Document ID: EPA-R05-OAR-2011-0698-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Proposed Approval of the Clark and Floyd Counties Indiana (Louisville) 1997 PM2.5 Annual Standard Redesignation
Posted Date: 2013-07-11T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 133 (Thursday, July 11, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 41735-41752]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-16659]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 52 and 81

[EPA-R05-OAR-2011-0698; FRL-9831-8]

Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Indiana; Redesignation of the Indiana Portion of the Louisville Area to 
Attainment of the 1997 Annual Standard for Fine Particulate Matter

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: On June 16, 2011, the Indiana Department of Environmental 
Management (IDEM) submitted a request for EPA to approve the 
redesignation of the Indiana portion of the Louisville (KY-IN) (Madison 
Township, Jefferson County and Clark and Floyd Counties) nonattainment 
area to attainment of the 1997 annual standard for fine particulate 
matter (PM2.5). EPA is proposing to determine that the 
entire Louisville area has attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 
standard, based on the most recent three years of certified air quality 
data. EPA is proposing to approve, as revisions to the Indiana state 
implementation plan (SIP), the state's plan for maintaining the 1997 
annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS or 
standard) through 2025 in the area. EPA is proposing to approve the 
2008 emissions inventory for the Indiana portion of the Louisville area 
as meeting the comprehensive emissions inventory requirement of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). Indiana's maintenance plan submission 
includes motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for the mobile source 
contribution of PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides (NOX) 
in the Louisville area for transportation conformity purposes; EPA is 
proposing to approve the MVEBs for 2015 and 2025 into the Indiana SIP 
for transportation conformity purposes. In this proposal, EPA is also 
proposing to approve a supplement to the emission inventories 
previously submitted by the state. EPA is proposing that the 
inventories for ammonia and volatile organic compounds (VOC), in 
conjunction with the inventories for NOX, direct 
PM2.5, and sulfur dioxide (SO2) that EPA 
previously proposed to approve, meet the comprehensive emissions 
inventory requirement of the CAA.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before August 12, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R05-
OAR-2011-0698, by one of the following methods:
    1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. Email: blakley.pamela@epa.gov.
    3. Fax: (312) 692-2450.
    4. Mail: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies Section (AR-
18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604.
    5. Hand Delivery: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies Section 
(AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Such deliveries are only accepted 
during the Regional Office normal hours of operation, and special 
arrangements should be made for deliveries of boxed information. The 
Regional Office official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 
8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding Federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-
2011-0698. 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 email. The 
www.regulations.gov Web site 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 email comment 
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov, your email 
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. For additional 
instructions on submitting comments, go to section I of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.

[[Page 41736]]

    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. This facility is open from 8:30 
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. 
We recommend that you telephone Carolyn Persoon, Environmental 
Engineer, at (312) 353-8290 before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn Persoon, Environmental 
Engineer, Control Strategies Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-8290, persoon.carolyn@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information section is 
arranged as follows:

I. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
II. What actions is EPA proposing to take?
III. What is the background for these actions?
IV. What are the criteria for redesignation to attainment?
V. What is EPA's analysis of the State's request?
    1. Attainment (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(i))
    2. The Area Has Met All Applicable Requirements under Section 
110 and Part D and Has a Fully Approved SIP Under Section 110(k) 
(Sections 107(d)(3)(E)(v) and 107(d)(3)(E)(ii))
    3. The Improvement in Air Quality Is Due to Permanent and 
Enforceable Reductions in Emissions Resulting from Implementation of 
the SIP and Applicable Federal Air Pollution Control Regulations and 
Other Permanent and Enforceable Reductions (Section 
107(d)(3)(E)(iii))
    4. Indiana Has a Fully Approved Maintenance Plan Pursuant to 
Section 175A of the CAA (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iv))
    5. Adequacy of Indiana's MVEB
    6. 2008 Comprehensive Emissions Inventory
    7. Summary of Proposed Actions
VI. What are the effects of EPA's proposed actions?
VII. Statutory and Executive order reviews.

I. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?

    When submitting comments, remember to:
    1. Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other identifying 
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
    2. Follow directions--EPA may ask you to respond to specific 
questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
    3. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and 
substitute language for your requested changes.
    4. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information 
and/or data that you used.
    5. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you 
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
    6. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
    7. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of 
profanity or personal threats.
    8. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period deadline 
identified.

II. What actions is EPA proposing to take?

    EPA is proposing to take several actions related to redesignation 
of the Indiana portion of the Louisville area to attainment of the 1997 
annual PM2.5 NAAQS. In addition to EPA's March 9, 2011, 
determination that the area attained the 1997 annual NAAQS for 
PM2.5 by the applicable attainment date based on quality-
assured, certified 2007-2009 ambient air monitoring data (76 FR 12860), 
we are proposing to determine that the area continues to attain the 
NAAQS for PM2.5, based monitoring data for 2009-2011 and 
2010-2012 shows that the area continues to attain. EPA is proposing to 
find that Indiana meets the requirements for redesignation of the 
Louisville area to attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS under 
section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA.
    Second, EPA is proposing to approve Indiana's annual 
PM2.5 maintenance plan for the Louisville area as a revision 
to the Indiana SIP, including the MVEBs for PM2.5 and 
NOX emissions for the mobile source contribution of the 
Louisville area.
    Finally, EPA is proposing to approve 2008 primary PM2.5, 
NOX, SO2, VOC, and ammonia emissions inventories 
as satisfying the requirement in section 172(c)(3) of the CAA for a 
current, accurate and comprehensive emission inventory. In a 
supplemental submission to EPA on March 18, 2013, IDEM submitted 
ammonia and VOC emissions inventories to supplement the emissions 
inventories that had previously been submitted.
    In this proposed redesignation, EPA takes into account two 
decisions of the D.C. Circuit Court (referred to as ``the D.C. 
Circuit'' or ``the Court''). In the first of the two court decisions, 
the D.C. Circuit, on August 21, 2012, issued EME Homer City Generation, 
L.P. v. EPA, 696 F.3d 7 (D.C. Cir. 2012, no. 11-1302 and consolidated 
cases) (referred to as ``EME Homer City,'') which vacated and remanded 
the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR) and ordered EPA to continue 
administering the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) ``pending . . . 
development of a valid replacement.'' EME Homer City at 38. The D.C. 
Circuit denied all petitions for rehearing on January 24, 2013. In the 
second decision, on January 4, 2013, in Natural Resources Defense 
Council v. EPA, the D.C. Circuit remanded to EPA the ``Final Clean Air 
Fine Particle Implementation Rule'' (72 FR 20586, April 25, 2007) and 
the ``Implementation of the New Source Review (NSR) Program for 
Particulate Matter Less than 2.5 Micrometers (PM2.5)'' final 
rule (73 FR 28321, May 16, 2008). 706 F.3d 428 (D.C. Cir. 2013).
    EPA is proposing to approve the request from the state of Indiana 
to change the designation of Marion Township, Jefferson County and 
Clark and Floyd Counties (the Indiana portion of the Louisville area) 
from nonattainment to attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 
NAAQS. This action would not change the legal designation of the 
Kentucky portion of the area, which would be addressed in a separate 
rulemaking.

III. What is the background for these actions?

    Fine particulate pollution can be emitted directly from a source 
(primary PM2.5) or formed secondarily through chemical 
reactions in the atmosphere involving precursor pollutants emitted from 
a variety of sources. Sulfates are a type of secondary particulate 
formed from SO2 emissions from power plants and industrial 
facilities. Nitrates, another common type of secondary particulate, are 
formed from combustion emissions of NOX from power plants, 
mobile sources and other combustion sources.
    The first air quality standards for PM2.5 were 
promulgated on July 18, 1997, at 62 FR 38652. EPA promulgated an annual 
standard at a level of 15 micrograms per cubic meter ([micro]g/m\3\) of 
ambient air, based on a three-year average of the annual mean 
PM2.5 concentrations at each monitoring site. In the same 
rulemaking, EPA promulgated a 24-hour PM2.5 standard at

[[Page 41737]]

65 [mu]g/m\3\, based on a three-year average of the 98th percentile of 
24-hour PM2.5 concentrations at each monitoring site.
    On January 5, 2005, at 70 FR 944, EPA published air quality area 
designations for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard based on air 
quality data for calendar years 2001-2003. In that rulemaking, EPA 
designated the Louisville area as nonattainment for the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 standard.
    On October 17, 2006, at 71 FR 61144, EPA retained the annual 
PM2.5 standard at 15 [micro]g/m\3\ (2006 annual 
PM2.5 standard), but revised the 24-hour standard to 35 
[mu]g/m\3\, based again on the three-year average of the annual 98th 
percentile of the 24-hour PM2.5 concentrations. In response 
to legal challenges of the 2006 annual PM2.5 standard, the 
D.C. Circuit remanded this standard to EPA for further consideration. 
See American Farm Bureau Federation and National Pork Producers 
Council, et al. v. EPA, 559 F.3d 512 (D.C. Cir. 2009). On December 14, 
2012, EPA finalized a rule revising the PM2.5 annual 
standard to 12 [mu]g/m\3\ based on current scientific evidence 
regarding the protection of public health. Since the Louisville area is 
designated as nonattainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 
standard, today's proposed action addresses redesignation to attainment 
only for this standard.
    On March 9, 2011, EPA issued a final determination that the entire 
Louisville area attained the 1997 PM2.5 standard by the 
applicable attainment date (76 FR 12860). Indiana's original submittal 
contained complete, quality-assured and certified air monitoring data 
for years 2008-2010. Based upon our review of complete, quality-assured 
and certified ambient air monitoring data from 2009-2011, we are 
proposing to determine that the area continues to attain the 1997 
annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Further, recently state certified data 
for 2012 indicate that the area continues to attain the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS.

IV. What are the criteria for redesignation to attainment?

    The CAA sets forth the requirements for redesignating a 
nonattainment area to attainment. Specifically, section 107(d)(3)(E) of 
the CAA allows for redesignation provided that: (1) The Administrator 
determines that the area has attained the applicable NAAQS based on 
current air quality data; (2) the Administrator has fully approved an 
applicable SIP for the area under section 110(k) of the CAA; (3) the 
Administrator determines that the improvement in air quality is due to 
permanent and enforceable emission reductions resulting from 
implementation of the applicable SIP, Federal air pollution control 
regulations and other permanent and enforceable emission reductions; 
(4) the Administrator has fully approved a maintenance plan for the 
area meeting the requirements of section 175A of the CAA; and (5) the 
state containing the area has met all requirements applicable to the 
area for purposes of redesignation under section 110 and part D of the 
CAA.

V. What is EPA's analysis of the State's request?

    EPA is proposing to grant the redesignation of the Indiana portion 
of the Louisville area to attainment of the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS and is proposing to approve Indiana's 
maintenance plan for the area and other related SIP revisions. The 
bases for these actions follow.

1. Attainment (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(i))

    As noted above, in a rulemaking published on March 9, 2011, EPA 
determined that the Louisville area attained the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date. The basis and 
effect of this determination were discussed in the proposed (75 FR 
55725) and final (76 FR 12860) actions. The determination was based on 
certified quality-assured air quality monitoring data for 2007-2009 
showing the area had met the standard by the attainment date. In this 
action, we are proposing to determine that the Louisville area has 
attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS based upon the most 
recent three years of complete, certified and quality-assured data, as 
required by section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA. Under EPA's regulations at 
40 CFR 50.7, the annual primary and secondary PM2.5 
standards are met when the annual arithmetic mean concentration, as 
determined in accordance with 40 CFR part 50, appendix N, is less than 
or equal to 15.0 [mu]g/m\3\ at all relevant monitoring sites in the 
area.
    EPA has reviewed the ambient air quality monitoring data in the 
Louisville area, consistent with the requirements contained at 40 CFR 
part 50. EPA's review focused on data recorded in the EPA Air Quality 
System (AQS) database for the Louisville PM2.5 nonattainment 
area from 2009-2011, and 2010-2012. EPA also considered preliminary 
data for 2012, for which EPA has not yet calculated design values.
    The Louisville area has seven monitors that are located in Clark 
and Floyd counties, Indiana, and Jefferson County, Kentucky. Recently 
certified state monitored data has been used to calculate design value 
from 2010-2012 for PM2.5 that ranged 11.0-13.2 [mu]g/m\3\ 
for the 1997 annual standard. The monitors in the Louisville area 
recorded complete data in accordance with criteria set forth by EPA in 
40 CFR part 50, appendix N, where a complete year of air quality data 
comprises four calendar quarters, with each quarter containing data 
with at least 75% capture of the scheduled sampling days. Available 
data are considered to be sufficient for comparison to the NAAQS if 
three consecutive complete years of data exist.
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    \1\ As defined in 40 CFR part 50, appendix N(1)(c).

