Finding of Failure to Attain by the Attainment Date for the 2010 1-Hour Primary Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard; Louisiana; Evangeline Parish Nonattainment Area, 71872-71877 [2024-19616]

Agencies

• ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71872-71877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-19616]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R06-OAR-2024-0380; FRL-12206-01-R6]


Finding of Failure to Attain by the Attainment Date for the 2010 
1-Hour Primary Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard; 
Louisiana; Evangeline Parish Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the 
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to determine that 
the Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, sulfur dioxide (SO2) 
nonattainment area (NAA) has failed to attain the 2010 1-hour primary 
SO2 national ambient air quality standard (2010 
SO2 NAAQS) by the applicable statutory attainment date of 
April 9, 2023. This determination is based on analysis of reported 
emissions records and available modeling data. This action, if 
finalized, will address the

[[Page 71873]]

EPA's obligation under CAA section 179(c) to determine whether the 
Evangeline Parish SO2 NAA attained the 2010 SO2 
NAAQS by the April 9, 2023, attainment date.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before October 4, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R06-
OAR-2024-0380 at https://www.regulations.gov, or via email to 
[email protected]. 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.
    Docket: The index to the docket for this action is available 
electronically at www.regulations.gov. While all documents in the 
docket are listed in the index, some information may not be publicly 
available due to docket file size restrictions or content (e.g., CBI).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ronald Thomas, SO2 and 
Regional Haze Section (R6-ARSH), Air & Radiation Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1201 Elm Street, Suite 500, 
Dallas, Texas 75270. His direct telephone number is (214) 665-7478. Mr. 
Thomas can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected]. We encourage the public to submit comments via 
https://www.regulations.gov. Please call or email the contact listed 
above if you need alternative access to material indexed but not 
provided in the docket.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we refer to the EPA.

I. Background

A. The 2010 1-Hour Primary SO2 NAAQS

    Under section 109 of the CAA, the EPA has established primary and 
secondary NAAQS 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 primary NAAQS represent ambient air quality standards 
that the EPA has determined are requisite to protect the public health, 
while the secondary NAAQS represent ambient air quality standards that 
the EPA has determined are requisite to protect the public welfare from 
any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with the presence 
of such an air pollutant in the ambient air.
    Under the CAA, the EPA must establish a NAAQS for SO2, 
which is primarily released to the atmosphere through the burning of 
fossil fuels by power plants and other industrial facilities. 
SO2 is also emitted from industrial processes including 
metal extraction from ore and heavy equipment that burn fuel with a 
high sulfur content. Short-term exposure to SO2 can damage 
the human respiratory system and increase breathing difficulties. Small 
children and people with respiratory conditions, such as asthma, are 
more sensitive to the effects of SO2. Sulfur oxides at high 
concentrations in ambient air can also react with compounds to form 
small particulates (fine particulate matter or PM2.5) that 
can penetrate deeply into the lungs and cause acute health problems 
and/or chronic diseases. The EPA first established primary 
SO2 standards in 1971 at 140 parts per billion (ppb) over a 
24-hour averaging period and at 30 ppb over an annual averaging 
period.\1\
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    \1\ 36 FR 8186 (April 30, 1971).
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    On June 22, 2010, the EPA published in the Federal Register a 
strengthened, primary 1-hour SO2 NAAQS, establishing a new 
standard at a level of 75 ppb, based on the 3-year average of the 
annual 99th percentile of daily maximum 1-hour average concentrations 
of SO2.\2\ The revised SO2 NAAQS provides 
increased protection of public health. Along with revision of the 
SO2 NAAQS, EPA revoked the 1971 primary annual and 24-hour 
SO2 standards for most areas of the country following area 
designations under the new NAAQS.
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    \2\ 75 FR 35520.
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B. Designations, Classifications, and Attainment Dates for the 2010 SO2 
NAAQS

