Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Proposed Rules 76889

Quality Division, 51 N Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20002.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Wentworth, (215) 814–2034, or by 

e-mail at wentworth.ellen@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For 

further information, please see the 

information provided in the direct final 

action, District of Columbia’s Approval 

of VOC Emission Standards for Mobile 

Equipment Repair and Refinishing in 

the Metropolitan Washington, DC ozone 

nonattainment area, that is located in 

the ‘‘Rules and Regulations’’ section of 

this Federal Register publication. Please 

note that if EPA receives adverse 

comment on an amendment, paragraph, 

or section of this rule, and if that 

provision may be severed from the 

remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt 

as final those provisions of the rule that 

are not the subject of an adverse 

comment.

Dated: December 14, 2004. 

Donald S. Welsh, 

Regional Administrator, Region III.

[FR Doc. 04–28088 Filed 12–22–04; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52

[R03–OAR–2004–MD–0001; R03–OAR–

2004–VA–0005; FRL–7852–8] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

Maryland and Virginia; Non-Regulatory 

Voluntary Emission Reduction 

Program Measures

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve 

State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

revisions submitted by the State of 

Maryland and by the Commonwealth of 

Virginia. These revisions establish a 

number of non-regulatory measures for 

which Maryland and Virginia seek SIP 

credit in rate-of-progress and attainment 

planning for the Metropolitan 

Washington DC 1-hour ozone 

nonattainment area (the Washington 

area). The intended effect of this action 

is to propose approval of SIP revisions 

submitted by Maryland and Virginia 

which establish certain non-regulatory 

measures. The non-regulatory measures 

include use of low-or-no-VOC content 

paints by certain state and local 

government agencies, auxiliary power 

units on locomotives, sale of 

reformulated consumer products in the 

Northern Virginia area, accelerated 

retirement of portable fuel containers by 

certain state and local government 

agencies, and renewable energy 

measures (wind-power purchases by 

certain local government agencies). This 

action is being taken under section 110 

of the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before January 24, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Regional Material in 

EDocket (RME) ID Number R03–OAR–

2004–MD–0001 and R03–OAR–2004–

VA–0005 by one of the following 

methods: 

A. Federal eRulemaking Portal:

http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

B. Agency Web site: http://

www.docket.epa.gov/rmepub/ RME, 

EPA’s electronic public docket and 

comment system, is EPA’s preferred 

method for receiving comments. Follow 

the on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

C. E-mail: morris.makeba@epa.gov.

D. Mail: R03–OAR–2004–MD–0001/

R03–OAR–2004–VA–0005, Makeba 

Morris, Chief, Air Quality Planning 

Branch, Mailcode 3AP21, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

E. Hand Delivery: At the previouslylisted 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 

RME ID No. R03–OAR–2004–MD–0001 

and/or R03–OAR–2004–VA–0005. 

EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received will be included in the public 

docket without change, and may be 

made available online at http://

www.docket.epa.gov/rmepub/,

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 RME, 

regulations.gov or e-mail. The EPA RME 

and the Federal regulations.gov websites 

are 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 RME or regulations.gov, your email 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://www.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 during normal business 

hours at the Air Protection Division, 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

Copies of the State submittal are 

available at the Maryland Department of 

the Environment, 1800 Washington 

Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, 

Maryland, 21230, Baltimore, Maryland 

21224 and the Virginia Department of 

Environmental Quality, 629 East Main 

Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Christopher Cripps, (215) 814–2179, or 

by e-mail at cripps.christopher@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On 

February 19, 2004 and February 25, 

2004, respectively, the Maryland 

Department of the Environment (MDE) 

and the Virginia Department of 

Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) both 

submitted revisions to their SIPs. These 

SIP revisions included, among other 

things, amendments to the 1990 base 

year emissions inventory for the 

Metropolitan Washington DC 1-hour 

ozone nonattainment area (the 

Washington area), a rate-of-progress 

(ROP) plan for 1999 through 2005, an 

attainment demonstration, a 

contingency measure plan, enforceable 

commitments to conduct a mid-course 

review, a demonstration that the SIP 

contains sufficient transportation 

control measures to offset, as necessary, 

growth in vehicle miles traveled (VMT), 

a suite of transportation control 

measures and a suite of non-regulatory 

voluntary emission reduction measures. 

