[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 19 (Monday, January 29, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 2760-2761]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-1558]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52 And 81

[OH79-2-7115; FRL-5406-5]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation 
of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Ohio

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

ACTION: Denial of comment period extension on proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: This action denies a request to extend the comment period on 
the proposed rule approving the Cleveland/Akron/Lorain (CAL) ozone 
nonattainment area redesignation to 

[[Page 2761]]
attainment request and maintenance plan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark J. Palermo, Regulation 
Development Section, Regulation Development Branch (AR-18J), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604. Telephone: (312) 886-6082.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1995, the USEPA published a 
proposed rule (60 FR 31433) to approve a redesignation to attainment 
request and maintenance plan submitted by the State of Ohio for the CAL 
ozone nonattainment area, consisting of the Counties of Lorain, 
Cuyahoga, Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga, Medina, Summit, and Portage. The 
maintenance plan is designed to help the area meet the ozone air 
quality standard for the next ten years. The comment period closed on 
July 17, 1995. On July 19, 1995, the USEPA received a phone message 
requesting that the public comment period on the proposed rulemaking be 
extended until 30 to 60 days after Ohio releases the results of its 
1994 air toxics monitoring study in order to have adequate time to 
review the 1994 air toxics monitoring data relating to the city of 
Cleveland before submitting comments in full. The Ohio study is an 
intermittent year round monitoring program occurring in certain Ohio 
cities, such as Cleveland, which samples ambient air concentrations of 
certain air toxics at monitoring locations in those cities for twenty-
four hours every six days. In general, some air toxics compounds are 
also classified as volatile organic compounds (VOC), which contribute 
to ground-level ozone formation. The requestor wanted to use the air 
toxics monitoring data gathered in the city of Cleveland in 1994 
relating to VOCs and compare it with VOC emission inventory data used 
by Ohio to justify the CAL area redesignation request. Results of the 
Ohio air toxics study has been published from the beginning of the 
program in 1989 to 1993, and at the time the extension request was made 
the 1994 study had been completed but not yet published.
    To fulfill one of the Clean Air Act's criteria for redesignating 
ozone nonattainment areas under section 107(d)(3)(E), the State of Ohio 
included ozone precursor emissions inventory data to demonstrate that 
levels of VOCs in the CAL area decreased from 1990 to 1993 due to 
enforceable emissions reductions resulting from the implementation of 
two federal programs; lower fuel volatility and the Federal Motor 
Vehicle Control Program. During that period ozone air pollution levels 
also decreased in the CAL area as demonstrated by ozone ambient air 
monitoring data. This data demonstrated that the area met the ozone 
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) during 1992 through 
1994. Preliminary ozone monitoring data for the 1995 ozone season 
demonstrate that the CAL area continues to maintain compliance with the 
ambient air quality standards for ozone.
    There is no justification to reopen the comment period to allow 
time to review the 1994 Ohio air toxics study because the study was 
neither designed nor intended to collect data which could identify the 
aggregate ozone precursor emissions of VOC from every source in the CAL 
area for a typical summer day or determine whether these emissions have 
in fact risen or declined over time. The emission inventory data, 
submitted in the CAL area redesignation request, on the other hand, 
serves both these functions. As discussed in the June 15, 1995, Federal 
Register, the State's data supporting the CAL area redesignation 
request fully comports with requirements under the Clean Air Act and 
was appropriately compiled in accordance with USEPA guidance (See 60 FR 
at 31433). For the reasons discussed above, the request to extend the 
comment period on the proposed rulemaking has been denied.

    Dated: December 15, 1995.
Valdas V. Adamkus,
Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-1558 Filed 1-26-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P