50574 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

environment. This proposed rule 

involves the establishment of a safety 

zone. This proposed rule is categorically 

excluded from further review under 

paragraph 34–g of Figure 2–1 of the 

Commandant Instruction. An 

environmental analysis checklist 

supporting this determination and a 

Categorical Exclusion Determination are 

available in the docket where indicated 

under ADDRESSES. We seek any 

comments or information that may lead 

to the discovery of a significant 

environmental impact from this rule. 

List of Subjects in 33 CFR Part 165 

Harbors, Marine safety, Navigation 

(water), Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements, Security measures, 

Waterways. 

For the reasons discussed in the 

preamble, the Coast Guard proposes to 

amend 33 CFR part 165 as follows: 

PART 165—REGULATED NAVIGATION 

AREAS AND LIMITED ACCESS AREAS 

■ 1. The authority citation for part 165 

continues to read as follows: 

Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1231; 46 U.S.C. 

Chapter 701, 3306, 3703; 50 U.S.C. 191, 195; 

33 CFR 1.05–1, 6.04–1, 6.04–6, 160.5; Pub. L. 

107–295, 116 Stat. 2064; Department of 

Homeland Security Delegation No. 0170.1. 

■ 2. Add § 165.T05–0693 to read as 

follows: 

§165.T05–0693 Safety Zone, Elizabeth 

River; Portsmouth, VA 

(a) Definitions. For the purposes of 

this section, Captain of the Port means 

the Commander, U.S. Coast Guard 

Sector Hampton Roads. Representative 

means any Coast Guard commissioned, 

warrant, or petty officer who has been 

authorized by the Captain of the Port 

Hampton Roads to assist in enforcing 

the security zone described in paragraph 

(b) of this section. 

(b) Location. The following area is a 

safety zone: Specified waters of the 

Captain of the Port Sector Hampton 

Roads zone, as defined in 33 CFR 3.25– 

10: the Elizabeth River between 

Elizabeth River Channel Buoy 31 and 

Elizabeth River Channel Buoy 34, across 

the entire width of the federal channel. 

(c) Regulations. (1) In accordance with 

the general regulations in 165.23 of this 

part, entry into this zone is prohibited 

unless authorized by the Captain of the 

Port, Hampton Roads or his designated 

Representative. 

(2) Persons desiring to transit the area 

of the security zone must first obtain 

authorization from the Captain of the 

Port Hampton Roads or his designated 

Representative. The Coast Guard vessels 

enforcing this section can be contacted 

on Marine Band Radio, VHF–FM 

channel 16 (156.8 MHz). Upon being 

hailed by a U.S. Coast Guard vessel, or 

other Federal, State, or local agency 

vessel, by siren, radio, flashing light, or 

other means, the operator of a vessel 

shall proceed as directed. If permission 

is granted, all persons and vessels must 

comply with the instructions of the 

Captain of the Port Hampton Roads or 

his designated Representative and 

proceed at the minimum speed 

necessary to maintain a safe course 

while within the zone. 

(3) The Captain of the Port, Hampton 

Roads can be reached through the Sector 

Duty Officer at Sector Hampton Roads 

in Portsmouth, Virginia at telephone 

number (757) 668–5555. 

(4) The Coast Guard Representatives 

enforcing the safety zone can be 

contacted on VHF–FM marine band 

radio channel 13 (165.65 Mhz) and 

channel 16 (156.8 Mhz). 

(d) Enforcement. The U.S. Coast 

Guard may be assisted in the patrol and 

enforcement of the zone by Federal, 

State, and local agencies. 

(e) Enforcement Period: This section 

will be enforced from 12 a.m. January 1 

to 11:59 p.m. January 2, 2015; 12:00 a.m. 

January 12 to 11:59 p.m. January 13, 

2015; 12 a.m. January 19 to 11:59 p.m. 

January 20, 2015; 12 a.m. January 22 to 

11:59 p.m. January 23, 2015; 12 a.m. 

January 27 to 11:59 p.m. January 28, 

2015; 12 a.m. February 9 to 11:59 p.m. 

February 10, 2015; 12 a.m. March 2 to 

11:59 p.m. March 3, 2015; 12 a.m. 

March 5 to 11:59 p.m. March 6, 2015; 

12 a.m. March 10 to 11:59 p.m. March 

11, 2015; 12 a.m. March 23 to 11:59 p.m. 

