[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 65 (Friday, April 4, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16082-16084]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8670]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 80
[FRL-5807-3]
Regulations of Fuels and Fuel Additives: Extension of the
Reformulated Gasoline Program to the Phoenix, Arizona Moderate Ozone
Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Withdrawal of direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: Under section 211(k)(6) of the Clean Air Act, as amended
(Act), the Administrator of EPA shall require the sale of reformulated
gasoline in an ozone nonattainment area classified as Marginal,
Moderate, Serious, or Severe upon the application of the governor of
the state in which the nonattainment area is located. On February 18,
1997, EPA issued a direct final rule (62 FR 7164) setting an effective
date for the Phoenix ozone nonattainment area to be a covered area in
the federal reformulated gasoline (RFG) program. In this action EPA is
withdrawing the direct final rule because subsequent to publication,
EPA received several requests for a hearing.
DATES: This action will be effective March 31, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Materials relevant to the direct final rule have been placed
in Docket A-97-02. The docket is located at the Air Docket Section,
Mail Code 6102, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW,
Washington, DC 20460, in room M-1500 Waterside Mall.
Documents may be inspected on business days from 8:00 a.m. to 5:30
p.m. A reasonable fee may be charged for copying docket material. An
identical docket is also located in EPA's Region IX office in Docket A-
AZ-97. The docket is located at 75 Hawthorne Street, AIR-2, 17th Floor,
San Francisco, California 94105. Documents may be inspected from 9:00
a.m. to noon and from 1:00-4:00 p.m. A reasonable fee may be charged
for copying docket material.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Janice Raburn at U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency Office of Air and Radiation, 401 M Street, SW
(6406J), Washington, DC 20460, (202) 233-9000.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The preamble, regulatory language and
regulatory support document are also available electronically from the
EPA internet Web site and via dial-up modem on the Technology Transfer
Network (TTN), which is an electronic bulletin board system (BBS)
operated by EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards. Both
services are free of charge, except for your existing cost of internet
connectivity or the cost of the phone call to TTN. Users are able to
access and download files on their first call using a personal computer
per the following information. The official Federal Register version is
made available on the day of publication on the primary internet sites
listed below. The EPA Office of Mobile Sources also publishes these
notices on the secondary Web site listed below and on the TTN BBS.
[[Page 16083]]
Internet (Web)
http://www.epa.gov/docs/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/ (either select desired date
or use Search feature)
http://www.epa.gov/OMSWWW/ (look in What's New or under the specific
rulemaking topic)
TTN BBS: 919-541-5742
(1200-14400 bps, no parity, 8 data bits, 1 stop bit)
Voice Helpline: 919-541-5384
Off-line: Mondays from 8:00 AM to 12:00 Noon ET
A user who has not called TTN previously will first be required to
answer some basic informational questions for registration purposes.
After completing the registration process, proceed through the
following menu choices from the Top Menu to access information on this
rulemaking.
GATEWAY TO TTN TECHNICAL AREAS (Bulletin Boards)
OMS--Mobile Sources Information
(Alerts display a chronological list of recent documents)
Rulemaking & Reporting
At this point, choose the topic (e.g., Fuels) and subtopic (e.g.,
Reformulated Gasoline) of the rulemaking, and the system will list all
available files in the chosen category in date order with brief
descriptions. To download a file, type the letter ``D'' and hit your
Enter key. Then select a transfer protocol that is supported by the
terminal software on your own computer, and pick the appropriate
command in your own software to receive the file using that same
protocol. After getting the files you want onto your computer, you can
quit the TTN BBS with the oodbye command.
Please note that due to differences between the software used to
develop the document and the software into which the document may be
downloaded, changes in format, page length, etc. may occur.
Regulated entities. Entities potentially regulated by this action
are those which produce, supply or distribute motor gasoline. Regulated
categories and entities include:
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Examples of regulated
Category entities
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Industry.................................. Petroleum refiners, motor
gasoline distributors and
retailers.
