Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules 33879

This section consists of a policy

statement concerning prior notice-andcomment for rulemaking.

The provisions of 5 U.S.C. 553 set

forth notice-and-comment requirements

for rulemaking and include an

exemption from the notice-andcomment requirements for rulemaking

concerning public property, loans,

grants, benefits, or contracts. Regardless

of whether the rulemaking concerns

public property, loans, grants, benefits,

or contracts, the provisions of 5 U.S.C.

553 also contain exemptions from the

notice-and-comment requirements for

interpretative rules; general statements

of policy; rules of organization,

procedure, or practice; and for rules

published with an appropriate

statement of ‘‘good cause.’’ The

regulatory history of § 1.12 indicates

that, despite the statutory exemption for

public property, loans, grants, benefits,

or contracts, VA intended to utilize the

notice-and-comment provisions for

rulemaking unless it were determined

that it was appropriate to use an

applicable exemption other than an

exemption based on the mere fact that

the subject matter concerned property,

loans, grants, benefits, or contracts (see

37 FR 3552, Feb. 17, 1972).

Subsequent to the promulgation of

§ 1.12, statutory provisions were

established that specifically apply the

public notice-and-comment provisions

of 5 U.S.C. 553 to VA rulemaking

concerning loans, grants, or benefits (see

38 U.S.C. 501(d)). These statutory

provisions do not impose notice-andcomment provisions for rulemaking

concerning public property or contracts.

Also, subsequent to the promulgation

of § 1.12, statutory provisions were

established that specifically apply

notice-and-comment provisions to

certain rulemaking concerning

contracts. In this regard, 41 U.S.C. 418b

provides, with certain exceptions, that

‘‘no procurement policy, regulation,

procedure, or form (including

amendments or modifications thereto)

relating to the expenditure of

appropriated funds that has (1) a

significant effect beyond the internal

operating procedures of the agency

issuing the procurement policy,

regulation, procedure or form, or (2) a

significant cost or administrative impact

on contractors or offerors, may take

effect until 60 days after the

procurement policy, regulation,

procedure, or form is published for

public comment in the Federal

Register.’’

It does not appear that there is a need

for VA to self-impose additional noticeand-comment requirements for

rulemaking beyond those imposed by

statute.

A companion document

reestablishing § 1.12 is published in the

Rules and Regulations section of this

issue of the Federal Register.

No notice of proposed rulemaking

was required in connection with this

rulemaking action. Accordingly, no

regulatory flexibility analysis is required

under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5

U.S.C. 601–612). Nevertheless, the

Secretary of Veterans Affairs certifies

that this proposed rule would not have

a significant economic impact on a

substantial number of small entities as

they are defined in the Regulatory

Flexibility Act. The adoption of the

proposed rule would not have a direct

effect on small entities.

There is no Catalog of Federal

Domestic Assistance program number.

List of Subjects in 38 CFR Part 1

Administrative practice and

procedure, Archives and records,

Cemeteries, Claims, Courts, Flags,

Freedom of information, Government

contracts, Government employees,

Government property, Infants and

children, Inventions and patents,

Investigations, Parking, Penalties, Postal

Service, Privacy, Reporting and

recordkeeping requirements, Seals and

insignia, Security measures, Wages.

Approved: June 21, 1996.

Jesse Brown,

Secretary of Veterans Affairs.

For the reasons set out in the

preamble, 38 CFR part 1 is proposed to

be amended as set forth below:

PART 1—GENERAL PROVISIONS

1. The authority citation for part 1

continues to read as follows:

Authority: 38 U.S.C. 501(a), unless

otherwise noted.

§ 1.12 [Removed]

Section 1.12 and the undesignated

center heading preceding § 1.12 are

removed.

