[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 5 (Wednesday, January 8, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 1187-1190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-145]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR PART 52
[CA114-0025; FRL-5665-9]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; California;
Ozone
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is approving a revision to the California State
Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone for Santa Barbara County.
Specifically, EPA is approving the emissions inventory, control
measures, and 15% rate-of-progress plan. The California Air Resources
Board (CARB) submitted this SIP revision to EPA on November 14, 1994.
EPA is approving this revision to the California SIP under
provisions of the Clean Air Act (CAA) regarding EPA action on SIP
submittals for nonattainment areas.
EFFECTIVE DATE: This approval is effective on February 7, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Materials relevant to this rulemaking are contained in
Docket No.
[[Page 1188]]
A-96-13, which is available for viewing during normal business hours at
the following location: Air Division, Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901.
Copies of the SIP materials are also available for inspection at
the addresses listed below:
Environmental Protection Agency, Air Docket (6102), 401 M Street, S.W.,
Washington, DC.
California Air Resources Board, 2020 L Street, Sacramento, California.
In addition, copies of the relevant local plan, the State plan
(1994 California Ozone SIP), public comments, and EPA's technical
support documents for this rulemaking are available at the following
location: Santa Barbara Air Pollution Control District, 26 Castilian
Drive B-23, Goleta, California.
Electronic Availability
This document and related materials are available at Region 9's
site on the World Wide Web at http://www.epa.gov/region09 (please look
under Air Programs). The Federal Register is also available on the
Internet by pointing a web browser at: http://www.access.gpo.gov/
su__docs/ or by telnet to swais.access.gpo.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Julia Barrow, Chief, Office of
Planning, Air Division, Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, 75
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 744-1230.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
I. Background.
A. Summary
EPA is finalizing approval of the emissions inventory, control
measures, and 15% rate-of-progress (ROP) plan for the Santa Barbara
County ozone nonattainment area, as included in the 1994 California
Ozone SIP.1 This action was proposed on March 18, 1996, as part of
action on the 1994 California Ozone SIP (61 FR 10920-10962). EPA has
separately finalized approval of all elements proposed for approval in
that document, with the exception of Santa Barbara plan elements. The
reader is referred to the notice of proposed rulemaking for additional
detail on the SIP submittal (including State measures and analyses), as
well as a summary of relevant Clean Air Act requirements and EPA
interpretations of those requirements.
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\1\ The Federal ozone nonattainment area is the ``Santa Barbara-
Santa Maria-Lompoc Area,'' which comprises the entire County of
Santa Barbara (see 40 CFR 81.305).
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Santa Barbara is currently classified as a moderate nonattainment
area for ozone (40 CFR 81.305). As a result, the SIP must contain
adequate control measures and commitments to demonstrate attainment of
the ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by 1996, in
accordance with sections 181(a)(1) and 172(c)(6) of the CAA.
The 1994 SIP employed an urban airshed modeling analysis to
demonstrate that the control strategy will result in NAAQS attainment
by the deadline. After the 1994 SIP had been prepared, exceedances of
the ozone NAAQS were recorded during both 1994 and 1995. This precluded
Santa Barbara from achieving the ozone standard by 1996.2
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\2\ Attainment of the ozone NAAQS is achieved when the number of
exceedances at each monitoring site within the area, averaged over
the past 3 calendar years, is less than or equal to 1. An exceedance
is a daily maximum hourly average ozone concentration that is
greater than the 0.12 ppm standard. (40 CFR 50, App. H)
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Section 181(a)(5) of the Act, however, authorizes EPA to grant a
one-year extension of the attainment date upon request by the State, if
an area has complied with all requirements in the SIP and records no
more than one exceedance during the attainment year. Based on this
provision, EPA proposed to approve Santa Barbara's plan as meeting the
attainment demonstration requirements of section 182(b)(1)(A) of the
Act, assuming that the area experienced no more than one exceedance
during the 1996 ozone season.
After the proposed approval of the Santa Barbara plan was issued in
March 1996, several locations in Santa Barbara recorded exceedances of
the ozone standard. These exceedances now disqualify the area from
receiving a one-year attainment deadline extension. Therefore, there is
no longer a basis for EPA's proposed approval of the attainment
demonstration and the supporting modeling analysis. For this reason,
CARB has withdrawn the attainment demonstration portion of the
SIP.3
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\3\ November 6, 1996 letter from Michael P. Kenny, Executive
Officer, CARB, to Felicia Marcus, Regional Administrator, EPA,
withdrawing the Santa Barbara ozone attainment demonstration. The
letter also encloses an October 18, 1996 letter from Douglas W.
Allard (SBCAPCD) to Michael P. Kenny, requesting withdrawal of the
attainment demonstration. Allard's letter notes that, on October 17,
1996, ``the Air Pollution Control Board directed me to request that
the Air Resources Board withdraw the attainment demonstration
element from the 1994 Clean Air Plan (CAP), a component of the State
Implementation Plan.''
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Because the State has withdrawn this SIP element, EPA is not
responding in this document to extensive Environmental Defense Center
comments on EPA's proposed approval of Santa Barbara's modeling and
attainment demonstration. EPA encourages the State and local agencies
to address those comments, to the extent that they remain relevant, in
the preparation of attainment demonstrations in the future.