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This table is not intended to be exhaustive, but rather provides a
guide for readers regarding entities likely to be regulated by this
action. This table lists the types of entities that EPA is now aware
could potentially be regulated by this action. Other types of entities
not listed in the table could also be regulated. To determine whether
your business would have been regulated by this action, you should
carefully examine the list of areas covered by the reformulated
gasoline program in Sec. 80.70 of title 40 of the Code of Federal
Regulations. If you have questions regarding the applicability of this
action to a particular entity, consult the person listed in the
preceding FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
I. Background
As part of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990, Congress added a
new subsection (k) to section 211 of the Act. Subsection (k) prohibits
the sale of gasoline that EPA has not certified as reformulated
(``conventional gasoline'') in the nine worst ozone nonattainment areas
beginning January 1, 1995. Section 211(k)(10)(D) defines the areas
covered by the reformulated gasoline (RFG) program as the nine ozone
nonattainment areas having a 1980 population in excess of 250,000 and
having the highest ozone design values during the period 1987 through
1989.1 Under section 211(k)(10)(D), any area reclassified as a
severe ozone nonattainment area under section 181(b) is also to be
included in the RFG program. EPA published final regulations for the
RFG program on February 16, 1994. See 59 FR 7716.
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1 Applying these criteria, EPA has determined the nine
covered areas to be the metropolitan areas including Los Angeles,
Houston, New York City, Baltimore, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia,
Hartford and Milwaukee.
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Any other ozone nonattainment area classified as Marginal,
Moderate, Serious, or Severe may be included in the program at the
request of the Governor of the state in which the area is located.
Section 211(k)(6)(A) provides that upon the application of a Governor,
EPA shall apply the prohibition against selling conventional gasoline
in any area requested by the Governor which has been classified under
subpart 2 of Part D of Title I of the act as a Marginal, Moderate,
Serious or Severe ozone nonattainment area. Subparagraph 211(k)(6)(A)
further provides that EPA is to apply the prohibition as of the date
the Administrator ``deems appropriate, not later than January 1, 1995,
or 1 year after such application is received, whichever is later.'' In
some cases the effective date may be extended for such an area as
provided in section 211(k)(6)(B) based on a determination by EPA that
there is ``insufficient domestic capacity to produce'' RFG. Finally,
EPA is to publish a governor's application in the Federal Register.
By letter dated January 17, 1997, the Governor of the State of
Arizona applied to EPA to include the Phoenix moderate ozone
nonattainment area in the federal RFG program. The Governor requested
an implementation date of June 1, 1997. The direct final rule published
by EPA on February 18, 1997 (62 FR 7164) extended the RFG program to
the Phoenix moderate ozone nonattainment area by setting two
implementation dates. EPA set an effective date of June 1, 1997 for
refiners, importers, and distributors, and July 1, 1997 for retailers
and wholesale purchaser-consumers.
Also on February 18, 1997 EPA published in the Federal Register a
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) (62 FR 7197), in which EPA
proposed to apply the prohibitions of subsection 211(k)(5) to the
Phoenix, Arizona nonattainment area. The Agency published both a
proposed rulemaking and a direct final rule because it viewed setting
the effective date for the addition of the Phoenix ozone nonattainment
area to the federal RFG program as non-controversial and anticipated no
adverse or critical comments.
II. Withdrawal of the Phoenix, Arizona Opt-In Direct Final Rule
After publication of the direct final rule and the proposed rule in
the Federal Register, EPA received several requests for a hearing. A
copy of these comments can be found in Air Docket A-97-02. (See
ADDRESSES) Since EPA received a request for a hearing, as stipulated in
the direct final rule, the final rule adding the Phoenix ozone
nonattainment area to the RFG program is being withdrawn by today's
action effective immediately. Today's withdrawal affects the amendment
of section 80.70, paragraph (m) appearing at 62 FR 7167 (February 18,
1997), which would have become effective April 4, 1997, had no adverse
or critical comments been received.
EPA is withdrawing this revision to the regulations without
providing prior notice and an opportunity to comment because it finds
there is good cause within the meaning of 5 U.S.C. 553(b) to do so.
Today's withdrawal must be effective before the date on which the
direct final rule would have been effective, April 4, 1997. This would
not be possible were EPA to provide an opportunity for public comment
on this withdrawal. For the same reasons, EPA finds it has good cause
under 5 U.S.C. 533(d) to make this withdrawal immediately effective.
[[Page 16084]]
III. Statutory Authority
The Statutory authority for the action proposed today is granted to
EPA by sections 211 (c) and (k) and 301 of the Clean Air Act, as
amended; 42 U.S.C. 7545 (c) and (k) and 7601.
