Document ID: EPA-R03-OAR-2006-0862-0015
Agency: epa
Document Type: Rule
Title: Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Redesignation of the Tioga County Ozone Nonattainment Area to Attainment and Approval of the Areas Maintenance Plan and 2002 Base Year Inventory
Posted Date: 2007-07-06T04:00Z

[Federal Register: July 6, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 129)]
[Rules and Regulations]               
[Page 36892-36895]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06jy07-14]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52 and 81

[EPA-R03-OAR-2006-0862; FRL-8333-7]

 
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Pennsylvania; Redesignation of the Tioga County Ozone Nonattainment 
Area to Attainment and Approval of the Area's Maintenance Plan and 2002 
Base Year Inventory

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 
submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania 
Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) is requesting that the 
Tioga County ozone nonattainment area (Tioga Area) be redesignated as 
attainment for the 8-hour ozone ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). 
EPA is approving the ozone redesignation request for Tioga Area. In 
conjunction with its redesignation request, PADEP submitted a SIP 
revision consisting of a maintenance plan for Tioga Area that provides 
for continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS for at least 10 
years after redesignation. EPA is approving the 8-hour maintenance 
plan. PADEP also submitted a 2002 base year inventory for the Tioga 
Area which EPA is approving. In addition, EPA is approving the adequacy 
determination for the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) that are 
identified in the Tioga Area maintenance plan for purposes of 
transportation conformity, and is approving those MVEBs. EPA is 
approving the redesignation request, and the maintenance plan and the 
2002 base year emissions inventory as revisions to the Pennsylvania SIP 
in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: Effective Date: This final rule is effective on July 6, 2007 
pursuant to the authority of 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1).

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID 
Number EPA-R03-OAR-2006-0862. All documents in the docket are listed in 
the http://www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the 

electronic docket, some information is not publicly available, i.e., 
confidential business information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as 
copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet and will be 
publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket 
materials are available either electronically through http://www.regulations.gov
 or in hard copy for public inspection during normal 

business hours at the Air Protection Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, 
Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal are available at the 
Pennsylvania Department of Environment Protection, Bureau of Air 
Quality Control, P.O. Box 8468, 400 Market Street, Harrisburg, 
Pennsylvania 17105.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Rose Quinto, (215) 814-2182, or by e-
mail at quinto.rose@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On May 8, 2007 (72 FR 26046), EPA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking (NPR) for the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. The NPR proposed 
approval of Pennsylvania's redesignation request, a SIP revision that 
establishes a maintenance plan for the Tioga Area that provides for 
continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS for at least 10 years 
after redesignation, and a 2002 base year emissions inventory. The 
formal SIP revisions were submitted by PADEP on September 28, 2006 and 
supplemented on November 14, 2006. Other specific requirements of 
Pennsylvania's redesignation request SIP revision for the maintenance 
plan and the rationales for EPA's proposed actions are explained in the 
NPR and will not be restated here. No public comments were received on 
the NPR.
    However, on December 22, 2006, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 
District of Columbia Circuit vacated EPA's Phase 1 Implementation Rule 
for the 8-hour Ozone Standard. (69 FR 23591, April 30, 2004). South 
Coast Air Quality Management Dist. v. EPA, 472 F.3d 882 (D.C. Cir. 
2006). On June 8, 2007, in South Coast Air Quality Management Dist. v. 
EPA, Docket No. 04-1201, in response to several petitions for 
rehearing, the DC Circuit clarified that the Phase 1 Rule was vacated 
only with regard to those parts of the rule that had been successfully 
challenged. Therefore, the Phase 1 Rule provisions related to 
classifications for areas currently classified under subpart 2 of Title 
I, part D of the Act as 8-hour nonattainment areas, the 8-hour 
attainment dates and the timing for emissions reductions needed for 
attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS remain effective. The June 8 
decision left intact the Court's

[[Page 36893]]

rejection of EPA's reasons for implementing the 8-hour standard in 
certain nonattainment areas under subpart 1 in lieu of subpart 2. By 
limiting the vacatur, the Court let stand EPA's revocation of the 1-
hour standard and those anti-backsliding provisions of the Phase 1 Rule 
that had not been successfully challenged. The June 8 decision 
reaffirmed the December 22, 2006 decision that EPA had improperly 
failed to retain four measures required for 1-hour nonattainment areas 
under the anti-backsliding provisions of the regulations: (1) 
Nonattainment area New Source Review (NSR) requirements based on an 
area's 1-hour nonattainment classification; (2) Section 185 penalty 
fees for the 1-hour severe or extreme nonattainment areas; (3) measures 
to be implemented pursuant to section 1729(c)(9) or 182(c)(9) of the 
Act, on the contingency of an area not taking reasonable further 
progress toward attainment of the 1-hour NAAQS, or for failure to 
attain NAAQS; and (4) certain transportation conformity requirements 
for certain types of Federal actions. The June 8 decision clarified 
that the Court's reference to conformity requirements was limited to 
requiring the continued use of the 1-hour motor vehicle emissions 
budgets until 8-hour budgets were available for 8-hour conformity 
determinations.
    For the reasons set forth in the proposal, EPA does not believe 
that the Court's rulings alter any requirements relevant to this 
redesignation action so as to preclude redesignation, and do not 
prevent EPA from finalizing this redesignation. EPA believes that the 
Court's December 22, 2006 and June 8, 2007 decisions impose no 
impediment to moving forward with redesignation of this area to 
attainment, because even in the light of the Court's decisions, 
redesignation is appropriate under the relevant redesignation 
provisions of the Act and longstanding policies regarding redesignation 
requests.

