[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 113 (Monday, June 13, 2022)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 35709-35711]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-12610]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R07-OAR-2022-0482; FRL-9906-01-R7]


Air Plan Approval; Missouri; General Conformity Rescission

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve a revision to the Missouri State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
relating to General Conformity received on April 15, 2022. In its 
submission, Missouri requests EPA approval of rescission of the 
Missouri General Conformity Rule from the Missouri SIP. General 
Conformity ensures actions taken by federal agencies, such as airport 
construction, do not interfere with a state's plans to attain and 
maintain national standards for air quality. After rescission of the 
state's General Conformity Rule, federal agency actions will be subject 
to the Federal General Conformity Rule.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 13, 2022.

ADDRESSES: You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-
OAR-2022-0482 to https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments.
    Instructions: All submissions received must include the Docket ID 
No. for this rulemaking. Comments received will be posted without 
change to https://www.regulations.gov/, including any personal 
information provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and 
additional information on the rulemaking process, see the ``Written 
Comments'' heading of the SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this 
document.

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. Written Comments
II. What is being addressed in this document?
III. What is General Conformity?
IV. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?
V. What action is the EPA taking?
VI. Environmental Justice Concerns
VII. Incorporation by Reference
VIII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Written Comments

    Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R07-OAR-2022-
0482, at https://www.regulations.gov. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. The 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. The 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

II. What is being addressed in this document?

    The EPA is proposing to approve the rescission of Missouri's 
General Conformity Rule, 10 CSR 10-6.300 from Missouri's SIP. General 
Conformity ensures actions taken by federal agencies, such as airport 
construction, do not interfere with a state's plans to attain and 
maintain national standards for air quality. After rescission of the 
state's General Conformity Rule, federal agency actions will be subject 
to the Federal General Conformity Rule.

III. What is General Conformity?

    The purpose of the General Conformity rule is to ensure that 
federal activities do not cause or contribute to

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new violations of National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), 
federal actions do not worsen existing violations of the NAAQS, and 
attainment of the NAAQS is not delayed. General Conformity covers most 
aspects of federally funded or approved actions not covered by the 
Transportation Conformity program. In November 1993, the EPA 
promulgated two sets of regulations to implement section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA). First, on November 24, 1993, the EPA promulgated 
the Transportation Conformity regulations, which apply to highways and 
mass transit. These regulations establish the criteria and procedures 
for determining whether transportation plans, programs, and projects 
funded under title 23 U.S.C. or the Federal Transit Act conform with 
the State Implementation Plan (SIP) (58 FR 62188). Then, on November 
30, 1993, the EPA promulgated a second set of regulations, known as the 
General Conformity regulations, which apply to all other federal 
actions. These regulations ensured that other federal actions also 
conformed to the SIPs (58 FR 63214).
    General Conformity is based on evaluating the annual net increase 
in emissions caused by the proposed federal activity. The regulations 
require a federal agency proposing certain general federal activities 
to ensure that any increase in emissions of harmful air pollutants 
conform to the purpose of the applicable implementation plan. This 
includes projecting estimates of the direct and indirect emissions that 
are likely to occur.
    General Conformity covers a wide variety of federal activities. A 
federal activity is generally an action that requires either federal 
funding and/or federal approval. Even if a project is not federally-
funded, there may be federal approvals such as permits that are needed.
    The General Conformity Regulations do not apply to every area. 
Rather, the requirements only apply in nonattainment areas and 
attainment areas with maintenance plans, maintenance areas. A 
nonattainment area is an area designated by the EPA as not meeting a 
NAAQS. A maintenance area is an area that was once designated as 
nonattainment but has been redesignated by the EPA to attainment based 
on meeting the NAAQS and having an approved plan to maintain the NAAQS. 
The EPA, in partnership with the states or tribes, is responsible for 
the designation of areas as nonattainment and redesignating them once 
they achieve the NAAQS.
    For more information on General Conformity, please visit 
www.epa.gov/general-conformity.

