Document ID: EPA-R04-OAR-2018-0173-0001
Agency: epa
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Approvals and Promulgations: Alabama; Redesignation of the Etowah County Unclassifiable Area
Posted Date: 2018-06-01T04:00Z

[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 106 (Friday, June 1, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 25422-25424]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-11835]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[EPA-R04-OAR-2018-0173; FRL- 9978-90--Region 4]

Air Plan Approval and Air Quality Designation; AL; Redesignation 
of the Etowah County Unclassifiable Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: On March 22, 2018, the State of Alabama, through the Alabama 
Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), submitted a request for 
the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to redesignate the Etowah 
County, Alabama fine particulate matter (PM2.5) 
unclassifiable area (hereinafter referred to as the ``Etowah County 
Area'' or ``Area'') to attainment for the 2006 primary and secondary 
24-hour PM2.5 national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS). EPA now has sufficient data to determine that the Etowah 
County Area is in attainment of the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS. Therefore, EPA is proposing to approve

[[Page 25423]]

the State's request and redesignate the Area to unclassifiable/
attainment for the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour PM2.5 
NAAQS based upon valid, quality-assured, and certified ambient air 
monitoring data showing that the PM2.5 monitor in the Area 
is in compliance with the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 2, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2018-0173 at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) 
or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madolyn Sanchez, Air Regulatory 
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air, 
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 
30303-8960. Ms. Sanchez can be reached by telephone at (404) 562-9644 
or via electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    The Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) establishes a process for air 
quality management through the establishment and implementation of the 
NAAQS. After the promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, EPA is 
required to designate areas, pursuant to section 107(d)(1) of the CAA, 
as attainment, nonattainment, or unclassifiable. On September 21, 2006, 
EPA revised the primary and secondary 24-hour NAAQS for 
PM2.5 at a level of 35 micrograms per cubic meter ([micro]g/
m\3\), based on a 3-year average of the annual 98th percentile of 24-
hour PM2.5 concentrations. See 71 FR 61144 (October 17, 
2006). EPA established the standards based on significant evidence and 
numerous health studies demonstrating that serious health effects are 
associated with exposures to particulate matter.
    The process for designating areas following promulgation of a new 
or revised NAAQS is contained in section 107(d)(1) of the CAA. On 
October 8, 2009, EPA designated areas across the country as 
nonattainment, unclassifiable, or unclassifiable/attainment \1\ for the 
2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS based upon air quality monitoring 
data from these monitors for calendar years 2006-2008. See 74 FR 58688. 
The monitor in the Etowah County Area had incomplete data for the 2006-
2008 timeframe. Therefore, EPA designated Etowah County as 
unclassifiable for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS. Id.
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    \1\ For the initial PM area designations in 2009 (for the 2006 
24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS), EPA used a designation category of 
``unclassifiable/attainment'' for areas that had monitors showing 
attainment of the standard and were not contributing to nearby 
violations and for areas that did not have monitors but for which 
EPA had reason to believe were likely attaining the standard and not 
contributing to nearby violations. EPA used the category 
``unclassifiable'' for areas in which EPA could not determine, based 
upon available information, whether or not the NAAQS was being met 
and/or EPA had not determined the area to be contributing to nearby 
violations. EPA reserves the ``attainment'' category for when EPA 
redesignates a nonattainment area that has attained the relevant 
NAAQS and has an approved maintenance plan.
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    As discussed in section III, below, the monitor in the Etowah 
County Area now has sufficient data to determine that the Etowah County 
Area is in attainment of the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS. Therefore, on March 22, 2018, Alabama submitted 
a request for EPA to redesignate Area to attainment for these NAAQS.\2\
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    \2\ Although Alabama requested redesignation of the Area to 
``attainment,'' EPA is proposing to redesignate the area to 
``unclassifiable/attainment'' because, as noted above, EPA reserves 
the ``attainment'' category for when EPA redesignates a 
nonattainment area that has attained the relevant NAAQS and has an 
approved maintenance plan.
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II. What are the criteria for redesignating an area from unclassifiable 
to unclassifiable/attainment?

