[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 66 (Monday, April 7, 2003)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16721-16724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-8254]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[A-1-FRL-7476-7]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Rhode Island; One-Hour Ozone Attainment Demonstration for the Rhode 
Island Ozone Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: EPA is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision 
submitted by the State of Rhode Island. This action approves Rhode 
Island's one-hour ozone attainment demonstration for the Rhode Island 
serious ozone nonattainment area, submitted by the Rhode Island 
Department of Environmental Management (DEM) on March 24, 2003. This 
action is based on the requirements of the Clean Air Act as amended in 
1990, related to one-hour ozone attainment demonstrations. In addition, 
EPA is establishing an attainment date of November 15, 2007, for the 
area, and is approving the contingency measures SIP, the 2007 motor 
vehicle emissions

[[Page 16722]]

budgets, and the reasonably available control measures analysis also 
submitted by Rhode Island on March 24, 2003. A notice of proposed 
rulemaking was published for this action on February 14, 2003. EPA 
received no comments on that proposal.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule will become effective on May 7, 2003.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the documents relevant to this action are 
available for public inspection by appointment weekdays from 9 a.m. to 
4 p.m., at the Office of Ecosystem Protection, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, EPA-New England, One Congress Street, 11th floor, 
Boston, MA; and the Office of Air Resources, Department of 
Environmental Management, 235 Promenade Street, Providence, Rhode 
Island 02908-5767. Please telephone in advance before visiting.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard P. Burkhart, (617) 918-1664.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This supplementary information section is 
organized as follows:

I. What Rhode Island SIP revision Is the topic of this action?
II. What previous action have we taken on this SIP revision?
III. What motor vehicle emissions budgets are we approving?
IV. EPA Action
V. Administrative Requirements

I. What Rhode Island SIP Revision Is the Topic of This Action?

    The Rhode Island DEM submitted a one-hour ozone attainment 
demonstration SIP on March 24, 2003, for the Rhode Island serious ozone 
nonattainment area. The SIP revision was subject to public notice and 
comment by the State, and a public hearing was held on February 27, 
2003. The attainment demonstration included a reasonably available 
control measures (RACM) analysis, contingency measures, and 2007 motor 
vehicle emissions budgets for the Rhode Island serious ozone 
nonattainment area. Rhode Island requested an attainment date for this 
area of November 15, 2007, and included a demonstration of how its plan 
will reach attainment as expeditiously as practicable by that date. The 
final plan adopted by Rhode Island is not substantially different than 
the proposed submission provided to EPA on January 27, 2003.

II. What Previous Action Have We Taken on This SIP Revision?

    EPA published a notice of proposed rulemaking for the Rhode Island 
attainment demonstration SIP on February 14, 2003 (68 FR 7476). In that 
action, EPA reviewed the proposed Rhode Island attainment plan which 
includes a RACM analysis, contingency measures, and 2007 motor vehicle 
emissions budgets with an attainment date of November 15, 2007, and 
proposed to approve it if Rhode Island did not make substantial 
revisions during the state review process. If Rhode Island did make 
substantial revisions, EPA indicated it would issue a new proposed 
rule. The notice of proposed rulemaking states EPA's conclusions 
regarding the approvability of the various portions of the SIP, which 
will not be repeated here. Readers are directed to the proposal for 
further information.

