Environmental Protection Agency September 27, 2019 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

On August 24, 2018, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) jointly published in the Federal Register a notice of proposed rulemaking entitled, ``The Safer Affordable Fuel- Efficient (SAFE) Vehicles Rule for Model Years 2021-2026 Passenger Cars and Light Trucks.'' In the NPRM, the agencies proposed new and amended greenhouse gas (GHG) and Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for model year 2021 to 2026 light duty vehicles. EPA also proposed to withdraw the waiver it had previously provided to California for that State's GHG and ZEV programs under section 209 of the Clean Air Act. NHTSA also proposed regulatory text implementing its statutory authority to set nationally applicable fuel economy standards that made explicit that those State programs would also be preempted under NHTSA's authorities. In this action, the agencies finalize the two actions related to the waiver and preemption. Accordingly, in this document: EPA announces its decision to withdraw the waiver; and NHTSA finalizes regulatory text related to preemption. The agencies anticipate issuing a final rule on standards proposed in the NPRM in the near future.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing a clean data determination (CDD) for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM2.5) Salt Lake City, Utah, (UT) nonattainment area (NAA). The proposed determination is based upon quality-assured, quality-controlled, and certified ambient air monitoring data for the period 2016-2018, available in the EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) database, showing the area has monitored attainment of the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Based on our proposed determination that the Salt Lake City, UT NAA is currently attaining the 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS, the EPA is also proposing to determine that the obligation for Utah to make submissions to meet certain Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act) requirements related to attainment of the NAAQS for this area is not applicable for as long as the area continues to attain the NAAQS.

Pursuant to the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing an approval of a portion of a revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Arkansas through the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) that addresses certain requirements of the CAA and the EPA's regional haze rules for the protection of visibility in mandatory Class I Federal areas (Class I areas) for the first implementation period. The EPA is taking final action to approve, among other things, the state's sulfur dioxide (SO2) and particulate matter (PM) best available retrofit technology (BART) determinations for electric generating units (EGUs) in Arkansas and the determination that no additional SO2 and PM controls at any Arkansas sources are necessary under reasonable progress. In conjunction with this final approval of a portion of the SIP revision, we are finalizing in a separate rulemaking, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register, our withdrawal of the corresponding Federal implementation plan (FIP) provisions established in a prior action to address regional haze requirements for Arkansas.