[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 231 (Tuesday, December 2, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 63687-63689]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-30242]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[AK 19-1707; FRL-5923-8]


Clean Air Act Reclassification; Anchorage, Alaska, Carbon 
Monoxide Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmetnal Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: This action proposes to find that the Municipality of 
Anchorage, Alaska, carbon monoxide (CO) nonattainment area has not 
attained the CO national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) under 
the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CO nonattainment occurred after Anchorage 
received a one year extension from the mandated attainment date of 
December 31, 1995 for moderate nonattainment areas to December 31, 
1996. This proposed finding is based on EPA's review of monitored air 
quality data for compliance with the CO NAAQS. Final action on this 
proposed finding would result in the Anchorage CO nonattainment area 
being reclassified by operation of law as a serious nonattainment area. 
The result of such a reclassification would be that the State must 
submit a new State implementation plan (SIP) providing for attainment 
of the CO NAAQS by no later than December 31, 2000, the CAA attainment 
deadline for serious CO areas.

DATES: Written comments on this proposal must be received by January 2, 
1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comment should be addressed to Ms. Montel 
Livingston, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality (OAQ 
107), Docket AK 17-1705, 1200 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101. 
Information supporting this action is available for inspection during 
normal business hours at the following locations: EPA, Office of Air 
Quality, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, and the Alaska 
Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), 410 Willoughby, Suite 
105, Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John Pavitt, Alaska Air Coordinator, EPA Alaska Operations Office, 907/
271-3688.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. CAA Requirements and EPA Actions Concerning Designation and 
Classification

    The CAA Amendments of 1990 were enacted on November 15, 1990. Under 
Section 107(d)(1)(C) of the CAA, each CO area designated nonattainment 
prior to enactment of the 1990 Amendments, such as the Anchorage area, 
was designated nonattainment by operation of law upon enactment of the 
1990 Amendments. Under section 186(a) of the CAA, each CO area 
designated nonattainment under section 107(d) was also classified by 
operation of law as either ``moderate'' or ``serious'' depending on the 
severity of the area's air quality problem. CO nonattainment

[[Page 63688]]

areas with a design value between 9.1-16.4 parts per million (ppm), 
such as the Anchorage area, were classified as moderate. These 
nonattainment designations and classifications were codified in 40 CFR 
part 81. See 56 FR 56694 (November 6, 1991). States containing CO 
moderate nonattainment areas that were classified as moderate 
nonattainment by operation of law under section 107(d) were required to 
submit State implementation plans (SIPs) designed to attain the CO 
NAAQS as expeditiously as practicable but no later than December 31, 
1995.\1\
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    \1\ The moderate area SIP requirements are set forth in section 
187(a) of the CAA Amendments of 1990 and differ depending on whether 
the area's design value is below or above 12.7 ppm. The Anchorage 
area has a design value above 12.7 ppm. 40 CFR 81.302.
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B. Attainment Date Extensions

    If the State did not have the two consecutive clean years of data 
necessary to show attainment of the NAAQS, section 186(a)(4) of the CAA 
provides that EPA may approve a one year attainment date extension if 
the State has: (1) complied with the requirements and commitments 
pertaining to the applicable implementation plan for the area, and (2) 
the area has measured no more than one exceedance of CO NAAQS at any 
monitoring site in the nonattainment area in the year preceding 1996, 
the extension year.
    The Anchorage nonattainment area had two exceedances in 1994. 
However, because the Anchorage nonattainment area had only one 
exceedance in 1995, Anchorage qualified for a one year attainment date 
extension to 1996. Two consecutive years of clean data are required in 
order to attain the CO NAAQS. EPA granted the extension and the action 
was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 1996 (61 FR 33676).

