[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 214 (Tuesday, November 5, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 67345-67348]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-28076]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[Region II Docket No. NJ54-246, FRL-7404-1]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; New Jersey; 
Motor Vehicle Enhanced Inspection and Maintenance Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
revision submitted by New Jersey, including revisions to the State's 
enhanced motor vehicle inspection and maintenance (I/M) program. This 
revision updates New Jersey's enhanced I/M performance standard 
modeling to reflect the State's plan to extend the current new vehicle 
inspection exemption from one inspection cycle ( 2 years) to two 
inspection cycles (4 years). This evaluation is necessary for New 
Jersey to demonstrate that the proposed changes to the enhanced I/M 
program will not impact the State's ability to continue to meet its 
enhanced I/M emission reduction goals for current and future years. EPA 
is proposing approval of New Jersey's plan to extend the new car 
emission inspection exemption, and the State's supporting revised 
performance standard modeling, which demonstrates that the enhanced I/M 
program continues to meet EPA's low enhanced performance standard.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before December 5, 2002. Public 
comments on this action are requested and will be considered before 
taking final action.

ADDRESSES: All comments should be addressed to Raymond Werner, Branch 
Chief, Air Programs Branch, Environmental Protection Agency, 290 
Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
    Copies of the documents relevant to this action are available for 
public inspection during normal business hours at the following 
locations: Environmental Protection Agency,

[[Page 67346]]

Region 2 Office, Air Programs Branch, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New 
York, New York 10007-1866, and New Jersey Department of Environmental 
Protection, Bureau of Air Quality Planning, 401 East State Street, 
CN027, Trenton, New Jersey 08625.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kenneth M. Champagne, Air Programs 
Branch, Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New 
York, New York 10007-1866, (212) 637-4249.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

1. Background
2. What Is the Purpose and Content of New Jersey's Submittal?
3. Can EPA Approve Exemptions for New Vehicles?
4. What Is Performance Standard Modeling?
5. How Has New Jersey Modeled and Met the Performance Standard?
6. Summary of Conclusions and Proposed Action
7. Administrative Requirements

1. Background

    The Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 (the Clean Air Act) require 
certain states to implement an enhanced I/M program to detect gasoline-
fueled motor vehicles which exhibit excessive emissions of certain air 
pollutants. The enhanced I/M program is intended to help states meet 
federal health-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for 
ozone and carbon monoxide by requiring vehicles with excess emissions 
to have their emissions control systems repaired. New Jersey is 
required to have an enhanced I/M program pursuant to the Clean Air Act, 
and consequently has adopted, and is implementing an enhanced I/M 
program state-wide as of December 13, 1999. On January 22, 2002, EPA 
fully approved New Jersey's enhanced I/M program, including the State's 
performance standard modeling, as meeting the applicable requirements 
of the Clean Air Act. Additional information on EPA's final approval of 
New Jersey's enhanced I/M program can be found in the January 22, 2002 
Federal Register (67 FR 2811).

2. What Is the Purpose and Content of New Jersey's Submittal?

    New Jersey's August 20, 2002 proposed SIP revision submittal 
(hereinafter referred to as the August 20, 2002 submittal) modifies the 
State's enhanced I/M program to extend the current new vehicle emission 
inspection exemption from one inspection cycle (2 years) to two 
inspection cycles (4 years). This new vehicle emission inspection 
exemption was enacted by New Jersey on July 1, 2002 as Pub. L. 2002, 
Chapter 34, and supercedes the current emission inspection test 
frequency set forth in New Jersey's I/M rules. The new legislation 
requires any new vehicle of model year 2000 and newer to be exempt from 
the emission inspection for 4 years, and thereafter inspected every 2 
years, however implementation of this new legislation is contingent 
upon approval by EPA. New Jersey's goal is to begin implementation of 
the new vehicle emission inspection exemption on January 1, 2003.
    Also included as a part of the August 20, 2002 submittal, New 
Jersey revised its performance standard modeling to demonstrate that 
the new vehicle emission inspection exemption would not impact the 
State's ability to continue to meet its enhanced I/M emission reduction 
goals. To ensure that the performance standard modeling reflects the 
latest design assumptions for the State's I/M program, this revised 
performance standard modeling also includes major proposed program 
changes contained in New Jersey's April 24, 2002 proposed SIP revision 
(hereinafter referred to as the April 24, 2002 submittal). The major 
changes included are: (1) Removal of the requirements for 
implementation of the evaporative pressure and purge tests, (2) removal 
of the requirements for implementation of the existing final standards 
for the ASM5015 exhaust test to allow for continued use of the initial 
standards, (3) implementation of an OBD testing component for 1996 and 
newer vehicles, and (4) an exemption of gasoline-fueled vehicles 
registered as school buses from the enhanced I/M program (however, 
these vehicles will be inspected by the State's school bus inspection 
unit biannually using a 2500 RPM test). The State appropriately 
included the proposed I/M program design changes from the April 24, 
2002 submittal in the revised modeling since they will, if adopted, 
impact the overall emission reduction potential of the I/M program. 
However, EPA is not taking action on the proposed changes included in 
the April 24, 2002 submittal in this proposed rulemaking. EPA will take 
formal rulemaking action on the April 24, 2002 submittal in a separate 
action at a later date.
    New Jersey's revised performance standard modeling demonstrates 
that the State's enhanced I/M program, including the proposed program 
changes, successfully meets and exceeds EPA's low enhanced I/M program 
performance standard developed for all three criteria pollutants: 
(volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) as modeled for years 2002, 2005, and 2007, and carbon 
monoxide (CO) as modeled for the year 2002.

