[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 158 (Monday, August 17, 2015)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49187-49190]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-20026]



[[Page 49187]]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R06-OAR-2015-0117; FRL-9931-11-Region 6]


Determination of Attainment; Texas; Houston-Galveston-Brazoria 
1997 Ozone Nonattainment Area; Determination of Attainment of the 1997 
Ozone Standard

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
determine that the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) 8-hour ozone 
nonattainment area is currently attaining the 1997 ozone National 
Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). This determination is based upon 
certified ambient air monitoring data that show the area has monitored 
attainment of the 1997 ozone NAAQS for the 2012-2014 monitoring period 
and continues to monitor attainment of the NAAQS based on preliminary 
2015 data. If this proposed determination is made final, the 
requirements for this area to submit an attainment demonstration, a 
reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, contingency measures, and other 
State Implementation Plan (SIP) documents related to attainment of the 
1997 ozone NAAQS shall be suspended for so long as the area continues 
to attain the 1997 ozone NAAQS. This proposed action is consistent with 
EPA's interpretation of certain requirements of part D of title I of 
the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

DATES: Comments must be received on or before September 16, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-
2015-0117, by one of the following methods:
     www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions.
     Email: Ms. Wendy Jacques at [email protected].
     Mail or delivery: Mr. Guy Donaldson, Chief, Air Planning 
Section (6PD-L), Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, 
Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket No. EPA-R06-OAR-2015-
0117. 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 (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. Do not submit electronically any information 
that you consider to be CBI or other information whose disclosure is 
restricted by statute. 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 cannot read your comment due 
to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, 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.
    Docket: The index to the docket for this action is available 
electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA Region 6, 
1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas. While all documents in the 
docket are listed in the index, some information may be publicly 
available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material), 
and some may not be publicly available at either location (e.g., CBI). 
Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a 
written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment 
and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA 
will generally not consider comments or comment contents located 
outside of the primary submission (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other 
file sharing system). For additional information on submitting 
comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Wendy Jacques, (214) 665-7395, 
[email protected]. To inspect the hard copy materials, please 
contact Ms. Jacques or Mr. Bill Deese at (214) 665-7253.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,'' 
and ``our'' means EPA.

I. Background

    Section 109 of the Act requires the EPA to establish a NAAQS for 
pollutants that ``may reasonably be anticipated to endanger public 
health and welfare'' and to develop a primary and secondary standard 
for each NAAQS. The primary standard is designed to protect human 
health with an adequate margin of safety and the secondary standard is 
designed to protect public welfare and the environment. The EPA has set 
NAAQS for six common air pollutants, referred to as criteria 
pollutants: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, particulate 
matter, and sulfur dioxide. These standards present state and local 
governments with the minimum air quality levels they must meet to 
comply with the Act. Also, these standards provide information to 
residents of the United States about the air quality in their 
communities.
    Ozone is a gas composed of three oxygen atoms. Ground-level ozone 
is generally not emitted directly from a vehicle's exhaust or an 
industrial smokestack, but is created by a chemical reaction between 
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of nitrogen 
(NOX) in the presence of sunlight.\1\ Ozone is known 
primarily as a summertime air pollutant. Motor vehicle exhaust and 
industrial emissions, gasoline vapors, chemical solvents and natural 
sources emit NOX and VOCs. Urban areas tend to have high 
concentrations of ground-level ozone, but areas without significant 
industrial activity and with relatively low vehicular traffic are also 
subject to increased ozone levels because wind carries ozone and its 
precursors hundreds of miles from their sources.\2\
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    \1\ VOC and NOX are often referred to as 
``precursors'' to ozone formation.
    \2\ For additional information on ozone, please visit 
www.epa.gov/groundlevelozone.
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    On July 18, 1997, the EPA promulgated an 8-hour ozone NAAQS of 0.08 
parts per million (ppm), known as the 1997 ozone standard. See 62 FR 
38856 and 40 CFR 50.10. Under the EPA regulations at 40 CFR part 50, 
Appendix I, the 1997 ozone standard is attained when the 3-year average 
of the annual fourth highest daily maximum 8-hour average ambient ozone 
concentration is less than or equal to 0.08 ppm.
    On April 30, 2004, the EPA designated and classified the 8-county 
HGB area (consisting of Brazoria, Chambers, Fort Bend, Galveston, 
Harris, Liberty, Montgomery and Waller counties) as a Moderate 
nonattainment area under the 1997 ozone standard with an attainment 
date of no later than

