[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 166 (Tuesday, August 27, 2019)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 44699-44701]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-18335]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2019-0365; FRL-9998-83-Region 9]


Air Plan Approval; Nevada; Revisions to Clark County Ozone 
Maintenance Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to conditionally approve a revision to the State of Nevada's 
state implementation plan (SIP) for Clark County. The revision consists 
of an update to certain elements of the maintenance plan for the Clark 
County air quality planning area for the 1997 8-hour ozone national 
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), including the emissions 
inventories, maintenance demonstration, and motor vehicle emissions 
budgets. The EPA is conditionally approving the SIP revision because 
the SIP it continues to provide for maintenance of the 1997 ozone 
NAAQS; upon fulfillment of certain commitments, it will not interfere 
with attainment or reasonable further progress of the other NAAQS; and 
the budgets meet the applicable transportation conformity requirements. 
The approval is conditional because it is based on commitments to 
submit an additional SIP revision to reduce the safety margin 
allocations for the budgets within one year of this final conditional 
approval.

DATES: This rule is effective on September 26, 2019.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2019-0365, at https://www.regulations.gov. 
All documents in the docket are listed on the https://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., Confidential Business 
Information (CBI) 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 through 
https://www.regulations.gov, or please contact the person identified in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section for additional availability 
information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karina O'Connor, Air Planning Office 
(AIR-2), EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105. 
By phone at (775) 434-8176 or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA. This supplementary 
information section is arranged as follows:

Table of Contents

I. Summary of the Proposed Action
II. Public Comments
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Summary of the Proposed Action

    On July 11, 2019 (84 FR 33035), under section 110(k)(4) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act''), the EPA proposed to conditionally 
approve a SIP revision titled ``Revision to Motor Vehicle Emissions 
Budgets in Ozone Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan: Clark 
County, Nevada'' (October 2018) (herein, referred to as the ``2018 
Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision''), submitted by the Nevada Division of 
Environmental Protection (NDEP) on October 31, 2018. The 2018 Ozone 
Maintenance Plan Revision updates certain elements of the maintenance 
plan for Clark County for the 1997 ozone NAAQS, including the 
attainment inventory, the maintenance demonstration and the motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (``budgets''). The updated budgets replace 
Clark County's existing budgets for the 1997 ozone NAAQS, and the 
previously-approved budgets will no longer be applicable for 
transportation conformity purposes on the publication date of this 
final conditional approval in the Federal Register.\1\ We proposed a 
conditional approval based on commitments from NDEP and the Clark 
County Department of Air Quality (DAQ) to submit a SIP revision within 
one year of final

[[Page 44700]]

conditional approval.\2\ The purpose of the future SIP revision is to 
reduce the safety margin allocations in the budgets to ensure that the 
2018 Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision, when revised to reduce the safety 
margin allocations, will not interfere with reasonable further progress 
or attainment of the 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS.
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    \1\ 40 CFR 93.118(f)(2)(v).
    \2\ Letter dated June 14, 2019, from Jodi Bechtel, Assistant 
Director, Clark County DAQ, to Greg Lovato, Administrator, NDEP; and 
letter dated June 21, 2019, from Greg Lovato, Administrator, NDEP, 
to Elizabeth Adams, Director, Air Division, EPA Region IX.
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    For more information on the background for this action, including a 
description of the ozone NAAQS, the ozone area designations for Clark 
County, the 2011 Ozone Maintenance Plan and the EPA's MOVES emissions 
model, and the rationale for conditional approval of the 2018 Ozone 
Maintenance Plan Revision, please see our July 11, 2019 proposed rule.

II. Public Comments

    The public comment period on the proposed rule opened on July 11, 
2019, the date of its publication in the Federal Register, and closed 
on August 12, 2019. During this period, the EPA received no comments.

III. Final Action

    For the reasons discussed in our July 11, 2019 proposed rule and 
summarized above, the EPA is taking final action under CAA section 
110(k)(4) to conditionally approve the 2018 Ozone Maintenance Plan 
Revision submitted by NDEP on October 31, 2018, as a revision of the 
Clark County portion of the Nevada SIP. In so doing, we find that the 
2011 Ozone Maintenance Plan, as revised by the updated attainment 
inventory and maintenance demonstration in the 2018 Ozone Maintenance 
Plan Revision, continues to provide for maintenance of the 1997 ozone 
NAAQS, and upon fulfillment of the commitments made by NDEP and Clark 
County DAQ to reduce the safety margin allocations for the budgets, 
will not interfere with reasonable further progress or attainment of 
the other NAAQS in Clark County. In conditionally approving the 2018 
Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision, the EPA is also finding adequate and 
conditionally approving the updated oxides of nitrogen (NOX) 
and volatile organic compound (VOC) budgets for 2008, 2015, and 2022 
for the 1997 ozone NAAQS (shown in Table 1) based on our conclusion 
that the updated budgets meet the applicable transportation conformity 
requirements.

