[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 193 (Monday, October 6, 2014)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 60073-60075]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-23795]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R05-OAR-2014-0274; FRL 9917-33-Region 5]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Illinois; Revision to the Chicago 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the
State of Illinois' March 28, 2014, revision to the state implementation
plan (SIP) for 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 levels as required by the transportation
conformity regulations.
DATES: This final rule is effective on November 5, 2014.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID
No. EPA-R05-OAR-2014-0274. All documents in the docket are listed on
the www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business
Information (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 through 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 EPA's response to comments?
III. What action is EPA taking?
IV. 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 NAAQS 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.
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 NAAQS. 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.
On March 28, 2014, Illinois submitted a SIP revision to the 1997 8-
hour ozone maintenance plan for the Illinois portion of the Greater
Chicago Area. This SIP revision establishes new MVEBs for VOC and
NOX for the year 2025. Illinois allocated 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 levels required by the
transportation conformity regulations.
On May 22, 2014, EPA published proposed (79 FR 29395) and direct
final (79 FR 29324) rules approving a revision to the 1997 8-hour ozone
maintenance plan for the Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago Area.
EPA subsequently received adverse comments on the direct final rule and
withdrew it on June 26, 2014 (79 FR 36220). The proposal was not
withdrawn.
II. What is EPA's response to comments?
EPA received one supportive and one adverse comment on the May 22,
2014 (79 FR 29324) proposed approval of the Illinois SIP revision. The
adverse comment was submitted by Robert Ukeiley.
Comment from Robert Ukeiley: The commenter contends that EPA's
approval of an increase in mobile source NOX and VOC
emissions will interfere with attainment the 2008 ozone NAAQS as
expeditiously as possible and will also interfere with reasonable
further progress in violation of Clean Air Act Section 110(l). The
comment provides no support for or explanation of the basis for these
claims.
Response to Robert Ukeiley: Clean Air Act (Act) Section 110(l)
provides in part: ``The Administrator shall not approve a revision of a
plan if the revision would interfere with any applicable requirement
concerning attainment and reasonable further progress or any other
applicable requirement of this chapter.'' As a general matter, EPA must
and does consider section 110(l) requirements for every SIP revision,
including whether the revision would ``interfere with'' any applicable
requirement. See, e.g., 70 FR 53, 57 (January 3, 2005); 70 FR 17029,
17033 (April 4, 2005); 70 FR 28429, 28431 (May 18, 2005); and 70 FR
58119, 58134 (October 5, 2005).
At this time, the Greater Chicago Area is marginal nonattainment
for the 2008 ozone NAAQS. Marginal areas have an
[[Page 60074]]
attainment date of December 31, 2015. Marginal areas do not have any
reasonable further progress requirements under section 171 of the Act.
The Illinois maintenance plan update for the 1997 8-hour ozone
NAAQS does not revise or remove any existing emissions limit for any
source. The transportation conformity process, found at 40 CFR part 93
subpart A, allows areas to modify existing MVEBs by adding a ``safety
margin'' to the budgets provided that, in this case, the maintenance
plan for the area demonstrates that a ``safety margin'' exists. A
safety margin, as defined in the transportation conformity rule, 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. (40 CFR 93.101) This concept is further described in 40
CFR 93.124(a). The attainment level of emissions is the level of
emissions during one of the years in which the area met the NAAQS. This
maintenance plan update establishes new MVEBs for VOC and
NOX for the year 2025 by allocation of a portion of the
safety margin for VOC and NOX from the approved 1997 8-hour
ozone maintenance plan. The safety margin for the Illinois portion of
the Greater Chicago Area is 175.60 tons/day of VOC and 469.65 tons/day
of NOX as shown in Table 1 below.
Table 1--Safety Margin for Chicago's 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2025 Projected
2008 Attainment year maintenance Safety margin
Pollutant year emissions emissions (tons/ (tons/day)
(tons/day) day)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC....................................................... 787.45 611.95 175.60
NOX....................................................... 896.76 427.11 469.65
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illinois has requested the allocation of 12 tons/day of the VOC and
25 tons/day of NOX from the safety margins to the 2025
MVEBs. Table 2 shows the approved 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan
MVEBs, the amount of emissions from the safety margin allocated to the
new MVEBs, and new MVEBs.
Table 2--Approved and New MVEBs for Chicago's 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Safety margin
Pollutant Approved 2025 allocation (tons/ New 2025 MVEB
MVEB (tons/day) day) (tons/day)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC....................................................... 48.13 12.00 60.13
NOX....................................................... 125.27 25.00 150.27
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Tables 1 and 2 show that the total year 2025 emissions of VOC and
NOX for the area will remain below the attainment level
required by the transportation conformity regulations. On this basis,
EPA concludes that the maintenance plan update does not interfere with
attainment or maintenance of any air quality NAAQS. The revised MVEBs
will be used to show that the area's transportation plan and
transportation improvement program conform to the SIP for any required
analysis year starting with 2025 through the last year of the area's
transportation plan. This revision to the MVEBs has no impact on
transportation conformity requirements for any year prior to 2025.
The commenter does not provide any information to demonstrate that
approval of this maintenance plan update would have any impact on the
area's ability to comply with the 2008 ozone NAAQS. In fact, the
maintenance plan update provided with the State's submission
demonstrates a decline in ozone precursor emissions over the timeframe
of the initial maintenance period. The maintenance plan update will not
relax the currently applicable MVEB that is used for any analysis year
prior to 2025, nor will the maintenance plan update alter the status
quo of the air quality, at least through 2025. As stated above, this
area's attainment date for the 2008 ozone NAAQS is December 31, 2015.
We believe they will attain (or adopt a strategy to attain) the ozone
NAAQS well before 2025, so the change to the 2025 budget should not
interfere with the attainment of the 2008 ozone NAAQS as expeditiously
as practicable. Accordingly, EPA finds no basis under section 110(l)
for EPA to disapprove the SIP revision.
III. 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 new 1997 8-hour ozone
maintenance plan MVEBs for the Illinois portion of the Greater Chicago
Area are 60.13 tons/day of VOC emissions and 150.27 tons/day of
NOX emissions for the year 2025. The revision will keep the
total emissions for the area at or below the attainment levels required
by law. This action will allow State or local agencies to continue to
maintain air quality while allowing planned transportation projects to
proceed.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA 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 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);
[[Page 60075]]
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 CAA; 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).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for
the appropriate circuit by December 5, 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. 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, Incorporation by
reference, Oxides of Nitrogen, Ozone, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: September 22, 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: 60.13 tons/day of VOC
emissions and 150.27 tons/day of NOX emissions for the year
2025.
[FR Doc. 2014-23795 Filed 10-3-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P