III. What Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets Are We Approving?

    On January 27, 2003, Rhode Island submitted proposed motor vehicle 
emissions budgets for volatile organic compounds (VOC's) and nitrogen 
oxides (NOX) for the 2007 attainment year for the Rhode 
Island serious ozone nonattainment area. Under EPA's policy \1\ for 
reviewing the adequacy of motor vehicle emissions budget submissions, 
these budgets were posted on the EPA adequacy Web site for public 
comment on February 19, 2003, at www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/currsips.htm, and a public comment period was open until March 17, 
2003. The SIP was also made available electronically on the Rhode 
Island DEM Web site at www.state.ri.us/dem/programs/benviron/air/attainpn.htm. EPA received no comments on these budgets during the 
adequacy comment period, and EPA also received no comments on our 
February 14, 2003, proposed approval of these budgets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Memorandum from G. MacGregor, dated May 14, 1999, 
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999, Conformity 
Court Decision.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Rhode Island DEM did, however, receive comment during their 
State comment period on the proposed motor vehicle emissions budgets. 
As part of their attainment demonstration, Rhode Island calculated on-
road mobile source emissions for 1999, 2002 and 2007. When apportioning 
vehicle miles traveled (VMT) for 1999 among the light-duty gasoline 
vehicle and light-duty gasoline truck categories, Rhode Island utilized 
vehicle registration data for such vehicles from the Federal Highway 
Administration's Highway Statistics Series.\2\ When apportioning VMT 
for 2002 and 2007, Rhode Island made further adjustments based on 
MOBILE6 default information to reflect the change in VMT mix that 
occurs over time due to increased sales of vehicles (e.g., minivans and 
sport utility vehicles) in the light-duty gasoline truck category.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ Data obtained from the Federal Highway Administration's 
``Highway Statistics 2000;'' tables MV-1 and MV-9; see http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ohim/hs00/mv.htm.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    However, a commenter to the Rhode Island DEM noted an error in the 
methodology related to the vehicle registration data that were used. 
Some of the light-duty trucks reflected in the vehicle registration 
data were omitted in the reapportionment calculation and thus the 
percent of VMT attributed to light-duty gasoline vehicles and light-
duty gasoline trucks were slightly off for each of the three years 
analyzed. Rhode Island DEM agreed that this technical error should be 
corrected and revised the on-road mobile source emission estimates for 
1999, 2002 and 2007. In their submission dated March 24, 2003, Rhode 
Island includes revised mobile source budgets for 2007. These budgets 
properly reflect the percentage of light-duty gasoline trucks expected 
in the vehicle fleet mix in 2007. The attainment year motor vehicle 
emissions budgets established by this plan that we are approving are 
contained in Table 1 below.

 Table 1.--2007 Emissions Budgets for On-Road Mobile Sources in Tons Per
                            Summer Day (tpsd)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                  2007 VOC     2007 NOX
                     Area                          budget       budget
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhode Island..................................        30.68        33.97
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    These revised budgets represent an increase of only approximately 
one percent as compared with the budgets that were proposed for 
approval on February 14, 2003. This minimal change in the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets does not affect the reasoning behind our February 14, 
2003, proposed approval of Rhode Island's proposed attainment 
demonstration submitted on January 27, 2003, and EPA does not consider 
it to be a substantial change. Further, EPA finds that there is good 
cause pursuant to 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)(B) that publishing an additional 
notice of proposed rulemaking to take comment on this change would be 
impracticable, unnecessary, and contrary to the public interest. EPA is 
under court order to promulgate a Federal implementation plan if it 
cannot approve Rhode Island's attainment demonstration and its 
attendant motor vehicle emissions budgets by March 31, 2003. The recent 
submission of this change, less than a week before that deadline, makes 
it impossible to take comment on the change in an orderly process prior 
to the

[[Page 16723]]

