[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 161 (Monday, August 22, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 48874-48877]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-16596]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[R04-OAR-2004-NC-0005-200513, FRL-7956-8]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
North Carolina; Attainment Demonstration of the Mountain, Unifour, 
Triad and Fayetteville Early Action Compact Areas

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is approving revisions to the State Implementation 
Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of North Carolina, through the 
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) on December 21, 
2004, for the four Early Action Compact (EAC) areas in North Carolina: 
the Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville areas (the North Carolina 
EAC Areas). The SIP revisions meet the requirements for the North 
Carolina EAC Areas to attain and maintain the 8-hour ozone national 
ambient air quality standard (the 8-hour ozone standard) as described 
in the EAC Protocol and related regulations. EPA is also now approving 
the photochemical modeling used by North Carolina to support the 
attainment and maintenance demonstration of the 8-hour ozone standard 
in the North Carolina EAC Areas.
    In this action, EPA is not finalizing its proposed rulemaking to 
defer the effective date of the nonattainment designations for EAC 
areas. In a separate action, published on June 8, 2005, EPA proposed to 
defer the effective date of the nonattainment deferred designation for 
EAC areas until December 31, 2006 (69 FR 23858). EPA final action on 
the deferral is expected to be published before September 30, 2005.

[[Page 48875]]


DATES: This rule will be effective September 21, 2005.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Regional 
Material in EDocket (RME) ID No. R04-OAR-2004-NC-0005. The EAC Protocol 
can be found in RME ID No. R04-OAR-2004-NC-0005. The Protocol can also 
be found at http://www.epa.gov/air/eac/. All documents in the docket 
are listed in the RME index at http://docket.epa.gov/rmepub/. Once in 
the system, select ``quick search,'' then key in the appropriate RME 
Docket identification number. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., confidential business 
information (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 a.m. to 4:30 
p.m., excluding Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jane Spann, Regulatory Development 
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management 
Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is (404) 
562-9029. Ms. Spann can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background
II. Today's Action
III. Response to Comments
IV. Final Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    On May 26, 2005, EPA proposed approval of North Carolina's December 
21, 2004, SIP revisions demonstrating attainment and maintenance of the 
8-hour ozone standard, 0.08 parts per million (ppm), in the North 
Carolina EAC Areas by December 31, 2007.\1\ Additional information 
regarding the specific SIP revisions being approved today is available 
in the proposed rule (70 FR 30389, May 26, 2005) included in this 
Docket. The submitted revisions were necessary, pursuant to the April 
30, 2004, designations of the North Carolina EAC Areas for the 8-hour 
ozone standard. The SIP revisions are consistent with the requirements 
established in the EAC Protocol and related regulations. For further 
information on the designation process and the North Carolina EAC 
designations, please see 69 FR 23858 (April 30, 2004).\2\ EPA received 
public comments for thirty days on the SIP revisions being approved 
today. The comments will be discussed below in Part III., ``Response to 
Comments.''
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    \1\ The 8-hour ozone standard was promulgated on July 18, 1997 
(62 FR 38856).
    \2\ As discussed in the April 30, 2004 designations and the May 
26, 2005 proposal for the North Carolina SIP revisions, the North 
Carolina EAC Areas include counties designated as unclassifiable/
attainment and nonattainment-deferred. The specific measures 
included in the SIP revisions may be different depending on the 
specific county's designation.
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Summary of EAC Process

