[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 141 (Wednesday, July 23, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 39446-39448]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-19394]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[WI66-01-7242; FRL-5861-8]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans Wisconsin
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency is temporarily delaying
the ozone attainment date for Manitowoc County from 1996 to 2007. This
action suspends the automatic reclassification of Manitowoc County from
moderate to serious nonattainment. Final approval of the new attainment
date is dependent upon the results of an attainment demonstration for
both upwind and downwind areas. Wisconsin is working toward completion
of this attainment demonstration (which is due in mid-1997 for the Lake
Michigan States) in conjunction with Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan,
following the Phase I/Phase II Ozone Transport Assessment Group
approach outlined in EPA's March 2, 1995 guidance memorandum from Mary
Nichols entitled ``Ozone Attainment Demonstrations''.
In this rulemaking, EPA is responding to Wisconsin's submittal of
an overwhelming transport petition for Manitowoc County. Photochemical
grid modeling was used to demonstrate that transport from upwind areas
makes it ``practicably impossible'' for the county to attain the ozone
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) by its original
attainment date. EPA's action does not preclude the State of Wisconsin
from submitting a request for redesignation to attainment for the
county, based on three current years of clean air quality monitoring
data.
DATES: This final rule will become effective on August 22, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the State's submittal and other information are
available for inspection during normal business hours at the following
location:
Regulation Development Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), United
States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rick Tonielli, Air Programs Branch,
Regulation Development Section (AR-18J), United States Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 5, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886-6068.
[[Page 39447]]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On November 15, 1994, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
submitted a petition to the EPA requesting temporary suspension of the
automatic reclassification to serious nonattainment and delay of the
attainment date (from 1996 to 2007) for three ozone moderate
nonattainment counties (Manitowoc, Sheboygan, and Kewaunee). On May 15,
1996, the WDNR submitted a request for redesignation to attainment for
the three moderate nonattainment areas based on 3 years of clean air
quality data. On August 26, 1996, the counties of Sheboygan and
Kewaunee were redesignated to attainment (61 FR 43668-43675). Manitowoc
County was not redesignated to attainment due to violations of the
ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) during the summer
of 1996. As a result, the overwhelming transport request was applied
solely to Manitowoc County.
On May 5, 1997, EPA published a rulemaking proposing approval of
the overwhelming transport petition for Manitowoc County. A discussion
of EPA's overwhelming transport policy and the modeling submitted by
Wisconsin to demonstrate overwhelming transport is included in that
proposed rulemaking (62 FR 24380-24383). During the 30 day public
comment period for this final rule, EPA received adverse comments from
a private party, who took the position that EPA should redesignate
Manitowoc County to attainment.
II. Public Comment/EPA Response
Private Citizen Comment 1
Manitowoc County does not generate the air quality recorded at the
Woodland Dunes ozone monitoring site.
EPA Response
EPA's overwhelming transport policy applies to areas which are
violating the ozone NAAQS due to emissions occurring upwind. Wisconsin
has demonstrated through photochemical grid modeling that overwhelming
transport of ozone and its precursors into Manitowoc County is
occurring; further, Wisconsin has shown that eliminating emissions in
Manitowoc County would not bring the area into attainment. For this
reason, EPA is taking action in this notice to grant a temporary delay
of the attainment date for Manitowoc County from the end of 1996 to the
end of the year 2007. Because the attainment date is no longer the end
of 1996, EPA has no basis to reclassify Manitowoc to a serious
nonattainment area for failure to attain by the end of 1996. This will
mean that the automatic regulatory requirements that would otherwise be
applied to Manitowoc County were it reclassified to serious will not be
implemented.
Private Citizen Comment 2
If the Woodland Dunes monitor was moved inland, the area would meet
the requirements for attainment.
EPA Response
The ozone monitor at the Woodland Dunes site is part of the
Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Station (PAMS) network. Its
location was chosen to establish the extreme downwind concentrations of
ozone and its precursors being transported from the Milwaukee
metropolitan area. The high concentrations measured at this site are
representative of the ozone being transported into this downwind area.
As mentioned previously, Wisconsin has verified through modeling that
overwhelming transport is occurring.
Elevated concentrations are seen on high ozone days at the Woodland
Dunes monitor; as the commenter points out, these concentrations are
typically higher than those seen at the Manitowoc County inland monitor
at the Collins Fire Tower. Ozone concentration measurements are needed
from monitors along the lakeshore as well as inland to generate the
information needed by EPA and Wisconsin to design strategies to reduce
ozone and protect public health.
