50964 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 164 / Thursday, August 23, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2010–0152; FRL–9718–6] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; District 

of Columbia; the 2002 Base Year 

Inventory 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection 

Agency (EPA). 

ACTION: Proposed rule. 

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve 

the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) 2002 

base year emissions inventory portion of 

the District of Columbia State 

Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 

submitted by the District of Columbia, 

through the District Department of the 

Environment (DDOE), on April 2, 2008. 

The emissions inventory is part of the 

District of Columbia’s April 2, 2008 SIP 

revision that was submitted to meet 

nonattainment requirements related to 

the District of Columbia’s portion of the 

Washington DC-MD-VA nonattainment 

area (hereafter referred to as DC Area or 

Area) for the 1997 PM2.5 National 

Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) 

SIP. EPA is proposing to approve the 

2002 base year PM2.5 emissions 

inventory submitted by DDOE in 

accordance with the requirements of the 

Clean Air Act (CAA). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before September 24, 

2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID Number EPA– 

R03–OAR–2010–0152 by one of the 

following methods: 

A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

on-line instructions for submitting 

comments. 

B. Email: mastro.donna@epa.gov. 

C. Mail: EPA–R03–OAR–2010–0152, 

Donna Mastro, Acting Associate 

Director, Office of Air Program 

Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S. 

Environmental Protection Agency, 

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 

D. 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 

Docket ID No. EPA–R03–OAR–2010– 

0152. EPA’s policy is that all comments 

received 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 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 www.regulations.gov 

or email. The www.regulations.gov Web 

site is 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 email 

comment directly to EPA without going 

through www.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 

www.regulations.gov index. 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 www.regulations.gov 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 District of Columbia 

Department of the Environment, Air 

Quality Division, 1200 1st Street NE., 

5th floor, Washington, DC 20002. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Asrah Khadr, (215) 814–2071, or by 

email at khadr.asrah@epa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background 

II. Summary of SIP Revision 

III. Proposed Action 

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews 

I. Background 

Throughout this document, whenever 

‘‘we,’’ ‘‘us,’’ or ‘‘our’’ is used, we mean 

EPA. On July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38652), 

EPA published the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS, 

including an annual standard of 15.0 mg/ 

m3 based on a 3-year average of annual 

mean PM2.5 concentrations, and a 24- 

hour (or daily) standard of 65 mg/m3

based on a 3-year average of the 98th 

percentile of 24-hour concentrations. 

EPA established the standards based on 

significant evidence and numerous 

health studies demonstrating that 

serious health effects are associated 

with exposures to PM2.5. 

Following promulgation of a new or 

revised NAAQS, EPA is required by the 

CAA to designate areas throughout the 

United States as attaining or not 

attaining the NAAQS; this designation 

process is described in section 107(d)(1) 

of the CAA. In 1999, EPA and state airquality agencies initiated the monitoring 

process for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS and, 

by January 2001, established a complete 

set of air-quality monitors. On January 

5, 2005, EPA published initial airquality designations for the 1997 PM2.5

NAAQS (70 FR 944), which became 

effective on April 5, 2005, based on airquality monitoring data for calendar 

years 2001–03. 

On April 14, 2005, EPA promulgated 

a supplemental rule amending the 

agency’s initial designations (70 FR 

19844), with the same effective date 

(April 5, 2005) as that which was 

promulgated at 70 FR 944. As a result 

of this supplemental rule, PM2.5

nonattainment designations are in effect 

for 39 areas, comprising 208 counties 

within 20 states (and the District of 

Columbia) nationwide, with a combined 

population of approximately 88 million. 

The DC Area which is the subject of this 

rulemaking was included in the list of 

areas not attaining the 1997 PM2.5

NAAQS. 