C. Reclassification to a Serious Nonattainment Area

    1. EPA has the responsibility, pursuant to sections 179(c) and 
186(b)(2) of the CAA, of determining whether the Anchorage area has 
attained the CO NAAQS. Under section 186(b)(2)(A), if EPA finds that 
the area has not attained the CO NAAQS, it is reclassified as serious 
by operation of law. Pursuant to section 186(b)(2)(B) of the Act, EPA 
must publish a notice in the Federal Register identifying areas which 
it determines failed to attain the standard and therefore must be 
reclassified as serious by operation of law. EPA makes attainment 
determinations for CO nonattainment areas based upon whether an area 
has two years (or eight consecutive quarters) of clean air quality 
data.\2\ Section 179(c)(1) of the CAA states that the attainment 
determination must be based upon an area's ``air quality as of the 
attainment date.'' Consequently, EPA will determine whether an area's 
air quality has met the CO NAAQS by December 31, 1995, based upon the 
most recent two years of air quality data entered into the Aerometric 
Information Retrieval System (AIRS) data base.
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    \2\ See generally memorandum from Sally L. Shaver, Director, Air 
Quality Strategies and Standards Division, EPA, to Regional Air 
Office Directors, entitled ``Criteria for Granting Attainment Date 
Extensions, Making Attainment Determinations, and Determinations of 
Failure to Attain the NAAQS for Moderate CO Nonattainment Areas,'' 
October 23, 1995 (Shaver memorandum).
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    EPA determines a CO nonattainment area's air quality status in 
accordance with 40 CFR 50.8 and EPA policy.\3\ EPA has promulgated two 
NAAQS for CO: an 8-hour average concentration and a 1-hour average 
concentration. Because there were no violations of the 1-hour standard 
recorded in the Anchorage area in 1994, 1995, and 1996, this notice 
addresses only the air quality status of the Anchorage area with 
respect to the 8-hour standard. The 8-hour CO NAAQS requires that not 
more than one non-overlapping 8-hour average per year per monitoring 
site can exceed 9.0 ppm (values below 9.5 are rounded down to 9.0 and 
they are not considered exceedances). The second exceedance of the 8-
hour CO NAAQS at a given monitoring site within the same year 
constitutes a violation of the CO NAAQS. Anchorage had two exceedances 
of the CO NAAQS in 1994, one exceedance win 1995 (one exceedance does 
not constitute a CO violation because a violation of the CO NAAQS means 
two exceedances of the 8-hour CO NAAQS at a given monitoring site 
within the same year), and three CO exceedances in 1996 (its non-
attainment extension year).
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    \3\ See memorandum from William G. Laxton, Director, Technical 
Support Division, entitled ``Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Design Value 
Calculations,'' June 18, 1990. See also Shaver memorandum.
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    2. SIP Requirements for Serious CO Areas: CO nonattainment areas 
reclassified as serious under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA are required 
to submit, within 18 months of the area's reclassification, SIP 
revisions demonstrating attainment of the CO NAAQS as expeditiously as 
practicable but no later than December 31, 2000. The serious CO area 
planning requirements are set forth in section 187(b) of the CAA. EPA 
has issued two general guidance documents related to the planning 
requirements for CO SIPs. The first is the ``General Preamble for the 
Implementation of Title I of the CAA Amendments of 1990'' that sets 
forth EPA's preliminary views on how the Agency intends to act on SIPs 
submitted under Title I of the CAA. See generally 57 FR 13498 (April 
16, 1992) and 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992). The second general guidance 
document for CO SIPs issued by EPA is the ``Technical Support Document 
to Aid the States with the Development of Carbon Monoxide State 
Implementation Plans,'' July 1992. If the Anchorage area is 
reclassified to serious, the State would have to submit a SIP revision 
to EPA within 18 months of reclassification that, in addition to the 
attainment demonstration, includes: (1) a forecast of vehicle miles 
travelled (VMT) for each year before the attainment year and provisions 
for annual updates of these forecasts; (2) adopted contingency 
measures; and (3) adopted transportation control measures and 
strategies to offset any growth in CO emissions from growth in VMT or 
number of vehicle trips. See CAA sections 187(a)(7), 187(a)(2)(A), 
187(a)(3), 187(b)(2), and 187(b)(1). Upon reclassification, contingency 
measures in the moderate area plan for the Anchorage area must be 
implemented.

