[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 47 (Friday, March 12, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 14000-14002]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-04763]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2020-0711; FRL-10021-10-Region 7]


Air Plan Approval; Kansas; Removal of Kansas City, Kansas Reid 
Vapor Pressure Fuel Requirement

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final 
action to approve a revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for 
the State of Kansas. This final action will amend the SIP to remove the 
Kansas City, Kansas low Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) fuel requirement 
which required gasoline sold in the Kansas City, Kansas area to have a 
seven pounds per square inch (psi) Reid Vapor Pressure from June 1 to 
September 15. The majority of the state is subject to the Clean Air Act 
(CAA) nine pounds per square inch Reid Vapor Pressure fuel requirement 
from June 1 to September 15. In addition, the EPA has issued a separate 
proposal for the Missouri side of the Kansas City metropolitan area.

DATES: This final rule is effective on April 12, 2021.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2020-0711. 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, i.e., 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 information.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jed D. Wolkins, Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 7 Office, Air Quality Planning Branch, 11201 
Renner Boulevard, Lenexa, Kansas 66219; telephone number: (913) 551-
7588; email address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and 
``our'' refer to the EPA.

Table of Contents

I. What is being addressed in this document?
II. Background
III. The EPA's Response to Comments
IV. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?
V. What action is the EPA taking?
VI. Impacts on the Boutique Fuels List
VII. Incorporation by Reference
VIII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What is being addressed in this document?

    The EPA is approving a revision to the Kansas SIP, submitted by the 
Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE) on December 9, 2020. 
The revision removes the seven psi RVP fuel requirement for the Kansas 
City, Kansas, area: Consisting of Johnson and Wyandotte Counties. The 
former SIP-approved rule, K.A.R. 28-19-719, required gasoline sold in 
the two counties to have a RVP of seven psi or less from June 1 through 
September 15. After the effective date of this final action, the Kansas 
City, Kansas area will only be subject to the CAA RVP fuel requirement 
of nine psi or less from June 1 through September 15.

II. Background

    The EPA established a 1-hour ozone national ambient air quality 
standard (NAAQS) in 1971.\1\ See 36 FR 8186 (April 30, 1971). On March 
3, 1978, the EPA designated Johnson and Wyandotte Counties (hereinafter 
referred to in this document as the ``Kansas City area'') in 
nonattainment of the 1971 1-hour ozone NAAQS, as required by the CAA 
Amendments of 1977. See 43 FR 8962 (March 3, 1978). On February 8, 
1979, the EPA revised the 1-hour ozone NAAQS, referred to as the 1979 
ozone

[[Page 14001]]

