[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 239 (Wednesday, December 12, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64262-64263]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-30741]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7117-3]
Regional Haze Regulations; Availability of Draft Guidance
Documents
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice.
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SUMMARY: We, the EPA are announcing today the availability of draft
guidance to assist State and tribal air pollution control agencies in
the implementation of regulations governing regional haze which were
published in the Federal Register on July 1, 1999. These draft
documents address the establishment of natural visibility conditions
and the tracking of progress under the regional haze program.
DATES: Comments should be submitted on or before January 11, 2002.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted to Lara Autry, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency (MD-14), Research Triangle Park, NC
27711; E-mail [email protected]. An electronic copy of the draft
guidance can be accessed at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/amtic/visinfo.html.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lara Autry at the same address; E-mail
[email protected]; telephone (919) 541-5544.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In section 169A of the 1977 Amendments to
the Clean Air Act, Congress established a national visibility goal as
the ``prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing,
impairment of visibility in mandatory Federal Class I areas which
impairment results from manmade air pollution.'' 42 U.S.C. 7491. These
provisions were further supplemented by section 169B of the Clean Air
Act Amendments of 1990. 42 U.S.C. 7492. States are required to develop
implementation plans that make ``reasonable progress'' toward this
goal.
EPA issued initial visibility regulations in 1980 \1\ that
addressed visibility impairment in a specific mandatory Federal Class I
area that is determined to be ``reasonably attributable'' to a single
source or small group of sources. Regulations to address regional haze
were deferred until improved techniques could be developed in
monitoring, modeling, and in understanding the effects of specific
pollutants on visibility impairment. EPA issued regional haze
regulations in 1999.\2\
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\1\ See 45 FR 80084 (December 2, 1980).
\2\ See 64 FR 35713 (July 1, 1999). See also 40 CFR 51.300-
51.309.
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The overall framework of the regional haze rule requires States to
develop SIPs that include (1) reasonable progress goals for improving
visibility in each mandatory Federal Class I area, and (2) set of
emission reduction measures to meet these goals. Specifically, States
will set progress goals for each mandatory Federal Class I area to:
provide for an improvement in visibility for the 20% most
impaired (i.e., worst visibility) days over the period of the
implementation plan, and
ensure no degradation in visibility for the 20% least
impaired (i.e., best visibility) days over the same period.
Baseline visibility conditions for the 20% worst and 20% best days
are to be determined using monitoring data collected during calendar
years 2000-2004. Baseline conditions for 2000-2004, progress goals, and
tracking changes over time are to be expressed in terms of the deciview
index.\3\
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\3\ The deciview is a haze index derived from calculated light
extinction, such that uniform changes in haziness correspond to
uniform incremental changes in visual perception across the entire
range of conditions, from pristine to highly impaired. Deciview = 10
ln(bext/10).
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Most States (and Tribes as appropriate \4\) participating in
regional planning organizations will submit regional haze
implementation plans, including estimates of natural conditions and
proposed progress goals, in the 2008 time frame. The regional haze SIP
deadlines are linked to the dates when PM2.5 designations
are finalized. For states that choose to participate in a regional
planning organization, the initial (committal) SIP is due within one
year of the PM2.5 designation and the full control strategy
SIP is due within three years of the PM2.5 designation, but
not later than December 31, 2008. For states that choose not to
participate in a regional planning organization, regional haze SIPs are
due within one year of the PM2.5 designation (for geographic
areas designated as attainment or unclassifiable) and within three
years of the PM2.5 designation (for geographic areas
designated as nonattainment), which is the same time that control
strategies to attain the PM2.5 standard are due. In
developing any progress goal, the State will need to analyze and
consider in its set of options the rate of improvement between 2004
(when 2000-2004 baseline conditions are set) and 2018 that, if
maintained in subsequent implementation periods, would result in
achieving estimated natural conditions in 2064.
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\4\ Under the Tribal Air Rule (63 FR 7254; February 12, 1998; 40
CFR part 49), Tribal governments may elect to implement air programs
in much the same way as states, including development of Tribal
implementation plans.
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The purpose of the draft documents announced in today's notice,
when completed, will be to provide guidance to the States in
implementing the regional haze program and to explain how EPA intends
to exercise its discretion in implementing Clean Air Act provisions and
EPA regulations concerning the estimation of natural visibility under
the Regional Haze program. The guidance is designed to implement
national policy on these issues. Sections 169A and 169B of the Clean
Air Act and implementing regulations at 40 CFR 51.308 and 51.309
contain legally binding requirements. When completed and issued, these
draft guidance documents will not substitute for those provisions or
regulations, nor will they constitute regulations themselves. Thus,
they will not impose binding, enforceable requirements on any party,
and may not apply to a particular situation based upon the
circumstances. We and State decision
[[Page 64263]]
makers retain the discretion to adopt approaches on a case-by-case
basis that differ from this guidance where appropriate. Any decisions
by us regarding a particular State implementation plan (SIP)
demonstration will only be made based on the statute and regulations.
Therefore, you are free to raise questions and objections about the
appropriateness of the application of this guidance to a particular
situation; we will, and States should, consider whether or not the
recommendations in this guidance are appropriate in that situation.
These guidance documents will be living documents and may be revised
periodically without public notice. We welcome public comments on these
documents at any time and will consider those comments in any future
revision of these guidance documents. However, for the purposes of
completing the current versions of these documents and providing them
to the State and tribal air pollution control agencies for their use,
we ask that any comments on these versions be submitted to us not later
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than January 11, 2002.
Dated: November 28, 2001.
William Lamason,
Acting Director, Emissions Monitoring Analysis Division.
[FR Doc. 01-30741 Filed 12-11-01; 8:45 am]
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