[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]


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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.

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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
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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
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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
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                                                                                Safety margin
                         Pollutant                            Approved 2025   allocation (tons/   New 2025 MVEB
                                                             MVEB (tons/day)        day)           (tons/day)
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VOC.......................................................             48.13             12.00             60.13
NOX.......................................................            125.27             25.00            150.27
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    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]
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