March 24, 2015; 12 a.m. March 30 to 

11:59 p.m. March 31, 2015; and 12 a.m. 

April 6 to 11:59 p.m. April 7, 2015. In 

the event of inclement weather, each 

date will be shifted up to 24 hours later. 

Dated: August 8, 2014. 

Christopher S. Keane, 

Captain, U.S. Coast Guard, Captain of the 

Port Hampton Roads. 

[FR Doc. 2014–19986 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 9110–04–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R09–OAR–2014–0612; FRL–9915–67– 

Region–9] 

Determination of Attainment of the 

1-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air 

Quality Standard in the Southeast 

Desert Nonattainment Area in 

California 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is proposing to determine 

that the Southeast Desert nonattainment 

area has attained the 1-hour ozone 

National Ambient Air Quality Standard. 

This proposed determination is based 

on complete, quality-assured, and 

certified data for the most recent threeyear period (2011–2013). 

DATES: Any comments must arrive by 

September 24, 2014. 

ADDRESSES: Submit comments, 

identified by docket number EPA–R09– 

OAR–2014–0612, by one of the 

following methods: 

• Federal eRulemaking Portal: 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 

instructions. 

• E-Mail: kelly.thomasp@epa.gov. 

• Mail or Deliver: Tom Kelly, Office 

of Air Planning (AIR–2), U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency 

Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San 

Francisco, CA 94105. 

Instructions: All comments 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 

Confidential Business Information (CBI) 

or other information whose disclosure is 

restricted by statute. Information that 

you consider CBI or otherwise protected 

should be clearly identified as such and 

should not be submitted through 

www.regulations.gov or email. The 

www.regulations.gov Web site is an 

‘‘anonymous access’’ system, and EPA 

will not know your identity or contact 

information unless you provide it in the 

body of your comment. If you send 

email directly to EPA, your email 

address will be automatically captured 

and included as part of the public 

comment. If EPA cannot read your 

comments due to technical difficulties 

and cannot contact you for clarification, 

EPA may not be able to consider your 

comment. 

Docket: The index to the docket for 

this action is available electronically on 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 50575 

1An ‘‘expected number’’ of exceedances is a 

statistical term that refers to an arithmetic average. 

An ‘‘expected number’’ of exceedances may be 

equivalent to the number of observed exceedances 

plus an increment that accounts for incomplete 

sampling. See, 40 CFR part 50, appendix H. 

Because, in this context, the term ‘‘exceedances’’ 

refers to days (during which the daily maximum 

hourly ozone concentration exceeded 0.124 ppm), 

the maximum possible number of exceedances in a 

given year is 365 (or 366 in a leap year). 2The Southeast Desert covers the Victor Valley/ 

Barstow region in San Bernardino County, the 

Coachella Valley region in Riverside County, and 

the Antelope Valley portion of Los Angeles County 

(see 40 CFR 81.305 for the precise boundaries of the 

1-hour ozone nonattainment area). 3 ‘‘Indian country’’ as defined at 18 U.S.C. 1151 

refers to: ‘‘(a) All land within the limits of any 

Indian reservation under the jurisdiction of the 

United States Government, notwithstanding the 

issuance of any patent, and, including rights-of-way 

running through the reservation, (b) all dependent 

Indian communities within the borders of the 

United States whether within the original or 

subsequently acquired territory thereof, and 

whether within or without the limits of a state, and 

(c) all Indian allotments, the Indian titles to which 

have not been extinguished, including rights-of-way 

running through the same.’’ 

the www.regulations.gov Web site and 

in hard copy at EPA Region IX, 75 

Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, 

California, 94105. While all documents 

in the docket are listed in the index, 

some information may be publicly 

available only at the hard copy location 

(e.g., copyrighted material or large 

maps), and some may not be publicly 

available at either location (e.g., CBI). To 

inspect the hard copy materials, please 

schedule an appointment during normal 

business hours with the contact listed in 

the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

section below. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tom 

Kelly, Air Planning Office (AIR–2), U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region IX, (415) 972–3856, 

kelly.thomasp@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, the terms 

‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ and ‘‘our’’ refer to EPA. 

