[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 211 (Thursday, October 30, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 64548-64551]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-25662]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0746; FRL-8735-7]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
West Virginia; Revised Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for the 
Parkersburg 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
West Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP). The revision amends the 
8-hour ozone maintenance plan for the Parkersburg area. This revision 
amends the maintenance plans' 2009 and 2018 motor vehicle emissions 
budgets (MVEBs) by reallocating a portion of the plans' safety margins, 
which results in an increase in the MVEBs. The revised plan continues 
to demonstrate maintenance of the 8-hour national ambient air quality 
standard (NAAQS) for ozone. EPA is approving this SIP revision to the 
West Virginia maintenance plan for Parkersburg in accordance with the 
requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: This rule is effective on December 29, 2008 without further 
notice, unless EPA receives adverse written comment by December 1, 
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 Number EPA-
R03-OAR-2008-0746 by one of the following methods:
    A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    B. E-mail: [email protected].
    C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2008-0746, Carol Febbo, Chief, Energy, 
Radiation and Indoor Environment Branch, Mailcode 3AP23, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
    D. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address. 
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-R03-OAR-
2008-0746. 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 information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or e-mail. 
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-

[[Page 64549]]

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 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 during normal business hours at the Air Protection 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal 
are available at the West Virginia Department of Environmental 
Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street, SE., Charleston, 
West Virginia 25304.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Megan Goold (215) 814-2027, or by e-
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    On May 8, 2007 (72 FR 25967) EPA redesignated the Parkersburg area 
of West Virginia to attainment for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. For the 
Parkersburg area, the redesignation included approval of an 8-hour 
ozone maintenance plan, identifying on-road MVEBs for VOCs and 
NOX, which are ozone precursors, used for transportation 
planning and conformity purposes. Subsequently, after the SIP approval 
by EPA, West Virginia discovered that the MVEBs which were included in 
the previously approved maintenance plan did not provide a sufficient 
buffer to account for unforseen future growth or significant changes in 
the planning assumption data which was used in developing the original 
MVEBs in its September 2006 submission.

II. Summary of SIP Revision

2009 and 2018 Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets

    On August 25, 2008, the State of West Virginia submitted to EPA a 
formal revision to its State Implementation Plan (SIP). The SIP 
revision proposes new MVEBs to reflect the reallocation of a portion of 
the differences (``safety margins'') between the total base year and 
total projected 2009 and 2018 emissions, thus producing an increase in 
the MVEBs. The base year is 2004 for the Parkersburg area. By 
increasing the MVEBs, the West Virginia Department of Environmental 
Protection (WVDEP) is ensuring that transportation conformity can be 
demonstrated in the Parkersburg area. The August 25, 2008 submittal, 
while increasing the MVEBs, still ensures maintenance of the NAAQS for 
ozone for the Parkersburg area.
    Tables 1 and 2 and the discussion that follows describe the basis 
of the new MVEBs for the Parkersburg area.

  Table 1--Parkersburg Area Reallocation of Safety Margin to the MVEBs
                               [Tons/day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    2004  Base      2009         2018
                                       year      Projection   Projection
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Current MVEBs in the Approved Maintenance Plan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC..............................         4.00          3.0          1.9
NOX..............................         5.66          4.1          2.0
------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Proposed MVEBs in the Revised Maintenance Plan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC..............................         4.00          3.8          2.4
NOX..............................         5.66          5.5          2.7
------------------------------------------------------------------------


   Table 2--Parkersburg Area Total Emissions (Point, Area and Mobile)
       Before and After Reallocation of Safety Margin to the MVEBs
                               [Tons/day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                    2004  Base      2009         2018
                                       year      Projection   Projection
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Current Total Emissions in the Approved Maintenance Plan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC..............................         16.7         14.0         13.6
NOX..............................         15.2         11.8          9.4
------------------------------------------------------------------------
        Proposed Total Emissions in the Revised Maintenance Plan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC..............................         16.7         14.8         14.1
NOX..............................         15.2         13.2         10.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the Parkersburg, West Virginia 8-hour ozone maintenance area 
addressed herein, the WVDEP recalculated the 2009 and 2018 MVEBs using 
revised planning data which became available after the original 
maintenance plan was submitted to EPA on September 8, 2006. The 2009 
and 2018 MVEBs for VOCs and NOX emissions listed above in

[[Page 64550]]

