[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 79 (Friday, April 23, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21983-21988]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-9285]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[R04-OAR-2004-KY-0001-200415; FRL-7653-1]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; KY: 1-Hour 
Ozone Maintenance Plan Update for Lexington Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is proposing to approve the Lexington portion of a 
draft revision to the state implementation plan (SIP) of the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky submitted on February 19, 2004. The draft SIP 
revision provides the 10-year update to the original 1-hour ozone 
maintenance plans for five 1-hour maintenance areas, including the 
Lexington Maintenance Area, which is composed of the Kentucky counties 
of Fayette and Scott. Kentucky has requested that EPA parallel process 
this draft SIP revision, for which the Commonwealth scheduled a public 
hearing on March 31, 2004. EPA is parallel processing the Lexington 
portion of this draft SIP revision and is proposing to approve the 
Lexington portion because it satisfies the requirement of the Clean Air 
Act (CAA) for the 10-year update to the 1-hour

[[Page 21984]]

ozone maintenance plan for the Lexington Maintenance Area. EPA's 
proposed approval of the Lexington Maintenance Area's second 10-year 1-
hour ozone maintenance plan is contingent on Kentucky addressing EPA's 
clarifying comments in the final SIP submittal.
    In addition, in this proposed rulemaking, EPA is providing 
information on the status of its transportation conformity adequacy 
determination for new motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for the 
year 2015 that are contained in the draft 10-year update to the 1-hour 
ozone maintenance plan for the Lexington Maintenance Area.

DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 24, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Regional Material in 
EDocket (RME) ID No. R04-OAR-2004-KY-0001, by one of the following 
methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
    2. Agency Web site: http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub/ RME, EPA's 
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method 
for receiving comments. Once in the system, select ``quick search,'' 
then key in the appropriate RME Docket identification number. Follow 
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
    3. E-mail: [email protected].
    4. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
    5. Mail: ``R04-OAR-2004-KY-0001'', Regulatory Development Section, 
Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
    6. Hand Delivery or Courier. Deliver your comments to: Michele 
Notarianni, Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, 
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division 12th floor, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such deliveries are only accepted during 
the Regional Office's normal hours of operation. The Regional Office's 
official hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, 
excluding federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to RME ID No. R04-OAR-2004-KY-
0001. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included in 
the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through RME, regulations.gov, 
or e-mail. The EPA RME website and the federal regulations.gov website 
are ``anonymous access'' systems, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through RME or regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the 
RME index at http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub. Although listed in the 
index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., CBI or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other 
material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the Internet 
and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Publicly 
available docket materials are available either electronically in RME 
or in hard copy at the Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning 
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you 
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official 
hours of business are Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding 
federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michele Notarianni, Air Planning 
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Phone: (404) 562-9031. E-mail: 
[email protected]. or Lynorae Benjamin, Air Planning Branch, 
Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 
30303-8960. Phone: (404) 562-9040. E-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. What is the background for this action?
II. What is EPA's analysis of the Lexington Maintenance Area's 
second 10-year plan?
III. What is EPA's Proposed Action on the Lexington Maintenance 
Area's second 10-year plan?
IV. What is an adequacy determination and what is the status of 
EPA's adequacy determination for the Lexington Maintenance Area's 
new MVEB for the year 2015?
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What Is the Background for This Action?

    The air quality maintenance plan is a requirement of the 1990 CAA 
for nonattainment areas that come into compliance with the national 
ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to assure their continued 
maintenance of that standard. Eight years after redesignation to 
attainment, Section 175A(b) of the CAA requires the state to submit a 
revised maintenance plan which demonstrates that attainment will 
continue to be maintained for the ten years following the initial ten-
year period (this is known as the second 10-year plan). This second 10-
year plan updates the original 10-year 1-hour ozone maintenance plan 
for the next 10-year period.
    EPA designated the Kentucky counties of Fayette and Scott of the 
Lexington Metropolitan Statistical Area as marginal nonattainment for 
the 1-hour ozone NAAQS on November 6, 1991, (56 FR 56694), effective on 
January 6, 1992. EPA approved the redesignation of Fayette and Scott 
Counties (i.e., Lexington Maintenance Area) to attainment for the 1-
hour ozone standard, on September 11, 1995, (60 FR 47092), effective on 
November 13, 1995. In this same rulemaking, EPA also approved the 
Lexington Maintenance Area's plan for maintaining the 1-hour ozone 
NAAQS for the time period 1994 through 2004.
    On February 19, 2004, Kentucky submitted to EPA a draft SIP 
revision for parallel processing to provide for the 10-year update to 
the original maintenance plans for five 1-hour ozone maintenance

