[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 39 (Monday, March 1, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9952-9957]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-4966]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[Region II Docket No. NJ33-1-190 FRL-6237-1]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; New Jersey 15
Percent Rate of Progress Plans, Recalculation of 9 Percent Rate of
Progress Plans and 1999 Transportation Conformity Budget Revisions
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing
approval of a New Jersey State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision
involving the State's Ozone plan. Specifically, EPA's proposed approval
includes the 15 Percent Rate of Progress (ROP) Plans, recalculation of
the 9 Percent ROP Plans, updates to the 1990 base year emission
inventories, 1996 and 1999 projection year emission inventories, and
the 1999 transportation conformity budgets. The intended effect of this
action is to approve programs required by the Clean Air Act which will
result in emission reductions that will help achieve attainment of the
1-hour national ambient air quality standard for ozone. In addition, a
final approval of this SIP revision would correct the deficiency which
led EPA to disapprove on December 12, 1997 New Jersey's 15 Percent ROP
Plans. Consequently, the sanction and Federal Implementation Plan (FIP)
process that was started by EPA's disapproval would terminate when EPA
takes action to approve in final form, today's proposed approval. The
clocks associated with the State's failure to implement the enhanced
inspection and maintenance program continue to run.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 31, 1999.
ADDRESSES: All comments should be addressed to: Raymond Werner, Acting
Chief, Air Programs Branch, Environmental Protection Agency, Region II
Office, 290 Broadway, New York, New York 10007-1866.
Copies of the state submittal are available at the following
addresses for inspection during normal business hours:
Environmental Protection Agency, Region II Office, Air Programs
Branch, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection and Energy,
Office of Air Quality Management, Bureau of Air Quality Planning, 401
East State Street, CN418, Trenton, New Jersey 08625.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul R. Truchan, Air Programs Branch,
Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York,
New York 10007-1866, (212) 637-4249.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction/Background
Section 182 of the Clean Air Act (Act) specifies what states are
required to submit to EPA for areas classified as nonattainment for
ozone. On April 30, 1997 (62 FR 23410), EPA proposed approval of New
Jersey's plan designed to meet several of these Act requirements,
including all of those which were subsequently revised by New Jersey
and are being proposed for action today. On June 30, 1997 (62 FR
35100), EPA either approved or gave conditional interim approval to
these requirements. The reader is referred to these actions for further
details.
On December 12, 1997, EPA announced by letter that the conditional
approval of New Jersey's 15 Percent ROP Plans had converted to a
disapproval because the enhanced inspection and maintenance program,
which was part of the State's plans, did not start as scheduled and
resulted in an emission reduction shortfall. This disapproval applied
to the New Jersey portions of the two severe ozone nonattainment areas:
the New York, Northern New Jersey, Long Island Area, and the
Philadelphia, Wilmington, Trenton Area. For the purposes of this
action, these areas will be referred to as, respectively, the Northern
New Jersey nonattainment area (NAA) and the Trenton NAA.
II. State Submittal
On February 10, 1999, Commissioner Shinn of the New Jersey
Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) submitted a request to
EPA to process its revision of the 15 Percent ROP portion of its ozone
SIP. This SIP revision includes: updates to the 1990 base year emission
inventories, 1996 and 1999 projection year emission inventories, 15
Percent ROP Plans and the 1999 transportation conformity budgets. The
intended effect is to provide sufficient emission reductions to address
the shortfall.
