[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 99 (Thursday, May 22, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 29324-29327]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-11487]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R05-OAR-2014-0274; FRL-9910-92-Region 5]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Illinois; Revision to the Chicago 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving 
Illinois' March 28, 2014, state implementation plan (SIP) revision to 
the 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for the Illinois portion of the 
Chicago-Gary-Lake County, Illinois-Indiana area (the Greater Chicago 
Area). This SIP revision establishes new Motor Vehicle Emissions 
Budgets (MVEB) for volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of 
nitrogen (NOX) for the year 2025. EPA is approving the 
allocation of a portion of the safety margin for VOC and NOX 
in the ozone maintenance plan to the 2025 MVEBs. Total year 2025 
emissions of VOC and NOX for the area will remain below the 
attainment level required by the transportation conformity regulations.

DATES: This direct final rule is effective July 21, 2014, unless EPA 
receives adverse comments by June 23, 2014. If adverse comments are 
received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule 
in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not 
take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R05-
OAR-2014-0274, by one of the following methods:
    1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. Email: [email protected].
    3. Fax: (312) 692-2450.

[[Page 29325]]

    4. Mail: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies Section, Air 
Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West 
Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
    5. Hand Delivery: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies 
Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Such 
deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office normal hours of 
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information. The Regional Office official hours of business are 
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding Federal 
holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-
2014-0274. 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 email. 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 email comment 
directly to 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, 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 docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson 
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. This facility is open from 8:30 
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. 
We recommend that you telephone Michael Leslie, Environmental Engineer, 
at (312) 353-6680 before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Leslie, Environmental 
Engineer, Control Strategies Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-6680, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This supplementary information 
section is arranged as follows:

I. What is the background for this action?
II. What is a safety margin?
III. How does this action change the Chicago area's ozone 
maintenance plan?
IV. What action is EPA taking?
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What is the background for this action?

    On August 13, 2012 (77 FR 48062), EPA approved a request from the 
State of Illinois to redesignate the Illinois portion of the Greater 
Chicago Area to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient 
air quality standard (NAAQS). In addition to approving the ozone 
redesignation request, EPA approved the State's plan for maintaining 
the 1997 8-hour ozone standard in the Illinois portion of the Greater 
Chicago Area through 2025. The ozone maintenance plan established MVEBs 
for VOC and NOX for the year 2025 to account for new 
transportation planning assumptions.
    MVEBs are the projected levels of controlled emissions from the 
transportation sector (mobile sources) that are estimated in the SIP to 
provide for maintenance of the ozone standard. The transportation 
conformity rule allows the MVEB to be changed as long as the total 
level of emissions from all sources remains below the attainment 
levels.

II. What is a safety margin?

    A ``safety margin'', as defined in the transportation conformity 
rule (40 CFR part 93 subpart A), is the amount by which the total 
projected emissions from all sources of a given pollutant are less than 
the total emissions that would satisfy the applicable requirement for 
reasonable further progress, attainment, or maintenance. The attainment 
level of emissions is the level of emissions during one of the years in 
which the area met the NAAQS. Table 1 gives detailed information on the 
safety margin for the Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago Area. 
Table 1 includes a comparison of the VOC and NOX emissions 
in the year 2008 (Illinois' attainment year), to the projected 
emissions of VOC and NOX in the year 2025. The difference 
between the projected emissions in the year 2025 and the actual 
emissions in the year 2008 is referred to as the safety margin or the 
amount of excess emission reductions.

                     Table 1--Safety Margin for Chicago's 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan
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                                                                              2025 Projected
                                                          2008 Attainment    year maintenance    Safety margin
                       Pollutant                           year emissions    emissions (tons/      (tons/day)
                                                             (tons/day)            day)
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VOC....................................................             787.45             611.95             175.60
NOX....................................................             896.76             427.11             469.65
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    Illinois has requested the allocation of 12 tons/day of the VOC and 
25 tons/day of NOX from the safety margins to the MVEBs. The 
revised maintenance plan will have a safety margin of 163.6 tons/day of 
VOC and 444.65 tons/day of NOX. The 2025 projected 
emissions, even with this allocation, will be below the 2008 attainment 
year emissions for both VOC and NOX. For this reason, EPA 
finds that the allocation of the safety margin to the 2025 MVEBs for 
the

[[Page 29326]]

Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago Area meets the requirements of 
the transportation conformity regulations at 40 CFR part 93, and is 
approvable.

