MEMORANDUM UNITED STATESENVIRONMENTALPROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON,D.C. 20460



## SEP OFFICEOF AND RADIATION



# - { SUBJECT:

FROM:

TO: state Implementation Plan (SIP) Requirements for Areas SUbmittingRequests for Redesignation to Attainment of the Ozone and Carbon**MonOXide~(co)** National Ambient Air Quality Standards (N QS) on 0 a eF November 15, 1992



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- Michael H. Shapiro Acting AssistantAministra 0 for Air and Radiation (ANR-443) Director, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, Regions I and IV Director, Air and waste Management Division, Region II Director, Air, Radiation and TOXlcs Division, Region III Director, Air and Radiation Division, Region V Director, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Division, Region VI Director, Air and Toxics Division, Regions VII, VIII, IX, and X

I. Purpose The purpose ofthis memorandum is to address State requests to redesignate from nonattainment to attainment ofthe ozone and CO NAAQS under section 107. Specifically at issue are requests submitted on or after November 15, 1992 where outstanding Clean AirAct (Act) requirements have not beenmet. This memo provides guidance on the statutorily-mandated control programs thatmust be in the EPA-approved SIP ifEPA is to approve the redesignation request. The Act's requirements for redesignation and a list of EPA's redesignation policy and guidance are included in Attachments Aand B. In the future, further guidance may be provided for redesignations submitted after November 15, 1993.

Recycled/Recyclable PrintedwtthSoy/canolaInk onpaperthat containsatleast500/0recvcl<>rlflh<>'2 II. Policy Summary section 107(d)(3)(E)(v) ofthe Act as amended (amendedAct) provides that the Statemusthave met all applicable requirements of section 110 and part Din order to be redesignated. Furthermore, section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii) provides that the State must have a fully-approved SIP for the area seeking redesignation. The EPA is interpreting these section 107 provisions to require satisfactory completion ofthe currentAct planning requirements. Specifically, before EPA can act favorably upon any State redesignation request, the statutorily-mandated control programs of section 110 andpart D (thatwere due prior to the time ofthe redesignation request) must have been adopted by the State and approved by EPA into the SIP. Thus, with respect to redesignation requests submitted on or after the Act's deadline for submittal ofthe required programs,

. States must generally adopt andprovide for implementation of their regulations for all ofthe programs that were due. States must submit these plans to EPA for incorporation into the SIP.1 This would include such requirements as emissions inventories and/or emission statements. Such requirements must bemet in order for the area to have a fully-approved SIP thatmeets all requirements applicable to the areaunder section 110 and part D. The amendedAct, however, also provides that upon redesignation, a State may move measures from the implemented SIP to the contingency plan portion ofthe SIP ifthe State demonstrates that suchmeasures are not needed for maintaining the NAAQS. Manyareas soughtredesignation at or about the same time they were required to adopt and implement the requirements due on November 15, 1992. Inmany instances, the State will be able to immediatelymove these measures to the contingencyplan without implementation. III. Exceptions to Policy The EPA decided to review the requirements to determine if something less than full adoption ofthese regulations would be acceptable under the Act for areas seeking redesignation. Exceptions to this policy on the States' need to complete the full planning and adoption process for the November 15, 1992 mandatedprograms are very limited. The language in the Act allows a degree of flexibility in only four program areas. These are: (1) basic inspection andmaintenance (11M), (2) annual updates ofvehicle miles traveled (VMT) forecasts and annual
(- INote that this represents a departure from earlier guidance for part D new source review (NSR) regulations.

### -. 3 estimates of actual VMT for CO nonattainment areas, (3) nitrogen oxides (NOx) reasonably available control technology (RACT), and (4) small business programs (SBP). These exceptions are only applicable in areas for which EPA approves a redesignation. The states shouldbe aware that ifEPA denies a redesignation request, rules submitted in accordance with this guidancemay also be disapprovable. Finally, because EPA anticipates issuing onboardregulations by January 1994, states seeking redesignation of areas classified as moderate may have some flexibility with respect to the stage II requirement. Our guidance for state submittals covering these four programs is described in the following paragraphs. Basic 11M For areas where maintenance plans do not rely on implementation ofa basic 11Mprogram immediately following redesignation, the 11Mcomponent ofthe SIP should include: 1. Legislative authority for basic 11Msuch that implementing regulations can be adoptedwithout any further legislative action. 2. Aprovision in the SIP providing that basic 11Mbe placed in the contingencymeasures portion ofthe maintenance plan upon redesignation. 3. An enforceable schedule and commitment by the Governor orhis designee for adoption and implementation ofa basic 11M programupon a specified, appropriate triggering event. Note that, for purposes ofconsideration ofa redesignation request submitted afterNovember 15, 1992, the commitment as described in the 11Mregulation (see 57 FR52950, November 5, 1992) is not sufficient to meet the Act's requirement for a fUlly-approved SIP. In addition, please note that, EPA's final 11Mregulations in 40 CFRpart 51 require a fUlly-adopted 11Mprogram by November 15, 1993. At this time, our preliminary interpretative guidance on basic 11Min this memo is not discussed in the 11M regulations. Therefore, EPA is proceeding to establish this interpretation through regulatory action, thus enabling EPA to accept legislative authority and a commitment to adopt and implement basic 11Mregulations for those areas being redesignated to attainment.

