[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 9, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48699-48701]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-20121]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6848-2]


Petition for Secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for 
Nitrogen Dioxide, Sulfur Dioxide, and Fine Particulate Matter and 
Related Request

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is announcing receipt of a petition for rulemaking 
under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), to promulgate revised 
secondary national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for pollutants 
associated with the formation of acid rain, including nitrogen dioxide 
(NO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), and fine particulate 
matter (PM2.5). The petition was submitted by 
representatives of the States of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, New 
Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont in a letter to the 
EPA Administrator, dated October 26, 1999. In that letter, the States 
request EPA to address what they assert to be a wide range of adverse 
environmental effects associated with these pollutants through the 
mechanism of revised secondary NAAQS. In addition, EPA has received a 
related request from the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) in a 
letter to the EPA Administrator, dated July 19, 2000, to address many 
of the same adverse environmental effects associated with the same 
types of air pollutants, and with ozone (O3) that DOI 
asserts are occurring in national parks and wilderness areas.
    To consider and respond to this petition and related request 
properly, EPA plans to review relevant scientific information, and to 
consult with the public and potentially affected stakeholders to ensure 
that decisions in response to these requests are based on the best 
available information.

DATES: Comments and associated information and analyses should be 
submitted on or before December 7, 2000.

ADDRESSES: You may comment in various ways:
    On paper. Send paper comments (in duplicate, if possible) to the 
Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center (6102), Attention 
Docket No. A-2000-36, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave., NW, Washington, DC 20460.
    Electronically. Send electronic comments to EPA at: [email protected]. We accept comments

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as e-mail attachments or on disk. Either way, they must be in 
WordPerfect 5.1, 6.0, Corel 8, or ASCII file format. Avoid the use of 
special characters and any form of encryption. Be sure to identify all 
comments by Docket No. A-2000-36.
    Public Inspection. Docket No. A-2000-36 containing the letters and 
related information is available for public inspection and copying 
between 8:00 a.m. and 5:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays at the Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center (6102), 
401 M Street, SW, Room M-1500, Washington, DC 20460, phone 202-260-
7548, fax 202-260-4400. A reasonable fee for copying may be charged.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Vicki Sandiford, MD-15, Air Quality 
Strategies and Standards Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and 
Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle 
Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-2629, e-mail: 
[email protected]; or Geoffrey L. Wilcox, Mail Code 2344A, Office 
of General Counsel, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, 
D.C. 20460, telephone (202) 564-5601, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Availability of Related Information

    Two of the documents specifically cited in the States' petition can 
be obtained by ordering them from the following organizations:
    (1) Nitrogen Oxides: Impacts on Public Health and the Environment. 
1997. (EPA452/R-97-002). Order by contacting U.S. EPA Region 3 
Chesapeake Bay Program Office, 410 Severn Avenue, Suite 109, Annapolis, 
MD 21403; phone (800) 968-7229 or (800) 553-6847; fax (410) 267-5777. 
This document can also be ordered online by going to http://www.epa.gov/ncepihom/orderpub.html and filling out the order form 
online.
    (2) Introduction to Visibility. 1999. W. Malm (CSU, ISSN 0737-5352-
40).
    Contact the Cooperative Institute for Resources in the Atmosphere 
(CIRA) at (970) 491-8292.

