[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 162 (Wednesday, August 22, 2007)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 46903-46905]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-16316]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2004-SC-0004-200706 (a); FRL-8457-2]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans South Carolina: 
Revisions to Ambient Air Quality Standards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving revisions to the State Implementation Plan 
(SIP) submitted by the South Carolina Department of Health and 
Environmental Control (SC DHEC) on November 19, 2004, for the purpose 
of incorporating EPA's July 18, 1997, revisions to the National Ambient 
Air Quality Standards and to ensure consistency between state and 
Federal regulations. The revisions consist of the amendments published 
in the South Carolina State Register on September 24, 2004, revising 
Regulation 61-62.5, Standard Number 2, Ambient Air Quality Standards.

DATES: This direct final rule is effective October 22, 2007 without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by September 21, 
2007. If adverse comment is received, EPA 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 Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2004-SC-200706, by one of the following methods:
    1. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Fax: 404-562-9019.
    4. Mail: ``EPA-R04-OAR-2004-SC-0004'', 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.
    5. Hand Delivery or Courier: Deliver your comments to: Nacosta C. 
Ward, 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. 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 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
excluding federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-
2004-SC-0004. 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 through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The http://www.regulations.gov website 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. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the 
http://www.regulations.gov index. 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 http://www.regulations.gov 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: Nacosta C. Ward, 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. The telephone number 
is (404) 562-9140. Ms. Ward can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

[[Page 46904]]

I. Analysis of State's Submittal

    On November 19, 2004, SC DHEC submitted revisions to the South 
Carolina SIP. These revisions were published in the South Carolina 
State Register on September 24, 2004, revising Regulation 61-62.5, 
Standard Number 2, Ambient Air Quality Standards. The changes to the 
South Carolina SIP incorporate Federal revisions to the ozone and 
particulate matter standards and add applicable appendices from the 
Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) referencing the Reference Methods.
    The analytical methods to be used in Regulation 61-62.5, Standard 
2, will be those applicable Reference Methods, located in 40 CFR 50, 
Appendices A through H and K with the addition of Appendices I through 
N, as revised on July 18, 1997. Appendices I and N have been added in 
footnote (3) following the table, which reference the two revisions to 
the table regarding 8-hour ozone and PM2.5. The appendices 
located in 40 CFR 50 are those that attainment determinations are based 
upon. The 8-hour ozone and PM2.5 (primary and secondary) 
standards have been added to South Carolina's ambient air quality 
standards table. The portion of the table containing these additions is 
reflected below:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                        Micrograms  per
           Pollutant             Measuring  interval     cubic  meter
------------------------------------------------------------------------
PM2.5 (Primary and Secondary     24 hours...........  65\(3)\
 Standards).                     Annual.............  15\(3)\
Ozone..........................  8 hours............  0.08 ppm\(3)\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\(3)\ Attainment determinations will be made based on the criteria
  contained in 40 CFR 50 Appendices H, I, K, and N.

II. Final Action

    EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the South Carolina 
SIP because they are consistent with the Clean Air Act and EPA policy. 
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the Agency 
views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse 
comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal 
Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate document that will 
serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision should adverse 
comments be filed. This rule will be effective October 22, 2007 without 
further notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by September 
21, 2007.
    If EPA receives such comments, then EPA will publish a document 
withdrawing the final rule and informing the public that the rule will 
not take effect. All public comments received will then be addressed in 
a subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not 
institute a second comment period. Parties interested in commenting 
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public 
is advised that this rule will be effective on October 22, 2007 and no 
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.

III. 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 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. section 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. 
section 804(2).

[[Page 46905]]

    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 22, 2007. 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 section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

    Dated: July 31, 2007.
J.I. Palmer, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.

0
Chapter I, title 40, Code of Federal Regulations, 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 PP--South Carolina

0
2. Section 52.2120(c) is amended under Regulation No. 62.5, by revising 
the entry for ``Standard No. 2'' to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2120  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *

                              Air Pollution Control Regulations for South Carolina
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                                                            State       EPA approval
      State citation              Title/subject        effective date       date        Federal Register notice
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                                                 * * * * * * *
                               Regulation No. 62.5 Air Pollution Control Standards
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                                                 * * * * * * *
                                  Standard No. 2 Ambient Air Quality Standards
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                            .........................        09/24/04        08/22/07  [Insert citation of
                                                                                        publication].
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 [FR Doc. E7-16316 Filed 8-21-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P