[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 49 (Tuesday, March 13, 2018)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 10814-10816]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-05060]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[EPA-R04-OAR-2018-0017; FRL-9975-52-Region 4]


Air Plan Approval and Air Quality Designation; SC; Redesignation 
of the Greenville-Spartanburg Unclassifiable Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

[[Page 10815]]


ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: On January 22, 2018, the State of South Carolina, through the 
Department of Health and Environmental Control (DHEC), submitted a 
request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to redesignate 
the Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina fine particulate matter 
(PM2.5) unclassifiable area (hereinafter referred to as the 
``Greenville Area'' or ``Area'') to unclassifiable/attainment for the 
1997 primary and secondary annual PM2.5 national ambient air 
quality standards (NAAQS). The Greenville Area is comprised of 
Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg Counties in South Carolina. EPA 
now has sufficient data to determine that the Greenville Area is in 
attainment of the 1997 primary and secondary annual PM2.5 
NAAQS. Therefore, EPA is proposing to approve the State's request and 
redesignate the Area to unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997 primary 
and secondary annual PM2.5 NAAQS based upon valid, quality-
assured, and certified ambient air monitoring data showing that the 
PM2.5 monitors in the Area are in compliance with the 1997 
primary and secondary annual PM2.5 NAAQS.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before April 12, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2018-0017 at http://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Madolyn Sanchez, 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. Ms. Sanchez can be reached by telephone at (404) 562-9644 
or via electronic mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. Background

    The Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) establishes a process for air 
quality management through the establishment and implementation of the 
NAAQS. After the promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, EPA is 
required to designate areas, pursuant to section 107(d)(1) of the CAA, 
as attainment, nonattainment, or unclassifiable. On July 18, 1997 (62 
FR 38652), EPA revised the NAAQS for particulate matter to add new 
standards for PM2.5 (annual and 24-hour). The primary and 
secondary annual standards were each set at a level of 15.0 micrograms 
per cubic meter ([micro]g/m\3\), based on a 3-year average of annual 
mean PM2.5 concentrations. The primary and secondary 24-hour 
standards were each set at a level of 65 [micro]g/m\3\, based on a 3-
year average of the 98th percentile of 24-hour concentrations. EPA 
established the standards based on significant evidence and numerous 
health studies demonstrating that serious health effects are associated 
with exposures to particulate matter.
    The process for designating areas following promulgation of a new 
or revised NAAQS is contained in section 107(d)(1) of the CAA. EPA and 
state air quality agencies initiated the monitoring process for the 
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS in 1999, and deployed all air quality 
monitors by January 2001. On January 5, 2005 (70 FR 944), EPA 
designated areas across the country as nonattainment, unclassifiable, 
or unclassifiable/attainment \1\ for the PM2.5 NAAQS based 
upon air quality monitoring data from these monitors for calendar years 
2001-2003.
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    \1\ For the initial PM area designations in 2005 (for the 1997 
annual PM2.5 NAAQS), EPA used a designation category of 
``unclassifiable/attainment'' for areas that had monitors showing 
attainment of the standard and were not contributing to nearby 
violations and for areas that did not have monitors but for which 
EPA had reason to believe were likely attaining the standard and not 
contributing to nearby violations. EPA used the category 
``unclassifiable'' for areas in which EPA could not determine, based 
upon available information, whether or not the NAAQS was being met 
and/or EPA had not determined the area to be contributing to nearby 
violations. EPA reserves the ``attainment'' category for when EPA 
redesignates a nonattainment area that has attained the relevant 
NAAQS and has an approved maintenance plan.
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    Greenville County, South Carolina, had a monitor with less than 
three years of data since the monitor had not been in operation for the 
full 2001-2003 period. Based upon the data that was obtained during its 
operation, the monitor indicated a potential to violate the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS. Also, Anderson and Spartanburg Counties had 
emissions and population levels that potentially contributed to the 
elevated concentrations of PM2.5 at the Greenville monitor 
in question. Therefore, EPA designated all three counties--Anderson, 
Greenville and Spartanburg--as unclassifiable for the 1997 annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS.