76890 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

1See the October 27, 1997 memorandum from 

Richard D. Wilson, Acting Assistant Administrator 

for Air and Radiation, entitled ‘‘Guidance on 

Incorporating Voluntary Mobile Source Emission 

Reduction Programs in State Implementation Plans 

(SIPs),’’ which was reissued in section 16.4 

‘‘Guidance on Voluntary Emission Reduction 

Programs’’ of ‘‘Improving Air Quality with 

Economic Incentive Programs,’’ United States 

Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air and 

Radiation, EPA–452/R–01–001, January 2001.

This proposed rule pertains only to the 

suite of non-regulatory voluntary 

measures. The other portions of these 

SIP revisions are the subjects of will be 

addressed in separate rulemaking 

actions. 

I. Background 

A. What Are Non-Regulatory Voluntary 

Emission Reduction Program Measures 

and EPA’s Voluntary Emission 

Reduction Program Measure Policies? 

Many areas of the country that are 

designated as nonattainment are finding 

it increasingly difficult to find ways to 

achieve additional emission reductions 

needed to attain the National Ambient 

Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Many 

areas have already applied reasonably 

available control technology (RACT) 

and other controls to stationary sources 

and are still not attaining the NAAQS. 

In some cases, areas have chosen to 

control sources well beyond RACT 

levels, but still cannot attain the 

standards. In some cases, areas may 

need or may choose to implement 

additional measures more rapidly than 

can be done by completing the full 

regulatory adoption process. These areas 

need to find additional innovative 

emission reduction approaches. One 

way to accomplish this is through 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures. Voluntary emission reduction 

program measures are an alternative to 

traditional ‘‘command and control’’

approaches, and have the potential to 

encourage new, untried and costeffective approaches to reduce 

emissions. 

A voluntary emission reduction 

program measure is an action by a 

source that will reduce emissions of a 

criteria pollutant or a precursor to a 

criteria pollutant that the State could 

claim as an emission reduction in its 

SIP for purposes of demonstrating 

attainment, ROP towards attainment, 

reasonable further progress (RFP) 

toward attainment or maintenance of 

the NAAQS, but that is not directly 

enforceable against the source. 

Examples of a voluntary emission 

reduction program measure could 

include retail operations agreeing not to 

sell high emitting VOC products during 

the ozone season, or programs designed 

to educate consumers or sources about 

the effects of their actions on the 

environment. Under EPA’s guidance, 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures can be approved if the State 

retains enforceable responsibility for the 

reduction and meets certain other 

obligations. 

EPA has issued guidance and policy 

for incorporating voluntary emission 

reduction program measures into SIPs. 

The first such guidance was a October 

27, 1997 memorandum from Richard D. 

Wilson, Acting Assistant Administrator 

for Air and Radiation, entitled 

‘‘Guidance on Incorporating Voluntary 

Mobile Source Emission Reduction 

Programs in State Implementation Plans 

(SIPs),’’ which was reissued in section 

16.4 ‘‘Guidance on Voluntary Emission 

Reduction Programs’’ of ‘‘Improving Air 

Quality with Economic Incentive 

Programs,’’ United States Environmental 

Protection Agency, Office of Air and 

Radiation, EPA–452/R–01–001, January 

2001. The second was a January 19, 

2001 Memorandum from John Seitz, 

Director, Office of Air Quality Planning 

and Standards entitled ‘‘Incorporating 

Voluntary Stationary Source Emission 

Reduction Programs Into State 

Implementation Plans—Final Policy,’’

which was reissued in section 16.4 

‘‘Guidance on Voluntary Emission 

Reduction Programs’’ of ‘‘Improving Air 

Quality with Economic Incentive 

Programs,’’ United States Environmental 

Protection Agency, Office of Air and 

Radiation, EPA–452/R–01–001, January 

2001. 

