[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 223 (Monday, November 21, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70073-70075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-22996]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AMS-FRL-7998-9]


California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; 
Within the Scope Requests; Opportunity for Public Hearing and Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public hearing and public comment.

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SUMMARY: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has notified EPA 
that it has approved amendments to its on-highway motorcycle and 
motorcycle engine for 2004 and subsequent model years. CARB requests 
that EPA confirm CARB's findings that its amendments are within-the-
scope of previous waivers issued by EPA under section 209(b) of the 
Clean Air Act (Act), 42 U.S.C. 7543(b).

DATES: EPA has tentatively scheduled a public hearing for December 27, 
2005, 2005 beginning at 10 a.m. EPA will hold a hearing only if a party 
notifies EPA by December 12, 2005, expressing its interest in 
presenting oral testimony regarding CARB's requests or other issues 
noted in this notice. By December 16, 2005, any person who plans to 
attend the hearing should call David Dickinson of EPA's Compliance and 
Innovative Strategies Division at (202) 343-9256 to learn if a hearing 
will be held. Any party may submit written comments by January 30, 
2006.

ADDRESSES: EPA will make available for public inspection at the Air and 
Radiation Docket written comments received from interested parties, in

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addition to any testimony given at the public hearing. The official 
public docket is the collection of materials that is available for 
public viewing at the Air and Radiation Docket in the EPA Docket 
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., 
Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from 
8:30 to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The 
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the 
telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket is (202) 566-1743. 
The reference number for this docket is OAR-2004-0486. Parties wishing 
to present oral testimony at the public hearing(s) should provide 
written notice to David Dickinson at the address noted below; parties 
should also submit any written comments to David Dickinson. If EPA 
receives a request for a public hearing, EPA will hold the public 
hearing at 1310 L St, NW., Washington, DC 20005.
    For Obtaining and Submitting Electronic Copies of Documents, or For 
Further Information: David Dickinson, Compliance and Innovative 
Strategies Division (6405J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Telephone: (202) 343-9256, 
Fax: (202) 343-2804, e-mail address: [email protected]. EPA will 
make available an electronic copy of this Notice on the Office of 
Transportation and Air Quality's (OTAQ's) homepage (http://www.epa.gov/otaq/). Users can find this document by accessing the OTAQ homepage and 
looking at the path entitled ``Regulations.'' This service is free of 
charge, except any cost you already incur for Internet connectivity. 
Users can also get the official Federal Register version of the Notice 
on the day of publication on the primary website: (http://www.epa.gov/docs/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/).
    Please note that due to differences between the software used to 
develop the documents and the software into which the documents may be 
downloaded, changes in format, page length, etc., may occur. Parties 
wishing to present oral testimony at the public hearing should provide 
written notice to David Dickinson at: U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., (6405J), Washington, DC 20460. 
Telephone: (202) 343-9256.
    Docket: An electronic version of the public docket is available 
through EPA's electronic public docket and comment system. You may use 
EPA dockets at http://www.epa.gov/edocket/ to submit or view the public 
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official 
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that 
are available electronically. Although a part of the official docket, 
the public docket does not include Confidential Business Information 
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Once in the edocket system, select ``search,'' then key in the 
appropriate docket ID number.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    Section 209(a) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``Act''), 42 
U.S.C. 7543(a), provides:

    No State or any political subdivision thereof shall adopt or 
attempt to enforce any standard relating to the control of emissions 
from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines subject to this 
part. No state shall require certification, inspection or any other 
approval relating to the control of emissions from any new motor 
vehicle or new motor vehicle engine as condition precedent to the 
initial retail sale, titling (if any), or registration of such motor 
vehicle, motor vehicle engine, or equipment.

