Source: http://thefederalregister.com/2012/10/30/2012-26651.html
Timestamp: 2018-09-25 18:33:56
Document Index: 12483405

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 50', 'art 58', 'art 58', 'art 58', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 1', 'art 81']

Federal Register | Determination of Attainment for the Nogales Nonattainment Are
[EPA-R09-OAR-2012-0752; FRL-9746-8]
SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to determine that the Nogales nonattainment area in Arizona has attained the 2006 24-hour fine particle (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This proposed determination is based upon complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data showing that the area has monitored attainment of the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS based on the 2009-2011 monitoring period. EPA is further proposing that, if EPA finalizes this determination of attainment, the requirements for the area to submit an attainment demonstration, together with reasonably available control measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, and contingency measures for failure to meet RFP and attainment deadlines shall be suspended for so long as the area continues to attain the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS.
ADDRESSES: 1. Federal eRulemaking Portal, atwww.regulations.gov,please follow the on-line instructions;
2. Email toungvarsky.john@epa.gov;or
Table of Contents I. What determination is EPA making? II. What is the background for this action? A. PM2.5NAAQS B. Designation of PM2.5Nonattainment Areas C. How Does EPA Make Attainment Determinations? III. What is EPA's analysis of the relevant air quality data? A. Monitoring Network and Data Considerations B. Evaluation of Current Attainment IV. How does EPA's Clean Data Policy apply to this action? A. Application of EPA's Clean Data Policy to the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS B. History and Basis of EPA's Clean Data Policy V. EPA's Proposed Action and Request for Public Comment VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews I. What determination is EPA making?
EPA is proposing to determine that the Nogales nonattainment area has clean data for the 2006 24-hour NAAQS for fine particles (generally referring to particles less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter, PM2.5). This determination is based upon complete, quality-assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data showing the area has monitored attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS based on 2009-2011 monitoring data. Preliminary data in EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) for 2012 indicate that the area continues to attain the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS. Based on this determination, we are also proposing to suspend the obligations onthe State of Arizona to submit certain state implementation plan (SIP) revisions related to attainment of this standard for the area for as long as the area continues to attain the standard.
On July 18, 1997, EPA revised the NAAQS for particulate matter to add new standards for PM2.5, using PM2.5as the indicator for the pollutant. EPA established primary and secondary1 annual and 24-hour standards for PM2.5(62 FR 38652). The annual standard was set at 15.0 micrograms per cubic meter (μg/m3), based on a 3-year average of annual mean PM2.5concentrations, and the 24-hour standard was set at 65 μg/m3, based on the 3-year average of the 98th percentile of 24-hour PM2.5concentrations at each population-oriented monitor within an area.
Effective December 14, 2009, EPA established the initial air quality designations for most areas in the United States for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS. See 74 FR 58688; (November 13, 2009). Among the various areas designated in 2009, EPA designated the Nogales2 area in Arizona as nonattainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS.3 The boundaries for the nonattainment area are described in 40 CFR 81.303.
2Covering 76.1 square miles, the Nogales PM2.5nonattainment area is located within Santa Cruz County, Arizona, with the southernmost boundary of the nonattainment area and Santa Cruz County being the U.S./Mexico border.
Within three years of the effective date of designations, states with areas designated as nonattainment for the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS are required to submit SIP revisions that, among other elements, provide for implementation of reasonably available control measures (RACM), reasonable further progress (RFP), attainment of the standard as expeditiously as practicable but no later than five years from the nonattainment designation (in this instance, no later than December 14, 2014), as well as contingency measures. See CAA section 172(a)(2), 172(c)(1), 172(c)(2), and 172(c)(9). Prior to the due date for submittal of these SIP revisions, the State of Arizona requested that EPA make a determination that the Nogales4 nonattainment area has attained the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS. Today's proposal responds to the State's request.
4On July 6, 2012, in an email to Lisa Hanf, Manager, Planning Office, Air Division, U.S. EPA Region IX, Diane Arnst, Planning Section Manager, Air Quality Division, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, requested that EPA determine whether the Nogales PM2.5nonattainment area qualified for a determination of attainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS.
5The 24-hour PM2.5standard design value is the 3-year average of annual 98th percentile 24-hour average values recorded at each monitoring site [see 40 CFR part 50, appendix N, section 1.0(c)], and the 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS is met when the 24-hour standard design value at each monitoring site is less than or equal to 35 μg/m3.
