and
found that they are consistent with the
maintenance demonstration for which
we are proposing approval, are clearly
identified and precisely quantified, are
based on control measures that have
already been adopted and implemented,
and meet all other applicable statutory
and regulatory requirements including
the adequacy criteria in 40 CFR
93.118(e)(4) and (5). For these reasons,
the EPA proposes to approve the 2020
and 2025 motor vehicle emissions
budgets in the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan. At the point when
we either finalize the adequacy process
or approve the budgets as proposed
(whichever occurs first, although they
could also occur concurrently),53 the
budgets must be used by KCOG (i.e., the
MPO for this area) for transportation
conformity determinations for the
Indian Wells Valley planning area.
V. Proposed Action and Request for
Public Comment
Under CAA section 110(k)(3), and for
the reasons set forth in this document,
the EPA is proposing to approve the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
submitted by CARB by letter on July 30,
2020, as a revision to the California SIP.
We are proposing to approve the
maintenance demonstration and
contingency provisions as meeting all of
the applicable requirements for
maintenance plans and related
contingency provisions in CAA section
175A, and the motor vehicle emissions
budgets for 2020 and 2025 (shown in
Table 6) for transportation conformity
purposes because we find they meet all
applicable criteria for such budgets
including the adequacy criteria under
40 CFR 93.118(e).
We are soliciting comments on these
proposed actions. We will accept
comments from the public for 30 days
following publication of this proposal in
the Federal Register and will consider
any relevant comments before taking
final action.
53 40
PO 00000
CFR 93.118(f)(2)(iii).
Frm 00017
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
VI. Statutory and Executive Order
Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is
required to approve a SIP submission
that complies with the provisions of the
Act and applicable federal regulations.
42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a).
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the
EPA’s role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of
the CAA. Accordingly, this proposed
action merely proposes to approve a
state plan as meeting federal
requirements and does not impose
additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason,
this proposed action:
• Is not a ‘‘significant regulatory
action’’ subject to review by the Office
of Management and Budget under
Executive Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735,
October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821,
January 21, 2011);
• Does not impose an information
collection burden under the provisions
of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
• Is certified as not having a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5
U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
• Does not contain any unfunded
mandate or significantly or uniquely
affect small governments, as described
in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
of 1995 (Pub. L. 104–4);
• Does not have federalism
implications as specified in Executive
Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10,
1999);
• Is not an economically significant
regulatory action based on health or
safety risks subject to Executive Order
13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
• Is not a significant regulatory action
subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR
28355, May 22, 2001);
• Is not subject to requirements of
section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because
application of those requirements would
be inconsistent with the CAA; and
• Does not provide the EPA with the
discretionary authority to address
disproportionate human health or
environmental effects with practical,
appropriate, and legally permissible
methods, under Executive Order 12898
(59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, there are no areas of
Indian country within the Indian Wells
Valley planning area, and the State plan
for which the EPA is proposing
approval does not apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area
where the EPA or an Indian tribe has
E:\FR\FM\13OCP1.SGM
13OCP1
Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 195 / Wednesday, October 13, 2021 / Proposed Rules
demonstrated that a tribe has
jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian
country, this proposed action does not
have tribal implications and will not
impose substantial direct costs on tribal
governments or preempt tribal law as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air
pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations,
Nitrogen dioxide, Particulate matter,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements, Sulfur dioxide, Volatile
organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: October 5, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021–22168 Filed 10–12–21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560–50–P
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration
50 CFR Part 217
[Docket No. 210924–0196]
RIN 0648–BK69
Takes of Marine Mammals Incidental to
Specified Activities; Taking Marine
Mammals Incidental to U.S. Navy
Construction at Naval Station Newport
in Newport, Rhode Island
National Marine Fisheries
Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA),
Commerce.
ACTION: Proposed rule; request for
comments.
AGENCY:
NMFS has received a request
from the U.S. Navy (Navy) for
authorization to take marine mammals
incidental to construction activities for
bulkhead replacement and repairs at
Naval Station Newport (NAVSTA
Newport) over the course of five years
(2022–2027). As required by the Marine
Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), NMFS
is proposing regulations to govern that
take, and requests comments on the
proposed regulations. NMFS will
consider public comments prior to
making any final decision on the
issuance of the requested MMPA
authorization and agency responses will
be summarized in the final notice of our
decision.
DATES: Comments and information must
be received no later than November 12,
2021.
jspears on DSK121TN23PROD with PROPOSALS1
SUMMARY:
VerDate Sep<11>2014
16:28 Oct 12, 2021
Jkt 256001
You may submit comments
on this document, identified by NOAA–
NMFS–2021–0096, by the following
method:
• Electronic submission: Submit all
electronic public comments via the
Federal e-Rulemaking Portal. Go to
https://www.regulations.gov and enter
NOAA–NMFS–2021–0096 in the Search
box, click the ‘‘Comment’’ icon,
complete the required fields, and enter
or attach your comments.
Instructions: Comments sent by any
other method, to any other address or
individual, or received after the end of
the comment period, may not be
considered by NMFS. All comments
received are a part of the public record
and will generally be posted for public
viewing on www.regulations.gov
without change. All personal identifying
information (e.g., name, address),
confidential business information, or
otherwise sensitive information
submitted voluntarily by the sender will
be publicly accessible. NMFS will
accept anonymous comments (enter ‘‘N/
A’’ in the required fields if you wish to
remain anonymous). Attachments to
electronic comments will be accepted in
Microsoft Word, Excel, or Adobe PDF
file formats only.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Stephanie Egger, Office of Protected
Resources, NMFS, (301) 427–8401.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
ADDRESSES:
Availability
A copy of the Navy’s application and
any supporting documents, as well as a
list of the references cited in this
document, may be obtained online at:
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/action/
incidental-take-authorization-us-navyconstruction-naval-station-newportrhode-island. In case of problems
accessing these documents, please call
the contact listed above (see FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).
Purpose and Need for Regulatory
Action
This proposed rule would establish a
framework under the authority of the
MMPA (16 U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) to allow
for the authorization of take of marine
mammals incidental to the Navy’s
construction activities for bulkhead
replacement and repairs at NAVSTA
Newport.
We received an application from the
Navy requesting five-year regulations
and authorization to take multiple
species of marine mammals. Take
would occur by Level A and Level B
harassment incidental to impact and
vibratory pile driving. Please see
Background below for definitions of
harassment.
PO 00000
Frm 00018
Fmt 4702
Sfmt 4702
56857
Legal Authority for the Proposed Action
Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16
U.S.C. 1371(a)(5)(A)) directs the
Secretary of Commerce to allow, upon
request, the incidental, but not
intentional taking of small numbers of
marine mammals by U.S. citizens who
engage in a specified activity (other than
commercial fishing) within a specified
geographical region for up to five years
if, after notice and public comment, the
agency makes certain findings and
issues regulations that set forth
permissible methods of taking pursuant
to that activity and other means of
effecting the ‘‘least practicable adverse
impact’’ on the affected species or
stocks and their habitat (see the
discussion below in the Proposed
Mitigation section), as well as
monitoring and reporting requirements.
Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA and
the implementing regulations at 50 CFR
part 216, subpart R provide the legal
basis for issuing this proposed rule
containing five-year regulations, and for
any subsequent letters of authorization
(LOAs). As directed by this legal
authority, this proposed rule contains
mitigation, monitoring, and reporting
requirements.