Table of Contents 

I. Background 

II. EPA’s Analysis 

III. Proposed EPA Action and Request for 

Public Comment 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. Background 

The Clean Air Act (CAA or ‘‘Act’’) 

requires us to establish National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS or ‘‘standards’’) for certain 

widespread pollutants, such as ozone, 

that cause or contribute to air pollution 

that is reasonably anticipated to 

endanger public health or welfare (see 

sections 108 and 109 of the Act). In 

1979, we promulgated an ozone NAAQS 

of 0.12 parts per million (ppm), onehour average (‘‘1-hour ozone standard’’). 

See 44 FR 8202, February 8, 1979. 

An area is considered to have attained 

the 1-hour ozone standard if there are 

no violations of the standard, as 

determined in accordance with the 

regulation codified at 40 CFR section 

50.9, based on three consecutive 

calendar years of complete, qualityassured and certified monitoring data. A 

violation occurs when the ‘‘expected 

number’’ of days per calendar year with 

maximum hourly average 

concentrations above 0.12 ppm is 

greater than one (1.0) at any site in the 

area, when averaged over three 

consecutive calendar years.1 An 

exceedance occurs when the maximum 

hourly ozone concentration during any 

day exceeds 0.124 ppm. For more 

information, please see ‘‘National 1- 

hour primary and secondary ambient air 

quality standards for ozone’’ (40 CFR 

50.9) and ‘‘Interpretation of the 1-Hour 

Primary and Secondary National 

Ambient Air Quality Standards for 

Ozone’’ (40 CFR part 50, appendix H). 

The Act, as amended in 1990, 

required EPA to designate as 

nonattainment any ozone area that was 

still designated nonattainment under 

the 1977 Act Amendments, and any 

other area violating the 1-hour ozone 

standard, generally based on air quality 

monitoring data from the 1987 through 

1989 period (section 107(d)(4) of the 

Act; 56 FR 56694, November 6, 1991). 

The 1990 Amended Act further 

classified these areas, based on the 

severity of their nonattainment problem, 

as Marginal, Moderate, Serious, Severe, 

or Extreme. In response, EPA designated 

the Southeast Desert Modified Air 

Quality Maintenance Area (AQMA) 

(‘‘Southeast Desert’’) as ‘‘Severe-17’’ 

nonattainment for the 1-hour ozone 

standard, with an attainment date no 

later than November 15, 2007.2 See 56 

FR 56694, November 6, 1991. Outside of 

Indian country, the Los Angeles portion 

of the Southeast Desert lies within the 

Antelope Valley Air Quality 

Management District (AVAQMD), the 

San Bernardino County portion of the 

Southeast Desert lies within the Mojave 

Desert Air Quality Management District 

(MDAQMD), and the Riverside County 

portion of the Southeast Desert lies 

within the South Coast Air Quality 

Management District (SCAQMD).3

The control requirements and date by 

which attainment of the 1-hour ozone 

standard was to be achieved varied with 

an area’s classification. Marginal areas 

were subject to the fewest mandated 

control requirements and had the 

earliest attainment date, November 15, 

1993, while Severe and Extreme areas 

were subject to more stringent planning 

requirements and were provided more 

time to attain the standard. Two 

measures that are triggered if a Severe 

or Extreme area failed to attain the 

standard by the applicable attainment 

date are contingency measures [section 

172(c)(9)] and a major stationary source 

fee provision [sections 182(d)(3) and 

185] (‘‘major source fee program’’ or 

‘‘section 185 fee program’’). 

In 1997, EPA promulgated an 8-hour 

ozone standard (0.08 ppm) (‘‘1997 8- 

hour ozone standard’’), 62 FR 38856 

(July 18, 1997), to replace the 1-hour 

ozone standard. While the 1-hour ozone 

standard was revoked in 2005, we 

continue to determine whether areas 

attain, or fail to attain, the 1-hour ozone 

standard because of the continued 

applicability of certain 1-hour ozone 

control requirements in areas, such as 

the Southeast Desert, that are designated 

as nonattainment for the 1997 8-hour 

ozone standard and the connection 

between some of those requirements 

and attainment of the 1-hour ozone 

standard. 

In the decades since the 1990 CAA 

Amendments, in large part due to 

decreases in upwind emissions of ozone 

precursors, 1-hour ozone concentrations 

in the Southeast Desert have decreased 

substantially. For instance, from 1990 to 

2005, the number of exceedances of the 

standard in the Southeast Desert 

decreased from 27 to 4 at the Palm 

Springs monitor in Coachella Valley and 

from 59 to 3 at the Hesperia monitor in 

Victor Valley. However, despite the 

improvements, upon review of the 

ambient data for the three years 

preceding the applicable attainment 

date (i.e., 2005–2007), we determined 

that the Southeast Desert failed to attain 

the 1-hour ozone standard by the 2007 

statutory deadline. See 76 FR 82133 

(December 30, 2011). 