Table 1--The 1997 Annual PM2.5 Design Values for the Louisville Monitor With Complete Data for the 2009-2011 and
                                    2010-2012 Design Values \1\ in [mu]g/m\3\
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                                                                                      Annual          Annual
                                                                                     standard        standard
                             County                                    Site        design value    design value
                                                                                     2009-2011       2010-2012
                                                                                   ([mu]g/m\3\)    ([mu]g/m\3\)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Clark County, IN................................................       180190006            13.5            13.2
Clark County, IN................................................       180190008            11.4            11.0
Floyd County, IN................................................       180431004            12.3            11.8
Jefferson County, KY............................................       211110043            12.6            11.8
Jefferson County, KY............................................       211110044            12.8            12.1
Jefferson County, KY............................................       211110051            12.7            12.3
Jefferson County, KY............................................       211110067            12.1            11.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 41738]]

    EPA's review of monitoring data from the 2009-2011 and 2010-2012 
monitoring periods supports EPA's determination that the Louisville 
area has monitored attainment. EPA proposes to determine that the 
Louisville area has attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard.

2. The Area Has Met All Applicable Requirements Under Section 110 and 
Part D and Has a Fully Approved SIP Under Section 110(k) (Sections 
107(d)(3)(E)(v) and 107(d)(3)(E)(ii))

    We have determined that Indiana's SIP meets all applicable SIP 
requirements for purposes of redesignation for the Louisville area 
under section 110 of the CAA for purposes of redesignation in 
accordance with section 107(d)(3)(E)(v). In addition, with the 
exception of the emissions inventory under section 172(c)(3), we have 
previously approved all applicable requirements of the Indiana SIP for 
purposes of redesignation, in accordance with section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii). 
As discussed below, in this action EPA is approving Indiana's 2008 
emissions inventory as meeting the section 172(c)(3) comprehensive 
emissions inventory requirement.
    In making these determinations, we have ascertained which SIP 
requirements are applicable to the area for purposes of redesignation, 
and have determined that they are fully approved under section 110(k) 
of the CAA.
a. The Louisville Area Has Met All Applicable Requirements for Purposes 
of Redesignation Under Section 110 and Part D of the CAA
i. Section 110 General SIP Requirements
    Section 110(a) of title I of the CAA contains the general 
requirements for a SIP. Section 110(a)(2) provides that the 
implementation plan submitted by a state must have been adopted by the 
state after reasonable public notice and hearing, and, among other 
things, must: Include enforceable emission limitations and other 
control measures, means or techniques necessary to meet the 
requirements of the CAA; provide for establishment and operation of 
appropriate devices, methods, systems, and procedures necessary to 
monitor ambient air quality; provide for implementation of a source 
permit program to regulate the modification and construction of any 
stationary source within the areas covered by the plan; include 
provisions for the implementation of part C, Prevention of Significant 
Deterioration (PSD) and part D, NSR permit programs; include criteria 
for stationary source emission control measures, monitoring, and 
reporting; include provisions for air quality modeling; and provide for 
public and local agency participation in planning and emission control 
rule development.
    Section 110(a)(2)(D) of the CAA requires that SIPs contain measures 
to prevent sources in a state from significantly contributing to air 
quality problems in another state. EPA believes that the requirements 
linked with a particular nonattainment area's designation and 
classification are the relevant measures to evaluate in reviewing a 
redesignation request. The transport SIP submittal requirements, where 
applicable, continue to apply to a state regardless of the designation 
of any one particular area in the state. Thus, we believe that these 
requirements should not be construed to be applicable requirements for 
purposes of redesignation.
    Further, we believe that the other section 110 elements described 
above that are not connected with nonattainment plan submissions and 
not linked with an area's attainment status are also not applicable 
requirements for purposes of redesignation. A state remains subject to 
these requirements after an area is redesignated to attainment. We 
conclude that only the section 110 and part D requirements that are 
linked with a particular area's designation and classification are the 
relevant measures which we may consider in evaluating a redesignation 
request. This approach is consistent with EPA's existing policy on 
applicability of conformity and oxygenated fuels requirements for 
redesignation purposes, as well as with section 184 ozone transport 
requirements. See Reading, Pennsylvania, proposed and final rulemakings 
(61 FR 53174-53176 (October 10, 1996)) and (62 FR 24826 (May 7, 1997)); 
Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio, final rulemaking (61 FR 20458 (May 7, 
1996)); and Tampa, Florida, final rulemaking (60 FR 62748 (December 7, 
1995)). See also the discussion on this issue in the Cincinnati, Ohio 
1-hour ozone redesignation (65 FR 37890 (June 19, 2000)), and in the 
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1-hour ozone redesignation (66 FR 50399 
(October 19, 2001)).
    We have reviewed Indiana's SIP and have concluded that it meets the 
general SIP requirements under section 110 of the CAA to the extent 
they are applicable for purposes of redesignation. EPA has previously 
approved provisions into the Indiana SIP addressing section 110 
elements under particulate standards (40 CFR 52.770). On December 7, 
2007, September 9, 2008, March 23, 2011, and April 7, 2011, Indiana 
made submittals addressing ``infrastructure SIP'' elements required by 
section 110(a)(2) of the CAA. EPA approved elements of Indiana's 
submittals on July 13, 2011, at 76 FR 41075. The requirements of 
section 110(a)(2), however, are statewide requirements that are not 
linked to the PM2.5 nonattainment status of the Louisville 
area. Therefore, EPA believes that these SIP elements are not 
applicable requirements for purposes of review of the state's 
PM2.5 redesignation request.
ii. Part D Requirements
    EPA has determined that, upon approval of the base year emissions 
inventories discussed in section IV.C. of this rulemaking, the Indiana 
SIP will meet the applicable SIP requirements for the Louisville area 
applicable for purposes of redesignation under part D of the CAA. 
Subpart 1 of part D, found in sections 172-176 of the CAA, sets forth 
the basic nonattainment requirements applicable to all nonattainment 
areas.
1. Subpart 1
    (a) Section 172 Requirements.
    For purposes of evaluating this redesignation request, the 
applicable section 172 SIP requirements for the Louisville area are 
contained in sections 172(c)(1)-(9). A thorough discussion of the 
requirements contained in section 172 can be found in the General 
Preamble for Implementation of Title I (57 FR 13498, April 16, 1992).
    Section 172(c)(1) requires the plans for all nonattainment areas to 
provide for the implementation of all reasonably available control 
measures (RACM) as expeditiously as practicable and to provide for 
attainment of the primary NAAQS. EPA interprets this requirement to 
impose a duty on all nonattainment areas to consider all available 
control measures and to adopt and implement such measures that are 
reasonably available for implementation in each area as components of 
the area's attainment demonstration. Because the Louisville area has 
reached attainment, Indiana does not need to address additional 
measures to provide for attainment, and section 172(c)(1) requirements 
are no longer considered to be applicable as long as the area continues 
to attain the standard until redesignation. These requirements were 
suspended with the previous action (76 FR 12860) that determined 
attainment of the standard, as discussed above.

[[Page 41739]]

    The reasonable further progress (RFP) requirement under section 
172(c)(2) is defined as progress that must be made toward attainment. 
This requirement is not relevant for purposes of redesignation because 
the Louisville area has monitored attainment of the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS. (``General Preamble for the Interpretation of 
Title I of the CAA Amendments of 1990''; (57 FR 13498, 13564, April 16, 
1992)). See also 40 CFR 51.918. The requirement to submit the section 
172(c)(9) contingency measures is similarly not applicable for purposes 
of redesignation. Id.
    Section 172(c)(3) requires submission and approval of a 
comprehensive, accurate and current inventory of actual emissions. 
Indiana submitted a 2008 base year emissions inventory along with the 
redesignation request. As discussed below in section IV.C., EPA is 
approving the 2008 inventory as meeting the section 172(c)(3) emissions 
inventory requirement for the Louisville area.
    Section 172(c)(4) requires the identification and quantification of 
allowable emissions for major new and modified stationary sources in an 
area, and section 172(c)(5) requires source permits for the 
construction and operation of new and modified major stationary sources 
anywhere in the nonattainment area. EPA approved Indiana's current part 
D (nonattainment) NSR program on October 7, 1994 (59 FR 51108). 
Nonetheless, since PSD requirements will apply after redesignation, the 
area need not have a fully-approved part D NSR program for purposes of 
redesignation, provided that the area demonstrates maintenance of the 
NAAQS without part D NSR. A detailed rationale for this view is 
described in a memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator 
for Air and Radiation, dated October 14, 1994, entitled, ``Part D New 
Source Review Requirements for Areas Requesting Redesignation to 
Attainment.'' Indiana has demonstrated that the Louisville area will be 
able to maintain the standard without part D NSR in effect; therefore, 
the state need not have a fully approved part D NSR program prior to 
approval of the redesignation request. The state's PSD program will 
become effective in the Louisville area upon redesignation to 
attainment. See rulemakings for Detroit, Michigan (60 FR 12467-12468, 
March 7, 1995); Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio (61 FR 20458, 20469-20470, 
May 7, 1996); Louisville, Kentucky (66 FR 53665, October 23, 2001); and 
Grand Rapids, Michigan (61 FR 31834-31837, June 21, 1996).
    Section 172(c)(6) requires the SIP to contain control measures 
necessary to provide for attainment of the standard. Because attainment 
has been reached, no additional measures are needed to provide for 
attainment.
    Section 172(c)(7) requires the SIP to meet the applicable 
provisions of section 110(a)(2). As noted above, we believe the Indiana 
SIP meets the section 110(a)(2) requirements applicable for purposes of 
redesignation.
    (b) Section 176 Conformity Requirements.
    Section 176(c) of the CAA requires states to establish criteria and 
procedures to ensure that Federally-supported or funded activities, 
including highway projects, conform to the air quality planning goals 
in the applicable SIPs. The requirement to determine conformity applies 
to transportation plans, programs and projects developed, funded or 
approved under title 23 of the U.S. Code and the Federal Transit Act 
(``transportation conformity'') as well as to all other Federally-
supported or funded projects (``general conformity''). State 
transportation conformity regulations must be consistent with Federal 
conformity regulations relating to consultation, enforcement, and 
enforceability, which EPA promulgated pursuant to CAA requirements.
    EPA approved Indiana's general and transportation conformity SIPs 
on January 14, 1998 (63 FR 2146), and August 17, 2010 (75 FR 50730), 
respectively. Section 176(c) of the CAA was amended by provisions 
contained in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation 
Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEALU), which was signed into law 
on August 10, 2005 (Pub. L. 109-59). In adopting this revision to the 
CAA, Congress streamlined the requirements for state conformity SIPs. 
Indiana is in the process of updating its transportation conformity SIP 
to meet these new requirements.
    Indiana has submitted on-road MVEBs for the Louisville area of 
580.69 tons per year (tpy) and 324.04 tpy of primary PM2.5 
and 17,700.95 tpy and 9,311.76 tpy of NOX for the years 2015 
and 2025, respectively. The area must use the MVEBs from the 
maintenance plan in any conformity determination that is made on or 
after the effective date of the adequacy finding and maintenance plan 
approval.

