[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 164 (Friday, August 23, 2002)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 54580-54583]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-21560]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[CA-082-FOAa; FRL-7263-9]


Determination of Attainment of the 1-Hour Ozone Standard for San 
Diego County, CA

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: This rulemaking contains EPA's final determination that the 
San Diego area has attained the 1-hour ozone air quality standard by 
the deadline required by the Clean Air Act. If adverse written comments 
are received, we will withdraw the direct final rule and address the 
comments received in a new final rule; otherwise no further rulemaking 
will occur on this action. Elsewhere in this issue of the Federal 
Register, we are proposing to make this finding of attainment.

DATES: This direct final finding is effective October 22, 2002, without 
further notice, unless we receive adverse comments by September 23, 
2002. If we receive such comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal 
in the Federal Register to notify the public that this rule will not 
take effect.

ADDRESSES: Please address your comments to: Dave Jesson, Air Planning 
Office (AIR-2), Air Division, U.S. EPA, Region 9, 75 Hawthorne Street, 
San Francisco, CA 94105-3901.
    Copies of the State's submittal are available for public inspection 
during normal business hours at EPA's Region 9 office and at the 
following locations:

California Air Resources Board, 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.
San Diego County Air Pollution Control District, 9150 Chesapeake Drive, 
San Diego, CA 92123-1096.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dave Jesson, US EPA Region 9, at (415) 
972-3957, or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Attainment Finding

A. San Diego's Ozone Classification and Current Status

    When the Clean Air Act (CAA) Amendments were enacted in 1990, each 
area of the country that was designated nonattainment for the 1-hour 
ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), including the San 
Diego area, was classified by operation of law as marginal, moderate, 
serious, severe, or extreme depending on the severity of the area's air 
quality problem.\1\ CAA sections 107(d)(1)(C) and 181(a). The San Diego 
area was initially classified as severe. See 40 CFR 81.305 and 56 FR 
56694 (November 6, 1991). The area was reclassified as serious after we 
determined that the ozone design value used in the original 
classification was incorrect. 60 FR 3771 (January 19, 1995).
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    \1\ The 1-hour ozone nonattainment area is the ``San Diego 
Area,'' which comprises the entire County of San Diego. See 40 CFR 
81.305.

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[[Page 54581]]

    Upon the San Diego area's reclassification as serious, the CAA 
required submittal of a state implementation plan (SIP) demonstrating 
attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard as expeditiously as practicable 
but no later than November 15, 1999. CAA sections 181(a)(1) and 
182(c)(2)(A). The SIP had to meet several other CAA requirements for 
serious areas. See generally CAA section 182(c). The San Diego County 
Air Pollution Control District (SDCAPCD) adopted a serious area plan 
addressing these provisions, and we approved the SIP submittal on 
January 8, 1997 (62 FR 1150).
    Although the San Diego area did not attain the standard by the 
November 15, 1999 deadline, the area did qualify to have that deadline 
extended, since the area had complied with all requirements and 
commitments in the SIP and recorded no more than 1 exceedance of the 
NAAQS in 1999. For areas meeting these provisions, CAA section 
181(a)(5) allows us to grant up to two 1-year extensions. On October 
11, 2000 (65 FR 65025), we granted the San Diego area a 1-year 
attainment date extension to November 15, 2000, and on August 6, 2001 
(66 FR 40908), we granted the area a second 1-year extension to 
November 15, 2001, since the area again had no more than 1 exceedance 
in the previous year.
    On March 28, 2002, Richard J. Smith, Acting Director, SDCAPCD, 
addressed a letter to Michael P. Kenny, Executive Officer of the 
California Air Resources Board (CARB), asking that the State petition 
us to make an attainment finding because quality-assured ambient ozone 
data show no more than one exceedance at any monitoring station in the 
San Diego area for the 1999-2001 period. On June 21, 2002, CARB 
formally requested that we make a finding of attainment for the San 
Diego area based on the area's design value as of the 2001 attainment 
date (letter from Michael P. Kenny to Wayne Nastri, Regional 
Administrator, EPA Region 9).