In our proposal to determine that the 

Southeast Desert had failed to attain the 

standard, we noted that preliminary 

review of data from 2008 through 2010 

suggested that the trend toward cleaner 

air in the Southeast Desert was 

continuing. 76 FR 56694, at 56700 

(September 14, 2011). Indeed, the trend 

has continued with 2010–2012 being the 

first three-year period in which 

preliminary review of the data suggests 

that the Southeast Desert attained the 

standard. Given the further 

improvement in ozone conditions in the 

Southeast Desert, the California Air 

Resources Board (CARB) has requested 

that EPA make a determination that the 

Southeast Desert has attained the 1-hour 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
50576 Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 

4See Letter from Richard W. Corey, Executive 

Officer, CARB, to Jared Blumenfeld, Regional 

Administrator, EPA Region IX, dated February 25, 

2014. 

5 Generally, a ‘‘complete’’ data set for determining 

attainment of the ozone is one that includes three 

years of data with an average percent of days with 

valid monitoring data greater than 90% with no 

single year less than 75%. See 40 CFR part 50, 

appendix I. There are less stringent data 

requirements for showing that a monitor has failed 

an attainment test and thus has recorded a violation 

of the standard. 

6The average number of expected exceedances is 

determined by averaging the expected exceedances 

of the 1-hour ozone standard over a consecutive 

three calendar year period. See 40 CFR part 50, 

appendix H. 

7See, e.g., letter from Meredith Kurpius, Manager, 

Air Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region IX, to 

Karen Magliano, Air Quality Data Branch, Planning 

and Technical Support Division, CARB, dated May 

7, 2014. 

8See, e.g., letters from Christopher A. Collins, 

Supervising AQ Engineer, MDAQMD, to Fletcher 

Clover, EPA Region IX, dated May 6, 2014, 

certifying 2013 data from AVAQMD and MDAQMD. 

9See, e.g., letter from Meredith Kurpius, Manager, 

Air Quality Analysis Office, Air Division, EPA 

Region IX, to Dr. Matt Miyasato, Deputy Executive 

Officer, Science and Technology Advancement, 

SCAQMD, dated March 11, 2014. 

10See letter from Deborah Jordan, Director, Air 

Division, U.S. EPA Region IX, to Barry Wallerstein, 

Executive Officer, SCAQMD, dated March 14, 2011, 

and enclosure titled, ‘‘Technical System Audit 

Report, South Coast Air Quality Management 

District, April 13–April 16, 2010.’’ 

11See, e.g., letter from Matt Miyasoto, Deputy 

Executive Office, Science and Technology 

Advancement, SCAQMD, to Jared Blumenfeld, 

Regional Administrator, EPA Region IX, dated June 

27, 2014, certifying 2013 ozone data. 

12See figures 5 and 11 from CARB’s State and 

Local Air Monitoring Network Plan (June 2009) for 

illustrations of the locations of the ozone monitors 

within the Southeast Desert. 

13The National Park Service also operates an 

ozone monitor in Riverside County at Joshua Tree 

National Park (Cottonwood Visitor Center; AQS ID 

06–065–0008), but until recently, the monitor has 

not been either a federal reference method or 

federal equivalent method monitor. Thus, we are 

not using the data from this Cottonwood monitor 

for the proposed determination of attainment. 

14See, e.g., letter from Kristi Morris, Program 

Manager, National Park Service, to Lew Weinstock, 

EPA, dated April 29, 2014, certifying 2013 ozone 

data. 

15The criteria for data completeness are met at all 

of the ozone monitors in the Southeast Desert over 

the 2011–2013 period. 

ozone standard.4 Year 2013 data is now 

available, and thus EPA’s action herein 

is based on the most recent three-year 

period (2011–2013). 

II. EPA’s Analysis 

A determination of whether an area’s 

air quality meets the 1-hour ozone 

standard is generally based upon three 

years of complete,5 quality-assured and 

certified air quality monitoring data 

gathered at established State and Local 

Air Monitoring Stations (‘‘SLAMS’’) in 

the nonattainment area and entered into 

EPA’s Air Quality System (AQS) 

database. Data from air monitors 

operated by state/local agencies in 

compliance with EPA monitoring 

requirements must be submitted to the 

AQS database. Monitoring agencies 

annually certify that these data are 

accurate to the best of their knowledge. 

