[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 34 (Friday, February 20, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 9207-9209]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-03287]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 52 and 81

[EPA-R07-OAR-2014-0900; FRL-9923-14-Region 7]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Attainment 
Redesignation for Missouri Portion of the St. Louis MO-IL Area; 1997 8-
Hour Ozone Standard and Associated Maintenance Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to approve the State of Missouri's request to redesignate the 
Missouri portion of the St. Louis MO-IL nonattainment area, the ``St. 
Louis area'' or ``area'' to attainment for the 1997 8-hour National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS or Standard) for ozone 
(O3). The Missouri counties comprising the St. Louis area 
are Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, and St. Louis along with the City 
of St. Louis. EPA's approval of the redesignation request is based on 
the determination that the St. Louis area has met the criteria for 
redesignation to attainment set forth in the Clean Air Act (CAA), 
including the determination that the St. Louis area has attained the 
1997 8-hour O3 standard. Additionally, EPA is approving the 
state's plan for maintaining the 1997 O3 standard in the St. 
Louis area for 10 years beyond redesignation. In a separate action the 
state of Illinois submitted a similar redesignation request for the 
Illinois portion of the St. Louis MO-IL 1997 8-hour O3 area. 
On June 12, 2012, the EPA published a document in the Federal Register 
taking final action to address the Illinois portion of the St. Louis 
area.

DATES: Effective date: This final rule is effective on February 20, 
2015.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID 
No. EPA-R07-OAR-2014-0900. 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., 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, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, 
Lenexa, Kansas 66219. The Regional Office's official hours of business 
are Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. excluding Federal 
holidays. The interested persons wanting to examine these documents 
should make an appointment with the office at least 24 hours in 
advance.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lachala Kemp, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner 
Boulevard, Lenexa, KS 66219 at (913) 551-7214 or by email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we refer to EPA. This section provides 
additional information by addressing the following:

Table of Contents

I. What is the background for this rule?
II. Summary of SIP Revisions
III. What action is EPA taking??
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What is the background for this rule?

    On July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated a revised 8-hour O3 
NAAQS of 0.08 parts per million (ppm) (62 FR 38856). EPA published a 
final rule designating and classifying areas under the 8-hour 
O3 NAAQS on April 30, 2004 (69 FR 23857). In that 
rulemaking, the St. Louis area was designated as nonattainment for the 
1997 8-hour O3 standard and classified as a moderate 
nonattainment area under subpart 2 of the CAA.
    On November 3, 2011, Missouri requested redesignation of the 
Missouri portion of the St. Louis area to attainment of the 1997 8-hour 
O3 standard, and requested approval of the Missouri SIP 
revision containing a maintenance plan for the Missouri portion of the 
St. Louis area. Missouri submitted a supplement to this request on 
April 29, 2014.
    On June 9, 2011 (76 FR 33647), EPA issued a final rulemaking 
determining that the entire St. Louis MO-IL area attained the 1997 8-
hour O3 NAAQS based on three years of complete, quality 
assured O3 data for the period of 2008-2010.
    On December 31, 2014(79 FR 78755), EPA published a notice of 
proposed rulemaking (NPR) proposing to approve Missouri's request to 
redesignate the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area to attainment of 
the 1997 8-hour O3 standard, and also proposing to approve 
Missouri's maintenance plan for the area. The proposed rulemaking 
provides a detailed discussion and sets forth the basis for determining 
that Missouri's redesignation request meets the CAA requirements for 
redesignation to attainment for the 1997 8-hour O3 NAAQS.
    The primary background for this action is contained in EPA's 
December 31, 2014, proposal to approve Missouri's redesignation 
request, and in EPA's June 9, 2011, final rulemaking determining that 
the area has attained the 1997 8-hour O3 standard based on 
complete, quality assured monitoring data for 2008-2010. In these 
rulemakings, we noted that under EPA regulations at 40 CFR 50.10 and 40 
CFR part 50, appendix I provides that the 8-hour O3 standard 
is attained when the three-year average of the annual fourth-highest 
daily maximum 8-hour average O3 concentration is less than 
or equal to 0.08 ppm, when rounded at all monitoring sites in the area. 
See 69 FR 23857 (April 30, 2004). To support the redesignation of the 
area to attainment of the NAAQS, the O3 data must be 
complete for the three attainment years. The data completeness 
requirement is met when the average percent of days with valid ambient 
monitoring data is

[[Page 9208]]

greater than ninety percent, and no single year has less than seventy 
five percent data completeness. See 40 CFR part 50, appendix I, 2.3(d). 
Under the CAA, EPA may redesignate a nonattainment area to attainment 
if sufficient, complete, quality assured data are available to 
determine that the area has attained the standard and if it meets the 
other CAA redesignation requirements in section 107(d)(3)(E).