Summary of Major Provisions Within
the Proposed Rule
Following is a summary of the major
provisions of this proposed rule
regarding Navy construction activities.
These measures include:
• Required monitoring of the
construction areas to detect the presence
of marine mammals before beginning
construction activities;
• Shutdown of construction activities
under certain circumstances to avoid
injury of marine mammals; and
• Soft start for impact pile driving to
allow marine mammals the opportunity
to leave the area prior to beginning
impact pile driving at full power.
Background
Section 101(a)(5)(A) of the MMPA (16
U.S.C. 1361 et seq.) directs the Secretary
of Commerce (as delegated to NMFS) to
allow, upon request, the incidental, but
not intentional, taking of small numbers
of marine mammals by U.S. citizens
who engage in a specified activity (other
than commercial fishing) within a
specified geographical region if certain
findings are made, regulations are
issued, and notice is provided to the
public.
Authorization for incidental takings
shall be granted if NMFS finds that the
taking will have a negligible impact on
the species or stock(s) and will not have
an unmitigable adverse impact on the
E:\FR\FM\13OCP1.SGM
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]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 195 (Wednesday, October 13, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 56848-56857]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22168]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0549; FRL-8856-01-R9]
Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for the Indian Wells Valley PM10
Planning Area; California
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
approve the ``Indian Wells Valley Second 10-Year PM10
Maintenance Plan'' (``Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan'' or
``Plan'') as a revision to the state implementation plan (SIP) for the
State of California. The Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan includes,
among other elements, a base year emissions inventory, a maintenance
demonstration, contingency provisions, and motor vehicle emissions
budgets for use in transportation conformity determinations. The EPA is
proposing these actions because the SIP revision meets the applicable
statutory and regulatory requirements for such plans and motor vehicle
emissions budgets. Lastly, the EPA is beginning the adequacy process
for the 2020 and 2025 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Plan
through this proposed rule.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 12, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0549, at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted
at 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, please contact the person identified in
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full EPA public
comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and
general guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. If you need assistance in a
language other than English or if you are a person with disabilities
who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Graham, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 972-3877 or by
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
A. The PM10 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
B. The Indian Wells Valley PM10 Planning Area
II. Procedural Requirements for Adoption and Submittal of State
Implementation Plan Revisions
III. Requirements for Second 10-Year Maintenance Plans
IV. Evaluation of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
A. Emissions Inventories
B. Maintenance Demonstration
C. Verification of Continued Attainment
D. Contingency Provisions
E. Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for Transportation Conformity
V. Proposed Action and Request for Public Comment
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
A. The PM10 National Ambient Air Quality Standards
Under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act''), the EPA
established national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or
``standards'') for certain pervasive air pollutants (referred to as
``criteria pollutants'') and conducts periodic reviews of the NAAQS to
determine whether they should be revised or whether new NAAQS should be
established. The EPA sets the NAAQS for criteria pollutants at levels
required to protect public health and welfare.\1\ Particulate matter is
one of the ambient pollutants for which the EPA has established
NAAQS.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ For a given air pollutant, ``primary'' standards are those
determined by the EPA as requisite to protect the public health.
``Secondary'' standards are those determined by the EPA as requisite
to protect the public welfare from any known or anticipated adverse
effects associated with the presence of such air pollutant in the
ambient air. CAA section 109(b).
\2\ Particulate matter is the generic term for a broad class of
chemically and physically diverse substances that exist as discrete
particles (liquid droplets or solids) over a wide range of sizes.
Particles originate from a variety of anthropogenic stationary and
mobile sources as well as from natural sources. Particles may be
emitted directly or form in the atmosphere by transformations of
gaseous emissions such as sulfur dioxide (SO2), oxides of
nitrogen (NOX), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and
ammonia (NH3). The chemical and physical properties of
particulate matter vary greatly with time, region, meteorology, and
source category. SO2, NOX, VOC, and
NH3 are referred to as PM10 precursors. As
discussed later in this proposed rule, precursors do not contribute
significantly to elevated ambient PM10 concentrations in
the Indian Wells Valley planning area. Some California air quality
plans use the term reactive organic gases (ROG) instead of VOC. The
terms cover essentially the same compounds, and herein we use the
term VOC.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 1987, the EPA established primary and secondary NAAQS for
particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal
10 microns in diameter (PM10).\3\ At that time, the EPA
established two PM10 standards; an annual standard and a 24-
hour standard.\4\ The annual PM10 standard was subsequently
revoked.\5\ More recently, the EPA announced that it was retaining the
24-hour PM10 NAAQS as a 24-hour standard of 150 micrograms
per cubic meter ([micro]g/m\3\).\6\ In this document, ``PM10
NAAQS'' or ``PM10 standard'' refer to the 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ 52 FR 24634 (July 1, 1987).
\4\ The primary and secondary standards were set at the same
level for both the 24-hour and the annual PM10 standards.
\5\ In 2006, the EPA retained the 24-hour PM10
standards but revoked the annual standards. 71 FR 61144 (October 17,
2006).
\6\ 78 FR 3086 (January 15, 2013).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
An area attains the 24-hour standard of 150 [micro]g/m\3\ when the
expected number of days per calendar year with a 24-hour
[[Page 56849]]
concentration above the standard (referred to as an ``exceedance''),\7\
averaged over three years, is equal to or less than one. The expected
number of exceedances averaged over a three-year period at any given
monitor is known as the PM10 design value. The
PM10 design value for the area is the highest design value
within the nonattainment area.\8\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ An exceedance is defined as a daily value that is above the
level of the 24-hour standard (i.e., 150 [micro]g/m\3\) after
rounding to the nearest 10 [micro]g/m\3\ (i.e., values ending in
five or greater are to be rounded up). Thus, a recorded value of 154
[micro]g/m\3\ would not be an exceedance because it would be rounded
to 150 [micro]g/m\3\. A recorded value of 155 [micro]g/m\3\ would be
an exceedance because it would be rounded to 160 [micro]g/m\3\. 40
CFR part 50, Appendix K, section 1.0.
\8\ 40 CFR 50.6 and 40 CFR part 50, appendix K. The comparison
with the allowable expected exceedance rate of one per year is made
in terms of a number rounded to the nearest tenth (fractional values
equal to or greater than 0.05 are to be rounded up; e.g., an
exceedance rate of 1.05 would be rounded to 1.1, which is the lowest
rate for nonattainment). 40 CFR part 50, appendix K, section 2.1(b).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Generally, the EPA determines whether an area's air quality is
meeting the PM10 NAAQS based on the most recent complete,\9\
quality-assured, and certified data measured at established state and
local air monitoring stations (SLAMS) in the nonattainment area and
entered into the EPA Air Quality System (AQS) database. Data from air
monitoring sites operated by state, local, or tribal agencies in
compliance with the EPA's monitoring requirements must be submitted to
AQS. These monitoring agencies annually certify that these data are
accurate to the best of their knowledge. Accordingly, the EPA relies
primarily on data in AQS when determining the attainment status of an
area.\10\ All valid data are reviewed to determine the area's air
quality status in accordance with 40 CFR part 50, appendix K.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ For PM10, a complete year of air quality data
includes all four calendar quarters with each quarter containing a
minimum of 75 percent of the scheduled PM10 sampling
days. 40 CFR part 50, Appendix K, section 2.3(a).