NAAQS. See 44 FR 8202 (February 8, 1979).
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    \1\ The 1-hour ozone NAAQS was originally promulgated as a 
photochemical oxidant standard. See 36 FR 8186 (April 30, 1971). In 
1979, the EPA substituted the word ``ozone'' for ``photochemical 
oxidant.'' See 44 FR 8202 (February 8, 1979). In doing so, the EPA 
stated that ``(t)he intent of the standard (total-oxidant 
reduction), the control strategies, and the index of Progress toward 
attainment (measured ozone levels) remain unchanged.'' Id. at 8203.
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    The EPA redesignated the Kansas City area to attainment of the 1979 
1-hour ozone standard and approved Kansas's ozone maintenance plan for 
the Kansas City area on July 23, 1992. See 57 FR 27936 (June 23, 1992). 
Pursuant to section 175A of the CAA, the first 10-year maintenance 
period for the 1-hour ozone standard began on July 23, 1992, the 
effective date of the redesignation approval.
    In 1995, the Kansas City area violated the 1979 1-hour ozone 
standard. Kansas revised the control strategy and contingency measures 
in the maintenance plan, which was approved on December 30, 2002. See 
67 FR 66058 (October 30, 2002). The revised control strategy included 
K.A.R. 28-19-719, Fuel Volatility.
    On May 2, 1997, Kansas adopted the seven and two tenths (7.2) psi 
RVP limit from June 1 to September 15.\2\ The EPA approved this rule 
into the SIP on July 7, 1997.\3\ Following a violation of the ozone 
standard for the three-year period of 1995-1997, on April 3, 2001, 
Kansas revised the rule to seven (7.0) psi RVP limit from June 1 to 
September 15.\4\ The EPA approved this rule into the SIP on February 
13, 2002.\5\
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    \2\ The Kansas rule allowed an additional one psi for gasoline 
containing 9 to 10% ethanol.
    \3\ See 62 FR 36212.
    \4\ The Kansas rule allows an additional one psi for gasoline 
containing 9 to 10% ethanol.
    \5\ See 67 FR 6655.
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    On July 18, 1997, the EPA established a new 8-hour ozone NAAQS 
(hereafter the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS). See 62 FR 38856 (July 18, 
1997). This newly established 8-hour ozone NAAQS replaced the prior 1-
hour ozone NAAQS.
    On April 30, 2004, the EPA published a final rule in the Federal 
Register stating the 1979 1-hour ozone NAAQS would no longer apply 
(i.e., would be revoked) for an area one year after the effective date 
of the area's designation for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. See 69 FR 
23951 (April 30, 2004). The Kansas City Area was designated as an 
unclassifiable area for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, effective June 15, 
2004. See id. However, on May 3, 2005, the EPA published a final rule 
designating the Kansas City area as an attainment area for the 1997 8-
hour ozone NAAQS based on new monitoring data. See 70 FR 22801 (May 3, 
2005). The effective date of the revocation of the 1979 1-hour ozone 
standard for the Kansas City area was June 15, 2005. See 70 FR 44470 
(August 3, 2005). Kansas achieved the required maintenance of the 1979 
1-hour ozone standard in 2014.
    On December 9, 2020, Kansas requested that the EPA remove K.A.R. 
28-19-719 from the SIP. Section 110(l) of the CAA prohibits the EPA 
from approving a SIP revision that interferes with any applicable 
requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress 
(RFP), or any other applicable requirement of the CAA. As detailed in 
the proposal, Kansas adequately demonstrated that removal of this rule 
will not affect the area's ability to attain or maintain any air 
quality standards.

III. The EPA's Response to Comments

    The public comment period on the EPA's proposed rule opened January 
19, 2021 the date of its publication in the Federal Register and closed 
on February 18, 2021. During this period, EPA received three supportive 
comments and one adverse comment. The adverse comment is discussed 
below.
    Comment: Jeopardizing the health of Kansas City residents is not 
worth the proposed change because cities are hotspots for air 
pollution, air pollution leads to respiratory issues and low income 
populations suffer more from air pollution.
    Response: As discussed in our proposal, the increases in emissions 
from this change will be offset by emissions decreases from fleet 
turnover and the Tier 3 motor vehicle and fuel standards. In addition, 
the NAAQS are set at a level protective of public health allowing an 
adequate margin of safety,\6\ and the Kansas City Area is currently 
monitoring air quality that is attaining all NAAQS.
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    \6\ See https://www.epa.gov/naaqs for more information on the 
NAAQS.
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    To determine if the removal of the RVP requirement would interfere 
with attainment of the NAAQS, KDHE conducted emission calculations for 
a baseline year of 2017 (with the state RVP requirement) and an 
implementation year of 2020 (without the state RVP requirement). KDHE 
found that emissions from motor vehicles decreased from the baseline 
year to the implementation year. We find this analysis an acceptable 
showing that the removal of the RVP requirement will not interfere with 
the attainment of the NAAQS. See our proposal of this action and the 
KDHE submittal in the docket for more information.
    In addition to comparing emissions between 2017 and 2020, KDHE also 
compared emissions in the same year with and without the state RVP 
requirement. While there is an increase in emissions from removing the 
state RVP requirement, the state has demonstrated that the removal of 
the RVP requirement will not interfere with attainment and maintenance 
of the NAAQS because emissions will be reduced by continued fleet 
turnover and Tier 3 motor vehicle and fuel standards. As such, the EPA 
finds that removal of the RVP requirement will not impair air quality 
in the Kansas City area and therefore will not result in the public 
health concerns expressed by the commenter.

