[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 153 (Tuesday, August 11, 2009)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 40083-40085]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-18867]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R03-OAR-2009-0311; FRL-8941-6]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Pennsylvania; Revised Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for the Scranton/
Wilkes-Barre 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 a State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of 
Pennsylvania. The revision amends the 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for 
the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Area 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Area (the 
Area). This revision amends the maintenance plan's 2009 and 2018 motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) by unequally dividing the existing 
approved MVEBs which covers the entire maintenance area into three sub-
regional MVEBs, one set of MVEBs for each county comprising the area. 
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 Pennsylvania maintenance plan for 
the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Area in accordance with the requirements of 
the Clean Air Act (CAA).

DATES: This rule is effective on October 13, 2009 without further 
notice, unless EPA receives adverse written comment by September 10, 
2009. 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-2009-0311 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-2009-0311, 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-
2009-0311. 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-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 Pennsylvania Department of Environmental 
Protection, Bureau of Air Quality, P.O. Box 8468, 400 Market Street, 
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Martin Kotsch, (215) 814-3335, or by 
e-mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we'', 
``us'', or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.

Table of Contents

I. Background
II. Summary of Pennsylvania's SIP Revision and EPA's Review
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    On November 11, 2007 (72 FR 64948) EPA redesignated the Scranton/
Wilkes-Barre area of Pennsylvania to attainment for the 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS. For this area, the redesignation included approval of an 8-hour 
ozone maintenance plan, which identifies on-road MVEBs for Volatile 
Organic Compounds (VOCs) and Nitrous Oxides (NOX), which are 
ozone precursors, which are then used for transportation planning and 
conformity purposes. There are three separate metropolitan planning 
organizations (MPOs) in this maintenance area--one for Lackawana and 
Luzerne Counties, one for Monroe County and one for Wyoming County, 
with individual responsibility for doing transportation conformity 
within their respective planning boundaries within the Area. 
Pennsylvania has unequally divided the existing MVEBs and created sub-
regional MVEBs for each MPO to better accommodate the transportation 
planning and conformity processes within the Area.

II. Summary of Pennsylvania's SIP Revision and EPA's Review

    On April 21, 2008, the State of Pennsylvania submitted to EPA a 
formal revision to its State Implementation

[[Page 40084]]

Plan (SIP). The SIP revision proposes new MVEBs to reflect the 
reallocation of the existing overall MVEBS for the maintenance area. By 
reallocating the MVEBs, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental 
Protection (PADEP) is ensuring that transportation conformity can be 
demonstrated in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area. The April 21, 2008 
submittal still ensures maintenance of the NAAQS for ozone for the 
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.
    The following table lists the previously approved MVEBs and the 
proposed reallocation of the MVEBs into sub-regional budgets for the 
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area.

                 Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Area Reallocation of the MVEBs Into Sub-Regional Budgets
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                     Current MVEBs in the approved maintenance plan--all counties (tons/day)
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                                                                                       2009            2018
                                                                  2004 base year    projection      projection
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VOC.............................................................            31.6            25.2            16.9
NOX.............................................................            66.1            48.3            23.7
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------------------------------------------------------------------------
      Proposed MVEBs in the Revised Maintenance Plan  (tons/day) 1
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                                            2009 budget     2018 budget
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                       Lackawana-Luzerne Counties
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VOC.....................................           17.99            11.8
NOX.....................................           34.58            16.7
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                              Monroe County
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VOC.....................................            6.19            4.64
NOX.....................................           12.16            6.36
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                             Wyoming County
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC.....................................            0.99            0.54
NOX.....................................            1.54            0.68
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\1\ Due to rounding, some of the new reallocated budgets, if combined,
  are insignificantly different than the previously approved mobile
  budgets for the entire area. This slight difference will still ensure
  maintenance of the 8-hour ozone attainment as the combined MVEBs are
  still lower than the attainment year budgets.

    EPA is approving the 2009 and 2018 MVEBs for VOCs and 
NOX emissions listed above in Table 1 as the new MVEBs for 
transportation conformity planning.

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving Pennsylvania's April 21, 2008 SIP revision 
submittal which amends the 8-hour ozone maintenance plans for the 
Scranton/Wilkes Barre area. This revision unequally divides the 
previously approved 2009 and 2018 MVEBs to create sub-regional MVEBs 
for the two counties comprising the area. EPA is approving this SIP 
revision because the April 21, 2008 submittal continues to demonstrate 
maintenance of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS with the aggregated sub-regional 
MVEBs. 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 October 13, 
2009 without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by 
September 10, 2009.
    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);

[[Page 40085]]

     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 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 October 13, 2009. 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. Parties with objections to this direct final 
rule are encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel 
notice of proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed 
rules section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an 
immediate petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so 
that EPA can withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in 
the proposed rulemaking.
    This action to approve the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre revised 
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, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

     Dated: July 28, 2009.
William C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.

0
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 NN--Pennsylvania

0
2. In Sec.  52.2020, the table in paragraph (e)(1) is amended by 
revising the entry for the 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan and 2002 Base 
Year Emissions Inventory for the Scranton/Wilkes Barre, PA Area to read 
as follows:


Sec.  52.2020  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *
    (1) * * *

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                                                                State
Name of non-regulatory SIP revision   Applicable geographic   submittal      EPA approval date      Additional
                                              area               date                               explanation
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                                                  * * * * * * *
8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan and    Scranton/Wilkes-Barre       6/12/07  11/14/07, 72 FR 64948.
 2002 Base Year Emissions Inventory.  Area: Lackawanna,
                                      Luzerne, Monroe and
                                      Wyoming Counties.
                                                                 4/21/08  8/11/09, [Insert page
                                                                           number where the
                                                                           document begins].
 
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[FR Doc. E9-18867 Filed 8-10-09; 8:45 am]
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