\10\ 40 CFR 50.6; 40 CFR part 50, appendix J; 40 CFR part 53;
and 40 CFR part 58, appendices A, C, D, and E.
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B. The Indian Wells Valley PM10 Planning Area
Under section 107 of the CAA, the EPA is required to designate all
areas of the country as attainment, nonattainment, or unclassifiable
for each of the NAAQS. In response to an area designation of
nonattainment, states are required to adopt and submit SIP revisions
that, among other things, provide for attainment of the NAAQS within
such area. Once a nonattainment area attains the NAAQS and meets
certain other prerequisites, the state may request that the EPA
redesignate the area to attainment.
Through its enactment of the CAA Amendments of 1990, Congress
designated certain areas of the country as nonattainment areas for the
PM10 NAAQS. The Searles Valley planning area was one of the
areas designated as nonattainment.\11\ In 1991, the EPA classified the
Searles Valley planning area, as a ``Moderate'' PM10
nonattainment area.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\11\ CAA section 107(d)(4)(B)(i) and 52 FR 29383 (August 7,
1987).
\12\ 56 FR 56694 (November 6, 1991).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Searles Valley planning area included three subregions (Coso
Junction, Indian Wells Valley, and Trona) under the planning
jurisdiction of different air pollution control agencies. On August 6,
2002, the EPA changed the boundaries of the Searles Valley
PM10 nonattainment area by dividing this area into three
separate, newly created PM10 nonattainment areas, including
the Indian Wells Valley planning area.\13\ The Indian Wells Valley
planning area is under the planning jurisdiction of the Eastern Kern
Air Pollution Control District (EKAPCD or ``District''). The planning
area boundaries include the portion of Kern County contained within the
United States Geological Survey Hydrologic Unit #108090205.\14\ It
covers approximately 300 square miles and is populated by about 30,000
persons, with only one community of significant size, Ridgecrest.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ 67 FR 50805.
\14\ For the definition of the Indian Wells Valley planning
area, see 40 CFR 81.305.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
On May 7, 2003, the EPA determined that the Indian Wells Valley
planning area had attained the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS.\15\ The
determination was based on complete, quality-assured, and certified
ambient air monitoring data that showed the area monitored attainment
of the PM10 NAAQS during 1999-2001.\16\ Based on the
determination, the EPA finalized approval of the maintenance plan and
redesignated the Indian Wells Valley planning area to attainment,
effective June 6, 2003.\17\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ 68 FR 24368.
\16\ 67 FR 77196 (December 17, 2002).
\17\ 68 FR 24368.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EKAPCD is a monitoring organization within the California Air
Resources Board (CARB) Primary Quality Assurance Organization. EKAPCD
operates the PM10 monitoring network in the Indian Wells
Valley area. CARB submits annual monitoring network plans to the EPA
that cover monitors operated by EKAPCD. These network plans describe
the monitoring network operated by EKAPCD within the Indian Wells
Valley area and discuss the status of the air monitoring network, as
required under 40 CFR 58.10. The EPA regularly reviews these annual
plans for compliance with the applicable reporting requirements in 40
CFR part 58. With respect to PM10, the EPA has found that
CARB's network plans meet the applicable reporting requirements for the
area under 40 CFR part 58, appendix D.\18\ EKAPCD and CARB annually
certify that the data they submit to AQS are complete and quality-
assured.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\18\ For example, see letter dated November 5, 2020, from Gwen
Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region IX, to
Ravi Ramalingam, Chief, Consumer Products and Air Quality Assessment
Branch, Air Quality Planning and Science Division, CARB.
\19\ For example, see letter dated June 21, 2021, from Sylvia
Vanderspek, Chief, Air Quality Planning Branch, CARB, to Gwen
Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region 9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
EKAPCD operates one PM10 SLAMS monitoring site,
Ridgecrest (AQS ID: 06-029-0018), within the Indian Wells Valley
PM10 planning area.\20\ The monitor is located at the
northeast corner of Sydnor Avenue and Primavera Street in Ridgecrest,
California \21\ (see Figure 8 in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan) and was sited to monitor the highest concentration in the area at
a neighborhood scale. SLAMS monitors produce data comparable to the
NAAQS, and therefore the monitor must be an approved federal reference
method, federal equivalent method (FEM), or approved regional method.
The Ridgecrest monitor measures hourly PM10 concentrations
on a daily, year-round basis using a method that has been designated as
an FEM by the EPA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ The EPA approved the relocation of the Ridgecrest monitor
from the California Ave (06-029-0015) site to the Ward Ave site (06-
029-0018) on June 27, 2018. See letter dated June 27, 2018, from
Gwen Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, Air Division,
EPA Region IX, to Glen E. Stephens, P.E., Air Pollution Control
Officer, EKAPCD.
\21\ Monitoring site address is 2051 Ward Ave., Ridgecrest, CA
93555.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 1 shows the maximum monitored 24-hour PM10
concentrations at the Ridgecrest monitoring site for 2002-2020. The
table reflects that values for the Indian Wells Valley area are
typically well below the PM10 NAAQS of 150 [micro]g/m\3\.
[[Page 56850]]
Table 1--Indian Wells Valley PM10 Maximum 24-Hour Values
[Ridgecrest monitor, AQS identification number 06-029-0015/06-029-0018]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maximum value
Year ([micro]g/
m\3\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2002.................................................... 84
2003.................................................... 162
2004.................................................... 47
2005.................................................... 55
2006.................................................... 65
2007.................................................... 72
2008.................................................... 57
2009.................................................... 46
2010.................................................... 52
2011.................................................... 143
2012.................................................... 43
2013.................................................... 56
2014.................................................... 51
2015.................................................... 44
2016.................................................... 66
2017.................................................... 60
2018.................................................... 107
2019.................................................... 177
2020.................................................... 401
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources: EPA Air Quality System Quicklook Report 2001-2021, accessed
February 8, 2021, and EPA Air Quality System Maximum Values Report
2019-2020, accessed August 10, 2021.
Table 2 shows the estimated number of exceedances for the Indian
Wells Valley PM10 area for the three-year design value
periods starting in 2002 and ending in 2020. As shown in Table 1, one
exceedance of the PM10 NAAQS was recorded in 2003 at the
Ridgecrest monitor. The District attributed the February 2, 2003
exceedance to transport of windblown dust from the Owens Lake area,
citing high PM10 concentration readings at several nearby
sites.\22\ Because the monitor operated on a one-in-six day sampling
schedule during that time, the resulting estimated number of
exceedances (i.e., 24-hour design values) for the 2001-2003, 2002-2004,
and 2003-2005 periods are 2.0 at the Ridgecrest monitor. Since that
time, the Indian Wells Valley has attained the PM10 NAAQS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\22\ Email dated August 20, 2021, from Jeremiah Cravens, EKAPCD,
to Ashley Graham, EPA Region IX. See also EPA Air Quality System Raw
Data Qualifier Report 2003, accessed August 10, 2021. The report
shows that the District flagged the February 2, 2003 exceedance with
the ``High Winds'' qualifier with a request to exclude the data as
an exceptional event. The State did not submit documentation and a
request for the EPA to concur on the exceedance as an exceptional
event pursuant to 40 CFR 50.14.
Table 2--Indian Wells Valley PM10 Design Values
[Ridgecrest monitor, AQS identification number 06-029-0015/06-029-0018]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Design value
Design value period ([micro]g/
m\3\)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2000-2002............................................... 0.0
2001-2003............................................... 2.0
2002-2004............................................... 2.0
2003-2005............................................... 2.0
2004-2006............................................... \a\ 0.0
2005-2007............................................... \a\ 0.0
2006-2008............................................... \a\ 0.0
2007-2009............................................... 0.0
2008-2010............................................... 0.0
2009-2011............................................... 0.0
2010-2012............................................... 0.0
2011-2013............................................... 0.0
2012-2014............................................... 0.0
2013-2015............................................... 0.0
2014-2016............................................... 0.0
2015-2017............................................... 0.0
2016-2018............................................... 0.0
2017-2019............................................... 0.3
2018-2020............................................... 0.7
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Sources: EPA Air Quality System Design Value Report 2001-2021, accessed
February 8, 2021 and EPA Air Quality System Design Value Report 2020,
accessed August 10, 2021.
\a\ Invalid design value due to incomplete data in data years 2004,
2005, and 2006.
In California, CARB is the state agency responsible for the
adoption and submission to the EPA of California SIPs and SIP
revisions, and it has broad authority to establish emissions standards
and other requirements for mobile sources. Local and regional air
pollution control districts in California are responsible for the
regulation of stationary sources and are generally responsible for the
development of air quality plans. In the eastern portion of Kern
County, EKAPCD develops and adopts air quality plans to address CAA
planning requirements applicable to the Indian Wells Valley planning
area. Such plans are then submitted to CARB for adoption and submittal
to the EPA as revisions to the California SIP.
On July 30, 2020, CARB submitted the ``Revised PM10
Maintenance Plan for Indian Wells Valley Attainment/Maintenance Area''
(``Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan'') for the 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ The submittal package included the following two documents
that make up the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan: ``Revised
PM10 Maintenance Plan for Indian Wells Valley Attainment/
Maintenance Area'' and ``Indian Wells Valley Condensable
PM10 Emission Inventory.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Procedural Requirements for Adoption and Submittal of State
Implementation Plan Revisions
CAA sections 110(a)(1) and (2) and section 110(l) require states to
provide reasonable notice and opportunity for public hearing prior to
adoption and submission of a SIP or SIP revision. To meet these
procedural requirements, every SIP submission should include evidence
that the state provided adequate public notice and an opportunity for a
public hearing consistent with the EPA's implementing regulations in 40
CFR 51.102.
CARB's July 30, 2020 SIP submittal package includes documentation
of the public processes used by the District and CARB to adopt the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan. As documented in the submittal
package, on April 1, 2020, the District published a notice in the
Bakersfield Californian, a newspaper of general circulation in Kern
County, that a public hearing to consider adoption of the Plan would be
held on May 7, 2020. As documented in EKAPCD Resolution No. 2020-003-05
included in the SIP revision submittal package, the Air Pollution
Control Board of the EKAPCD adopted the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan on May 7, 2020, following the public hearing. On May 22, 2020,
CARB published on its website a notice of public hearing to be held on
June 25, 2020, to consider adoption of the Plan. As evidenced by CARB
Resolution 20-18, CARB adopted the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
on June 25, 2020, following a public hearing. Based on documentation
included in the July 30, 2020 SIP revision submittal package, we find
that both the District and CARB have satisfied the applicable statutory
and regulatory requirements for reasonable public notice and hearing
prior to adoption and submission of the Plan. Therefore, we find that
the submission of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan meets the
procedural requirements for public notice and hearing in CAA sections
110(a) and 110(l) and in 40 CFR 51.102.\24\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ On January 30, 2021, the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan was deemed complete by operation of law under CAA section
110(k)(1)(B).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
III. Requirements for Second 10-Year Maintenance Plans
Section 175A of the CAA provides the general framework for
maintenance plans. The initial 10-year maintenance plan must provide
for maintenance of the NAAQS for at least 10 years after redesignation,
including any additional control measures necessary to ensure such
maintenance. In addition, maintenance plans are to contain contingency
provisions necessary to ensure the prompt correction of a violation of
the NAAQS that occurs after redesignation. The contingency
[[Page 56851]]
measures must include, at a minimum, a requirement that the state will
implement all control measures contained in the nonattainment SIP prior
to redesignation.
Section 175A(b) of the CAA requires states to submit a subsequent
maintenance plan revision (``second 10-year maintenance plan'') eight
years after redesignation. The Act requires only that this second 10-
year maintenance plan maintain the applicable NAAQS for 10 years after
the expiration of the first 10-year maintenance plan. Beyond these
provisions, section 175A of the CAA does not define the content of a
second 10-year maintenance plan.
The primary guidance on maintenance plans and redesignation
requests is a September 4, 1992 memorandum from John Calcagni, titled
``Procedures for Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to
Attainment'' (``Calcagni Memo'').\25\ The Calcagni Memo outlines the
key elements of a maintenance plan, which include an attainment
emissions inventory, maintenance demonstration, monitoring and
verification of continued attainment, and a contingency plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\25\ Memorandum dated September 4, 1992, from John Calcagni,
Director, EPA Air Quality Management Division, to Regional Office
Air Division Directors, Subject: Procedures for Processing Requests
to Redesignate Areas to Attainment.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maintenance plan submittals are SIP revisions, and as such, the EPA
is obligated under CAA section 110(k) to approve them or disapprove
them depending upon whether they meet the applicable CAA requirements
for such plans.
IV. Evaluation of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
A. Emissions Inventories
A maintenance plan for the PM10 NAAQS should include an
inventory of direct PM10 emissions in the area.\26\ The
inventory should be consistent with the EPA's most recent guidance on
emissions inventories for nonattainment areas available at the time;
must be comprehensive, including emissions from stationary point
sources, area sources, and mobile sources; and must be based on actual
emissions during the appropriate season, if applicable.\27\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ PM10 precursor emissions should also be included
depending upon the contribution of secondary particulate matter to
high ambient PM10 concentrations in the area. In this
instance, an inventory of PM10 precursor emissions is not
required because PM10 precursor controls were not relied
upon to achieve attainment of the PM10 NAAQS in the
Indian Wells Valley planning area nor are they relied upon to
demonstrate maintenance of the NAAQS (see Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan, section IV, and 67 FR 77196, 77201 (December 17,
2002)). While not required, the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan
includes inventories of NOX, SOX, and ammonia
in appendix D (``IWV Precursor Emission Inventories'').
\27\ CAA section 172(c)(3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The specific PM10 emissions inventory requirements are
set forth in the Air Emissions Reporting Requirements rule,\28\ which
requires that emissions inventories report filterable and condensable
components, as applicable.\29\ The EPA has provided additional guidance
for developing PM10 emissions inventories in
``PM10 Emissions Inventory Requirements,'' EPA-454/R-94-033
(September 1994) and ``Emissions Inventory Guidance for Implementation
of Ozone and Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standards
(NAAQS) and Regional Haze Regulations'' (May 2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\28\ 40 CFR part 51, subpart A.