Additional policy and guidance was 

the August 5, 2004 cover memorandum 

from Brian McLean, Director, Office of 

Atmospheric Programs, and from 

Stephen D. Page, Director, Office of Air 

Quality Planning and Standards, 

entitled ‘‘Guidance on SIP Credits for 

Emission Reductions from Electricsector Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy Measures’’ that issued the 

August 2004 document ‘‘Guidance on 

State Implementation Plan (SIP) Credits 

for Emission Reductions from Electricsector Energy Efficiency and Renewable 

Energy Measures.’’

Voluntary emission reduction 

program measures cannot replace 

existing measures in the SIP and must 

be surplus to technology-based 

requirements of the Act, which include 

but which are not necessarily limited to, 

RACT, BACT, LAER, NSPS or NESHAP 

limits, or rules such as those for 

reducing VOC emissions promulgated 

pursuant to section 183 of the Act, or 

those assumed in a permit (such as 

offsets), or those needed to demonstrate 

conformity with the SIP pursuant to 40 

CFR part 93 and section 176 of the Act.

EPA believes the authority for 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures derives from various 

provisions of the Act including: sections 

110 and 172 regarding emission 

reductions needed to achieve attainment 

of the NAAQS; section 182 regarding 

economic incentive provisions; and, in 

the case of mobile source measures, 

section 108 regarding transportation 

control measures (TCMs). 

While the policies do not require that 

reduction actions be enforceable against 

individual sources, they place clear 

responsibility on a State to ensure that 

the emission reductions take place. 

State responsibility includes a 

commitment to evaluate the 

effectiveness of each measure and, in 

the event the voluntary emission 

reduction program measures does not 

achieve the projected emission 

reductions, to remedy any SIP shortfall 

by providing enforceable emission 

reductions from other sources or by 

showing that the emission reductions 

are not needed to achieve attainment, 

maintenance, or RFP/ROP requirements. 

B. What Are Voluntary Mobile Source 

Emission Reduction Programs? 

Voluntary emission reduction 

program measures for mobile sources 

are measures that complement existing 

regulatory programs through voluntary, 

non-regulatory changes in local 

transportation activities or changes inuse vehicle fleet and engine fleet 

composition. EPA believes that the Act 

allows SIP credit for new approaches to 

reducing mobile source emissions, 

where supported by enforceable 

commitments to monitor and assess 

implementation and backfill any 

emissions reductions shortfall in a 

timely fashion. This flexible approach is 

consistent with section 110 of the CAA. 

Economic incentive provisions are also 

available in sections 182 and 108 of the 

Act. Credits generated through VMEP 

can be counted toward attainment and 

maintenance of the NAAQS. Due to the 

innovative nature of such a program, 

EPA will allow up to 3 percent of the 

total future year emissions reductions 

required to attain the appropriate 

NAAQS, to be claimed under the VMEP 

policy.1

C. What Are Voluntary Stationary 

Source Emission Reduction Programs? 

The stationary source policy covers 

what are commonly referred to as ‘‘area’’

sources which are too small and/or too 

numerous to be individually included 

in a stationary source emissions 

inventory. This category could include 

facilities that directly emit applicable 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Proposed Rules 76891

criteria pollutants or their precursors, 

such as very small printers or bakeries. 

It could also include products sold by 

wholesale or retail operations that may 

emit criteria pollutants or their 

precursors and individual consumers 

that may use products which emit 

criteria pollutants or their precursors. 

D. What Are Electric-Sector Energy 

Efficiency and Renewable Energy 

Measures? 

Another category of voluntary 

emission reduction program measures 

are those electric-sector energy 

efficiency and renewable energy 

projects, initiatives or measures that 

will result in quantifiable reductions in 

emissions at existing fossil fuel-fired 

electric generating units and will 

improve air quality in a nonattainment 

area. 