[[Page 21985]]

areas as required by Section 175A(b) of the CAA. Specific to the 
Lexington Maintenance Area, the draft revision provides an update to 
the Lexington 1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for the next 10 years, 
i.e., 2005 through 2015. This draft 10-year update for the Lexington 
Maintenance Area includes updated MVEBs for the year 2004 and 
establishes new MVEBs for the year 2015. EPA is parallel processing the 
Lexington portion of Kentucky's draft SIP revision and is proposing 
approval of the Lexington Maintenance Area's 10-year update for its 1-
hour ozone maintenance plan, including approval of the updated 2004 
MVEBs and the newly-established 2015 MVEBs, because EPA has determined 
that the draft Plan complies with the requirements of Section 175A of 
the CAA.

II. What Is EPA's Analysis of the Lexington Maintenance Area's Second 
10-Year Plan?

    The Commonwealth's draft SIP revision includes a second 10-year 
draft maintenance plan for the Lexington Maintenance Area that 
indicates continued maintenance of the 1-hour ozone standard through 
2015. The draft revision also includes a new ozone precursor emission 
inventory for 2000 for Fayette and Scott Counties which reflects any 
emission controls applicable for the area, and projected emissions for 
2004, 2005, 2009, 2012, and 2015. The draft revision updates the MVEBs 
for the Lexington Maintenance Area for 2004, and establishes new MVEBs 
for 2015.
    The emission reduction measures for ozone precursor emissions 
implemented in the Lexington Maintenance Area from 1990 through 2000, 
and those implemented after 2000 and projected to 2015, are accounted 
for in the 2000 emission inventory and projected emissions estimates 
for 2004-2015. The following two tables provide emissions data and 
projections, calculated using MOBILE6.2, for the ozone precursors, 
volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides (NOX). 
Italicized figures in Tables 1 and 2 highlight data comprising the 2004 
and 2015 MVEBs presented in Table 3.

                                Table 1.--Lexington 1 Hour Ozone Maintenance Area
                                         [VOC Emissions (Tons Per Day)]
                      [Year 2000 Emission Inventory and Projected VOC Emissions (2004-2015)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
              County                Source  category     2000      2004      2005      2009      2012      2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Fayette........................   Point............      1.21      1.30      1.33      1.35      1.37      1.47
                                   Area.............     10.91     11.48     11.62     12.22     12.58     13.08
                                   Highway..........     17.63     14.82     13.57     11.09      9.43      8.32
                                   Non-Hwy..........      5.19      4.46      4.18      3.45      3.32      3.35
                                    Total                34.94     32.06     30.70     28.11     26.70     26.22
                                 ---------------------
 Scott..........................   Point............     11.99     13.61     14.06     15.97     16.55     17.93
                                   Area.............      2.11      2.38      2.46      2.80      3.06      3.34
                                   Highway..........      3.99      3.32      3.06      2.71      2.45      2.27
                                   Non-Hwy..........      0.50      0.40      0.39      0.31      0.28      0.28
                                    Total                18.59     19.71     19.97     21.79     22.34     23.82
                                 =====================
Maintenance Area Total..........                         53.53     51.77     50.67     49.90     49.04     50.04
                                 =====================
 Safety Margin..................                           N/A      1.76      2.86      3.63      4.94      3.49
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