IV. Have the requirements for approval of a SIP revision been met?

    Missouri's General Conformity Rule, 10 CSR 10-6.300, titled 
``Conformity of General Federal Actions to State Implementation 
Plans'', was incorporated into the SIP consistent with section 176(c) 
of the CAA, as amended (42 U.S.C. 7506(c)), and regulations located in 
40 CFR part 93, subpart B, that directed states to include in their 
SIPs provisions requiring General Conformity of federal actions to the 
applicable implementation plan. In 2005, Congress passed the ``Safe, 
Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users'' 
(SAFETEA-LU). Section 6011 of SAFETEA-LU amended section 176(c) of the 
CAA to remove the requirement for states to adopt a General Conformity 
rule into the SIP. In turn, EPA amended the federal General Conformity 
rule at 40 CFR part 51, subpart W, to make state adoption of a General 
Conformity rule into the SIP optional rather than mandatory (75 FR 
17258). 10 CSR 10-6.300 duplicates federal regulations. After 
rescission of the state's General Conformity Rule, federal agency 
actions will be subject to the Federal General Conformity Rule.
    CAA section 110(l), 42 U.S.C. 7410(l), states that the 
Administrator cannot approve a SIP revision if the revision would 
interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and 
reasonable further progress or any other applicable requirement. The 
federal General Conformity rule contains the same requirements as the 
state's General Conformity rule. Therefore, the same requirements will 
apply after the state's rule is rescinded and there will be no 
associated emissions increase or adverse impact to air quality. 
Therefore, the EPA is proposing that this change will not interfere 
with: any area's ability to maintain any NAAQS, making reasonable 
progress towards natural visibility in Missouri's Class I areas nor any 
Class I area in another state Missouri impacts, or any other applicable 
requirement.
    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 16, 2021 
to October 7, 2021 and received no comment. In addition, as explained 
above, the revision meets the substantive SIP requirements of the CAA, 
including section 110 and implementing regulations.

V. What action is the EPA taking?

    The EPA is proposing to approve a SIP revision submitted by the 
State of Missouri on April 15, 2021, rescinding the State General 
Conformity Rule, 10 CSR 10-6.300. EPA is proposing to determine that 
this revision would not interfere with attainment or maintenance of any 
NAAQS or with any other CAA requirement because the same requirements 
exist in federal law. We are processing this as a proposed action 
because we are soliciting comments on this proposed action. Final 
rulemaking will occur after consideration of any comments.

VI. Environmental Justice Concerns

    This action proposes to approve the rescission of the state's 
General Conformity rule. The state's rule duplicates the federal 
General Conformity rule. Once approved all federal actions that would 
have been subject to the state rule will be subject to the same 
requirements in the federal rule. For this reason, this proposed action 
will not result in disproportionately high and adverse human health or 
environmental effects on minority populations, low-income populations 
and/or indigenous peoples.

VII. Incorporation by Reference

    In this document, the EPA is proposing to amend regulatory text 
that includes incorporation by reference. As described in Section II of 
this preamble and set forth below in the proposed amendments to 40 CFR 
part 52, the EPA is proposing to remove 10 CSR 10-6.300 of the EPA-
Approved Missouri Regulations from the Missouri 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 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

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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 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 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).

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: June 7, 2022.
Meghan A. McCollister,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the EPA proposes to amend 
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 AA--Missouri


Sec.  52.1320  [Amended]

0
2. In Sec.  52.1320, the table in paragraph (c) is amended by removing 
the entry ``10-6.300'' under the heading ``Chapter 6--Air Quality 
Standards, Definitions, Sampling and Reference Methods, and Air 
Pollution Control Regulations for the State of Missouri''.
0
3. In Sec.  52.1323, paragraphs (h) and (j) are revised to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.1323  Approval status.

* * * * *
    (h) Missouri rule 10 CSR 10-6.300 was rescinded on [date 30 days 
after date of publication of final rule in the Federal Register].
* * * * *
    (j) Missouri rule 10 CSR 10-6.300 was rescinded on [date 30 days 
after date of publication of final rule in the Federal Register].
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2022-12610 Filed 6-10-22; 8:45 am]
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