[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 148 (Friday, August 1, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 41275-41277]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-20366]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[ME47-01-7002a; A-1-FRL-5867-8]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Maine; (Hancock and Waldo Counties Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision--
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets)

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 
submitted by the State of Maine. This revision establishes explicit 
year 2006 motor vehicle emissions budgets [Volatile Organic Compounds 
(VOC) and Nitrogen Oxides (NO<INF>X</INF>)] for the Hancock and Waldo 
counties ozone maintenance area to be used in determining 
transportation conformity. This action is being taken in accordance 
with the Clean Air Act (CAA or the Act).

DATES: This action will become effective on September 30, 1997, unless 
EPA receives adverse or critical comments by September 2, 1997. If the 
effective date is delayed, timely notice will be published in the 
Federal Register.


[[Page 41276]]


ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Susan Studlien, Deputy Director, 
Office of Ecosystem Protection (mail code CAA), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region I, JFK Federal Building, Boston, MA 02203. 
Copies of the documents relevant to this action are available for 
public inspection during normal business hours, by appointment at the 
Office Ecosystem Protection, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region I, One Congress Street, 11th floor, Boston, MA; and the Bureau 
of Air Quality Control, Department of Environmental Protection, 71 
Hospital Street, Augusta, ME.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, (617) 565-3508.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 24, 1997, the State of Maine 
submitted a formal revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP). The 
SIP revision consists of explicit year 2006 motor vehicle emissions 
budgets (VOC and NO<INF>X</INF>) for the Waldo and Hancock counties 
ozone maintenance area as a SIP revision.

I. Summary of SIP Revision

    When the Maine Department of Environmental Protection submitted 
their redesignation request for Hancock and Waldo counties 
nonattainment area to attainment for the National Ambient Air Quality 
Standard for Ozone in May of 1996, they did not include explicit motor 
vehicle emissions budgets for use in transportation conformity 
determinations. Therefore, in accordance with EPA's Transportation 
Conformity Rule, EPA interpreted the motor vehicle emissions 
projections for the year 2006 (the last year of the submitted ten-year 
maintenance plan) to be the motor vehicle emissions budgets. These 2006 
motor vehicle emissions budgets established at 5.779 tons per summer 
day of VOC, and 8.195 tons per summer day of NO<INF>X</INF> then serve 
as a cap or ceiling of allowed highway and transit vehicle emissions 
for all transportation conformity determinations made during the 1997-
2006 ten-year maintenance period. Approximately eight years into this 
ten-year maintenance plan, the State of Maine will develop a second 
ten-year maintenance plan to cover the ten-year period, 2007 through 
2016, and will establish motor vehicle emissions budgets for the 
transportation conformity determinations made during the second 
maintenance period. Under all circumstances, transportation conformity 
must be analyzed out to the last year of the area's twenty-year 
transportation plan.
    Projected VMT growth for Hancock and Waldo Counties is expected to 
out-pace the benefits of lower vehicle emission rates (cleaner cars and 
mobile source strategies) resulting in increased motor vehicle 
emissions after the year 2006. Hence, the State of Maine has allocated 
additional emissions to the motor vehicle component of the 2006 
emissions budgets for transportation conformity purposes.
    The new 2006 motor vehicle emissions budgets are now established 
for the Hancock and Waldo counties ozone maintenance area at 6.44 tons 
per summer day of VOC, and 8.85 tons per summer day of NO<INF>X</INF>. 
These established levels of VOC and NO<INF>X</INF> are acceptable 
because when these levels of emissions are added to all the other 
components of the 2006 emission inventory (the 2006 other mobile [off-
road] emissions, the 2006 stationary source emissions, and the 2006 
area source emissions) the results are levels of emissions below the 
1993 attainment year emission inventory. Please see the table below 
which adds the new VOC and NO<INF>X</INF> motor vehicle emissions 
budget to the other unchanged components of the 2006 emissions 
inventory, and then compares the total 2006 emissions with the 1993 
attainment year emission inventory.

 Emissions for Maine's Hancock and Waldo Counties Ozone Maintenance Area
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1993 Attainment  2006 maintenance
                                          year VOC          plan VOC    
          Emission Category             emissions (in     emissions (in 
                                       tons per summer   tons per summer
                                            day)              day)      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motor Vehicle Emissions (On-road +                                      
 Transit Emissions).................             7.010             6.440
Other Mobile Emissions..............             1.327             0.946
Point Source Emissions..............             1.412             1.500
Area Source Emissions...............             5.902             5.989
      Total Emissions...............            15.651            14.875
------------------------------------------------------------------------


