[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 191 (Friday, October 2, 2015)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 59611-59615]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-25037]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2015-0513; FRL-9934-98-Region 7]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; State of 
Missouri, Limited Maintenance Plan for the St. Louis Nonclassifiable 
Maintenance Area for the 8-Hour Carbon Monoxide National Ambient Air 
Quality Standard

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking direct 
final action to approve revisions to the State Implementation Plan 
(SIP) submitted by the State of Missouri relating to the Limited 
Maintenance Plan for the St. Louis area for the 8-Hour Carbon Monoxide 
(CO) National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). On April 8, 2014, 
the Missouri Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) submitted to EPA a 
second 10-year maintenance plan for the St. Louis area for the CO 
NAAQS. This maintenance plan addresses maintenance of the CO NAAQS for 
a second 10-year period beyond the original redesignation. In 
accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA is 
approving the revision because the State adequately demonstrates that 
the St. Louis Maintenance area will maintain air quality standards for 
CO through the year 2022.

DATES: This direct final rule will be effective December 1, 2015, 
without further notice, unless EPA receives adverse comment by November 
2, 2015. If EPA receives adverse comment, we 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-R07-
OAR-2015-0513, by one of the following methods:
    1. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. Email: [email protected].
    3. Mail or Hand Delivery: Steven Brown, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, 
Lenexa, Kansas 66219.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-
2015-0513. EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. 
Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. 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. 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 submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, 
information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance 
on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets. 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

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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, i.e., 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 
form. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in 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 legal 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: Steven Brown, Environmental Protection 
Agency, Air Planning and Development Branch, 11201 Renner Boulevard, 
Lenexa, Kansas 66219 at 913-551-7718 or by email at 
[email protected].

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

I. What is being addressed in this document?
II. What is the background for this action?
III. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?
IV. Evaluation of Missouri's Submittal
V. Transportation and General Conformity
VI. What action is EPA taking?

I. What is being addressed in this document?

    The EPA is taking direct final action to approve revisions to the 
SIP submitted by the State of Missouri relating to the Limited 
Maintenance Plan for the St. Louis area for the 8-hour CO NAAQS.
    Eight years after an area is redesignated to attainment, CAA 
section 175A(b) requires the state to submit a subsequent maintenance 
plan to EPA, covering a second 10-year period. This maintenance plan 
must demonstrate continued compliance with the NAAQS during this second 
10-year period.
    On April 8, 2014, the MDNR submitted to EPA a second 10-year 
maintenance plan for the St. Louis area for the CO NAAQS and requested 
that EPA approve this revision as meeting the CAA section 175A 
requirements. This maintenance plan addresses maintenance of the CO 
NAAQS for a second 10-year period beyond the original redesignation.
    This revision to Missouri's SIP does not have an adverse effect on 
air quality and EPA's approval of this SIP revision is being done in 
accordance with the requirements of the CAA.

II. What is the background for this action?

    Under section 107(d)(1)(C) of the Act, any area designated before 
the date of enactment of the CAA Amendments of 1990 was to be 
designated upon enactment by operation of law. CO nonattainment areas 
that had not violated the CO standard in either year for the two-year 
period 1988-1989 were to be designated nonattainment and identified as 
``not classified'' nonattainment areas. Accordingly, because the St. 
Louis area had not violated the standard in the 1988-1989 period, on 
November 6, 1991, the St. Louis area was designated nonattainment for 
the CO NAAQS and identified as ``not classified'' on November 6, 1991 
(56 FR 56786).
    On June 13, 1997, the State requested EPA to redesignate the St. 
Louis nonattainment area to attainment and submitted a limited 
maintenance plan to demonstrate maintenance of the standard for a 10-
year period. EPA published approval of the redesignation request and 
maintenance plan on January 26, 1999 (64 FR 3855). The State has 
maintained the standard since and recently submitted a second 10-year 
maintenance plan to EPA on April 8, 2014.
    An areas design value (DV) for the 8-hour CO NAAQS is calculated by 
finding the second maximum 8 hour average value at each monitor, for 
each year, for two years. The higher second maximum is used as the 
areas DV and the 8-hour CO standard is attained when the daily average 
8-hour CO concentration of 9.0 parts per million (ppm) is not exceeded 
more than once a year.
    Since the redesignation of the St. Louis area to attainment for CO 
on January 26, 1999, the second highest concentration in any calendar 
year measured by the EPA approved monitoring network was 5.7 ppm, which 
is less than 9.0 ppm.
    In addition, areas that can demonstrate design values at or below 
7.65 ppm (85 percent of the 9.0 ppm CO NAAQS) for 8 consecutive 
quarters may use a limited maintenance plan option. The State has opted 
to develop a limited maintenance plan to fulfill the second 10-year 
maintenance plan required by the CAA. The base year in the State's 
second 10-year maintenance plan is 2008, which has a design value of 
2.8 ppm. EPA also reviewed air quality monitoring data (2011-2012) and 
the 8-hour CO design value for the St. Louis area is 1.8 ppm. Thus, the 
area is well below the 7.65 ppm (85 percent of the 9.0 ppm CO NAAQS) 
for 8 consecutive quarters and qualifies to use the limited maintenance 
plan option.

III. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?

    The state submission has met the public notice requirements for SIP 
submissions in accordance with 40 CFR 51.102. The submission also 
satisfied the completeness criteria of 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. In 
addition, the revision meets the substantive SIP requirements of the 
CAA, including Section 110 and implementing regulations.

IV. Evaluation of Missouri's Submittal

    EPA has reviewed the St. Louis area second 10-year CO maintenance 
plan and concludes that the submittal meets the requirements of section 
175A(b) of the Act. The following is a summary of the requirements and 
EPA's evaluation of how each requirement is met.

A. Base Year Emissions Inventory

    The plan must contain an attainment year emissions inventory to 
identify a level of emissions in the area which is sufficient to attain 
the CO NAAQS. The St. Louis area second 10-year CO maintenance plan 
contains an emissions inventory for the base year 2008 that is 
consistent with EPA's most recent guidance on maintenance plan emission 
inventories. The emissions inventory is a list, by source, of the air 
contaminants directly emitted into the St. Louis area. The data in the 
emissions inventory is based on calculations using emission factors, 
which is a method for converting source activity levels into an 
estimate of emissions contributions for those sources. Because 
violations of the CO NAAQS are most likely to occur on winter weekdays, 
the inventory prepared is in a ``typical winter day'' format. The table 
below shows the tons of CO emitted per winter day in 2008 by source 
category.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  CO
                                                               Emissions
              County                    Source category        (tons per
                                                                winter
                                                                 day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
St. Louis........................  Point Sources............       17.26
St. Louis........................  Area Sources.............       70.26
St. Louis........................  On Road Mobile...........      532.42
St. Louis........................  Off Road Mobile..........      250.48
                                                             -----------
St. Louis........................     Total.................      870.42
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B. Demonstration of Maintenance

    The maintenance plan demonstration requirement is considered to be 
satisfied for areas using the limited maintenance plan option, which 
are required to demonstrate design values at or below 7.65 ppm (85 
percent of the 9.0 ppm CO NAAQS) for 8 consecutive quarters. The State 
has opted to develop a limited maintenance plan to fulfill the St. 
Louis area second 10-year maintenance plan required by the CAA.
    With the limited maintenance plan option, there is no requirement 
to project emissions of air quality over the maintenance period. EPA 
believes that if the area begins the maintenance period at, or below, 
85 percent of the 9.0 ppm of the CO 8-hour NAAQS, the applicability of 
prevention of significant deterioration requirements, the control 
measures already in the SIP, and Federal measures, should provide 
adequate assurance of maintenance over the 10-year maintenance period. 
The last monitored exceedance occurred in 1994 and previous to that, 
1987. The St. Louis area met the requirements for the Limited 
Maintenance Plan option in the original redesignation and maintenance 
plan approval in 1999. The design value at that time (1994-1995) was 
5.7 ppm and the monitored CO levels have been steadily in decline ever 
since. The 8-hour CO design value for the St. Louis area is 1.8 ppm 
based on 2011-2012 data, which is below the limited maintenance plan 
requirement of 7.65 ppm. Therefore, the St. Louis area has adequately 
demonstrated that it will maintain the CO NAAQS into the future.

C. Monitoring Network and Verification of Continued Attainment

    To verify the attainment status of the area over the maintenance 
period, the maintenance plan should contain provisions for continued 
operation of an appropriate, EPA-approved monitoring network in 
accordance with 40 CFR part 58. The State has an approved monitoring 
network that includes the St. Louis area. The monitoring network was 
most recently approved by EPA on October 23, 2014. In the St. Louis 
second 10-year CO maintenance plan, MDNR commits to verify continued 
attainment through the EPA-approved monitoring network in accordance 
with 40 CFR part 58.

D. Contingency Plan

    Section 175A(d) of the Act requires that a maintenance plan include 
contingency provisions. The St. Louis second 10-year CO limited 
maintenance plan contains a contingency plan that would institute 
lowering CO limits on existing rules that control CO emissions. The 
contingency plan is triggered either when (Level I) an exceedance of 
the 8 hour CO standard is recorded on any monitor, or (Level II) when a 
violation occurs at any monitor CO monitoring stations in the 
nonattainment area. EPA finds that the contingency measures provided in 
the maintenance plan are adequate to ensure prompt correction of a 
violation.

