Document ID: EPA-R04-OAR-2022-0290-0013
Agency: epa
Document Type: Rule
Title: Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Approvals and Promulgations: Georgia; Redesignation of the Atlanta, GA 2015 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area to Attainment
Posted Date: 2022-10-17T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 199 (Monday, October 17, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 62733-62736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-21653]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 52 and 81

[EPA-R04-OAR-2022-0290; FRL-10107-02-R4]

Air Plan Approval and Air Quality Designation; GA; Redesignation 
of the Atlanta, Georgia 2015 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area to 
Attainment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: On February 28, 2022, the State of Georgia, through the 
Georgia Environmental Protection Division (GA EPD) of the Department of 
Natural Resources, submitted a request for the Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) to redesignate the Atlanta, Georgia 2015 8-hour ozone 
nonattainment area (hereinafter referred to as the ``Atlanta Area'' or 
``Area'') to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air 
Quality Standards (NAAQS or standards) and to approve a State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision containing a maintenance plan for 
the Area. EPA is approving the State's plan for maintaining attainment 
of the 2015 8-hour ozone standard in the Area, including the motor 
vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for nitrogen oxides (NOX) 
and volatile organic compounds (VOC) for the years of 2018 and 2033 for 
the Area, incorporating the maintenance plan into the SIP, and 
redesignating the Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. 
EPA is also notifying the public of the status of EPA's adequacy 
determination for the MVEBs for the Area.

DATES: This rule is effective November 16, 2022.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket 
Identification No. EPA-R04-OAR-2022-0290. All documents in the docket 
are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the 
index, some information may not be publicly available, i.e., 
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 form. Publicly available docket materials are 
available either electronically through www.regulations.gov or in hard 
copy at the Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and 
Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency,

[[Page 62734]]

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA 
requests that if at all possible, you contact the person 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 Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Spann, Air Regulatory Management 
Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation 
Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth 
Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is (404) 
562-9029. Ms. Spann can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. This Action

    EPA is taking the following separate but related actions: (1) 
Approving Georgia's plan for maintaining the 2015 ozone NAAQS 
(maintenance plan), including the associated MVEBs for the Atlanta 
Area, and incorporating the plan into the SIP, and (2) redesignating 
the Atlanta Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is 
also notifying the public of the status of EPA's adequacy determination 
for the MVEBs for the Atlanta Area. The Atlanta Area consists of 
Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry Counties in 
Georgia.
    EPA is taking final action to approve Georgia's maintenance plan 
for the Atlanta Area as meeting the requirements of section 175A, such 
approval being one of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) criteria for 
redesignation to attainment status, and incorporate it into the SIP. 
The maintenance plan is designed to keep the Atlanta Area in attainment 
of the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS through 2033. The maintenance plan 
includes 2018 and 2033 MVEBs for NOX and VOC for the Atlanta 
Area for transportation conformity purposes. EPA is approving these 
MVEBs and incorporating them into the SIP. EPA is also taking final 
action to determine that the Atlanta Area has met the requirements for 
redesignation under section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA.
    EPA is also notifying the public of the status of EPA's adequacy 
process for the MVEBs for the Atlanta Area. The Adequacy comment period 
began on February 11, 2022, with EPA's posting of the availability of 
Georgia's submission on EPA's Adequacy website (https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/state-implementation-plans-sip-submissions-currently-under-epa). The Adequacy comment period for these 
MVEBs closed on March 15, 2022. No comments, adverse or otherwise, were 
received during the Adequacy comment period.
    In summary, this final rulemaking is in response to Georgia's 
February 28, 2022, redesignation request and associated SIP submission 
that addresses the specific issues summarized above and the necessary 
elements described in section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA for redesignation 
of the Atlanta Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS.

II. Background

    Effective August 3, 2018, EPA designated areas as unclassifiable/
attainment or nonattainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS that was 
promulgated on October 1, 2015. See 80 FR 65292 (October 26, 2015). The 
Atlanta Area was designated as nonattainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS and classified as a marginal nonattainment area.\1\ See 83 FR 
25776 (June 4, 2018). On February 28, 2022, Georgia requested that EPA 
redesignate the Atlanta Area to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS and submitted a SIP revision containing the State's plan for 
maintaining attainment of the 2015 8-hour ozone standard in the Area, 
including 2018 and 2033 MVEBs for NOX and VOC for the 
Atlanta Area.
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    \1\ That Atlanta Area consists of Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, 
Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry Counties in Georgia.
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    In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on August 26, 
2022, see 87 FR 52487, EPA proposed to approve the maintenance plan, 
including the 2018 and 2033 MVEBs for NOX and VOC, and 
incorporate the plan into the Georgia SIP and to redesignate the Area 
to attainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. In that notice, EPA also 
notified the public of the status of the Agency's adequacy 
determination for the NOX and VOC MVEBs for the Atlanta 
Area. The details of Georgia's submittal and the rationale for EPA's 
actions are further explained in the NPRM. Comments on the August 26, 
2022, NPRM were due on or before September 26, 2022. EPA did not 
receive any comments on the August 26, 2022, NPRM.