              Table 1--Ozone Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets
                 [Average summer weekday, tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                         2018 Ozone
                                                      maintenance plan
                       Year                               revision
                                                   ---------------------
                                                        NO        VOC
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008..............................................      89.50      42.46
2015..............................................      90.92      53.94
2022..............................................      86.74      52.96
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Source: 2018 Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision, Table 3-1.

    The approval of the 2018 Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision is 
conditional because it is based on commitments from NDEP and the Clark 
County DAQ to submit a SIP revision within one year of final 
conditional approval.\3\ The purpose of the future SIP revision is to 
reduce the safety margin allocations to the budgets to ensure that the 
2018 Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision, when revised to reduce the safety 
margin allocations, will not interfere with reasonable further progress 
or attainment of the 2008 and 2015 ozone NAAQS.
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    \3\ Id.
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    Lastly, the revised budgets in Table 1 replace the existing 
approved budgets from the 2011 Ozone Maintenance Plan; the Regional 
Transportation Commission and the U.S. Department of Transportation 
must use these revised budgets for future transportation conformity 
determinations.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act, 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, the EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. 
Accordingly, this action merely proposes to approve conditionally a 
state plan 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);
     Is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 
2017) regulatory action because SIP approvals 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 (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 the EPA with the discretionary authority 
to address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, and legally permissible methods under Executive 
Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian tribe 
has demonstrated that a tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of 
Indian country, this 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. The 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

[[Page 44701]]

``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 October 28, 2019. 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, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental regulations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

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

    Dated: August 15, 2019.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.

    Chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations 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 DD--Nevada

0
2. In Sec.  52.1470(e), the table is amended by adding an entry for 
``Revision to Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Ozone Redesignation 
Request and Maintenance Plan: Clark County, Nevada (October 2018)'' 
after the entry for ``Ozone Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan, 
Clark County, Nevada (March 2011)'' to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1470  Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                         EPA-Approved Nevada Nonregulatory and Quasi-Regulatory Measures
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                                        Applicable           State
      Name of SIP provision           geographic or        submittal     EPA approval date       Explanation
                                    nonattainment area       date
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                           Air Quality Implementation Plan for the State of Nevada \1\
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Revision to Motor Vehicle          Clark County,              10/31/18  [INSERT Federal      Conditional
 Emissions Budgets in Ozone         Nevada: That                         Register             approval of
 Redesignation Request and          portion of Clark                     CITATION], 8/27/     revised emission
 Maintenance Plan: Clark County,    County that lies                     2019.                inventory and
 Nevada (October 2018).             in hydrogeographic                                        budgets. Includes
                                    areas 164A, 164B,                                         a State commitment
                                    165, 166, 167,                                            to revise the
                                    212, 213, 214,                                            budgets within one
                                    216, 217, and 218,                                        year.
                                    but excluding the
                                    Moapa River Indian
                                    Reservation and
                                    the Fort Mohave
                                    Indian Reservation.
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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 * * * * * * *
\1\ The organization of this table generally follows from the organization of the State of Nevada's original
  1972 SIP, which was divided into 12 sections. Nonattainment and maintenance plans, among other types of plans,
  are listed under Section 5 (Control Strategy). Lead SIPs and Small Business Stationary Source Technical and
  Environmental Compliance Assistance SIPs are listed after Section 12 followed by nonregulatory or quasi-
  regulatory statutory provisions approved into the SIP. Regulatory statutory provisions are listed in 40 CFR
  52.1470(c).


0
3. Add Sec.  52.1475 to read as follows:


Sec.  52.1475  Identification of plan--conditional approval.

    (a) The EPA is conditionally approving the SIP revision titled 
``Revision to Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Ozone Redesignation 
Request and Maintenance Plan: Clark County, Nevada (October 2018).'' 
The conditional approval is based on a commitment from the Clark County 
Department of Air Quality (DAQ) in a letter dated June 14, 2019, and a 
commitment from the Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP) 
dated June 21, 2019, to submit certain revised motor vehicle emissions 
budgets as a SIP revision to the EPA within one year of the effective 
date of the final conditional approval. If the Clark County DAQ or NDEP 
fail to meet their commitments within one year of the effective date of 
the final conditional approval, the conditional approval is treated as 
a disapproval.
    (b) [Reserved]

[FR Doc. 2019-18335 Filed 8-26-19; 8:45 am]
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