V. Transportation and General Conformity

    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the CAA. 
EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans, programs, and 
projects that are funded under 23 U.S.C. or the Federal Transit Act 
conform to SIPs. Conformity to a SIP means that transportation 
activities will not produce new air quality violations, worsen existing 
violations, or delay timely attainment of the NAAQS. The transportation 
conformity rule (40 CFR parts 51 and 93) and the general conformity 
rule (40 CFR parts 51 and 93) apply to nonattainment areas and 
maintenance areas covered by an approved maintenance plan. Under either 
conformity rule, an acceptable method of demonstrating that a Federal 
action conforms to the applicable SIP is to demonstrate that expected 
emissions from the planned action are consistent with the emissions 
budget for the area. While EPA's limited maintenance plan option does 
not exempt an area from the need to affirm conformity, it explains that 
the area may demonstrate conformity without submitting an emissions 
budget. Under the limited maintenance plan option, emissions budgets 
are essentially treated as not constraining for the length of the 
maintenance period because it is unreasonable to expect that the 
qualifying areas would experience so much growth in that period that a 
violation of the CO NAAQS would result. Similarly, Federal actions 
subject to the general conformity rule could be considered to satisfy 
the ``budget test'' specified in section 93.158(a)(5)(i)(A) for the 
same reasons that the budgets are essentially considered to be 
unlimited. While areas with maintenance plans approved under the 
limited maintenance plan option are not subject to the budget test, the 
areas remain subject to other transportation conformity requirements of 
40 CFR part 93, subpart A. Thus, the metropolitan planning organization 
(MPO) in the area or the State must document and ensure that:
    a. Transportation plans and projects provide for timely 
implementation of SIP transportation control measures in accordance 
with 40 CFR 93.113;
    b. Transportation plans and projects comply with the fiscal 
constraint element per 40 CFR 93.108;
    c. The MPO's interagency consultation procedures meet applicable 
requirements of 40 CFR 93.105;
    d. Conformity of transportation plans is determined no less 
frequently than every four years, and conformity of plan amendments and 
transportation projects is demonstrated in accordance with the timing 
requirements specified in 40 CFR 93.104;
    e. The latest planning assumptions and emissions model are used as 
set forth in 40 CFR 93.110 and 40 CFR 93.111;
    f. Projects do not cause or contribute to any new localized CO or 
particulate matter violations, in accordance with procedures specified 
in 40 CFR 93.123; and
    g. Project sponsors and/or operators provide written commitments as 
specified in 40 CFR 93.125.
    The MPO and lead transportation agency in St. Louis is the East-
West Gateway Council of Governments (EWG). EWG oversees transportation 
conformity determinations of the Interagency Consultation Committee 
established in Missouri Administrative Rule 10 CSR 10-5.480, which 
includes MDNR, the Missouri Transportation Department, the Federal 
Highway Administration, Federal Transit Administration, City of St. 
Louis Department of Health, St. Louis County Department of Health, St. 
Louis County Department of Highways and the EPA; as specified under 40 
CFR part 93. St. Louis is currently meeting the requirements under 40 
CFR part 93, subpart A.

VI. What action is EPA taking?

    EPA is taking direct final action to approve this SIP revision. We 
are publishing this rule without a prior proposed rule because we view 
this as a noncontroversial action and anticipate no adverse comment. 
However, in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of this Federal Register, we 
are publishing a separate document that will serve as the proposed rule 
to approve this SIP revision, if adverse comments are received on this 
direct final rule. We will not institute a second comment period on 
this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this 
time. For further information about commenting on this rule, see the 
ADDRESSES section of this document. If EPA receives adverse comment, we 
will

[[Page 59614]]

publish a timely withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the 
public that this direct final rule will not take effect. We will 
address all public comments in any subsequent final rule based on the 
proposed rule.

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 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).
    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).
    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 December 1, 2015. 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, Carbon monoxide, 
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: September 21, 2015.
Mark Hague,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 7.
    For the reasons stated in the preamble, EPA amends 40 CFR part 52 
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.

Subpart AA--Missouri

0
2. Section 52.1320(e) is amended by adding new entry (67) at the end of 
the table to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1320  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                               EPA-APPROVED MISSOURI NONREGULATORY SIP PROVISIONS
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                                          Applicable
                                       geographic area    State submittal
 Name of nonregulatory SIP provision   or Nonattainment         date        EPA approval date     Explanation
                                             area
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
(67) Missouri 8-Hour CO Second Ten            St. Louis             4/8/14   10/2/15, [Insert  EPA-R07-OAR-2015-
 year Limited Maintenance Plan......                                         Federal Register  0513; FRL-9934-98-
                                                                                    citation]          Region 7]
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[FR Doc. 2015-25037 Filed 10-1-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P