2014-04948. Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; New Hampshire; Manchester and Nashua Carbon Monoxide Limited Maintenance Plans

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of New Hampshire. This SIP revision establishes carbon monoxide (CO) limited maintenance plans for the City of Manchester, New Hampshire and the City of Nashua, New Hampshire. As part of its limited maintenance plan, New Hampshire will continue year-round CO monitoring at the Londonderry Moose Hill station in Londonderry, New Hampshire with triggers to reestablish CO monitoring sites in Manchester and Nashua if elevated CO levels are recorded in Londonderry. Future carbon monoxide transportation conformity evaluations for Manchester and Nashua will, for the length of their limited maintenance plans, be considered to satisfy the regional emissions analysis and “budget test” requirements. This action is being taken under the Clean Air Act.

DATES:

This rule is effective on April 9, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket Identification No. EPA-R01-OAR-2012-0661. All documents in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically through www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Office of Ecosystem Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office, Office of Ecosystem Protection, Air Quality Planning Unit, 5 Post Office Square—Suite 100, Boston, MA. EPA requests that if at all possible, you contact the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding legal holidays.

Copies of the documents relevant to this action are also available for public inspection during normal business hours, by appointment at the State Air Agency; Air Resources Division, Department of Environmental Services, 6 Hazen Drive, P.O. Box 95, Concord, NH 03302-0095.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Donald O. Cooke, Air Quality Planning Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional Office, Office of Ecosystem Protection, Air Quality Planning Unit, 5 Post Office Square—Suite 100, (Mail code OEP05-2), Boston, MA 02109—3912, telephone number [phone], fax number [phone], email [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Throughout this document whenever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, we mean EPA.

Organization of this document. The following outline is provided to aid in locating information in this preamble.

I. Background and Purpose

II. State Commitments

III. Final Action

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background and Purpose

On December 24, 2013 (78 FR 77632), EPA published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) for the State of New Hampshire, proposing approval of a SIP revision submitted on August 1, 2012. Specifically, EPA proposed to approve conversion of the Manchester and Nashua current carbon monoxide maintenance plans to a limited maintenance plan for the remainder of the City of Manchester, and the City of Nashua, New Hampshire CO maintenance plans which terminate on January 29, 2021.

EPA also proposed to approve replacement of the CO air quality monitoring in Manchester with carbon monoxide monitoring at the Londonderry Moose Hill station in Londonderry, New Hampshire with triggers to reestablish CO monitoring sites in Manchester and Nashua if elevated CO levels are recorded in Londonderry.

Other specific requirements of the limited maintenance plans for the City of Manchester, New Hampshire and the City of Nashua, New Hampshire, year-round CO monitoring at the Londonderry Moose Hill station in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and the rationale for EPA's approval action are explained in the NPR and will not be restated here. No public comments were received on the NPR.

II. State Commitments

New Hampshire will monitor CO levels using the Londonderry Moose Hill station and emissions inventories. Because New Hampshire is discontinuing monitoring CO in Manchester, it has adopted a more stringent contingency threshold or “trigger” than indicated in the previously submitted and EPA-approved May 30, 2007 maintenance plan SIP revision. See September 10, 2007; 72 FR 51564. In the event the second highest CO concentration in any calendar year monitored in Londonderry reaches 50 percent of the Federal 1-hour or 8-hour NAAQS for CO, New Hampshire will, as committed to in the August 1, 2012 SIP revision, within six months of recording such concentrations, reestablish the CO monitoring site in Manchester consistent with EPA siting criteria, and resume analyzing and reporting those data. If the reestablished Manchester CO monitor measures a violation of the either the Federal 1-hour or 8-hour NAAQS for CO, contingency measures will be implemented in Manchester and Nashua. Contingency measures in Nashua would cease once a reestablished CO monitor in Nashua shows that the area is in attainment of the CO standard.

If the Manchester or Nashua CO attainment areas monitor CO concentrations at or above the limited maintenance eligibility criteria or 7.65 parts per million, then that maintenance area would no longer qualify for a limited maintenance plan and would revert to a full maintenance plan. In this event, the limited maintenance plan would remain applicable for conformity purposes only until the full maintenance plan is submitted and EPA has found its motor vehicle emissions budgets adequate for conformity purposes or EPA approves the full maintenance plan SIP revision. Any required new conformity determinations could not be made until there is an adequate budget or approved full maintenance plan. At that time, regional emissions analyses would resume as a transportation conformity criteria.

III. Final Action

EPA is approving conversion of the Manchester and Nashua current carbon monoxide maintenance plans to a limited maintenance plan for the remainder of the City of Manchester, and the City of Nashua, New Hampshire CO maintenance plans which terminate on January 29, 2021.

EPA is also approving replacement of the CO air quality monitoring in Manchester with carbon monoxide monitoring at the Londonderry Moose Hill station in Londonderry, New Hampshire with triggers to reestablish CO monitoring sites in Manchester and Nashua if elevated CO levels are recorded in Londonderry.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:

• Is not a “significant regulatory action” subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
• does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
• is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
• does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
• does not have Federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
• is not an economically significant regulatory action based on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
• is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
• is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent with the Clean Air Act; and
• does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal Register. This action is not a “major rule” as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by May 9, 2014. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

• Environmental protection
• Air pollution control
• Carbon monoxide
• Incorporation by reference
• Intergovernmental relations
• Lead
• Nitrogen dioxide
• Ozone
• Particulate matter
• Reporting and recordkeeping requirements
• Sulfur oxides
• Volatile organic compounds

H. Curtis Spalding

Regional Administrator, EPA New England.

Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 52—[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart EE—New Hampshire

2. Section 52.1528 is amended by adding paragraph (e) to read as follows:

§ 52.1528

Control strategy: Carbon monoxide.

* * * * *

(e) Approval—On August 1, 2012, the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services submitted modifications to the Manchester and Nashua maintenance plans approved in paragraph (b) and (c) respectively of this section. The Manchester and Nashua current carbon monoxide maintenance plans are both converted to limited maintenance plans for the remainder of their second-ten year maintenance periods which terminate on January 29, 2021. Future carbon monoxide transportation conformity evaluations for Manchester and Nashua will for the length of their limited maintenance plans be considered to satisfy the regional emissions analysis and “budget test” requirements. In addition, New Hampshire will no longer conduct CO monitoring in Manchester, New Hampshire as addressed in paragraph (d) of this section. The Manchester monitoring site is replaced with the Londonderry Moose Hill station in Londonderry, New Hampshire with triggers to reestablish CO monitoring sites in Manchester and Nashua if elevated CO levels are recorded in Londonderry.