    Following promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, the EPA is 
required to designate all areas of the country as either 
``attainment,'' ``nonattainment,'' or ``unclassifiable,'' pursuant to 
CAA section 107(d)(1). On December 21, 2017, the EPA designated as 
nonattainment six areas in three States and two territories in the 
third round of SO2 designations.\3\ With that action, the 
EPA designated as nonattainment a small, rectangular area within 
Evangeline Parish, centered around the location of the Cabot 
Corporation's Ville Platte Plant (Cabot) near the city of Ville Platte, 
Louisiana.\4\ Pursuant to section 192(a) of the CAA, the attainment 
date for the Evangeline Parish NAA was no later than five years after 
the effective date of the initial designation, or April 9, 2023.
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    \3\ 83 FR 1098 (January 9, 2018).
    \4\ For designations technical discussions, see EPA's Technical 
Support Document, Chapter 16, Section 4, 27-47, at https://www.epa.gov/sulfur-dioxide-designations/intended-sulfur-dioxide-area-designations-august-2017, available in the docket for this 
action.
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    CAA section 191(a) requires States that contain an area designated 
nonattainment for the 2010 1-hour primary SO2 NAAQS to 
develop and submit a nonattainment area (NAA) State Implementation Plan 
(SIP) to the EPA within 18 months of the effective date of an area's 
designation as nonattainment. For SO2, a NAA SIP (also 
referred to as an attainment plan) must meet the requirements of 
sections 110, 172(c), 191, and 192 of the CAA, and provide for 
attainment of the NAAQS by the applicable statutory attainment date, or 
no later than five years from the effective date of designation. The 
effective date of designation was April 9, 2018, which required the 
attainment SIP submission to be due on October 9, 2019. As of the 
drafting of this document, Louisiana had not submitted a SIP revision 
for the Evangeline Parish NAA. On November 3, 2020, effective December 
3, 2020, the EPA issued a Finding of Failure to Submit (a SIP) for 
Louisiana for failing to submit a SIP revision for the Evangeline 
Parish NAA.\5\
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    \5\ 85 FR 69504 (November 3, 2020).
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C. EPA's Finding of Failure To Attain by the Attainment Date

    Section 179(c)(1) of the CAA requires the EPA to determine whether 
a NAA attained an applicable standard by the applicable statutory 
attainment date based on the area's air quality as of the attainment 
date. The EPA is to issue this

[[Page 71874]]

determination within six months of the attainment date. Thus, the EPA 
had a mandatory duty under CAA section 179(c) to determine by October 
9, 2023, whether the NAA attained the NAAQS by the statutory attainment 
date. With this action, the EPA proposes to determine, in accordance 
with CAA section 179(c), that the Evangeline Parish NAA failed to 
attain the 2010 1-hour primary SO2 NAAQS by the April 9, 
2023, attainment date.
    A determination of whether an area's air quality meets applicable 
standards is generally based upon the most recent three years of 
complete, quality-assured data gathered at established State and local 
air monitoring stations (SLAMS) in an NAA and other available 
information. The EPA's 2014 Guidance for 1-Hour SO2 
Nonattainment Area SIP Submissions states, ``The EPA will determine 
whether or not an SO2 nonattainment area has attained the 
NAAQS based on air quality monitoring data (when available) and air 
quality dispersion modeling information for the affected area, and/or a 
demonstration that the control strategy has been fully implemented.'' 
\6\ In the case of Evangeline Parish, the designation was based on our 
review of dispersion modeling results submitted by the Louisiana 
Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) that showed violations of 
the NAAQS.\7\ The modeling analysis included the only major source of 
SO2 emissions in the parish, Cabot, and relied upon reported 
SO2 emissions for Cabot for 2013-2015. In addition, as noted 
above, Louisiana has not submitted a control strategy (via SIP 
revision) for the NAA.
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    \6\ Guidance for 1-Hour SO2 Nonattainment Area SIP 
Submissions; EPA, April 23, 2014, can be found at https://www.epa.gov/so2-pollution/guidance-1-hour-sulfur-dioxide-so2-nonattainment-area-state-implementation-plans-sip, available in the 
docket for this action.
    \7\ See EPA's Technical Support Document accompanying the area's 
initial designation, Chapter 16, Section 4, 27-47, at https://www.epa.gov/sulfur-dioxide-designations/intended-sulfur-dioxide-area-designations-august-2017, available in the docket for this 
action.
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II. Proposed Determination

A. Area Characterization

    The Evangeline Parish NAA is located in south central Louisiana, 
approximately sixty kilometers north of Lafayette, Louisiana; it 
encompasses a rectangular area (2150 meters by 3000 meters) 
approximately six kilometers north of the city of Ville Platte, bounded 
by the designated NAA coordinate vertices provided in table 1. The 
Evangeline Parish NAA includes the Cabot carbon black plant within the 
extent of the modeled SO2 violation impacts from Cabot.