Some examples of specific energy 

efficiency or renewable energy projects 

could include, but are not necessarily 

limited to supply-side measures, which 

include new and innovative initiatives 

to increase the efficiency or decrease the 

emissions from electricity generation, 

such as renewable energy projects like 

wind powered generation. 

E. What Qualifies for SIP Credit? 

The basic framework for ensuring SIP 

credit for voluntary emission reduction 

program measures is spelled out in the 

various guidance discussed in previous 

paragraphs. Generally, to obtain credit 

for voluntary emission reduction 

program measures, a State submits a SIP 

revision that: 

(1) Identifies and describes the 

measure(s); 

(2) Contains projections of emission 

reductions attributable to the program, 

along with any relevant technical 

support documentation; 

(3) Commits to evaluation and 

reporting on program implementation 

and results; and 

(4) Commits to the timely remedy of 

any credit shortfall should the 

measure(s) not achieve the anticipated 

emission reductions.

More specifically, the guidance 

suggests the following key points be 

considered for approval of credits. The 

credits should be quantifiable, surplus, 

enforceable, permanent, and adequately 

supported. In addition, the measure(s) 

must be consistent with attainment of 

the standard and with the ROP 

requirements and not interfere with 

other CAA requirements. 

II. Summary of SIP Revisions 

Submitted by Maryland and Virginia 

A. What Voluntary Emission Reduction 

Program Measures Did the States 

Submit? 

The States submitted program 

descriptions that projected emission 

reductions attributable to each specific 

measure. Those estimates are provided 

in Table 1.

TABLE 1.—LIST OF VOLUNTARY EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM MEASURES

Measure State VOC reduction

(tons/day) 

NOX reduction

(tons/day) 

Voluntary emission

reduction program

measures policy 

Gas Can (portable fuel containers) Replacement 

Program.

VA, MD .... 0.01 ................................. 0.00 ................................. Stationary Source. 

Sale of Reformulated Consumer Products .............. VA ............ 3.00 ................................. 0.00 ................................. Stationary Source. 

Low-VOC Paints Program ....................................... VA, MD .... 0.17 ................................. 0.00 ................................. Stationary Source. 

Auxiliary Power Units on Locomotives .................... VA ............ 0.01 ................................. 0.13 ................................. Mobile Sources. 

Montgomery County Regional Wind Power Purchase.MD ........... 0.00 ................................. 0.05 ................................. Renewable Energy. 

Arlington County Regional Wind Power Purchase .. VA ............ 0.00 ................................. 0.005 ............................... Renewable Energy. 

Remote Sensing Device Program ........................... VA ............ No Credit ........................ No Credit ........................ Mobile Sources. 

Alternative Fueled Vehicle (AFV) Purchase Program.VA ............ No Credit ........................ No Credit ........................ Mobile Sources. 

Diesel Bus Retrofit Program .................................... VA ............ No Credit ........................ No Credit ........................ Mobile Sources. 

A more detailed analysis of all these 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures can be found in the Technical 

Support Document (TSD) for this 

proposed action. That TSD is included 

in both the hard copy and E-docket for 

this rulemaking. For each voluntary 

emission reduction program measure for 

which the States claimed emission 

reduction credit, the measure was found 

to be quantifiable. The reductions are 

surplus by not being substitutes for 

mandatory, required emission 

reductions. The commitment to 

monitor, assess and timely remedy any 

shortfall from implementation of the 

measures is enforceable and the State 

held accountable. The reductions will 

continue at least for as long as the time 

period in which they are used by this 

SIP demonstration, so they are 

considered permanent. Each measure is 

adequately supported by personnel and 

program resources for implementation. 

The States commit to evaluating each 

program’s measures to validate 

estimated credits and to remedy any 

shortfall in a timely manner. 

B. What Limitations Apply to the 

Magnitude of Emissions Reductions 

That Can Be Attributable to Voluntary 

Emission Reduction Program Measures? 

