2024-17328. Findings of Failure To Submit State Implementation Plan Revisions for Nonattainment Areas for the 2010 1-Hour Primary Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard

Regional offices	States
EPA Region 2: Mr. Kirk Wieber, Manager, Air Program Branch, EPA Region 2, 290 Broadway, New York, New York 10007. [e-mail]	New York.
EPA Region 3: Mr. David Talley, Acting Chief, Planning and Implementation Branch, EPA Region 3, 1600 JFK Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. [e-mail]	Virginia.
EPA Region 6: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Manager, State Planning and Implementation Branch, EPA Region 6, 1201 Elm Street, Suite 500, Dallas, Texas 75270. [e-mail]	Louisiana.
EPA Region 9: Ms. Idalia Perez, Manager, Air Planning Section, EPA Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California 94105. [e-mail]	Arizona.

II. Background

In June 2010, the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) promulgated a new 1-hour primary SO₂ NAAQS of 75 parts per billion (ppb), which is met when the 3-year average of the annual 99th percentile of daily maximum 1-hour average concentrations does not exceed 75 ppb.^[1] Following promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, the EPA is required to designate all areas of the country as either “attainment,” “nonattainment,” or “unclassifiable” (CAA section 107(d)(1)). In multiple separate rules,^[2] the EPA cumulatively designated 51 areas within 23 States and territories as nonattainment for the 2010 1-hour primary SO₂ NAAQS.

The CAA directs States containing an area designated nonattainment for the 2010 SO₂ 1-hour primary NAAQS to develop and submit a nonattainment area (NAA) SIP to the EPA within 18 months of the effective date of an area's designation as nonattainment. The nonattainment (NAA) SIP (also referred to as an attainment plan) must meet the requirements of subparts l and 5 of part D of Title I of the CAA, and provide for attainment of the NAAQS by the applicable statutory attainment date. All components of the SO₂ part D NAA SIP, including the emissions inventory, attainment demonstration, reasonably available control measures (RACM) including reasonably available control technology (RACT), enforceable emission limitations and control measures, reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, nonattainment new source review (NNSR), and contingency measures, are due under CAA section 191(a) to the EPA within 18 months of the effective date of designation of an area. Under CAA section 192(a), these NAA SIPs must provide for attainment of the NAAQS as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than 3 years from the effective date of the nonattainment designation. Responsible State air agencies were required to prepare and submit to the EPA a NAA SIP revision within 18 months of the effective date of the nonattainment designation to bring the NAAs into attainment by the relevant attainment date.

Pursuant to CAA section 110(k)(1)(B), the EPA must determine no later than 6 months after the date by which a State is required to submit a SIP whether a State has made a submission that meets the minimum completeness criteria established pursuant to CAA section 110(k)(1)(A). These criteria are set forth at 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. For those States that have not yet made a submittal that was complete with respect to the minimum completeness criteria for the 2010 1-hour primary SO₂ NAAQS, the EPA is making a finding of failure to submit a complete SIP.

On August 5, 2013, the EPA finalized its first-round designation of 29 areas as nonattainment for the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS, effective October 4, 2013.^[3] This designation was based on air quality monitoring data from 2009-2011 and included the Miami, Arizona and St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana NAAs. Pursuant to CAA section 192(a), the Miami and St. Bernard Parish NAAs had until October 4, 2018—5 years after the effective date of the final action—to demonstrate attainment of the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS. Both NAAs failed to attain the standard by this statutory deadline and as such, under CAA section 179(c) the EPA issued findings of failure to attain (FFA) for Miami, Arizona on January 31, 2022 ^[4] and for St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana on October 5, 2022.^[5] These FFAs set a deadline for the responsible States to submit a revised SIP to the EPA within 1 year, under CAA section 179(d). The deadlines for the revised SIPs were January 31, 2023, for Miami, Arizona and October 5, 2023, for St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana. Neither Arizona nor Louisiana submitted a complete revised SIP addressing these areas by the appropriate deadline.

On March 26, 2021, the EPA finalized its fourth-round designation of 9 areas as nonattainment for the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS, effective April 30, 2021.^[6] This Round 4 designation included St. Lawrence County (part), New York and Giles County (part), Virginia. Section 191 of the CAA directs States to submit SIPs for areas designated as nonattainment for the SO₂ NAAQS to the EPA within 18 months of the effective date of the nonattainment designation, i.e., by no later than October 30, 2022, in this case. New York and Virginia failed to submit complete revised SIPs by this deadline.

Based on a review of SIP submittals received and deemed complete as of the date of this final action, the EPA is finding that the States listed in Table 1 have failed to submit specific required SIP elements. ( print page 66605)

Table 1—Findings of Failure To Submit Certain Required SIP Elements for the 2010 Sulfur Dioxide NAAQS

Region	State	Area name	Required SIP elements *	SIP revision due date
2	NY	St. Lawrence County (part) * *	Emissions Inventory Attainment Demonstration. RACM/RACT. RFP. NNSR. Contingency Measures.	October 30, 2022.
3	VA	Giles County (part) **	Emissions Inventory Attainment Demonstration.**** RACM/RACT. RFP. NNSR. Contingency Measures.	October 30, 2022.
6	LA	St. Bernard Parish	Emissions Inventory Attainment Demonstration. RACM/RACT. RFP. NNSR. Contingency Measures.	October 5, 2023.
9	AZ	Miami ***	Emissions Inventory Attainment Demonstration. RACM/RACT. RFP. NNSR. Contingency Measures.	January 31, 2023.
* Listed SIP elements are requirements of subparts l and 5 of part D, of Title I of the CAA, and provide for attainment of the NAAQS. Components of the SO 2 part D NAA SIP include the emissions inventory, attainment demonstration, reasonably available control measures (RACM) including reasonably available control technology (RACT), enforceable emission limitations and control measures, reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, nonattainment new source review (NNSR), and contingency measures.
** The term “part” is used to indicate that only a portion of the county or counties is designated nonattainment. Area boundaries are described in 86 FR 16055 and codified at 40 CFR 81.333, 81.347, and 81.318 respectively for St. Lawrence County and Giles County
*** Area boundaries are described in 78 FR at 47198 and codified at 40 CFR 81.303.
**** The EPA's State Planning Electronic Collaboration System (SPeCS) incorrectly indicated that Virginia had submitted the attainment demonstration component of the attainment plan for the SO 2 Giles County NAA. The EPA corrected the error on March 12, 2024, and SPeCS now shows that Virginia has not yet submitted any component of the attainment plan