          Table 1--Boundary Corner Coordinates of the Evangeline Parish Rectangular Nonattainment Area
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                                                                   UTM Northing
                       UTM \8\ Easting (m)                              (m)          UTM Zone          Datum
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570250..........................................................         3400300              15          NAD 83
570250..........................................................         3403300              15          NAD 83
572400..........................................................         3403300              15          NAD 83
572400..........................................................         3400300              15          NAD 83
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B. Evaluation of SO2 Emissions Data and Modeling

    As noted earlier, the EPA based the nonattainment designation on 
modeling submitted by LDEQ. In our review of that modeling, as 
documented in EPA's TSD \9\ accompanying the designation, we concluded 
that the source characterization, modeling parameters, and modeling 
techniques submitted by LDEQ for this designation conformed with the 
guidelines of the EPA's modeling Technical Assistance Document 
(TAD).\10\
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    \8\ Universal Transverse Mercator coordinate system (an 
ellipsoid earth map projection). The easting is longitudinal, and 
the northing is latitudinal.
    \9\ See EPA's Technical Support Document accompanying the area's 
initial designation, Chapter 16, Section 4, 27-47, at https://www.epa.gov/sulfur-dioxide-designations/intended-sulfur-dioxide-area-designations-august-2017, available in the docket for this 
action.
    \10\ SO2 NAAQS Designations Modeling Technical 
Assistance Document, EPA, August 2016, available at https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-06/documents/so2modelingtad.pdf 
and available in the docket for this action.
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    The EPA's designation of the Evangeline Parish area relied on the 
modeled SO2 emissions for the years 2013 through 2015. Cabot 
is the only major SO2 source in the parish. These 
SO2 emissions are generated from Cabot's carbon black 
manufacturing facility through the process of converting carbonaceous 
feedstock materials into various grades of carbon black in a mostly 
continuous process, wherein Cabot's feedstock inherently contains 
sulfur compounds that are combusted, oxidized, and emitted with the 
tail gas as SO2. Following the designation, Cabot has not 
completed the installation of controls to reduce emissions, and the 
State has not provided a demonstration that the area has attained the 
NAAQS.
    The EPA evaluated annual SO2 emissions trends for the 
only major stationary SO2 source in the area, Cabot Ville 
Platte facility, via LDEQ's emissions database.\11\ Table 2 lists the 
total reported SO2 emissions for each year 2013 through 
2022.
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    \11\ LDEQ's ERIC Annual Certified Emissions datasets: https://deq.louisiana.gov/page/eric-public-reports.

   Table 2--Annual Emissions From Major Stationary SO2 Sources in the
       Evangeline Parish Nonattainment Area for 2013 Through 2022
                         [Tons of SO2 per year]
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                                                          Cabot Ville
                         Year                                Platte
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2013.................................................           8,519.76
2014.................................................           8,661.39
2015.................................................           8,094.10
2016.................................................           8,289.22
2017.................................................          11,029.06
2018.................................................          11,069.91
2019.................................................          11,033.92
2020.................................................           7,562.72
2021.................................................           8,425.99
2022.................................................           9.964.47
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    The 2010 SO2 NAAQS is met at an ambient air quality 
monitoring site when the three-year average of the annual (99th 
percentile) of the daily maximum 1-hour average concentrations is less 
than or equal to 75 ppb.\12\ CAA section 179(c) requires EPA's 
determination of whether the area attained by the attainment date to be