For a variety of reasons, such as the 

innovation involved in voluntary 

emission reduction program measures, 

inexperience in quantifying them, and 

the inability to enforce these measures 

against individual sources, EPA believes 

that at this time it is appropriate to limit 

the amount of emission reductions 

allowed from voluntary emission 

reduction program measures. Initially, 

we set an appropriate limit for 

stationary source voluntary emission 

reduction program measures and for 

mobile source voluntary emission 

reduction program measures each at 3 

percent of needed reductions for ROP, 

RFP, or attainment demonstration 

purposes. (This is not 3 percent of an 

area’s total emission inventory, but 3 

percent of the reductions needed to 

achieve the air quality goal such as ROP 

or attainment.) 

The amounts of emission reductions 

claimed from voluntary emission 

reduction program measures in the 

Maryland and Virginia SIP revisions are 

far less than 3 percent of the reduction 

needs. For these voluntary emission 

reduction program measures, the States 

claim no more than 0.2 tons per day 

(TPD) of NOX and 3.2 TPD for VOC 

reductions. To meet the 2002 and 2005 

ROP goals, the plan documents needed 

reductions of over 170 TPD of VOC and 

over 250 TPD of NOX. To demonstrate 

attainment, the plan documents needed 

76892 Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Proposed Rules 

reductions of well over 170 TPD of VOC 

and over 250 TPD of NOX. The 

reductions from voluntary emission 

reduction program measures represent 

less than 0.1 percent (0.2/250) of the 

needed NOX reductions and less than 2 

percent (3.2/170) of the needed VOC 

reductions. 

C. What Action Is EPA Proposing for the 

Voluntary Emission Reduction Program 

Measures? 

We propose to approve the voluntary 

emission reduction program measures 

listed in Table 1 of this document as 

revisions to the Maryland and Virginia 

SIPs. All of these measures can be 

expected to have some beneficial effect 

on air quality by reducing emissions. 

Additionally, for those voluntary 

emission reduction program measures 

for which the States quantified 

reductions EPA is proposing to approve 

emission reduction credit towards ROP 

and/or the attainment demonstration for 

the Washington area in the amounts 

shown in Table 2.

TABLE 2.—EMISSION REDUCTIONS CREDITABLE FROM VOLUNTARY EMISSION REDUCTION PROGRAM MEASURES FOR THE

METROPOLITAN WASHINGTON, DC AREA

Measure State VOC TPD NOX TPD Implementation 

date 

Gas Can Replacement Program 

Maryland National Capital Parks & Planning Commission, 

Prince George’s County.

MD ......... 0.0027 ................................ 4/2005 

Montgomery County ...................................................................... ............... 0.00088 ................................ 12/2004 

Prince George’s County ................................................................ ............... 0.00231 ................................ 1/2004 

Maryland totals ...................................................................... ............... 0.00589 0.00 

Fairfax County ............................................................................... VA ......... 0.00277 ................................ 5/2005 

City of Fairfax ................................................................................ ............... 0.00138 ................................ 7/2004 

City of Fairfax Contractors ............................................................ ............... 0.00060 ................................ 7/2004 

Prince William County ................................................................... ............... 0.0009 ................................ 5/2005 

Arlington County ........................................................................... ............... 0.0021 ................................ 5/2005 

Virginia totals ......................................................................... 0.005657 ................................ 0.00 ............................

Total Area-wide Reduction—Gas Can Replacement Program ........... ............... 0.01 0.00 

Sale of Reformulated Consumer Products .......................................... VA ......... 3.00 0.00 1/2005 

Low-VOC Paints Program 

Prince George’s County ................................................................ MD ......... 0.002 ................................ 5/2005

Maryland National Capital Parks & Planning Commission, 

Prince George’s County.

............... 0.006 ................................ 12/2003 

MDOT Traffic Marking Coatings ................................................... ............... 0.149 ................................ 12/2003 

Maryland totals ...................................................................... ............... 0.157 0.00 

Virginia totals—Fairfax County .............................................. VA ......... 0.017 ................................ 4/2004 

Total Area-wide Reduction—Low-VOC Paints Program ..................... ............... 0.174 0.00 

Montgomery County Regional Wind Power Purchase ........................ MD ......... 0.00 0.05 12/2004 

Auxiliary Power Units on Locomotives ................................................ VA ......... 0.01 0.13 3/2004 

Arlington County Regional Wind Power Purchase .............................. VA ......... 0.00 0.005 5/2005 

EPA approval of these voluntary 

emission reduction program measures 

for which credit is sought will obligate 

the States to monitor and remedy any 

shortfalls in reductions in accordance 

with their commitments to do so. 