A. Revisions to the 1990 Base Year and 1996 and 1999 Projection Year
Emission Inventories
As part of New Jersey's efforts to continually improve the accuracy
of its emission estimates, the NJDEP identified an update/correction to
the estimate of emissions from landfills which affects the 1990 base
year and 1996 and 1999 projection year emission inventories. This
update/correction is the result of three changes: (1) revised modeling
guidance from the USEPA for estimating landfill emissions; (2)
correction of errors identified in the NJDEP's landfill emissions data
base; and (3) updated landfill emissions data. The changes to these
inventories are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1.--1990 VOC Emission Inventories, and 1996 and 1999 VOC Projection Emission Inventories
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern New Jersey NAA (VOC tons/ Trenton NAA (VOC tons/day)
day) --------------------------------------
---------------------------------------
1990 1996 1999 1990 1996 1999
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Major Point Sources............... 238.02 211.93 216.28 111.68 85.87 87.93
Minor Point Sources............... 170.24 162.81 166.82 63.49 61.41 62.61
Area Sources...................... 115.52 117.29 118.01 33.78 35.53 36.36
Highway Mobile Sources............ 296.66 246.71 242.41 103.45 89.22 88.17
Off-Highway Mobile Sources........ 136.58 139.82 141.44 45.76 48.13 49.34
Biogenic Sources \1\.............. 209.66 ........... ........... 203.20 ........... ...........
Use of Pre-1990 Banked ERC........ ........... 5.00 5.00 ........... 3.00 3.00
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[[Page 9953]]
Total......................... 1166.69 883.56 889.96 561.35 323.16 327.42
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\1\ The State did not account for biogenic sources in its 1996 and 1999 Projections.
Using the revised emission inventories, New Jersey recalculated
target emission reductions. They used the same procedure used in its
earlier 15 Percent ROP Plans. A detailed discussion of this procedure
is contained in the April 30, 1997 Federal Register (62 FR 23413).
Table 2 summarizes the original and revised 15 Percent ROP
calculations.
Table 2.--Original and Revised 15 Percent ROP Plan Calculations
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Original 15% plan Revised 15% plan
---------------------------------------------------
Northern Northern
Component of the plan New Jersey Trenton NAA New Jersey Trenton NAA
NAA VOC VOC (tons/ NAA VOC VOC (tons/
(tons/day) day) (tons/Day) day)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1990 Base Year Emission Inventory........................... 1173.96 564.67 1166.69 561.35
1990 Baseline Emission Inventory............................ 958.19 359.90 950.91 356.59
Non-Creditable Emission Reductions.......................... 69.18 21.17 69.18 21.17
1990 Adjusted Baseline Emission Inventory................... 889.01 338.74 881.73 335.42
15% Reduction Target........................................ 133.35 50.81 132.26 50.31
1996 Target Emission Inventory.............................. 755.66 287.93 749.47 285.11
1996 Projected Emission Inventory........................... 885.48 325.11 883.56 323.16
Required 15 Percent Reductions.............................. 129.82 37.18 134.10 38.05
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Based on EPA's review of the methodology New Jersey used to make
these calculations, EPA proposes to approve the revisions to the 1990
base year VOC emission inventories, and 1996 and 1999 projection year
VOC emission inventories. In addition, EPA proposes to approve the 15
Percent ROP calculations.
B. New 15 Percent ROP Plans
New Jersey has provided a plan to achieve the reductions required
for the two nonattainment areas. The following is a concise description
of each control measure New Jersey plans on using to achieve the
emission reductions in its 15 Percent ROP Plans. All the State measures
have been adopted and submitted as SIP revisions except for
administrative changes to New Jersey's Low Emission Vehicle Program.
The revisions to New Jersey's Low Emission Vehicle Program are in the
proposal stage and are needed to formalize New Jersey's opt-in to the
National Low Emission Vehicle Program which is included in the 15
Percent ROP Plans. EPA anticipates that New Jersey will submit these
administrative changes by March 1, 1999. EPA will not include these
emission reductions in the final action unless New Jersey has submitted
them in final form.
Table 3.--Summary of Revised 15 Percent ROP Plans
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern New
Jersey NAA VOC Trenton NAA
(tons/day) VOC (tons/day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Required VOC reductions to meet 15 134.10 38.05
Percent Plan...........................