[FR Doc. 96–16643 Filed 6–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 8320–01–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[WA 54–7127; FRL–5529–9]

Clean Air Act Reclassification;

Spokane, Washington Carbon

Monoxide Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA proposes to find that the

Spokane, Washington carbon monoxide

(CO) nonattainment area has not

attained the CO national ambient air

quality standard (NAAQS) by the Clean

Air Act (CAA) mandated attainment

date for moderate nonattainment areas,

December 31, 1995. This proposed

finding is based on EPA’s review of

monitored air quality data for

compliance with the CO NAAQS. If EPA

takes final action on this proposed

finding, the Spokane CO nonattainment

area will be reclassified by operation of

law as a serious nonattainment area.

The intended effect of such a

reclassification would be to allow the

State additional time to 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 July 31,

1996.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should

be sent to: Montel Livingston, SIP

Manager, Office of Air Quality, M/S

OAQ–107, EPA Region 10, Docket #54–

7127, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle,

Washington 98101. The rulemaking

docket for this notice is available for

public review during normal business

hours at the following location: EPA,

Region 10, Office of Air Quality, M/S

OAQ–107, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle,

Washington 98101. Copies of the docket

are also available at the Washington

Department of Ecology, Attention Tami

Dahlgren, Olympia, Washington 98504–

7600, telephone (360) 407–6830; and at

the Spokane County Air Pollution

Control Authority, West 1101 College,

Suite 403, Spokane, Washington 99201,

telephone (509) 456–4727.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

William M. Hedgebeth of the EPA

Region 10 Office of Air Quality, (206)

553–7369.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. CAA Requirements and EPA Actions

Concerning Designation and

Classifications

The CAA Amendments of 1990

(CAAA) were enacted on November 15,

1990. Under section 107(d)(1)(C) of the

CAA, each carbon monoxide (CO) area

designated nonattainment prior to

enactment of the 1990 Amendments,

such as the Spokane area, was

designated nonattainment by operation

of law upon enactment of the 1990

Amendments. Under section 186(a) of
33880 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules

1The moderate area SIP requirements are set forth

in section 187(a) of the Act and differ depending

on whether the area’s design value is below or

above 12.7 ppm. The Spokane area has a design

value above 12.7 ppm. 40 CFR part 81.348.

2See 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).

3See memorandum from William G. Laxton,

Director Technical Support Division, entitled

‘‘Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Design Value

Calculations’’, June 18, 1990. See also Shaver

memorandum.

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 areas with

design values between 9.1 and 16.4

parts per million (ppm), such as the

Spokane 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 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 national

ambient air quality standard (NAAQS)

as expeditiously as practicable but no

later than December 31, 1995.1

B. 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,

within six months of the applicable

attainment date whether the Spokane

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 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.

EPA determines a CO nonattainment

area’s air quality status in accordance

with 40 CFR part 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 in the Spokane area in

1994 and 1995, this notice addresses

only the air quality status of the

Spokane area with respect to the 8-hour

standard. The 8-hour CO NAAQS

requires that not more than one nonoverlapping 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.

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

CAAA 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

Spokane area is reclassified to serious,

the State would have to submit a SIP

revision to EPA 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

Spokane area must be implemented.

C. Attainment Date Extensions

If a state does not have the two

consecutive years of clean data

necessary to show attainment of the

NAAQS, it may apply, under section

186(a)(4) of the CAA, for a one year

attainment date extension. EPA may, in

its discretion, grant such an 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 the CO NAAQS at

any monitoring site in the

nonattainment area in the year

preceding the extension year. Under

section 186(a)(4), EPA may grant up to

two such extensions if these conditions

have been met. Because the Spokane

nonattainment area had four

exceedances in 1995, the area does not

qualify for an extension.

II. This Action

By today’s action, EPA is proposing to

find that the Spokane CO nonattainment

area has failed to demonstrate

attainment of the CO NAAQS by

December 31, 1995. This proposed

finding is based upon air quality data

showing violations of the CO NAAQS

during 1995.

Ambient Air Monitoring Data: The

following table lists the monitoring site

in the Spokane CO nonattainment area

where the 8-hour CO NAAQS has been

exceeded during 1995, based on data

validated by the Washington

Department of Ecology and entered into

the AIRS data base.

