Document ID: EPA-R03-OAR-2007-0215-0005
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2007-11-07T05:00Z

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

	40 CFR Part 52

	[EPA-R03-OAR-2007-0215; FRL-        ] 

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; West
Virginia; 110(a)(1) 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan and Amendments to the
1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan

AGENCY:  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:  Proposed rule.

SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve State Implementation Plan (SIP)
revisions submitted by West Virginia. These revisions pertain to: 1) the
maintenance plan prepared by West Virginia to maintain the 8-hour
national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone in Greenbrier
County, which is designated attainment for the ozone NAAQS; and 2) two
amendments to the existing 1-hour ozone maintenance plan, which include
(a) removal of the obligation to submit a maintenance plan for the
1-hour NAAQS eight years after approval of the initial 1-hour
maintenance plan, and (b) removal of the State’s obligation to
implement contingency measures upon a violation of the 1-hour NAAQS. 
The purpose of this proposed approval is to ensure Federal
enforceability of the state air program plan and to maintain consistency
between the State-adopted plan and the approved SIP.  This action is
being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA). 

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before [insert date 30
days from date of publication].  

ADDRESSES:  Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number
EPA-R03-OAR-

2007-0215, by one of the following methods:

A.   www.regulations.gov.  Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.

     B.    E-mail:   HYPERLINK "mailto:powers.marilyn@epa.gov" 
powers.marilyn@epa.gov .

     C.    Mail:   EPA- R03-OAR-2007-0215, Marilyn Powers, Acting Branch
Chief, Air Quality Planning Branch, Mailcode 3AP21, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania 19103.

     D.   Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed 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-2007-0215.  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 e-mail.  The www.regulations.gov website 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 e-mail comment directly to EPA without going
through  www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 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 West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street SE, Charleston,
West Virginia 25304.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Irene Shandruk, (215) 814-2166, or by
e-mail at shandruk.irene@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  On November 29, 2006, the West Virginia
Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) submitted a revision to
its State Implementation Plan (SIP) for approval of the section
110(a)(1) 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for Greenbrier County, West
Virginia, and for concurrent approval of two amendments to the existing
1-hour ozone maintenance plan.  

I.    Background 

Section 110(a)(1) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires, in part, that
states submit to EPA plans to maintain any NAAQS promulgated by EPA. 
EPA interprets this provision to require that areas that were
maintenance areas for the 1-hour ozone NAAQS but attainment for the
8-hour ozone NAAQS submit a plan to demonstrate the continued
maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS.  EPA established June 15, 2007,
three years after the effective date of the initial 8-hour ozone
designations, as the deadline for submission of plans for these areas.  

On May 20, 2005, EPA issued guidance that applies, in part, to areas
that are designated attainment/unclassifiable for the 8-hour ozone
standard and that had an approved 1-hour ozone maintenance plan.  The
purpose of the guidance, referred to as section 110(a)(1) guidance, is
to assist the states in the development of a SIP which addresses the
maintenance requirements 

found in section 110(a)(1) of the CAA.  There are five components of the
section 110(a)(1) maintenance plan which are: (1) An attainment
inventory, which is based on actual typical 

summer day emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of
nitrogen (NOx) for a ten-year period from a base year as chosen by the
state; (2) a maintenance demonstration which shows how the area will
remain in compliance with the 8-hour ozone standard for 10 years after
the effective date of designations (June 15, 2004); (3) a commitment to
continue to operate air quality monitors; (4) a contingency plan that
will ensure that a violation of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS is promptly
addressed; and (5) an explanation of how the State will track the
progress of the maintenance plan.

II.   Summary of SIP Revision

The WVDEP 8-hour ozone maintenance plan addresses the components of the
section 110(a)(1) 8-hour ozone maintenance plan as outlined in EPA’s
May 20, 2005 guidance.  West Virginia has requested approval of its
8-hour ozone maintenance plan for Greenbrier County, as well as
concurrent approval of two amendments to its existing 1-hour ozone
maintenance plan.

Emissions Inventory:  An emissions inventory is an itemized list of
emission estimates for sources of air pollution in a given area for a
specified time period.  WVDEP has provided a comprehensive and current
emissions inventory for NOx and VOCs.  WVDEP has chosen to use 2002 as
the base year from which it will project emissions.  The maintenance
plan also includes an explanation of the methodology used for
determining the anthropogenic (area and mobile sources) emissions. 
There are no Title V point sources located in Greenbrier County, so a
2002 point source inventory was not compiled.  The inventory is based on
emissions from a typical ozone season day.  The term “typical”
refers to emissions being emitted during a typical weekday during the
months where ozone concentrations are typically the highest. 

Maintenance Demonstration and Tracking Progress:  With regard to
demonstrating continued maintenance of the 8-hour ozone standard, West
Virginia projects that the total emissions from Greenbrier County will
decrease during the ten-year maintenance period.  WVDEP has projected
emissions for 10 years from the effective date of initial designations,
or 2014.  In 2002, the total anthropogenic emissions in Greenbrier
County were 7.7 tons/ozone season day for VOCs and 7.4 tons/ozone season
day for NOx.  The projected 2014 anthropogenic emissions from Greenbrier
County are 7.0 tons/ozone season day for VOCs and 4.9 tons/ozone season
day for NOx.  As such, the plan demonstrates that, from an emissions
projections standpoint, emissions are projected to decrease.