Electronic Availability

    In addition to accessing the States' petition and the DOI request 
through the EPA docket as indicated above, these letters are available 
online through the Agency's Office of Air Quality Planning and 
Standards (OAQPS) Technology Transfer Network (TTN) under the technical 
area of ``Office of Air and Radiation Policy and Guidance'' (OAR P&G), 
and under the heading of ``General Documents'' (see the following e-
mail address: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/gener.html). To access the 
document from the World Wide Web, click on www.epa.gov/ttn/ which 
connects you to the ``TTNWeb,'' then proceed to the ``TTN Technical 
Areas,'' as described above. If assistance is needed in accessing the 
system, call the help desk at (919) 541-5384 in Research Triangle Park, 
NC.
    Other documents cited in the States' petition can also be accessed 
and downloaded from the following web addresses:
    (1) The 1998 Acid Rain Action Plan of the Northeastern Governors 
and Eastern Canadian Premiers. http://www.cmp.ca/neg/reports/acid-e.htm
    (2) National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP) Biennial 
Report To Congress: An Integrated Assessment. May, 1998. (Requires 
Adobe Acrobat to view individual chapters) http://www.nnic.noaa.gov/
CENR/NAPAP/NAPAP__96.htm
    (3) Clean Water Action Plan: Restoring and Protecting America's 
Waters. 1998. http://www.cleanwater.gov/action/toc.html
    (4) Federal Register Proposal and Final Notices for NO2, 
SO2, PM, and O3 National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards. http://www.epa.gov/ttn/oarpg/t1pfpr.html
    (5) Acid Rain: Current and Projected Status of Coldwater Fish 
Communities in the U.S. in the Context of Continued Acid Deposition. 
1998. (After accessing the following site, scroll down the list of 
headings until you see Acid Rain Report. Click on it and Adobe Acrobat 
will automatically begin to open, which you will need to read this 
document). http://www.tu.org/library/conservation.html.
    Additional general information on acid rain and visibility is 
available at the following EPA web addresses: http://www.epa.gov/acidrain/ardhome.html and http://www.epa.gov/oar/vis/. Relevant reports 
available at these web addresses include, for example, the EPA's 1998 
Acid Deposition Standard Feasibility Report to Congress, and Acid 
Deposition: the Ecological Response (Ecological Society of America, 
Workshop Report of 1999).

Background

    The establishment, review, and revision of NAAQS are governed by 
two sections of the CAA. Section 108 (42 U.S.C. 7408) directs the 
Administrator to identify certain pollutants which ``may reasonably be 
anticipated to endanger public health and welfare'' and to issue ``air 
quality criteria'' for them. These air quality criteria are to 
``accurately reflect the latest scientific knowledge useful in 
indicating the kind and extent of all identifiable effects on public 
health or welfare which may be expected from the presence of [a] 
pollutant in the ambient air * * *.''
    Section 109 of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7409) directs the Administrator 
to propose and promulgate ``primary'' and ``secondary'' NAAQS for 
pollutants identified under section 108 of the CAA. Section 109(b)(2) 
of the CAA defines a secondary NAAQS as one, ``the attainment and 
maintenance of which, in the judgment of the Administrator, based on 
[the section 108] criteria, is requisite to protect the public welfare 
from any known or anticipated adverse effects associated with the 
presence of such air pollutant in the ambient air.'' Welfare effects as 
defined in section 302(h) of the CAA (42 U.S.C. 7602(h)) include, but 
are not limited to, ``effects on soils, water, crops, vegetation, 
manmade materials, animals, wildlife, weather, visibility, and climate, 
damage to and deterioration of property, and hazards to transportation, 
as well as effects on economic values and on personal comfort and well-
being, whether caused by transformation, conversion or combination with 
other pollutants.''
    Section 109(d)(1) of the CAA requires periodic review and, as 
appropriate, revision of existing air quality criteria and NAAQS. The 
EPA's most recent decisions following the review of air quality 
criteria and the existing secondary standards for NO2, 
SO2, PM, and O3 were published in the Federal 
Register on October 8, 1996 (61 FR 52852), April 21, 1993 (58 FR 
21351), and July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38652 and 62 FR 38856), respectively. 
Information concerning the welfare effects of these pollutants and the 
rationales for EPA's decisions as to revision of the existing secondary 
standards at those times can be found in those notices, as well as in 
the notices of proposed rulemaking which preceded EPA's final 
decisions.