EXCEEDANCES OF 8-HOUR CO

NAAQS FOR SPOKANE NONATTAINMENT AREA

Monitoring

site

1995

ConcentrationDate of

exceedance

3rd and

Washington.

10.4 ppm Jan. 9, 1995.

3rd and

Washington.

13.1 ppm Dec. 11, 1995.

3rd and

Washington.

11.2 ppm Dec. 12, 1995.

3rd and

Washington.

9.6 ppm ... Dec. 15, 1995.

In letters to EPA of February 20, 1996,

and March 19, 1996, the City of Spokane

raised questions whether the monitoring

data from the CO monitor located at 3rd

Avenue and Washington Street is

representative of the ambient air. In a

letter to the City of Spokane dated April
Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 127 / Monday, July 1, 1996 / Proposed Rules 33881

9, 1996, EPA Region 10 advised that any

analysis of whether the monitor was

properly sited would need to be

conducted in the context of 40 CFR part

58, Appendix E, which provides

specific criteria for the placement of CO

monitors, including consideration of the

placement of such monitors vis-a-vis

street canyons and traffic corridors. In

addition, the State of Washington

Department of Ecology provided EPA

with copies of four audit reports from

1995 which indicate that that CO

monitor met the Part 58 siting criteria

and that the monitor was reporting

accurately with the acceptance criteria.

This information was provided to the

City of Spokane in a letter dated May

28, 1996.

EPA believes that the 1995

exceedances are valid for use in

determining the attainment status of the

Spokane area. EPA is therefore

proposing to find, based on the 1995 CO

violations discussed above, that the area

did not attain the CO NAAQS by

December 31, 1995.

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

governments 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-forprofit 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 Spokane

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, Intergovernmental

relations, Carbon monoxide.

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401–7671q.

Dated: June 17, 1996.

Chuck Clarke,

Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 96–16670 Filed 6–28–96; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

40 CFR Parts 260, 261, 262, 264, 268,

269 and 271

[FRL–5528–9]

Requirements for Management of

Hazardous Contaminated Media

(HWIR-media); Proposed Rule—Notice

of Extension of Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule: notice of

extension of comment period.

SUMMARY: Since publication of the

proposed rule for Requirements for

Management of Hazardous

Contaminated Media (HWIR-media) (61

FR 18780 (April 29, 1996)), EPA has

received several requests to extend the

comment period. Today, the Agency is

extending the comment period 30 days

to August 28, 1996.

DATES: The comment period on the

proposed rule for Requirements for

Management of Hazardous

Contaminated Media (61 FR 18780) is

extended from July 29, 1996 to August

28, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Commenters on the HWIRmedia proposal must send an original

and two copies of their comments

referencing Docket Number F–96–

MHWP–FFFFF to: (1) If using regular

US Postal Service mail: RCRA Docket

Information Center, Office of Solid

Waste (5305W), U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency Headquarters (EPA,

HQ), 401 M Street, SW., Washington,

DC 20460, or (2) if using special

delivery, such as overnight express

service : RCRA Docket Information

Center (RIC), Crystal Gateway One, 1235

Jefferson Davis Highway, First Floor,

Arlington, VA 22202. For other

information regarding submitting

comments electronically or viewing the

comments received and supporting

information, please refer to the

proposed rule (61 FR 17870 (April 29,

1996)). The RCRA Information Center is

located at Crystal Gateway One, 1235

Jefferson Davis Highway, First Floor,

Arlington Virginia and is open for

public inspection and copying of

supporting information for RCRA rules

from 9 am to 4 pm Monday through

Friday, except for Federal holidays. The

public must make an appointment to

view docket materials by calling (703)

603–9230. The public may copy a

maximum of 100 pages from any

regulatory document at no cost.

Additional copies cost $0.15 per page.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For

general information, call the RCRA

Hotline at 1–800–424–9346 or TDD 1–

800–553–7672 (hearing impaired).