II. What are the criteria for redesignating an area from unclassifiable 
to unclassifiable/attainment?

    Section 107(d)(3) of the CAA provides the framework for changing 
the area designations for any NAAQS pollutants. Section 107(d)(3)(A) 
provides that the Administrator may notify the Governor of any state 
that the designation of an area should be revised ``on the basis of air 
quality data, planning and control considerations, or any other air 
quality-related considerations the Administrator deems appropriate.'' 
The Act further provides in section 107(d)(3)(D) that even if the 
Administrator has not notified a state Governor that a designation 
should be revised, the Governor of any state may, on the Governor's own 
motion, submit a request to revise the designation of any area, and the 
Administrator must approve or deny the request.
    When approving or denying a request to redesignate an area, EPA 
bases its decision on the air quality data for the area as well as the 
considerations provided under section 107(d)(3)(A).\2\ In keeping with 
section 107(d)(1)(A), areas that are redesignated to unclassifiable/
attainment must meet the requirements for attainment areas and thus 
must meet the relevant NAAQS. In addition, the area must not contribute 
to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS. 
The relevant monitoring data must be collected and quality-assured in 
accordance with 40 CFR part 58 and recorded in the EPA Air Quality 
System (AQS) database. The designated monitors generally should have 
remained at the same location for the duration of the monitoring period

[[Page 10816]]

upon which the redesignation request is based.\3\
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    \2\ While CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) also list specific 
requirements for redesignations, those requirements only apply to 
redesignations of nonattainment areas to attainment and therefore 
are not applicable in the context of a redesignation of an area from 
unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment.
    \3\ See Memorandum from John Calcagni, Director, EPA Air Quality 
Management Division, entitled ``Procedures for Processing Requests 
to Redesignate Areas to Attainment'' (September 4, 1992).
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III. What is EPA's rationale for proposing to redesignate the Area?

    In order to redesignate the Area from unclassifiable to 
unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997 primary and secondary annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS, the 3-year average of annual arithmetic mean 
concentrations (i.e., design value) over the most recent 3-year period 
must be less than or equal to 15.0 [micro]g/m\3\ at all monitoring 
sites in the Area over the full 3-year period, as determined in 
accordance with 40 CFR 50.18 and Appendix N of Part 50. EPA reviewed 
PM2.5 monitoring data from monitoring stations in the 
Greenville Area for the 1997 primary and secondary annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS for the 3-year period from 2014-2016. These data 
have been quality-assured, certified, and recorded in AQS by South 
Carolina, and the monitoring locations have not changed during the 
monitoring period. As summarized in Table 1, the design values for the 
monitors in the Area for the 2014-2016 period are well below the 1997 
primary and secondary annual PM2.5 NAAQS.

 Table 1--1997 Annual PM2.5 Design Values for Monitors in the Greenville
                           Area for 2014-2016
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                                                             2014-2016
             Local site name                Monitoring     Design value
                                               site        ([mu]g/m\3\)
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Greenville ESC..........................     45-045-0015             9.3
Hillcrest Middle School.................     45-045-0016             8.6
T.K. Gregg..............................     45-083-0011             8.7
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    Because the 3-year design values, based on valid, quality-assured 
data, demonstrate that the Area meets the 1997 primary and secondary 
annual PM2.5 standards, EPA is proposing to redesignate the 
Greenville Area from unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment for 
this NAAQS.

IV. Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve South Carolina's January 22, 2018, 
request to redesignate the Greenville Area from unclassifiable to 
unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997 primary and secondary annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS. If finalized, approval of the redesignation 
request would change the legal designation, found at 40 CFR part 81, of 
Anderson, Greenville, and Spartanburg Counties from unclassifiable to 
unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997 primary and secondary annual 
PM2.5 NAAQS.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, redesignation of an area to unclassifiable/
attainment is an action that affects the status of a geographical area 
and does not impose any additional regulatory requirements on sources 
beyond those imposed by state law. A redesignation to unclassifiable/
attainment does not in and of itself create any new requirements. 
Accordingly, this proposed action merely proposes to redesignate an 
area to unclassifiable/attainment and does not impose additional 
requirements. 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);
     Is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 
2017) regulatory action because redesignations are exempted under 
Executive Order 12866;
     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 (Public Law 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
     Will not have disproportionate human health or 
environmental effects under Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 
16, 1994).
    In addition, this proposed action to redesignate the Greenville 
Area from unclassifiable to unclassifiable/attainment for the 1997 
primary and secondary annual PM2.5 NAAQS does not have 
Tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, 
November 9, 2000). The Catawba Indian Nation Reservation is located 
within the State of South Carolina. Pursuant to the Catawba Indian 
Claims Settlement Act, S.C. Code Ann. 27-16-120, ``all state and local 
environmental laws and regulations apply to the Catawba Indian Nation 
and Reservation and are fully enforceable by all relevant state and 
local agencies and authorities.'' However, because no tribal lands are 
located within the Area and the redesignation does not create new 
requirements, EPA has determined that this proposed rule does not have 
substantial direct effects on an Indian Tribe. EPA notes this proposed 
action will not impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments 
or preempt Tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 81

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control.

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

    Dated: March 5, 2018.
Onis ``Trey'' Glenn, III,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2018-05060 Filed 3-12-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6560-50-P