III. Final Action
The State submittal demonstrated through modeling that emissions
from the Manitowoc County moderate nonattainment area do not contribute
to the predicted concentrations in that area. It further demonstrated
that the high modeled concentrations are due to transport from upwind
areas. Therefore, Manitowoc County could not demonstrate modeled
attainment of the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards by the
required attainment date, November 15, 1996, due to overwhelming
transport from upwind areas that have a later attainment date of
November 15, 2007. Because the upwind areas (e.g., Chicago and
Milwaukee) do not have approved modeling analyses demonstrating that
the Manitowoc County moderate nonattainment area could show attainment
by a specific date, EPA approves Wisconsin's request to temporarily
allow the Manitowoc County moderate nonattainment area to use the
upwind area's attainment date of November 15, 2007. This action does
not preclude the State from submitting a request for redesignation to
attainment for Manitowoc County based on the 3 most recent years of
clean air quality monitoring data. Approval of a permanent delay of the
attainment date will be dependent on the results of the attainment
demonstration for both the upwind and downwind areas, along with the
additional provisions detailed in part II(B) of the attachment to the
September 1, 1994, guidance memorandum.
IV. General Provisions
Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting, allowing
or establishing a precedent for any future request for revision to any
SIP. Each request for revision to any SIP shall be considered
separately in light of specific technical, economic, and environmental
factors and in relation to relevant statutory and regulatory
requirements.
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, Acting Assistant
Administrator for Air and Radiation. The Office of Management and
Budget has exempted this regulatory action from Executive Order 12866
review.
Regulatory Process
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 economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Small entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit
enterprises, and government entities with jurisdiction over populations
of less than 50,000.
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 impose any new requirements, I certify
that it does not have a significant economic impact on any small
entities.
Under sections 202, 203, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform
Act of 1995, 2 U.S.C. 1532, 1533, and 1535, EPA must undertake various
actions in association with proposed or final rules that include a
Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100 million or
more to the private sector, or to State,
[[Page 39448]]
local, or tribal governments in the aggregate.
Through submission of the state implementation plan or plan
revisions approved in this section, the State has elected to adopt the
program provided for under section 110 of the Clean Air Act. The rules
and commitments being approved under this section may bind State,
local, and tribal governments to perform certain actions and also may
ultimately lead to the private sector being required to perform certain
duties. To the extent that the rules and commitments being approved by
this action will impose or lead to the imposition of any mandate upon
the State, local, or tribal governments either as the owner or operator
of a source or as a regulator, or would impose or lead to the
imposition of any mandate upon the private sector, EPA's action will
impose no new requirements; such sources are already subject to these
requirements under State law. Accordingly, no additional costs to
State, local, or tribal governments, or to the private sector, result
from this action. The EPA has also determined that this action does not
include a mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100 million or
more to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate or to the
private sector. Approval of Wisconsin's emissions inventories does not
impose any new requirements or have a significant economic impact on
small entities.
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 September 22, 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)).
Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office
Under 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A) as added 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 this rule in today's
Federal Register. This rule is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5
U.S.C. 804(2).
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Ozone, Volatile
organic compounds, Nitrogen oxides.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671(q).
Dated: July 9, 1997.
David A. Ullrich,
Acting Regional Administrator.
Parts 52 and 81 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations are 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 YY--Wisconsin
2. Section 52.2585 is amended by adding paragraph (l) to read as
follows:
Sec. 52.2585 Control strategy: Ozone.
* * * * *
(l) Wisconsin's November 15, 1994 request for a temporary delay of
the ozone attainment date for Manitowoc County from 1996 to 2007 and
suspension of the automatic reclassification of Manitowoc County to
serious nonattainment for ozone is approved, based on Wisconsin's
demonstration through photochemical grid modeling that transport from
upwind areas makes it ``practicably impossible'' for the County to
attain the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard by its original
attainment date.
PART 81--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
2. In Section 81.350, the ``Wisconsin--Ozone'' table is amended by
revising the entry for Manitowoc County to read as follows:
Sec. 81.350 Wisconsin
* * * * *
Wisconsin--Ozone
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Designation Classification
Designated area -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date \1\ Type Date \1\ Type
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* * * * * * *
Manitowoc County Area................. 1/6/92 Nonattainment...................... Aug. 22, 1997...................... Moderate.\2\
* * * * * * *
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\1\ This date is November 15, 1990, unless otherwise noted.
\2\ Attainment date temporarily delayed until November 15, 2007.
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[FR Doc. 97-19394 Filed 7-22-97; 8:45 am]
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