B. Clean Air Act Provisions for Attainment Findings

    Under CAA section 181(b)(2)(A), we must determine within six months 
of the applicable attainment date whether an ozone nonattainment area 
has attained the standard. If we find that a serious area has not 
attained the standard and does not qualify for an extension, it is 
reclassified by operation of law to severe. Under CAA section 
181(b)(2)(A), we must base our determination of attainment or failure 
to attain on the area's design value as of its applicable attainment 
date, which for the San Diego area was November 15, 2001.
    The 1-hour ozone NAAQS is 0.12 ppm, not to be exceeded on average 
more than 1 day per year over any 3-year period. 40 CFR 50.9 and 
appendix H. Under our policies, we determine if an area has attained 
the 1-hour standard by calculating, at each monitor, the average number 
of days over the standard per year during the preceding 3-year 
period.\2\ For this direct final rulemaking, we have based our 
determination of attainment on both the design value and the average 
number of exceedance days per year as of November 15, 2001.
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    \2\ See generally 57 FR 13506 (April 16, 1992) and Memorandum 
from D. Kent Berry, Acting Director, Air Quality Management 
Division, EPA, to Regional Air Office Directors; ``Procedures for 
Processing Bump Ups and Extensions for Marginal Ozone Nonattainment 
Areas,'' February 3, 1994. While explicitly applicable only to 
marginal areas, the general procedures for evaluating attainment in 
this memorandum apply regardless of the initial classification of an 
area because all findings of attainment are made pursuant to the 
same Clean Air Act requirements in section 181(b)(2).
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    The design value is an ambient ozone concentration that indicates 
the severity of the ozone problem in an area and is used to determine 
the level of emission reductions needed to attain the standard, that 
is, it is the ozone level around which a State designs its control 
strategy for attaining the ozone standard. A monitor's design value is 
the fourth highest ambient concentration recorded at that monitor over 
the previous 3 years. An area's design value is the highest of the 
design values from the area's monitors.\3\
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    \3\ The fourth highest value is used as the design value because 
a monitor may record up to 3 exceedances of the standard in a 3-year 
period and still show attainment, since 3 exceedances over 3 years 
would average 1 day per year, the maximum allowed to show attainment 
of the 1-hour ozone standard. If the monitor records a fourth 
exceedance in that period, it would average more than 1 exceedance 
day per year and would no longer show attainment. Therefore, if a 
State can reduce the fourth highest ozone value to below the 
standard, thus preventing a fourth exceedance, then it will be able 
to demonstrate attainment.
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    We make attainment determinations for ozone nonattainment areas 
using all available, quality-assured air quality data for the 3-year 
period up to and including the attainment date.\4\ Consequently, we 
used all of the 1999, 2000, and 2001 quality-assured data available to 
determine whether the San Diego area attained the 1-hour ozone standard 
by November 15, 2001. From the available air quality data, we have 
calculated the average number of days over the standard and the design 
value for each ozone monitor in the San Diego nonattainment area.
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    \4\ All quality-assured available data include all data 
available from the state and local/national air monitoring (SLAMS/
NAMS) network as submitted to EPA's AIRS system and all data 
available to EPA from special purpose monitoring (SPM) sites that 
meet the requirements of 40 CFR 58.13. See Memorandum John Seitz, 
Director, OAQPS, to Regional Air Directors; ``Agency Policy on the 
Use of Ozone Special Purpose Monitoring Data,'' August 22, 1997.
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C. Attainment Finding for the San Diego Area

1. Adequacy of the San Diego Area Ozone Monitoring Network
    Determining whether or not an area has attained the 1-hour ozone 
standard under CAA section 181(b)(1)(A) is based on monitored air 
quality data. Thus, the validity of a determination of attainment 
depends on whether the monitoring network adequately measures ambient 
ozone levels in the area.
    We evaluate 4 basic elements in determining the adequacy of an 
area's ozone monitoring network. The network needs to meet the design 
requirements of 40 CFR part 58, appendix D; the network needs to 
utilize monitoring equipment designated as reference or equivalent 
methods under 40 CFR part 53; and the agency or agencies operating the 
equipment need to have a quality assurance plan in place that meets the 
requirements of 40 CFR part 58, appendix A. The ozone network in the 
San Diego area meets or exceeds these requirements and is therefore 
adequate for use in determining the ozone attainment status of the 
area.
2. The San Diego Area's Ozone Design Value for the 1999-2001 Period
    We have listed in Table 1 the design values and the average number 
of exceedance days per year for the 1999 to 2001 period for each 
monitoring site in the San Diego area. We calculated the design values 
following the procedures in the Laxton memo.\5\
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    \5\ See memorandum, William G. Laxton, Director, Technical 
Support Division, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards to 
Regional Air Directors, ``Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Design Value 
Calculations,'' June 18, 1990.

[[Page 54582]]



  Table 1.--Average Number of Ozone Exceedance Days per Year and Design
            Values by Monitor in San Diego County, 1999-2001
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                                          Average number
                  Site                    of exceedance     Site design
                                          days per year     value (ppm)
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Chula Vista (SLAMS)....................              0              0.10
El Cajon (PAMS/NAMS)...................              0              0.10
Oceanside (SLAMS)......................              0              0.09
San Diego/Overland (PAMS/NAMS).........              0.3            0.11
Del Mar (SLAMS)........................              0              0.09
Escondido (SLAMS)......................              0.3            0.11
Alpine (PAMS/SLAMS)....................              0.3            0.12
San Diego/12th Street (SLAMS)..........              0              0.09
Camp Pendleton (PAMS/SLAMS)............              0              0.10
Otay Mesa (SLAMS)......................              0             0.09
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Note: EPA's monitoring network regulations are codified at 40 CFR 58.
  The regulations provide for National Air Monitoring Stations (NAMS),
  State or Local Air Monitoring Stations (SLAMS), and Photochemical
  Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS). All of the stations in the San
  Diego County monitoring network are operated by SDCAPCD or CARB. The
  monitoring data are submitted to EPA's Aerometric Information
  Retrieval System-Air Quality Subsystem (AIRS-AQS) database.