II. Summary of SIP Revisions

    On November 3, 2011, EPA received a SIP revision from the State of 
Missouri requesting redesignation of the Missouri portion of the St. 
Louis MO-IL area to attainment for the 1997 8-hour O3 
standard, and approval of the area's maintenance plan. Missouri 
submitted a supplemental revision on April 29, 2014. The maintenance 
plan is designed to keep the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area in 
attainment of the 1997 8-hour O3 standard through 2025. A 
more detailed rationale for EPA's proposed action to approve the SIP 
submissions are explained in the NPR and will not be restated here. The 
comment period on EPA's proposed rule opened December 31, 2014, the 
date of its publication in the Federal Register, and closed on January 
30, 2015. No public comments were received on the NPR.

III. What action is EPA taking?

    EPA is approving a request from the State of Missouri to 
redesignate the Missouri portion of the St. Louis, MO-IL area to 
attainment of the 1997 8-hour O3 standard. In addition, EPA 
is approving as a revision to the Missouri SIP, the State's plan for 
maintaining the 1997 8-hour O3 standard through 2025 in the 
area.
    In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(d), EPA finds there is good cause 
for this action to become effective immediately upon publication. This 
is because a delayed effective date is unnecessary due to the nature of 
a redesignation to attainment, which relieves the area from certain CAA 
requirements that would otherwise apply to it. The immediate effective 
date for this action is authorized under both 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1), which 
provides that rulemaking actions may become effective less than 30 days 
after publication if the rule ``grants or recognizes an exemption or 
relieves a restriction,'' and section 553(d)(3), which allows an 
effective date less than 30 days after publication ``as otherwise 
provided by the agency for good cause found and published with the 
rule.'' The purpose of the 30-day waiting period prescribed in section 
553(d) is to give affected parties a reasonable time to adjust their 
behavior and prepare before the final rule takes effect. This rule, 
however, does not create any new regulatory requirements such that 
affected parties would need time to prepare before the rule takes 
effect. Rather, this rule relieves the state of various requirements 
for this nonattainment area. For these reasons, EPA finds good cause 
under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) for this action to become effective on the 
date of publication of this action.

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 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 CAA. 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 Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     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).
    The SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or 
in any other area where EPA or an Indian tribe has demonstrated that a 
tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of Indian country, the rule does 
not have tribal implications and will not impose substantial direct 
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law as specified by 
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000).
    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).

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control.

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

    Dated: February 9, 2015.
Karl Brooks,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental 
Protection Agency amends 40 CFR parts 52 and 81 as set forth below:

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.

[[Page 9209]]

Subpart AA--Missouri

0
2. Section 52.1342 is amended by adding paragraph (c) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.1342  Control strategy: Ozone.

* * * * *
    (c) On November 3, 2011 and April 29, 2014, Missouri submitted 
requests to redesignate the Missouri portion of the St. Louis MO-IL 
area to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. The Missouri 
portion of the St. Louis MO-IL area includes Jefferson, Franklin, St. 
Charles, and St. Louis Counties along with the City of St. Louis. As 
part of the redesignation request, the State submitted a plan for 
maintaining the 1997 8-hour ozone standard through 2025 in the area as 
required by Section 175A of the Clean Air Act.

PART 81--DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR AIR QUALITY PLANNING PURPOSES

0
3. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:

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

Subpart C--Section 107 Attainment Status Designations

0
4. Section 81.326 is amended by revising the entry for ``St. Louis MO-
IL'' in the table entitled ``Missouri--1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS (Primary 
and Secondary)'' to read as follows:


Sec.  81.326  Missouri.

* * * * *

                                        Missouri--1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS
                                             [Primary and Secondary]
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                                               Designation \a\                     Category/Classification
         Designated area         -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                        Date \1\               Type              Date \1\             Type
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                                                  * * * * * * *
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                                                St. Louis, MO-IL
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Franklin County.................  February 20, 2015..  Attainment.........
Jefferson County................  February 20, 2015..  Attainment.........
St. Charles County..............  February 20, 2015..  Attainment.........
St. Louis City..................  February 20, 2015..  Attainment.........
St. Louis County................  February 20, 2015..  Attainment.........
 
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\a\ Includes Indian Country located in each county or area, except as otherwise specified.
\1\ This date is June 15, 2004, unless otherwise noted.

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[FR Doc. 2015-03287 Filed 2-19-15; 8:45 am]
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