Environmental Protection Agency October 20, 2010 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that an Information Collection Request (ICR) has been forwarded to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. This is a request to renew an existing approved collection. The ICR, which is abstracted below, describes the nature of the information collection and its estimated burden and cost.

In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.), this document announces that EPA is planning to submit a request to renew an existing approved Information Collection Request (ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). This ICR is scheduled to expire on January 31, 2011. Before submitting the ICR to OMB for review and approval, EPA is soliciting comments on specific aspects of the proposed information collection as described below.

EPA is taking final action to approve a request from the State of Texas to redesignate the Beaumont/Port Arthur (BPA) Texas ozone nonattainment area to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). EPA is making a final determination that the BPA nonattainment area has attained the 1997 8- hour ozone NAAQS, based on complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for 2006-2008. Preliminary data available for 2009 and 2010 show that the area continues to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. In finalizing its approval of the redesignation request, EPA also approves, as a revision to the BPA State Implementation Plan (SIP), a 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan that includes a 2021 Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget (MVEB). EPA is also approving the BPA area's 2002 base year emissions inventory as part of the BPA SIP. EPA also is approving as part of the BPA SIP, the Texas Clean-Fuel Vehicle (CFV) Program Equivalency Demonstration. EPA finds that with final approval of these revisions, the area has a fully approved SIP that meets all of the 1997 8-hour ozone requirements and 1-hour ozone anti-backsliding requirements under section 110 and Part D of the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) that are applicable for purposes of redesignation. EPA is also approving a determination that the BPA area is meeting the 1-hour ozone standard based upon three years of complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air quality monitoring data for 2006-2008. Preliminary data available for 2009 and 2010 show that the area continues to attain the standard. Additionally, EPA is taking final action to approve the post-1996 Rate of Progress (ROP) plan's contingency measures, the substitute control measures for the failure-to-attain contingency measures, and the removal from the Texas SIP of a 1-hour ozone failure-to-attain contingency measure, a volatile organic compound (VOC) SIP rule for marine vessel loading, as meeting the requirements of section 110(l) and part D of the Act. EPA also is providing clarification of an earlier separate EPA rulemaking action approving the Section 110(a)(1) Maintenance Plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard for the El Paso 1997 8-hour attainment area.

The EPA is amending the requirements for particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers (PM2.5) under the Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) program by adding maximum allowable increases in ambient pollutant concentrations (``increments'') and two screening tools, known as the Significant Impact Levels (SILs) and a Significant Monitoring Concentration (SMC) for PM2.5. The SILs for PM2.5 are also being added to two other New Source Review (NSR) rules that regulate the construction and modification of any major stationary source locating in an attainment or unclassifiable area, where the source's emissions may cause or contribute to a violation of the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).