[[Page 71875]]

based on the area's air quality as of the attainment date. Therefore, 
even though EPA is not relying on ambient air quality monitoring data 
for its proposed determination, because such monitoring data does not 
exist, the three-year period of 2020 through 2022 is the relevant time 
period for evaluation in fulfilling the Agency's obligation under CAA 
section 179(c). EPA compared the annual source emissions from the 2020-
2022 period with the annual source emissions from the 2013-2015 period, 
which were the emissions used in the air quality modeling underlying 
the EPA's designation of the area as nonattainment. The average of the 
annual source emissions from 2020-2022 is 8,651 tons per year, higher 
than the 2013-2015 average of the annual source emissions of 8,469 tons 
per year. These source emissions data indicate that no reduction in 
emissions has occurred since designation of the Evangeline Parish NAA; 
therefore, these data, viewed in light of the 2017 initial designation 
modeling, demonstrate that air quality did not improve in the area near 
Cabot \13\ and support the proposed finding that the Evangeline Parish 
NAA failed to attain the 2010 SO2 NAAQS by the statutory 
attainment date of April 9, 2023.
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    \12\ 40 CFR 50.17(b).
    \13\ Emission reductions alone would not be sufficient evidence 
to claim the area has attained. The EPA would require technical 
analyses and/or modeling to demonstrate that the emission reductions 
were sufficient to bring the area into attainment.
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    The peak modeled receptor design value from EPA's designations TSD 
is summarized in table 3. The modeling analysis showed that the area 
was violating the NAAQS based on source emissions from 2013-2015, with 
a modeled DV of 277.6 compared to the NAAQS of 196.4 [mu]g/m\3\. Given 
that average emissions for 2020-2022 have increased since the 2013-2015 
period, and no emissions control strategy has been implemented by Cabot 
by the attainment date, there is no evidence that the State had 
remedied the original modeled violations by the attainment date.

                        Table 3--Summary of 2013-2015 Peak Modeled Receptor 1-Hour SO2 Design Value for the Evangeline Parish NAA
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                                                                                      Receptor location  (UTM zone 15)  99th percentile daily  maximum 1-
                                                                                     ----------------------------------  hour SO2  concentration ([mu]g/
                                                                                                                                      m\3\)
                                                                                                                       ---------------------------------
                          Averaging period                             Data period      UTM easting      UTM northing       Modeled
                                                                                            (m)              (m)         concentration
                                                                                                                           (including      NAAQS  level
                                                                                                                          background)
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99th Percentile 1-hour Avg.........................................       2013-2015           571696          3402478            277.6          196.4 *
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* Equivalent to the 2010 NAAQS of 75 ppb using 2.619 [mu]g/m\3\ conversion factor.

C. Conclusion

    We propose to determine that the Evangeline Parish NAA failed to 
attain the 2010 1-hour SO2 NAAQS by the statutory attainment 
date of April 9, 2023, based on data showing that emissions have 
increased when comparing the 2020-2022 period to the modeled emissions 
at designation. Based on this increase in emissions, there is nothing 
to suggest that the area is no longer in violation of the NAAQS as 
demonstrated by the 2017 modeling analysis for the initial designation 
of the area. At the time of drafting of this document, Cabot had not 
fully implemented a control strategy to reduce emissions, and LDEQ had 
not submitted an attainment plan (SIP revision).
    Under CAA section 179(d), if the EPA determines that an area did 
not attain the NAAQS by the applicable deadline, the responsible air 
agency has up to 12 months from the publication of the final notice of 
the determination to submit a revised SIP for the area demonstrating 
attainment and containing any additional measures that the EPA may 
reasonably prescribe that can be feasibly implemented in the area in 
light of technological achievability, costs, and any non-air quality 
and other air quality-related health and environmental impacts as 
required. Under CAA section 179(d)(3), such a revised SIP is to achieve 
attainment of the 2010 SO2 NAAQS as expeditiously as 
practicable, but no later than 5 years from the date of notice of the 
area's failure to attain (i.e., 5 years after the EPA publishes a final 
action in the Federal Register determining that the area failed to 
attain the 2010 SO2 NAAQS). In addition to triggering 
requirements for a new SIP submittal, a final determination that a NAA 
failed to attain the NAAQS by the attainment date would trigger the 
implementation of contingency measures adopted under 172(c)(9).