2. Effect of the January 4, 2013, D.C. Circuit Decision Regarding PM2.5 
Implementation Under Subpart 4

a. Background
    As discussed above, on January 4, 2013, in Natural Resources 
Defense Council v. EPA, the DC Circuit remanded to EPA the ``Final 
Clean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule'' (72 FR 20586, April 25, 
2007) and the ``Implementation of the New Source Review (NSR) Program 
for Particulate Matter Less than 2.5 Micrometers (PM2.5)'' 
final rule (73 FR 28321, May 16, 2008) (collectively, ``1997 
PM2.5 Implementation Rule''). 706 F.3d 428 (DC Cir. 2013). 
The Court found that EPA erred in implementing the 1997 
PM2.5 NAAQS pursuant to the general implementation 
provisions of subpart 1 of part D of title I of the CAA, rather than 
the particulate-matter-specific provisions of subpart 4 of part D of 
title I.
b. Proposal on This Issue
    As explained below, EPA is proposing to determine that the Court's 
January 4, 2013, decision does not prevent EPA from redesignating the 
Louisville area to attainment. Even in light of the Court's decision, 
redesignation for this area is appropriate under the CAA and EPA's 
longstanding interpretations of the CAA's provisions regarding 
redesignation. EPA'slongstanding interpretation that requirements that 
are imposed, or that become due, after a complete redesignation request 
is submitted for an area that is attaining the standard, are not 
applicable for purposes of evaluating a redesignation request. Second, 
even if EPA applies the subpart 4 requirements to the Louisville 
redesignation request and disregards the provisions of its 1997 
PM2.5 implementation rule recently remanded by the Court, 
the state's request for redesignation of this area still qualifies for 
approval.
i. Applicable Requirements for Purposes of Evaluating the Redesignation 
Request
    With respect to the 1997 PM2.5 implementation rule, the 
Court's January 4, 2013, ruling rejected EPA's reasons for implementing 
the PM2.5 NAAQS solely in accordance with the provisions of 
subpart 1, and remanded that matter to EPA, so that it could address 
implementation of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS under subpart 4 of 
part D of the CAA, in addition to subpart 1. For the purposes of 
evaluating Indiana's redesignation request for the area, to the extent 
that implementation under subpart 4 would impose additional 
requirements for areas designated

[[Page 41740]]

nonattainment, EPA believes that those requirements are not 
``applicable'' for the purposes of CAA section 107(d)(3)(E), and thus 
EPA is not required to consider subpart 4 requirements with respect to 
the Louisville redesignation. Under its longstanding interpretation of 
the CAA, EPA has interpreted section 107(d)(3)(E) to mean, as a 
threshold matter, that the part D provisions which are ``applicable'' 
and which must be approved in order for EPA to redesignate an area 
include only those which came due prior to a state's submittal of a 
complete redesignation request. See ``Procedures for Processing 
Requests to Redesignate Areas to Attainment,'' Memorandum from John 
Calcagni, Director, Air Quality Management Division, September 4, 1992 
(Calcagni memorandum). See also ``State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
Requirements for Areas Submitting Requests for Redesignation to 
Attainment of the Ozone and Carbon Monoxide (CO) NAAQS on or after 
November 15, 1992,'' Memorandum from Michael Shapiro, Acting Assistant 
Administrator, Air and Radiation, September 17, 1993 (Shapiro 
memorandum); Final Redesignation of Detroit-Ann Arbor, (60 FR 12459, 
12465-66, March 7, 1995); Final Redesignation of St. Louis, Missouri, 
(68 FR 25418, 25424-27, May 12, 2003); Sierra Club v. EPA, 375 F.3d 
537, 541 (7th Cir. 2004) (upholding EPA's redesignation rulemaking 
applying this interpretation and expressly rejecting Sierra Club's view 
that the meaning of ``applicable'' under the statute is ``whatever 
should have been in the plan at the time of attainment rather than 
whatever actually was in the plan and already implemented or due at the 
time of attainment'').\2\ In this case, at the time that Indiana 
submitted its redesignation request, requirements under subpart 4 were 
not due,[and indeed, were not yet known to apply.]
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    \2\ Applicable requirements of the CAA that come due subsequent 
to the area's submittal of a complete redesignation request remain 
applicable until a redesignation is approved, but are not required 
as a prerequisite to redesignation. Section 175A(c) of the CAA.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    EPA's view that, for purposes of evaluating the Louisville 
redesignation, the subpart 4 requirements were not due at the time the 
state submitted the redesignation request is in keeping with the EPA's 
interpretation of subpart 2 requirements for subpart 1 ozone areas 
redesignated subsequent to the D.C. Circuit's decision in South Coast 
Air Quality Mgmt. Dist. v. EPA, 472 F.3d 882 (D.C. Cir. 2006). In South 
Coast, the Court found that EPA was not permitted to implement the 1997 
8-hour ozone standard solely under subpart 1, and held that EPA was 
required under the statute to implement the standard under the ozone-
specific requirements of subpart 2 as well. Subsequent to the South 
Coast decision, in evaluating and acting upon redesignation requests 
for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard that were submitted to EPA for areas 
under subpart 1, EPA applied its longstanding interpretation of the CAA 
that ``applicable requirements'', for purposes of evaluating a 
redesignation, are those that had been due at the time the 
redesignation request was submitted. See, e.g., Proposed Redesignation 
of Manitowoc County and Door County Nonattainment Areas (75 FR 22047, 
22050, April 27, 2010). In those actions, EPA therefore did not 
consider subpart 2 requirements to be ``applicable'' for the purposes 
of evaluating whether the area should be redesignated under section 
107(d)(3)(E).
    EPA's interpretation derives from the provisions of CAA Section 
107(d)(3). Section 107(d)(3)(E)(v) states that, for an area to be 
redesignated, a state must meet ``all requirements `applicable' to the 
area under section 110 and part D''. Section 107(d)(3)(E)(ii) provides 
that the EPA must have fully approved the ``applicable'' SIP for the 
area seeking redesignation. These two sections read together support 
EPA's interpretation of ``applicable'' as only those requirements that 
came due prior to submission of a complete redesignation request. 
First, holding states to an ongoing obligation to adopt new CAA 
requirements that arose after the state submitted its redesignation 
request, in order to be redesignated, would make it problematic or 
impossible for EPA to act on redesignation requests in accordance with 
the 18-month deadline Congress set for EPA action in section 
107(d)(3)(D). If ``applicable requirements'' were interpreted to be a 
continuing flow of requirements with no reasonable limitation, states, 
after submitting a redesignation request, would be forced continuously 
to make additional SIP submissions that in turn would require EPA to 
undertake further notice-and-comment rulemaking actions to act on those 
submissions. This would create a regime of unceasing rulemaking that 
would delay action on the redesignation request beyond the 18-month 
timeframe provided by the CAA for this purpose.
    Second, a fundamental premise for redesignating a nonattainment 
area to attainment is that the area has attained the relevant NAAQS due 
to emission reductions from existing controls. Thus, an area for which 
a redesignation request has been submitted would have already attained 
the NAAQS as a result of satisfying statutory requirements that came 
due prior to the submission of the request. Absent a showing that 
unadopted and unimplemented requirements are necessary for future 
maintenance, it is reasonable to view the requirements applicable for 
purposes of evaluating the redesignation request as including only 
those SIP requirements that have already come due. These are the 
requirements that led to attainment of the NAAQS. To require, for 
redesignation approval, that a state also satisfy additional SIP 
requirements coming due after the state submits its complete 
redesignation request, and while EPA is reviewing it, would compel the 
state to do more than is necessary to attain the NAAQS, without a 
showing that the additional requirements are necessary for maintenance.
    In the context of this redesignation, the timing and nature of the 
Court's January 4, 2013, decision in NRDC v. EPA compound the 
consequences of imposing requirements that come due after the 
redesignation request is submitted. The state submitted its 
redesignation request on June 16, 2011, but the Court did not issue its 
decision remanding EPA's 1997 PM2.5 implementation rule 
concerning the applicability of the provisions of subpart 4 until 
January 2013.
    To require the state's fully-completed and pending redesignation 
request to comply now with requirements of subpart 4 that the Court 
announced only in January, 2013, would be to give retroactive effect to 
such requirements when the state had no notice that it was required to 
meet them. The D.C. Circuit recognized the inequity of this type of 
retroactive impact in Sierra Club v. Whitman, 285 F.3d 63 (D.C. Cir. 
2002),\3\ where it upheld the District Court's ruling refusing to make 
retroactive EPA's determination that the St. Louis area did not meet 
its attainment deadline. In that case, petitioners urged the Court to 
make EPA's nonattainment determination effective as of the date that 
the statute required, rather than the later date on which EPA actually 
made the determination. The Court rejected this view, stating that 
applying it ``would likely impose large costs on

[[Page 41741]]

states, which would face fines and suits for not implementing air 
pollution prevention plans . . . even though they were not on notice at 
the time.'' Id. at 68. Similarly, it would be unreasonable to penalize 
Indiana by rejecting its redesignation request for an area that is 
already attaining the 1997 PM2.5 standard and that met all 
applicable requirements known to be in effect at the time of the 
request. For EPA now to reject the redesignation request solely because 
the state did not expressly address subpart 4 requirements of which it 
had no notice, would inflict the same unfairness condemned by the Court 
in Sierra Club v. Whitman.
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    \3\ Sierra Club v. Whitman was discussed and distinguished in a 
recent D.C. Circuit decision that addressed retroactivity in a quite 
different context, where, unlike the situation here, EPA sought to 
give its regulations retroactive effect. National Petrochemical and 
Refiners Ass'n v. EPA. 630 F.3d 145, 163 (D.C. Cir. 2010), rehearing 
denied, 643 F.3d 958 (D.C. Cir. 2011), cert denied, 132 S. Ct. 571 
(2011).
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ii. Subpart 4 Requirements and Indiana Redesignation Request
    Even if EPA were to take the view that the Court's January 4, 2013, 
decision requires that, in the context of pending redesignations, 
subpart 4 requirements were due and in effect at the time the state 
submitted its redesignation request, EPA proposes to determine that the 
Louisville area still qualifies for redesignation to attainment. As 
explained below, EPA believes that the redesignation request for the 
Louisville area, though not expressed in terms of subpart 4 
requirements, substantively meets the requirements of that subpart for 
purposes of redesignating the area to attainment.
    With respect to evaluating the relevant substantive requirements of 
subpart 4 for purposes of redesignating the Louisville area, EPA notes 
that subpart 4 incorporates components of subpart 1 of part D, which 
contains general air quality planning requirements for areas designated 
as nonattainment. See Section 172(c). Subpart 4 itself contains 
specific planning and scheduling requirements for PM10 \4\ 
nonattainment areas, and under the Court's January 4, 2013, decision in 
NRDC v. EPA, these same statutory requirements also apply for 
PM2.5 nonattainment areas. EPA has longstanding general 
guidance that interprets the 1990 amendments to the CAA, making 
recommendations to states for meeting the statutory requirements for 
SIPs for nonattainment areas. See, ``State Implementation Plans; 
General Preamble for the Implementation of Title I of the Clear Air Act 
Amendments of 1990,'' 57 FR 13498 (April 16, 1992) (the ``General 
Preamble''). In the General Preamble, EPA discussed the relationship of 
subpart 1 and subpart 4 SIP requirements, and pointed out that subpart 
1 requirements were to an extent ``subsumed by, or integrally related 
to, the more specific PM10 requirements.'' 57 FR 13538 
(April 16, 1992). The subpart 1 requirements include, among other 
things, provisions for attainment demonstrations, RACM, RFP, emissions 
inventories, and contingency measures.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ PM10 refers to particulates nominally 10 
micrometers in diameter or smaller.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the purposes of this redesignation, in order to identify any 
additional requirements which would apply under subpart 4, we are 
considering the Louisville area to be a ``moderate'' PM2.5 
nonattainment area. Under section 188 of the CAA, all areas designated 
nonattainment areas under subpart 4 would initially be classified by 
operation of law as ``moderate'' nonattainment areas, and would remain 
moderate nonattainment areas unless and until EPA reclassifies the area 
as a ``serious'' nonattainment area. Accordingly, EPA believes that it 
is appropriate to limit the evaluation of the potential impact of 
subpart 4 requirements to those that would be applicable to moderate 
nonattainment areas. Sections 189(a) and (c) of subpart 4 apply to 
moderate nonattainment areas and include the following: (1) An approved 
permit program for construction of new and modified major stationary 
sources (section 189(a)(1)(A)); (2) an attainment demonstration 
(section 189(a)(1)(B)); (3) provisions for RACM (section 189(a)(1)(C)); 
and (4) quantitative milestones demonstrating RFP toward attainment by 
the applicable attainment date (section 189(c)).
    The permit requirements of subpart 4, as contained in section 
189(a)(1)(A), refer to and apply the subpart 1 permit provisions 
requirements of sections 172 and 173 to PM10, without adding 
to them. Consequently, EPA believes that section 189(a)(1)(A) does not 
itself impose for redesignation purposes any additional requirements 
for moderate areas beyond those contained in subpart 1.\5\ In any 
event, in the context of redesignation, EPA has long relied on the 
interpretation that a fully approved nonattainment new source review 
program is not considered an applicable requirement for redesignation, 
provided the area can maintain the standard with a PSD program after 
redesignation. A detailed rationale for this view is described in a 
memorandum from Mary Nichols, Assistant Administrator for Air and 
Radiation, dated October 14, 1994, entitled, ``Part D New Source Review 
Requirements for Areas Requesting Redesignation to Attainment.'' See 
also rulemakings for Detroit, Michigan (60 FR 12467-12468, March 7, 
1995); Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, Ohio (61 FR 20458, 20469-20470, May 7, 
1996); Louisville, Kentucky (66 FR 53665, October 23, 2001); and Grand 
Rapids, Michigan (61 FR 31834-31837, June 21, 1996).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ The potential effect of section 189(e) on section 
189(a)(1)(A) for purposes of evaluating this redesignation is 
discussed below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    With respect to the specific attainment planning requirements under 
subpart 4,\6\ when EPA evaluates a redesignation request under either 
subpart 1 and/or 4, any area that is attaining the PM2.5 
standard is viewed as having satisfied the attainment planning 
requirements for these subparts. For redesignations, EPA has for many 
years interpreted attainment-linked requirements as not applicable for 
areas attaining the standard. In the General Preamble, EPA stated that:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ These are attainment demonstration, RFP, RACM, milestone 
requirements, contingency measures.