II. Final Action

    EPA is approving the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's redesignation 
request, maintenance plan, and the 2002 base year emissions inventory 
because the requirements for approval have been satisfied. EPA has 
evaluated Pennsylvania's redesignation request that was submitted on 
September 28, 2006 and determined that it meets the redesignation 
criteria set forth in section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA. EPA believes 
that the redesignation request and monitoring data demonstrate that the 
Tioga Area has attained the 8-hour ozone standard. The final approval 
of this redesignation request will change the designation of the Tioga 
Area from nonattainment to attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard. 
EPA is approving the maintenance plan for the Tioga Area submitted on 
September 28, 2006 as a revision to the Pennsylvania SIP. EPA is also 
approving the MVEBs submitted by PADEP in conjunction with its 
redesignation request. In addition, EPA is approving the 2002 base year 
emissions inventory submitted by PADEP on September 28, 2006 and 
supplemented on November 14, 2006 as a revision to the Pennsylvania 
SIP. In this final rulemaking, EPA is notifying the public that we have 
found that the MVEBs for NOX and VOCs in the Tioga Area for 
the 8-hour ozone maintenance plan are adequate and approved for 
conformity purposes. As a result of our finding, the Tioga Area must 
use the MVEBs from the submitted 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for 
future conformity determinations. The adequate and approved MVEBs are 
provided in the following table:

  Adequate and Approved Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Tons per Day
                                  (tpd)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Budget year                         NOX      VOC
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2009..................................................      3.4      2.2
2018..................................................      1.6      1.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Tioga Area is subject to the CAA's requirement for the basic 
nonattainment areas until and unless it is redesignated to attainment.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

A. General Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes 
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. 
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because 
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under state law and does 
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by 
state law, it does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or 
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). This rule also does not 
have tribal implications because it will not have a substantial direct 
effect on one or more Indian tribes, on the relationship between the 
Federal Government and Indian tribes, or on the distribution of power 
and responsibilities between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, 
as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000). 
This action also does not have Federalism implications because it does 
not have substantial direct effects on the States, on the relationship 
between the national government and the States, or on the distribution 
of power and responsibilities among the various levels of government, 
as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999). 
This action merely approves a state rule implementing a Federal 
requirement, and does not alter the relationship or the distribution of 
power and responsibilities established in the Clean Air Act.
    This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 ``Protection 
of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997), because it approves a state rule implementing a 
Federal standard.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In 
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the 
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority 
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP 
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Thus, the requirements 
of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This rule does not 
impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General

    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a

[[Page 36894]]

copy of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller 
General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this 
rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House 
of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States 
prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. This rule is 
not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

C. Petitions for Judicial Review

    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by September 4, 2007. Filing a 
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 
does not affect the finality of this rule for the purposes of judicial 
review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial 
review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such 
rule or action. This action, approving the redesignation of the Tioga 
Area to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, the associated 
maintenance plan, the 2002 base year emission inventory, and the MVEBs 
identified in the maintenance plan, may not be challenged later in 
proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 52

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

40 CFR Part 81

    Air pollution control, National parks, Wilderness areas.

    Dated: June 25, 2007.
Donald S. Welsh,
Regional Administrator, Region III.

0
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

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

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

Subpart NN--Pennsylvania

0
2. In Sec.  52.2020, the table in paragraph (e)(1) is amended by adding 
an entry for the 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan and the 2002 Base Year 
Emissions Inventory for Tioga County, Pennsylvania at the end of the 
table to read as follows:

Sec.  52.2020  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *
    (1)* * *

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   Name of non-regulatory SIP        Applicable        State submittal                            Additional
            revision               geographic area          date          EPA approval date       explanation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                  * * * * * * *
8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan    Tioga County......  09/28/06, 11/14/06  07/06/07 [Insert
 and 2002 Base Year Emissions                                             page number where
 Inventory.                                                               the document
                                                                          begins].
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART 81--[AMENDED]

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

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

0
4. In Sec.  81.339, the table entitled ``Pennsylvania--Ozone (8-Hour 
Standard)'' is amended by revising the entry for the Tioga Co., PA, 
Tioga County to read as follows:

Sec.  81.339  Pennsylvania.

* * * * *

                                               Pennsylvania--Ozone
                                                [8-Hour Standard]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                               Designation \a\                    Category/classification
         Designated area          ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                     Date\1\               Type              Date \1\             Type
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

                                                  * * * * * * *
Tioga Co., PA: Tioga County......     07/06/07         Attainment.

                                                  * * * * * * *
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\a\ Includes Indian County located in each county or area, except otherwise noted.
\1\ This date is June 15, 2004, unless otherwise noted.

[[Page 36895]]

* * * * *
 [FR Doc. E7-12849 Filed 7-5-07; 8:45 am]

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