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June 15, 2010 (see 69 FR 23858 and 69 FR 23951). On June 15, 2007, we 
received a request from the Governor of Texas seeking voluntary 
reclassification of the HGB area from a Moderate nonattainment area to 
a Severe nonattainment area under the 1997 ozone standard, which we 
approved on October 1, 2008 (73 FR 56983).\3\ Subsequently, the State 
submitted the Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) and Attainment 
Demonstration (AD) SIPs for the HGB Severe area under the 1997 ozone 
standard. These RFP and AD SIPs were approved on January 2, 2014 (see 
79 FR 51 and 79 FR 57, respectively).
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    \3\ The attainment date for the HGB Severe nonattainment area is 
as expeditiously as practicable, but not later than June 15, 2019.
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    On March 27, 2008 (73 FR 16436), the EPA promulgated a revised 8-
hour ozone NAAQS of 0.075 ppm (the 2008 ozone standard). On April 30, 
2012, the EPA promulgated designations under the 2008 ozone standard 
(77 FR 30088) and in that action the EPA designated the 8-county HGB 
area as a Marginal ozone nonattainment area.\4\ The rule to implement 
the 2008 ozone standard was finalized on March 6, 2014 (see 80 FR 
12264) and in that action the EPA revised the Clean Data Policy \5\ to 
include the 2008 ozone NAAQS and any prior ozone NAAQS. That is, upon a 
determination by the EPA that an area designated nonattainment for the 
2008 ozone NAAQS, or for any prior ozone NAAQS, has attained the 
relevant standard, the requirements for such area to submit attainment 
demonstrations and associated RFP plans, contingency measures for 
failure to attain or make reasonable progress and other planning SIPs 
required under section 182 of the Act related to attainment-of the 2008 
ozone NAAQS, or for any prior NAAQS for which the determination has 
been made, shall be suspended until such time as: (1) The area is 
redesignated to attainment for that NAAQS or a redesignation substitute 
is approved as appropriate, at which time the requirements no longer 
apply; or (2) the EPA determines that the area has violated that NAAQS, 
at which time the area is again required to submit such plans. See 80 
FR 12264, 12317 and 40 CFR 51.1118.
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    \4\ The EPA's actions herein do not address the HGB 
nonattainment area for the 2008 ozone standard.
    \5\ The EPA initially issued the Clean Data Policy in 1995, 
``RFP, Attainment Demonstration, and Related Requirements for Ozone 
Nonattainment Areas Meeting the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality 
Standard,'' Memorandum from John S. Seitz, Director, Office of Air 
Quality Planning and Standards, May 10, 1995. For purposes of the 
1997 ozone standard, we codified that policy at 40 CFR 51.918. This 
codified policy was upheld by the D.C. Circuit in NRDC v. EPA, 571 
F.3d 1245 (D.C. 2009). The policy memo is in the docket for this 
rulemaking.
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    If the EPA's determination that the HGB area is currently attaining 
the 1997 ozone standard is finalized, 40 CFR 51.1118 provides that the 
requirements for the TCEQ to submit certain RFP plans, attainment 
demonstrations, contingency measures and any other attainment planning 
requirements of the CAA related to attainment of that standard in the 
HGB area shall be suspended for as long as the area continues to attain 
the standard. This action is known as a Clean Data Determination or 
CDD. However, a CDD does not constitute a redesignation to attainment 
under section 107(d)(3)(E) of the Act, and if the EPA determines that 
the area subsequently violates the standard, that suspension of the 
requirement to submit the attainment planning SIP provisions is lifted, 
and those requirements are once again due. Even though the EPA has 
finalized revocation of the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, under 40 CFR 
51.1118, an area remains subject to the obligations for a revoked NAAQS 
until either (i) the area is redesignated to attainment for the 2008 
ozone NAAQS; or (ii) the EPA approves a demonstration for the area in a 
redesignation substitute procedure for a revoked NAAQS per the 
provisions of Sec.  51.1105(b). Under this redesignation substitute 
procedure for a revoked NAAQS, and for this limited anti-backsliding 
purpose, the demonstration must show that the area has attained that 
revoked NAAQS due to permanent and enforceable emission reductions and 
that the area will maintain that revoked NAAQS for 10 years from the 
date of the EPA's approval of this showing. We also note that the CDD 
does not constitute a Determination of Attainment by an Area's 
Attainment Date under sections 179(c) and 181(b)(2) of the Act.

