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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 241 (Monday, December 16, 2024)]
[Notices]
[Pages 101602-101603]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-29468]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0063; FRL-12485-01-OAR]

Guidance on the Preparation of State Implementation Plan 
Provisions That Address the Nonattainment Area Contingency Measure 
Requirements for Ozone and Particulate Matter

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[[Page 101603]]

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) has posted on its website a final guidance document 
titled, ``Final Guidance on the Preparation of State Implementation 
Plan Provisions that Address the Nonattainment Area Contingency Measure 
Requirements for Ozone and Particulate Matter.''

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions concerning this 
final guidance document, please contact Michael Ling, U.S. EPA, Office 
of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Policy Division, 
C539-04, Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-4729, 
email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. General Information

How can I get copies of this guidance document and other related 
information?

    Docket: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2023-0063. All documents in the docket are 
listed on the https://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in 
the index, some information may not be publicly available, e.g., 
Confidential Business Information 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. Publicly available docket materials are available 
electronically through https://www.regulations.gov.
    Agency Web Site: The EPA has a website to house the final guidance 
at: https://www.epa.gov/air-quality-implementation-plans/final-contingency-measures-guidance. This website includes the final guidance 
document, and a link to the previous website for the public comment 
process on the draft guidance.

What is the purpose of the EPA's guidance?

    The purpose of the guidance is to assist air agencies that are 
required to prepare nonattainment plan State implementation plan 
submissions for the ozone or particulate matter National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard under Part D of Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). 
Specifically, the guidance focuses on the statutory requirement for 
those plans to include contingency measures (CMs), which are control 
requirements that would take effect if the EPA determines that a State 
has failed to attain by an applicable attainment date or failed to meet 
reasonable further progress related requirements. These CM requirements 
are specified in CAA section 172(c)(9) for nonattainment areas 
generally, and in CAA section 182(c)(9) for ozone nonattainment areas 
classified Serious and higher.
    The guidance document provides a broad overview of CM requirements 
and prior EPA guidance (contained in section 2 of the CM guidance), 
much of which is unaffected by the updated guidance. The document 
focuses primarily on three aspects of CM guidance that the EPA is 
revising or updating. Specifically, the revised CM guidance: (1) 
recommends changes to the methodology for determining the amount of 
reductions that CMs should provide (described in section 3 of the of 
the CM guidance); (2) recommends an approach for developing an 
infeasibility justification for an air agency to use if it cannot 
identify feasible CMs in a sufficient quantity to produce the 
recommended amount of CM emission reductions (described in section 4 of 
the CM guidance); and (3) recommends changes to the time period within 
which reductions from CMs should occur following a triggering event 
(described in section 5 of the CM guidance).
    The EPA accepted comments on the draft guidance from March 23, 
2023, through April 24, 2023. The EPA received comments from 24 
entities. All comments received by the EPA are included in the docket 
for this guidance. The EPA thoroughly considered the points raised in 
the comments in the development of this final guidance.

Scott Mathias,
Director, Air Quality Planning Division.
[FR Doc. 2024-29468 Filed 12-13-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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