------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                       1993 attainment  2006 maintenance
                                          year NO<INF>X          plan NO<INF>X    
          Emission category             emissions (in     emissions (in 
                                       tons per summer   tons per summer
                                            day)              day)      
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Motor Vehicle Emissions (On-road +                                      
 Transit Emissions).................            10.010             8.850
Other Mobile Emisssions.............             0.979             1.126
Point Source Emissions..............             5.721             5.128
Area Source Emissions...............             0.543             0.485
      Total Emissions...............            17.253            15.589
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This action, to establish new motor vehicle emission budgets into 
the Maine SIP, will make it easier to demonstrate future transportation 
conformity with the SIP. This action will not change conformity's 
beneficial effect on air quality as the new motor vehicle emissions 
budgets have been demonstrated to be consistent with EPA's ozone 
attainment redesignation (see 62 FR 9081 (February 28, 1997) and the 
Hancock and Waldo counties ozone maintenance plan. No additional 
emissions reductions are anticipated with the approval of the 2006 VOC 
and NO<INF>X</INF> motor vehicle emissions budgets.
    EPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because the 
Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no 
adverse comments. However, in a separate document in this Federal 
Register publication, EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision 
should adverse

[[Page 41277]]

or critical comments be filed. This action will be effective September 
30, 1997 unless adverse or critical comments are received by September 
2, 1997.
    If the EPA receives such comments, this action will be withdrawn 
before the effective date by simultaneously publishing a subsequent 
notice that will withdraw the final action. All public comments 
received will then be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on 
this action serving as a proposed rule. The 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. If no such 
comments are received, the public is advised that this action will be 
effective on September 30, 1997.

II. Final Action

    EPA is approving the establishment of the year 2006 motor vehicle 
emissions budgets for the Hancock and Waldo counties ozone maintenance 
area at 6.44 tons per summer day of VOC, and 8.85 tons per summer day 
of NO<INF>X</INF>.

III. Administrative Requirements

    A. Executive Order 12866
    The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted this 
regulatory action from E.O. 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et. seq., EPA 
must prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of 
any proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604. 
Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a 
significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small 
entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises, 
and government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than 
50,000.
    SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the 
Clean Air Act do not create any new requirements but simply approve 
requirements that the State is already imposing. Therefore, because the 
Federal SIP approval does not impose any new requirements, the 
Administrator certifies that it does not have a significant impact on 
any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the nature of the 
Federal-State relationship under the CAA, preparation of a flexibility 
analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic 
reasonableness of state action. The Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base 
its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. U.S. 
EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 255-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410(a)(2).

C. Unfunded Mandates

    Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(``Unfunded Mandates Act''), signed into law on March 22, 1995, EPA 
must prepare a budgetary impact statement to accompany any proposed or 
final rule that includes a Federal mandate that may result in estimated 
costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the aggregate; or to 
the private sector, of $100 million or more. Under Section 205, EPA 
must select the most cost-effective and least burdensome alternative 
that achieves the objectives of the rule and is consistent with 
statutory requirements. Section 203 requires EPA to establish a plan 
for informing and advising any small governments that may be 
significantly or uniquely impacted by the rule.
    EPA has determined that the approval action proposed does not 
include a Federal mandate that may result in estimated costs of $100 
million or more to either State, local, or tribal governments in the 
aggregate, or to the private sector. This Federal action approves pre-
existing requirements under State or local law, and imposes no new 
requirements. Accordingly, no additional costs to State, local, or 
tribal governments, or to the private sector, result from this action.

D. Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office

    Under section 801(a)(1)(A) of the Regulatory Flexibility Act as 
added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 
1996, EPA submitted a report containing this rule and other required 
information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of Representatives and 
the Comptroller General of the General Accounting Office prior to 
publication of the rule in today's Federal Register. This rule is not a 
``major rule'' as defined by section 804(2).

E. Petitions for Judicial Review

    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by September 30, 1997. Filing a 
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 
does not affect the finality of this rule 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).) EPA encourages 
interested parties to comment in response to the proposed rule rather 
than petition for judicial review, unless the objection arises after 
the comment period allowed for in the proposal.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Hydrocarbons, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur 
oxides.

    Dated: July 20, 1997.
John P. DeVillars,
Regional Administrator, Region I.
    Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

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

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q

Subpart U--Maine

    2. Section 52.1036 is amended by adding paragraph (e) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 52.1036  Emission inventories.

* * * * *
    (e) On June 24, 1997 the Maine Department of Environmental 
Protection submitted a revision to establish explicit year 2006 motor 
vehicle emissions budgets [6.44 tons per summer day of VOC, and 8.85 
tons per summer day of NO<INF>X</INF>] for the Hancock and Waldo 
counties ozone maintenance area to be used in determining 
transportation conformity.
[FR Doc. 97-20366 Filed 7-31-97; 8:45 am]
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