    The requirements for RFP will not apply in evaluating a request 
for redesignation to attainment since, at a minimum, the air quality 
data for the area must show that the area has already attained. 
Showing that the State will make RFP towards attainment will, 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
therefore, have no meaning at that point.

``General Preamble for the Interpretation of Title I of the CAA 
Amendments of 1990''; (57 FR 13498, 13564, April 16, 1992).

The General Preamble also explained that

[t]he section 172(c)(9) requirements are directed at ensuring RFP 
and attainment by the applicable date. These requirements no longer 
apply when an area has attained the standard and is eligible for 
redesignation. Furthermore, section 175A for maintenance plans . . . 
provides specific requirements for contingency measures that 
effectively supersede the requirements of section 172(c)(9) for 
these areas. Id.

    EPA similarly stated in its 1992 Calcagni memorandum that, ``The 
requirements for reasonable further progress and other measures needed 
for attainment will not apply for redesignations because they only have 
meaning for areas not attaining the standard.''
    It is evident that even if we were to consider the Court's January 
4, 2013, decision in NRDC v. EPA to mean that attainment-related 
requirements specific to subpart 4 should be imposed retroactively \7\ 
and thus are now past due, those requirements do not apply to an area 
that is attaining the 1997 PM2.5 standard, for the purpose 
of evaluating

[[Page 41742]]

a pending request to redesignate the area to attainment. EPA has 
consistently enunciated this interpretation of applicable requirements 
under section 107(d)(3)(E) since the General Preamble was published 
more than twenty years ago. Courts have recognized the scope of EPA's 
authority to interpret ``applicable requirements'' in the redesignation 
context. See Sierra Club v. EPA, 375 F.3d 537 (7th Cir. 2004).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ As EPA has explained above, we do not believe that the 
Court's January 4, 2013, decision should be interpreted so as to 
impose these requirements on the states retroactively. Sierra Club 
v. Whitman, supra.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Moreover, even outside the context of redesignations, EPA has 
viewed the obligations to submit attainment-related SIP planning 
requirements of subpart 4 as inapplicable for areas that EPA determines 
are attaining the standard. EPA's prior ``Clean Data Policy'' 
rulemakings for the PM10 NAAQS, also governed by the 
requirements of subpart 4, explain EPA's reasoning. They describe the 
effects of a determination of attainment on the attainment-related SIP 
planning requirements of subpart 4. See ``Determination of Attainment 
for Coso Junction Nonattainment Area,'' (75 FR 27944, May 19, 2010). 
See also Coso Junction proposed PM10 redesignation, (75 FR 
36023, 36027, June 24, 2010); Proposed and Final Determinations of 
Attainment for San Joaquin Nonattainment Area (71 FR 40952, 40954-55, 
July 19, 2006; and 71 FR 63641, 63643-47 October 30, 2006). In short, 
EPA in this context has also long concluded that to require states to 
meet superfluous SIP planning requirements is not necessary and not 
required by the CAA, so long as those areas continue to attain the 
relevant NAAQS.
    Elsewhere in this notice, EPA proposes to determine that the area 
has attained the 1997 PM2.5 standard. Under its longstanding 
interpretation, EPA is proposing to determine here that the area meets 
the attainment-related plan requirements of subparts 1 and 4.
    Thus, EPA is proposing to conclude that the requirements to submit 
an attainment demonstration under 189(a)(1)(B), a RACM determination 
under section 172(c)d section 189(a)(1)(c), a RFP demonstration under 
189(c)(1), and contingency measure requirements under section 172(c)(9) 
are satisfied for purposes of evaluating the redesignation request.
iii. Subpart 4 and Control of PM2.5 Precursors
    The D.C. Circuit in NRDC v. EPA remanded to EPA the two rules at 
issue in the case with instructions to EPA to re-promulgate them 
consistent with the requirements of subpart 4. EPA in this section 
addresses the Court's opinion with respect to PM2.5 
precursors. While past implementation of subpart 4 for PM10 
has allowed for control of PM10 precursors such as 
NOX from major stationary, mobile, and area sources in order 
to attain the standard as expeditiously as practicable, CAA section 
189(e) specifically provides that control requirements for major 
stationary sources of direct PM10 shall also apply to 
PM10 precursors from those sources, except where EPA 
determines that major stationary sources of such precursors ``do not 
contribute significantly to PM10 levels which exceed the 
standard in the area.''
    EPA's 1997 PM2.5 implementation rule, remanded by the 
D.C. Circuit, contained rebuttable presumptions concerning certain 
PM2.5 precursors applicable to attainment plans and control 
measures related to those plans. Specifically, in 40 CFR 51.1002, EPA 
provided, among other things, that a state was ``not required to 
address VOC [and ammonia] as . . . PM2.5 attainment plan 
precursor[s] and to evaluate sources of VOC [and ammonia] emissions in 
the State for control measures.'' EPA intended these to be rebuttable 
presumptions. EPA established these presumptions at the time because of 
uncertainties regarding the emission inventories for these pollutants 
and the effectiveness of specific control measures in various regions 
of the country in reducing PM2.5 concentrations. EPA also 
left open the possibility for such regulation of VOC and ammonia in 
specific areas where that was necessary.
    The Court in its January 4, 2013, decision made reference to both 
section 189(e) and 40 CFR 51.1002, and stated that, ``In light of our 
disposition, we need not address the petitioners' challenge to the 
presumptions in [40 CFR 51.1002] that volatile organic compounds and 
ammonia are not PM2.5 precursors, as subpart 4 expressly 
governs precursor presumptions.'' NRDC v. EPA, at 27, n.10.
    Elsewhere in the Court's opinion, however, the Court observed:

    Ammonia is a precursor to fine particulate matter, making it a 
precursor to both PM2.5 and PM10. For a 
PM10 nonattainment area governed by subpart 4, a 
precursor is presumptively regulated. See 42 U.S.C. Sec.  7513a(e) 
[section 189(e)].
    Id. at 21, n.7.

    For a number of reasons, EPA believes that its proposed 
redesignation of [the area] is consistent with the Court's decision on 
this aspect of subpart 4. First, while the Court, citing section 
189(e), stated that ``for a PM10 area governed by subpart 4, 
a precursor is `presumptively regulated,' '' the Court expressly 
declined to decide the specific challenge to EPA's 1997 
PM2.5 implementation rule provisions regarding ammonia and 
VOC as precursors. The Court had no occasion to reach whether and how 
it was substantively necessary to regulate any specific precursor in a 
particular PM2.5 nonattainment area, and did not address 
what might be necessary for purposes of acting upon a redesignation 
request.
    However, even if EPA takes the view that the requirements of 
subpart 4 were deemed applicable at the time the state submitted the 
redesignation request, and disregards the implementation rule's 
rebuttable presumptions regarding ammonia and VOC as PM2.5 
precursors, the regulatory consequence would be to consider the need 
for regulation of all precursors from any sources in the area to 
demonstrate attainment and to apply the section 189(e) provisions to 
major stationary sources of precursors. In the case of Louisville, EPA 
believes that doing so is consistent with proposing redesignation of 
the area for the 1997 PM2.5 standard. The Louisville area 
has attained the standard without any specific additional controls of 
VOC and ammonia emissions from any sources in the area.
    Precursors in subpart 4 are specifically regulated under the 
provisions of section 189(e), which requires, with important 
exceptions, control requirements for major stationary sources of 
PM2.5 precursors.\8\ Under subpart 1 and EPA's prior 
implementation rule, all major stationary sources of PM2.5 
precursors were subject to regulation, with the exception of ammonia 
and VOC. Thus we must address here whether additional controls of 
ammonia and VOC from major stationary sources are required under 
section 189(e) of subpart 4 in order to redesignate the area for the 
1997 PM2.5 standard. As explained below, we do not believe 
that any additional controls of ammonia and VOC are required in the 
context of this redesignation.
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    \8\ Under either subpart 1 or subpart 4, for purposes of 
demonstrating attainment as expeditiously as practicable, a state is 
required to evaluate all economically and technologically feasible 
control measures for direct PM emissions and precursor emissions, 
and adopt those measures that are deemed reasonably available.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In the General Preamble, EPA discusses its approach to implementing 
section 189(e). See 57 FR 13538-13542. With regard to precursor 
regulation under section 189(e), the General Preamble explicitly stated 
that control of VOCs under other Act requirements may suffice to 
relieve a state from the need to adopt precursor controls under section 
189(e). 57 FR 13542. EPA in this proposal proposes to determine that 
the SIP has met the provisions of section

[[Page 41743]]

