05-22465. Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Indiana; Redesignation of Greene County and Jackson County 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Areas to Attainment for Ozone

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

EPA is proposing to make determinations that the Greene County and Jackson County ozone nonattainment areas have attained the 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). These proposed determinations are based on three years of complete, quality-assured ambient air quality monitoring data for the 2002-2004 seasons that demonstrate that the 8-hour ozone NAAQS has been attained in the areas.

EPA is proposing to approve requests from the State of Indiana to redesignate the Greene County and Jackson County areas to attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. These requests were submitted by the Indiana Department of Environmental Management (IDEM) on July 15, 2005 and supplemented on September 6, 2005, September 7, 2005, October 6, 2005, and October 20, 2005. In proposing to approve these requests, EPA is also proposing to approve the State's plans for maintaining the 8-hour ozone NAAQS through 2015 in these areas as a revision to the Indiana State Implementation Plan (SIP). EPA is also proposing to find adequate and approve the State's 2015 Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets (MVEBs) for these areas.

In the final rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the SIP revisions as a direct final rule without prior proposal, because EPA views these actions as noncontroversial and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approvals is set forth in the direct final rule. If we do not receive any adverse comments in response to these direct final and proposed rules, we do not contemplate taking any further action in relation to these proposed rule. If EPA receives adverse comments with respect to an area addressed by these rules, we will publish a timely withdrawal of the action affecting that area, informing the public that the rule will not take effect with respect to that area. EPA will respond to the public comments in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

DATES:

Written comments must be received on or before December 14, 2005.

ADDRESSES:

Submit comments, identified by Regional Material in EDocket (RME) ID No. R05-OAR-2005-IN-0009, by one of the following methods:

1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

2. Agency Web site: http://docket.epa.gov/​rmepub/​. RME, EPA's electronic public docket and comments system, is EPA's preferred method for receiving comments. Once in the system, select “quick search,” then key in the appropriate RME Docket identification number. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments.

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

4. Fax: [phone].

5. Mail: You may send written comments to: John M. Mooney, Chief, Criteria Pollutant Section, (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.

6. Hand delivery: Deliver your comments to: John M. Mooney, Chief, Criteria Pollutant Section, (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 18th floor, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Such deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's normal hours of operation. The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding Federal holidays.

Instructions: Direct your comments to RME ID No. R05-OAR-2005-IN-0009. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in the public docket without change, including any personal information provided and may be made available online at http://docket.epa.gov/​rmepub/​, 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 RME, regulations.gov, or e-mail. The EPA RME Web site and the federal regulations.gov Web site are “anonymous access” systems, 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 RME or 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 RME index at http://docket.epa.gov/​rmepub/​. 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 RME or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. We recommend that you telephone Kathleen D'Agostino, Environmental Engineer, at [phone] before visiting the Region 5 office. This Facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Kathleen D'Agostino, Environmental Engineer, Criteria Pollutant Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, [phone], [e-mail].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Throughout this document whenever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, we mean EPA.

I. What Action Is EPA Taking?

EPA is proposing to take several related actions. EPA is proposing to make determinations that the Greene County and Jackson County, Indiana nonattainment areas have attained the 8-hour ozone standard and that Greene and Jackson Counties have met the requirements for redesignation under section 107(d)(3)(E). EPA is thus proposing to approve requests to change the legal designations of the Greene County and Jackson County areas from nonattainment to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is also proposing to approve Indiana's maintenance plan SIP revisions for Greene and Jackson Counties (such approval being one of the Clean Air Act criteria for redesignation to attainment status). The maintenance plans are designed to keep Greene and Jackson Counties in attainment of the ozone NAAQS for the next 10 years. Additionally, EPA is announcing its action on the Adequacy Process for the newly-established 2015 MVEBs. The Adequacy comment periods for the 2015 MVEBs began on August 2, 2005, with EPA's posting of the availability of these submittals on EPA's Adequacy Web site (at http://www.epa.gov/​otaq/​transp/​conform/​adequacy.htm). The Adequacy comment periods for these MVEBs ended on September, 1 2005. No requests for these submittals or adverse comments on these submittals were received during the Adequacy comment periods. Please see the Adequacy Section of this rulemaking for further explanation on this process. Therefore, we are finding adequate and approving the State's 2015 MVEBs for transportation conformity purposes.

II. Where Can I Find More Information About This Proposal and the Corresponding Direct Final Rule?

For additional information, see the Direct Final Rule which is located in the Rules section of this Federal Register. Copies of the request and the EPA's analysis are available electronically at RME or in hard copy at the above address. (Please telephone Kathleen D'Agostino at [phone] before visiting the Region 5 Office.)

Dated: November 1, 2005.

Bharat Mathur,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.