\29\ 40 CFR 51.15(a)(1)(vii).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan includes inventories for
total primary PM10 and for the PM10 precursors
NOX, SOX, and ammonia for the years 2013 (the
final year of the first maintenance period) through 2025 (the final
year of the second maintenance period).\30\ The 2017 emissions
inventory represents current emissions and was used to project
emissions through 2025, as discussed further in section IV.B of this
document. The emissions inventories in the Plan include estimates from
all relevant source categories that the Plan divides among fuel
combustion, waste disposal, cleaning and surface coatings, industrial
processes, miscellaneous processes, on-road motor vehicles, and off-
road motor vehicles.\31\ CARB and the District developed the emissions
inventories based on the methods and assumptions presented in detail in
Appendix D (``IWV Precursor Emission Inventories 2002-2025'').\32\ The
direct PM10 and PM10 precursor emissions are
presented in tables 2 and 3 and Appendix D of the Plan, and the
specific filterable and condensable components of the direct
PM10 emissions estimates are identified in the accompanying
document titled ``Indian Wells Valley Condensable PM10
Emission Inventory.'' Table 3 provides a summary of the 2017 direct
PM10 base year emissions inventory in tons per day (tpd) for
the Indian Wells Valley area. Because the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan depends on direct PM10 emissions to
demonstrate compliance, the EPA reviewed those direct PM10
emissions estimates and not the District's emissions estimates for
PM10 precursor emissions.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\30\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, sections IV.B and
IV.D, and Appendix D.
\31\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, sections IV.B and
IV.D.
\32\ While Appendix D is titled ``IWV Precursor Emission
Inventories 2002-2005,'' the appendix presents the full emissions
inventory documentation for direct PM10 in addition to
PM10 precursors.
Table 3--Indian Wells PM10 Base Year (2017) Emissions Inventory
[Annual average, tpd]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source category Subcategory PM10
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stationary Point Sources....... Fuel Combustion........ 0.031
Waste Disposal......... 0.002
Cleaning & Surface 0.001
Coatings.
Industrial Processes... 0.019
Areawide Sources............... Miscellaneous Processes 1.199
Mobile Sources................. On-Road Motor Vehicles. 0.039
Off-Road Motor Vehicles 1.172
---------------
Total...................... All Stationary, 2.462
Areawide, and Mobile
Sources.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 3 and Appendix D.
\a\ Emissions inventories are required to include direct PM10 emissions,
separately reported as PM10 filterable and condensable emissions. 40
CFR 51.15(a)(1)(vii). The accompanying document titled ``Indian Wells
Valley Condensable PM10 Emission Inventory'' provides this
information.
Totals may not add up due to rounding.
[[Page 56852]]
As discussed in Appendix D of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan, direct PM10 emissions estimates for stationary point
sources reflect actual emissions reported to the District in 2017 by
owners or operators of industrial point sources in the Indian Wells
Valley planning area. Areawide sources, such as consumer products and
agricultural burning, occur over a wide geographic area. Emissions for
these categories are estimated by both CARB and the District using
various models and methodologies.
Emissions from on-road mobile sources, which include passenger
vehicles, buses, and trucks, were estimated using outputs from CARB's
EMFAC2017 model.\33\ These emissions were calculated by applying
EMFAC2017 emissions factors to the transportation activity data
provided by the Kern Council of Governments (KCOG) from their 2018
Regional Transportation Plan/2019 Federal Transportation Improvement
Program (2018 RTP/2019 FTIP).\34\ KCOG is the metropolitan planning
organization representing Kern County and the 11 incorporated cities
within Kern County.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\33\ EMFAC is short for EMission FACtor. The EPA approved
EMFAC2017 for SIP development and transportation conformity purposes
in California on August 15, 2019. 84 FR 41717. EMFAC2017 was the
most recently approved version of the EMFAC model that was available
at the time of preparation of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan.
\34\ The Kern Council of Governments Board of Directors adopted
the 2018 RTP/2019 FTIP on August 16, 2018.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emissions from off-road mobile sources (e.g., cargo handling
equipment, pleasure craft, recreational vehicles, and locomotives) were
estimated using a suite of category-specific models or, where a new
model was not available, the OFFROAD2007 model. Many of the newer
models were developed to support recent regulations, including in-use
off-road equipment.
Based on the estimates for the year 2017 in Table 3, areawide and
off-road mobile sources account for a majority (approximately 96
percent) of total PM10 emissions in the Indian Wells Valley
planning area.\35\ Fugitive windblown dust and unpaved road dust
account for a majority of the areawide emissions (54 percent and 17
percent, respectively), whereas aircraft account for a majority of the
off-road mobile source emissions (98 percent).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\35\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Appendix C.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The EPA considers the selection of the 2017 base year inventory to
be appropriate given that it is the most recent emissions inventory
associated with the triennial reporting schedule required under the Air
Emissions Reporting Requirements rule. Moreover, preparation of an
annual average daily inventory, as opposed to a seasonal or episodic
inventory, is appropriate given that elevated PM10
concentrations in the Indian Wells Valley do not exhibit a clear
seasonal or episodic pattern. Based on our review of the documentation
provided with the plan, we find that the 2017 emissions inventory for
direct PM10 is based on reasonable assumptions and
methodologies, and that the inventory is comprehensive, current,
accurate, and consistent with applicable CAA provisions and the
Calcagni Memo.
B. Maintenance Demonstration
Section 175A(a) of the CAA requires that the maintenance plan
``provide for the maintenance of the national primary ambient air
quality standard for such air pollutant in the area concerned for at
least 10 years after the redesignation.'' A state may generally
demonstrate maintenance of the NAAQS by either showing that future
emissions of a pollutant or its precursors will not exceed the level of
the attainment inventory, or by conducting modeling that shows that the
future mix of sources and emissions rates will not cause a violation of
the NAAQS.\36\ Projected emissions inventories for future years must
account for, among other things, the ongoing effects of economic growth
and adopted emissions control requirements, and the inventories are
expected to be the best available representation of future emissions.
The plan submission should include documentation explaining how the
state calculated the emissions data for the base year and projected
inventories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\36\ Calcagni Memo, 9-11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan demonstrates continued
maintenance of the PM10 NAAQS by projecting the direct
PM10 emissions in the area through 2025 and showing that
future emissions of PM10 will not exceed the level of the
attainment inventory. As discussed in section IV.A, the Plan includes
emissions inventories representing actual emissions in 2013 (the final
year of the first maintenance period) through 2017 (the Plan's base
year inventory), and projected emissions for 2018 through 2025 (the
final year of the second maintenance period) for sources in the Indian
Wells Valley planning area.\37\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\37\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, sections IV.B and
IV.D, and Appendix D.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Projected inventories are derived by applying expected growth
trends for each source category and are based on data that reflect
historical trends, current conditions, and recent economic and
demographic forecasts with expected emissions reductions resulting from
adopted control measures to the base year inventory. For the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan, emissions projections for 2018 through
2025 were generated by applying growth and control profiles to the 2017
base year inventory. Growth forecasts for most point and areawide
sources were developed by CARB. Mobile sources were forecast using
total vehicle miles traveled projections provided by KCOG. Off-road
sources were forecast using various growth surrogates as shown in Table
7 of Appendix D of the Plan. Appendix D documents the methods and
assumptions used to develop the emissions projections upon which the
maintenance demonstration relies and presents the detailed source-
category-specific estimates for each of the analysis years.
