[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 106 (Thursday, June 2, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31898-31900]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-13668]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0798-201133; FRL-9314-2]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and
Designations of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Georgia: Rome;
Determination of Attainment by Applicable Attainment Date for the 1997
Annual Fine Particulate Standards
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to determine pursuant to the Clean Air Act
(CAA), that the Rome, Georgia fine particulate (PM2.5)
nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the Rome Area'' or ``the
Area'') attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 national ambient air
quality standards (NAAQS) by the applicable attainment date of April 5,
2010. The determination of attainment was previously made by EPA on
April 5, 2011, based on quality-assured and certified monitoring data
for the 2007-2009 monitoring period, that Rome, Georgia had attained
the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The Rome Area is comprised of
Floyd County, Georgia in its entirety. EPA is now proposing to find
that the Rome Area attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS by
its applicable attainment date. EPA is proposing this action because it
is consistent with the CAA and its implementing regulations.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before July 5, 2011.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2010-0798, by one of the following methods:
1. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. E-mail: [email protected].
3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
4. Mail: EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0798, Regulatory Development Section, Air
Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
5. Hand Delivery or Courier: Ms. Lynorae Benjamin, Chief,
Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides
and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's normal hours
of operation. The Regional Office's official hours of business are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R04-OAR-
2010-0798. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to be CBI
or otherwise protected. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site is an
``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
http://www.regulations.gov index. 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 either electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Regulatory Development
Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
[[Page 31899]]
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA
requests that if at all possible, you contact the person listed in the
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your inspection.
The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through
Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sara Waterson or Joel Huey of the
Regulatory Development Section, in the Air Planning Branch, Air,
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia
30303-8960. Sara Waterson may be reached by phone at (404) 562-9061, or
via electronic mail at [email protected]. Joel Huey may be reached
by phone at (404) 562-9104, or via electronic mail at
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. What action is EPA taking?
II. What is the background for this action?
III. What is the air quality in the Rome area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS for the 2007-2009 monitoring period?
IV. What is the effect of this action?
V. What is the proposed action?
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What action is EPA taking?
Based on EPA's review of the quality-assured and certified
monitoring data for 2007-2009, and in accordance with section 179(c)(1)
of the CAA and EPA's regulations, EPA proposes to determine that the
Rome Area has attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS by the
applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010.
On April 5, 2011, EPA published a final rulemaking making a
determination of attainment to suspend the requirements for the Rome
Area to submit an attainment demonstration and associated reasonably
available control measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress (RFP)
plan, contingency measures, and other planning State Implementation
Plan (SIP) revisions related to attainment of the standard shall be
suspended so long as the Area continues to attain the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS. See 76 FR 18650. Today's proposed action merely
makes a determination that the Rome Area has attained the 1997 Annual
PM2.5 NAAQS by its applicable attainment date. This action
is not a re-proposal of the attainment determination to suspend the
requirements for the Rome Area to submit an attainment demonstration
and associated RACM, a RFP plan, contingency measures, and other
planning SIP revisions related to attainment of the standard. More
information regarding the 1997 annual PM2.5 standard and
EPA's determination of attainment for the Rome Area is available in 76
FR 18650 (April 5, 2011).
II. What is the background for this action?
As a nonattainment area for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS,
the Rome Area had an applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010 (based
on 2007-2009 monitoring data). Pursuant to section 179(c) of the CAA,
EPA is required to make a determination on whether the area attained
the standard by its applicable attainment date. Specifically, section
179(c)(1) of the CAA reads as follows: ``As expeditiously as
practicable after the applicable attainment date for any nonattainment
area, but not later than 6 months after such date, the Administrator
shall determine, based on the area's air quality as of the attainment
date, whether the area attained the standard by that date.''
III. What is the air quality in the Rome area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS for the 2007-2009 monitoring period?
Under EPA regulations at 40 CFR 50.7, the 1997 annual primary and
secondary PM2.5 standards are met when the annual arithmetic
mean concentration, as determined in accordance with 40 CFR part 50,
Appendix N, is less than or equal to 15.0 [micro]g/m\3\ at all relevant
monitoring sites in the subject area.
EPA reviewed the ambient air monitoring data for the Rome Area in
accordance with the provisions of 40 CFR part 50, Appendix N. All data
considered have been quality-assured, certified, and recorded in EPA's
Air Quality System database. This review addresses air quality data
collected in the 3-year period 2007-2009, which is the period EPA must
consider for areas that had an applicable attainment date of April 5,
2010.
Table 1--Annual Average Concentrations in the Rome Area
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Annual average
County Site No. concentration
([mu]g/m\3\)
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Without data substitution.................. Floyd........................ 13-115-0003 13.3
With data substitution..................... Floyd........................ 13-115-0003 14.6
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As shown in the above table, during the 2007-2009 design period,
the Rome Area met the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS both with and
without data substitution. The official annual design value for the
Rome Area for the 2007-2009 period is 13.3 [mu]g/m\3\. More detailed
information on the monitoring data for the Rome Area during the 2007-
2009 design period is provided in EPA's April 5, 2011, final rulemaking
to approve the clean data determination for the Rome Area for the 1997
annual PM2.5 NAAQS. See 76 FR 18650.
IV. What is the effect of this action?
This action is only a proposed determination that the Rome Area has
attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS by its applicable
attainment date of April 5, 2010, consistent with CAA section
179(c)(1). Finalizing this proposed action would not constitute a
redesignation of the Rome Area to attainment of 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS under section 107(d)(3) of the CAA. Further,
finalizing this proposed action does not involve approving a
maintenance plan for the Rome Area as required under section 175A of
the CAA, nor would it find that the Rome Area has met all other
requirements for redesignation. Even if EPA finalizes today's proposed
action, the designation status of the Rome Area would remain
nonattainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS until such
time as EPA determines that the Area meets the CAA requirements for
redesignation to attainment and takes action to redesignate the
Area.\1\
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\1\ Per section 176(c) of the CAA, transportation conformity
requirements apply in areas that are designated nonattainment and
those areas that are redesignated from nonattainment to attainment.
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V. What is the proposed action?
EPA is proposing to determine, based on quality-assured and
certified monitoring data for the 2007-2009 monitoring period, that the
Rome Area has attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS by the
applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010. This proposed
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action is being taken pursuant to section 179(c)(1) of the CAA, and is
consistent with the CAA and its implementing regulations.
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This action proposes to make a determination of attainment based on
air quality, and would not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
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 proposed determination that the Rome Area
attained the 1997 annual average PM2.5 NAAQS does not have
Tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249,
November 9, 2000), because the SIPs are not approved to apply in Indian
country located in the states, and EPA notes that it will not impose
substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal law.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Particulate
matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: May 23, 2011.
Gwendolyn Keyes Fleming,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2011-13668 Filed 6-1-11; 8:45 am]
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