IV. Environmental Impact
The federal RFG program provides reductions in ozone-forming VOC
emissions, oxides of nitrogen (NOx), and air toxics. Reductions in
VOCs are environmentally significant because of the associated
reductions in ozone formation and in secondary formation of particulate
matter, with the associated improvements in human health and welfare.
Exposure to ground-level ozone (or smog) can cause respiratory
problems, chest pain, and coughing and may worsen bronchitis,
emphysema, and asthma. Animal studies suggest that long-term exposure
(months to years) to ozone can damage lung tissue and may lead to
chronic respiratory illness. Reductions in emissions of toxic air
pollutants are environmentally important because they carry significant
benefits for human health and welfare primarily by reducing the number
of cancer cases each year.
The Arizona Governor's Task Force estimated that if federal RFG
were required to be sold in Phoenix, VOC emissions would be cut by more
than nine tons/day. In addition, all vehicles would have improved
emissions and the area would also get reductions in toxic emissions.
Today's action means that the Governor of Arizona's request to include
the Phoenix ozone nonattainment area in the federal RFG program will
not be effective beginning June 1, 1997. Thus, the Phoenix
nonattainment area will forego the air quality benefits that would have
resulted from a June 1, 1997 implementation date of the RFG program.
V. Regulatory Flexibility
In the direct final rule, EPA explained why it had determined that
it was not necessary to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis in
connection with that action. EPA also determined that the direct final
rule would not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Today's action withdraws the direct final
rule, an action that would have revised federal regulations. Thus, it
was not necessary to prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis.
Likewise, the withdrawal will not have a significant economic impact on
a substantial number of small entities, because it does not alter any
currently existing federal requirements.
VI. Executive Order 12866
Under Executive Order 12866,\2\ the Agency must determine whether a
regulation is ``significant'' and therefore subject to OMB review and
the requirements of the Executive Order. The Order defines
``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in a
rule that may:
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\2\ See 58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993).
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(1) Have an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more,
or adversely affect in a material way the economy, a sector of the
economy, productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public
health or safety, or State, local or tribal governments of communities;
(2) Create a serious inconsistency or otherwise interfere with an
action taken or planned by another agency;
(3) Materially alter the budgetary impact of entitlements, grants,
user fees, or loan programs or the rights and obligations of recipients
thereof, or
(4) Raise novel legal or policy issues arising out of legal
mandates, the President's priorities, or the principles set forth in
this Executive Order.\3\
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\3\ Id. at section 3(f)(1)-(4).
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It has been determined that this action is not a ``significant
regulatory action'' under the terms of Executive Order 12866 and is
therefore not subject to OMB review.
VII. Unfunded Mandates
Under Section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995
(``UMRA''), Pub. L. 104-4, EPA must prepare a budgetary impact
statement to accompany any general notice of proposed rulemaking or
final rule that includes a Federal mandate which may result in
estimated costs to State, local, or tribal governments in the
aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 million or more in any one
year. Under Section 205, for any rule subject to Section 202 EPA
generally must select the least costly, most cost-effective, or least
burdensome alternative that achieves the objectives of the rule and is
consistent with statutory requirements. Under Section 203, before
establishing any regulatory requirements that may significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, EPA must take steps to inform and
advise small governments of the requirements and enable them to provide
input.
EPA has determined that today's action does not trigger the
requirements of UMRA. The action does not include a Federal mandate
that may result in estimated annual costs to State, local or tribal
governments in the aggregate, or to the private sector, of $100 million
or more, and it does not establish regulatory requirements that may
significantly or uniquely affect small governments.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 80
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Fuel additives,
Gasoline, and Motor vehicle pollution.
Dated: March 31, 1997.
Carol M. Browner,
Administrator.
40 CFR part 80 is amended as follows:
PART 80--REGULATION OF FUELS AND FUEL ADDITIVES
1. The authority citation for part 80 continues to read as follows:
Authority: Secs. 114, 211, and 301(a) of the Clean Air Act, as
amended (42 U.S.C. 7414, 7545 and 7601(a)).
Sec. 80.70 [Amended]
2. In Sec. 80.70, paragraph (m) is removed.
[FR Doc. 97-8670 Filed 4-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P