Table 4 presents a summary of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan's estimates of direct PM10 emissions in an interim year
(2020) and the horizon year (2025) along with the corresponding
emissions estimates for the year 2013 (the final year of the first
maintenance period) and the 2017 base year. For simplicity, Table 4
shows emissions for just one of the interim years (i.e., 2020) between
the base year and the horizon year, but as discussed above, the Plan
provides emissions estimates for each year from 2013 through 2025.\38\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\38\ Id. at Table 2 and Table 3.
[[Page 56853]]
Table 4--Indian Wells PM10 Emissions Inventory, 2013, 2017, 2020, and 2025
[Annual average, tpd]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source category Subcategory 2013 2017 2020 2025
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Stationary Point Sources...... Fuel Combustion. 0.018 0.031 0.027 0.018
Waste Disposal.. 0.000 0.002 0.002 0.002
Cleaning & 0.000 0.001 0.001 0.001
Surface
Coatings.
Industrial 0.009 0.019 0.020 0.021
Processes.
Areawide Sources.............. Miscellaneous 1.424 1.199 1.193 1.262
Processes.
Mobile Sources................ On-Road Motor 0.051 0.039 0.037 0.036
Vehicles.
Off-Road Motor 1.228 1.172 1.167 1.161
Vehicles.
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total..................... All Stationary, 2.679 2.462 2.446 2.501
Areawide, and
Mobile Sources.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 2 and Table 3.
Totals may not add up due to rounding.
The emissions estimates in the Plan predict a gradual change in
direct PM10 emissions within the Indian Wells Valley
planning area over time, with slight decreases in certain categories
(e.g., fuel combustion, on-road motor vehicles, off-road motor
vehicles) nearly offsetting slight increases in certain other source
categories (i.e., industrial processes, miscellaneous processes)
relative to the 2017 base year emissions. By 2025, overall direct
PM10 emissions are estimated to be approximately 0.039 tpd
(1.6 percent) higher than in the 2017 base year. However, despite the
expected growth in the area, the Plan's projected PM10
emissions through 2025 are approximately 0.178 tpd (6.6 percent) lower
than emissions in 2013, the final year of the first maintenance period
and a year in which there were no recorded exceedances of the
PM10 NAAQS.
Based on our review, we find that the projected emissions
inventories for direct PM10 for years 2018 through 2025 are
based on reasonable methods, growth factors, and assumptions, and are
based on the most current and accurate information available to CARB
and EKAPCD at the time the Plan and its inventories were being
developed. Given that the projections of direct PM10
emissions show future emissions increases through 2025 are within 1.6
percent of those in 2017 and below those in 2013 (both of which reflect
attainment conditions), we find that the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan provides an adequate basis to demonstrate maintenance
of the PM10 NAAQS within the Indian Wells Valley planning
area through 2025. Lastly, we find that by providing emissions
projections through 2025, the Plan demonstrates maintenance of the
PM10 NAAQS for more than 10 years after the expiration of
the first 10-year maintenance plan (i.e., 2023) in accordance with
section 175A(b) of the CAA.
C. Verification of Continued Attainment
Once an area has been redesignated, the state should continue to
operate an appropriate air quality monitoring network, in accordance
with 40 CFR part 58, to verify the attainment status of the area.\39\
Data collected by the monitoring network are also needed to implement
the contingency provisions of the maintenance plan.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\39\ Calcagni Memo, 11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As discussed in section I.B, EKAPCD monitors ambient concentrations
of PM10 in the Indian Wells Valley planning area at the
Ridgecrest monitoring station. In section V.A (``Tracking'') of the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, the District commits to continue
to operate and maintain a PM10 air quality monitor in
Ridgecrest in accordance with 40 CFR part 58. We find that the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan contains adequate provisions for
continued ambient PM10 monitoring to verify continued
attainment through the maintenance period.
The EPA also recommends that the state verify continued attainment
through methods in addition to the ambient air monitoring program,
e.g., through periodic review of the factors used in development of the
attainment inventory to show no significant change.\40\ In the Indian
Wells Second Maintenance Plan, EKAPCD commits to perform periodic
reviews of the air monitoring data and emissions inventory, to review
the inputs and assumptions used to develop the emissions inventory on
an annual basis, and, if the District finds that these inputs have
changed significantly, to request that CARB update the existing
inventory and to compare the revised inventory with the inventories in
the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan.\41\ We find that the
District's commitment to verify continued attainment of the
PM10 NAAQS through continued ambient air monitoring and
annual review of the inputs and assumptions used to develop the
emissions inventories in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan are
acceptable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\40\ Id.
\41\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, section VI
(``Subsequent Maintenance Plan Revisions'').
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
D. Contingency Provisions
Section 175A(d) of the CAA requires that maintenance plans include
contingency provisions, as the EPA deems necessary, to promptly correct
any violations of the NAAQS that occur after redesignation of the area.
Such provisions must include a requirement that the state will
implement all measures with respect to the control of the relevant air
pollutants that were contained in the SIP for the area before
redesignation of the area as an attainment area. These contingency
provisions are distinguished from contingency measures required for
nonattainment areas under CAA section 172(c)(9) in that they are not
required to be fully adopted measures that will take effect without
further action by the state for the maintenance plan to be approved.
However, the contingency provisions of a maintenance plan are
considered to be an enforceable part of the SIP and should ensure that
contingency measures are adopted expeditiously once they are triggered.
The maintenance plan should clearly identify the measures to be
adopted, include a schedule and procedure for adoption and
implementation of the measures, and contain a specific timeline for
action by the state. In addition, the state should identify the
specific indicators or triggers that will
[[Page 56854]]
be used to determine when the contingency measures need to be
implemented.
The District has adopted a contingency plan to address possible
future PM10 air quality problems in the Indian Wells Valley
planning area. The contingency plan is included in section V of the
Plan.
As noted by the District in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan, contingency provisions are typically implemented when air quality
deteriorates beyond a specified level, such as a certain number of
exceedances of the standard or a violation of the standard. In this
case, the contingency provisions will be triggered when the number of
exceedances at the monitor, averaged over three years, is greater than
1.05. However, the contingency plan also includes a screening process
that allows the District and CARB, subject to EPA review, to exclude
exceedances from the trigger calculation if the agencies collectively
determine that information developed by the District is sufficient to
support exclusion. The purpose of the screening process is to
differentiate between exceedances that are not within the District or
State control (i.e., exceedances that occur despite the implementation
of reasonable measures), and exceedances that are within the District's
or State's control and should be included in the trigger calculation.
It is important to note that, should the District or State exclude an
exceedance from the contingency trigger calculation using this process,
it would not constitute the EPA's concurrence that the exceedance was
caused by an exceptional event. The exceedance will therefore continue
to be included in design value calculations for the Indian Wells Valley
planning area unless CARB, following opportunity for public comment,
submits a request for the EPA to concur on the exceedance as an
exceptional event pursuant to 40 CFR 50.14, and the EPA reviews the
submittal and formally concurs.