III. How does this action change the Chicago area's ozone maintenance 
plan?

    This action changes the MVEBs for mobile sources. The maintenance 
plan is designed to provide for future growth while still maintaining 
the ozone NAAQS. Growth in industries, population, and traffic is 
offset by reductions from cleaner cars and other emission reduction 
programs. Through the maintenance plan, the State and local agencies 
can manage and maintain clean air quality while providing for growth.
    In the submittal, Illinois requested to allocate a portion of the 
safely margins for VOC and NOX to the 2025 MVEBs. Table 2 
details the updated MVEBs for the 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan 
for the Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago Area. Table 2 shows the 
2025 MVEBs for VOC and NOX (approved by EPA on August 13, 
2012), the amount of excess emission reductions or safety margin to be 
allocated into the new MVEBs, and the new 2025 MVEBs for VOC and 
NOX.

                            Table 2--Chicago 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan MVEBs
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                                                                   Approved 2025   Safety margin
                            Pollutant                              MVEB  (tons/     allocation     New 2025 MVEB
                                                                       day)         (tons/day)      (tons/day)
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VOC.............................................................           48.13           12.00           60.13
NOX.............................................................          125.27           25.00          150.27
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

IV. What action is EPA taking?

    EPA is approving a revision to the 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance 
plan for the Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago Area. The revision 
will change the MVEBs for VOC and NOX that are used for 
transportation conformity purposes. The revision will keep the total 
emissions for the area at or below the attainment level required by 
law. This action will allow State or local agencies to continue to 
maintain air quality while providing for transportation growth.
    We are publishing this action without prior proposal because we 
view this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipate no adverse 
comments. However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal 
Register publication, we are publishing a separate document that will 
serve as the proposal to approve the state plan if relevant adverse 
written comments are filed. This rule will be effective July 21, 2014 
without further notice unless we receive relevant adverse written 
comments by June 23, 2014. If we receive such comments, we will 
withdraw this action before the effective date by publishing a 
subsequent document that will withdraw the final action. All public 
comments received will then be addressed in a subsequent final rule 
based on the proposed action. EPA will not institute a second comment 
period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do 
so at this time. Please note that if EPA receives adverse comment on an 
amendment, paragraph, or section of this rule and if that provision may 
be severed from the remainder of the rule, EPA may adopt as final those 
provisions of the rule that are not the subject of an adverse comment. 
If we do not receive any comments, this action will be effective July 
21, 2014.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a 
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Clean Air 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.
    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).

[[Page 29327]]

    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 July 21, 2014. 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 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, Oxides of 
Nitrogen, Ozone, Volatile organic compounds, Incorporation by 
reference.

    Dated: May 2, 2014.
Susan Hedman,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.

    40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:

PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

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

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


0
2. Section 52.726 is amended by adding paragraph (oo) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.726  Control strategy; Ozone.

* * * * *
    (oo) Approval--On March 28, 2014, the State of Illinois submitted a 
revision to its State Implementation Plan for the Illinois portion of 
the Chicago-Gary-Lake County, Illinois-Indiana area (the Greater 
Chicago Area). The submittal established new Motor Vehicle Emissions 
Budgets (MVEB) for Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and Oxides of 
Nitrogen (NOX) for the year 2025. The MVEBs for the Illinois 
portion of the Greater Chicago Area are now: 60.13 tons per day of VOC 
emissions and 150.27 tons per day of NOX emissions for the 
year 2025.

[FR Doc. 2014-11487 Filed 5-21-14; 8:45 am]
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