[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 82 (Monday, April 30, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21260-21261]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-8168]


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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AMS-FRL-8307-6]


California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards; 
Request for Waiver of Federal Preemption; Opportunity for Public 
Hearing

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public hearing and comment.

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

SUMMARY: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has notified EPA 
that it has adopted Greenhouse Gas Emission (GHG) regulations for 
passenger cars, light-duty trucks and medium-duty passenger vehicles 
beginning with the 2009 model year (MY). By letter dated December 21, 
2005, CARB submitted a request that EPA grant a waiver of preemption 
under section 209(b) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), 42 U.S.C. 7543(b) for 
these regulations. This notice announces that EPA has scheduled a 
public hearing concerning California's request and that EPA is 
accepting written comment on the request.

DATES: EPA has scheduled a public hearing concerning CARB's request on 
May 22, 2007, beginning at 9 a.m. Any party planning to present oral 
testimony should notify EPA by May 15, 2007, expressing its interest. 
Any party may submit written comments by June 15, 2007.

ADDRESSES: EPA will make available for in person inspection, at the Air 
and Radiation Docket and Information Center, written comments received 
from interested parties, in 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 EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0173. Parties wishing to present oral 
testimony at the public hearing should provide notice to David 
Dickinson at the address noted below. We plan to hold the public 
hearing at EPA Headquarters in Washington, DC.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 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.
    For Obtaining and Submitting Electronic Copies of Comments:
    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-
0173, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line 
instructions for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: (202)343-2804.
     Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA West (Air 
Docket), 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Room B108, Mail Code 6102T, 
Washington, DC 20460, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2006-0173. 
Please include a total of two copies.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room 
B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC 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 Docket ID No EPA-HQ-
OAR-2006-0173.
    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.regulations.gov, 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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-
mail.
    The http://www.regulations.gov web site is 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 http://www.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

[[Page 21261]]

docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although 
listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g., 
CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, will be publicly 
available only in hard copy.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

(A) Background and Discussion

    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) 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. California is the only state that is 
qualified to seek and receive a waiver under section 209(b). 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. Previous 
decisions granting waivers of Federal preemption for motor vehicles 
have stated that State standards are inconsistent with section 202(a) 
if, for example, there is inadequate lead time to permit the 
development of the necessary technology giving appropriate 
consideration to the cost of compliance within that time period or if 
the Federal and State test procedures impose inconsistent certification 
procedures.\1\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ To be consistent, the California certification procedures 
need not be identical to the Federal certification procedures. 
California procedures would be inconsistent, however, if 
manufacturers would be unable to meet the state and the Federal 
requirements with the same test vehicle in the course of the same 
test. See, e.g., 43 FR 32182 (July 25, 1978).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    CARB's December 21, 2005, letter to the Administrator notified EPA 
that the CARB Board had adopted its GHG regulations at a public hearing 
on September 23-24, 2004 and subsequently California's Office of 
Administrative Law approved the regulatory action on September 15, 
2005. The amendment and adoption of regulations can be found at title 
13, California Code of Regulations (CCR), sections 1900, 1961 and 
1961.1.
    Please provide comment as to whether (a) California's determination 
that its motor vehicle emission standards are, in the aggregate, at 
least as protective of public health and welfare as applicable Federal 
standards is arbitrary and capricious, (b) California needs such 
standards to meet compelling and extraordinary conditions, and (c) 
California's standards and accompanying enforcement procedures are 
consistent with section 202(a) of the Clean Air Act. Within the context 
of these statutory criteria we also request comment on the following: 
(1) Given that the regulations referenced in the December 21, 2005, 
request letter relate to global climate change, should that have any 
effect on EPA's evaluation of the criteria, and if so, in what manner; 
(2) whether the United States Supreme Court's decision, issued on April 
2, 2007 (549 U.S. --------(2007)), regarding the regulation of 
emissions of greenhouse gases from new motor vehicles under Title II of 
the Clean Air Act, is relevant to EPA's evaluation of the three 
criteria, and if so, in what manner; and (3) whether the Energy Policy 
and Conservation Act (EPCA) fuel economy provisions are relevant to 
EPA's consideration of this petition or to CARB's authority to 
implement its vehicle GHG regulations.

Procedures for Public Participation

    In recognition that public hearings are 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.
    The Agency will make a verbatim record of the proceedings. 
Interested parties may arrange with the reporter at the hearing(s) to 
obtain a copy of the transcript at their own expense. EPA will keep the 
record open until June 15, 2007. Upon expiration of the comment period, 
the Administrator will render a decision on CARB's request based on the 
record of the public hearing, 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 non-confidential 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: April 24, 2007.
William L. Wehrum,
Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation.
 [FR Doc. E7-8168 Filed 4-27-07; 2:09 pm]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P