Document ID: EPA-R01-OAR-2021-0945-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Approvals and Promulgations: New Hampshire; Conformity
Posted Date: 2022-01-28T05:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 19 (Friday, January 28, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4535-4536]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-01627]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R01-OAR-2021-0945; FRL-9487-01-R1]

Air Plan Approval; New Hampshire; Conformity

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the 
State of New Hampshire. This submission revises previously approved 
transportation conformity criteria and procedures related to 
interagency consultation and enforceability of certain transportation-
related control measures and mitigation measures. In addition, the 
revision continues to rely on the Federal rule for General Conformity. 
The intended effect of this action is to approve State criteria and 
procedures to govern conformity determinations. This action is being 
taken in accordance with the Clean Air Act.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before February 28, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R01-
OAR-2021-0945 at https://www.regulations.gov, or via email to 
[email protected]. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, 
follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, 
comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either 
manner of submission, the EPA may publish any comment received to its 
public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you 
consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia 
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written 
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and 
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, please contact the person 
identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For the full 
EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia 
submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please 
visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. Publicly 
available docket materials are available at https://www.regulations.gov 
or at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1 Regional 
Office, Air and Radiation Division, 5 Post Office Square--Suite 100, 
Boston, MA. EPA requests that, if at all possible, you contact the 
contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to 
schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official hours of 
business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding 
legal holidays and facility closures due to COVID-19.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Rackauskas, Air Quality Branch, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Region 1, 5 Post Office 
Square--Suite 100, (Mail code 05-2), Boston, MA 02109-3912, tel. (617) 
918-1628, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.

Table of Contents

I. Background and Purpose
    a. What is Transportation Conformity?
    b. What is General Conformity?
    c. Evaluation of State Submittal
II. Proposed Action
III. Incorporation by Reference
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background and Purpose

    On September 9, 2021, the New Hampshire Air Resources Division 
(ARD) submitted a revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
consisting of amendments to Env-A 1500, Conformity. This revision 
consists of minor administrative language changes, updated definitions 
and references to Federal rules, and clarifications to roles and 
responsibilities for Federal, state, and municipal partners.

a. What is Transportation Conformity?

    Transportation Conformity is required under Section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act to ensure that Federally-supported highway, transit 
projects, and other activities are consistent with (``conform to'') the 
purpose of the SIP. Conformity currently applies to areas that are 
designated nonattainment, and those redesignated to attainment after 
1990 (maintenance areas) with plans developed under section 175A of the 
Clean Air Act, for the following transportation related criteria 
pollutants: Ozone, particulate matter (PM2.5 and 
PM10), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen dioxide 
(NO2). Conformity to the purpose of the SIP means that 
transportation activities will not cause new air quality violations, 
worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of the relevant 
national ambient air quality standards. The transportation conformity 
regulation is found in 40 CFR part 93, subpart A and provisions related 
to conformity SIPs are found in 40 CFR 51.390.

b. What is General Conformity?

    General Conformity is a requirement of section 176(c) of the Clean 
Air Act (CAA) Amendments of 1990. General Conformity is a safeguard 
that no action by the Federal government interferes with a SIP's 
protection of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). Under 
General Conformity, any action by the Federal government cannot: Cause 
or contribute to any new violation of any standard in any area; 
interfere with provisions in the applicable SIP for maintenance of any 
standard; increase the frequency or severity of any existing violation 
of any standard in any area; or delay timely attainment of any 
standard, any required interim emission reductions, or any other 
milestones, in any area. The general conformity regulation is found in 
40 CFR part 93, subpart B and provisions related to conformity SIPs are 
found in 40 CFR 51.851.
    On April 5, 2010, EPA revisited the Federal General Conformity 
Requirements Rule to clarify the conformity process, authorize 
innovative and flexible compliance approaches, remove outdated or 
unnecessary requirements, reduce the paperwork burden, provide 
transition tools for implementing new standards, address issues raised 
by Federal agencies affected by the rules, and provide a better 
explanation of conformity regulations and policies (75

[[Page 4536]]

FR 17254). This April 2010 General Conformity rule eliminated the 
Federal regulatory requirement for states to adopt and submit general 
conformity SIPs, instead making submission of a general conformity SIP 
a state option.

c. Evaluation of State Submittal

    EPA previously approved a version of EnvA-1500 into the New 
Hampshire SIP on November 29, 2013 (78 FR 71504). For transportation 
conformity, the September 9, 2021, revision contains updated references 
to the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), updates to public comment 
period timeframes, and clarifications to roles of interagency partners. 
Specifically, the rule updates multiple references to the CFR to the 
April 1, 2018, version from April 1, 2011. The rule also changes 
language for a public comment for planning organizations and New 
Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT) from ``a minimum of 10 
days'' to ``between 10 and 30 days,'' to match language in the NHDOT 
Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) Revision 
Procedures.
    The New Hampshire submittal also provides updated language to 
project-level conformity determinations for carbon monoxide (CO) hot 
spot areas. EPA notes that New Hampshire's twenty-year maintenance 
period for the CO NAAQS expired on January 29, 2021. As a result of 
this maintenance period expiration, conformity requirements for the CO 
standard, including hot spot analyses, also expired.\1\ No conformity 
or project level hot spot analyses are required for the State's CO 
maintenance area, but the language would continue to apply in the event 
of a future more stringent CO NAAQS and/or future nonattainment 
classification.
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    \1\ See Docket for letter to NHDOT.
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    The NH submittal contains updated language for General Conformity. 
As noted above, States are not required to submit state-level General 
Conformity regulations into the SIP, rather they can rely upon the 
federal provisions. The New Hampshire submittal adequately refers to 
the General Conformity Federal rule for implementation and contains 
only minor changes in references to the 2018 Code of Federal 
Regulations, as mentioned above.

II. Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve New Hampshire's Env-A 1500 Conformity 
into the New Hampshire SIP. This revision and proposed approval are 
consistent with the CAA. EPA is soliciting public comments on the 
issues discussed in this notice or on other relevant matters. These 
comments will be considered before taking final action. Interested 
parties may participate in the Federal rulemaking procedure by 
submitting written comments to this proposed rule by following the 
instructions listed in the ADDRESSES section of this Federal Register.

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this rule, the EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule 
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance 
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, the EPA is proposing to incorporate by 
reference of NH's updated Env-A 1500, Conformity, as discussed in 
sections I. and II. of this preamble, into 40 CFR part 52. The EPA has 
made, and will continue to make, these documents generally available 
through https://www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region 1 Office 
(please contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION 
CONTACT section of this preamble for more information).

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a 
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act 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 Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this proposed action merely approves 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 Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     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 Clean Air Act; 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, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has 
demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian 
country, the rule does not have tribal implications and will not impose 
substantial direct costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law as 
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: January 24, 2022.
Deborah Szaro,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA Region 1.
[FR Doc. 2022-01627 Filed 1-27-22; 8:45 am]
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