    An EAC is an agreement between a state, local governments, and EPA 
to implement measures not necessarily required by the Clean Air Act 
(CAA) in order to achieve cleaner air as soon as possible.\3\ 
Communities close to or exceeding the 8-hour ozone standard, that have 
elected to enter into an EAC, have started reducing air pollution at 
least two years sooner than required by the CAA. In many cases, these 
reductions will be achieved by local air pollution control measures not 
otherwise mandated under the CAA. In accordance with the EAC Protocol, 
North Carolina submitted an EAC for the Unifour area on December 19, 
2002, the Fayetteville area on December 20, 2002, and the Triad and 
Mountain areas on December 23, 2002. The compacts themselves were 
signed by state air quality officials, representatives of the local 
communities, and the Regional Administrator for EPA Region 4. The EAC 
program was designed for areas that approached or monitored violations 
of the 8-hour ozone standard, but were in attainment for the 1-hour 
ozone national ambient air quality standard (the 1-hour ozone 
standard). The 1-hour ozone standard will be revoked for counties in 
EAC areas one year after the effective dates of their respective 8-hour 
ozone designations. 40 CFR 50.9(b).
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    \3\ Further information about the EAC program is available in 
the EAC Protocol and prior Federal Register notices available at 
http://www.epa.gov/air/eac/.
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    As part of the EAC program, EPA deferred the effective date of the 
nonattainment designations for EAC areas that were violating the 8-hour 
ozone standard, but continue to meet the milestones described in the 
EAC Protocol. Details of this deferral were published in the Federal 
Register on April 30, 2004 (69 FR 23858). On June 8, 2005, EPA proposed 
to extend the deferred effective date of the nonattainment designation 
through December 31, 2006 (70 FR 33409), for EAC areas that have met 
their obligations. A subsequent action will continue the deferral until 
December 31, 2007, when attainment evaluations will begin. Pursuant to 
the EAC Protocol, the designation process is scheduled to be completed 
by April 15, 2008. To date, the North Carolina EAC Areas have met all 
EAC milestones. In April, 2008, it is anticipated that EAC areas with 
air quality monitoring data showing attainment for the years 2005-2007, 
that have also met all the compact milestones, will be designated 
attainment for the 8-hour ozone standard. EPA believes that early 
planning and implementation of control measures that improve air 
quality will likely accelerate protection of public health. The EAC 
program allows participating state and local entities to make decisions 
that will accelerate meeting the new 8-hour ozone standard using a mix 
of local, State, and Federal measures. All of the measures being 
adopted today as part of the SIP revisions will be mandatory and 
federally enforceable.

Brief Summary of Control Measures and Modeling

    The details of the SIP revisions being approved today are available 
for review under RME ID No. R04-OAR-2004-NC-0005. In addition, the 
measures discussed in this paragraph are applied differently to 
different areas depending on the specific area's designation (i.e., 
unclassifiable/attainment or nonattainment-deferred). Generally, the 
SIP revisions include emissions inventory, modeling, control 
strategies, and maintenance for growth elements as required by the EAC 
Protocol. With regard to control measures, North Carolina's SIP 
revisions include Federal, State, and local control measures. The 
Federal control measures include, among others, Tier 2 vehicle 
standards and low sulfur fuel. The State of North Carolina's Clean 
Smokestack's Act (a recently enacted state law) is an example of a 
statewide control measure being approved as part of the SIP revisions. 
Other state control measures, such as expansion of the statewide 
vehicle inspection and maintenance program, and the NOX SIP 
Call Rule, are

[[Page 48876]]

already part of the SIP. Implementation of the state measures will 
occur at a local level through county involvement in both 
implementation and enforcement. The local control measures include, 
among others, eliminating the use of coal-fired boilers during the 
ozone season at an RJ Reynolds facility in the Triad EAC area, truck 
stop electrification, and local ordinances regarding landscaping. All 
of these measures, including the local measures, will be enforceable 
once they are incorporated into the SIP.
    In addition to control measures, the North Carolina SIP revisions 
also include a maintenance for growth plan that meets and exceeds the 
minimum requirements of the EAC Protocol for such a plan. The EAC 
Protocol requires that maintenance be demonstrated through 2012. In 
summary, the North Carolina plan demonstrates attainment until 2017, 
commits to a mid-point evaluation in 2012, and commits to develop a 
second 10-year maintenance plan from 2017-2027, among other elements.
    The State of North Carolina used a process known as photochemical 
modeling to evaluate attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone 
standard. Photochemical modeling performed by North Carolina used 
control measures to model attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour 
ozone standard through 2017, passing the attainment test for 2007, 
2012, and 2017. Photochemical modeling is consistent with the EAC 
Protocol and the EPA Draft modeling guidance that was provided to EAC 
areas.\4\ In summary, the North Carolina modeling was based upon base 
year emissions data from specific days in 1995, 1996, and 1997, with a 
``current'' year of 2000. For further information on North Carolina's 
modeling, see RME ID No. R04-OAR-2004-NC-0005.
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    \4\ This guidance can be found at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/ozone/eac/index.htm#Guidance.
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II. Today's Action

