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[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 9 (Thursday, January 14, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 1887-1890]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-00428]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2015-0587; FRL 9941-01-Region 7]

Approval of Missouri's Air Quality Implementation Plans; Early 
Progress Plan of the St. Louis Nonattainment Area for the 2008 Ozone 
National Ambient Air Quality Standard

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct 
final action to approve revisions to the State Implementation Plan 
(SIP) submitted by the State of Missouri consisting of the Early 
Progress Plan and motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for volatile 
organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) for 
the St. Louis Nonattainment area under the 2008 8-hour National Ambient 
Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). On August 26, 2013, EPA received from the 
Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) an Early Progress Plan 
for the St. Louis area showing progress toward attainment under the 
2008 Ozone NAAQS. This submittal was developed to establish MVEBs for 
the St. Louis 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. This approval of the 
Early Progress Plan for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone nonattainment area 
fulfills EPA's requirement to act on the MDNR SIP submission and to 
formalize that the MVEB is approved, and when considered with the 
emissions from all sources, demonstrates progress toward attainment 
from the 2008 base year through a 2015 target year. EPA found these 
MVEBs adequate for transportation conformity purposes in an earlier 
action on March 5, 2014.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective March 14, 2016, without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by February 16, 
2016. If EPA receives adverse comment, we will publish a timely 
withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register informing 
the public that the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-
OAR-2015-0587, to http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Steven Brown, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, 
Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at 913-551-7718 or by email at 
brown.steven@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' or 
``our'' refer to EPA. This section provides additional information by 
addressing the following:

I. What is the background for this action?
II. What are the criteria for early progress plans?
III. What is EPA's analysis of the request?
IV. What are the MVEB's for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone area?
V. What action is EPA taking?

I. What is the background for this action?

    EPA's final rule designating nonattainment areas and associated 
classifications for the 2008 ozone National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards (NAAQS) was published in the Federal Register on May 21, 2012 
(77 FR 30088). The St. Louis area was designated as marginal 
nonattainment. The St. Louis ozone area had previously been designated 
nonattainment for the 1-hour ozone standard and had 1-hour motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for NOX and VOC 
established in the St. Louis 1-hour maintenance plan SIP (66 FR 33996). 
The 1-hour MVEBs were the only approved MVEBs for St. Louis and were 
based on EPA's MOBILE6.2

[[Page 1888]]

emissions model. Consequently, the transportation partners in St. Louis 
were required to use the 1-hour MVEB test to demonstrate transportation 
conformity for the 8-hour ozone standard until new MVEBs were approved 
or found adequate, as required by the transportation conformity rule at 
40 CFR 93.109(c)(2)(i). Missouri submitted this plan to establish new 8 
hour MVEBs developed with EPA's current MOVES2014 model.
    EPA allows for the establishment of MVEBs for the 8-hour ozone 
standard prior to a state submitting its first required 8-hour ozone 
SIP that would include new MVEBs. Although voluntary, these ``early'' 
MVEBs must be established through a plan, known as the ``Early Progress 
Plan,'' that meets all the requirements of a SIP submittal. The 
preamble of the July 1, 2004, final transportation conformity rule 
(see, 69 FR 40019) reads as follows:
    ``The first 8-hour ozone SIP could be a control strategy SIP 
required by the Clean Air Act (e.g., rate-of-progress SIP or attainment 
demonstration) or a maintenance plan. However, 8-hour ozone 
nonattainment areas are free to establish, through the SIP process, a 
motor vehicle emissions budget or budgets that addresses the new NAAQS 
in advance of a complete SIP attainment demonstration. That is, a state 
could submit a motor vehicle emission budget that does not demonstrate 
attainment but is consistent with projections and commitments to 
control measures and achieves some progress toward attainment (August 
15, 1997, 62 FR 43799). A SIP submitted earlier than otherwise required 
can demonstrate a significant level of emissions reductions from 
current level of emissions, instead of a specific percentage required 
by the Clean Air Act for moderate and above ozone areas.''

II. What are the criteria for early progress plans?

    The Early Progress Plan must demonstrate that the SIP revision 
containing the MVEBs, when considered with emissions from all sources, 
and when projected from the base year to a future year, shows some 
progress toward attainment. EPA has previously indicated that a 5 
percent to 10 percent reduction in emissions from all sources could 
represent a significant level of emissions reductions from current 
levels (69 FR 40019). This allowance is provided so that areas have an 
opportunity to use the budget test to demonstrate conformity as opposed 
to the interim conformity tests (i.e., 2002 baseline test and/or action 
versus baseline test). The budget test with an adequate or approved 
MVEB budget is generally more protective of air quality and provides a 
more relevant basis for conformity determinations than the interim 
emissions test. (69 FR 40026).
    It should also be noted that the Early Progress Plan is not a 
required plan and does not substitute for required submissions such as 
an attainment demonstration or rate-of-progress plan, if such plans 
become required for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone area.