Under applicable EPA guidance and 

policy, for those non-regulatory 

voluntary measures for which States 

request approval but claim no reduction 

credits prospectively, the States may 

subsequently amend their SIPs with 

revisions documenting any emission 

reduction credits actually achieved. 

EPA would evaluate such revisions in 

accordance with applicable statute and 

regulations applicable to 

implementation of the standard for 

which reduction credit is sought. 

For those non-regulatory voluntary 

measures for which the Commonwealth 

of Virginia’s February 25, 2004 SIP 

submittal did not quantify or request 

any emission reductions (i.e., the 

Remote Sensing Device Program, the 

Alternative Fueled Vehicle (AFV) 

Purchase Program, and the Diesel Bus 

Retrofit Program), EPA is not proposing 

to approve reduction credit towards the 

ROP plan and attainment demonstration 

at this time. However approval of these 

measures into the Virginia SIP will still 

obligate the Commonwealth to monitor 

their effectiveness. The 

Commonwealth’s commitment included 

a description of how verification that 

the number of vehicles to be retrofitted 

or to be purchased were actually 

retrofitted and purchased. A ‘‘shortfall’’

would then be measured not in terms of 

emission reductions but in terms of 

vehicles not retrofitted or not 

purchased, or, may be measured by 

revising the SIP to quantify the shortfall 

in terms of emission reductions. 

EPA believes approval of these 

measures will strengthen the SIP even 

where no credit is sought at this time. 

Some of these measures may also have 

other air quality benefits beyond 

attainment of the 1-hour and 8-hour 

Federal Register / Vol. 69, No. 246 / Thursday, December 23, 2004 / Proposed Rules 76893

ozone NAAQS such as reduction of fine 

particulate matter. EPA is soliciting 

public comments on the issues 

discussed in this document. These 

comments will be considered before 

taking final action.

III. Proposed Action 

A. Maryland 

EPA’s review of this material 

indicates that Maryland’s February 19, 

2004 SIP submittal of non-regulatory 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures for the Washington area meet 

the applicable requirements of EPA 

guidance and policy for approval. EPA 

is proposing to approve the following 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures into the Maryland SIP: 

Montgomery County Regional Wind 

Power Purchase, Low-VOC Paints 

Program and Gas Can Replacement 

Program. Specifically, EPA is proposing 

to approve those measures found in 

section 7.6 entitled ‘‘Voluntary Bundle’’

of the document entitled ‘‘Plan to 

Improve Air Quality in the Washington, 

DC–MD–VA Region, State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) ‘Severe Area 

SIP’ Demonstrating Rate of Progress for 

2002 and 2005; Revision to 1990 Base 

Year Emissions; and Severe Area 

Attainment Demonstration for the 

Washington DC–MD–VA Nonattainment 

Area’’ (dated February 19, 2004) and 

Appendix J to this plan. This February 

19, 2004 document and its Appendix J 

were submitted to EPA by Maryland on 

February 19, 2004. EPA is also 

proposing to credit the Maryland SIP 

with the emission reductions for these 

measures shown in Table 2 of this 

document for the Washington area. 