    Section 107(d)(3) of the CAA provides the framework for changing 
the area designations for any NAAQS pollutants. Section 107(d)(3)(A) 
provides that the Administrator may notify the Governor of any state 
that the designation of an area should be revised ``on the basis of air 
quality data, planning and control considerations, or any other air 
quality-related considerations the Administrator deems appropriate.'' 
The Act further provides in section 107(d)(3)(D) that even if the 
Administrator has not notified a state Governor that a designation 
should be revised, the Governor of any state may, on the Governor's own 
motion, submit a request to revise the designation of any area, and the 
Administrator must approve or deny the request.
    When approving or denying a request to redesignate an area, EPA 
bases its decision on the air quality data for the area as well as the 
considerations provided under section 107(d)(3)(A).\3\ In keeping with 
section 107(d)(1)(A), areas that are redesignated to unclassifiable/
attainment must meet the requirements for attainment areas and thus 
must meet the relevant NAAQS. In addition, the area must not contribute 
to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS. 
The relevant monitoring data must be collected and quality-assured in 
accordance with 40 CFR part 58 and recorded in the EPA Air Quality 
System (AQS) database. The designated monitors generally should have 
remained at the same location for the duration of the monitoring period 
upon which the redesignation request is based.\4\
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    \3\ While CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) also lists specific 
requirements for redesignations, those requirements only apply to 
redesignations of nonattainment areas to attainment and therefore 
are not applicable in the context of a redesignation of an area from 
unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment.
    \4\ See Memorandum from John Calcagni, Director, EPA Air Quality 
Management Division, entitled ``Procedures for Processing Requests 
to Redesignate Areas to Attainment'' (September 4, 1992).
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III. What is EPA's rationale for proposing to redesignate the Area?

    In order to redesignate the Area from unclassifiable to 
unclassifiable/attainment for the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS, the 3-year average of annual 98th percentile 
24-hour concentration values (i.e., design value) over the most recent 
3-year period must be less than or equal to 35 [micro]g/m\3\ at all 
monitoring sites in the Area over the full 3-year period, as determined 
in accordance with 40 CFR 50.18 and Appendix N of Part 50. EPA reviewed 
PM2.5 monitoring data from the monitoring station in the 
Etowah County Area for the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS for the 3-year period from 2014-2016. These data 
have been quality-assured, certified, and recorded in AQS by Alabama, 
and the monitoring location has not changed during the monitoring 
period. As summarized in Table 1, the design value for the monitor in 
the Area

[[Page 25424]]

for the 2014-2016 period is well below the 2006 primary and secondary 
24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS.

 Table 1--2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Design Value for the Monitor in the Etowah
                        County Area for 2014-2016
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                                                             2014-2016
        Local site name              Monitoring site       design value
                                                           ([mu]g/m\3\)
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Etowah County, AL..............  01-055-0010............              17
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    Because the 3-year design value, based on valid, quality-assured 
data, demonstrates that the Area meets the 2006 primary and secondary 
24-hour PM2.5 standards, EPA is proposing to redesignate the 
Etowah County Area from unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment for 
this NAAQS.

IV. Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve Alabama's March 22, 2018, redesignation 
request and to redesignate the Etowah County Area from unclassifiable 
to unclassifiable/attainment for the 2006 primary and secondary 24-hour 
PM2.5 NAAQS. If finalized, approval of the redesignation 
request would change the legal designation, found at 40 CFR part 81, of 
Etowah County from unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment for the 
2006 primary and secondary 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, redesignation of an area to unclassifiable/
attainment is an action that affects the status of a geographical area 
and does not impose any additional regulatory requirements on sources 
beyond those imposed by state law. A redesignation to unclassifiable/
attainment does not create any new requirements. Accordingly, this 
proposed action merely proposes to redesignate an area to 
unclassifiable/attainment and does not impose additional requirements. 
For that reason, this proposed action:
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review 
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     Is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 
2017) regulatory action because redesignations are exempted under 
Executive Order 12866;
     Does not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
     Is certified as not having a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
     Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
     Does not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
     Is not an economically significant regulatory action based 
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent 
with the CAA; and
     Will not have disproportionate human health or 
environmental effects under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 
16, 1994).
    This action is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land 
or in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that 
a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian County, the action 
does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 
(65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.

40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control.

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

    Dated: May 18, 2018.
Onis ``Trey'' Glenn, III,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2018-11835 Filed 5-31-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P