99-31708. Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 241 (Thursday, December 16, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 70318-70319]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-31708]



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Part II





Environmental Protection Agency





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40 CFR Part 52



Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; One-Hour Ozone 
Attainment Demonstration for Various State's Ozone Nonattainment Areas; 
Proposed Rules

Federal Register / Vol. 64, No. 241 / Thursday, December 16, 1999 / 
Proposed Rules

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[FRL-6501-7]


Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the 
One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of proposed actions.

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SUMMARY: This document announces that, elsewhere in today's Federal 
Register, EPA is proposing individually to approve or conditionally 
approve, and, in the alternative, to disapprove attainment 
demonstration State implementation plans (SIPs or plans) for ten areas 
in the eastern United States that are not in attainment of the 1-hour 
health and welfare-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS 
or standard) for ground-level ozone. These areas are designated as 
nonattainment for the ozone standard. The SIP demonstrations were 
prepared and forwarded to EPA from States and the District of Columbia 
(D.C.) where the nonattainment areas are located. They were submitted 
to meet the requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The 
nonattainment areas on which EPA is proposing action are listed in the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section according to the EPA Regional Office 
in which they are located.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General questions concerning this 
document should be directed to Sharon Reinders, [phone]. Your 
comments or questions about a specific area should be directed to the 
EPA Regional Office representative identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
section. Information on how to contact the Regional Office appears in 
the document for each individual area.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nonattainment areas on which EPA is 
proposing action are listed in the following according to the EPA 
Regional Office in which they are located:
Region I--Greater Connecticut (CT)
    The Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long 
Island area Springfield (Western Massachusetts) (MA).
Region II--New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-CT)
    The New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton area.
Region III--Baltimore (MD)
    Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton (PA-NJ-DE-MD) Metropolitan 
Washington (DC-MD-VA).
Region IV--Atlanta (GA)
Region V--Milwaukee-Racine (WI)
    Chicago-Gary-Lake County (IL-IN).
Region VI--Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (TX)
    Your comments or questions about a specific area should be directed 
to the EPA Regional Office representative identified as follows:
Regional Offices
Region I--Richard Burkhart [phone],
Region II--Paul Truchan [phone] or Kirk Wieber [phone],
Region III--Dave Arnold [phone],
Region IV--Scott Martin [phone],
Region V--Edward Doty [phone] or Michael Leslie [phone],
Region VI--Guy Donaldson [phone].

    The CAA and several guidance memoranda issued earlier by EPA 
provide relevant background information for the specific rulemaking 
proposals appearing in today's Federal Register. The important CAA 
sections and EPA guidance are described below and in the documents on 
individual areas elsewhere in today's Federal Register.
    In 1990, Congress amended the CAA to address, among other things, 
continued nonattainment of the ground-level ozone NAAQS. Public Law     
  101-549, 104 Stat. 2399 codified at 42 U.S.C., 7401-7671q (1991). The 
CAA, as amended, divides 1-hour ozone nonattainment areas into, in 
general, five classifications based on ozone air quality concentrations 
(marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme nonattainment); and 
establishes specific requirements, including SIP submittal and 
attainment dates, for each classification. CAA sections 107(d)(1)(C) 
and (4), and 181.
    The CAA also requires States to submit a SIP to provide for 
attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard which includes a demonstration 
of attainment (including air quality modeling) for the nonattainment 
area, as well as emission control measures needed to attain by the 
attainment date. CAA section 182(c)(2)(A) and (d). In addition, the CAA 
requires States to submit a SIP for serious and severe nonattainment 
areas which provide for emissions reductions of 9 percent from their 
baseline emissions for each 3-year period from 1997 until the area's 
attainment date (9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs). The CAA section 
182(c)(2)(B) and (d) establishes November 15, 1994, as the required 
date for these SIP submittals.
    Notwithstanding significant efforts by the States, EPA determined 
that the States were not able to meet the November 15, 1994 deadline 
for the required SIP submissions because of the complexity of the ozone 
problem and the recognition that intrastate emissions reductions alone 
would not be sufficient to reach attainment. On March 2, 1995, EPA 
Assistant Administrator Mary D. Nichols sent a memorandum to EPA 
Regional Administrators indicating that many States had been unable to 
adopt and submit attainment and 9 percent rate of progress SIPs within 
the deadlines prescribed by the CAA due to interstate ozone transport 
beyond their control. The March 2, 1995 memorandum called for a 
collaborative process among the States in the eastern half of the 
country to evaluate and address transport of ozone and its precursors. 
This memorandum led to the formation of the Ozone Transport Assessment 
Group (OTAG).1 After a comprehensive study of air pollution 
transport in the eastern United States, OTAG concluded that transport 
of ozone and its precursors is significant and should be reduced 
regionally to enable States in the eastern half of the country to 
attain the ozone NAAQS. To allow time for the OTAG study to be 
addressed in the individual nonattainment area SIPs, EPA provided until 
April 1998 to submit certain portions of the attainment demonstration 
and 9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs. The States generally submitted the 
SIPs between April and October 1998; some States are still submitting 
additional revisions as described in the individual proposed rulemaking 
actions.
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    \1\ Letter from Mary A. Gade, Director, State of Illinois 
Environmental Protection Agency to Environmental Commissioners of 
States (ECOS) Member, dated April 13, 1995.
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    Six environmental organizations have filed a complaint in U.S. 
District Court regarding EPA's failure to promulgate a Federal 
implementation plan (FIP) for each of these areas in the absence of 
fully approved attainment demonstrations for the areas. In response to 
that lawsuit, EPA has entered into a consent decree to settle these 
claims. The consent decree provides a framework for further action 
regarding the ozone attainment demonstrations for these areas and 
establishes dates for future EPA

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rulemaking action. In particular, the consent decree establishes dates 
by which EPA is to determine the adequacy of the motor vehicle emission 
budgets associated with the attainment demonstrations for the areas and 
deadlines by which EPA is to promulgate FIPs for areas for which it has 
not approved attainment demonstration and 9 percent rate-of-progress 
SIPs. (A copy of the consent decree is being placed in the dockets for 
the proposals regarding the attainment demonstrations.) The consent 
decree, which is being lodged with the United States District Court for 
the District of Columbia, is still subject to the public notice and 
comment provisions of section 113(g) of the CAA. (A document regarding 
the section 113(g) process for the consent decree will be published 
separately in the Federal Register.)
    Consistent with the dates in the consent decree, EPA is moving 
forward in a coordinated fashion to take action on the attainment plans 
for each of the 10 areas identified above. The EPA's proposals on the 
attainment plans are a critical next step in ensuring that each of 
these areas has in place a complete plan for achieving air quality 
meeting the 1-hour ozone standard. The EPA intends to take final action 
on elements of each of these plans during the next year.
    The EPA's actions today reflect consistent application of EPA 
policies on motor vehicle emission budgets, credits for interstate 
nitrogen oxide reductions, and the need for additional emissions 
reductions, as well as other issues. These policies are discussed in 
detail in the documents for each area which appear elsewhere in today's 
Federal Register. The application of these policies to the plans for 
individual areas is discussed in the individual documents for each 
area.

    Dated: December 1, 1999.
Robert Perciasepe,
Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 99-31708 Filed 12-15-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P