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is the governmental agency with the authority and responsibility under state law for collecting ambient air quality data within the Nogales nonattainment area. Annually, ADEQ submits monitoring network plans to EPA. These plans discuss the status of the air monitoring network, as required under 40 CFR part 58. EPA reviews these annual network plans for compliance with the applicable reporting requirements in 40 CFR 58.10. With respect to PM2.5, we have found that ADEQ's annual network plans meet the applicable requirements under 40 CFR part 58.6 Furthermore, we concluded in ourTechnical System Audit Reportconcerning ADEQ's ambient air quality monitoring program that ADEQ's ambient air monitoring network currently meets or exceeds the requirements for the minimum number of monitoring sites designated as SLAMS for PM2.5in the Nogales nonattainment area.7 Also, ADEQ annually certifies that the data it submits to AQS are quality-assured.8
6Letter from Joe Lapka, Acting Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, U.S. EPA Region IX, to Nancy Wrona, Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ (November 12, 2009) (approving ADEQ's “Final Report of the State of Arizona Air Monitoring Network Plan for the Year 2009”); Letter from Matthew Lakin, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, U.S. EPA Region IX, to Eric Massey, Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ (December 10, 2010) (approving ADEQ's “Final Report of the State of Arizona Air Monitoring Network Plan for the Year 2010”); Letter from Matthew Lakin, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, U.S. EPA Region IX, to Eric Massey, Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ (December 1, 2011) (approving ADEQ's “State of Arizona Air Monitoring Network Plan: For the Year 2011”).
7Technical System Audit Report transmitted via correspondence dated September 23, 2010, from Deborah Jordan, Director, Air Division, EPA Region IX, to Eric Massey, Air Division, ADEQ.
8See, e.g., the letter from Eric C. Massey, Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ to Deborah Jordan,Director, Air Division, EPA Region IX, dated September 21, 2012 certifying the ambient air quality data collected for year 2011.
There was one PM2.5SLAMS operating during the 2009-2011 period in the Nogales PM2.5nonattainment area. This site has been monitoring PM2.5concentrations since 1999 with a one-in-six-day sampling frequency. EPA defines specific monitoring site types and spatial scales of representativeness to characterize the nature and location of required monitors. The monitor's spatial scale is neighborhood scale,9 and its monitoring objective (site type) is population exposure.10
9In this context, “neighborhood” spatial scale defines concentrations within some extended area of the city that has relatively uniform land use with dimensions in the 0.5 to 4.0 kilometers range. See 40 CFR part 58, appendix D, section 1.2.
10State of Arizona Air Monitoring Network Plan for the Year 2012, Final Report, August 1, 2012. ADEQ also operates a co-located PM2.5monitor at the Nogales monitoring site. The co-located monitor also collects samples on a one-day-in-six schedule.
For the purposes of this proposed action, we have reviewed the data for the most recent three-year period (2009-2011) for completeness, and we determined that the data collected by ADEQ meets the completeness criterion for all 12 quarters at the Nogales PM2.5monitor. While we consider the PM2.5data set for 2009-2011 to be complete for the purposes of determining whether the area has attained the standard, we have also determined that, under our monitoring regulations, ADEQ should be sampling PM2.5on a one-in-three day schedule rather than at the current one-in-six day schedule because the co-located PM2.5monitor at the Nogales site is not a continuously operating monitor, and under those circumstances, a sampling frequency of at least one day in every three is required under 40 CFR 58.12(d)(1). ADEQ has agreed to increase the monitoring frequency at the Nogales monitoring site to meet the requirements of 40 CFR 58.12(d)(1), beginning January 2013.11 The increased number of samples would provide sufficient information to evaluate the area's continued attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS if we finalize this proposed determination of attainment for the Nogales nonattainment area.
11See ADEQ's September 11, 2012 letter to Matthew Lakin, Manager, Air Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region IX, from Eric Massey, Director, Air Quality Division, ADEQ.
EPA's evaluation of whether the Nogales PM2.5nonattainment area has attained the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS is based on our review of the monitoring data and takes into account the adequacy of the PM2.5monitoring network in the nonattainment area and the reliability of the data collected by the network as discussed in the previous section of this document.
Table 1 shows the PM2.5design values for the Nogales nonattainment area monitor based on ambient air quality monitoring data for the most recent complete three-year period (2009-2011). The data show that the design value for the 2009-2011 period was equal to or less than 35 μg/m3at the monitor. Therefore, we are proposing to determine, based on the complete, quality-assured data for 2009-2011, that the Nogales area has attained the 2006 24-hour PM2.5standard. Preliminary data available in AQS for 2012 indicate that the area continues to attain the standard.
