Environmental Protection Agency June 8, 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is announcing that a public hearing will be held on the EPA's proposed response to petitions from Delaware and Maryland pursuant to section 126 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). The EPA is proposing to deny four CAA section 126(b) petitions submitted by the state of Delaware and one CAA section 126(b) petition submitted by the state of Maryland between July and November 2016. The hearing will be held on June 22, 2018, in Washington, DC.

In this document, the EPA is notifying the public that the St. Louis area 2008 8-hour ozone redesignation request and maintenance plan motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOX) are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. As a result, these budgets must be used by the State of Missouri for future transportation conformity determinations for the St. Louis area.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to deny four petitions submitted by the state of Delaware and one petition submitted by the state of Maryland under Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) section 126(b). The petitions were submitted between July and November 2016. Each of Delaware's four petitions requested that the EPA make a finding that emissions from individual sources in Pennsylvania or West Virginia are significantly contributing to Delaware's nonattainment of the 2008 and 2015 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Maryland's petition requested that the EPA make a finding that emissions from 36 electric generating units in Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia are significantly contributing to ozone levels that exceed the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS in Maryland, and, therefore, are interfering with nonattainment and maintenance of the 2008 ozone NAAQS. The EPA proposes to deny all five petitions because Delaware and Maryland have not met their burden to demonstrate that the sources emit or would emit in violation of the CAA's ``good neighbor'' provision (i.e., the petitions have not demonstrated that the sources will significantly contribute to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2008 or 2015 ozone NAAQS in the petitioning states). The EPA is further proposing to deny the petitions based on the agency's independent analysis that the identified sources do not currently emit and are not expected to emit pollution in violation of the good neighbor provision for either the 2008 or 2015 ozone NAAQS.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final rulemaking action to approve, as part of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the State of Arizona, the second 10-year maintenance plan for the Douglas maintenance area for the 1971 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (``standards'') for sulfur dioxide (SO2).

Based on the Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) review of the air quality criteria addressing human health effects and the primary national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for sulfur oxides (SOX), the EPA is proposing to retain the current standard, without revision.