E9-20735. Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; West Virginia; Determination of Clean Data for the 1997 Fine Particulate Matter Standard

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule; correction.

SUMMARY:

This document corrects an omission in the preamble language of the notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR) to determine that the West Virginia portions of three nonattainment areas for the 1997 fine particulate (PM_2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) have clean data for the 1997 PM_2.5 NAAQS.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before August 31, 2009.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2009-0547 by one of the following methods:

A. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

B. E-mail: [e-mail].

C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2009-0547, Cristina Fernandez, Chief, Air Quality Planning Branch, Mailcode 3AP21, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.

D. Hand Delivery: At the previously listed EPA Region III address. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information.

Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-2009-0547. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change, and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an “anonymous access” system, which means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses.

Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form.

Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy during normal business hours at the Air Protection Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Marilyn Powers, at [phone], or by e-mail at [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

On July 31, 2009 (74 FR 38154), EPA published an NPR to determine that the West Virginia portions of three nonattainment areas have clean data for the 1997 PM_2.5 NAAQS. In the preamble of this document, EPA inadvertently omitted a partial county that is part of the West Virginia portion of the Parkersburg-Marietta WV-OH nonattainment area. This action corrects the omission of the Grant Tax District in Pleasants County as part of the West Virginia portion of the nonattainment area.

Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. Accordingly, this action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed action:

• Is not a “significant regulatory action” subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
• Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
• Is certified as not having a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
• Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
• Does not have Federalism implications as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
• Is not an economically significant regulatory action based on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997);
• Is not a significant regulatory action subject to Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
• Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent with the Clean Air Act; and
• Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).

In addition, this correction to the proposed determination that the West Virginia portions of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Parkersburg-Marietta, and Wheeling nonattainment areas have clean data for the 1997 PM_2.5 standard does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

Correction

In rule document E9-18393, on page 38154, in the issue of July 31, 2009, the second sentence of the Summary is corrected to read: “These are Berkeley County, part of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg MD-WV nonattainment area; Wood County and the Grant Tax District in Pleasants County, part of the Parkersburg-Marietta WV-OH nonattainment area; and Marshall County and Ohio County, part of the Wheeling WV-OH nonattainment area, hereinafter referred to in this notice as the West Virginia portions of the Hagerstown-Martinsburg, Parkersburg-Marietta, and Wheeling PM_2.5 nonattainment areas.”

Also, on page 38156, the last sentence of Section III is corrected to read: “The Hagerstown-Martinsburg nonattainment area (Berkeley County, WV and Washington County, MD), the Parkersburg-Marietta nonattainment area (Wood County, WV, the Grant Tax District in Pleasants County, WV, and Washington County, OH), and the Wheeling nonattainment area (Marshall County, WV, Ohio County, WV, and Belmont County, OH) were designated nonattainment for the 1997 PM_2.5 NAAQS (see 40 CFR part 81).”

Dated: August 19, 2009.

William C. Early,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.