[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 244 (Tuesday, December 20, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 78872-78874]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-32557]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0476; FRL- 9608-6]


EPA Responses to State and Tribal 2008 Ozone Designation 
Recommendations: Notice of Availability and Public Comment Period

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of availability and public comment period.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that the EPA has posted its responses 
to state and tribal designation recommendations for the 2008 Ozone 
National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) on the Agency's Internet 
Web site. The EPA invites public comments on its responses during the 
comment period

[[Page 78873]]

specified in the DATES section. The EPA sent responses directly to the 
states and tribes on or about December 9, 2011, and intends to make 
final designation determinations for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS in spring 
2012.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 19, 2012. Please 
refer to SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional information on the 
comment period.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-
HQ-2008-0476, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online instructions 
for submitting comments.
     Email: [email protected]. Attention Docket ID No. 
EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0476.
     Fax: (202) 566-9744. Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-
2008-0476.
     Mail: Air Docket, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-
0476, Environmental Protection Agency, Mail Code: 6102T, 1200 
Pennsylvania Ave. NW., Washington, DC 20460.
     Hand Delivery: EPA Docket Center, 1301 Constitution Avenue 
NW., Room 3334, Washington, DC. 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-HQ-OAR-
2008-0476. The 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 or other information whose disclosure 
is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider 
to be confidential business information or otherwise protected through 
www.regulations.gov or email. The www.regulations.gov web site is an 
``anonymous access'' system, which means the EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to the EPA without 
going through www.regulations.gov, your email 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, the 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 the EPA is unable to read your 
comment and cannot contact you for clarification due to technical 
difficulties, the 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 the EPA's public docket, visit the EPA Docket Center 
homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm. For additional 
instructions on submitting comments, go to Section II of the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, i.e., confidential business 
information 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 EPA Docket 
Center, EPA West, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW., Washington, 
DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday 
through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone number for the 
Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone number for the 
Air Docket is (202) 566-1742.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For general questions concerning this 
action, please contact Carla Oldham, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality 
Planning and Standards, Air Quality Planning Division, C539-04, 
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711, telephone (919) 541-3347, email at 
[email protected]. For questions about areas in the EPA Region 1, 
please contact Richard Burkhart, U.S. EPA, telephone (617) 918-1664, 
email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in the EPA 
Region 2, please contact Bob Kelly, U.S. EPA, telephone (212) 637-3709, 
email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in the EPA 
Region 3, please contact Maria Pino, U.S. EPA, telephone (215) 814-
2181, email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in the EPA 
Region 4, please contact Jane Spann, U.S. EPA, telephone (404) 562-
9029, email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in the EPA 
Region 5, please contact Edward Doty, U.S. EPA, telephone (312) 886-
6057, email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in the 
EPA Region 6, please contact Guy Donaldson, U.S. EPA, telephone (214) 
665-7242, email at [email protected]. For questions about areas in 
the EPA Region 7, please contact Lachala Kemp, U.S. EPA, telephone 
(913) 551-7214, email at [email protected]. For questions about 
areas in the EPA Region 8, please contact Scott Jackson, U.S. EPA, 
telephone (303) 312-6107, email at [email protected]. For questions 
about areas in the EPA Region 9, please contact John J. Kelly, U.S. 
EPA, telephone (415) 947-4151, email at [email protected]. For 
questions about areas in EPA Region 10, please contact Claudia Vaupel, 
U.S. EPA, telephone (206) 553-6121, email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background and Purpose

    On March 12, 2008, the EPA revised the NAAQS for ozone to provide 
increased protection of public health and welfare from ozone pollution 
(73 FR 16436; March 27, 2008). The process for designating areas 
following promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS is contained in Clean 
Air Act (CAA) section 107(d) (42 U.S.C. 7407). Following the 
promulgation of a new or revised standard, each governor or tribal 
leader has an opportunity to recommend air quality designations, 
including the appropriate boundaries for nonattainment areas, to the 
EPA. The EPA considers these recommendations as part of its duty to 
promulgate the formal area designations and boundaries for the new or 
revised standards. By no later than 120 days prior to promulgating 
designations, the EPA is required to notify states and tribes of any 
intended modification to an area designation or boundary recommendation 
that the EPA deems necessary. On or around December 9, 2011, the EPA 
notified states and tribes of its intended area designations for the 
2008 Ozone NAAQS. States and tribes now have an opportunity to 
demonstrate why they believe an intended modification by the EPA may be 
inappropriate. The EPA encouraged states and tribes to provide comments 
and additional information for consideration by the EPA in finalizing 
designations. The EPA plans to make final designation decisions for the 
2008 Ozone NAAQS in spring 2012.
    The purpose of this notice is to solicit public comments from 
interested parties other than states and tribes on the EPA's recent 
responses to the state and tribal