Previous 15 Percent ROP Plan measures:
Mobile Source control measures:
Tier 1 vehicles................. 14.85 5.53
Reformulated gasoline--on 45.98 16.77
highway........................
Reformulated gasoline--off 4.37 1.36
highway........................
Enhanced Inspection and 0.00 0.00
Maintenance....................
Stationary source control measures:
Barge loading................... 22.75 1.23
Subchapter 16................... 16.74 3.79
NJ consumer products rule....... 5.98 1.84
Federal HON rule................ 0.12 0.06
-------------------------------
Total VOC reductions........ 110.79 30.58
Shortfall............................... 23.31 7.47
New Control Measures:
[[Page 9954]]
Mobile Source control measures:
National Low Emission Vehicle 0.48 0.18
program........................
Federal Off highway small 16.16 5.70
engines........................
Revisions to Basic I/M program.. 2.47 1.10
Stationary Source control measures:
NJ Landfill controls............ 0.37 0.12
NJ Architectural Coatings rule.. 4.91 1.51
Federal Architectural Coatings 3.22 1.15
rule...........................
Federal Autobody Refinishing 13.23 3.44
rule...........................
VOC reductions from new control measures 40.84 13.20
-------------------------------
Total VOC reductions from all 151.63 43.78
measures...........................
Surplus................................. 17.53 5.73
------------------------------------------------------------------------
C. Measures Achieving the Projected Reductions
(1) Previous 15 Percent ROP Plan Measures
New Jersey included all of the control measures previously
contained in its 15 Percent ROP Plan in the new 15 Percent ROP Plans
except enhanced inspection and maintenance (I/M). New Jersey assumed
that no emission reductions from enhanced I/M would occur by November
15, 1999 and so no credit is being taken for these initially
anticipated reductions. These measures are summarized in Table 3. New
Jersey is moving forward with implementing the Enhanced I/M program
which should start inspecting vehicles in late 1999, thus providing
reductions for years beyond 1999. The reader is referred to the
original Federal Register documents for details on these non-I/M
control measures.
(2) New Control Measures
National Low Emission Vehicle Program
EPA proposed the National Low Emission Vehicle (NLEV) Program in
September 1995 and promulgated a supplemental final rule for the NLEV
Program on January 7, 1998 (63 FR 925). The program consists of the
sale of low emission vehicles (LEVs) beginning with model year 1999 in
the Ozone Transport Region (OTR), which includes New Jersey, and model
year 2001 for the rest of the country (except California and other
states implementing the California LEV program). Under the NLEV
program, the emissions from all cars manufactured by an auto maker are
averaged together and must meet an average emission standard. This
average emission standard gets progressively more stringent, until in
2001 that average would correspond to the emissions that would result
if 100 percent of the vehicles met low emission vehicle standards.
While the enforceability of the NLEV Program is the responsibility of
EPA, New Jersey must make some administrative changes to its SIP. These
were proposed in November 1998 and the changes need to be adopted and
submitted to EPA by March 1, 1999. The 15 Percent ROP Plans take credit
for only one year of the NLEV program, that is, through 1999. EPA
agrees with the calculated emission reductions associated with this
program. EPA proposes to approve reliance on these reductions, but EPA
will not include them in the final action unless New Jersey has
submitted them in final form.
Federal Nonroad Spark Ignition Engines
On May 16, 1994, EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking for
small nonroad engines (59 FR 25399). The Federal Register notice,
``Control of Air Pollution; Emission Standards for New Nonroad Spark-
Ignition Engines at or Below 19 Kilowatts.'' EPA estimates the proposed
emission standards will result in a 32 percent reduction in VOC
emissions and a 14 percent reduction in carbon monoxide emissions
nationally, by the year 2020 when complete engine turnover is
projected. In the July 3, 1995 Federal Register (60 FR 34581), EPA
promulgated the first phase of the regulations to control emissions
from new nonroad spark-ignition engines. This regulation is contained
in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), Title 40, ``Part 90--Control
of Emissions From Nonroad Spark-Ignition Engines.'' The second phase
will be adopted in the future.