    Today we are taking final action to approve revisions to the North 
Carolina SIP under sections 110 and 116 of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. 7410 and 
7416. The SIP revisions are consistent with the EAC Protocol and 
related regulations. These revisions demonstrate attainment of the 8-
hour ozone standard within the North Carolina EAC Areas by 2007, 
maintain it for five or more years beyond 2007, and incorporate the 
control measures developed by these EAC Areas into the North Carolina 
SIP.

III. Response to Comments

    EPA Region 4 received a number of comments in response to the May 
26, 2005, proposal to approve the North Carolina EAC Area SIP 
revisions. The majority of the comments expressed support for the EAC 
process and the goal of clean air sooner. Several commenters further 
noted that the measures included in the SIP revisions demonstrate 
attainment of the ozone standard by December 31, 2007. These commenters 
supported EPA's proposal to approve the North Carolina EAC Area SIP 
revisions. EPA received one comment that raised concerns about EPA's 
proposal to approve the North Carolina EAC Area SIP revisions, although 
the issues raised by this commenter were not directly relevant to the 
May 26, 2005, proposal.
    In the only unsupportive comment received, the commenter commended 
North Carolina for the steps it has taken to improve air quality, but 
noted opposition to today's action for two reasons. First, the SIP 
revisions provide for the deferment of a nonattainment designation 
until a future date potentially as late as December 31, 2007; second, 
the revisions relieve the area of obligations under Title I, Subpart D 
of the CAA. These two issues are directly related to the proposed 
deferral of the nonattainment designations for the North Carolina EAC 
Areas, published on June 8, 2005 (70 FR 33409), and not to today's 
approval of the actual SIP revisions. In addition, these issues were 
raised by the same commenter to EPA in response to the June 8, 2005, 
deferral proposal. Because this comment relates to deferral issues, and 
was also submitted in response to the proposed deferral, it will be 
responded to by EPA in our subsequent rulemaking addressing the 
deferred effective date for nonattainment designations for EAC areas. 
When published, this final deferral rule will be available on the EAC 
Web site http://www.epa.gov/air/eac/. Notably, contrary to the comment, 
today's action neither provides for deferral of the nonattainment 
designation nor relieves an area from obligations under Title I, 
Subpart D of the CAA.

IV. Final Action

    EPA is approving the revisions to the North Carolina SIP submitted 
on December 21, 2004, pursuant to the EAC Protocol and resulting in 
emission reductions needed to attain and maintain the 8-hour ozone 
standard in the Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville EAC Areas.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    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). 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

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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 October 21, 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 may not be challenged later in proceedings 
to enforce its requirements. (See CAA section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

    Dated: August 15, 2005.
J.I. Palmer, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.

0
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 II--North Carolina

0
2. Section 52.1770(e) is amended by adding a new entry at the end of 
the table for ``North Carolina Attainment Demonstration of the 
Mountain, Unifour, Triad and Fayetteville Early Action Compact Areas'' 
to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1770  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                              EPA Approved North Carolina Non-Regulatory Provisions
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                                                                                             Federal Register
              Provision                  State effective date      EPA approval date             citation
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Attainment Demonstration of the        December 21, 2004......  September 21, 2005.....  [Insert first page
 Mountain, Unifour, Triad and                                                             number of
 Fayetteville Early Action Compact                                                        publication].
 Areas.
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[FR Doc. 05-16596 Filed 8-19-05; 8:45 am]
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