B. Virginia 

EPA’s review of this material 

indicates that Virginia’s February 25, 

2004 SIP submittal of non-regulatory 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures for the Washington area meet 

the applicable requirements of EPA 

guidance and policy for approval. EPA 

is proposing to approve the following 

voluntary emission reduction program 

measures into the Virginia SIP: LowVOC Paints Program, Sale of 

Reformulated Consumer Products, Gas 

Can Replacement Program, Remote 

Sensing Device Program, Arlington 

County Regional Wind Power Purchase, 

Auxiliary Power Units on Locomotives, 

Alternative Fueled Vehicle (AFV) 

Purchase Program and Diesel Bus 

Retrofit Program. Specifically, EPA is 

proposing to approve those measures 

found in section 7.6 entitled ‘‘Voluntary 

Bundle’’ of the document entitled ‘‘Plan 

to Improve Air Quality in the 

Washington, DC–MD–VA Region, State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) ‘Severe Area 

SIP’ Demonstrating Rate of Progress for 

2002 and 2005; Revision to 1990 Base 

Year Emissions; and Severe Area 

Attainment Demonstration for the 

Washington DC-MD-VA Nonattainment 

Area’’ (dated February 19, 2004) and 

Appendix J to this plan. This February 

19, 2004 document and its Appendix J 

were submitted to EPA by Virginia on 

February 25, 2004. EPA is also 

proposing to credit the Virginia SIP with 

the emission reductions shown in Table 

2 of this document for the Washington 

area. 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 

51735, October 4, 1993), this proposed 

action is not a ‘‘significant regulatory 

action’’ and therefore is not subject to 

review by the Office of Management and 

Budget. For this reason, this action is 

also not subject to Executive Order 

13211, ‘‘Actions Concerning Regulations 

That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, 

Distribution, or Use’’ (66 FR 28355 (May 

22, 2001)). This action merely proposes 

to approve state law as meeting Federal 

requirements and imposes no additional 

requirements beyond those imposed by 

state law. Accordingly, the 

Administrator certifies that this 

proposed rule will not have a significant 

economic impact on a substantial 

number of small entities under the 

Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 

et seq.). Because this rule proposes to 

approve pre-existing requirements 

under state law and does not impose 

any additional enforceable duty beyond 

that required by state law, it 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). This proposed rule also 

does not have a substantial direct effect 

on one or more Indian tribes, on the 

relationship between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes, or on the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities between the Federal 

Government and Indian tribes, as 

specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 

FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will 

it have substantial direct effects on the 

States, on the relationship between the 

national government and the States, or 

on the distribution of power and 

responsibilities among the various 

levels of government, as specified in 

Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, 

August 10, 1999), because it merely 

proposes to approve a state rule 

implementing a Federal standard, and 

does not alter the relationship or the 

distribution of power and 

responsibilities established in the Clean 

Air Act. This proposed rule also is not 

subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 

19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not 

economically significant. 

In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA’s 

role is to approve state choices, 

provided that they meet the criteria of 

the Clean Air Act. In this context, in the 

absence of a prior existing requirement 

for the State to use voluntary consensus 

standards (VCS), EPA has no authority 

to disapprove a SIP submission for 

failure to use VCS. It would thus be 

inconsistent with applicable law for 

EPA, when it reviews a SIP submission, 

to use VCS in place of a SIP submission 

that otherwise satisfies the provisions of 

the Clean Air Act. Thus, the 

requirements of section 12(d) of the 

National Technology Transfer and 

Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 

272 note) do not apply. As required by 

section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (61 

FR 4729, February 7, 1996), in issuing 

this proposed rule, EPA has taken the 

necessary steps to eliminate drafting 

errors and ambiguity, minimize 

potential litigation, and provide a clear 

legal standard for affected conduct. EPA 

has complied with Executive Order 

12630 (53 FR 8859, March 15, 1988) by 

examining the takings implications of 

the rule in accordance with the 

‘‘Attorney General’s Supplemental 

Guidelines for the Evaluation of Risk 

and Avoidance of Unanticipated 

Takings’’ issued under the executive 

order. This proposed rule to approve 

Maryland and Virginia voluntary 

emission reduction program measures 

does not impose an information 

collection burden under the provisions 

of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 

(44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Intergovernmental 

relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Volatile organic 

compounds.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Dated: December 14, 2004. 

Donald S. Welsh, 

Regional Administrator, Region III.

[FR Doc. 04–28090 Filed 12–22–04; 8:45 am] 

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