On January 12, 2009 (74 FR 1146), 

EPA determined that the District of 

Columbia had attained the 1997 PM2.5

NAAQS in the DC Area. That 

determination was based upon quality 

assured, quality controlled and certified 

ambient air monitoring data that 

showed the Area had monitored 

attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS for 

the 2004–2006 monitoring period and 

that continued to show attainment of 

the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS based on the 

2005–2007 data. The January 12, 2009 

determination suspended the 

requirements for the District of 

Columbia to submit an attainment 

demonstration, associated reasonably 

available control measures, a reasonable 

further progress plan, contingency 

measures, and other planning SIP 

revisions related to attainment of the 

standard for so long as the 

nonattainment area continues to meet 

the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. On February 6, 


ebenthall on DSK5SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 164 / Thursday, August 23, 2012 / Proposed Rules 50965 

2012, DDOE submitted a request for 

withdrawal of the District of Columbia 

1997 PM2.5 SIP revisions including the 

withdrawal of the attainment plan, 

analysis of reasonably available control 

measures, attainment demonstration, 

contingency plans and mobile source 

budgets. To meet the requirements of 

CAA section 172(c)(3), DDOE did not 

request the withdrawal of the 2002 base 

year emission inventory portion of the 

1997 PM2.5 SIP revisions. Section 

172(c)(3) of the CAA requires 

submission and approval of a 

comprehensive, accurate, and current 

inventory of actual emissions. 

II. Summary of SIP Revision 

The 2002 base year emission 

inventory submitted by DDOE on April 

2, 2008 includes emissions estimates 

that cover the general source categories 

of point sources, non-road mobile 

sources, area sources, on-road mobile 

sources, and biogenic sources. The 

pollutants that comprise the inventory 

are nitrogen oxides (NOX), volatile 

organic compounds (VOCs), PM2.5, 

coarse particles (PM10), ammonia (NH3), 

and sulfur dioxide (SO2). EPA has 

reviewed the results, procedures and 

methodologies for the base year 

emissions inventory submitted by 

DDOE. The year 2002 was selected by 

DDOE as the base year for the emissions 

inventory per 40 CFR 51.1008(b). A 

discussion of the emissions inventory 

development as well as the emissions 

inventory can be found in Appendix B 

of the April 3, 2008 SIP submittal. 

Table 1 provides a summary of the 

annual 2002 emissions of NOX, VOCs, 

PM2.5, PM10, NH3, and SO2 which were 

included in the District of Columbia 

submittal. 

TABLE 1—EMISSIONS OF POLLUTANTS IN TONS PER YEAR (TPY) 

Pollutant NOX VOCs PM2.5 PM10 NH3 SO2

Emissions (TPY) ...................................... 15,401.08 15,877.34 1,076.58 3,395.81 407.08 3,597.33 

The CAA section 172(c)(3) emissions 

inventory is developed by the 

incorporation of data from multiple 

sources. States were required to develop 

and submit to EPA a triennial emissions 

inventory according to the Consolidated 

Emissions Reporting Rule (CERR) for all 

source categories (i.e., point, area, 

nonroad mobile and on-road mobile). 

The 2002 emissions inventory was 

based on data developed by DDOE and 

the Metropolitan Washington Council of 

Government (MWCOG). The data were 

developed according to current EPA 

emissions inventory guidance, 

‘‘Emissions Inventory Guidance for 

Implementation of Ozone and 

Particulate Matter NAAQS and Regional 

Haze Regulations,’’ August 2005. EPA 

agrees that the process used to develop 

this emissions inventory is adequate to 

meet the requirements of CAA section 

172(c)(3), the implementing regulations, 

and EPA guidance for emission 

inventories. More information regarding 

the review of the base year inventory 

can be found in the technical support 

document (TSD) titled ‘‘2002 SIP Base 

Year Inventory’’ that is located in this 

docket. 

IV. Proposed Action 

EPA is proposing to approve the 2002 

base year emissions inventory portion of 

the SIP revision submitted by the 

District of Columbia through DDOE on 

April 2, 2008. We have made the 

determination that this action is 

consistent with section 110 of the CAA. 

EPA is soliciting public comments on 

the issues discussed in this document. 

These comments will be considered 

before taking final action. 

V. Statutory and Executive Order 

Reviews 

Under the CAA, the Administrator is 

required to approve a SIP submission 

that complies with the provisions of the 

CAA 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 proposes to approve state law as 

meeting Federal requirements 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 proposed rule, 

pertaining to the PM2.5 2002 base year 

emissions inventory portion of the 

District of Columbia SIP, does not have 

tribal implications as specified by 

Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, 

November 9, 2000), because the SIP is 

not approved to apply in Indian country 

located in the state, and EPA notes that 

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, Nitrogen dioxide, 

Particulate matter, Reporting and 

recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur 

oxides, Volatile organic compounds. 

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

Dated: August 8, 2012. 

W.C. Early, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2012–20779 Filed 8–22–12; 8:45 am] 

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