                                Table 2.--Lexington 1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Area
                                         [NOX Emissions (Tons Per Day)]
                     [Year 2000 Emission Inventory and Projected NOX Emissions (2004-2015)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
            County             Source category     2000       2004       2005       2009       2012       2015
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fayette......................  Point..........       2.08       2.21       2.24       2.40       2.48       2.57
                               Area...........       0.29       0.30       0.30       0.33       0.33       0.34
                               Highway........      23.26      20.80      19.84      15.87      12.47       9.73
                               Non-Hwy........      10.03       9.61       9.52       8.72       8.23       8.11
                              ------------------
                                 County Total       35.66      32.92      31.90      27.32      23.51      20.75
                              ==================
Scott........................  Point..........       0.69       0.77       0.79       0.88       0.91       0.99
                               Area...........       0.14       0.16       0.16       0.18       0.20       0.22
                               Highway........       7.50       6.56       6.33       5.40       4.40       3.54
                               Non-Hwy........       2.80       2.80       2.81       2.74       2.73       2.81
                              ------------------
                                 County Total       11.13      10.29      10.09       9.20       8.24       7.56
                              ==================
Maintenance Area Total.......                       46.79      43.21      41.99      36.52      31.75      28.31
                              ==================
Safety Margin................                         N/A       3.58       4.80      10.27      15.04      18.48
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    A ``safety margin'' is the difference between the attainment level 
of emissions (from all sources) and the projected level of emissions 
(from all sources) in the maintenance plan. The attainment level of 
emissions is the level of emissions during one of the years in which 
the area met the NAAQS. The safety margin is for the entire

[[Page 21986]]

Lexington Area and is not sub-allocated by county. For example, the 
Lexington Area attained the 1-hour ozone NAAQS based on air quality 
data for the 1988-1990 time period. The Lexington Area originally used 
1990 as its attainment year and as the base year for calculations to 
demonstrate maintenance. In this draft revision, the year 2000 is used 
as the new attainment level of emissions for the area. Because 
MOBILE6.2 was used to calculate the emission levels and projections for 
years 2000-2015, the 1990 emission levels calculated using MOBILE5 are 
not included in this document for comparison.
    The emissions from point, area, nonroad, and mobile sources in 2000 
equal 53.53 tons per day (tpd) of VOC for the entire Lexington Area. 
Projected VOC emissions out to the year 2015 equal 50.04 tpd of VOC. 
The safety margin for VOCs is calculated to be the difference between 
these amounts or, in this case, 3.49 tpd of VOC for 2015. By this same 
method, 18.48 tpd (i.e., 46.79 tpd less 28.31 tpd) is the safety margin 
for NOX for 2015. The emissions are projected to maintain 
the area's air quality consistent with the NAAQS. The safety margin 
credit, or a portion thereof, can be allocated to the transportation 
sector. The total emission level must stay below the attainment level 
to be acceptable. The safety margin is the extra emissions that can be 
allocated as long as the total attainment level of emissions is 
maintained.
    Maintenance plans and other control strategy SIPs create MVEBs for 
criteria pollutants and/or their precursors to address pollution from 
cars and trucks. The MVEB is the portion of the total allowable 
emissions that is allocated to highway and transit vehicle use and 
emissions. The MVEB serves as a ceiling on emissions from an area's 
planned transportation system. In this draft revision, Kentucky used 
MOBILE6.2 to update the Lexington MVEBs for 2004, in addition to 
establishing MVEBs for VOC and NOX for the year 2015. In 
today's action, EPA is proposing to approve both revisions to the 2004 
MVEBs and the establishment of the 2015 MVEBs for the Lexington 
Maintenance Area. These MVEBs are listed in Table 3 and described 
below.

                                Table 3.--Lexington 1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Area
                                             [MVEBs (Tons Per Day)]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                     Lexington area                         2004 VOC      2015 VOC      2004 NOX      2015 NOX
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fayette County..........................................         14.82          8.32         20.80          9.73
Scott County............................................          3.32          2.27          6.56          3.54
                                                         ---------------
MVEBs...................................................         18.14         10.59         27.36         13.27
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The MVEBs presented in Table 3 are directly reflective of the 
combined onroad (or ``highway'') emissions for Fayette and Scott 
Counties for VOC and NOX, which are presented in italicized 
text in Tables 1 and 2. These onroad emissions are included in Table 3 
to show how the 2004 and 2015 MVEBs were derived and to demonstrate 
that none of the available safety margins for VOC and NOX 
were allocated to the MVEBs. Thus, the safety margins listed in Tables 
1 and 2 represent the available safety margins.