court's deadline for our action. Further opportunity for comment is 
also unnecessary because the substance of the issue concerning the 
corrected budgets was thoroughly aired in the State's public 
participation process in a time frame virtually contemporaneous with 
EPA's rulemaking on this attainment demonstration. It appears that any 
members of the public who were interested in this issue had ample 
opportunity to address it in the State's process, and it would be 
simply redundant for EPA to offer an essentially identical opportunity 
to ventilate the same question a few weeks after the State had done so. 
Finally, it is contrary to the public interest to delay EPA's approval 
of these 2007 budgets, which substantially reduce the level of motor 
vehicle emissions allowed under Rhode Island's SIP when compared with 
the currently approved motor vehicle emissions budgets. While the 
adjustment described above increased the size of the 2007 budgets very 
slightly compared with Rhode Island's proposal, the overall rate of 
decrease in the budgets over time remains essentially unchanged and, 
most importantly, remains consistent with Rhode Island's attainment 
demonstration. For these combined reasons, EPA finds good cause to 
dispense with further notice and public procedure concerning this minor 
change in the 2007 budgets.
    Therefore, today EPA is approving these motor vehicle emissions 
budgets for the State of Rhode Island for 2007 into the SIP. EPA is 
approving these 2007 motor vehicle emissions budgets because they are 
consistent with the control measures in the SIP, and the SIP as a whole 
demonstrates attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard. The approved 2007 
motor vehicle emissions budgets would apply in all future conformity 
determinations for an analysis year of 2007 and later. Note that a 
conformity determination with an analysis year between the present and 
2006 would use the year 1999 motor vehicle emissions budgets of 41.57 
tons per summer day of VOC and 46.40 tons per summer day of 
NOX established in the approved post-1996 rate-of-progress 
plan for the Rhode Island serious ozone nonattainment area. 66 FR 30811 
(June 8, 2001). However, at this time there is no analysis year 
required prior to 2007.

IV. EPA Action

    EPA is approving the ground-level one-hour ozone attainment 
demonstration SIP for the Rhode Island serious ozone nonattainment 
area. EPA is also approving the attainment date for this area as 
November 15, 2007. EPA also approves the contingency measures, the RACM 
analysis, and the 2007 volatile organic compound and nitrogen oxide 
motor vehicle emissions budgets for the Rhode Island serious ozone 
nonattainment area for use in transportation conformity.

V. 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 approves State law as meeting Federal requirements and 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 approves 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 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), because it merely approves 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 rule 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.
    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. 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.)
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. EPA will submit a report containing this rule and other 
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of 
Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States prior 
to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule cannot 
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by June 6, 2003. Filing a 
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 
does not affect the finality of this rule for the purposes of judicial 
review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial 
review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such 
rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings 
to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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


[[Page 16724]]


    Dated: March 27, 2003.
Robert W. Varney,
Regional Administrator, EPA--New England.

0
Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is 
amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart OO--Rhode Island

0
2. Section 52.2076 is amended by revising the table to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2076  Attainment of dates for national standards.

* * * * *

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Pollutant
                                         -----------------------------------------------------------------------
       Air quality control region                   SO
                                         ------------------------    PM10         NO2         CO          O3
                                            Primary    Secondary
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rhode Island portion of AQCR 120 (Entire        (a)         (b)         (a)         (a)         (a)        (c)
 State of Rhode Island).................
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
a Air quality levels presently better than primary standards or area is unclassifiable.
b Air quality levels presently better than secondary standards or area is unclassifiable.
c November 15, 2007.

0
3. Section 52.2088 is amended by designating the existing text as 
paragraph (a) and by adding paragraph (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2088  Control strategy: Ozone.

* * * * *
    (b) Approval--Revisions to the state implementation plan submitted 
by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management on March 24, 
2003. The revisions are for the purpose of satisfying the one-hour 
ozone attainment demonstration requirements of section 182(c)(2)(A) of 
the Clean Air Act, for the Rhode Island serious ozone nonattainment 
area. The revision establishes a one-hour attainment date of November 
15, 2007 for the Rhode Island serious ozone nonattainment area, and 
approves the contingency measures for purposes of attainment. This 
revision establishes motor vehicle emissions budgets for 2007 of 30.68 
tons per day of volatile organic compounds and 33.97 tons per day of 
nitrogen oxides to be used in transportation conformity in the Rhode 
Island serious ozone nonattainment area. Rhode Island also commits to 
conduct a mid-course review to assess modeling and monitoring progress 
achieved towards the goal of attainment by 2007, and to submit the 
results to EPA by December 31, 2004.

[FR Doc. 03-8254 Filed 4-4-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P