Environmental Protection Agency December 3, 2015 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The primary purpose of this proposal is to address interstate air quality impacts with respect to the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The EPA promulgated the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) on July 6, 2011, to address interstate transport of ozone pollution under the 1997 ozone NAAQS and fine particulate matter (PM2.5) under the 1997 and 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS. The EPA is proposing to update CSAPR to address interstate emission transport with respect to the 2008 ozone NAAQS. This proposal also responds to the July 28, 2015 remand by the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit of certain states' ozone-season nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions budgets established by CSAPR. This proposal also updates the status of certain states' outstanding interstate ozone transport obligations with respect to the 1997 ozone NAAQS, for which CSAPR provided a partial remedy. This proposal finds that ozone season emissions of NOX in 23 eastern states affect the ability of downwind states to attain and maintain the 2008 ozone NAAQS. These emissions can be transported downwind as NOX or, after transformation in the atmosphere, as ozone. For these 23 eastern states, the EPA proposes to issue Federal Implementation Plans (FIPs) that generally update the existing CSAPR NOX ozone-season emissions budgets for electricity generating units (EGUs) and implement these budgets via the CSAPR NOX ozone-season allowance trading program. The EPA would finalize a FIP for any state that does not have an approved SIP addressing its contribution by the date this rule is finalized. The EPA is proposing implementation starting with the 2017 ozone season. In conjunction with other federal and state actions, these requirements would assist downwind states in the eastern United States in attaining and maintaining the 2008 ozone standard.