It is important to note that the formation of ozone is dependent on a
number of variables which cannot be estimated through emissions growth
and reduction calculations.  A few of these variables include weather
and the transport of ozone precursors from outside the maintenance area.
 In the Section 110(a)(1) maintenance plan, WVDEP had indicated that the
state will track the progress of the maintenance plan by updating the
emissions inventory for Greenbrier County approximately every three
years. The emissions inventory update will include point, area, and
mobile emissions.  Information from these future updates will be
compared with the projected growth estimates for the 2002 base inventory
data to track maintenance of the standard.

Ambient Monitoring:  With regard to the ambient air monitoring component
of the maintenance plan, West Virginia commits to continue operating air
quality monitoring stations in accordance with 40 CFR Part 58 throughout
the maintenance period to verify maintenance of the 8-hour ozone
standard, and will submit quality-assured ozone data to EPA through the
AIRS system.

Contingency Measures:   EPA interprets Section 110(a)(1) of the CAA to
require that the state develop a contingency plan that will ensure that
any violation of a NAAQS is promptly corrected.  The purposes of the
contingency measures, as outlined in West Virginia’s maintenance plan,
is to accordingly select and adopt one or more measures outlined in the
maintenance plan so as to assure continued attainment in the event that
a violation of the ozone NAAQS is measured.  Violation of the 8-hour
ozone standard would trigger one or more of the control measures
outlined in the plan.

Approval of two amendments to West Virginia’s existing 1-hour
maintenance plan has also been requested by WVDEP.  Section 175A(b)
requires that maintenance plans be updated.  The 1-hour maintenance plan
for Greenbrier County extends to 2005, but no update has been developed.
West Virginia identifies the most important reason for this being that
available resources are being devoted to attainment and maintenance of
the 8-hour standard since the 8-hour standard is considered by the State
to be more protective than the former 1-hour standard upon which the
current maintenance plan is based.  As such, West Virginia is amending
this existing maintenance plan, which is codified at 40 CFR 52.2420(e),
for the Greenbrier County 1-hour maintenance area by removing the
State’s obligation to submit a maintenance plan for the 1-hour NAAQS
eight years after approval of the initial 1-hour maintenance plan, and
is requesting approval of these amendments.

The WVDEP is requesting approval of the section 110(a)(1) 8-hour ozone
maintenance plan for Greenbrier County, West Virginia as a revision to
its SIP.  This plan demonstrates how the State intends to maintain the
8-hour NAAQS for ozone.  Additionally, WVDEP requested that pursuant to
40 CFR 51.905(e)(1), EPA concurrently approve two amendments to the
existing 1-hour ozone maintenance plan: (1) removal of the obligation to
submit a maintenance plan for the 1-hour NAAQS 8 years after approval of
the initial 1-hour maintenance plan; and (2) removal of the State’s
obligation to implement contingency measures upon a violation of the
1-hour NAAQS.  West Virginia’s SIP submittal meets the CAA
requirements for SIP submittals.

III.   Proposed Action

EPA's review of this material indicates that West Virginia has addressed
the components of a maintenance plan pursuant to EPA’s May 20, 2005
guidance.  EPA is proposing to approve the West Virginia SIP revision
for Greenbrier County, which was submitted on November 29, 2006. 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 Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this
proposed action is not a "significant regulatory action" and therefore
is not subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget.  For
this reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211,
"Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy Supply,
Distribution, or Use"  (66 Fed. Reg. 28355 (May 22, 2001)).  This action
merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and
imposes no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. 
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this proposed rule will
not have a significant economic impact on a substantial number of small
entities under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.).  
Because this rule proposes to approve pre-existing requirements under
state law and does not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond
that required by state law, it does not contain any unfunded mandate or
significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in the
Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Public Law 104-4).  This proposed
rule also does not have a substantial direct effect on one or more
Indian tribes, on the relationship between the Federal Government and
Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities
between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, as specified by
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it have
substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship between
the national government and the States, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government, as
specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999),
because it merely proposes to approve a state rule implementing a
Federal requirement, and does not alter the relationship or the
distribution of power and responsibilities established in the CAA.  This
proposed rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997), because it approves a state rule implementing a Federal
standard.

In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA(s role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA.  In this context, in
the absence of a prior existing requirement for the State to use
voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority to disapprove
a SIP submission for failure to use VCS.  It would thus be inconsistent
with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP submission, to use
VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise satisfies the provisions
of the CAA.  Thus, the requirements of section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do
not apply.  As required by section 3 of Executive Order 12988 (61 FR
4729, February 7, 1996), in issuing this proposed rule, EPA has taken
the necessary steps to eliminate drafting errors and ambiguity, minimize
potential litigation, and provide a clear legal standard for affected
conduct.  EPA has complied with Executive Order 12630 (53 FR 8859, March
15, 1988) by examining the takings implications of the rule in
accordance with the (Attorney General(s Supplemental Guidelines for the
Evaluation of Risk and Avoidance of Unanticipated Takings( issued under
the executive order.  

This action proposing approval of  the section 110(a)(1) 8-hour Ozone
Maintenance Plan for Greenbrier County, West Virginia, and for
concurrent approval of two amendments to the existing 1-hour ozone
maintenance plan does not impose an information collection burden under
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et
seq.).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52  

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Nitrogen dioxide,
Ozone, Reporting and Recordkeeping, Volatile organic compounds. 

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

___________________________          		 __________/s/__________________

Dated:   October 29, 2007                             	            
Donald S. Welsh,

                                                                	 	
Regional Administrator,

                                                                		
Region III.

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