III. What Is EPA's Proposed Action on the Lexington Maintenance Area's 
Second 10-year Plan?

    EPA is proposing to approve Kentucky's draft SIP revision 
pertaining to the Lexington Maintenance Area's 10-year update for its 
1-hour ozone maintenance plan. This revision was submitted by the 
Commonwealth, through the Kentucky Environmental and Public Protection 
Cabinet, on February 19, 2004, for parallel processing as part of a 
larger package which includes four other 1-hour ozone maintenance plan 
updates. Under the parallel processing procedure, the Regional Office 
works closely with the Commonwealth of Kentucky while the Commonwealth 
is developing new or revised regulations. The Commonwealth submits a 
copy of the proposed regulation or other revisions to EPA before 
conducting its public hearing. EPA reviews this proposed state action, 
and prepares a notice of proposed rulemaking. EPA's notice of proposed 
rulemaking is published in the Federal Register during the same time 
frame that the Commonwealth is holding its public hearing. The 
Commonwealth is conducting a public hearing on this proposed revision 
on March 31, 2004. The Commonwealth and EPA then provide for concurrent 
public comment periods on both the state action and the Federal action. 
After the Commonwealth submits the formal SIP revision request 
(including a response to all public comments raised during the 
Commonwealth's public participation process, and the approved, amended 
Lexington 1-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan), EPA will prepare a final 
rulemaking notice. If the Commonwealth's formal SIP submittal contains 
changes which occur after EPA's notice of proposed rulemaking, such 
changes must be described in EPA's final rulemaking action. If the 
Commonwealth's changes are significant, then EPA must decide whether it 
is appropriate to re-propose the Commonwealth's action.
    EPA's proposed approval of the Lexington Maintenance Area's second 
10-year 1-hour ozone maintenance plan is contingent on Kentucky 
addressing EPA's clarifying comments in the final SIP submittal. In 
particular, the safety margin for the budget years of 2004 and 2015 
must be clearly documented in the narrative portion of the submittal 
for both VOC and NOX. Additionally, comparisons of the 1990 
emissions inventory based on MOBILE5 to 2000 inventory data and future 
year projections based on MOBILE6.2 must be corrected; data derived 
from these two versions of the MOBILE model cannot be compared for SIP 
purposes.
    As part of this proposed approval, EPA is proposing to approve both 
the revisions to the 2004 MVEBs and the newly-established 2015 MVEBs 
for the Lexington Maintenance Area. Once EPA approves the revised 2004 
and new 2015 MVEBs in a final rulemaking on this action, the Lexington 
Area must use the revised MVEBs for future transportation conformity 
determinations effective the date of publication of EPA's approval of 
the MVEBs in the Federal Register. More information on transportation 
conformity is contained in section IV below.

IV. What Is an Adequacy Determination and What Is the Status of EPA's 
Adequacy Determination for the Lexington Maintenance Area's New MVEB 
for the Year 2015?

    Under the CAA, States are required to submit, at various times, 
control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans in ozone areas. These 
control strategy SIPs (e.g.,

[[Page 21987]]