189(e) with respect to ammonia and VOCs as precursors. This proposed 
supplemental determination is based on our findings that: (1) The 
Louisville area contains no major stationary sources of ammonia, and 
(2) existing major stationary sources of VOC are adequately controlled 
under other provisions of the CAA regulating the ozone NAAQS.\9\ In the 
alternative, EPA proposes to determine that, under the express 
exception provisions of section 189(e), and in the context of the 
redesignation of the area, which is attaining the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 standard, at present ammonia and VOC precursors from 
major stationary sources do not contribute significantly to levels 
exceeding the 1997 PM2.5 standard in the Louisville area. 
See 57 FR 13539-42.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \9\ The Louisville area has reduced VOC emissions through the 
implementation of various SIP-approved VOC control programs and 
various on-road and nonroad motor vehicle control programs.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    EPA notes that its 1997 PM2.5 implementation rule 
provisions in 40 CFR 51.1002 were not directed at evaluation of 
PM2.5 precursors in the context of redesignation, but at SIP 
plans and control measures required to bring a nonattainment area into 
attainment of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. By contrast, 
redesignation to attainment primarily requires the area to have already 
attained due to permanent and enforceable emission reductions, and to 
demonstrate that controls in place can continue to maintain the 
standard. Thus, even if we regard the Court's January 4, 2013, decision 
as calling for ``presumptive regulation'' of ammonia and VOC for 
PM2.5 under the attainment planning provisions of subpart 4, 
those provisions in and of themselves do not require additional 
controls of these precursors for an area that already qualifies for 
redesignation. Nor does EPA believe that requiring Indiana to address 
precursors differently than they have already would result in a 
substantively different outcome.
    Although, as EPA has emphasized, its consideration here of 
precursor requirements under subpart 4 is in the context of a 
redesignation to attainment, EPA's existing interpretation of subpart 4 
requirements with respect to precursors in attainment plans for 
PM10 contemplates that states may develop attainment plans 
that regulate only those precursors that are necessary for purposes of 
attainment in the area in question, i.e., states may determine that 
only certain precursors need be regulated for attainment and control 
purposes.\10\ Courts have upheld this approach to the requirements of 
subpart 4 for PM10.\11\ EPA believes that application of 
this approach to PM2.5 precursors under subpart 4 is 
reasonable. Because the Louisville area has already attained the 1997 
PM2.5 NAAQS with its current approach to regulation of 
PM2.5 precursors, EPA believes that it is reasonable to 
conclude in the context of this redesignation that there is no need to 
revisit the attainment control strategy with respect to the treatment 
of precursors. Even if the Court's decision is construed to impose an 
obligation in evaluating this redesignation request to consider 
additional precursors under subpart 4, it would not affect EPA's 
approval here of Indiana's request for redesignation of the Louisville 
area. In the context of a redesignation, the area has shown that it has 
attained the standard. Moreover, the state has shown and EPA has 
proposed to determine that attainment in this area is due to permanent 
and enforceable emissions reductions on all precursors necessary to 
provide for continued attainment. It follows logically that no further 
control of additional precursors is necessary. Accordingly, EPA does 
not view the January 4, 2013, decision of the Court as precluding 
redesignation of the Louisville area to attainment for the 1997 
PM2.5 NAAQS at this time.
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    \10\ See, e.g., ``Approval and Promulgation of Implementation 
Plans for California--San Joaquin Valley PM-10 Nonattainment Area; 
Serious Area Plan for Nonattainment of the 24-Hour and Annual PM-10 
Standards,'' 69 FR 30006 (May 26, 2004) (approving a PM10 
attainment plan that impose controls on direct PM10 and 
NOX emissions and did not impose controls on 
SO2, VOC, or ammonia emissions).
    \11\ See, e.g., Assoc. of Irritated Residents v. EPA et al., 423 
F.3d 989 (9th Cir. 2005).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In sum, even if Indiana were required to address precursors for the 
Louisville area under subpart 4 rather than under subpart 1, as 
interpreted in EPA's remanded PM2.5 implementation rule, EPA 
would still conclude that the area had met all applicable requirements 
for purposes of redesignation in accordance with section 
107(d)(3)(E)(ii) and (v).
b. The Louisville Area Has a Fully Approved Applicable SIP Under 
Section 110(k) of the CAA
    Upon final approval of Indiana's comprehensive 2008 emissions 
inventory, EPA will have fully approved the Indiana SIP for the 
Louisville area under section 110(k) of the CAA for all requirements 
applicable for purposes of redesignation. EPA may rely on prior SIP 
approvals in approving a redesignation request (See page 3 of the 
September 4, 1992, John Calcagni memorandum; Southwestern Pennsylvania 
Growth Alliance v. Browner, 144 F.3d 984, 989-990 (6th Cir. 1998); Wall 
v. EPA, 265 F.3d 426 (6th Cir. 2001)) plus any additional measures it 
may approve in conjunction with a redesignation action. See 68 FR 
25413, 25426 (May 12, 2003). Since the passage of the CAA of 1970, 
Indiana has adopted and submitted, and EPA has fully approved, 
provisions addressing various required SIP elements under particulate 
matter standards. In this action, EPA is approving Indiana's 2008 
emissions inventory for the Louisville area as meeting the requirement 
of section 172(c)(3) of the CAA. No Louisville area SIP provisions are 
currently disapproved, conditionally approved, or partially approved.

3. The Improvement in Air Quality Is Due to Permanent and Enforceable 
Reductions in Emissions Resulting From Implementation of the SIP and 
Applicable Federal Air Pollution Control Regulations and Other 
Permanent and Enforceable Reductions (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iii))

    EPA believes that Indiana has demonstrated that the observed air 
quality improvement in the Louisville area is due to permanent and 
enforceable reductions in emissions resulting from implementation of 
the SIP, Federal measures and other state-adopted measures.
    In making this demonstration, Indiana has calculated the change in 
emissions between 2005, one of the years the Louisville area was 
monitoring nonattainment, and 2008, one of the years the Louisville 
area monitored attainment. The reduction in emissions and the 
corresponding improvement in air quality over this time period can be 
attributed to a number of regulatory control measures that the 
Louisville area and contributing areas have implemented in recent 
years.
a. Permanent and Enforceable Controls Implemented
    The following is a discussion of permanent and enforceable measures 
that have been implemented in the area:
i. Federal Emission Control Measures
    Reductions in fine particle precursor emissions have occurred 
statewide and in upwind areas as a result of Federal emission control 
measures, with additional emission reductions expected to occur in the 
future. Federal emission control measures include the following.
    Tier 2 Emission Standards for Vehicles and Gasoline Sulfur 
Standards. These emission control requirements result in lower 
NOX and SO2 emissions from new cars and light 
duty trucks. The Federal rules were phased in

[[Page 41744]]

between 2004 and 2009. The EPA has estimated that, by the end of the 
phase-in period, new vehicles will emit less NOX with the 
following percentage decreases: Passenger cars (light duty vehicles)--
77%; light duty trucks, minivans and sports utility vehicles--86%; and, 
larger sports utility vehicles, vans and heavier trucks--69% to 95%. 
EPA expects fleet-wide average emissions to decline by similar 
percentages as new vehicles replace older vehicles. The Tier 2 
standards also reduced the sulfur content of gasoline to 30 parts per 
million (ppm) beginning in January 2006. Most gasoline sold in Indiana 
prior to January 2006 had a sulfur content of about 500 ppm.
    Heavy-Duty Diesel Engine Rule. EPA issued this rule in July 2000. 
This rule includes standards limiting the sulfur content of diesel 
fuel, which went into effect in 2004. A second phase took effect in 
2007 which reduced fine particle emissions from heavy-duty highway 
engines and further reduced the highway diesel fuel sulfur content to 
15 ppm. The total program is estimated to achieve a 90% reduction in 
direct PM2.5 emissions and a 95% reduction in NOX 
emissions for these new engines using low sulfur diesel, compared to 
existing engines using higher sulfur content diesel. The reduction in 
fuel sulfur content also yielded an immediate reduction in sulfate 
particle emissions from all diesel vehicles.
    Nonroad Diesel Rule. In May 2004, EPA promulgated a new rule for 
large nonroad diesel engines, such as those used in construction, 
agriculture and mining equipment, to be phased in between 2008 and 
2014. The rule also reduces the sulfur content in nonroad diesel fuel 
by over 99%. Prior to 2006, nonroad diesel fuel averaged approximately 
3,400 ppm sulfur. This rule limited nonroad diesel sulfur content to 
500 ppm by 2006, with a further reduction to 15 ppm by 2010. The 
combined engine and fuel rules will reduce NOX and 
PM2.5 emissions from large nonroad diesel engines by over 
90%, compared to current nonroad engines using higher sulfur content 
diesel. It is estimated that compliance with this rule will cut 
NOX emissions from nonroad diesel engines by up to 90%. This 
rule achieved some emission reductions by 2008, and was fully 
implemented by 2010. The reduction in fuel sulfur content also yielded 
an immediate reduction in sulfate particle emissions from all diesel 
vehicles.
    Nonroad Large Spark-Ignition Engine and Recreational Engine 
Standards. In November 2002, EPA promulgated emission standards for 
groups of previously unregulated nonroad engines. These engines include 
large spark-ignition engines such as those used in forklifts and 
airport ground-service equipment; recreational vehicles using spark-
ignition engines such as off-highway motorcycles, all-terrain vehicles 
and snowmobiles; and recreational marine diesel engines. Emission 
standards from large spark-ignition engines were implemented in two 
tiers, with Tier 1 starting in 2004 and Tier 2 in 2007. Recreational 
vehicle emission standards are being phased in from 2006 through 2012. 
Marine diesel engine standards were phased in from 2006 through 2009. 
With full implementation of the entire nonroad spark-ignition engine 
and recreational engine standards, an 80% reduction in NOX 
expected by 2020. Some of these emission reductions occurred by the 
2008-2010 period used to demonstrate attainment, and additional 
emission reductions will occur during the maintenance period.
ii. Control Measures in Contributing Areas
    NOX SIP Call. On October 27, 1998 (63 FR 57356), EPA issued a 
NOX SIP Call requiring the District of Columbia and 22 
states to reduce emissions of NOX. Affected states were 
required to comply with Phase I of the SIP Call beginning in 2004, and 
Phase II beginning in 2007. Emission reductions resulting from 
regulations developed in response to the NOX SIP Call are 
permanent and enforceable.
    CAIR. On May 12, 2005, EPA published CAIR, which requires 
significant reductions in emissions of SO2 and 
NOX from electric generating units to limit the interstate 
transport of these pollutants and the ozone and fine particulate matter 
they form in the atmosphere. See 76 FR 70093. The D.C. Circuit 
initially vacated CAIR, North Carolina v. EPA, 531 F.3d 896 (D.C. Cir. 
2008), but ultimately remanded the rule to EPA without vacatur to 
preserve the environmental benefits provided by CAIR, North Carolina v. 
EPA, 550 F.3d 1176, 1178 (D.C. Cir. 2008). In response to the Court's 
decision, EPA issued the Transport Rule, also known as CSAPR), to 
address interstate transport of NOX and SO2 in 
the eastern United States. See 76 FR 48208 (August 8, 2011).
    On December 30, 2011, the D.C. Circuit issued an order addressing 
the status of CSAPR and CAIR in response to motions filed by numerous 
parties seeking a stay of CSAPR pending judicial review. In that order, 
the Court stayed CSAPR pending resolution of the petitions for review 
of that rule in EME Homer City Generation. The Court also indicated 
that EPA was expected to continue to administer CAIR in the interim 
until judicial review of CSAPR was completed.
    On August 21, 2012, the D.C. Circuit issued a decision to vacate 
CSAPR. In that decision, it also ordered EPA to continue administering 
CAIR ``pending the promulgation of a valid replacement.'' EME Homer 
City, 696 F.3d at 38. The D.C. Circuit denied all petitions for 
rehearing on January 24, 2013. EPA and other parties have filed 
petitions for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court, but those petitions 
have not been acted on to date. Nonetheless, EPA intends to continue to 
act in accordance with the EME Homer City opinion.
    In light of these unique circumstances and for the reasons 
explained below, to the extent that attainment is due to emission 
reductions associated with CAIR, EPA is here proposing to determine 
that those reductions are sufficiently permanent and enforceable for 
purposes of CAA sections 107(d)(3)(E)(iii) and 175A. EPA therefore 
proposes to approve the redesignation request and the related SIP 
revision for Indiana portion of the Louisville area, including 
Indiana's plan for maintaining attainment of the PM2.5 
standard.
    As directed by the D.C. Circuit, CAIR remains in place and 
enforceable until substituted by a valid replacement rule. Indiana's 
SIP revision lists CAIR as a control measure that became state-
effective October 22, 2007 and was fully approved by EPA on November 
29, 2010 (75 FR 72956), for the purpose of reducing SO2 and 
NOX emissions. CAIR was thus in place and getting emission 
reductions when the Louisville area began monitoring attainment of the 
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The quality-assured, certified 
monitoring data used to demonstrate the area's attainment of the 1997 
annual PM2.5 NAAQS by the April 2010 attainment deadline was 
also impacted by CAIR.
    To the extent that Indiana is relying on CAIR in its maintenance 
plan, the recent directive from the D.C. Circuit in EME Homer City 
ensures that the reductions associated with CAIR will be permanent and 
enforceable for the necessary time period. EPA has been ordered by the 
Court to develop a new rule to address interstate transport to replace 
CSAPR and the opinion makes clear that after promulgating that new rule 
EPA must provide states an opportunity to draft and submit SIPs to 
implement that rule. Thus, CAIR will remain in place until EPA has 
promulgated a final rule through a notice-and-comment rulemaking 
process, States have had an opportunity