EPA has determined that the first phase of the new nonroad
standards will cause a reduction of VOC emissions by 13.1 percent in
1997, 19.5 percent in 1998 and 23.9 percent in 1999 nationally. New
Jersey applied these percentages to New Jersey's specific engine
population, and calculated that the resulting VOC emission reductions
in 1999 will be 16.16 tons per day in the Northern New Jersey
Nonattainment area and 5.70 tons per day in the Trenton Nonattainment
area. EPA agrees with the calculated emission reductions associated
with this program.
Revisions to Basic Inspection and Maintenance Program
Since 1990, New Jersey has made several changes to its basic (I/M)
program. These included increased penalties and enforcement for failing
to have valid inspection sticker, adding a test for the integrity of a
vehicle's gas cap at centralized inspection stations, and adding a
visual inspection of the gas cap and evaporative emission control
system at decentralized inspection stations. New Jersey also changed
the inspection frequency from annual to biennial in order to facilitate
installation of test equipment needed for the enhanced I/M program. EPA
final approval of this SIP revision is described in 63 FR 45402, August
26, 1998. The changes in the inspection frequency reduces the emission
benefits from the original program, but the additional test features,
which were added, resulted in a net increase in emission reductions.
EPA agrees with the emission reductions calculated by New Jersey. The
emission reductions from this control measure have already been
achieved.
New Jersey Architectural Coatings Rule
New Jersey developed an architectural coatings regulation,
Subchapter 23 ``Prevention of Air Pollution From Architectural Coatings
and Consumer Products'' which was originally adopted in 1989 and
subsequently revised. EPA
[[Page 9955]]
approved Subchapter 23 as part of the SIP on May 23, 1993 (58 FR
29975). The regulation took effect in January 1990 for Group 1 products
and March 1990 for Group 2 products. The regulation allowed coatings
manufactured before 1990 to be sold until 1993. Because of the
uncertainty in determining when the emission reductions occurred, New
Jersey treated this source category as uncontrolled in the 1990 base
year emission inventory and did not take credit in the original 15
Percent ROP Plans. As part of this SIP revision, New Jersey reassessed
the emission reductions which would be achieved from this regulation.
For traffic paints and high performance maintenance coatings, New
Jersey took no emission reduction credit because they were already
included in the 1990 base year. For the remaining categories subject to
Subchapter 23 limits, New Jersey calculated the emission reductions
since all coatings sold after 1993 were required to comply.
EPA agrees with the calculated emission reductions. The emission
reductions from this control measure have already been achieved.
New Jersey Landfill Controls
New Jersey has implemented a landfill closure program which
requires the installation of a gas collection system and control
system. EPA approved this as part of the SIP on June 29, 1990 (55 FR
26687). The requirements only become applicable upon closure of the
landfill and, therefore, the emission reductions from landfills closed
after 1990 are creditable for 15 Percent ROP Plan purposes. EPA agrees
with the calculated emission reductions. The emission reductions from
this control measure have already been achieved.
Federal Architectural Coatings Rule
EPA developed national regulations for architectural coatings as
part of the larger requirement to control VOC emissions from certain
categories of consumer and commercial products. EPA proposed the
``National Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards for
Architectural Coatings'' (Architectural rule) on June 25, 1996 (61 FR
32729), and September 3, 1996 (61 FR 46410). On September 11, 1998 (63
FR 48848), EPA promulgated 40 CFR part 59, subpart D--``National
Volatile Organic Compound Emission Standards For Architectural
Coatings.'' The reader is referred to these Federal Registers for
greater detail.
New Jersey is taking credit only for the emission reductions
associated with those categories of coatings where EPA's national rule
goes beyond New Jersey's rule. EPA agrees with the calculated emission
reductions and EPA guidance permits these emission reductions to be
used in 15 and 9 Percent ROP Plans.
Federal Autobody Refinishing Rule
EPA developed national regulations for Automobile refinish coatings
and coating components. These were proposed on April 30, 1996 (61 FR
19005) and on September 11, 1998 (63 FR 48806), EPA promulgated 40 CFR
part 59, subpart B--``National Volatile Organic Compound Emission
Standards for Automobile Refinish Coatings'' (subpart B). The reader is
referred to these Federal Registers for greater detail. EPA agrees with
the calculated emission reductions. The emission reductions from this
control measure will be achieved by November 15, 1999.
15 Percent ROP Plan Evaluation
New Jersey has identified control measures necessary for achieving
the required emission reductions and in addition, they provided surplus
reductions. All the measures have been adopted and are either
implemented or will be shortly. EPA is proposing to find that the 15
Percent ROP Plans contain the necessary measures as identified in Table
3 to achieve the required emission reductions. The original 15 Percent
ROP Plans demonstrated that the emission reductions would be achieved
by November 15, 1999. The new 15 Percent ROP Plans will also achieve
these reductions by November 15, 1999. Therefore, EPA is proposing
approval of the 15 Percent ROP Plans.
D. The 9 Percent ROP Plans and Transportation Conformity Budgets
EPA's June 30, 1997 (62 FR 35100) approval of New Jersey's 9
Percent ROP Plans was conditioned on the State submitting revised
emission reduction calculations. The purpose of these calculations was
to ensure that New Jersey correctly accounted for the amount of
emission reductions attributable to its enhanced I/M program and
appropriately adjusted the ROP plans to make use of the surplus
emission reductions that these plans identified in the event that the
enhanced I/M program provided less emission reductions than
anticipated. Since the enhanced I/M program will not begin operation
until late 1999 at the earliest, it was necessary for New Jersey to
submit revised emission reduction calculations that removed and
replaced all of the emission reductions that had been attributed to the
enhanced I/M program for years prior to 2000. New Jersey fulfilled this
condition in a July 30, 1998 letter from Commissioner Robert C. Shinn,
Jr. to EPA Region 2 Deputy Regional Administrator William J. Muszynski.
Table 4, which appears below, summarizes the State's recalculated 9
Percent ROP Plans. As indicated in the table, these recalculations show
that New Jersey will still show 9 percent reductions by November 15,
1999, without relying on any credit from enhanced I/M.
Table 4.--Summary of New Jersey's 9 Percent ROP Plans
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Northern New Jersey NAA (tons/ Trenton NAA (tons/day)
day) -------------------------------
--------------------------------
VOC NOX VOC NOX
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Required VOC reductions to meet 9 Percent Plan.. 95.91 .............. 41.98 ..............
Creditable Reductions
Surplus reductions from 15 Percent ROP Plans.... 17.53 .............. 5.73 ..............
Mobile Source control measures:
Tier I Vehicles............................. .............. 29.53 .............. 10.14
National Low Emission Vehicle Program....... .............. 0.44 .............. 0.17
Reformulated Gasoline-On highway............ .............. 0.74 .............. 0.22
Reformulated Gasoline-Off highway
Enhanced Inspection & Maintenance
Stationary source control measures: .............. .............. .............. ..............
Barge and Tanker loading
Subchapter 16 & 19--RACT................ .............. 70.92 .............. 58.21
[[Page 9956]]
Federal CTG--RACT
Consumer Products rule--Subchapter 24
---------------------------------------------------------------
Total Reductions.................... 17.53 \1\ 101.63 5.73 \1\ 68.74
Shortfall....................................... 78.38 .............. 36.25 ..............
VOC equivalents from NOX Substitution........... 93.48 .............. 54.12 ..............
Surplus reductions from 15 Percent ROP Plans.... 15.1 .............. 17.87 ..............
Reductions not credited in today's action Ozone .............. 23.22 .............. 0.00
Transport Commission NOX MOU2..................
