42686 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 140 / Friday, July 20, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

Reporting and recordkeeping 

requirements. 

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

Dated: July 12, 2012. 

A. Stanley Meiburg, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4. 

[FR Doc. 2012–17768 Filed 7–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION 

AGENCY 

40 CFR Part 52 

[EPA–R03–OAR–2010–0140; FRL–9702–1] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air 

Quality Implementation Plans; 

Maryland; 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 Maryland State Implementation Plan 

(SIP) revision submitted by the State of 

Maryland, through the Maryland 

Department of the Environment (MDE), 

on April 3, 2008. The emissions 

inventory is part of the Maryland April 

3, 2008 SIP revision that was submitted 

to meet nonattainment requirements 

related to Maryland’s portion of the 

Washington DC-MD-VA nonattainment 

area (hereafter referred to as Maryland 

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 in accordance with 

the requirements of the Clean Air Act 

(CAA). 

DATES: Written comments must be 

received on or before August 20, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, 

identified by Docket ID Number EPA– 

R03–OAR–2010–0140 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–2010–0140, 

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– 

0140. 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 Maryland Department of 

the Environment, 1800 Washington 

Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, 

Maryland 21230. 

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 established 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 promulgated 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) 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 Maryland Area which is the subject 

of this rulemaking was included in the 

list of areas not attaining the 1997 PM2.5

NAAQS. The Maryland Area consists of 

the following counties in Maryland: 

Charles, Frederick, Montgomery and 

Prince Georges. 

On January 12, 2009 (74 FR 1146), 

EPA determined that Maryland had 

attained the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS in the 

Maryland 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 2005–2007 data. The 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 140 / Friday, July 20, 2012 / Proposed Rules 42687 

January 12, 2009 determination 

suspended the requirements for 

Maryland 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 March 5, 

2012, MDE submitted a request for 

withdrawal of the Maryland 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), Maryland 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 MDE on April 3, 

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 MDE. 

The year 2002 was selected by MDE 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, below, provides a summary 

of the annual 2002 emissions of NOX, 

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

were included in the Maryland 

submittal. 

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

Pollutant NOX VOCs PM2.5 PM10 NH3 SO2

Emissions (TPY) ...................................... 109,041.17 98,626.04 12,825.42 30,826.06 5,174.36 169,788.65 

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 the MDE 

Air and Radiation Management 

Administration (MDE–ARMA), the 

Maryland Department of Transportation 

(MDOT), the Metropolitan Washington 

Council of Government (MWCOG), and 

EPA for biogenic sources. 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 

preliminarily agrees that the process 

used to develop this inventory and the 

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. 

III. Proposed Action 

EPA is proposing to approve the 2002 

base year emissions inventory portion of 

the SIP revision submitted by the State 

of Maryland through MDE on April 3, 

2008. We have made the preliminary 

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. 

IV. 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 

Maryland 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. 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS
42688 Federal Register / Vol. 77, No. 140 / Friday, July 20, 2012 / Proposed Rules 

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

Dated: July 10, 2012. 

W.C. Early, 

Acting Regional Administrator, Region III. 

[FR Doc. 2012–17770 Filed 7–19–12; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P 

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 

National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

Administration 

50 CFR Part 622 

[Docket No. 120403249–2230–01] 

RIN 0648–BC03 

Snapper-Grouper Fishery Off the 

Southern Atlantic States; SnapperGrouper Management Measures 

AGENCY: National Marine Fisheries 

Service (NMFS), National Oceanic and 

Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 

Commerce. 

ACTION: Proposed rule; request for 

comments. 

SUMMARY: NMFS publishes this 

proposed rule to implement a regulatory 

amendment (Regulatory Amendment 

12) to the Fishery Management Plan for 

the Snapper-Grouper Fishery of the 

South Atlantic Region (FMP), as 

prepared by the South Atlantic Fishery 

Management Council (Council). If 

implemented, this rule would modify 

the golden tilefish annual catch limit 

(ACL), which would be equal to the 

optimum yield (OY), as well as revise 

the recreational accountability measures 

(AMs) for golden tilefish in the South 

Atlantic exclusive economic zone (EEZ). 

The intent of this rule is to modify 

management measures for golden 

tilefish in the commercial and 

recreational sectors in the South 

Atlantic based on new stock assessment 

analyses. 

DATES: Written comments on this 

proposed rule must be received on or 

before August 20, 2012. 

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments 

on the proposed rule identified by 

‘‘NOAA–NMFS–2012–0087’’ by any of 

the following methods: 

• Electronic submissions: Submit 

electronic comments via the Federal eRulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov. Follow the 

‘‘Instructions’’ for submitting comments. 

• Mail: Karla Gore, Southeast 

Regional Office, NMFS, 263 13th 

Avenue South, St. Petersburg, FL 33701. 