Table 1 under the Proposed MVEBs in the Revised Maintenance Plan 
section will serve as the new MVEBs for transportation conformity 
planning.
    As shown in Table 1, above, WVDEP has proposed reallocating a 
portion of the previous safety margin into the MVEBs for both VOCs and 
NOX. The remaining surplus emissions have been reserved as 
residual safety margins in the total maintenance budgets to ensure 
continued maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS.
    To explain how the safety margins are determined and allocated, the 
VOC emissions for the Parkersburg area may be used as an example. In 
Table 2, listed under the Current Total Emissions in the Approved 
Maintenance Plan section, the total 2004 base year VOC emissions are 
16.7 tons/day (tpd), which is the maximum amount of VOC emissions 
consistent with maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. The total 
projected 2009 emissions are 14.0 tpd, which provides a 2.7 tpd VOC 
safety margin (i.e., the ozone NAAQS would continue to be maintained if 
total VOC emissions increased as much as 2.7 tpd above the projected 
2009 emissions of 14.0 tpd). In the Proposed Total Emissions in the 
Revised Maintenance Plan section, the total projected emissions for 
2009 would be increased by 0.8 tpd through the increase in the 
allowable mobile emissions for VOC while still leaving a safety margin 
of 1.9 tpd. Therefore, even with the reallocation of some of the 
current safety margin into the MVEBs, the State of West Virginia has 
left a safety margin for any other unforeseen growth.

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving West Virginia's August 25, 2008 SIP revision 
submittal which amends the 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for the 
Parkersburg area. These revisions amend the maintenance plans' 2009 and 
2018 MVEBs to reflect the reallocation of a portion of the plans' 
safety margins which results in an increase in the MVEBs. EPA is 
approving this SIP revision to the maintenance plan for the Parkersburg 
area because the August 25, 2008 submittal continues to demonstrate 
maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS as even after reallocation of a 
portion of the safety margin a sufficient safety margin still exists to 
demonstrate continued attainment.
    EPA notes that the DC Circuit issued a decision on July 11, 2008, 
vacating the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). North Carolina v. EPA, 
531 F.3d 896 (DC Cir. 2008).\1\ EPA's CAIR modeling was included in the 
last Parkersburg maintenance plan effective June 17, 2007 (72 FR 25967, 
May 8, 2007) as a supplemental analysis however, EPA's approval of that 
maintenance plan was based on permanent and enforceable measures (as 
instructed in the Calcagni memorandum, September 4, 1992). These 
permanent and enforceable measures are sufficient to provide for 
continued maintenance even without any CAIR reductions. EPA did note in 
the approval that, in addition to permanent and enforceable measures, 
further emissions reductions in the nonattainment area (specifically 
Washington County, OH) are largely attributable to CAIR, but these 
reductions are not needed to demonstrate maintenance in the area. 
Therefore, EPA's approval of the August 25, 2008 SIP revision is not 
impacted by the DC Circuit Court decision as even without any CAIR 
reductions the area continues to demonstrate maintenance after 
reallocation of a portion of the safety margin.
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    \1\ EPA filed a petition for rehearing with the Court of Appeals 
for the District of Columbia Circuit on September 24, 2008.
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    EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the 
Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates no 
adverse comment, since no significant adverse comments were received on 
the SIP revision at the State level. However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' 
section of today's Federal Register, EPA is publishing a separate 
document that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision if 
adverse comments are filed. This rule will be effective on December 29, 
2008 without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by 
December 1, 2008.
    If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA will publish a timely 
withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule 
will not take effect. EPA will address all public comments in a 
subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not 
institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties 
interested in commenting must do so at this time.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

A. General Requirements

    Under the Clean Air Act, 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 Clean Air Act. 
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 those requirements would be inconsistent 
with the Clean Air Act; 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.

B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General

    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

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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).

C. Petitions for Judicial Review

    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 December 29, 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 to revise the MVEBs for the 
Parkersburg 8-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan 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, Incorporation by 
reference, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: October 20, 2008.
Donald S. Welsh,
Regional Administrator, Region III.

0
40 CFR Part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for 40 CFR part 52 continues to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart XX--West Virginia


0
2. In Sec.  52.2520, the table in paragraph (e) is amended by revising 
the entry for the 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for the Parkersburg-
Marietta, WV-OH Area to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2520  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

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                                                            State
    Name of non-regulatory SIP          Applicable        submittal     EPA approval date        Additional
             revision                 geographic area        date                                explanation
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for  Wood County.........     09/08/06  5/8/07; 72 FR 2967..
 the Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH
 Area.
                                                            08/25/08  10/30/08; [Insert     Reallocation of
                                                                       page number where     emissions from the
                                                                       the document          existing ``safety
                                                                       begins].              margin'' to
                                                                                             increase the
                                                                                             available motor
                                                                                             vehicle emission
                                                                                             budgets for highway
                                                                                             vehicles.
 
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[FR Doc. E8-25662 Filed 10-29-08; 8:45 am]
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