[[Page 41745]]

to draft and submit SIPs, EPA has reviewed the SIPs to determine if 
they can be approved, and EPA has taken action on the SIPs, including 
promulgating a FIP if appropriate. The Court's clear instruction to EPA 
that it must continue to administer CAIR until a valid replacement 
exists provides an additional backstop: By definition, any rule that 
replaces CAIR and meets the Court's direction would require upwind 
states to have SIPs that eliminate significant contributions to 
downwind nonattainment and prevent interference with maintenance in 
downwind areas.
    Further, in vacating CSAPR and requiring EPA to continue 
administering CAIR, the D.C. Circuit emphasized that the consequences 
of vacating CAIR ``might be more severe now in light of the reliance 
interests accumulated over the intervening four years.'' EME Homer 
City, 696 F.3d at 38. The accumulated reliance interests include the 
interests of states who reasonably assumed they could rely on 
reductions associated with CAIR which brought certain nonattainment 
areas into attainment with the NAAQS. If EPA were prevented from 
relying on reductions associated with CAIR in redesignation actions, 
states would be forced to impose additional, redundant reductions on 
top of those achieved by CAIR. EPA believes this is precisely the type 
of irrational result the Court sought to avoid by ordering EPA to 
continue administering CAIR. For these reasons also, EPA believes it is 
appropriate to allow states to rely on CAIR, and the existing emissions 
reductions achieved by CAIR, as sufficiently permanent and enforceable 
for purposes such as redesignation. Following promulgation of the 
replacement rule, EPA will review SIPs as appropriate to identify 
whether there are any issues that need to be addressed.
iii. Consent Decrees
    Along with Federal and state rules controlling direct PM and 
precursors, there have been a number of permanent and enforceable 
consent decrees that have reduced emissions and will continue to reduce 
emissions into the future. The EPA and Duke Energy consent decree 
created caps on both NOX and SO2 similar 
allocations provided for the Gallagher Generating Station in Floyd 
County. Duke Energy Indiana permanently shut-down two of its four coal-
fired Electric Generating Units (EGUs) (Units 1 and 3) on February 1, 
2012. The Tennessee Valley Authority has also recently entered into a 
consent decree with EPA that establishes system-wide annual tonnage 
limits for NOX and SO2 for its eleven coal-fired 
power plants located in Alabama, Kentucky, and Tennessee. 
NOX will be limited to 100,600 tpy beginning in 2011 and 
capped at 52,000 tpy in 2018 and each year thereafter. SO2 
will be limited to 285,000 tpy beginning in 2011 and capped at 110,000 
tpy in 2019 and each year thereafter.
    This will result in significant regional NOX and 
SO2 reductions, further ensuring that the area will continue 
to maintain the NAAQS in the future.

b. Emission Reductions

    Indiana developed emissions inventories for NOX, direct 
PM2.5 and SO2 for 2005, one of the years the area 
monitored nonattainment, and 2008, one of the years the Louisville area 
monitored attainment of the standard.
    EGU SO2 and NOX emissions were derived from 
EPA's Clean Air Market's acid rain database. These emissions reflect 
Indiana and Kentucky's NOX emission budgets resulting from 
EPA's NOX SIP call. The 2008 emissions from EGUs reflect 
Indiana's emission caps under CAIR. All other point source emissions 
were obtained from Indiana's source facility emissions reporting.

[[Page 41746]]

    Area source emissions in the Louisville area for 2005 were taken 
from periodic emissions inventories.\12\ These 2005 area source 
emission estimates were extrapolated to 2008. Source growth factors 
were supplied by the Lake Michigan Air Directors Consortium (LADCO).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \12\ Periodic emission inventories are derived by states every 
three years and reported to the EPA. These periodic emission 
inventories are required by the Federal Consolidated Emissions 
Reporting Rule, codified at 40 CFR Subpart A. EPA revised these and 
other emission reporting requirements in a final rule published on 
December 17, 2008, at 73 FR 76539.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Nonroad mobile source emissions were extrapolated from nonroad 
mobile source emissions reported in EPA's 2005 National Emissions 
Inventory (NEI). Contractors were employed by LADCO to estimate 
emissions for commercial marine vessels and railroads.
    On-road mobile source emissions were calculated using EPA's mobile 
source emission factor model, MOVES2010a, in conjunction with 
transportation model results developed by the local metropolitan 
planning organization, Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development 
Agency (KIPDA), along with the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control 
District and IDEM.
    All emissions estimates discussed below were documented in the 
submittal and appendices of Indiana's redesignation request submittal 
from June 16, 2011. For these data and additional emissions inventory 
data, the reader is referred to EPA's digital docket for this rule, 
http://www.regulations.gov, for docket number EPA-R05-OAR-2011-0698, 
which includes digital copies of Indiana's submittal.
    Emissions data in tpy for the entire Louisville area are shown in 
Tables 2 and 3, below.

                Table 2--Summary of 2005 Emissions for the Entire Louisville Area by Source Type
                                                      [tpy]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   SO2               NOX              PM2.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point (EGU)...............................................        174,178.36         48,103.47          3,443.00
Non-EGU...................................................          5,441.05          3,922.83          1,291.31
On-road...................................................            144.23         32,744.55          1,055.61
Nonroad...................................................          1,050.81         14,370.95            780.54
Area......................................................            418.98          2,123.83            810.13
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
    Total Louisville......................................        181,233.43        101,265.63          7,380.59
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Table 3--Comparison of 2005 Emissions From the Nonattainment Year and 2008 Emissions for an Attainment Year for
                                           the Entire Louisville Area
                                                      [tpy]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                   Net change
                                                                  2005              2008           (2005-2008)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PM2.5.....................................................          7,380.59          6,724.02           -656.57
NOX.......................................................        101,265.63         97,533.93         -3,731.70
SO2.......................................................        181,233.43        151,503.01        -29,730.42
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table 3 shows that in the entire Louisville area reduced direct 
PM2.5 emissions by 656.57 tons, NOX emissions by 
3,731.70 tons and SO2 emissions by 29,730.42 tons between 
2005, a nonattainment year, and 2008, an attainment year.
    Emissions data in tpy the Indiana portion of the Louisville area 
are shown in Tables 4, 5, and 6, below.

 Table 4--Summary of 2008 Base Year Emissions Inventory for the Indiana Portion of the Louisville Area by Source
                                                      Type
                                                      [tpy]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                   SO2               NOX              PM2.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point.....................................................        108,861.34         27,916.08            847.78
On-road...................................................             38.89          6,245.60            210.91
Nonroad...................................................            141.97          2,553.23            131.41
Area......................................................            330.32            811.15             12.37
                                                           -----------------------------------------------------
    Total.................................................        109,372.52         37,526.06          1,202.47
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

  Table 5--Summary of 2007/2008 Base Year Emissions of VOCs and Ammonia
              for the Entire Louisville Area by Source Type
                                  [tpy]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              Ammonia           VOC
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point...................................           6.304          916.25

[[Page 41747]]

 
Area....................................       1,193.20         5,618.26
Nonroad.................................           2.13         1,246.43
On-road.................................         113.13         2,886.02
                                         -------------------------------
    Total...............................       1,314.76        10,666.95
------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Table 6--Comparison of 2005 Emissions From the Nonattainment Year and 2008 Emissions for an Attainment Year for
                                   the Indiana Portion of the Louisville Area
                                                      [tpy]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                   Net change
                                                                  2005              2008           (2005-2008)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
PM2.5.....................................................          1,376.37          1,202.47           -173.90
NOX.......................................................         41,750.37         37,526.06         -4,224.31
SO2.......................................................        135,182.59        109,372.52        -25,810.07
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table 6 shows that in the Indiana portion of the Louisville area 
reduced direct PM2.5 emissions by 173.90 tons, 
NOX emissions by 4,224.31 tons and SO2 emissions 
by 25,810.07 tons between 2005, a nonattainment year, and 2008, an 
attainment year.
    Based on the information summarized above, Indiana has adequately 
demonstrated that the improvement in air quality is due to permanent 
and enforceable emissions reductions.

4. Indiana Has a Fully Approved Maintenance Plan Pursuant to Section 
175A of the CAA (Section 107(d)(3)(E)(iv))

    In conjunction with Indiana's request to redesignate the Indiana 
portion of the Louisville nonattainment area to attainment status, 
Indiana has submitted a SIP revision to provide for maintenance of the 
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS in the area through 2025.
a. What is required in a maintenance plan?
    Section 175A of the CAA sets forth the required elements of a 
maintenance plan for areas seeking redesignation from nonattainment to 
attainment. Under section 175A, the plan must demonstrate continued 
attainment of the applicable NAAQS for at least ten years after EPA 
approves a redesignation to attainment. Eight years after 
redesignation, the state must submit a revised maintenance plan which 
demonstrates that attainment will continue to be maintained for ten 
years following the initial ten year maintenance period. To address the 
possibility of future NAAQS violations, the maintenance plan must 
contain contingency measures with a schedule for implementation as EPA 
deems necessary to assure prompt correction of any future annual 
PM2.5 violations.
    The September 4, 1992, Calcagni memorandum provides additional 
guidance on the content of a maintenance plan. The memorandum states 
that a maintenance plan should address the following items: the 
attainment emissions inventories, a maintenance demonstration showing 
maintenance for the ten years of the maintenance period, a commitment 
to maintain the existing monitoring network, factors and procedures to 
be used for verification of continued attainment of the NAAQS and a 
contingency plan to prevent or correct future violations of the NAAQS.
b. Attainment Inventory
    Indiana developed emissions inventories for NOX, direct 
PM2.5 and SO2 for 2008, one of the years in the 
period during which the Louisville area monitored attainment of the 
1997 annual PM2.5 standard, as described previously. The 
attainment levels of emissions for the entire area, as well as the 
attainment levels of emissions for the Indiana portion of the area were 
summarized in Tables 3 and 5, above.
c. Demonstration of Maintenance
    Along with the redesignation request, Indiana submitted a revision 
to its PM2.5 SIP to include a maintenance plan for the 
Louisville area, as required by section 175A of the CAA. Section 175A 
requires a state seeking redesignation to attainment to submit a SIP 
revision to provide for the maintenance of the NAAQS in the area ``for 
at least 10 years after the redesignation.'' EPA has interpreted this 
as a showing of maintenance ``for a period of ten years following 
redesignation.'' Calcagni Memorandum, p. 9. Where the emissions 
inventory method of showing maintenance is used, its purpose is to show 
that emissions during the maintenance period will not increase over the 
attainment year inventory. Calcagni Memorandum, pp. 9-10. A maintenance 
demonstration may be based on such an emissions inventory approach. See 
Wall v. EPA, 265 F.3d 426 (6th Cir. 2001), Sierra Club v. EPA, 375 F. 
3d 537 (7th Cir. 2004). See also 66 FR 53094, 53099-53100 (October 19, 
2001), 68 FR 25413, 25430-25432 (May 12, 2003).
    Indiana's plan demonstrates maintenance of the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 standard through 2025 by showing that current and 
future emissions of NOX, directly emitted PM2.5 
and SO2 for the area remain at or below attainment year 
emission levels.
    Indiana's submission uses emissions inventory projections for the 
years 2015 and 2025 to demonstrate maintenance for the Indiana portion 
of the Louisville area. The projected emissions were estimated by 
Indiana, with assistance from LADCO and KIPDA using the MOVES2010a 
model. Projection of inventory emissions was done for the 2015 interim 
year emissions using estimates based on the 2009 and 2018 LADCO 
modeling inventory, using LADCO's growth factors, for all sectors. The 
2025 maintenance year emissions are based on emissions estimates from 
the 2018 LADCO modeling. Table 7 shows the 2008 attainment base year 
emission estimates and the 2015 and 2025 emission projections for the 
entire tri-state Louisville area that Indiana

[[Page 41748]]

provided in its June 16, 2011, submission.

