[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 198 (Monday, October 16, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47981-47983]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22254]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R03-OAR-2017-0413; FRL-9969-48-Region 3]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
West Virginia; 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards
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 of West Virginia state
implementation plan (SIP). The revisions update the effective date by
which the West Virginia regulations incorporate by reference the
national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), additional monitoring
methods, and additional equivalent monitoring methods. This update will
effectively add the following to the West Virginia SIP: The 2015 ozone
NAAQS, monitoring reference and equivalent methods pertaining to fine
particulate matter (PM2.5), Carbon Monoxide (CO), and course
particulate matter (PM10), and it will revise the ozone
monitoring season, the Federal Reference Method (FRM), the Federal
Equivalent Method (FEM), and the Photochemical Assessment Monitoring
Stations (PAMS) network. The SIP revision will also change a reference
from the ``West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection,'' to
the ``Division of Air Quality.'' EPA is approving these revisions in
accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: This rule is effective on December 15, 2017 without further
notice, unless EPA receives adverse written comment by November 15,
2017. If EPA receives such comments, it will publish a timely
withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register and inform
the public that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R03-
OAR-2017-0413 at https://www.regulations.gov, or via email to
[email protected]. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow
the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted,
comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either
manner of submission, 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, please contact the person
identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Joseph Schulingkamp, (215) 814-2021,
or by email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
On June 13, 2017, the State of West Virginia through the West
Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) submitted a
formal revision to West Virginia's SIP pertaining to amendments of
Legislative Rule, 45 CSR 8--Ambient Air Quality Standards. The SIP
revision consists of revising the effective date of the incorporation
by reference of 40 CFR parts 50 and 53.
II. Summary of SIP Revision and EPA Analysis
West Virginia has submitted this SIP revision to update the State's
incorporation by reference of 40 CFR part 50, which contains the
Federal NAAQS, and 40 CFR part 53, which contains the ambient air
monitoring reference methods and equivalent reference methods.
Currently, the version of 45 CSR 8 in the West Virginia SIP
incorporates by reference 40 CFR parts 50 and 53 as effective on June
1, 2013; this SIP revision will update the effective date to June 1,
2016.
In the June 13, 2017 SIP submittal, WVDEP submitted amendments to
the legislative rule which include the following changes: To section
45-8-1 (General), the filing and effective dates are changed to reflect
the update of the legislative rule; to section 45-8-3 (Adoption of
Standards), the effective dates for the incorporation by reference of
40 CFR parts 50 and 53 are changed; to section 45-8-4 (Inconsistency
Between Rules), the reference to the ``West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection,'' is changed to the ``Division of Air
Quality.'' West Virginia has amended 45 CSR 8 to revise the filing and
effective dates of the rule to May 15, 2017 and June 1, 2017
respectively. The effective date of the incorporation by reference of
40 CFR parts 50 and 53 changed from June 1, 2013 to June 1, 2017. EPA
finds the revised version of 45 CSR 8 with new effective dates
incorporating by reference 40 CFR parts 50 and 53, as well as the
changes to the reference of the state air agency, are in accordance
with requirements in section 110 of the CAA.
This update will effectively add the following to the West Virginia
SIP: The 2015 ozone NAAQS, monitoring reference and equivalent methods
pertaining to PM2.5, CO, and PM10, and it will
revise the ozone monitoring season to March 1st through October 31st,
the FRM, the FEM, and the PAMS network.
III. Final Action
EPA is approving the amendments to Legislative Rule, 45 CSR 8--
Ambient Air Quality Standards, into the West Virginia SIP pursuant to
section 110 of the CAA. EPA is publishing this rule without prior
proposal because EPA views this as a noncontroversial amendment and
anticipates no adverse comment. However, in the ``Proposed Rules''
section of this Federal Register, EPA is publishing a separate document
that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision if adverse
comments are filed. This rule will be effective on December 15, 2017
without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by November
15, 2017. If EPA receives adverse comment, EPA will publish a timely
withdrawal in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule
will not take effect. EPA will address all public comments in a
subsequent final rule based on the proposed rule. EPA will not
institute a second comment period on this action. Any parties
interested in commenting must do so at this time. Please note that if
EPA receives adverse comment on an amendment, paragraph, or section of
this rule and if that provision may be severed from the remainder of
the rule,
[[Page 47982]]
EPA may adopt as final those provisions of the rule that are not the
subject of an adverse comment.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
In this rule, EPA is finalizing regulatory text that includes
incorporation by reference. In accordance with requirements of 1 CFR
51.5, EPA is finalizing the update to West Virginia's Legislative Rule,
45 CSR 8, as effective on June 1, 2017. EPA has made, and will continue
to make, these materials generally available through
www.regulations.gov and/or at the EPA Region III Office (please contact
the person identified in the For Further Information Contact section of
this preamble for more information). Therefore, these materials have
been approved by EPA for inclusion in the SIP, have been incorporated
by reference by EPA into that plan, are fully federally enforceable
under sections 110 and 113 of the CAA as of the effective date of the
final rulemaking of EPA's approval, and will be incorporated by
reference by the Director of the Federal Register in the next update of
the SIP compilation.\1\
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\1\ 62 FR 27968 (May 22, 1997).
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V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
A. General Requirements
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 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).
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.
B. Submission to Congress and the Comptroller General
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).
C. Petitions for Judicial Review
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 15, 2017. 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. Parties with objections to this direct final rule are
encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of
proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed rules
section of this Federal Register, rather than file an immediate
petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can
withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed
rulemaking action.
This action, to approve West Virginia's SIP revisions to update of
the effective date by which the State regulations incorporate by
reference the Federal NAAQS, additional monitoring methods, and
additional equivalent monitoring methods, which effectively adds the
2015 ozone NAAQS and ambient air monitoring reference and equivalent
methods pertaining to PM2.5, PM10, and CO, and
changing the reference to the state air agency, 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, Lead, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Particulate
matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides.
Dated: September 27, 2017.
Cecil Rodrigues,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
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1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart XX--West Virginia
0
2. In Sec. 52.2520, the first table in paragraph (c) is amended by
revising the entries for 45-8-1 through 45-8-4 to read as follows:
Sec. 52.2520 Identification of plan.
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(c) * * *
[[Page 47983]]
EPA-Approved Regulations in the West Virginia SIP
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State Additional
State citation [Chapter 16-20 or Title/subject effective EPA approval date explanation/citation
45 CSR] date at 40 CFR 52.2565
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[45 CSR] Series 8 Ambient Air Quality Standards
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Section 45-8-1.................. General.............. 6/1/17 10/16/2017, [Insert Filing and effective
Federal Register dates are revised.
Citation].
Section 45-8-2.................. Definitions.......... 6/1/17 10/16/2017, [Insert Previous Approval 9/
Federal Register 22/2014.
Citation].
Section 45-8-3.................. Adoption of Standards 6/1/17 10/16/2017, [Insert Effective date is
Federal Register revised.
Citation].
Section 45-8-4.................. Inconsistency Between 6/1/17 10/16/2017, [Insert Replaced ``West
Rules. Federal Register Virginia Department
Citation]. of Environmental
Protection'' with
``Division of Air
Quality''.
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[FR Doc. 2017-22254 Filed 10-13-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P