[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 160 (Monday, August 18, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 48127-48130]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-18968]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2008-0051-200805(a); FRL-8705-3]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Tennessee; Approval of Revisions to the Nashville/Davidson County 
Portion

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the 
State Implementation Plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Tennessee on 
October 19, 2007. The revision affects the Nashville/Davidson County 
portion of the Tennessee SIP. Specifically, the revision pertains to 
the Metropolitan Public Health Department, Pollution Control Division's 
Regulation Number 8, ``Inspection and Maintenance of Light-Duty Motor 
Vehicles.'' The revision is part of Nashville/Davidson County's 
strategy to meet the requirements of EPA's 1997 8-hour ozone standard. 
Regulation Number 8 is amended by reducing the vehicle emission 
inspection fee to $9.00 and updating the definitions section. This 
revision is considered by the Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation (TDEC), to be at least as stringent as the State of 
Tennessee's

[[Page 48128]]

preexisting requirements. This action is being taken pursuant to 
section 110 of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: This direct final rule is effective October 17, 2008 without 
further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by September 17, 
2008. 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 Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2008-0051, by one of the following methods:
    1. 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-2008-0051,'' 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: Mr. James Hou, 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 to 4:30, excluding federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. ``EPA-R04-OAR-
2008-0051.'' EPA's policy is that all comments received will be 
included in the public docket without change and may be made available 
online at 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 
www.regulations.gov or e-mail information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The 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 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 home page at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the 
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 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 to 4:30, excluding 
federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. James Hou, 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) 
562-8965. Mr. Hou can also be reached via electronic mail at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Analysis of Submittal

    On October 19, 2007, the State of Tennessee submitted a revision to 
the Nashville/Davidson County portion of the Tennessee SIP, which 
included a revision to the Metropolitan Public Health Department, 
Pollution Control Division's Regulation Number 8, ``Inspection and 
Maintenance of Light-Duty Motor Vehicles.'' This revision was 
promulgated by the Davidson County Metropolitan Health Department, 
which is the local agency overseeing implementation of air pollution 
control regulations for Davidson County, including Early Action Compact 
(EAC) related obligations. The SIP revision currently at issue amends 
Regulation Number 8 by reducing the emissions inspection fee for light-
duty motor vehicles from $10.00 to $9.00 per inspection. The revision 
also updates the ``Definitions'' section by clarifying the definition 
of `Carbon Monoxide,' adding the term `Catalytic Converter,' and 
clarifying the definition of `Heavy-Duty Motor Vehicle.' Specifically, 
the definitions will be changed to the following:
    Carbon Monoxide--means a compound consisting of the chemical 
formula (CO).
    Catalytic Converter--means a pollution control device containing a 
catalyst for converting automobile exhaust into mostly harmless 
products.
    Heavy-Duty Motor Vehicle--means any motor vehicle having a combined 
manufacturer vehicle and maximum loading rate (GVWR) to be carried 
thereon in excess of 10,500 pounds (4773 kilograms or more).

The above revision is consistent with the EAC Protocol \1\ and is 
considered by the State of Tennessee to be at least as stringent as 
preexisting requirements under the SIP.
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    \1\ The EAC Protocol can be found at http://www.epa.gov/air/eac/
.
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II. Final Action

    EPA has reviewed the submittal and determined that is consistent 
with the requirements of the CAA and EPA's Policy. Therefore, EPA is 
approving the aforementioned change to the SIP. 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 17, 2008 without further 
notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by September 17, 
2008.
    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

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received, the public is advised that this rule will be effective on 
October 17, 2008 and no further action will be taken on the proposed 
rule.

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP 
submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable 
Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in 
reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices, 
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this 
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and 
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state 
law. For that reason, this action:
     Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to 
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
     Does not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
     Is certified as not having a significant economic impact 
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory 
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
     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);
     Does not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
     Is not an economically significant regulatory action based 
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the 
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 
note) because application of voluntary consensus standards would be 
inconsistent with the CAA; and
     Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to 
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under 
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as 
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), 
because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in 
the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
    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 action 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 CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by October 17, 2008. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect 
the finality of this action 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Catalytic converter, Heavy-duty motor vehicles, Incorporation by 
reference, Motor vehicle inspection fee, Ozone.

    Dated: July 30, 2008.
Russell L. Wright, Jr.,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.

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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 (RR)--(Tennessee)

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2. Section 52.2220(c) Table 5 is amended by revising the entry for 
``Regulation No. 8'' to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2220  Identification of plan.

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    (c) * * *

                              Table 5--EPA Approved Nashville-Davidson, Regulations
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                                                               State
         State citation               Title/subject       effective date   EPA approval date      Explanation
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Regulation No. 8...............  Regulation of Emissions      10/10/2007  8/18/08 [Insert     ..................
                                  from Light-Duty Motor                    citation of
                                  Vehicles Through                         publication].
                                  Mandatory Vehicle
                                  Inspection and
                                  Maintenance Program.
 
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[FR Doc. E8-18968 Filed 8-15-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P