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\1\ 101.63 tons/day of NOX converts to 93.48 tons/day of VOC equivalent in the Northern New Jersey NAA. 68.74
tons/day of NOX converts to 54.12 tons/day of VOC equivalent in the Trenton NAA.
\2\ New Jersey has fulfilled the Ozone Transport Commission NOX Memorandum of Understanding by adopting
Subchapter 31 ``Ozone Transport Commission NOX Budget Program.'' New Jersey is in the process of submitting
Subchapter 31 as a SIP revision.
In its December 14, 1998 addendum to its proposed 15 Percent ROP
plans and proposed 1999 Transportation Conformity Budgets, New Jersey
clarified its intention that the revised emission reduction
calculations contained in the July 30, 1998 letter from Commissioner
Shinn to Deputy Regional Administrator Muszynski be considered as part
of this SIP revision. Therefore, EPA is proposing to approve these
revisions to New Jersey's 9 Percent ROP plans.
The submittal also included proposed revised 1999 transportation
conformity budgets based on the revised control strategies included in
the 15 Percent ROP plans and in the July 30, 1998 version of the 9
Percent ROP plans. Table 5 contains the 1999 conformity budgets in
tons/day of VOC and nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions. EPA is
proposing to approve these conformity budgets for both the 15 Percent
and 9 Percent ROP Plans as replacements for the budgets contained in
the previously approved 9 Percent ROP plans for 1999.
Table 5.--1999 Mobile Source On-road Emission Budgets for Conformity
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC (tons/day) NOX (tons/day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Jersey Transportation Planning 182.23 279.14
Authority..............................
Delaware Valley Regional Planning 57.97 81.57
Commission (New Jersey Portion)........
South Jersey Transportation Planning 21.45 33.86
Organization...........................
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EPA's December 12, 1997 disapproval of New Jersey's 15 Percent ROP
Plans resulted in New Jersey not being able to make conformity
determinations or changes to their transportation plans and programs
involving non-exempt projects funded by federal transportation funds.
This is known as a conformity freeze. On February 10, 1999, EPA
informed New Jersey that it had found the conformity budgets adequate
and that the conformity freeze was being lifted.
III. Conclusion
EPA has evaluated this submittal for consistency with the Act,
applicable EPA regulations and EPA policy. EPA is proposing approval of
the following: (1) Revisions to the New Jersey 1990 base year emission
inventories, (2) revisions to the New Jersey 1996 and 1999 projection
year emission inventories, (3) the New Jersey 15 Percent ROP Plans, (4)
recalculation of the 9 Percent ROP Plans, and (5) the transportation
conformity budgets as revised by the 15 Percent ROP Plans and
recalculated 9 Percent ROP Plans.
In addition, final approval of this SIP revision would eliminate
the shortfall identified in EPA's December 12, 1997 disapproval of New
Jersey's 15 Percent ROP Plans and, thereby, terminate the sanction
process associated with this deficiency and the requirement for EPA to
promulgate a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). EPA must evaluate any
public comments received on this proposal before it can take final
approval action.
EPA's proposed FIP was published on January 22, 1999 (64 FR 3465).
Should EPA take final action on today's proposed approval of New
Jersey's 15 Percent ROP Plans, it would eliminate the need for the
January 22, 1999 proposed FIP and the proposed FIP will therefore be
withdrawn.
If and when EPA promulgates this proposed action, EPA will make its
approval effective upon the date of publication in the Federal
Register, based upon a finding of good cause. Approval of this action
would relieve restrictions that have been placed on the State when EPA
disapproved its SIP on December 12, 1997 and will not adversely affect
other parties.
IV. Administrative Requirements
A. Executive Order 12866
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted this
regulatory action from Executive Order (E.O.) 12866, entitled
``Regulatory Planning and Review.''
