[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 221 (Wednesday, November 18, 2009)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 59496-59497]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-27669]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2009-0470; FRL-8978-2]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
California; Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program; Proposed 
Rule--Notice of Data Availability and Request for Comment

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of data availability (NODA) and request for comment.

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SUMMARY: The EPA is providing notice that it has placed in the docket 
for the proposed rulemaking concerning California's June 5, 2009 Motor 
Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) program submittal additional 
modeling data relevant to the proposed rulemaking, published on August 
19, 2009. The August 19, 2009 notice established a 30-day comment 
period on EPA's proposal, which ended on September 18, 2009. EPA is 
reopening the comment period to end on December 2, 2009. The purpose of 
this notice is to provide the public an opportunity to review and 
comment on the additional modeling data, which were described in the 
proposed rulemaking notice and are further described below.
    Readers should note that only comments about the new modeling data 
discussed in this document and related issues will be considered during 
the comment period. Issues related to the August 19, 2009 proposed rule 
that are not directly affected by the data referenced in this Notice of 
Data Availability are not open for further comment.

DATES: EPA will accept comments on the modeling data and related issues 
until December 2, 2009.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2009-0470, by one of the following methods:
    1. Federal eRulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov. Follow 
the on-line instructions.
    2. E-mail: [email protected].
    3. Mail or deliver: Jeffrey Buss (Air-2), U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 
94105-3901.
    Instructions: All comments 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 Confidential Business Information (CBI) or 
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. 
Information that you consider CBI or otherwise protected should be 
clearly identified as such and should not be submitted through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov portal 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 e-mail 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 disc 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 
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 EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne 
Street, San Francisco, California. To inspect the hard copy materials, 
please schedule an appointment during normal business hours with the 
contact listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Buss, EPA Region IX, (415) 
947-4152, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, the terms ``we'', 
``us'', and ``our'' refer to EPA.
    On August 19, 2009 (74 FR 41818), EPA proposed to approve state 
implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted by the California Air 
Resources Board (CARB) on June 5, 2009 relating to the State's basic 
and enhanced vehicle I/M program (``2009 I/M Revision'') contingent 
upon California's submittal of revisions to the enhanced program 
performance standard evaluations to address a different attainment year 
for the Western Mojave Desert 8-hour ozone nonattainment area and to 
address California's base-year program performance.
    As explained in the August 19, 2009 proposal, these revisions to 
California's enhanced program performance standard evaluation were 
necessary for two reasons. First, the submitted performance modeling 
evaluation for the Western Mojave Desert 8-hour ozone nonattainment 
area was based on the State's choice of 2020 as the horizon year, based 
on the attainment deadline for 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas 
classified as ``severe-17.'' \1\ Because EPA interprets CAA section 
181(b)(3) as disallowing state requests to reclassify ozone 
nonattainment areas to ``severe-17,'' we noted that the State must 
submit a revised modeling evaluation

[[Page 59497]]

based on a more appropriate horizon year for this area. 74 FR 41818-
41823.
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    \1\ By letter dated February 14, 2008, CARB requested 
reclassification of the Western Mojave Desert 8-hour ozone 
nonattainment area to ``severe-17.'' Western Mojave Desert is 
currently classified as a ``moderate'' nonattainment area for the 8-
hour ozone standard. 40 CFR 81.305.
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    Second, CARB did not provide base year modeling evaluations for the 
six areas in the State that are subject to the enhanced I/M 
requirements in 40 CFR part 51, subpart S. The six areas are the South 
Coast Air Basin, San Joaquin Valley, Western Mojave Desert, Sacramento 
Metro, Coachella Valley, and Ventura County. We noted that a base year 
modeling run is required to allow for a more definitive conclusion that 
the California enhanced I/M program obtained the same or lower emission 
levels as the EPA model program by January 1, 2002, and that the 
program will maintain this level of emission reduction (or better) 
through the applicable 8-hour ozone attainment deadlines, as required 
by 40 CFR 51.351(f). Based on our preliminary modeling analyses and 
evaluation of the data provided in CARB's submittal, however, we noted 
that we expect these revised modeling evaluations will satisfy the 
regulatory requirements. 74 FR 41818-41823. In our proposed rule, we 
indicated that we would notify the public of any additional information 
that is provided to address these issues. Publication of this NODA is 
intended to serve this purpose.
    On October 28, 2009, CARB submitted the revised enhanced I/M 
performance modeling analyses described above. We placed the analyses 
in the docket on October 29, 2009. Specifically, CARB submitted (1) 
revised enhanced program performance standard evaluations for the 
Western Mojave Desert area based on a horizon year of 2018, and (2) 
2002 base year performance modeling evaluations for the six areas in 
the State that are subject to the enhanced I/M requirements in 40 CFR 
part 51, subpart S (the South Coast Air Basin, San Joaquin Valley, 
Western Mojave Desert, Sacramento Metro, Coachella Valley, and Ventura 
County). We find that selection of year 2018 by California as the 
``year before the attainment year'' for Western Mojave Desert for 
enhanced performance modeling purposes is acceptable on the presumption 
that CARB will amend its voluntary reclassification request from 
``severe-17'' to ``severe-15.'' We interpret section 181(b)(3) to allow 
for voluntary reclassification by a state to the latter, but not the 
former.
    We have also reviewed the submitted modeling data and find that the 
inputs to the MOBILE6.2 model accurately reflect the California I/M 
program. Based on the modeling results for Western Mojave Desert 
submitted on October 28, 2009, together with the performance standard 
modeling results contained in the 2009 I/M Revision, we believe that 
California has now demonstrated that the California I/M program would 
achieve greater percent emissions reductions (relative to the no I/M 
scenario) for VOC and NOX in each of the six areas in the 
year before the attainment year than would the EPA model enhanced I/M 
program in 2002.
    Moreover, the modeling results for the California I/M program in 
2002 show that the California program achieved greater percent 
emissions reductions (relative to the no I/M scenario) for VOC and 
NOX in each of the six areas than the EPA model enhanced I/M 
program in 2002. Thus, in view of the results of both the base year and 
horizon year modeling results, we believe that the analyses submitted 
by CARB on October 28, 2009 support the conclusion that the California 
I/M program will maintain a greater percent emissions reduction in all 
six subject areas (relative to the no I/M scenario) than would the 
Federal I/M program in the base year, thereby meeting the enhanced I/M 
performance standard in 40 CFR 51.351(f) and supporting full approval 
of the 2009 I/M Revision. EPA is today providing notice and opportunity 
to comment on these revised modeling evaluations, which are available 
in the docket for the proposed action.

    Dated: October 30, 2009.
Enrique Manzanilla,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. E9-27669 Filed 11-17-09; 8:45 am]
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