II. The EPA's Evaluation of the HGB Data

    For ozone, an area is considered to be attaining the 1997 ozone 
NAAQS if there are no violations, as determined in accordance with 40 
CFR part 50, based on three complete, consecutive calendar years of 
quality-assured air quality monitoring data. Under the EPA regulations 
at 40 CFR part 50, the 1997 ozone standard is attained when the 3-year 
average of the annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone 
concentrations at an ozone monitor is less than or equal to 0.08 parts 
per million (ppm), (i.e., 0.084 ppm, when rounding, based on the 
truncating conventions in 40 CFR part 50, Appendix I). This 3-year 
average is referred to as the design value. When the design value is 
less than or equal to 0.084 ppm at each monitor within the area, then 
the area is meeting the NAAQS. Also, the data completeness requirement 
is met when the average percent of days with valid ambient monitoring 
data is greater than or equal to 90%, and no single year has less than 
75% data completeness as determined in Appendix I of 40 CFR part 50. 
The data must be collected and quality-assured in accordance with 40 
CFR part 58, and recorded in the EPA Air Quality System (AQS). The 
monitors generally should have remained at the same location for the 
duration of the monitoring period required for demonstrating 
attainment. For ease of communication, many reports of ozone 
concentrations are given in parts per billion (ppb); ppb = ppm x 1,000. 
Thus, 0.084 ppm equals 84 ppb.
    The EPA reviewed the HGB area ozone monitoring data from ambient 
ozone monitoring stations for 2012-2014 and through July 2015. The 
2012-2014 data for all the ozone monitors in the HGB area have been 
quality assured and certified by the EPA. The design value for 2012-
2014 is 80 ppb. At the time of this writing, the preliminary ozone data 
for 2015 are posted on the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality 
(TCEQ) Web site and in AQS.\6\ The data for 2012-2014, and preliminary 
data for 2015, show that the HGB area is attaining the 1997 ozone 
NAAQS.
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    \6\ See http://www.tceq.texas.gov/agency/data/ozone_data.html. 
Preliminary data for the first quarter of 2015 are posted in AQS and 
are provided in the docket for this rulemaking.
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    Table 1 shows the fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone 
concentrations for the HGB nonattainment area monitors for the years 
2012-2014. (To find the overall design value for the area for a given 
year, simply find the highest design value from any of the 20 monitors 
for that year.)