II. This Action

    By today's action, EPA is proposing to find that the Anchorage CO 
nonattainment area failed to demonstrate attainment of the CO NAAQS by 
December 31, 1996, the CO attainment extension date. This proposed 
finding is based upon air quality data showing exceedances of the CO 
NAAQS during 1996.
    Ambient Air Monitoring Data: The following table lists the 
monitoring sites in the Anchorage CO nonattainment area where the 8-
hour CO NAAQS was exceeded during 1996, based on data validated by the 
Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and entered into the 
AIRS data base.

[[Page 63689]]



                       Anchorage Carbon Monoxide Exceedances of the 8-Hour Standard--1996                       
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                                                                                                        Number  
                                    8-hour CO                               Max 8-hour   Second-max  exceedances
         Monitoring site             reading               Date              reading       8-hour       8-hour  
                                      (PPM)                                               reading      standard 
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Spenard & Benson.................         10.1  1/22/96..................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                           9.5  12/27/96.................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                           9.6  12/31/96.................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                                Year--1996...............         11.0          9.6            3
Seward Hwy & Benson..............         10.0  1/22/96..................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                           9.5  12/27/96.................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                           9.5  12/31/96.................  ...........  ...........  ...........
                                                Year--1996...............         10.8         10.5            3
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    Because the 1996 exceedances are valid for use in determining the 
attainment status of the Anchorage area, EPA is proposing to find, 
based on the 1996 CO violations discussed above, that the area did not 
attain the CO NAAQS by its extension year deadline of December 31, 
1996. If EPA finalizes this finding, by operation of law Anchorage will 
be reclassified a serious CO nonattainment area.

III. Executive Order (EO) 12866

    Under E.O. 12866, 58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993), EPA is required to 
determine whether regulatory actions are significant and therefore 
should be subject to OMB review, economic analysis, and the 
requirements of the Executive Order. The Executive Order defines a 
``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in a 
rule that may meet at least one of the four criteria identified in 
section 3(f), including, under paragraph (1), that the rule may ``have 
an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely 
affect, in a material way, the economy, a sector of the economy, 
productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or 
safety, or State, local or tribal governments or communities.'' The 
Agency has determined that the finding of failure to attain proposed 
today would result in none of the effects identified in section 3(f). 
Under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA, findings of failure to attain and 
reclassification of nonattainment areas are based upon air quality 
considerations and must occur by operation of law in light of certain 
air quality conditions. They do not, in and of themselves, impose any 
new requirements on any sectors of the economy. In addition, because 
the statutory requirements are clearly defined with respect to the 
differently classified areas, and because those requirements are 
automatically triggered by classifications that, in turn, are triggered 
by air quality values, findings of failure to attain and 
reclassification cannot be said to impose a materially adverse impact 
on State, local or tribal government or communities.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility

    Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 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 economic 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. As discussed in section III of this notice, 
findings of failure to attain and reclassification of nonattainment 
areas under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA do not in and of themselves 
create any new requirements. Therefore, I certify that today's proposed 
action does not have a significant impact on small entities.

V. Unfunded Mandates

    Under sections 202, 203, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act of 1995 (Unfunded Mandates Act), signed into law on March 22, 1995, 
EPA must assess whether various actions undertaken in association with 
proposed or final regulations include a Federal mandate that may result 
in estimated costs of $100 million or more to the private sector, or to 
State, local or tribal governments in the aggregate. EPA believes, as 
discussed above, that the proposed finding of failure to attain and 
reclassification of the Anchorage nonattainment area are factual 
determinations based upon air quality considerations and must occur by 
operation of law and, hence, do not impose any Federal 
intergovernmental mandate, as defined in section 101 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Act.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Intergovernmental relations.

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

    Dated: November 12, 1997.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-30242 Filed 12-1-97; 8:45 am]
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