reasonable further progress SIPs and attainment demonstration SIPs) and 
maintenance plans create MVEBs for criteria pollutants and/or their 
precursors to address pollution from cars and trucks. The MVEBs are the 
portion of the total allowable emissions that is allocated to highway 
and transit vehicle use and emissions. The MVEBs serve as a ceiling on 
emissions from an area's planned transportation system. The MVEB 
concept is further explained in the preamble to the November 24, 1993, 
transportation conformity rule (58 FR 62188). The preamble also 
describes how to establish and revise MVEBs in the SIP.
    Under Section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation projects, such 
as the construction of new highways, must ``conform'' to (e.g., be 
consistent with) the part of the State's air quality plan that 
addresses pollution from cars and trucks. ``Conformity'' to the SIP 
means that transportation activities will not cause new air quality 
violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of 
the NAAQS. Under the transportation conformity rule, at 40 CFR part 93, 
projected emissions from transportation plans and programs must be 
equal to or less than the MVEBs for the area. If a transportation plan 
does not ``conform,'' most projects that would expand the capacity of 
roadways cannot go forward. Regulations at 40 CFR part 93 set forth EPA 
policy, criteria, and procedures for demonstrating and assuring 
conformity of such transportation activities to a SIP.
    Until a MVEB in a SIP submittal is approved by EPA, it cannot be 
used for transportation conformity purposes unless EPA makes an 
affirmative finding that the MVEBs contained therein are ``adequate.'' 
Once EPA affirmatively finds the submitted MVEBs adequate for 
transportation conformity purposes, those MVEBs can be used by the 
State and Federal agencies in determining whether proposed 
transportation projects ``conform'' to the SIP even though EPA approval 
of the SIP revision containing those MVEBs has not yet been finalized. 
EPA's substantive criteria for determining ``adequacy'' of MVEBs in 
submitted SIPs are set out in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
    EPA's process for determining ``adequacy'' of MVEBs in submitted 
SIPs consists of three basic steps: public notification of a SIP 
submission, a public comment period, and EPA's adequacy finding. This 
process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP MVEBs is set out 
in EPA's May 1999 guidance, ``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of 
March 2, 1999, Conformity Court Decision.'' This guidance is 
incorporated into EPA's June 30, 2003, proposed rulemaking entitled 
``Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments: Response to Court Decision 
and Additional Rule Changes'' (68 FR 38974). EPA follows this guidance 
in making its adequacy determinations.
    EPA's ``adequacy'' processing guidance allows EPA to ``parallel 
process'' a MVEB adequacy review. Under parallel processing, as noted 
above, the Commonwealth submits a proposed SIP to EPA, and the 
Commonwealth and EPA then request public comment on the proposed SIP 
and the adequacy of the MVEBs included in the SIP at the same time. If 
no significant adverse comments are received at either the Commonwealth 
or Federal levels, EPA could then make an adequacy finding as soon as 
the state formally adopts the SIP and submits it to EPA, as long as no 
substantive changes to the SIP have occurred that would affect the 
adequacy of the MVEBs. However, if the formal maintenance plan 
submission changes in a way that affects the adequacy of the proposed 
MVEBs, the adequacy review process would start over; EPA would announce 
that it has a submitted SIP under adequacy review and reopen the public 
comment period.
    The Lexington Maintenance Area's draft second 10-year maintenance 
plan submission contains new proposed VOC and NOX MVEBs for 
the year 2015. The availability of the draft SIP submission with these 
2015 MVEBs was announced for public comment on EPA's adequacy Web page 
on February 24, 2004, at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/currsips.htm. The EPA public comment period on adequacy of the 2015 
MVEBs for the Lexington Area closed on March 25, 2004. Following a 
thorough review of all public comments received and an evaluation of 
whether the adequacy criteria have been met, EPA will make its adequacy 
determination. EPA intends to make its determination of the adequacy of 
the 2015 MVEBs for the Lexington Area for transportation conformity 
purposes in the final rulemaking on the Lexington Maintenance Area's 
second 10-year 1-hour ozone maintenance plan submittal.
    If EPA approves both the 2004 and 2015 MVEBs, and finds the 2015 
MVEBs adequate for transportation conformity purposes in the final 
rulemaking action, the revised and new MVEBs must be used for future 
transportation conformity determinations. The revised 2004 MVEBs and 
the new 2015 MVEBs, if approved, will be effective the date of 
publication of EPA's final rulemaking in the Federal Register. For 
transportation plan analysis years that involve the year 2014 or 
before, the applicable budget for the purposes of conducting 
transportation conformity analyses will be the 2004 VOC (18.14 tpd) and 
NOX (27.36 tpd) MVEB for this maintenance area. For 
transportation plan analysis years that involve the year 2015 or 
beyond, the applicable budget for the purposes of conducting 
transportation conformity analyses will be the 2015 VOC (10.59 tpd) and 
NOX (13.27 tpd) MVEB for this maintenance area.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    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. 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 
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 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 proposes to approve a state rule implementing a Federal 
standard, and does not alter the relationship or the

[[Page 21988]]

distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean Air 
Act. This proposed 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 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.).
    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Volatile organic 
compounds.

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

    Dated: April 14, 2004.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting, Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 04-9285 Filed 4-22-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P