Table 1—2009-2011 24-Hour PM2.5Monitoring Site and Design Value for the Nogales Nonattainment Area Monitoring site AQS site
98th Percentile (μg/m3) 2009 2010 2011 2009-2011 design values
Nogales Post Office 04-023-0004 29.7 31.6 27.2 30 Source: Design Value Report, August 14, 2012 (in the docket to this proposed action). IV. How does EPA's Clean Data Policy apply to this action? A. Application of EPA's Clean Data Policy to the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS
In April 2007, EPA issued its PM2.5Implementation Rule for the 1997 PM2.5standard. 72 FR 20586; (April 25, 2007). In March, 2012, EPA published implementation guidance for the 2006 PM2.5standard.SeeMemorandum from Stephen D. Page, Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, “Implementation Guidance for the 2006 24-Hour Fine Particle (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)” (March 2, 2012). In that guidance, EPA stated its view “that the overall framework and policy approach of the 2007 PM2.5Implementation Rule continues to provide effective and appropriate guidance on the EPA's interpretation of the general statutory requirements that states should address in their SIPs. In general, the EPA believes that the interpretations of the statute in the framework of the 2007 PM2.5Implementation Rule are relevant to the statutory requirements for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5NAAQS * * *.”Id.,page 1. With respect to the statutory provisions applicable to 2006 PM2.5implementation, the guidance emphasized that “EPA outlined its interpretation of many of these provisions in the 2007 PM2.5Implementation Rule. In addition to regulatory provisions, the EPA provided substantial general guidance for attainment plans for PM2.5in the preamble to the final the [sic] 2007 PM2.5Implementation Rule.”Id.,page 2. In keeping with the principles set forth in the guidance, and with respect to the effect of a determination of attainment for the 2006 PM2.5standard, EPA is applying the same interpretation with respect to the implications of clean data determinations that it set forth in the preamble to the 1997 PM2.5standard and in the regulation that embodies this interpretation. 40 CFR 51.1004(c).12 EPA has long applied this interpretation in regulations and individual rulemakings for the 1-hour ozone and 1997 8-hour ozone standards, the PM-10 standard, and the lead standard.
12While EPA recognizes that 40 CFR 51.1004(c) does not itself expressly apply to the 2006 PM2.5standard, the statutory interpretation that it embodies is identical and is applicable to both the 1997 and 2006 PM2.5standards.
Following enactment of the CAA Amendments of 1990, EPA promulgated its interpretation of the requirements for implementing the NAAQS in the General Preamble for the Implementation of Title I of the CAA Amendments of 1990 (General Preamble) 57 FR 13498, 13564 (April 16, 1992). In 1995, based on the interpretation of CAA sections 171 and 172, and section 182 in the General Preamble, EPA set forth what has become known as its “Clean Data Policy” for the 1-hour ozone NAAQS.SeeMemorandum from John S. Seitz, Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, “Reasonable FurtherProgress, Attainment Demonstration, and Related Requirements for Ozone Nonattainment Areas Meeting the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard” (May 10, 1995). In 2004, EPA indicated its intention to extend the Clean Data Policy to the PM2.5NAAQS.SeeMemorandum from Steve Page, Director, EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, “Clean Data Policy for the Fine Particle National Ambient Air Quality Standards” (December 14, 2004).
EPA also incorporated its interpretation under the Clean Data Policy in several implementation rules.SeeClean Air Fine Particle Implementation Rule, 72 FR 20586 (April 25, 2007); Final Rule To Implement the 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard—Phase 2, 70 FR 71612 (November 29, 2005). The Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) upheld EPA's rule embodying the Clean Data Policy for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard.NRDCv.EPA,571 F.3d 1245 (DC Cir. 2009). Other courts have reviewed and considered individual rulemakings applying EPA's Clean Data Policy, and have consistently upheld them in every case.Sierra Clubv.EPA,99 F.3d 1551 (10th Cir. 1996);Sierra Clubv.EPA,375 F.3d 537 (7th Cir. 2004);Our Children's Earth Foundationv.EPA,No. 04-73032 (9th Cir. June 28, 2005 (Memorandum Opinion)),Latino Issues Forumv.EPA,Nos. 06-75831 and 08-71238 (9th Cir. March 2, 2009 (Memorandum Opinion)).