B. SIP Submittals
On November 15, 1994, CARB adopted and submitted a revision to the
``State of California Implementation Plan for Achieving and Maintaining
the National Ambient Air Quality Standards'' (ozone SIP). The revision
consists of: (a) The State's comprehensive ozone plan, including the
State's own measures and the State's summaries of, and revisions to,
the local plans; (b) the State's previously adopted regulations for
consumer products and reformulated gasoline and diesel fuels; and (c)
local plans addressing the ozone attainment demonstration and ROP
requirements. EPA has previously finalized approval of all of the
State's measures and most of the elements of the local plans, with the
exception of the plan for Santa Barbara.
EPA is today approving elements from the following ozone SIP
submittals:
1. ``1994 Clean Air Plan for Santa Barbara County,'' adopted by the
Board of the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District on
November 2, 1994. The November 14, 1994, submittal letter for this plan
is from James Boyd, Executive Officer of CARB, to EPA Regional
Administrator Felicia Marcus.
2. On March 30, 1995, CARB submitted revised 1990 base year
emission inventories for each of the California ozone nonattainment
areas. EPA is approving in this document the Santa Barbara portion of
the State's submittal.
C. EPA Completeness Findings
On April 18, 1995 the EPA issued a finding of completeness,
pursuant to 40 CFR Part 51, Appendix V, for the Santa Barbara plan
portion of the November 1994 and March 1995 submittals with regard to:
(1) 15% ROP requirement of section 182(b)(1)(A); and (2) 1990 base year
inventory requirements of section 182(a)(1).4
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\4\ EPA adopted the completeness criteria on February 16, 1990
(55 FR 5830) and, pursuant to section 110(k)(1)(A) of the CAA,
revised the criteria on August 26, 1991 (56 FR 42216).
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[[Page 1189]]
II. Review of the SIP Submittal, Response to Comments on Specific SIP
Issues, and EPA Final Action
A. Emissions Inventory
The Environmental Defense Center (EDC) provided two comments on the
emissions inventory. First, EDC stated that significant amounts of
emissions from variances and violations, construction activities, and
small source exemptions are excluded from the inventory. Second, EDC
stated that the 1996 inventory misstates emissions by not removing from
the inventory those emissions associated with the shutdown of the
Battles Gas plant in July 1995, thus allowing banking of these
emissions.
The emission inventories for Santa Barbara were developed in
accordance with EPA guidance, using the most accurate data
available.5 The SIP's base year and projected inventories include
the District's best estimations of emissions from construction
activities and, to the extent data are available, emissions from
unpermitted sources. The 1990 baseline inventories and the projected
inventories also address variances and violations through use of
control factors that reflect general estimations of rule effectiveness.
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\5\ See the list of SIP inventory guidance documents in the
supplement to EPA's General Preamble for the Implementation of Title
I of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, issued on April 28, 1992
(57 FR 18070-18071).
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The Battles Gas Plant was not shut down but under permit and in
operation when the Clean Air Plan was adopted. EPA's emissions
inventory guidelines and 15% rate-of-progress guidelines do not require
that projected inventories eliminate emissions from sources that may be
shut down in the future.6
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\6\ Indeed, Rate-of-Progress projected inventories generally
should be based on allowable levels. See EPA's Emission Inventory
Requirements for Ozone State Implementation Plans (EPA-450/4-91-
010), March 1991, pp. 36-7. Until permits are surrendered, sources
should be assumed to be in operation.
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EPA is finalizing approval of the Santa Barbara emission
inventories as meeting the requirements of section 182(a)(1) of the
Act.
B. Control Measures
EDC objected to the SBCAPCD's wholesale deletion of 1982 control
measures, including measures which required development of rules
incorporating the relative ozone formation potential of various
emissions.
In general, the 1994 SIP does not delete the 1982 SIP measures but
rather updates them. EPA does not believe that the CAA requires the
District to retain its prior commitments to develop reactivity-based
rules, which are neither specifically mandated by the CAA nor
associated with particular emission reductions or ambient air quality
benefits in the 1982 SIP.
EDC stated that the inadequacy of the SIP control measures is
apparent, given Santa Barbara's violations of the ozone NAAQS. EPA
interprets the comment as meaning that EDC does not believe that the
control measures achieve sufficient emission reductions to attain the
ozone NAAQS by 1996. The Agency is not addressing this issue because,
as noted above, the State has withdrawn the attainment demonstration
portion of the Santa Barbara plan. EPA is, however, approving the
individual control measures in the SIP (1994 Clean Air Plan, Tables 4-2
and 5-1) under the provisions of CAA sections 110(k)(3) and 301(a),
because they strengthen the SIP.
Table 5-1 of Santa Barbara's plan describes the area's
transportation control measures (TCMs), which supersede the TCM list in
the previously approved 1982 SIP. On May 1, 1995, EPA took direct final
action to approve TCM-5, and to delete the Goleta Transit Center from
the 1982 SIP (60 FR 21045). The 1994 Clean Air Plan shows that all of
the 1982 TCMs have either been fully implemented or replaced by 1994
TCMs.