Accordingly, EPA relies primarily on 

data in its AQS database when 

determining the attainment status of an 

area. See 40 CFR 50.9; 40 CFR part 50, 

appendix H; 40 CFR part 53; 40 CFR 

part 58, appendices A, C, D and E. All 

data are reviewed to determine the 

area’s air quality status in accordance 

with 40 CFR part 50, appendix H. 

Under EPA regulations at 40 CFR 

50.9, the 1-hour ozone standard is 

attained at a monitoring site when the 

expected number of days per calendar 

year with maximum hourly average 

concentrations above 0.12 ppm is equal 

to or less than 1.0, as determined by 40 

CFR part 50, appendix H.6

The CARB is the Primary Quality 

Assurance Organization (PQAO) 

responsible for assuring that the area 

meets air quality monitoring 

requirements in the Los Angeles County 

and San Bernardino County portions of 

the Southeast Desert, and the SCAQMD 

is the PQAO responsible for assuring 

that the requirements are met in the 

Riverside County portion of the 

Southeast Desert. The AVAQMD 

operates monitors in the Los Angeles 

County portion of the Southeast Desert; 

the MDAQMD operates monitors in the 

San Bernardino County portion of the 

Southeast Desert; and the SCAQMD 

operate monitors in the Riverside 

County portion of the Southeast Desert. 

All agencies are required to submit 

annual monitoring network plans to 

EPA. The AVAQMD and MDAQMD 

monitoring networks are included in the 

CARB annual network plan, while 

SCAQMD submits a separate annual 

network plan. These plans discuss the 

status of the air monitoring network, as 

required under 40 CFR 58.10. 

With respect to the annual network 

plans submitted by CARB that includes 

the AVAQMD and MDAQMD monitors, 

we have reviewed these plans and 

found that they meet the applicable 

requirements under 40 CFR part 58.7

The Technical System Audit (TSA) we 

conducted in 2011 of the CARB PQAO 

included a review of the network 

requirements in AVAQMD and 

MDAQMD. In the TSA, we concluded 

that the combined ambient air 

monitoring networks operated by CARB 

and the air districts currently meet or 

exceed the requirements for the 

minimum number of SLAMS 

monitoring sites for ozone in the 

Southeast Desert. Also, AVAQMD and 

MDAQMD annually certify that the data 

submitted to AQS are quality-assured.8

EPA has reviewed SCAQMD’s plans 

for compliance with the applicable 

requirements in 40 CFR part 58 on an 

annual basis. With respect to ozone, 

EPA has found that the SCAQMD’s 

network plans meet the applicable 

requirements under 40 CFR part 58.9

Furthermore, we concluded in our TSA 

of the SCAQMD network conducted 

during April 2010, that the ambient air 

monitoring network operated by 

SCAQMD currently meets or exceeds 

the requirements for the minimum 

number of SLAMS monitoring sites for 

all criteria pollutants, and the ozone 

monitoring sites within the Southeast 

Desert are properly located with respect 

to monitoring objectives, spatial scales 

and other site criteria, as required by 40 

CFR part 58, appendix D.10 Also, 

SCAQMD annually certifies that the 

data it submits to AQS are qualityassured.11

There were eight ozone monitoring 

sites located throughout the Southeast 

Desert in calendar years 2011 through 

2013 that collected data for regulatory 

purposes: one in Los Angeles County, 

two in Riverside County, and five in San 

Bernardino County.12 All of the sites 

monitor ozone concentrations on a 

continuous basis using Federal 

Equivalent Method (FEM) monitors. 

AVAQMD operates the one monitor in 

Los Angeles County. SCAQMD operates 

two in Riverside County. MDAQMD 

operates four in San Bernardino County. 