# ,-- I 4 VMT Forecasting The VMT forecasting SIP for CO should include: 1. Annual forecasts ofVMT (i.e., average daily VMT for the peak 3-month CO seasons for 1993, 1994, and 1995 in moderate areas above 12.7 ppm, and until 2000 in serious areas). 2. Anenforceable commitmentby the Governor or his designee to estimate actual annual VMT for each ofthese years (by September 30 ofthe following year) and to update the forecast ofthe VMT in the remainingyears. 3. Arequest thatthe commitmentbe moved to the contingencyplanportion ofthe SIPupon redesignation, becoming a contingency provision triggered by a specifiedtriggering event. 4. Adopted contingencymeasures to reduce CO emissions. The implementation of such measures is contingentupon either: (a) an annual estimate of actual VMT or updated forecast ofVMT exceeding the previous forecast for that year, or (b) the area failing to attain by the CO attainment deadline. These contingencymeasures mustmeet the requirements of section 187(a)(3) as interpreted by the April 16, 1992, "General Preamble for the Implementation ofTitle I ofthe CleanAirActAmendments of 1990," including the requirement that no further action by the State is needed for themto take effect. NOx RACT section 182(f) provides that States mayrequest an exemption from the NOx RACT requirements. The NOxRACT requirements of section 182(f) do not apply if additional reductions ofNOx would not contribute to attainment.2 In an area that did not implement the section 182(f) NOx requirement but didmeet the ozone standard, as demonstrated by adequate monitoring data consistent with EPA guidance, it is clear that the additional NOx reductions required by section 182(f) would not contribute to attainment, although they might contribute to maintenance. Therefore, EPA believes that if a state submits a redesignation request along with a section 182(f) exemption request based onmonitoring data demonstrating attainment ofthe ozone NAAQS, further documentation is not required. The State may follow one oftwo approaches inmaking such a submittal:

2Note that the section 182(f) exemption for NOx RACT and NSR requirements described in this section is applicable only for States outside an ozone transport region, since only those States fall under the section 182(f) "contribute to attainment" provision.5 1. Submit a redesignation request along with a section 182(f) exemption request based solelyuponmonitoring data showing thatthe area's air quality is meeting the ozone NAAQS; and submit a maintenance plan SIP revision, which includes a NOx RACT programas a contingencymeasure. In lieu ofadopted NOx RACT rules, such a NOx RACT programmay consist ofan enforceable schedule and commitmentby the Governor orhis designee to adopt and implement the NOxRACT rules upon a specified, appropriate triggering event. 2. Anexemption request based onboth ambientmonitoring and urban airshedmodeling consistentwith EPA guidance that shows additional NOx reductions wouldnot contribute to attainment in the area. In this case, NOxRACT rules do nothave to be included as a contingencymeasure ofthe maintenance plan.

For several reasons, the Act canbe interpreted as not requiring the section 507 SBPsubmittal in order for EPA to approve a redesignation request. The SBPsubmittal is required regardless ofwhether there are any designated nonattainment areas within the State. In addition, the SBP is not a control measure intendedto contribute to the emission reductions achieved by an area; rather it is a serviceprovided to help small businesses comply with requirements ofthe Act. For the above reasons, EPA is interpreting the SBPas notbeing an applicable requirement for any specific nonattainment area that is seeking redesignation. However, EPAwill continue to ensure that States make SBP submittals in a timely fashion. Stage II VaporRecovery Stage II vapor recovery remains an applicable requirement for moderate ozone nonattainment areas until EPA promulgates onboard vapor recovery regulations. section 202(a)(6) ofthe Act provides that once onboard regulations are promulgated, the Stage II regulations required under section 182(b)(3) are no longer applicable for moderate ozone nonattainment areas. Therefore, final redesignation for a moderate nonattainment area that occurs after EPA's onboard regulations are promulgated does not have to include a Stage II SIP control program. Forredesignation requests that are submitted before EPApromulgates onboard rules and that do not include Stage II rules for moderate areas, Regional Offices mayprepare rUlemaking actions proposing to approve the redesignation, ifappropriate, as long as final approval occurs after EPA promulgates onboard regulations.