  Table 7--Comparison of 2008, 2015 and 2025 NOX, Direct PM2.5 and SO2 Emission Totals (tpy) for the Louisville
                                                      Area
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                              SO2                        NOX                      PM2.5
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008 (baseline)..................  151,503.01...............  97,533.93...............  6,724.02
2015.............................  76,958.54................  69,936.67...............  5,540.29
2025.............................  76,082.07................  59,455.17...............  5,055.61
Change 2008-2025.................  -75,420.94...............  -38,078.76..............  -1,668.41
                                   50% decrease.............   39% decrease...........   25% decrease
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Table 7 shows that the Louisville area will reduce NOX 
emissions by 38,078.76 tpy between 2008 and the maintenance projection 
to 2025, direct PM2.5 emissions by 1,668.41 tpy, and reduced 
SO2 emissions by 75,420.94 tpy between 2008 and 2025.
    An air quality modeling analysis conducted by IDEM demonstrates 
that the Louisville area would be able to attain the PM2.5 
standard even in the absence of either CAIR or CSAPR. See appendices H 
and I. This modeling is available in the docket for this proposed 
redesignation action.
    Based on the information summarized above, Indiana has adequately 
demonstrated maintenance of the PM2.5 standard in this area 
for a period extending in excess of ten years from expected final 
action on Indiana's redesignation request.
i. Maintenance Plan and Evaluation of VOCs and Ammonia
    With regard to the redesignation of Louisville, in evaluating the 
effect of the Court's remand of EPA's implementation rule, which 
included presumptions against consideration of VOC and ammonia as 
PM2.5 precursors, EPA in this proposal is also considering 
the impact of the decision on the maintenance plan required under 
sections 175A and 107(d)(3)(E)(iv). To begin with, EPA notes that the 
area has attained the 1997 PM2.5 standard and that the state 
has shown that attainment of that standard is due to permanent and 
enforceable emission reductions.
    EPA proposes to determine that the state's maintenance plan shows 
continued maintenance of the standard by tracking the levels of the 
precursors whose control brought about attainment of the 1997 
PM2.5 standard in the Louisville area. EPA therefore 
believes that the only additional consideration related to the 
maintenance plan requirements that results from the Court's January 4, 
2013, decision is that of assessing the potential role of VOC and 
ammonia in demonstrating continued maintenance in this area. As 
explained below, based upon documentation provided by the State and 
supporting information, EPA believes that the maintenance plan for the 
Louisville area need not include any additional emission reductions of 
VOC or ammonia in order to provide for continued maintenance of the 
standard.
    First, as noted above in EPA's discussion of section 189(e), VOC 
emission levels in this area have historically been well controlled 
under SIP requirements related to ozone and other pollutants. Second, 
total ammonia emissions throughout the Louisville area are very low, 
estimated to be less than 1,500 tpy. See Table 8 below. This amount of 
ammonia emissions appears especially small in comparison to the total 
amounts of SO2, NOX, and even direct 
PM2.5 emissions from sources in the area, see Table 7. 
Third, as described below, available information shows that no 
precursor, except ammonia, is expected to increase over the maintenance 
period so as to interfere with or undermine the State's maintenance 
demonstration.
    Indiana's maintenance plan shows that emissions of direct 
PM2.5, SO2, and NOX are projected to 
decrease by 1,668 tpy, 75,420 tpy, and 38,078 tpy, respectively, over 
the maintenance period. See Table 7 above. In addition, emissions 
inventories used in the regulatory impact analysis (RIA), found in the 
docket, for the 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS, shows that VOC emissions 
are projected to decrease by 14,551 tpy between 2007 and 2020. Although 
ammonia emissions are predicted to increase slightly between 2007 and 
2020, the large decrease of emissions in other precursors in comparison 
will keep the area well below the standard. See Table 8 below. While 
the RIA emissions inventories are only projected out to 2020, there is 
no reason to believe that this downward trend would not continue 
through 2025. Given that the Louisville area is already attaining the 
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS even with the current level of emissions 
from sources in the area, the downward trend of emissions inventories 
would be consistent with continued attainment. Indeed, projected 
emissions reductions for the precursors that the state is addressing 
for purposes of the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS, indicate that the area 
should continue to attain the NAAQS following the precursor control 
strategy that the state has already elected to pursue. Even if VOC and 
ammonia emissions were to increase unexpectedly between 2020 and 2025, 
the overall emissions reductions projected in direct PM2.5, 
SO2, and NOX would be sufficient to offset any 
increases. For these reasons, EPA believes that local emissions of all 
of the potential PM2.5 precursors will not increase to the 
extent that they will cause monitored PM2.5 levels to 
violate the 1997 PM2.5 standard during the maintenance 
period.

                Table 8--Comparison of 2007 and 2020 VOC and Ammonia Emission Totals by Source Sector (tpy) for the Louisville Area \13\
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                VOC                                           Ammonia
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                         Sector                                                             Net change                                      Net change
                                                               2007            2020          2007-2020         2007            2020          2007-2020
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point...................................................           1,084           1,099              15               6              97              91
Area....................................................           5,504           5,460             -44           1,115           1,191              76

[[Page 41749]]

 
Nonroad.................................................           1,273            6,39            -634               2             250             248
On-road.................................................           2,087            9,35          -1,152              97              68             -29
Fires...................................................              73              73               0               5               5               0
                                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total...............................................          10,497           8,819          -1,678           1,270           1,407             137
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition, available air quality modeling analyses done by the 
state show continued maintenance of the standard during the maintenance 
period. The current air quality design value for the area is 13.5 
[mu]g/m\3\ (based on 2009-2011 air quality data), which is well below 
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS of 15 [mu]g/m\3\. Moreover, the 
modeling analysis conducted for the RIA for the 2012 PM2.5 
NAAQS indicates that the design value for this area is expected to 
continue to decline through 2020. In the RIA analysis, the highest 2020 
modeled design value for the Louisville area is 9.8 [mu]g/m\3\. Given 
that precursor emissions are projected to decrease through 2025, it is 
reasonable to conclude that monitored PM2.5 levels in this 
area will also continue to decrease through 2025.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \13\ These emissions estimates were taken from the emissions 
inventories developed for the RIA for the 2012 PM2.5 
NAAQS.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Thus, EPA believes that there is ample justification to conclude 
that the Louisville area should be redesignated, even taking into 
consideration the emissions of other precursors potentially relevant to 
PM2.5. After consideration of the D.C. Circuit's January 4, 
2013, decision, and for the reasons set forth in this notice, EPA 
proposes to approve the State's maintenance plan and its request to 
redesignate the Louisville area to attainment for the 1997 
PM2.5 annual standard.
    Based on the information summarized above, Indiana has adequately 
demonstrated maintenance of the PM2.5 standard in this area 
for a period extending in excess of ten years from expected final 
action on Indiana's redesignation request.
d. Monitoring Network
    Indiana's plan includes a commitment to continue working with 
Kentucky to operate its EPA-approved monitoring network, as necessary 
to demonstrate ongoing compliance with the NAAQS. Indiana currently 
operates three PM2.5 monitors in Clark and Floyd counties in 
order to monitor the Indiana portion of the Louisville area. Kentucky 
currently operates four monitors in Jefferson County for the Louisville 
area.
e. Verification of Continued Attainment
    Indiana remains obligated to continue to quality-assure monitoring 
data and enter all data into AQS in accordance with Federal guidelines. 
Indiana will use these data, supplemented with additional information 
as necessary, to assure that the area continues to attain the standard. 
Indiana will also continue to develop and submit periodic emission 
inventories as required by the Federal Consolidated Emissions Reporting 
Rule (67 FR 39602, June 10, 2002) to track future levels of emissions. 
Both of these actions will help to verify continued attainment in 
accordance with 40 CFR part 58.
f. Contingency Plan
    The contingency plan provisions are designed to promptly correct or 
prevent a violation of the NAAQS that might occur after redesignation 
of an area to attainment. Section 175A of the CAA requires that a 
maintenance plan include such contingency measures as EPA deems 
necessary to assure that the state will promptly correct a violation of 
the NAAQS that occurs after redesignation. The maintenance plan should 
identify the contingency measures to be adopted, a schedule and 
procedure for adoption and implementation of the contingency measures, 
and a time limit for action by the state. The state should also 
identify specific indicators to be used to determine when the 
contingency measures need to be adopted and implemented. The 
maintenance plan must include a requirement that the state will 
implement all measures with respect to control of the pollutant(s) that 
were contained in the SIP before redesignation of the area to 
attainment. See section 175A(d) of the CAA.
    As required by section 175A of the CAA, Indiana has adopted a 
contingency plan for the Louisville area to address possible future 
annual PM2.5 air quality problems. Under Indiana's plan, if 
a violation of the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard occurs, 
Indiana will implement an ``Action Level Response'' to evaluate what 
measures are warranted to address the violation, committing to 
implement one or more measures from a list of candidate measures given 
in the plan. Indiana's candidate contingency measures include the 
following:
    i. Vehicle inspection and maintenance program;
    ii. Alternative fuel and diesel retrofit programs for fleet vehicle 
operations;
    iii. Requiring NOX or SO2 emissions offsets 
for new and modified major and minor sources;
    iv. Increasing the ratio of emissions offsets required for new 
sources;
    v. NOX or SO2 controls on new minor sources;
    vi. Wood stove change-out program;
    vii. Emission reduction measures for unpaved roads and parking 
lots;
    viii. Idle restrictions;
    ix. Broader geographic applicability of existing measures; and
    x. One or more transportation control measures sufficient to 
achieve at least a 0.5% reduction in actual area wide precursor 
emissions.
    Under Indiana's plan, control measures are to be adopted and 
implemented within 18 months from the end of the year in which air 
quality triggering the Action Level Response occurs. Indiana further 
commits to conduct ongoing review of its data, and if monitored 
concentrations or emissions are trending upward, Indiana commits to 
take appropriate steps to avoid a violation if possible. EPA believes 
that Indiana's contingency plan satisfies the pertinent requirements of 
section 175A(d).
    EPA believes that Indiana's contingency measures, as well as the 
commitment to continue implementing any SIP requirements, satisfy the 
pertinent requirements of section 175A(d).
    As required by section 175A(b) of the CAA, Indiana commits to 
submit to the EPA an updated PM2.5 maintenance

[[Page 41750]]

plan eight years after redesignation of the Louisville area to cover an 
additional ten year period beyond the initial ten year maintenance 
period. As required by section 175A of the CAA, Indiana has also 
committed to retain the PM2.5 control measures contained in 
the SIP prior to redesignation.
    For all of the reasons set forth above, EPA is proposing to approve 
Indiana's 1997 annual PM2.5 maintenance plan for the 
Louisville area as meeting the requirements of CAA section 175A.