III. What is EPA's analysis of the request?

    In August 2013, the State submitted to EPA an Early Progress Plan 
for the purpose of establishing MVEBs for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone 
area. The submittal utilizes a base year of 2008, and a projected year 
of 2015 to establish NOX and VOC MVEBs. The planning 
assumptions used to develop the MVEBs were discussed and agreed to by 
the St. Louis interagency consultation group, East West Gateway (EWG), 
which consists of the transportation and air quality partners in the 
St. Louis 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. Tables 1 and 2 below show 
the differences by source categories between the 2008 base year and 
2015 forecast year. The NOX and VOC emissions in tons per 
day (tpd) within the St. Louis nonattainment area are expected to 
decrease significantly, 31 percent and 12 percent, respectively, 
between 2008 and 2015. These emission trends demonstrate that progress 
will be made towards attainment of the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             2008 NOX        2015 NOX
                 Source                        (tpd)           (tpd)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point...................................           88.84           86.32
Area....................................            6.52            6.64
On-road.................................          161.25           76.70
Non-road................................           65.18           53.72
                                         -------------------------------
    Total...............................          321.79          223.38
                                         -------------------------------
        Total Percent Reduction.........                31%
------------------------------------------------------------------------

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             2008 VOC        2015 VOC
                 Source                        (tpd)           (tpd)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point...................................           18.01           21.60
Area....................................           99.47          111.73
On-road.................................           60.86           32.70
Non-road................................           45.08           30.67
                                         -------------------------------
    Total...............................          223.42          196.70
                                         -------------------------------
        Total Percent Reduction.........                12%
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The state submission has met the public notice requirements for SIP 
submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submission also 
satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. In 
addition, the revision meets the substantive SIP requirements of the 
CAA, including Section 110 and implementing regulations.

IV. What are the MVEB's for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone area?

    Through this rulemaking, EPA is approving the 2015 regional MVEBs 
for NOX and VOC for the St. Louis 8-hour ozone area. EPA has 
determined that the MVEBs contained in the Early Progress Plan SIP 
revision are consistent with emission reductions from all sources 
within the nonattainment area and are showing progress toward 
attainment.

[[Page 1889]]

The 2015 MVEBs in tpd for VOCs and NOX for the St. Louis, 
Missouri area are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        2015 NOX  (tons  2015 VOC  (tons
                                            per day)         per day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Louis Area MVEB...................           76.70            32.70
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    EPA found these MVEBs adequate for transportation conformity 
purposes in an earlier action (March 5, 2014, 79 FR 12504). As of March 
19, 2014, the effective date of EPA's adequacy finding for these MVEBs, 
conformity determinations in St. Louis must meet the budget test using 
these 8-hour MVEBs, instead of the 1-hour ozone MVEBs. It should be 
noted that the previous adequacy finding does not relate to the merits 
of the SIP submittal, nor does it indicate whether the submittal meets 
the requirements for approval. This EPA rulemaking action takes formal 
action on the Early Progress Plan SIP revision.

V. What action is EPA taking?

    EPA is taking direct final action to approve this SIP revision. We 
are publishing this rule without a prior proposed rule because we view 
this as a noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. 
However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of this Federal Register, we 
are publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposed rule 
to approve this SIP revision, if adverse comments are received on this 
direct final rule. We will not institute a second comment period on 
this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this 
time. For further information about commenting on this rule, see the 
ADDRESSES section of this document. If EPA receives adverse comment, we 
will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the 
public that this direct final rule will not take effect. We will 
address all public comments in any subsequent final rule based on the 
proposed rule.

Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, 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 CAA. Accordingly, this 
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and 
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state 
law. For that reason, this action:
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review 
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     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).
    The SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or 
in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a 
tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does 
not have tribal implications and will not impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law as specified by 
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this action and 
other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by March 14, 2016. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor 
does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may 
be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or 
action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to 
enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: December 23, 2015.
Mark Hague,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, EPA amends 40 CFR part 52 
as set forth below:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

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1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

[[Page 1890]]

Subpart AA--Missouri

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2. Section 52.1320(e) is amended by adding new entry (68) at the end of 
the table to read as follows:

Sec.  52.1320  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                               Epa-Approved Missouri Nonregulatory SIP Provisions
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                                        Applicable
    Name of nonregulatory SIP         geographic or          State       EPA approval date       Explanation
            provision               nonattainment area  submittal date
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                                                  * * * * * * *
(68) Missouri Early Progress Plan  St. Louis..........         8/26/13  1/14/16 [Insert      [EPA-R07-OAR-2015-0
                                                                         Federal Register     587; FRL-9941-01-
                                                                         citation].           Region 7].
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[FR Doc. 2016-00428 Filed 1-13-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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