# ,- IV. 6 Coordination of SIP Submittals and Redesignation Requests Ifthe State elects to follow the approach above, the State should submit the SIP control program as described above along with the redesignation request andmaintenance plan. The EPA will review the required SIP submittal(s) against EPA pOlicy and guidance and in coordinationwith the redesignation request and maintenance plan. Approvability ofthe redesignation is directly related to the approvability ofthe SIP submittals (i.e., EPA is precluded from approving a redesignation to attainment ifthe SIP is not approvable). As a general policy, a Statemay not relax the adopted and implemented SIP for an area upon the area's redesignation to attainment. States should continue to implement existing control strategies in orderto maintain the standard. However, section 175A recognizes that States may be able to move SIP measures to the contingencyplan upon redesignation ifthe State can adequately demonstrate that such action will not interfere with maintenance ofthe standard. The type ofdemonstration necessary is dependentupon the pollutant for which the area has been redesignated to attainment. In order to make such a demonstration for an area redesignated to attainment for CO, EPA believes that the State could submit a revised control strategy demonstration showing that the measure is not necessary to maintain the standard. For ozone, the State would need to submit an attainmentmodeling demonstration consistentwith EPA's current "Guideline on Air QualityModels," showing that the control measure is not needed to maintain the standard. The EPA intends to be very cautious in approving such revisions in cases where the control measures were implemented during the time the area attained the standard; the State's demonstration should indicate an ample margin of safety with respect to maintenance ofthe standard. V. Conclusion In summary, full adoption of all ofthe statutorily-required programs, as well as a schedule and an enforceable commitment for an implementation date, are necessary for redesignation to attainment from nonattainment for ozone or CO ifthe redesignation request is submitted after the statutory due date for the program. The few exceptions to this requirement are basic 11M, annual updates ofVMT forecasts, and estimates of actual VMT, NOx RACT, and SBP. Ifyou have any questions, please contact Sharon Reinders at (919) 541-5284, orAnnie Nikbakht at (919) 541-5246..:



# -- 7 Attachments

cc: Air Branch Chief, Regions I-X Kent Berry, AQMD Rob Brenner, OAR Mary Henigin, OAQPS Alan Eckert, OGC Robert Kellam, TSD Rich Ossias, OGC John Seitz, OAQPS Paul Stolpman, OAR Jan Tierney, OGe Lydia Wegman, OAQPS Dick Wilson, OMSAttachmentA

Criteria For Redesignation Under Section 107(dl section 107(d)(3)(E) ofthe Act states five criteria that must bemet before the Administratormay redesignate an area to attainment. The criteria are: 1. The EPAhas determined that the NAAQS have been attained. 2. The applicable implementationplanhas been fully approved by EPAunder section 110(k). 3. The EPAhas determinedthat the improvement in air quality is due to permanent and enforceable reductions in emissions. 4. The State has met all applicable requirements for the area under section 110 and part**D~** 5. The EPAhas fully approved a maintenance plan, including a contingency plan, for the area under section 175A."

Attachment B

The EPApolicies for implementing section 107 ofthe Act for redesignations are contained in the following memorandums. 1. "Procedures for Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to Attainment," John Calcagni, Director, Air QualityManagement Division, September 4, 1992. 2. "State Implementation Plan (SIP) Actions Submitted in Response to Clean Air Act (CAA) Deadlines," John Calcagni, Director, Air QualityManagement Division, October 28, 1992. 3. "contingencyMeasures for Ozone and CarbonMonoxide (CO) Redesignations," G. T. Helms, Chief, Ozone/Carbon Monoxide Programs Branch, June 1, 1992. 4. "Maintenance Plans for Redesignation ofOzone and Carbon Monoxide Nonattainment Areas," G. T. Helms, Chief, Ozone/Carbon Monoxide Programs Branch, April 30, 1992. In the event that EPA does not approve the redesignation, the applicable I/Mprogramrequirements and guidance can be found in 57 FR52950, November 5, 1992 and in 40 CFRpart 51. The applicable VMT forecast guidance is described in the document

,- entitIed, "section 187 VMT Forecasting and Tracking Guidance," January 1992.



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