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 Table 1--The HGB Area Fourth High 8-Hour Ozone Average Concentrations and Design Values (ppm) for 2012-2014 \1\
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                                                               4th Highest daily max
              Site name and AQS No.              ------------------------------------------------  Design value
                                                       2012            2013            2014         (2012-2014)
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Seabrook Friendship Park, 482011050.............           0.086           0.067           0.065           0.072
Houston Westhollow, 482010066...................           0.081           0.077           0.070           0.076
Houston Deer Park #2, 482011039.................           0.085           0.069           0.063           0.072
Houston North Wayside, 482010046................           0.075           0.070           0.062           0.069
Houston Monroe, 482010062.......................           0.085           0.074           0.065           0.074
Conroe Relocated, 483390078.....................           0.082           0.075           0.072           0.076
Houston East, 482011034.........................           0.083           0.069           0.066           0.072
Channelview, 482010026..........................           0.077           0.061           0.064           0.067
Lake Jackson, 480391016.........................           0.071           0.067           0.061           0.066
Baytown Garth, 482011017........................           0.071           0.061           0.067           0.066
Park Place, 482010416...........................           0.077           0.079           0.066           0.074
Houston Croquet, 482010051......................           0.079           0.079           0.067           0.075
Houston Aldine, 482010024.......................           0.075           0.074           0.068           0.072
Houston Bayland Park, 482010055.................           0.077           0.081           0.067           0.075
Clinton, 482011035..............................           0.081           0.067           0.058           0.068
Northwest Harris County, 482010029..............           0.082           0.080           0.063           0.075
Manvel Croix Park, 480391004....................           0.087           0.084           0.071           0.080
Lang, 482010047.................................           0.081           0.079           0.064           0.074
Galveston 99th Street, 481671034................           0.081           0.064           0.071           0.072
Lynchburg Ferry, 482011015......................           0.075           0.064           0.059           0.066
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\1\ These ozone monitors have remained in the same location for the duration of the monitoring period from 2012
  to 2014. The TCEQ Web site includes monitoring data for the Texas Avenue site, but Table 1 here does not. Data
  from the Texas Avenue site is excluded because the site does not meet siting criteria required by 40 CFR part
  58 Appendix E. The TCEQ has requested NAAQS exclusion for the pollutants monitored at this site since 2002.
  The TCEQ ozone monitors and data are posted at https://www.tceq.texas.gov/cgi-bin/compliance/monops/8hr_attainment.pl.

    As shown in Table 1, the 8-hour ozone design value for 2012-2014, 
which is based on a three-year average of the fourth-highest daily 
maximum average ozone concentration at the monitor recording the 
highest concentrations, is 80 ppb, which meets the 1997 ozone NAAQS. 
Data for 2015 not yet certified also indicate that the area continues 
to attain the 1997 ozone NAAQS. In addition, ozone data for 2015 that 
are available in the EPA AQS database show this area continues to 
attain the 1997 ozone NAAQS. The AQS data reports for the HGB area for 
the three years 2012 through 2014 and the first quarter of 2015 are 
included in the docket for this rulemaking.

III. Proposed Action

    In accordance with 40 CFR 51.1118, the EPA is proposing to 
determine that the HGB 8-hour ozone nonattainment area is currently 
attaining the 1997 ozone NAAQS. This determination is based upon 
certified ambient air monitoring data that show the area has monitored 
attainment of the 1997 ozone NAAQS for the 2012-2014 monitoring period 
and continues to monitor attainment of the NAAQS based on preliminary 
2015 data. Thus the requirements for such area to submit attainment 
demonstrations and associated reasonably available control measures, 
RFP plans, contingency measures for failure to attain or make 
reasonable progress and other planning SIPs related to attainment of 
the 1997 ozone NAAQS shall be suspended until such time as: (1) The 
area is redesignated to attainment for the 1997 ozone NAAQS or a 
redesignation substitute is approved as appropriate, at which time the 
requirements no longer apply; or (2) the EPA determines that the area 
has violated the 1997 ozone NAAQS, at which time the area is again 
required to submit such plans. This proposal is consistent with our 
interpretation of certain requirements of part D of title I of the Act.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This action proposes to make a determination of attainment based on 
air quality, and would, if finalized, result in the suspension of 
certain Federal requirements, and it would not impose additional 
requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this 
proposed 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 the 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 proposed rule does not have tribal implications as 
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), 
because it merely makes a determination based on air quality data.

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List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

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

    Dated: August 3, 2015.
Ron Curry,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2015-20026 Filed 8-14-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P