B. Executive Order 12875
Under Executive Order 12875, EPA may not issue a regulation that is
not required by statute and that creates a mandate upon a State, local
or tribal government, unless the Federal government provides the funds
necessary to pay the direct compliance costs incurred by those
governments, or EPA consults with those governments. If EPA complies by
consulting, Executive Order 12875 requires EPA to provide to the Office
of Management and Budget a description of the extent of EPA's prior
consultation with representatives of
[[Page 9957]]
affected State, local and tribal governments, the nature of their
concerns, copies of any written communications from the governments,
and a statement supporting the need to issue the regulation. In
addition, Executive Order 12875 requires EPA to develop an effective
process permitting elected officials and other representatives of
State, local and tribal governments ``to provide meaningful and timely
input in the development of regulatory proposals containing significant
unfunded mandates.''
Today's rule does not create a mandate on State, local or tribal
governments. The rule does not impose any enforceable duties on these
entities. EPA is proposing approval of New Jersey's 15 Percent Plan
which only allocates emission reductions, it does not create any new
requirements. Accordingly, the requirements of section 1(a) of
Executive Order 12875 do not apply to this rule.
C. Executive Order 13045
Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety
Risks (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), applies to any rule that: (1) is
determined to be ``economically significant'' as defined under E.O.
12866, and (2) concerns an environmental health or safety risk that EPA
has reason to believe may have a disproportionate effect on children.
If the regulatory action meets both criteria, the Agency must evaluate
the environmental health or safety effects of the planned rule on
children, and explain why the planned regulation is preferable to other
potentially effective and reasonably feasible alternatives considered
by the Agency.
EPA interprets E.O. 13045 as applying only to those regulatory
actions that are based on health or safety risks, such that the
analysis required under section 5-501 of the Order has the potential to
influence the regulation. This proposed SIP approval is not subject to
E.O. 13045 because it proposes approval of a state program implementing
a Federal standard, and it is not economically significant under E.O.
12866.
D. Executive Order 13084
Under Executive Order 13084, EPA may not issue a regulation that is
not required by statute, that significantly or uniquely affects the
communities of Indian tribal governments, and that imposes substantial
direct compliance costs on those communities, unless the Federal
government provides the funds necessary to pay the direct compliance
costs incurred by the tribal governments, or EPA consults with those
governments. If EPA complies by consulting, Executive Order 13084
requires EPA to provide to the Office of Management and Budget, in a
separately identified section of the preamble to the rule, a
description of the extent of EPA's prior consultation with
representatives of affected tribal governments, a summary of the nature
of their concerns, and a statement supporting the need to issue the
regulation. In addition, Executive Order 13084 requires EPA to develop
an effective process permitting elected officials and other
representatives of Indian tribal governments ``to provide meaningful
and timely input in the development of regulatory policies on matters
that significantly or uniquely affect their communities.''
Today's rule does not significantly or uniquely affect the
communities of Indian tribal governments. Accordingly, the requirements
of section 3(b) of Executive Order 13084 do not apply to this rule.
E. Regulatory Flexibility Act
The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) generally requires an agency
to conduct a regulatory flexibility analysis of any rule subject to
notice and comment rulemaking requirements unless the agency certifies
that the rule will not have a significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities. Small entities include small
businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises, and small governmental
jurisdictions. This proposed rule will not have a significant impact on
a substantial number of small entities because SIP approvals under
section 110 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 Federal SIP approval does not
create any new requirements, I certify that this action will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Moreover, due to the nature of the Federal-State relationship under the
Clean Air Act, preparation of flexibility analysis would constitute
Federal inquiry into the economic reasonableness of state action. The
Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base its actions concerning SIPs on such
grounds. Union Electric Co., v. U.S. EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 255-66 (1976);
42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).
F. 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
annual 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 proposed approval action does not
include a federal mandate that may result in estimated annual 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
requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs to State, local, or
tribal governments, or to the private sector, result from this action.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Hydrocarbons,
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen
dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: February 19, 1999.
William J. Muszynski,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 99-4966 Filed 2-26-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