[[Page 78874]]

designation recommendations for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS. These responses 
can be found on the EPA's Internet Web site at http://www.epa.gov/ozonedesignations and also in the public docket for ozone designations 
at Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0476. The CAA section 107(d) provides 
a process for designations that involves recommendations by states and 
tribes to the EPA and responses from the EPA to those parties, prior to 
the EPA promulgating final designations and boundaries. The EPA is not 
required under the CAA section 107(d) to seek public comment during the 
designation process, but is electing to do so for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS 
in order to gather additional information for the EPA to consider 
before making final designations. The EPA invites public comment on its 
responses to states and tribes during the 30-day comment period 
provided by this notice. Due to the statutory timeframe for 
promulgating designations set out in the CAA section 107(d), the EPA 
will not be able to consider any public comments submitted after 
January 19, 2012. This notice and opportunity for public comment does 
not affect any rights or obligations of any state, tribe or the EPA 
which might otherwise exist pursuant to the CAA section 107(d).
    Please refer to the ADDRESSES section above in this document for 
specific instructions on submitting comments and locating relevant 
public documents.
    In establishing nonattainment area boundaries, the EPA is required 
to identify the area that does not meet the 2008 Ozone NAAQS and any 
nearby area that is contributing to the area that does not meet that 
standard. We are particularly interested in receiving comments, 
supported by relevant information, if you believe that a specific 
geographic area that the EPA is proposing to identify as a 
nonattainment area should not be categorized by the CAA section 107(d) 
criteria as nonattainment, or if you believe that a specific area not 
proposed by the EPA to be identified as a nonattainment area should in 
fact be categorized as nonattainment using the CAA section 107(d) 
criteria. Please be as specific as possible in supporting your views.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified in the DATES section above.

II. Instructions for Submitting Public Comments

What should I consider as I prepare my comments for the EPA?

    1. Submitting Confidential Business Information. Do not submit this 
information to the EPA through www.regulations.gov or email. Clearly 
mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be 
confidential business information. For confidential business 
information in a disk or CD-ROM that you mail to the EPA, mark the 
outside of the disk or CD-ROM as confidential business information and 
then identify electronically within the disk or CD-ROM the specific 
information that is claimed as confidential business information. In 
addition to one complete version of the comment that includes 
information claimed as confidential business information, a copy of the 
comment that does not contain the information claimed as confidential 
business information must be submitted for inclusion in the public 
docket. Information so marked will not be disclosed except in 
accordance with procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. Send or deliver 
information identified as confidential business information only to the 
following address: Roberto Morales, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality 
Planning and Standards, Mail Code C404-02, Research Triangle Park, NC 
27711, telephone (919) 541-0880, email at [email protected], 
Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0476.
    2. Tips for Preparing Your Comments. When submitting comments, 
remember to:
     Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other 
identifying information (subject heading, Federal Register date and 
page number).
     Follow directions--The agency may ask you to respond to 
specific questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of 
Federal Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
     Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives 
and substitute language for your requested changes.
     Describe any assumptions and provide any technical 
information and/or data that you used.
     If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how 
you arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be 
reproduced.
     Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and 
suggest alternatives.
     Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the 
use of profanity or personal threats.
     Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period 
deadline identified.

III. Internet Web Site for Rulemaking Information

    The EPA has also established a Web site for this rulemaking at 
www.epa.gov/ozonedesignations. The Web site includes the state and 
tribal designation recommendations, information supporting the EPA's 
preliminary designation decisions, as well as the rulemaking actions 
and other related information that the public may find useful.

    Dated: December 13, 2011.
Jennifer Noonan Edmonds,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards.
 [FR Doc. 2011-32557 Filed 12-19-11; 8:45 am]
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