The National Park Service operates one 

monitor in San Bernardino County at 

Joshua Tree National Park (Yucca 

Valley).13 Also, the National Park 

Service annually certifies that the data 

it submits to AQS are quality-assured.14

Table 1 summarizes the ozone 

monitoring data from the various 

monitoring sites in the Southeast Desert, 

showing the expected exceedances per 

year and as an average over the 2011– 

2013 period. The data summarized in 

table 1 are considered complete for the 

purposes of determining if the standard 

is met.15


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 79, No. 164 / Monday, August 25, 2014 / Proposed Rules 50577 

TABLE 1—ONE-HOUR OZONE DATA FOR THE SOUTHEAST DESERT 1-HOUR OZONE NONATTAINMENT AREA

General location Site (AQS ID) 

Expected exceedances by 

year 

Expected 

exceedances 

3-year 

average 

2011 2012 2013 

2011–2013 

Antelope Valley/Los Angeles County ....................................... Lancaster (06–037–9033) ....... 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Coachella Valley/Riverside County .......................................... Indio (06–065–2002) ............... 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Coachella Valley/Riverside County .......................................... Palm Springs (06–065–5001) 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.3 

Northern portion of SE Desert AQMA/San Bernardino County Barstow (06–071–0001) ......... 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

SW portion of SE Desert AQMA/San Bernardino County ....... Hesperia (06–071–4001) ........ 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 

SW portion of SE Desert AQMA/San Bernardino County ....... Phelan (06–071–0012) ........... 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

SW portion of SE Desert AQMA/San Bernardino County ....... Victorville (06–071–0306) ....... 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Joshua Tree National Park/San Bernardino County ................ Yucca Valley (06–071–9002) 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 

Source: AQS Quick Look Report, May 9, 2014 (in the docket to this proposed action). 

Generally, the highest ozone 

concentrations in the Southeast Desert 

occur in the far southwestern portion of 

the area, near mountain passes through 

which pollutants are transported to the 

Southeast Desert from the South Coast 

Air Basin. As shown in table 1, the 

highest three-year average of expected 

exceedances at any site in the Southeast 

Desert for 2011–2013 is 0.3 at Palm 

Springs in Riverside County and 

Hesperia in San Bernardino County. The 

calculated exceedance rate of 0.3 

represents attainment of the 1-hour 

ozone standard (a three-year average of 

expected exceedances less than or equal 

to 1). 

Taking into account the extent and 

reliability of the applicable ozone 

monitoring network, and the data 

collected therefrom and summarized in 

table 1, we propose to determine that 

the Southeast Desert has attained the 1- 

hour ozone standard (as defined in 40 

CFR part 50, appendix H) based on the 

most recent three years of monitoring 

data for the area (2011–2013). Data for 

2014 will be reviewed prior to our final 

action to ensure that it is consistent 

with continued attainment of the 1-hour 

ozone standard in the Southeast Desert. 

III. Proposed EPA Action and Request 

for Public Comment 

EPA is proposing to determine that 

the Southeast Desert Area has attained 

the 1-hour ozone standard based on 

complete, quality-assured and certified 

ambient air quality monitoring data for 

the 2011–2013 monitoring period. 

EPA is soliciting public comments on 

the issues discussed in this document or 

on other relevant matters. We will 

accept comments from the public on 

this proposal for the next 30 days. We 

will consider these comments before 

taking final action. 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

This action proposes to make a 

determination based on air quality data 

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 CAA; 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 rule does not have 

tribal implications as specified by 

Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, 

November 9, 2000), because it will not 

impose substantial direct costs on tribal 

governments or preempt tribal law. 

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52 

Environmental protection, Air 

pollution control, Incorporation by 

reference, Intergovernmental relations, 

Oxides of nitrogen, Ozone, Volatile 

organic compounds. 

Dated: August 12, 2014. 

Alexis Strauss, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX. 

[FR Doc. 2014–20220 Filed 8–22–14; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 81 

[EPA–HQ–OAR–2012–0233; FRL–9915–73– 

OAR] 

Air Quality Designations for the 2010 

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) Primary National 

Ambient Air Quality Standard: Notice 

of Action Denying Petitions for 

Reconsideration and Stay Request 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency. 

ACTION: Action denying petitions for 

reconsideration and stay request. 

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA) is providing notice that it 

has responded to two petitions for 

reconsideration of a rule published in 

the Federal Register on August 5, 2013, 

that promulgated the initial air quality 

designations for the 2010 Primary SO2

National Ambient Air Quality Standard 

(NAAQS) for certain areas in the United 

States. The rule is titled ‘‘Air Quality 

Designations for the 2010 Sulfur 

Dioxide (SO2) Primary National 


emcdonald on DSK67QTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS