Source: https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2014/10/06/2014-23624/approval-and-promulgation-of-air-quality-implementation-plans-district-of-columbia-maryland-and
Timestamp: 2019-10-22 16:25:14
Document Index: 716374964

Matched Legal Cases: ['art 81', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', 'art\n3', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', '§\u200952', 'art 81', '§\u200981', '§\u200981', '§\u200981']

60081-60087 (7 pages)
FRL-9917-39-Region-3
2014-23624
https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2014-23624 https://www.federalregister.gov/d/2014-23624
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the requests from the District of Columbia (the District), the State of Maryland (Maryland), and the Commonwealth of Virginia (Virginia) (collectively “the States”) to redesignate to attainment their respective portions of the Washington, DC-MD-VA nonattainment area (hereafter “the Washington Area” or “the Area”) for the 1997 annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS or standard). EPA is also approving, as a revision to their respective State Implementation Plans (SIPs), the common maintenance plan submitted by the States to show maintenance of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS through 2025 for the Washington Area. The Washington Area maintenance plan includes motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for PM2.5 and nitrogen oxides (NOX) for the Area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard, which EPA is approving for transportation conformity purposes. These actions are being taken under the Clean Air Act (CAA).
EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID Number EPA-R03-OAR-2014-0148. All documents in the docket are listed in the 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 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 submittals are available at District of Columbia, Department of the Environment, Air Quality Division, 1200 1st Street NE., 5th Floor, Washington, DC 20002; Maryland Department of the Environment, 1800 Washington Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, Maryland 21230; and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 629 East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219, respectively.
The District of Columbia Department of the Environment (DDOE), the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ) worked together in developing a combined document to address the requirements for the redesignation to attainment of the Washington Area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The States also developed a common maintenance plan as a revision to their respective SIPs to ensure continued attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard in the Washington Area throughout 2025. The 1997 annual PM2.5 redesignation requests and maintenance plans for the Washington Area were submitted to EPA by DDOE on June 3, 2013, by MDE on July 10, 2013, and by VADEQ on June 3, 2013. The emissions inventories included in the Washington Area maintenance plans were subsequently supplemented by the States to provide for emissions estimates of VOC and ammonia. The supplemental inventories were submitted to EPA on July 22, 2013 by DDOE, on July 26, 2013 by MDE, and on July 17, 2013 by VADEQ. In addition, the maintenance plan includes the 2017 and 2025 PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs used for transportation conformity purposes for the entire Washington Area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS.
On August 8, 2014 (79 FR 45735), EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPR), proposing to take several rulemaking actions related to the redesignation of the Washington Area to Start Printed Page 60082attainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. First, EPA proposed to find that the States met the requirements for redesignation of the Washington Area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS under section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA. Second, EPA proposed to approve the Washington Area's maintenance plan for the Area as a revision to the District, Virginia, and Maryland SIPs for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Third, EPA proposed to approve the MVEBs for PM2.5 and NOX emissions for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard, which are included as part of the Washington Area's maintenance plan. Finally, EPA proposed to find that the Washington Area continues to attain the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard.
In the August 8, 2014 NPR, EPA considered the effects of three legal decisions on the approval of the redesignation requests and maintenance plan: (1) Collectively, the decisions in EME Homer City Generation, L.P. v. EPA, 696 F.3d 7 (D.C. Cir. 2012), rev'd, No. 12-1182 (S. Ct. April 29, 2014) from the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit Court) and the United States Supreme Court with respect to the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR); and (2) the January 4, 2013, D.C. Circuit decision remanding 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”). Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) v. EPA, 706 F.3d 428 (D.C. Cir. 2013).
Specific details of the States' submittals and the rationale for EPA's proposed actions are explained in the NPR and will not be restated here. No adverse public comments were received on the NPR.