III. Proposed Action and Request for Public Comment

    Based on the EPA's review of all available evidence described in 
this document, the EPA is proposing to find that the Evangeline Parish 
NAA failed to attain the 2010 SO2 NAAQS by the statutory 
attainment date of April 9, 2023. This action will not impact the 
designation status of the NAA, and the Evangeline Parish NAA will 
remain designated nonattainment for the 2010 SO2 NAAQS until 
such time as Louisiana submits to the EPA a SIP with permanent, 
enforceable limitations that meet the requirements of the CAA, and the 
EPA takes action to redesignate the area. If finalized, this action 
will address the EPA's obligation under CAA section 179(c) to determine 
if the Evangeline Parish NAA attained the 2010 1-hour SO2 
NAAQS by the April 9, 2023, attainment date. The EPA is soliciting 
public comments on this document; these comments will be considered 
before taking final action.

IV. Environmental Justice Considerations

    Information on Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions To Address 
Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income 
Populations, 59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994) and how EPA defines 
environmental justice (EJ) can be found in the section, below, titled 
``V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews.'' EPA is providing 
additional analysis of environmental justice associated with this 
action, the results of which are being provided for informational and 
transparency purposes only, not as a basis of our proposed action.
    The EPA conducted a screening analysis using EJScreen, an

[[Page 71876]]

environmental justice mapping and screening tool that provides EPA with 
a nationally consistent dataset and approach for combining various 
environmental and demographic indicators.\14\ The EJScreen tool 
presents these indicators at a Census block group (CBG) level or a 
larger user-specified ``buffer'' area (around a certain point location 
or boundary area) that covers multiple CBGs.\15\ An individual CBG is a 
cluster of contiguous blocks within the same census tract and generally 
contains between 600 and 3,000 people. EJScreen is not a tool for 
performing in-depth risk analyses but is instead a screening tool that 
provides an initial representation of indicators related to 
environmental justice and is subject to uncertainty in some underlying 
data (e.g., some environmental indicators are based on monitoring data 
which are not uniformly available; others are based on self-reported 
data).\16\ To help mitigate this uncertainty, we have summarized 
EJScreen data within a larger ``buffer'' area covering multiple block 
groups and representing the average resident within the buffer area 
surrounding the Cabot carbon black plant in Evangeline Parish.
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    \14\ The EJScreen tool is available at https://www.epa.gov/ejscreen.
    \15\ See https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/geography/about/glossary.html.
    \16\ In addition, EJScreen relies on the five-year block group 
estimates from the U.S. Census American Community Survey. The 
advantage of using five-year over single-year estimates is increased 
statistical reliability of the data (i.e., lower sampling error), 
particularly for small geographic areas and population groups. For 
more information, see https://www.census.gov/content/dam/Census/library/publications/2020/acs/acs_general_handbook_2020.pdf.
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    We use EJScreen environmental indicators to help screen for 
locations where residents may experience a higher overall pollution 
burden than would be expected for another block group with the same 
total population. These indicators of overall pollution burden include 
estimates of ambient particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone 
concentrations, a score for traffic proximity and volume, percentage of 
pre-1960 housing units (lead paint indicator), and scores for proximity 
to Superfund sites, risk management plan (RMP) sites, and hazardous 
waste facilities.\17\ EJScreen also provides information on demographic 
indicators, including percent low-income, communities of color, 
linguistic isolation, and less than high school education.
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    \17\ For additional information on environmental indicators and 
proximity scores in EJScreen, see ``EJScreen Environmental Justice 
Mapping and Screening Tool: EJScreen Technical Documentation for 
Version 2.3,'' Chapter 3 (July 2024) at https://www.epa.gov/system/files/documents/2024-07/ejscreen-tech-doc-version-2-3.pdf.
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    The EPA prepared an EJScreen report covering a buffer area of 
approximately a 6-mile radius around the Cabot facility. Table 4 
presents a summary of some of the more pertinent results from the EPA's 
screening-level analysis for Cabot compared to the U.S. as a whole. 
From that report, the area around Cabot does not contain EJ 
environmental indicator indices greater than the 80th percentiles. The 
demographic indicators for low income and people with less than a high 
school education are both at the 90th percentile. The full, detailed 
EJScreen Community Report is provided in the docket for this action.

