[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 30, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16122-16124]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-6287]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[R03-OAR-2005-MD-0003; FRL-7891-3]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
State of Maryland; Revised Definition of Volatile Organic Compounds

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action on revisions to the Maryland 
State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the Maryland Department of 
Environment (MDE). The revisions update the SIP's reference to the EPA 
definition of volatile organic compounds (VOC). EPA is approving these 
revisions to the State of Maryland's SIP in accordance with the 
requirements of the Clean Air Act.

DATES: This rule is effective on May 31, 2005 without further notice, 
unless EPA receives adverse written comment by April 29, 2005. If EPA 
receives such comments, it will publish a timely withdrawal of the 
direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform the public that 
the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Regional Material in 
EDocket (RME) ID Number R03-OAR-2005-MD-0003 by one of the following 
methods:
    A. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the on-line instructions for submitting comments.
    B. Agency Website: http://www.docket.epa.gov/rmepub/ RME, EPA's 
electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's preferred method 
for receiving comments. Follow the on-line instructions for submitting 
comments.
    C. E-mail: [email protected].
    D. Mail: R03-OAR-2005-MD-0003, Harold A. Frankford, Office of Air 
Programs, Mailcode 3AP20, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
    E. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address. 
Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of 
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to RME ID No. R03-OAR-2005-MD-
0003. 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://www.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 and the Federal regulations.gov websites are an 
``anonymous access'' system, 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://www.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 during normal business hours at the Air Protection 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal 
are available at the Maryland Department of the Environment, 1800 
Washington Boulevard, Suite 705, Baltimore, Maryland 21230.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harold A. Frankford at (215) 814-2108, 
or by e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Summary of SIP Revisions

    On December 1, 2003, the State of Maryland submitted a formal 
revision (No. 03-13) to its SIP. The SIP revision consists of a revised 
reference to the Federal definition of VOC at 40 CFR 51.100(s) which is 
found at COMAR 26.11.01.01B(53), Maryland's definition for ``volatile 
organic compounds (VOC)''. These regulatory revisions became effective 
on November 24, 2003.

II. Description of the SIP Revision

    Maryland has amended COMAR 26.11.01.01B(53) to update the Federal 
reference for incorporation of the EPA definition of VOC found at 40 
CFR 51.100(s) from the 2000 edition (the currently SIP-approved 
version) to the 2002 edition of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR).

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving revisions to COMAR 26.11.01.01B(53) of the 
Maryland SIP to update the references to the EPA definition of VOC 
found at 40 CFR 51.100(s) in effect as of 12/31/2002. EPA is publishing 
this rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a 
noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no adverse comment since the 
revisions are administrative changes to the state regulations. However, 
in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of today's Federal Register, EPA is 
publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposal to 
approve the SIP revision if adverse comments are filed. This rule will 
be effective on May 31, 2005 without further notice unless EPA receives 
adverse comment by April 29, 2005. If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA 
will publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the 
public that the rule will not take effect. EPA will address all public 
comments in a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA 
will not institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties 
interested in commenting must do so at this time.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

A. General 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

[[Page 16123]]

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). This action 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.).

B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General

    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. This rule is not a 
``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

C. Petitions for Judicial Review

    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 May 31, 2005. 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 to approve Maryland's revised definition of 
``volatile organic compound (VOC)'' 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, Ozone, Volatile 
organic compounds.

    Dated: March 23, 2005.
Donald S. Welsh,
Regional Administrator, Region III.

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40 CFR part 52 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 V--Maryland

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2. In Sec.  52.1070, the table in paragraph (c) is amended by adding an 
entry for COMAR 26.11.01.01B(53) after the existing entry for COMAR 
26.11.01.01A.,B. to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1070  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                                  EPA-Approved Regulations in the Maryland SIP
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       Code of Maryland                                                                          Additional
  administrative regulations         Title/subject           State      EPA approval date   explanation/citation
       (COMAR) citation                                 effective date                       at 40 CFR 52.1100
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                                  26.11.01.01 General Administrative Provisions
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                                                  * * * * * * *
26.11.01.01B(53)..............  Definitions--definitio        11/24/03  3/30/05 [Insert    Definition reflects
                                 n of volatile organic                   page number        the version of 40
                                 compound (VOC).                         where the          CFR 51.100(s) in
                                                                         document begins].  effect as of 12/31/
                                                                                            2002.
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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[FR Doc. 05-6287 Filed 3-29-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P