EPA is approving the requests submitted by the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Maryland to redesignate from nonattainment to attainment their respective portions of the Washington Area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA has evaluated the States' redesignation requests and determined that they meet the redesignation criteria set forth in section 107(d)(3)(E) of the CAA for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard. In this final rulemaking action, EPA finds that the Washington Area is attaining and will continue to attain the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. EPA is also approving the common maintenance plan for the Washington Area submitted by the States as revisions to their respective SIPs for the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard, as the plan meets the requirements of CAA section 175A for the standard. Furthermore, EPA is approving the 2017 and 2025 MVEBs for PM2.5 and NOX submitted by the States for the Washington Area for transportation conformity determinations with respect to the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Final approval of the redesignation requests will change the official designations of the Washington Area, from nonattainment to attainment as found at 40 CFR part 81, for each of the States for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS, and will incorporate into the States SIPs the maintenance plan ensuring continued attainment of the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS in the Area for the next 10 years, until 2025.
Under the CAA, redesignation of an area to attainment and the accompanying approval of the Start Printed Page 60083maintenance plan under CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) are actions that affect the status of geographical area and do not impose any additional regulatory requirements on sources beyond those required by state law. A redesignation to attainment does not in and of itself impose any new requirements, but rather results in the application of requirements contained in the CAA for areas that have been redesignated to attainment. Moreover, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable Federal regulations. 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, this action:
Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by December 5, 2014. Filing a petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect the finality of this action 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, in which EPA is approving the redesignation requests and maintenance plan submitted by the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the State of Maryland for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS Washington Area, may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)
2. In § 52.470, the table in paragraph (e) is amended by adding an entry for the 1997 Annual PM 2.5 Maintenance Plan for the District of Columbia Portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Area at the end of the table to read as follows:
Maintenance plan for the District of Columbia Portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Nonattainment Area for the 1997 annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard District of Columbia 06/03/13 07/22/13 10/6/14 [ Insert Federal Register Citation] See § 52.477(b).
Start Printed Page 60084 Start Amendment Part
3. Section 52.477 is revised to read as follows:
§ 52.477
4. In § 52.1070, the table in paragraph (e) is amended by adding an entry for the 1997 Annual PM 2.5 Maintenance Plan for the Maryland portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Area at the end of the table to read as follows:
Maintenance plan for the Maryland Portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Nonattainment Area for the 1997 annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standard Statewide 07/10/13 07/26/13 10/6/14 [ Insert Federal Register Citation] See § 52.1081(d).
5. Section 52.1081 is amended by adding paragraph (d) to read as follows:
(d) Maintenance Plan and Transportation Conformity Budgets. EPA approves the maintenance plan for the Maryland portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA nonattainment area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS submitted by the State of Maryland for the entire Area on July 10, 2013 and supplemented on July 26, 2013. The maintenance plan includes motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) to be applied to all future transportation conformity determinations and analyses for the entire Washington, DC-MD-VA PM2.5 Area for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. The MVEBs are based on a tiered approach: Tier 1 MVEBs are effective as EPA has determined them adequate for transportation conformity purposes; Tier 2 mobile budgets will become effective upon the completion of the interagency consultation process and fully documented within the first conformity analysis that uses the Tier 2 MVEBs.Start Printed Page 60085
6. In § 52.2420, the table in paragraph (e) is amended by adding an entry for the 1997 Annual PM 2.5 Maintenance Plan for the Virginia Portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Area at the end of the table to read as follows:
Maintenance plan for the Virginia Portion of the Washington, DC-MD-VA Nonattainment Area for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard Statewide 06/03/13 07/17/13 10/6/14 [ Insert Federal Register Citation] See § 52.2429(b).
7. Section 52.2429 is amended by designating the existing text as paragraph (a) and adding paragraph (b).
§ 52.2429
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8. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:
9. In § 81.309, revise the table for “District of Columbia—1997 Annual PM 2.5 NAAQS [Primary and secondary]” to read as follows:
10. In § 81.321, the table for Maryland—1997 Annual PM 2.5 NAAQS [Primary and secondary] is amended by removing footnote number 2 in the table and revising the entries for the Washington, DC-MD-VA Area to read as follows:
Charles County 10/6/14 Attainment
Frederick County 10/6/14 Attainment
Montgomery County 10/6/14 Attainment
Prince George's County 10/6/14 Attainment
11. In § 81.347, the table for Virginia—1997 Annual PM 2.5 NAAQS [Primary and secondary] is amended by removing footnote number 2 in the table and revising the entries for the Washington, DC-MD-VA Area to read as follows:
[FR Doc. 2014-23624 Filed 10-3-14; 8:45 am]