5. Adequacy of Indiana's MVEB

1. How are MVEBs developed and what are the MVEBs for the Louisville 
area?
    Under the CAA, states are required to submit, at various times, 
control strategy SIP revisions and maintenance plans for 
PM2.5 nonattainment areas and for areas seeking 
redesignation to attainment of the PM2.5 standard. These 
emission control strategy SIP revisions (e.g., RFP and attainment 
demonstration SIP revisions) and maintenance plans create MVEBs based 
on on-road mobile source emissions for criteria pollutants and/or their 
precursors to address pollution from on-road transportation sources. 
The MVEBs are the portions of the total allowable emissions that are 
allocated to highway and transit vehicle use that, together with 
emissions from other sources in the area, will provide for attainment, 
RFP or maintenance, as applicable.
    Under 40 CFR part 93, a MVEB for an area seeking a redesignation to 
attainment is established for the last year of the maintenance plan and 
could also be established for an interim year or years. The MVEB serves 
as a ceiling on emissions from an area's planned transportation system. 
The MVEB concept is further explained in the preamble to the November 
24, 1993, transportation conformity rule (58 FR 62188).
    Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation plans and 
transportation improvement programs (TIPs) must be evaluated to 
determine if they conform to the purpose of the area's SIP. Conformity 
to the SIP means that transportation activities will not cause new air 
quality violations, worsen existing air quality violations, or delay 
timely attainment of the NAAQS or any required interim milestone. If a 
transportation plan or TIP does not conform, most new transportation 
projects that would expand the capacity of roadways cannot go forward. 
Regulations at 40 CFR part 93 set forth EPA policy, criteria, and 
procedures for demonstrating and assuring conformity of such 
transportation activities to a SIP.
    When reviewing SIP revisions containing MVEBs, including attainment 
strategies, rate-of-progress plans, and maintenance plans, EPA must 
affirmatively find adequate and/or approve the MVEBs for use in 
determining transportation conformity before the MVEBs can be used. 
Once EPA affirmatively approves and/or finds the submitted MVEBs to be 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes, the MVEBs must be used 
by state and Federal agencies in determining whether proposed 
transportation plans and TIPs conform to the SIP as required by section 
176(c) of the CAA. EPA's substantive criteria for determining the 
adequacy of MVEBs are set out in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). Additionally, to 
approve a MVEB EPA must complete a thorough review of the SIP, in this 
case the PM2.5 maintenance plans, and conclude that the SIP 
will achieve its overall purpose, in this case providing for 
maintenance of the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard in the Indiana 
portions of the Louisville area.
    EPA's process for determining adequacy of a MVEB consists of three 
basic steps: (1) Providing public notification of a SIP submission; (2) 
providing the public the opportunity to comment on the MVEB during a 
public comment period; and, (3) EPA taking action on the MVEB. The 
process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP MVEBs is codified 
at 40 CFR 93.118.
    The maintenance plan submitted by Indiana for the Louisville area 
contains new primary PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs for the 
area for the years 2015 and 2025. The motor vehicle emissions budgets 
were calculated using MOVES2010(a). After the adequacy finding and 
approval of the budgets become effective, the budgets will have to be 
used in future conformity determinations and regional emissions 
analyses prepared by the KIPDA, will have to be based on the use of 
MOVES2010a or the most recent version of MOVES required to be used in 
transportation conformity determinations.\14\ The states have 
determined the 2015 MVEBs for the combined Indiana and Kentucky 
portions of the Louisville area to be 580.69 tpy for primary 
PM2.5 and 17,700.95 tpy for NOX. Indiana has 
determined the 2025 MVEBs for the entire Louisville area to be 324.04 
tpy for primary PM2.5 and 9,311.76 tpy for NOX. 
These MVEBs exceed the on-road mobile source primary PM2.5 
and NOX emissions projected by the states for 2015 and 2021. 
Indiana has decided to include ``safety margins'' as provided for in 40 
CFR 93.124(a) (described below) of 75.74 tpy and 42.27 tpy for primary 
PM2.5 and 2,308.82 tpy and 1,214.58 tpy for NOX 
in the 2015 and 2025 MVEBs, respectively, to provide for on-road mobile 
source growth. Indiana did not provide emission budgets for 
SO2, VOCs, and ammonia because it concluded that emissions 
of these precursors from on-road motor vehicles are not significant 
contributors to the area's PM2.5 air quality problem.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \14\ EPA described the circumstances under which an area would 
be required to use MOVES in transportation conformity determinations 
in its March 2, 2010, Federal Register notice officially releasing 
MOVES2010 for use in SIPs and transportation conformity 
determinations. (75 FR 9413)
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    In the Indiana portion of the Louisville area, the motor vehicle 
budgets including the safety margins and motor vehicle emission 
projections for both NOX and PM2.5 are lower than 
the levels in the attainment year.
    EPA has reviewed the submitted budgets for 2015 and 2025 including 
the added safety margins using the conformity rule's adequacy criteria 
found at 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and the conformity rule's requirements for 
safety margins found at 40 CFR 93.124(a). EPA has also completed a 
thorough review of the maintenance plan for the Indiana portion of the 
Louisville area. Based on the results of this review of the budgets and 
the maintenance plans EPA is approving the 2015 and 2025 direct 
PM2.5 and NOX budgets including the requested 
safety margins for the Indiana portion of the Louisville area. 
Additionally, EPA, through this rulemaking, has found the submitted 
budgets to be adequate for use to determine transportation conformity 
in the Indiana portion of the area, because EPA has determined that the 
area can maintain the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS for the 
relevant maintenance period with on-road mobile source emissions at the 
levels of the MVEBs including the requested safety margins. These 
budgets must be used in conformity determinations made on or after the 
effective date of this direct final rulemaking (40 CFR 93.118(f)(iii)). 
Additionally, transportation conformity determinations made after the 
effective date of this notice must be based on regional emissions 
analyses using MOVES2010a or a more recent version of MOVES that has 
been approved for use in conformity determinations.\15\
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    \15\ EPA described the circumstances under which an area would 
be required to use MOVES in transportation conformity determinations 
in its March 2, 2010 Federal Register notice officially releasing 
MOVES2010 for use in SIPs and transportation conformity 
determinations. (75 FR 9413)

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[[Page 41751]]

2. What is a safety margin?
    A ``safety margin'' is the difference between the attainment level 
of emissions (from all sources) and the projected level of emissions 
(from all sources) in the maintenance plan. As shown in Table 8, the 
entire Louisville area is projected to have safety margins for 
NOX and direct PM2.5 of 38,078.76 tpy and 
1,668.41 tpy in 2025 (the difference between the attainment year, 2008, 
emissions and the projected year of 2025 emissions for all sources in 
the Louisville area). The transportation conformity rule allows areas 
to allocate all or a portion of a ``safety margin'' to the area's motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (40 CFR 92.124(a)). The MVEBs requested by 
Indiana contain NOX safety margins for mobile sources in 
2015 and 2025 and PM2.5 safety margins for mobile sources in 
2015 and 2025 are much smaller than the allowable safety margins 
reflected in the total emissions for the Louisville area. The state is 
not requesting allocation to the MVEBs of the entire available safety 
margins reflected in the demonstration of maintenance. Therefore, even 
though the state is requesting MVEBs that exceed the projected on-road 
mobile source emissions for 2015 and 2025 contained in the 
demonstration of maintenance, the increase in on-road mobile source 
emissions that can be considered for transportation conformity purposes 
is well within the safety margins of the overall PM2.5 
maintenance demonstration.
    Therefore, EPA believes that the requested budgets, including the 
requested portion of the safety margins, provide for a quantity of 
mobile source emissions that would be expected to maintain the 
PM2.5 standard. Once allocated to mobile sources, these 
portions of the safety margins will not be available for use by other 
sources.
3. What action is EPA taking on the submitted motor vehicle emissions 
budgets?
    EPA, through this rulemaking, has found adequate and is approving 
the MVEBs for use to determine transportation conformity in the Indiana 
portion of the Louisville area, because EPA has determined that the 
area can maintain attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS 
for the relevant maintenance period with mobile source emissions at the 
levels of the MVEBs including the requested safety margins. These 
budgets must be used in conformity determinations if this rulemaking 
goes final. (40 CFR 93.118(f)(iii)) Additionally, the determinations 
must be based on regional emissions analyses using MOVES2010b or a more 
recent version of MOVES that has been approved for use in conformity 
determinations.\16\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \16\ EPA described the circumstances under which an area would 
be required to use MOVES in transportation conformity determinations 
in its March 2, 2010, Federal Register notice officially releasing 
MOVES2010 for use in SIPs and transportation conformity 
determinations. (75 FR 9413)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. 2008 Comprehensive Emissions Inventory

    As discussed above, section 172(c)(3) of the CAA requires areas to 
submit a comprehensive emissions inventory. Indiana submitted a 2008 
base year emissions inventory that meets this requirement. Emissions 
contained in the submittals cover the general source categories of 
point sources, area sources, on-road mobile sources, and nonroad mobile 
sources. Discussion of how these emissions were compiled is found in 
section V(3)(b) above, as well as in the docket.
    The emissions for the 2008 base year emission inventory and 
supplemental precursor emissions inventory are found in Tables 4 and 5, 
and documented in Indiana's redesignation request submittal and 
supplemental submittal. EPA has reviewed Indiana's documentation of the 
emissions inventory techniques and data sources used for the derivation 
of the 2008 emissions estimates, and has found that Indiana has 
thoroughly documented the derivation of these emissions inventories. 
The submittal from the state shows that the 2008 emissions inventory is 
currently the most complete emissions inventories for PM2.5 
and PM2.5 precursors in the Louisville area. Based upon 
EPA's review, we propose to find that the base year emissions inventory 
are as complete and accurate as possible given the input data available 
to Indiana, and we are proposing to approve them under CAA section 
172(c)(3).

7. Summary of Proposed Actions

    EPA has previously determined that the Louisville area has attained 
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA is proposing to determine 
that the entire Louisville area continues to attain the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 standard using the latest three years of certified, 
quality-assured data, and that the Indiana portion of the area has met 
the requirements for redesignation under section 107(d)(3)(E) of the 
CAA. EPA is proposing to grant the request from Indiana to change the 
legal designation of the Indiana portion of the Louisville area from 
nonattainment to attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. 
EPA is proposing to approve Indiana's PM2.5 maintenance plan 
for the Louisville area as a revision to the Indiana SIP because the 
plan meets the requirements of section 175A of the CAA. EPA is 
proposing to approve the 2008 emissions inventory for primary 
PM2.5, NOX, SO2, VOC and ammonia 
documented in Indiana's June 16, 2011, submittal and supplement on 
March 18, 2013, as satisfying the requirement in section 172(c)(3) of 
the CAA for a comprehensive, current emission inventory. Finally, EPA 
finds adequate and is approving 2015 and 2025 primary PM2.5 
and NOX MVEBs for the Louisville area. These MVEBs will be 
used in future transportation conformity analyses for the area.

VI. What are the effects of EPA's proposed actions?

    If finalized, approval of the redesignation request would change 
the official designation of the Indiana portion of the Louisville area 
for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, found at 40 CFR part 81, 
from nonattainment to attainment. A final approval would also be a 
revision to the Indiana SIP for the Louisville area, the maintenance 
plan for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard, MVEBs, as well as 
the 2008 emissions inventory included with the redesignation request.

VII. 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 CAA 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 CAA. 
Accordingly, this action merely approves state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law. For that reason, these actions:
     Are not a ''significant regulatory action'' subject to 
review by the Office

[[Page 41752]]

of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, 
October 4, 1993);
     Do not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions 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
     Do 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, this rule does not have tribal implications as 
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), 
because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in 
the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Particulate matter.

40 CFR Part 81

    Air pollution control, Environmental protection, National Parks, 
Wilderness.

    Dated: June 25, 2013.
Susan Hedman,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2013-16659 Filed 7-10-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P