The Clean Data Policy represents EPA's interpretation that certain requirements of subpart 1 of part D of the Act are by their terms not applicable to areas that are currently attaining the NAAQS.13 As explained below, the specific requirements that are inapplicable to an area attaining the standard are the requirements to submit a SIP that provides for: attainment of the NAAQS; implementation of all reasonably available control measures; reasonable further progress (RFP); and implementation of contingency measures for failure to meet deadlines for RFP and attainment.
13This discussion refers to subpart 1 because subpart 1 contains the requirements relating to attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS.
A component of the attainment plan specified under section 172(c)(1) is the requirement to provide for “the implementation of all reasonably available control measures as expeditiously as practicable” (RACM). Since RACM is an element of the attainment demonstration,seeGeneral Preamble (57 FR 13560), for the same reason the attainment demonstration no longer applies by its own terms, RACM also no longer applies to areas that EPA has determined have clean air. Furthermore, EPA has consistently interpreted this provision to require only implementation of such potential RACM measures that could advance attainment.14 Thus, where an area is already attaining the standard, no additional RACM measures are required. EPA's interpretation that the statute requires only implementation of the RACM measures that would advance attainment was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (Sierra Clubv.EPA,314 F.3d 735, 743-745, 5th Cir. 2002) and by the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit (Sierra Clubv.EPA,294 F.3d 155, 162-163, D.C. Cir. 2002).See alsothe final rulemakings for Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley, Pennsylvania, 66 FR 53096 (October 19, 2001) and St. Louis, Missouri-Illinois, 68 FR 25418 (May 12, 2003).
14This interpretation was adopted in the General Preamble,see57 FR 13498, and has been upheld as applied to the Clean Data Policy, as well as to nonattainment SIP submissions.See NRDCv.EPA,571 F.3d 1245 (D.C. Cir. 2009);Sierra Club v. EPA,294 F.3d 155 (D.C. Cir. 2002).
CAA section 172(c)(2) provides that SIP provisions in nonattainment areas must require “reasonable furtherprogress.” The term “reasonable further progress” is defined in section 171(1) as “such annual incremental reductions in emissions of the relevant air pollutant as are required by this part or may reasonably be required by the Administrator for the purpose of ensuring attainment of the applicable NAAQS by the applicable date.” Thus, by definition, the “reasonable further progress” provision under subpart 1 requires only such reductions in emissions as are necessary to attain the NAAQS. If an area has attained the NAAQS, the purpose of the RFP requirement has been fulfilled, and since the area has already attained, showing that the State will make RFP towards attainment “[has] no meaning at that point.” General Preamble, 57 FR 13498, 13564 (April 16, 1992).
EPA is proposing to determine that the Nogales nonattainment area in Arizona has attained the 2006 24-hour PM2.5standard based on the most recent three years of complete, quality-assured, and certified data for 2009-2011. Preliminary data available in AQS for 2012 show that the area continues to attain the standard.
EPA further proposes that, if its proposed determination of attainment is made final, the requirements for the Nogales nonattainment area to submit an attainment demonstration and associated RACM, a RFP plan, contingency measures, and any other planning SIPs related to attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS would be suspended for so long as the area continues to attain the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS. EPA's proposal is consistent and in keeping with its long-held interpretation of CAA requirements, as well as with EPA's regulations for similar determinations for ozone (see40 CFR 51.918) and the 1997 fine particulate matter standards (see40 CFR 51.1004(c)). As described below, any such determination would not be equivalent to the redesignation of the area to attainment for the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS.
Any final action resulting from this proposal would not constitute a redesignation to attainment under CAA section 107(d)(3) because we have not yet approved a maintenance plan for the nonattainment area as meeting the requirements of section 175A of the CAA or determined that the area has met the other CAA requirements for redesignation. The classification and designation status in 40 CFR part 81 would remain nonattainment for the area until such time as EPA determines that Arizona has met the CAA requirements for redesignating the Nogales PM2.5nonattainment area to attainment.
If the Nogales nonattainment area continues to monitor attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS, EPA proposes that the requirements for the area to submit an attainment demonstration and associated RACM, a RFP plan, contingency measures, and any other planning requirements related to attainment of the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS will remain suspended. If this proposed rulemaking is finalized and EPA subsequently determines, after notice-and-comment rulemaking in theFederal Register,that the area has violated the 2006 PM2.5NAAQS, the basis for the suspension of these attainment planning requirements for the area would no longer exist, and the area would thereafter have to address such requirements.
In addition, this proposed action does not have Tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP obligations discussed herein do not apply to Indian Tribes and thus thisproposed action will not impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal law.