All non-transportation related control measures identified in the
Santa Barbara Clean Air Plan have been fully adopted in regulatory
form. If any of these regulations, which are assumed in the baseline of
the Clean Air Plan, are relaxed or in practice achieve fewer emission
reductions than relied upon in the SIP, the District must submit
replacement rules on an expeditious schedule.
Under sections 110(k)(3) and 301(a) of the Clean Air Act, EPA takes
final action to approve the SIP control measures, including contingency
measure T-21, because these measures strengthen the SIP.
C. ROP Provisions
EPA is finalizing approval of the ROP plan as meeting the 15% ROP
requirements of section 182(b)(1) of the Act. The ROP ROG targets,
projected ROG emissions, and creditable ROG reductions are shown below
in the table labeled ``Santa Barbara ROP Forecasts and Targets.''
Creditable emission reductions from fully adopted regulations reduce
emissions below the ROP target level for 1996.
Santa Barbara ROP Forecasts and Targets
[In tons of ROG per summer day; excludes OCS emissions]
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1990 Base Year Inventory......................................... 57
1996 Projections (Adopted Measures).............................. 41
1996 ROP Target.................................................. 42
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III. Summary of EPA Actions
EPA approves the following elements of the 1994 California Ozone
SIP for Santa Barbara, as meeting applicable CAA requirements:
(1) Emission Inventories for Santa Barbara under section 182(a)(1)
of the CAA.
(2) 15% ROP Plan for Santa Barbara under section 182(b)(1).
(3) Santa Barbara's control measures, including contingency measure
T-21, under sections 110(k)(3) and 301(a) of the CAA.
Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or
allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for
revision to any SIP. Each request for revision to the SIP shall be
considered separately in light of specific technical, economic, and
environmental factors and in relation to relevant statutory and
regulatory requirements.
IV. Regulatory Process
A. Executive Order 12886
This action has been classified as a Table 3 action for signature
by the Regional Administrator under the procedures published in the
Federal Register on January 19, 1989 (54 FR 2214-2225), as revised by a
July 10, 1995 memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator for
Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and Budget has exempted
this regulatory action from Executive Order 12866 review.
B. Regulatory Flexibility Act
Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq., EPA
must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of
any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.
Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small
entities include small business, small not-for-profit enterprises and
government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than
50,000.
SIP approvals under sections 110 and 301 and subchapter I, part D
of the Clean Air Act, do not create any new requirements, but simply
approve requirements that the State is already imposing. Therefore,
because the
[[Page 1190]]
Federal SIP approval does not impose any new requirements, it does not
have a significant impact on any small entities affected. Moreover, due
to the nature of the Federal/state relationship under the Act,
preparation of a regulatory flexibility analysis would constitute
Federal inquiry into the economic reasonableness of state action. The
Act forbids EPA to base its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds.
Union Electric Co. v. U.S.E.P.A., 427 U.S. 246, 256-66 (S.Ct. 1976); 42
U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).
C. Unfunded Mandates
Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(``Unfunded Mandates Act''), signed into law on March 22, 1995, EPA
must prepare a budgetary impact statement to accompany any proposed or
final rule that includes a Federal mandate that may result in estimated
costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate; or to
private sector, of $100 million or more. Under Section 205, EPA must
select the most cost-effective and least burdensome alternative that
achieves the objectives of the rule and is consistent with statutory
requirements. Section 203 requires EPA to establish a plan for
informing and advising any small governments that may be significantly
or uniquely impacted by the rule.
EPA has determined that the approval action promulgated does not
include a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100
million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments in the
aggregate, or to the private sector. This Federal action approves pre-
existing requirements under State or local law, and imposes no new
Federal requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs to State, local,
or tribal governments, or to the private sector, result from this
action.
D. Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office
Under section 801(a)(1)(A) of the Administrative Procedure Act
(APA) as amended by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness
Act of 1996, EPA submitted a report containing this rule and other
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives and the Comptroller General of the General Accounting
Office prior to publication of the rule in today's Federal Register.
This rule is not a ``major rule'' as defined by section 804(2) of the
APA as amended.
E. Petitions for Judicial Review
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 March 10, 1997. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this rule 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,
Hydrocarbons, Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations,
Oxides of nitrogen, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements,
Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: November 7, 1996.
Felicia Marcus,
Regional Administrator.
Part 52, 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. 7401-7671q.
Subpart F--California
2. Section 52.220 is amended by adding paragraphs
(c)(211)(i)(A)(2), and (c)(213)(i)(A)(1)(i) to read as follows:
Sec. 52.220 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(c) * * *
(211) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) * * *
(2) Emissions inventory, 15% Rate-of-Progress plan, and control
measures, as contained in ``1994 Clean Air Plan for Santa Barbara
County,'' adopted on November 2, 1994.
* * * * *
(213) * * *
(i) * * *
(A) * * *
(1) * * *
(i) Santa Barbara.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 97-145 Filed 1-7-97; 8:45 am]
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