    From Table 1, the highest design value at any monitor, and thus the 
design value for the San Diego area, is .12 ppm at the Alpine site. No 
monitor in the San Diego area recorded an average of more than 1 
exceedance of the 1-hour ozone standard per year during the 1999 to 
2001 period.
    Because the area's design value does not exceed the 0.12 ppm 1-hour 
ozone standard and the area has averaged less than 1 exceedance per 
year at each monitor for the 1999 to 2001 period, we find that the San 
Diego area has attained the 1-hour ozone standard by its Clean Air Act 
mandated attainment date of November 15, 2001.

D. Attainment Findings and Redesignations to Attainment

    A finding that an area has attained the 1-hour ozone standard under 
CAA section 181(b)(1)(A) does not redesignate the area to attainment 
for the 1-hour standard nor does it guarantee a future redesignation to 
attainment.
    The redesignation of an area to attainment under CAA section 
107(d)(3)(E) is a separate process from a finding of attainment under 
CAA section 181(b)(1)(A). Unlike an attainment finding where we need 
only determine that the area has had the prerequisite number of clean 
years, a redesignation to attainment requires additional submittals and 
multiple determinations. Under CAA section 107(d)(3)(E), we must make 
the following determinations:
    1. The area has attained the relevant NAAQS at the time of 
redesignation.
    2. The State has a fully approved SIP for the area.
    3. The improvements in air quality are due to permanent and 
enforceable reductions in emissions resulting from implementation of 
the SIP and applicable federal regulations and other permanent and 
enforceable reductions.
    4. We have fully approved a maintenance plan for the area under CAA 
section 175A.
    5. The State has met all the nonattainment area requirements 
applicable to the area.
    To address the provisions of CAA section 175A, SDCAPCD is preparing 
an ozone redesignation request and maintenance plan, which is scheduled 
for adoption later this year. It is possible, although not expected, 
that the San Diego area might violate the 1-hour ozone NAAQS before the 
maintenance plan is approved and the area is redesignated to 
attainment. If such a violation were to occur after EPA's finding of 
attainment under CAA section 181(b)(2)(A) in this rulemaking, EPA 
believes that issuance of a SIP call under CAA section 110(k)(5) would 
be an appropriate response. This SIP call could require the State to 
submit, by a reasonable deadline but not to exceed 18 months, a revised 
plan demonstrating expeditious attainment and compliance with other 
requirements of subpart 2 applicable to the area at the time of this 
finding.

II. Final Action

    We are finding that the San Diego area has attained the 1-hour 
ozone NAAQS under CAA section 181(b)(2)(A).
    We are publishing this action without prior proposal because we 
view this as a noncontroversial finding and anticipate no adverse 
comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal 
Register publication, we are publishing a separate document that will 
serve as the proposed finding of attainment if relevant adverse 
comments are filed. This rule will be effective October 22, 2002 
without further notice unless relevant adverse comments are received by 
September 23, 2002. If we receive such comments, this action will be 
withdrawn before the effective date. All public comments received will 
then be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed 
action. We will not institute a second comment period. Any parties 
interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time. If 
no such comments are received, the public is advised that this action 
will be effective October 22, 2002.

III. Administrative Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely determines that the San Diego area has attained a previously-
established national ambient air quality standard based on an objective 
review of measured air quality data. As such, the action imposes no 
additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, 
the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities under the 
Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because this rule 
does not impose any additional enforceable duty, it does not contain 
any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely affect small 
governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995 
(Public Law 104-4).

[[Page 54583]]

    This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will 
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on 
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or 
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal 
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism 
implications because it does not have substantial direct effects on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely makes a determination 
based on air quality data, and does not alter the relationship or the 
distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean Air 
Act. This action also is not subject to Executive Order 13045, 
``Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety 
Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically 
significant.
    Section 12 of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act 
(NTTAA) of 1995 requires Federal agencies to evaluate existing 
technical standards when developing a new regulation. To comply with 
NTTAA, EPA must consider and use voluntary consensus standards (VCS) if 
available and applicable when developing programs and policies unless 
doing so would be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise 
impractical. EPA believes that VCS are inapplicable to today's final 
action because the action does not require the public to perform 
activities conducive to the use of VCS. This rule does not impose an 
information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, National parks, 
Wilderness areas.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: August 8, 2002.
Keith Takata,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 02-21560 Filed 8-22-02; 8:45 am]
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