3. Can EPA Approve Exemptions for New Vehicles?

    The Clean Air Act outlines the minimum elements required in the 
design of I/M programs, however model year coverage is not defined. EPA 
fulfilled its statutory requirement in this regard by designing 
performance standards that addressed these minimum elements. If a state 
designs a program which gets the same or better emission reductions as 
the performance standard it is considered to have met the I/M 
requirements in the Clean Air Act. EPA's I/M regulations at 40 CFR 
51.356(a)(5) state that ``special exemption may be permitted for 
certain subject vehicles provided a demonstration is made that the 
performance standard will be met.'' Accordingly, exemption of model 
years from emission testing is permissible as long as the state can 
demonstrate that the program meets the performance standard for I/M 
programs as contained in 40 CFR 51.351 and 51.352. Generally, the 
exemption of newer model year vehicles from emission testing results in 
a relatively small loss in emission benefit since newer vehicles are 
less likely to have excess emissions due to malfunctions which would be 
discoverable through an I/M program.

4. What Is Performance Standard Modeling?

    EPA included provisions for a model program, known as the 
performance standard, in the requirements established for enhanced I/M 
programs. The features of the enhanced I/M performance standard model 
program are used to generate the minimum performance target that a 
state must meet. When programmed into EPA's mobile source emission 
factor model (the MOBILE model), these features produce target emission 
factors, in grams per mile of vehicle travel, which a state's enhanced 
I/M program must not exceed to be deemed minimally acceptable for 
purposes of SIP approval. The performance standard provides a gauge by 
which EPA can evaluate the adequacy and effectiveness of each state's 
enhanced I/M program. As such, states are required to demonstrate that 
their enhanced I/M programs achieve applicable area-wide emission 
levels for the pollutants of interest that are equal to, or lower than, 
those which would be realized by the implementation of the performance 
standard model program. However, the combination of program

[[Page 67347]]

features which make up the performance standard does not necessarily 
constitute a recommended program design. The use of the performance 
standard approach allows EPA to develop a performance standard based on 
certain statutory features and that also provides states with maximum 
flexibility to design I/M programs to meet local needs.

5. How Has New Jersey Modeled and Met the Performance Standard?

    To comply with the requirements of the Clean Air Act, New Jersey 
submitted modeling to EPA on August 20, 2001 which demonstrated that 
the State's enhanced I/M program met EPA's low enhanced performance 
standard. On January 22, 2002, EPA fully approved New Jersey's enhanced 
I/M program, including the State's performance standard modeling, as 
meeting the applicable requirements of the Clean Air Act. Additional 
information on EPA's final approval of New Jersey's performance 
standard modeling can be found in the January 22, 2002 Federal Register 
(67 FR 2811).
    Although New Jersey recently submitted performance standard 
modeling for its enhanced I/M program, and EPA subsequently approved 
it, the State is required to revise its performance standard modeling 
to demonstrate that the proposed changes to the approved program, such 
as the new vehicle emission inspection exemption, will not impact the 
effectiveness of the overall program. As previously stated, New Jersey 
also included in the modeling the proposed changes in the April 24, 
2002 submittal to ensure that the modeling reflects the latest design 
assumptions for the State's I/M program. In the August 20, 2002 
submittal, New Jersey's intent was to show through modeling that its 
enhanced I/M program, including the latest design changes, meets or 
exceeds the low enhanced performance standard, expressed as emission 
levels in program area-wide average grams per vehicle mile (gpm). New 
Jersey is required to demonstrate that its enhanced I/M program is able 
to maintain the same or better level of emission reductions as EPA's 
low enhanced performance standard through its attainment deadlines for 
the applicable NAAQS standards. For the ozone precursors, VOC and 
NOX, the State needs to meet the performance standard 
through its attainment deadlines of 2005 and 2007. Although New Jersey 
is in attainment for all of its previously designated CO nonattainment 
areas (60 FR 62741 and 67 FR 54574 ), the State is still required to 
include CO in its performance standard modeling because the maintenance 
plan for the Northeastern New Jersey CO nonattainment area relies upon 
the benefits from the enhanced I/M program. Thus, the State needs to 
meet the performance standard for CO in its 2002 attainment year.
    EPA's enhanced I/M final rule requires that equivalency to the 
performance standard be demonstrated using the most current version of 
EPA's mobile source emission model. New Jersey has completed its 
performance standard modeling using the most current model MOBILE6, 
which was released on January 29, 2002 ( 67 FR 4254). During technical 
review of the August 20, 2002 submittal, EPA identified several minor 
issues with the State's modeling. EPA worked closely with New Jersey on 
these issues, and concluded that the minor changes to the modeling will 
not negatively impact the State's modeling demonstration. New Jersey 
subsequently sent a letter to EPA September 20, 2002 addressing the 
issues in question. However, EPA identified an additional issue with 
the modeling after this letter had been sent. EPA re-ran the State's 
modeling with the modified MOBILE6 data inputs, and the results show 
that this minor change will not affect New Jersey's performance 
modeling demonstration. While these changes will not impact the outcome 
of the modeling exercise, that is the State still passes the 
performance standard test, EPA has requested that all minor issues be 
addressed in the State's final SIP revision submittal.
    The following table shows the results of New Jersey's revised 
performance standard modeling, including the re-modeled results 
contained in New Jersey's September 20, 2002 letter and EPA's re-run of 
the State's modeling with the modified MOBILE6 data inputs. Further 
details on New Jersey's revised performance standard modeling can be 
found in the Technical Support Document prepared for this rulemaking 
action.