IV. 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. The 
State provided public notice on this SIP revision from August 27, 2020 
to November 4, 2020 and held a public hearing on November 4, 2020. 
Kansas received eight comments. Kansas adequately responded to the 
comments but did not change the removal request based on the comments. 
In addition, as explained in the proposal, the revision meets the 
substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, including section 110 and 
implementing regulations.\7\
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    \7\ See 85 FR 83877 (December 23, 2020).
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V. What action is the EPA taking?

    The EPA is taking final action to approve Kansas's removal of the 
state RVP requirement from the SIP for the Kansas City, Kansas area. As 
discussed in the proposal the removal of the RVP requirement will not 
affect the area's ability to attain or maintain any air quality 
standard.
    The EPA published the proposed approval of Kansas's removal of the 
state RVP requirement from the SIP for the Kansas City, Kansas area on 
January 19, 2021. The thirty-day public comment period closed on 
February 18, 2021. The EPA received four public comments on the 
proposal, discussed above. Also, the proposal contained an error 
concerning 40 CFR 52.873, paragraph (a), as it included a rescinded 
date, February 18, 2021. The date should have contained a placeholder 
that indicated that the effective date of the rescission was 30 days 
following publication of the final rule in the Federal Register. We are 
noting the error here and are correcting 40 CFR 52.873 paragraph (a) to 
reflect the correct effective date of the rescission.

VI. Impacts on the Boutique Fuels List

    Section 1541(b) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 required the EPA, 
in

[[Page 14002]]

consultation with the U.S. Department of Energy, to determine the 
number of fuels programs approved into all SIPs as of September 1, 2004 
and to publish a list of such fuels. On December 28, 2006, the EPA 
published the original list of boutique fuels. See 71 FR 78192 
(December 28, 2006). On December 4, 2020 the EPA updated the list of 
boutique fuels to remove boutique fuels that were no longer in approved 
SIPs. See 85 FR 78412 (December 4, 2020). The EPA maintains the current 
list of boutique fuels on its website at: https://www.epa.gov/gasoline-standards/state-fuels. The boutique fuels list is based on a fuel type 
approach. CAA section 211(c)(4)(C)(v)(III) requires that the EPA remove 
a fuel from the published list if it is either identical to a Federal 
fuel or is removed from the SIP in which it is approved. Under the 
adopted fuel type approach, the EPA interpreted this requirement to 
mean that a fuel would have to be removed from all states' SIPs in 
which it was approved in order to remove the fuel type from the list. 
See 71 FR 78195 (December 28, 2006). The 7.0 psi RVP fuel program as 
approved into Kansas's SIP, is a fuel type that is included in the 
EPA's boutique fuel list. See 85 FR 78412 (December 4, 2020). 
Subsequent to the effective date of today's action, the EPA will update 
the State Fuels web page to remove Kansas's 7.0 psi RVP program from 
the list of boutique fuels.

VII. Incorporation by Reference

    In this document, the EPA is amending regulatory text that includes 
incorporation by reference. As described in the amendments to 40 CFR 
part 52 set forth below, the EPA is removing provisions of the EPA-
Approved Kansas Regulations from the Kansas State Implementation Plan, 
which is incorporated by reference in accordance with the requirements 
of 1 CFR part 51.

VIII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the Clean Air Act (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, the 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 the National Technology 
Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTA) because this rulemaking does not 
involve technical standards; and
     Does not provide the 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, 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, 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. 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 ``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 May 11, 2021. 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: March 2, 2021.
Edward H. Chu,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 7.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the 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 R--Kansas

0
2. In Sec.  52.870, the table in paragraph (c) is amended by removing 
the entry ``K.A.R. 28-19-719'' under the heading ``Volatile Organic 
Compound Emissions''.

0
3. In Sec.  52.873, paragraph (a) is revised to read as follows:


Sec.  52.873  Approval status.

    (a) Kansas rule K.A.R. 28-19-719 was rescinded on April 12, 2021.
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[FR Doc. 2021-04763 Filed 3-11-21; 8:45 am]
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