[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 221 (Monday, November 17, 1997)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Page 61236]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-30137]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[AL-036-1 9715; FRL-5922-4]


Revocation of the Section 182(f) Oxides of Nitrogen 
(NOX) Exemption Granted to the Birmingham Ozone 
Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule; informational notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA has rescinded its previous approval of the State of 
Alabama's exemption from NOX provisions for the Birmingham 
marginal nonattainment area. The exemption was originally approved by 
EPA in 1993. It is now rescinded because the conditions which formed 
the basis of the original approval no longer exist; and there is no 
other showing from the State of Alabama that reductions of 
NOX would not contribute to attainment of the ozone standard 
for the area.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This action was effective September 19, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Kimberly Bingham at the EPA Region 
4 address listed below. Copies of the material submitted by the Alabama 
Department of Environmental Management (ADEM) may be examined during 
normal business hours at the following locations:

Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch, 61 
Forsyth Street, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3104.
Alabama Department of Environmental Management, 1751 Congressman W. L. 
Dickinson Drive, Montgomery, Alabama 36109.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kimberly Bingham, Regulatory Planning 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, Region 4, Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street, 
SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. The telephone number is (404) 562-9038.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Section 182(f)(1)(A) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) provides for an 
exemption from New Source Review (NSR) offsets for NOX 
emissions in ozone nonattainment areas where a state shows and EPA 
agrees that additional NOX reductions would not contribute 
to attainment of the ozone standard in that area. At the time of the 
request submitted by the State of Alabama through the Alabama 
Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), the Birmingham area was 
required to attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 
for ozone by November 15, 1993. Given this deadline, offsets from new 
sources of NOX emissions applying for a permit to locate in 
the Birmingham area after November 15, 1992, would not in practice have 
been achieved prior to the expected ozone attainment date. Based on 
this information, the EPA determined that the application of the 
NOX provisions would not have contributed to the timely 
attainment of the ozone standard and, therefore, approved the 
NOX exemption for the Birmingham area. (58 FR 45439). 
Moreover, the area had ambient air quality data that demonstrated 
attainment of the ozone NAAQS on November 15, 1993.
    Accordingly, on August 30, 1993, the EPA announced in the Federal 
Register (58 FR 45439) that it had determined, pursuant to the State's 
request according to the provisions of section 182(f) of the CAA, that 
additional reductions of NOX would not contribute to 
attainment of the NAAQS for ozone in the Birmingham nonattainment area. 
In that same notice, the EPA approved a request from ADEM for an 
exemption from the CAA requirements for NSR offsets for NOX. 
In addition to exempting the Birmingham ozone nonattainment area from 
NOX NSR, this action also exempted the Birmingham ozone 
nonattainment area from applicable transportation and general 
conformity requirements for NOX in accordance with 58 FR 
62188 and 58 FR 63214. Because the EPA previously issued an area wide 
exemption under section 182(f) of the CAA, Region 4 acknowledged on 
November 21, 1994, that additional exemptions from the conformity 
requirements automatically applied to the Birmingham area.
    On March 16, 1995, ADEM submitted a request for redesignation of 
the Birmingham marginal ozone nonattainment area to attainment status. 
However, prior to the close of the administrative record on the 
redesignation request, the Birmingham area registered a violation of 
the ozone standard on August 18, 1995. EPA proposed disapproval of the 
redesignation request and the associated maintenance plan on April 30, 
1997. On September 19, 1997, EPA published in the Federal Register, a 
final rulemaking which disapproved the ozone redesignation request for 
the Birmingham area (See 62 FR 49154). In light of the fact that the 
Birmingham area continued to violate the NAAQS for ozone in 1996, the 
EPA could no longer conclude that additional NOX reductions 
would not contribute to attainment of the ozone standard for this area. 
For those reasons, the NOX exemption for the Birmingham 
marginal ozone nonattainment area has been revoked.
    This determination was made as of the effective date of the 
redesignation disapproval, September 19, 1997, because the basis of the 
disapproval is the violation of the ozone NAAQS. A letter dated 
September 11, 1997, provided ADEM official notification that the waiver 
for Birmingham would be revoked as of the aforementioned date.
    As a result of the NOX waiver being rescinded for the 
Birmingham marginal ozone nonattainment area, the State will be 
required to implement New Source Review for major stationary sources of 
NOX. Furthermore, the State will no longer have a waiver for 
the Birmingham ozone nonattainment area which exempts the area from CAA 
requirements to satisfy the general and transportation conformity 
requirements for NOX. Consequently, the Birmingham 
Metropolitan Planning Organization and the Alabama Department of 
Transportation must demonstrate that the future long-range 
transportation plan (LRTP) and the transportation improvement program 
(TIP) conformity analyses satisfy the applicable VOC and NOX 
requirements in section 93.109 of the transportation conformity rule, 
as amended on August 15, 1997. The approved conformity determination 
for the existing 2015 LRTP demonstrated that the ``Action'' scenarios 
for 2005 and 2015 will have NOX emissions over the 
respective ``Baseline'' scenarios. Without an NOX waiver, 
any new LRTP and/or TIP for the Birmingham area which shows such 
increases would not satisfy the emission reduction requirements of 
section 93.119 of the transportation conformity rule and would not be 
in conformance with the Alabama State Implementation Plan.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

    Dated: October 31, 1997.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-30137 Filed 11-14-97; 8:45 am]
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