                       Table 1.--Modeling Results
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         Program type             VOC (gpm)     NOX (gpm)     CO (gpm)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
EPA Low Enhanced Performance          1.178         1.810        22.572
 Standard 2002 Evaluation Year
New Jersey Program 2002               1.152         1.745        22.398
 Evaluation Year..............
New Jersey Program 2005               0.964         1.416          N/A*
 Evaluation Year..............
New Jersey Program 2007               0.817         1.114         N/A*
 Evaluation Year..............
------------------------------------------------------------------------
 The 2005 and 2007 modeling runs were not required to include CO since
  the attainment date (2002) has passed.

    Based on New Jersey's modeling analysis, EPA agrees that the 
State's enhanced I/M program, including the proposed program changes, 
successfully meets and exceeds EPA's low enhanced I/M program 
performance standard for all three criteria pollutants, VOC and 
NOX as modeled for years 2002, 2005, and 2007, and CO as 
modeled for the year 2002.

6. Summary of Conclusions and Proposed Action

    This revision is being proposed under a procedure called parallel 
processing, whereby EPA proposes rulemaking action concurrently with 
the state's procedures for amending its regulations. If the proposed 
revision is substantially changed in areas other than those identified 
in this document, EPA will evaluate those changes and may publish 
another notice of proposed rulemaking. If no substantial changes are 
made other than those areas cited in this document, EPA will publish a 
final rulemaking on the revisions. The final rulemaking action by EPA 
will occur only after the SIP revision has been adopted by New Jersey 
and submitted formally to EPA for incorporation into the SIP.
    EPA is proposing to approve New Jersey's I/M SIP revision submitted 
on August 20, 2002. This revision updates New Jersey's enhanced I/M 
performance standard modeling to reflect the State's plan to extend the 
current new vehicle inspection exemption from one inspection cycle ( 2 
years) to two inspection cycles (4 years). New Jersey has demonstrated 
that its enhanced I/M program with the new vehicle emission inspection 
exemption, including other proposed program design changes, continues 
to meet EPA's low enhanced performance standard.

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7. Administrative Requirements

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
proposed action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and 
therefore is not subject to review by the Office of Management and 
Budget. This proposed action merely proposes to approve state law as 
meeting federal requirements and imposes no additional requirements 
beyond those imposed by state law. Accordingly, the Administrator 
certifies that this proposed 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 proposes to 
approve pre-existing requirements under state law and does not impose 
any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by state law, it 
does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely 
affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4). This proposed rule also does 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), nor will it 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), because it 
merely proposes to approve a state rule implementing a federal 
standard, and does not alter the relationship or the distribution of 
power and responsibilities established in the Clean Air Act. This 
proposed rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically significant.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In 
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the 
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority 
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP 
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Thus, the requirements 
of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. As required by section 3 
of Executive Order 12988 (61 FR 4729, February 7, 1996), in issuing 
this proposed rule, EPA has taken the necessary steps to eliminate 
drafting errors and ambiguity, minimize potential litigation, and 
provide a clear legal standard for affected conduct. EPA has complied 
with Executive Order 12630 (53 FR 8859, March 15, 1988) by examining 
the takings implications of the rule in accordance with the ``Attorney 
General's Supplemental Guidelines for the Evaluation of Risk and 
Avoidance of Unanticipated Takings'' issued under the executive order. 
This proposed 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 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: October 28, 2002.
William J. Muszynski,
Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 02-28076 Filed 11-4-02; 8:45 am]
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