        Table 4--EJScreen Analysis Summary for Cabot Ville Platte
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                                  EJScreen Values for 6-mile buffer area
                                   (radius) around Cabot compared to the
                                               U.S. average
                                 ---------------------------------------
            Variables              Cabot (Evangeline
                                  Parish NAA) (value     U.S. average
                                   and percentile in   (indicator value)
                                       the U.S.)
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                       Pollution Burden Indicators
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Particulate matter (PM2.5),       7.78 [mu]g/m\3\     8.45 [mu]g/m\3\.
 annual average.                   (37th %ile).
Ozone, summer seasonal average    33.2 ppb (11th      41 ppb.
 of daily 8-hour max.              %ile).
Traffic proximity and volume      39,000 (10th %ile)  1,700,00.
 score *.
Lead paint (percentage pre-1960   0.16% (44th %ile).  0.30%.
 housing).
Superfund proximity score *.....  0 (0th %ile)......  0.39.
RMP proximity score *...........  0.02 (0th %ile)...  0.57.
Hazardous waste proximity score   0.62 (37th %ile)..  3.5.
 *.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Demographic Indicators
------------------------------------------------------------------------
People of color population......  50% (65th %ile)...  40%.
Low-income population...........  63% (90th %ile)...  30%.
Linguistically isolated           2% (64th %ile)....  5%.
 population.
Population with less than high    28% (90th %ile)...  11%.
 school education.
Population under 5 years of age.  7% (67th %ile)....  5%.
Population over 64 years of age.  16% (51st %ile)...  18%.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The traffic proximity and volume indicator is a score calculated by
  daily traffic count divided by distance in meters to the road. The
  Superfund proximity, RMP proximity, and hazardous waste proximity
  indicators are all scores calculated by site or facility counts
  divided by distance in kilometers.

    This action is proposing a Finding of Failure to Attain the 2010 1-
hour primary SO2 NAAQS for the Evangeline Parish NAA by the 
statutory attainment date of April 9, 2023. Information on 
SO2 and its relationship to negative health impacts can be 
found at final Federal Register notice titled ``Primary National 
Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Dioxide'' (75 FR 35520, June 
22, 2010).\18\ We expect that this particular action will not have a 
detrimental environmental impact on the populations in the Evangeline 
Parish NAA, including people of color and low-income populations in the 
Evangeline Parish NAA. The Act requires that the EPA determine whether 
areas attained the NAAQS by the attainment date and prescribes 
consequences for areas that fail to do so. This action triggers those 
consequences.
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    \18\ See https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2010-13947.
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V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This action proposes to find that an area has failed to attain the 
NAAQS by

[[Page 71877]]

the relevant attainment date and does not impose additional or modify 
existing requirements. For that reason, this action:
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review 
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 14094 (88 FR 21879, April 11, 2023);
     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); and
     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 Clean Air Act;
    Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental 
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 59 FR 7629, 
February 16, 1994) directs Federal agencies to identify and address 
``disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects'' of their actions on minority populations and low-income 
populations to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law. 
The EPA defines environmental justice (EJ) as ``the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, 
national origin, or income with respect to the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies.'' The EPA further defines the term fair treatment to mean 
that ``no group of people should bear a disproportionate burden of 
environmental harms and risks, including those resulting from the 
negative environmental consequences of industrial, governmental, and 
commercial operations or programs and policies.'' As noted in section 
IV, the EPA performed an EJ analysis, but we did not consider EJ as a 
basis for this action. Due to the nature of the action being taken 
here, this action is not expected to have a detrimental impact on the 
populations, including people of color and low-income populations, in 
the Evangeline Parish NAA. Consideration of EJ is not required as part 
of this action, which finds that an NAA failed to attain the 2010 
SO2 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date, and there is no 
information in the record inconsistent with the stated goal of E.O. 
12898 of achieving environmental justice for people of color, low-
income populations, and Indigenous peoples.
    In addition, this proposed rulemaking, the finding of failure to 
attain by the attainment date for the Evangeline Parish SO2 
NAA, does not have Tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 
13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because this action is not 
intended to apply in Indian country located in the State, and the EPA 
notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on Tribal 
governments or preempt Tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: August 27, 2024.
Earthea Nance,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2024-19616 Filed 9-3-24; 8:45 am]
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