Under the contingency trigger screening process, within 60 days of
the end of each calendar quarter, the District will complete the
following: Provide a list of exceedances that occurred during that
previous quarter to CARB, identify those exceedances that the District
believes to be exceedances that are not within the District's or
State's control, and flag the relevant data and provide an initial
description in AQS. The State then has 60 days to review the
information, during which time it may request additional information
from the District to supplement the District's analysis. Following
CARB's review, CARB will transmit the information to the EPA, including
information for those exceedances the District believes should be
excluded from the contingency plan trigger calculation.
The Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan anticipates that the EPA
will review the submitted information, notify the District if the
submitted information is insufficient to support exclusion from the
contingency plan trigger calculation, include such exceedances in
calculating the trigger for the contingency plan, and notify the
District if the contingency plan has been triggered. The EPA intends to
notify the District, within 60 days of receipt, whether submitted
information is sufficient or insufficient to support the exclusion of a
given exceedance from the contingency plan trigger calculation and to
take the other actions described in the plan. If the submitted
information is not sufficient, the EPA will include the exceedance in
the calculation to determine if the contingency plan has been
triggered. If the State or District subsequently provide additional
information sufficient to support the conclusion that the exceedance
meets the criteria for exclusion from the trigger calculation, the EPA
will notify the District that the calculation will be adjusted.
Under the contingency plan, if the EPA determines that contingency
provisions have been triggered, (i.e., the number of exceedances,
averaged over three years, is greater than 1.05 excluding those
exceedances identified through the screening process), EKAPCD commits
to the following steps:
(1) Within six months of EPA notification, EKAPCD will complete
an analysis of the exceedances and available contingency measures.
During this time, the District will determine the possible cause of
the exceedances and will consult with community and local industry
members to determine if any voluntary or incentive measures could be
implemented to reduce the magnitude of or eliminate the source of
emissions. If voluntary and incentive-based measures do not
adequately address the problem, the EKAPCD will evaluate its
fugitive dust rules (402, 402.2, and 419), or other rules as
appropriate, to determine where such rules could be improved or
expanded to achieve additional emissions reductions. The measures
that EKAPCD would consider and analyze include but are not limited
to those listed in Table 5.
(2) Within 12 months of completing its analysis, the District
will adopt and implement the new contingency measures.
Table 5--Emissions Sources and Associated Control Measures; Rules To
Revise if Contingency Triggered
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Emissions source Rule
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Construction and Earthmoving Activities........................ 402
Storage Piles/Bulk Materials................................... 402
Track-out/Carry-out............................................ 402
Agricultural Operations........................................ 402.2
Paved and Unpaved Roads........................................ 402 &
402.2
Nuisance....................................................... 419
Open Areas..................................................... 402 &
419
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 7.
Based on our review of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, as
summarized herein, we propose to find that the contingency provisions
of the Plan clearly identify specific contingency measures, contain a
triggering mechanism to determine when contingency measures are needed,
contain a description of the process of recommending and implementing
contingency measures, and contain specific and appropriate timelines
for action. We also propose to find that the contingency trigger
screening process, including the associated EPA review, is reasonably
designed to distinguish between exceedances that are not within the
District or State control, and exceedances that are within the
District's or State's control and for which new or tightened control
measures might be effective. Thus, we propose to conclude that the
contingency plan in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan is
adequate to ensure correction of any violation of the PM10
NAAQS that occurs after redesignation, as required by section 175A(d)
of the CAA.
E. Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for Transportation Conformity
Section 176(c) of the CAA requires federal actions in nonattainment
and maintenance areas to conform to the SIP's goals of eliminating or
reducing the severity and number of violations of the NAAQS and
achieving expeditious attainment of the standards. Conformity to the
SIP's goals means that such actions will not: (1) Cause or contribute
to violations of the NAAQS, (2) worsen the severity of an existing
violation, or (3) delay timely attainment of any NAAQS or any interim
milestone.
Actions involving Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or Federal
Transit Administration (FTA) funding or approval are subject to the
EPA's transportation conformity rule, codified
[[Page 56855]]
at 40 CFR part 93, subpart A. Under this rule, metropolitan planning
organizations (MPOs) in nonattainment and maintenance areas coordinate
with state and local air quality and transportation agencies, the EPA,
FHWA, and FTA to demonstrate that an area's regional transportation
plans and transportation improvement programs conform to the applicable
SIP. This demonstration is typically done by showing that estimated
emissions from existing and planned highway and transit systems are
less than or equal to the motor vehicle emissions budgets (``budgets'')
contained in submitted or approved control strategy SIPs and
maintenance plans.\42\
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\42\ Control strategy SIPs refer to reasonable further progress
and attainment demonstration SIPs. 40 CFR 93.101.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans typically set
budgets for criteria pollutants and/or their precursors to address
pollution from cars and trucks. Budgets are generally established for
specific years and specific pollutants or precursors. PM10
maintenance plan submittals should identify budgets for transportation-
related PM10 emissions in the last year of the maintenance
period.\43\
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\43\ Transportation-related emissions of VOC and NOX
must also be specified in PM10 maintenance plans if the
EPA or the state find that transportation-related emissions of one
or both of these precursors within the nonattainment area are a
significant contributor to the PM10 nonattainment problem
and has so notified the MPO and the U.S. Department of
Transportation (DOT), or the applicable SIP (or SIP revision
submission) establishes an approved (or adequate) budget for such
emissions as part of the reasonable further progress, attainment, or
maintenance strategy. 40 CFR 93.102(b)(2)(iii). Neither of these
conditions apply to the Indian Wells PM10 maintenance
area.
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For budgets in a maintenance plan to be approvable, they must meet,
at a minimum, the EPA's adequacy criteria.\44\ To meet these
requirements, the budgets must be consistent, when considered with
emissions from all other sources, with maintenance of the NAAQS and
reflect all the motor vehicle control measures relied upon for the
maintenance demonstration.
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\44\ 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
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The EPA's process for determining adequacy of a budget consists of
three basic steps: (1) Notifying the public of a SIP submittal, (2)
providing the public the opportunity to comment on the budget during a
public comment period, and (3) making a finding of adequacy or
inadequacy. The process for determining the adequacy of a submitted
budget is codified at 40 CFR 93.118(f). The EPA can notify the public
by either posting an announcement that the EPA has received SIP budgets
on the EPA's adequacy website,\45\ or via a Federal Register notice of
proposed rulemaking when the EPA reviews the adequacy of a maintenance
plan budget simultaneously with its review and action on the SIP
submittal itself.\46\
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\45\ 40 CFR 93.118(f)(1).
\46\ 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2).
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The Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan includes budgets for
direct PM10 for the last year of the maintenance Plan (2025)
and an interim year (2020). The applicable source categories included
in the budgets include vehicle emissions (including exhaust, brake
wear, and tire wear), entrained dust from vehicle travel over paved and
unpaved roads, and road construction dust. To develop the budgets, the
District also rounded up the motor vehicle emissions estimates to the
nearest tenth of a ton and included a safety margin.\47\ The 2020 and
2025 annual average day conformity budgets for PM10 are
provided in Table 6.
