[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 106 (Thursday, June 2, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31900-31903]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-13670]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2011-0408-201132; FRL-9314-1]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and
Designations of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Alabama,
Georgia, and Tennessee: Chattanooga and Macon; 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 Clean Air Act (CAA),
that the Chattanooga, Tennessee-Georgia, fine particulate
(PM2.5) nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the
Chattanooga Area'') and the Macon, Georgia PM2.5
nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the Macon Area'')
attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 national ambient air quality
standards (NAAQS) by the applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010.
The determinations of attainment were previously proposed by EPA on
March 22, 2011, and were based on quality-assured and certified
monitoring data for the 2007--2009 monitoring period. The Chattanooga
Area is comprised of Hamilton County in Tennessee, Catoosa and Walker
Counties in Georgia, and a portion of Jackson County in Alabama. The
Macon Area is comprised of Bibb County in its entirety and a portion of
Monroe County in Georgia. EPA is now proposing to find that both of the
above-identified areas attained the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
by their applicable attainment dates. EPA is proposing these actions
because they are 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-2011-0408, 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-2011-0408, 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-
2011-0408. 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
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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, 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 are the actions EPA is taking?
II. What is the background for these actions?
III. What is the air quality for the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS for the 2007-2009 monitoring period?
A. Chattanooga
B. Macon
IV. What is the effect of these actions?
V. What are the proposed actions?
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What are the actions 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
Chattanooga and Macon Areas attained the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS by the applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010.
On March 22, 2011, EPA published two proposed rulemakings to make
determinations of attainment to suspend the requirements for the
Chattanooga and Macon Areas to submit attainment demonstrations and
associated reasonably available control measures (RACM), reasonable
further progress (RFP) plans, contingency measures, and other planning
State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions related to attainment of the
1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS so long as the Areas continue to
attain the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. See 76 FR 15895 for the
proposed rulemaking related to the Chattanooga Area; see 76 FR 15892
for the proposed rulemaking related to the Macon Area. Those proposed
rulemakings also include useful background information on the
PM2.5 NAAQS relevant to the Chattanooga and Macon Areas. EPA
is moving forward with final action on the proposals to find that the
Chattanooga and Macon Areas are attaining the PM2.5 NAAQS.
Today's proposed actions, however, make determinations that the
Chattanooga and Macon Areas attained the1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS by the applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010. These actions
are not a re-proposal of the March 22, 2011, attainment determinations
to suspend the requirements for the Chattanooga and Macon Areas to
submit an attainment demonstration and associated RACM, a RFP plan,
contingency measures, and other planning SIP revisions related to
attainment of the standard. Rather, today's actions are simply focused
on the date by which the areas had attaining data.
II. What is the background for these actions?
As nonattainment areas for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS,
the Chattanooga and Macon Areas 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 Areas attained the standard by their 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.'' Today's action is EPA's proposal that the Chattanooga and Macon
areas attained the annual PM2.5 NAAQS by the applicable
attainment date of April 5, 2010.
III. What is the air quality 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 [mu]g/m\3\ at all relevant
monitoring sites in the subject area.
EPA reviewed the ambient air monitoring data for the Chattanooga
and Macon Areas 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 from 2007-
2009. The 3-year period from 2007-2009 is the period EPA must consider
for areas that had an applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010.
A. Chattanooga
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Table 1--Annual Average Concentrations in the Chattanooga Area (2007-
2009)
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Annual average
Site name Site No. concentration
([mu]g/m\3\)
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Tombras Avenue.................... 47-065-0031 12.6
Soddy Daisy High School........... 47-065-1011 11.7
Siskin Drive...................... 47-065-4002 12.7
Rossville......................... 13-295-0002 \1\ 12.3
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As shown above in Table 1, during the 2007-2009 design period, the
Chattanooga Area met the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The
official annual design value for the Chattanooga Area for the 2007-2009
period is 12.7 [mu]g/m\3\. More detailed information on the monitoring
data for the Chattanooga Area during the 2007-2009 design period is
provided in EPA's March 22, 2011, proposed rulemaking to approve the
clean data determination for the Chattanooga Area for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS. See 76 FR 15895.
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\1\ The Rossville site did not meet 75 percent data completeness
for the 2007-2009 time period due to roof replacement and subsequent
relocation of the monitor. Because the site passed data substitution
analysis, the design value for the Area is the highest reading
monitor, which is Tombras Avenue.
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B. Macon
Table 2--Annual Average Concentrations in the Macon Area (2007-2009)
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Annual average Annual average
concentration concentration
Site name Site No. ([mu]g/m\3\) ([mu]g/m\3\) with
without data data
substitution substitution
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Macon Allied.............................................. 13-021-0007 \2\13.7 \3\14.9
Macon SE.................................................. 13-021-0012 12.0 \4\13.3
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As shown above in Table 2, during the 2007-2009 design period, the
Macon Area met the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS both with and
without data substitution. The official annual design value for the
Macon Area for the 2007-2009 period is 13.7 [mu]g/m\3\. More detailed
information on the monitoring data for the Macon Area during the 2007-
2009 design period is provided in EPA's March 22, 2011, proposed
rulemaking to approve the clean data determination for the Macon Area
for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. See 76 FR 15892.
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\2\ Macon Allied design value considers co-located data where
primary data are not available.
\3\ Macon Allied design value considers data substitution of
58.1 [mu]g/m\3\ for all missing data in 1st quarter of 2008.
\4\ Macon SE Annual Mean considers data substitution for second
and fourth quarters of 2008 and 3rd quarter of 2009.
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IV. What is the effect of these actions?
Today's actions are only proposed determinations that the
Chattanooga and Macon Areas attained the 1997 annual PM2.5
NAAQS by their applicable attainment date of April 5, 2010, consistent
with CAA section 179(c)(1). Finalizing these proposed actions would not
constitute a redesignation of either the Chattanooga or Macon Areas to
attainment of 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS under section
107(d)(3) of the CAA. Further, finalizing these proposed actions do not
involve approving maintenance plans for either the Chattanooga or Macon
Areas as required under section 175A of the CAA, nor would it find that
the Chattanooga or Macon Areas have met all other requirements for
redesignation. Even if EPA finalizes today's proposed actions, the
designation status of the Chattanooga and Macon Areas would remain
nonattainment for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS until such
time as EPA determines that the individual area meets the CAA
requirements for redesignation to attainment and takes action to
redesignate the individual area.
V. What are the proposed actions?
EPA is proposing to determine, based on quality-assured and
certified monitoring data for the 2007-2009 monitoring period, that the
Chattanooga and the Macon Areas attained the 1997 annual
PM2.5 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date of April 5,
2010. These proposed actions are being taken pursuant to section
179(c)(1) of the CAA, and are consistent with the CAA and its
implementing regulations.
VI. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
These actions propose to make determinations of attainment based on
air quality, and would not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by state law. For that reason, these proposed actions:
Are not ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
Do not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Are 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.);
Do 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);
Do not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Are not an economically significant regulatory action
based on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Are not significant regulatory action subject to Executive
Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Are 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
Do not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as
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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, these proposed determinations that the Chattanooga and
Macon Areas attained the 1997 annual average PM2.5 NAAQS by
its applicable attainment date do 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. 2011-13670 Filed 6-1-11; 8:45 am]
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