Environmental Protection Agency April 14, 2005 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

This notice announces the availability for comment of the administrative record files for 6 TMDLs and the calculations for these TMDLs prepared by EPA Region 6 for waters listed in the Atchafalaya River, Barataria, Lake Pontchartrain, Mississippi River, Sabine River, and Terrebonne Basins of Louisiana, under section 303(d) of the Clean Water Act (CWA). These TMDLs were completed in response to a court order in the lawsuit styled Sierra Club, et al. v. Clifford, et al., No. 96-0527, (E.D. La.). EPA originally proposed draft TMDLs for these segments on December 2, 2004. EPA has decided to withdraw the December 2, 2004, draft TMDLs, and now proposes new draft TMDLs for these segments. Thus, EPA is not responding to those comments on the December 2, 2004, proposed draft TMDLs. EPA will be responding to comments on the new proposed draft TMDLs available herein after public notice.

Pursuant to the Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92- 463), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) gives notice of a meeting of the National Advisory Committee (NAC) and Governmental Advisory Committee (GAC) to the U.S. Representative to the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC). The National and Governmental Advisory Committees advise the Administrator of the EPA in his capacity as the U.S. Representative to the Council of the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation. The Committees are authorized under Articles 17 and 18 of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation (NAAEC), North American Free Trade Agreement Implementation Act, Pub. L. 103-182 and as directed by Executive Order 12915, entitled ``Federal Implementation of the North American Agreement on Environmental Cooperation.'' The Committees are responsible for providing advice to the U.S. Representative on a wide range of strategic, scientific, technological, regulatory and economic issues related to implementation and further elaboration of the NAAEC. The National Advisory Committee consists of 12 representatives of environmental groups and non- governmental organizations, business and industry, and educational institutions. The Governmental Advisory Committee consists of 12 representatives from state, local and tribal governments. Purpose: The Committees are meeting to review and comment on the deliverables for the Commission for Environmental Cooperation June 22- 23, 2005 Council Session. In addition, the committees will organize a one-day Business Roundtable on Wednesday, April 27th to examine successful environmental capacity building partnerships and their application in North America.

The EPA is approving State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the Governor of New Mexico on September 7, 2004. The submittal revises the second ten-year carbon monoxide (CO) maintenance plan for the Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, New Mexico area. The submittal also revises the relevant parts of the New Mexico Administrative Code (NMAC) including revisions to the General Provisions, Inspection and Maintenance (I&M) Program, and the contingency measures. We are approving these revisions in accordance with the requirements of the Federal Clean Air Act (the Act).

On January 5, 2005, EPA promulgated air quality designations for all areas for the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for fine particles (i.e. particles less than 2.5 microns in diameter, also known as PM2.5) (70 FR 944). We designated 47 areas composed of 224 counties and the District of Columbia as nonattainment. We designated 5 areas comprised of 7 counties as unclassifiable. We designated the remaining counties in the United States as attainment/ unclassifiable. We based the designations in the January 5, 2005, final rule on air quality monitoring data from the 3-year period of 2001 to 2003. In that action, we provided that these designations would be effective 90 days from the date of publication in the Federal Register, which is April 5, 2005. Because the designations occurred at the end of 2004, we indicated our desire to consider 2004 data where feasible in order to evaluate attainment status based upon data from the 3-year period of 2002 to 2004. We explained that we would consider any complete, quality-assured, and certified 2004 PM2.5 data submitted by any State to EPA by February 22, 2005, if such data indicated that a change in the designation for the entire area would be appropriate. In the January 5, 2005, action, we stated that if EPA agreed that a change in the designation was appropriate based upon the inclusion of 2004 data, then EPA would withdraw the initial designation for the area and issue a designation that reflected the consideration of the new data before the April 5, 2005, effective date. Today's action addresses areas for which States have submitted complete, quality-assured, and certified PM2.5 air quality data for 2004, and it modifies the designation status to attainment for eight areas we originally designated as nonattainment and for four areas we originally designated as unclassifiable. This action also includes technical corrections related to boundary descriptions for a few areas included in the January 5, 2005, action. The EPA has received a number of other petitions in connection with the PM2.5 designations pertaining to issues other than inclusion of 2004 data as a basis for changing the designation prior to the effective date. The EPA is not responding to those petitions in this document and will be evaluating and responding to those petitions separately.