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\47\ The text of the Plan identifies the safety margin for VOC
in 2020 only. However, Table 5 in the Plan indicates that the safety
margin is for PM10 emissions. CARB confirmed via email
that the reference to VOC in the text is a typographic error and
that the safety margin is for PM10 emissions. See email
dated February 4, 2021, from Nesamani Kalandiyur, CARB, to Karina
O'Connor, EPA Region IX, Subject: ``RE: Question Regarding Indian
Wells 2nd Maintenance Plan.''
Table 6--Transportation Conformity Budgets for the Indian Wells Valley
PM10 Area
[PM10 tpd, annual average]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source category 2020 2025
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Vehicular Exhaust, Tire, and Brake Wear 0.04 0.04
\a\....................................
SAFE Rule Adjustment.................... 0.00 0.00
Re-Entrained Paved Road Dust............ 0.11 0.12
Re-Entrained Unpaved Road Dust.......... 0.13 0.13
Road Construction Dust.................. 0.03 0.10
Safety Margin........................... 0.0 0.10
Total \b\............................... 0.31 0.49
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget \c\...... 0.40 0.50
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ This reflects the adjustment factor for the Safer Affordable Fuel-
Efficient (SAFE) Vehicle Rule part one (84 FR 51310, September 27,
2019) using EMFAC2017.
\b\ Values from California Emissions Projection Analysis Model v1.00 may
not add up due to rounding.
\c\ Motor vehicle emissions budgets calculated are rounded up to the
nearest tenth of a tpd.
Source: Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 5.
CARB developed the on-road mobile portion of the emissions
inventory for the maintenance plan using California's on-road mobile
source emissions projection model, EMFAC2017, and vehicle activity data
provided by the KCOG from its 2019 Federal Transportation Improvement
Program, as amended July 2019. The EMFAC2017 model calculated tire
wear, brake wear, and exhaust emissions. Paved road dust emissions were
estimated using AP-42 with California-specific silt loading data.\48\
The unpaved road dust emissions were estimated using CARB's methodology
7.10, updated in 2012 for non-farm roads. The road construction dust
emissions were estimated based on road miles constructed according to
data from KCOG.
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\48\ AP-42 is an EPA document that includes a compilation of
emissions factors.
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As discussed in the March 10, 2006 final transportation conformity
rulemaking, unlike the exception for paved and unpaved road dust
emissions in PM2.5 analyses in 40 CFR 93.102(b)(3), the
conformity rule does not include an exception for PM10 for
paved and unpaved road dust emissions to be determined significant. The
EPA intends for road dust emissions to be included in all conformity
analyses of direct PM10 emissions because fugitive dust from
roadways and other sources dominate PM10 emissions
inventories. The budgets in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan,
therefore, include paved and unpaved road emissions.
Regional PM10 emissions analyses for transportation
conformity
[[Page 56856]]
determinations in PM10 nonattainment and maintenance areas
must account for highway and transit project construction-related
fugitive PM10 emissions if the control strategy or
maintenance plan identifies such emissions as a contributor to the air
quality problem, but it is not required if such emissions are not
identified as a contributor to the air quality problem.\49\ Emissions
estimates developed for the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan show
that fugitive PM10 emissions from highway and transit
project construction represent approximately 1.2 percent and 4.0
percent of the total annual-average daily PM10 emissions in
2020 and 2025, respectively.\50\ Based on these emissions estimates,
the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan concludes that fugitive
PM10 emissions from highways and transit project
construction are significant and must be accounted for in regional
emissions analyses for transportation conformity determinations made
for the Indian Wells Valley planning area. Consequently, the budgets in
the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan reflect highway and transit
project construction-related fugitive dust.
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\49\ 40 CFR 93.122(e).
\50\ Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan, Table 4.
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We evaluated the budgets against our adequacy criteria in 40 CFR
93.118(e)(4) and (5) as part of our review of the budget's
approvability and expect to complete the adequacy review of the budgets
concurrent with our final action on the Indian Wells Second Maintenance
Plan. The EPA is not required under its transportation conformity rule
to find budgets adequate prior to proposing approval of them.\51\ In
this document, the EPA is announcing that the adequacy process for
these budgets begins, and the public has 30 days to comment on their
adequacy, per the transportation conformity rule at 40 CFR
93.118(f)(2)(i) and (ii).
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\51\ Under the transportation conformity rule, the EPA may
review the adequacy of submitted budgets simultaneously with the
EPA's approval or disapproval of the submitted control strategy or
maintenance plan. 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2).
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As documented in the separate memorandum included in the docket for
this rulemaking, we preliminarily conclude that the budgets in the
Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan meet each adequacy criterion.\52\
While adequacy and approval are two separate actions, reviewing the
budgets in terms of the adequacy criteria informs the EPA's decision to
propose to approve the budgets. We have completed our detailed review
of the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan and are proposing herein to
approve the Plan including the demonstration of maintenance of the
PM10 NAAQS in the area through the year 2025. We have also
reviewed the budgets in the Indian Wells Second Maintenance Plan and
found that they are consistent with the maintenance demonstration for
which we are proposing approval, are clearly identified and precisely
quantified, are based on control measures that have already been
adopted and implemented, and meet all other applicable statutory and
regulatory requirements including the adequacy criteria in 40 CFR
93.118(e)(4) and (5). For these reasons, the EPA proposes to approve
the 2020 and 2025 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Indian Wells
Second Maintenance Plan. At the point when we either finalize the
adequacy process or approve the budgets as proposed (whichever occurs
first, although they could also occur concurrently),\53\ the budgets
must be used by KCOG (i.e., the MPO for this area) for transportation
conformity determinations for the Indian Wells Valley planning area.
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\52\ Memorandum dated February 4, 2021, from Karina O'Connor,
EPA, to Rulemaking Docket ID EPA-R09-OAR-0549, Subject: ``Adequacy
Documentation for Plan Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in the Indian
Wells Second PM10 Maintenance Plan.''
\53\ 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2)(iii).
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V. Proposed Action and Request for Public Comment
Under CAA section 110(k)(3), and for the reasons set forth in this
document, the EPA is proposing to approve the Indian Wells Second
Maintenance Plan submitted by CARB by letter on July 30, 2020, as a
revision to the California SIP. We are proposing to approve the
maintenance demonstration and contingency provisions as meeting all of
the applicable requirements for maintenance plans and related
contingency provisions in CAA section 175A, and the motor vehicle
emissions budgets for 2020 and 2025 (shown in Table 6) for
transportation conformity purposes because we find they meet all
applicable criteria for such budgets including the adequacy criteria
under 40 CFR 93.118(e).
We are soliciting comments on these proposed actions. We will
accept comments from the public for 30 days following publication of
this proposal in the Federal Register and will consider any relevant
comments before taking final action.
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable
federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
proposed action merely proposes to approve a state plan as meeting
federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond
those imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21,
2011);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
Does not have federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Is not an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Is not subject to requirements of section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the CAA; and
Does not provide the EPA with the discretionary authority
to address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with
practical, appropriate, and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, there are no areas of Indian country within the Indian
Wells Valley planning area, and the State plan for which the EPA is
proposing approval does not apply on any Indian reservation land or in
any other area where the EPA or an Indian tribe has
[[Page 56857]]
demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian
country, this proposed action does not have tribal implications and
will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or
preempt tribal law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249,
November 9, 2000).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Particulate
matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur dioxide,
Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: October 5, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-22168 Filed 10-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