    Section 209(b)(1) of the Act requires the Administrator, after 
notice and opportunity for public hearing, to waive application of the 
prohibitions of section 209(a) for any state that has adopted standards 
(other than crankcase emission standards) for the control of emissions 
from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines prior to March 30, 
1966, if the state determines that the state standards will be, in the 
aggregate, at least as protective of public health and welfare as 
applicable federal standards. The Administrator must grant a waiver 
unless he finds that (A) the determination of the state is arbitrary 
and capricious, (B) the state does not need the state standards to meet 
compelling and extraordinary conditions, or (C) the state standards and 
accompanying enforcement procedures are not consistent with section 
202(a) of the Act.
    CARB submitted a June 18, 2003, letter to the Administrator 
notifying EPA that it had adopted amendments, on October 22, 1999, to 
its on-highway motorcycle regulations and requesting that EPA confirm 
that its amendments are within the scope of previously granted waivers 
of federal preemption. The new amendments provide, among other 
requirements:
    (1) A combined level of hydrocarbon (HC) and oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) emissions as HC + NOX for 2004 and 
subsequent model years (in comparison to the preexisting on-highway 
Class III motorcycle HC-only standard);
    (2) Two tiers of standard (Tier-1 and -2), with a Tier-1 standard 
of 1.4 g/km for HC + NOX for model years 2004 through 2007 
and a Tier-2 standard of 0.08 for HC + NOX for model year 
2008 and beyond;
    (3) Retention of corporate averaging for Class III engine families 
but an addition of a not-to-exceed cap limit for each emission level 
from each engine family; and
    (4) A new definition of ``small volume manufacturer'' that applies 
in model year 2008 and beyond and clarification of the definition for 
``motorcycle engine.''
    CARB asserts, and requests that the Administrator confirm, that its 
on-highway motorcycle amendments fall within the scope of EPA's 
previously granted waivers, and thereby may be deemed to meet the 
requirements of section 209(b) of the Act set forth above.
    EPA has decided in the past that when California's amendments: (1) 
Do not undermine the previous determination that California's 
standards, in the aggregate, are at least as protective of public 
health and welfare as comparable Federal standards; (2) do not affect 
the consistency of California's requirements with section 202(a) of the 
Act; and (3) raise no new issues affecting EPA's previous waiver 
determinations, then EPA's concurrence that the amendments are within 
the scope of a previous waiver determination is merited.
    When EPA receives new waiver requests from CARB, EPA publishes a 
notice of opportunity for public hearing and comment and then publishes 
a decision in the Federal Register following the public comment period. 
In contrast, when EPA receives within the scope waiver requests from 
CARB, EPA traditionally publishes a decision in the Federal Register 
and concurrently invites public comment if an interested party is 
opposed to EPA's decision.
    Because of the many new elements of CARB's on-highway motorcycle 
rule, EPA invites comment on the following issues before making a 
determination for CARB's within the scope request: (1) Should EPA 
consider CARB's requests as within the scope of a previous waiver 
request or should they be considered and examined as new waiver 
requests? (2) If EPA were to consider CARB's request as a within the 
scope request then do California's amendments (a) undermine 
California's previous determinations that its standards, in the 
aggregate, are at least as protective of public health and welfare as 
comparable Federal standards, (b) affect the consistency of 
California's requirements with section 202(a) of the Act, and (c)

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raise new issues affecting EPA's previous waiver determinations? (3) If 
EPA were to consider CARB's requests as a new waiver request, then 
provide comment on (a) whether California's determination that its 
standards are at least as protective of public health and welfare as 
applicable federal standards is arbitrary and capricious, (b) whether 
California needs separate standards to meet compelling and 
extraordinary conditions, and (c) whether California's standards and 
accompanying enforcement procedures are consistent with section 202(a) 
of the Act.

II. Procedures for Public Participation

    If a public hearing is held, any party desiring to make an oral 
statement on the record should file ten (10) copies of its proposed 
testimony and other relevant material with David Dickinson at the 
address listed above no later than December 23, 2005. In addition, the 
party should submit 25 copies, if feasible, of the planned statement to 
the presiding officer at the time of the hearing.
    In recognition that a public hearing is designed to give interested 
parties an opportunity to participate in this proceeding, there are no 
adverse parties as such. Statements by participants will not be subject 
to cross-examination by other participants without special approval by 
the presiding officer. The presiding officer is authorized to strike 
from the record statements that he or she deems irrelevant or 
repetitious and to impose reasonable time limits on the duration of the 
statement of any participant.
    If a hearing is held, the Agency will make a verbatim record of the 
proceedings. Interested parties may arrange with the reporter at the 
hearing to obtain a copy of the transcript at their own expense. 
Regardless of whether a public hearing is held, EPA will keep the 
record open until January 25, 2006. Upon expiration of the comment 
period, the Administrator will render a decision on CARB's request 
based on the record of the public hearing, if any, relevant written 
submissions, and other information that he deems pertinent.
    Persons with comments containing proprietary information must 
distinguish such information from other comments to the greatest 
possible extent and label it as ``Confidential Business Information'' 
(CBI). If a person making comments wants EPA to base its decision in 
part on a submission labeled CBI, then a nonconfidential version of the 
document that summarizes the key data or information should be 
submitted for the public docket. To ensure that proprietary information 
is not inadvertently placed in the docket, submissions containing such 
information should be sent directly to the contact person listed above 
and not to the public docket. Information covered by a claim of 
confidentiality will be disclosed by EPA only to the extent allowed and 
by the procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. If no claim of 
confidentiality accompanies the submission when EPA receives it, EPA 
will make it available to the public without further notice to the 
person making comments.

    Dated: November 3, 2005.
Elizabeth Craig,
Acting Assistant Administrator, for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 05-22996 Filed 11-18-05; 8:45 am]
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