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the SIP. EPA is 
taking two separate but related final actions. First, EPA is approving 
the maintenance plan for the Atlanta Area, including the NOX 
and VOC MVEBs for 2018 and 2033, and incorporating it into the Georgia 
SIP. The maintenance plan demonstrates that the Area will continue to 
maintain the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS and that the MVEBs meet all of the 
adequacy criteria contained in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and (5). Second, EPA 
is approving Georgia's redesignation request for the 2015 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS for the Atlanta Area. Approval of the redesignation request 
changes the official designation of Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, 
Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry Counties in in the Atlanta Area for the 
2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS from nonattainment to attainment, as indicated 
at 40 CFR part 81. EPA is also notifying the public that EPA finds the 
newly established NOX and VOC MVEBs for the Atlanta Area 
adequate for the purpose of transportation conformity. Within 24 months 
from this final rule, the transportation partners for the Atlanta Area 
will need to demonstrate conformity to the new NOX and VOC 
MVEBs pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e).

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, redesignation of an area to attainment and the 
accompanying approval of a maintenance plan under section 107(d)(3)(E) 
are actions that affect the status of a geographical area and do not 
impose any additional regulatory requirements on sources beyond those 
imposed by state law. A redesignation to attainment does not in and of 
itself create any new requirements, but rather results in the 
applicability of requirements contained in the CAA for areas that have 
been redesignated to attainment. Moreover, the Administrator is 
required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions 
of the Act and applicable Federal regulations. See 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 CAA. 
Accordingly, these actions merely approve state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and do not impose additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law. For this reason, these actions:
     Are not significant regulatory actions 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);
     Do not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions

[[Page 62735]]

of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
     Are 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.);
     Do 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);
     Do not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
     Are not economically significant regulatory actions based 
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Are not significant regulatory actions subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     Are 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 CAA; and
     Will not have disproportionate human health or 
environmental effects under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 
16, 1994).
    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 rules do 
not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will they impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. EPA will submit a report containing these actions and 
other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rules in the Federal Register. A major rule 
cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. These actions are not ``major rules'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of these actions must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals 
for the appropriate circuit by December 16, 2022. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of these actions for the purposes of judicial review nor 
does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may 
be filed and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or 
actions. These actions may not be challenged later in proceedings to 
enforce their requirements. See section 307(b)(2).

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference.

    Dated: September 30, 2022.
Daniel Blackman,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the EPA amends 40 CFR part 
52 and part 81 as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart L--Georgia

0
2. In Sec.  52.570(e), amend the table by adding a new entry at the end 
of the table for ``2015 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for the Atlanta 
Area'' to read as follows:

Sec.  52.570  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                                 EPA Approved Georgia Non-Regulatory Provisions
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                                        Applicable        State submittal
    Name of nonregulatory SIP          geographic or       date/effective    EPA approval date     Explanation
            provision               nonattainment area          date
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                                                  * * * * * * *
2015 8-hour Ozone Maintenance      Bartow, Clayton,              2/28/2022  10/17/2022, [Insert
 Plan for the Atlanta Area.         Cobb, DeKalb,                            citation of
                                    Fulton, Gwinnett,                        publication].
                                    and Henry Counties.
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PART 81--DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR AIR QUALITY PLANNING PURPOSES

0
3. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:

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

0
4. In Sec.  81.311, amend the table entitled ``Georgia--2015 8-Hour 
Ozone NAAQS [Primary and Secondary]'' by revising the entry for 
``Atlanta, GA,'' to read as follows:

Sec.  81.311  Georgia.

* * * * *

                                                            Georgia--2015 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS
                                                                 [Primary and secondary]
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                                                                         Designation                                     Classification
                 Designated area \1\                 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                         Date \2\                   Type                   Date \2\                   Type
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Atlanta, GA                                               11/16/2022  Attainment......................
    Bartow County...................................
    Clayton County..................................

[[Page 62736]]

 
    Cobb County.....................................
    DeKalb County...................................
    Fulton County...................................
    Gwinnett County.................................
    Henry County....................................
 
                                                                      * * * * * * *
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\1\ Includes any Indian country in each county or area, unless otherwise specified. EPA is not determining the boundaries of any area of Indian country
  in this table, including any area of Indian country located in the larger designation area. The inclusion of any Indian country in the designation
  area is not a determination that the state has regulatory authority under the Clean Air Act for such Indian country.
\2\ This date is August 3, 2018, unless otherwise noted.

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[FR Doc. 2022-21653 Filed 10-14-22; 8:45 am]
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