Summary of Northeast States' Petition

    Representatives of the States of New York, Massachusetts, Maine, 
New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, and Vermont submitted a 
petition to the EPA Administrator, dated October 26, 1999, pursuant to 
the Administrative Procedures Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 553(e), requesting 
that EPA commence rulemaking to promulgate revised secondary NAAQS. The 
petitioners suggest that the acid rain provisions in title IV of the 
CAA do not go far enough to ensure full recovery of sensitive 
ecosystems. The petitioners cite several recent Federal studies in 
support of

[[Page 48701]]

their assertions that effects are occurring which are adverse to the 
public welfare, and that these effects result from pollutants 
associated with acid rain, including NO2, SO2, 
and PM2.5. More specifically, the petitioners assert that 
reports such as the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program's 
(NAPAP) Biennial Report to Congress: An Integrated Assessment and 
Nitrogen Oxides: Impacts on Public Health and the Environment (EPA452/
R-97-002) document continued and increasing damage caused by acid 
deposition to the lakes and forests in the Northeastern States and 
other parts of the nation, as well as other environmental effects 
(e.g., visibility impairment, eutrophication of coastal estuaries, 
damage to vegetation from tropospheric ozone and the depletion of 
stratospheric ozone) associated with these pollutants and their 
transformation products. Moreover, the petitioners assert that damage 
is sufficiently serious and widespread to be considered national in 
scope, such that revised secondary NAAQS are an appropriate approach 
for addressing such effects.

Related Request From DOI

    The DOI has requested in a letter to the EPA Administrator, dated 
July 19, 2000, that EPA initiate rulemaking within its various 
authorities under the CAA that would provide appropriate regulatory 
mechanisms by which states could require protection of air quality 
related values (AQRVs) in Federal Class I areas (i.e., national parks 
and wilderness areas) from both new and existing sources of air 
pollution. More specifically, the DOI asks that EPA consider the use of 
the provisions of the CAA dealing with prevention of significant 
deterioration (PSD) to promulgate a general rule that would require 
affected States to revise their State implementation plans (SIPs) to 
remedy existing, and prevent future, adverse AQRV impacts. The DOI 
letter asserts that AQRVs are being adversely affected by air pollution 
at numerous national parks and wilderness areas, with effects at 
various locations including acidification of streams, surface waters, 
and/or soils; eutrophication of coastal water; visibility impairment; 
and foliar injury to vegetation. The DOI acknowledged that revised 
secondary NAAQS might be one approach to help mitigate the effects of 
concern to Federal land managers responsible for protection of AQRVs in 
Class I areas, but proposes that EPA also consider using the PSD 
provisions, as well as other approaches identified in its letter that 
could provide some protection in the short-term, before more general 
rulemaking can be promulgated, to address localized impacts specific to 
Class I areas.

Solicitation of Comments and Information

    The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) does not require EPA to 
provide notice and solicit public comment before deciding upon its 
response to petitions or other requests for rulemaking. Nonetheless, 
EPA has decided in this instance to solicit public comment and 
additional information and analyses relevant to the issues raised by 
these requests. The EPA is particularly interested in receiving 
comments and information regarding: (1) Any ongoing or planned research 
that will become available in the peer-reviewed literature in the near 
future on the welfare effects of the pollutants noted in the letters 
and their atmospheric transformation products, or on environmental 
responses to existing emission control programs; (2) the scope and 
magnitude of the impact on the environment of welfare effects 
associated with these pollutants and their atmospheric transformation 
products; (3) the variability in geographic impacts, frequency, timing, 
seasonal implications, severity, and extent of the effects and 
differences in site characteristics where those effects occur; and (4) 
various alternative approaches and mechanisms that may be suitable for 
addressing these effects consistent with EPA's authority under the CAA. 
The EPA will consider any relevant comments and information submitted 
in response to this notice, together with information provided by the 
petitioners and the DOI and information in the existing records cited 
in today's notice, before making any decision concerning a response to 
these requests for rulemaking. If EPA decides to respond to the States' 
petition or DOI's request by commencing rulemaking under the CAA, we 
will publish a notice of proposed rulemaking in the Federal Register, 
providing further opportunity for public review and comment before 
adopting any final rules.

    Dated: July 24, 2000.
John S. Seitz,
Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
[FR Doc. 00-20121 Filed 8-8-00; 8:45 am]
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