Instructions: All comments received 

are a part of the public record and will 

generally be posted to http:// 

www.regulations.gov without change. 

All Personal Identifying Information (for 

example, name, address, etc.) 

voluntarily submitted by the commenter 

may be publicly accessible. Do not 

submit Confidential Business 

Information or otherwise sensitive or 

protected information. NMFS will 

accept anonymous comments (enter 

N/A in the required field if you wish to 

remain anonymous). 

To submit comments through the 

Federal e-Rulemaking Portal: http:// 

www.regulations.gov, enter ‘‘NOAA– 

NMFS–2012–0087’’ in the search field 

and click on ‘‘search.’’ After you locate 

the document ‘‘Snapper-Grouper 

Fishery off the Southern Atlantic States; 

Snapper-Grouper Management 

Measures,’’ click the ‘‘Submit a 

Comment’’ link in that row. This will 

display the comment Web form. You 

can then enter your submitter 

information (unless you prefer to remain 

anonymous), and type your comment on 

the Web form. You can also attach 

additional files (up to 10MB) in 

Microsoft Word, Excel, WordPerfect, or 

Adobe PDF file formats only. 

Comments received through means 

not specified in this rule will not be 

considered. 

For further assistance with submitting 

a comment, see the ‘‘Commenting’’ 

section at http://www.regulations.gov/ 

#!faqs or the Help section at http:// 

www.regulations.gov. 

Electronic copies of documents 

supporting this proposed rule including 

an environmental assessment, initial 

regulatory flexibility analysis (IRFA), 

regulatory impact review, and fishery 

impact statement may be obtained from 

the Southeast Regional Office Web site 

at http://sero.nmfs.noaa.gov/sf/ 

SASnapperGrouperHomepage.htm. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Karla Gore, telephone: 727–824–5305, 

or email: Karla.Gore@noaa.gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

snapper-grouper fishery of the South 

Atlantic is managed under the FMP. The 

FMP was prepared by the Council and 

is implemented through regulations at 

50 CFR part 622 under the authority of 

the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery 

Conservation and Management Act 

(Magnuson-Stevens Act). 

Background 

The Magnuson-Stevens Act requires 

NMFS and the regional fishery 

management councils to prevent 

overfishing, to achieve (on a continuing 

basis) the OY from federally managed 

fish stocks, and to rebuild stocks that 

have been determined to be overfished. 

These mandates ensure management of 

fishery resources for the greatest overall 

benefit to the nation, particularly with 

respect to providing food production 

and recreational opportunities, and 

protecting marine ecosystems. 

Reauthorization of the MagnusonStevens Act in 2007 required 

implementation of new tools to help 

end and prevent overfishing to achieve 

the OY from a fishery. The tools are 

ACLs and AMs. 

An ACL is the level of annual catch 

of a stock that, if met or exceeded, 

triggers some corrective action through 

AMs. The AMs are management 

controls to prevent exceeding the ACLs 

and to correct for overages of ACLs if 

they occur. An AM might be an inseason closure if catch approaches the 

ACL, or it may require reducing the ACL 

for the following fishing year because of 

an overage that occurred during the 

previous fishing year. ACLs may not 

exceed the overfishing limit (OFL) and 

the acceptable biological catch (ABC). 

The OFL is an estimate of the catch 

level above which overfishing is 

occurring and may come from a stock 

assessment. The ABC is defined as the 

level of a stock’s annual catch that 

accounts for the scientific uncertainty in 

the estimate of OFL and any other 

scientific uncertainty, and is based on 

the Council’s ABC control rule. 

Management Measures Contained in 

This Proposed Rule 

This proposed rule, if implemented, 

would modify the ACL for golden 

tilefish. In 2011, ACLs and AMs were 

implemented for golden tilefish through 

the Amendment 17B to the FMP (75 FR 

82280, December 30, 2010). Since then, 

golden tilefish have been assessed 

through the Southeast Data, Assessment, 

and Review (SEDAR) process using data 

through 2010. The stock assessment for 

golden tilefish indicated that the South 

Atlantic population is not overfished 

nor undergoing overfishing. Results 

from the recent stock assessment 

(SEDAR 25 2011) suggest that the 

current South Atlantic golden tilefish 

ACL (326,554 lb (148,122 kg), round 

weight, or 291,566 lb (132,252 kg), 

gutted weight), can be increased. The 

current South Atlantic golden tilefish 

commercial ACL is 316,757 lb (143,679 

kg), round weight, or 282,819 lb 

(128,285 kg), gutted weight; and the 

recreational ACL is 1,578 fish. If 

implemented, the commercial and 

recreational ACLs for golden tilefish in 

the South Atlantic would be set at the 

yield associated with 75 percent fishing 

mortality that will produce the 

maximum sustainable yield (MSY) 

while the population is at equilibrium. 

Therefore, this proposed rule would 


tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS