[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25605-25608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10166]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2014-0250; FRL-9945-91-Region 4]


Air Plan Approval; Removal of I/M Program in Memphis and 
Revisions to the 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for Shelby County, 
Tennessee

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the 
State of Tennessee's May 23, 2014, State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
revision, submitted through the Tennessee Department of Environment and 
Conservation (TDEC) on behalf of the Shelby County Health Department 
(SCHD), seeking to modify the SIP by removing the Inspection and 
Maintenance (I/M) program in the City of Memphis, Tennessee, and by 
incorporating Shelby County's revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-
hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Among other 
things, the revised maintenance plan updates the emissions inventory 
estimates and the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for the years 
2006 and 2021, and contains an emissions reduction measure to offset 
the emissions increase expected from the termination of City of Memphis 
I/M program. EPA has determined that Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP 
revision is consistent with the applicable provisions of the Clean Air 
Act (CAA or Act).

DATES: This rule is effective May 31, 2016.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket 
Identification No. EPA-R04-OAR-2014-0250. All documents in the docket 
are listed on the www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the 
index, some information may not be publicly available, i.e., 
Confidential Business Information 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 Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and 
Implementation Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you 
contact the person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section to schedule your inspection. The Regional Office's official 
hours of business are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., 
excluding federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Wong, Air Regulatory 
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air 
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. 
Mr. Wong can be reached by phone at (404) 562-8726 or via electronic 
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    Shelby County was designated as nonattainment for the carbon 
monoxide (CO) NAAQS on March 3, 1978 (43 FR 8962). Local transportation 
sources in the City of Memphis were identified as the prime 
contributors to monitored CO violations in Shelby County at that time. 
The City of Memphis I/M program was adopted as a control strategy to 
attain the CO NAAQS.
    On July 26, 1994 (59 FR 37939), EPA redesignated Shelby County to 
attainment for the CO standard and approved the initial 10-year CO 
maintenance plan for Shelby County. Subsequently, further improvements 
in automotive technology led to a consistent reduction in locally 
monitored levels of CO. On October 25, 2006 (71 FR 62384), EPA approved 
the required second 10-year CO maintenance plan which demonstrated that 
I/M was no longer needed to maintain the CO NAAQS.
    On April 30, 2004 (69 FR 23858), EPA designated Shelby County, 
Tennessee, and Crittenden County, Arkansas, as nonattainment for the 
1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, with a classification of `moderate' 
(hereinafter collectively referred to as the ``Memphis 1997 8-hour 
Ozone Area'').\1\ Under CAA section 182(b)(4), moderate ozone 
nonattainment areas with a census-defined urbanized area population 
over a given threshold are required to adopt basic I/M as part of the 
required SIP.
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    \1\ On March 12, 2008, EPA promulgated a revised 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS of 0.075 parts per million. See 73 FR 16436 (March 27, 2008). 
EPA designated Shelby County; Crittenden County, Arkansas; and a 
portion of Desoto County, Mississippi, as a marginal nonattainment 
area for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS on April 30, 2012 (effective 
July 20, 2012). See 77 FR 30088 (May 21, 2012). Currently, 
monitoring data for the Memphis 2008 8-hour Ozone Area indicates 
that the Area has attaining data for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS. As 
noted above, marginal ozone nonattainment areas are not required to 
adopt an I/M program.
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    Following the initial designations for the 1997 8-hour ozone 
standard, Shelby County, the State of Tennessee, Crittenden County, and 
the State of Arkansas adopted additional measures to control ozone-
forming emissions in the region and petitioned EPA to use its 
discretion under CAA section 181(a)(4) to reclassify the Area from 
moderate to marginal. On September 22, 2004 (69 FR 56697), EPA granted 
the petition to reclassify the Area, which removed the SIP planning 
requirements mandated of moderate ozone nonattainment areas, including 
the adoption of a mandatory I/M program, and reset the attainment 
deadline to June 15, 2007. The Area

[[Page 25606]]

failed to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by the marginal area 
attainment deadline. Consequently, on March 28, 2008 (73 FR 16547), EPA 
reclassified the Area as a moderate nonattainment area. This 
reclassification reset the attainment deadline to June 15, 2010, with 
an attainment plan SIP revision due on March 1, 2009, to address all 
CAA requirements for a moderate ozone nonattainment area, including an 
I/M program in Shelby County pursuant to CAA section 184(b)(4).
    The end of the 2008 ozone monitoring season resulted in a design 
value for the Memphis 1997 8-hour Ozone Area that met the NAAQS. 
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas prepared separate, but 
coordinated, redesignation requests and maintenance plans for their 
respective portions of the Area. Tennessee, on behalf of Shelby County, 
submitted the redesignation request and maintenance plan for its 
portion of the 1997 8-hour Ozone Area to EPA on February 26, 2009, 
prior to the attainment plan SIP revision due date.
    EPA approved Tennessee's redesignation request and maintenance plan 
on January 4, 2010 (75 FR 56). Although there was no longer a mandatory 
requirement to implement I/M in Shelby County under section 184(b)(4) 
of the CAA, the City of Memphis continued to operate its I/M program, 
and the SIP-approved maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS 
includes the implementation of a basic I/M program in Shelby County as 
a contingency measure in the event that the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS is 
violated in the 1997 8-hour Ozone Area after redesignation. In mid-
2012, the Memphis City Council voted to defund the City of Memphis I/M 
program beginning with Fiscal Year 2013/2014. Vehicle inspection 
operations at all four City of Memphis inspection stations ended on 
June 28, 2013. Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP submission addresses the 
termination of this program.
    In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on February 12, 
2016 (81 FR 7483), EPA proposed to approve the May 23, 2014, SIP 
revision. No comments were received on the February 12, 2012, NPRM. The 
details of Tennessee's submittal and the rationale for EPA's actions 
are further explained in the NPRM.

II. Revised MVEBs

    Tennessee's May 23, 2014, maintenance plan revision updates the 
MVEBs for 2006 and 2021 using on-road mobile source emissions estimates 
from MOVES and removes the MVEBs for 2009 and 2017. The revised 2021 
MVEB accounts for the termination of the I/M program and the shutdown 
of the Cleo, Inc. facility.\2\ These budgets are used by transportation 
authorities to assure that transportation plans, programs, and projects 
are consistent with, and conform to, the maintenance of acceptable air 
quality in the Memphis 1997 8-hour Ozone Area.
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    \2\ As discussed in the NPRM, the maintenance plan revision 
includes emissions reductions from the closure of the Cleo, Inc. 
facility to offset the estimated increase in emissions due to the 
termination of the City of Memphis I/M program. The Cleo facility 
was a gift wrap manufacturing plant and warehouse located at 4025 
Viscount Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.
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    Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation plans, 
programs, and projects, such as the construction of new highways, must 
``conform'' to (i.e., be consistent with) the part of the state's air 
quality plan that addresses pollution from cars and trucks. Conformity 
to the SIP means that transportation activities will not cause new air 
quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely 
attainment of the NAAQS or any interim milestones. If a transportation 
plan does not conform, most new projects that would expand the capacity 
of roadways cannot go forward. Regulations at 40 CFR part 93 set forth 
EPA policy, criteria, and procedures for demonstrating and assuring 
conformity of such transportation activities to a SIP. The regional 
emissions analysis is one, but not the only, requirement for 
implementing transportation conformity. Transportation conformity is a 
requirement for nonattainment and maintenance areas. Maintenance areas 
are areas that were previously nonattainment for a particular NAAQS but 
have since been redesignated to attainment with an approved maintenance 
plan for that NAAQS.
    Under the CAA, states are required to submit, at various times, 
control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans for nonattainment areas. 
These control strategy SIPs (including RFP and attainment 
demonstration) and maintenance plans create MVEBs for criteria 
pollutants and/or their precursors to address pollution from cars and 
trucks. Per 40 CFR part 93, a MVEB must be established for the last 
year of the maintenance plan. A state may adopt MVEBs for other years 
as well. The MVEB is the portion of the total allowable emissions in 
the maintenance demonstration that is allocated to highway and transit 
vehicle use and emissions. See 40 CFR 93.101. The MVEB serves as a 
ceiling on emissions from an area's planned transportation system. The 
MVEB concept is further explained in the preamble to the November 24, 
1993 (58 FR 62188), Transportation Conformity Rule. The preamble also 
describes how to establish the MVEB in the SIP and how to revise the 
MVEB. According to 40 CFR 93.118, a maintenance plan must establish 
MVEBs for the last year of the maintenance plan (in this case, 2021). 
The updated MVEBs in the revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS are for the base year (2006) and the last year of the first 
10-year maintenance plan (2021). The 2021 MVEB reflects the total on-
road mobile source emissions for 2021 plus an allocation from the 
available volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides 
(NOX) safety margins.\3\ The MVEBs are presented in Table 1, 
below.
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    \3\ The safety margin is the difference between the attainment 
level of emissions (from all sources) and the projected level of 
emissions (from all sources) in the maintenance plan. As discussed 
in the NPRM, Shelby County chose to allocate 4.224 tpd of the 
available VOC safety margin and 40.393 tpd of the available 
NOX safety margin to the 2021 MVEBs.

                Table 1--Shelby County VOC and NOX MVEBs
                       [Ozone season tons per day]
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                                                       2006       2021
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NOX...............................................     58.013     56.428
VOC...............................................     23.986     12.782
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    The previously-approved 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for 
Shelby County contained interim MVEBs for years 2006, 2009, and 2017 in 
addition to the required maintenance year MVEB of 2021. The consensus 
formed during the interagency consultation process was that MVEBs 
should only be set for 2006 and 2021.\4\ Therefore, the revised 
maintenance plan removes the interim budgets for years 2009 and 2017.
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    \4\ The transportation conformity provisions of the CAA require 
interagency consultation in the development of MVEBs. The 
consultation process involves federal agencies (EPA, Federal Highway 
Administration, and Federal Transit Administration), state and local 
transportation agencies, state and local air agencies, and 
metropolitan planning organizations.
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III. Final Action

    EPA is approving Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP revision seeking to 
remove the City of Memphis I/M program from the SIP and to incorporate 
Shelby County's revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS into the SIP.\5\ The maintenance plan includes,

[[Page 25607]]

among other things, an emissions reduction measure to offset the 
emissions increase expected from the termination of City of Memphis I/M 
program as well as revised emission inventory estimates and revised 
2006 and 2021 MVEBs based upon new modeling associated with the 
termination of the I/M program and the inclusion of the offset measure. 
Within 24 months from this final rule, the transportation partners will 
need to demonstrate conformity to the new NOX and VOC MVEBs 
pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e)(3).
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    \5\ The contingency measures portion of Shelby County's 
maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, as incorporated 
into the SIP, includes the implementation of an I/M program in 
Shelby County as a contingency measure should a monitored violation 
of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS occur in the former Memphis, TN-AR 
nonattainment area. Today's final action does not remove the I/M 
program from the contingency measures in the SIP-approved 
maintenance plan.
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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. See 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 as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it 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 June 28, 2016. 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: April 20, 2016.
Heather McTeer Toney,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.

    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.

Subpart RR--Tennessee

0
2. Section 52.2220(e), is amended by adding an entry for ``8-Hour Ozone 
Maintenance plan for the Shelby County, Tennessee Area'' at the end of 
the table to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2220  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                                EPA-Approved Tennessee Non-Regulatory Provisions
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                                       Applicable         State
   Name of non-regulatory SIP        geographic or      effective    EPA approval date         Explanation
            provision              nonattainment area      date
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Revised 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance  Memphis, Shelby        5/14/2014  4/29/2016 [Insert    Revises the maintenance
 plan for the Shelby County,       County.                           citation of          plan approved by EPA
 Tennessee Area.                                                     publication].        on 1/4/10 to include a
                                                                                          revised emissions
                                                                                          inventory, revised
                                                                                          MVEBs, and an
                                                                                          emissions reduction
                                                                                          measure to offset the
                                                                                          termination of the
                                                                                          City of Memphis I/M
                                                                                          program.
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[FR Doc. 2016-10166 Filed 4-28-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P