[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 191 (Tuesday, October 2, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60094-60096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24242]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R03-OAR-2012-0422; FRL-9735-9]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
West Virginia; The 2002 Base Year Inventory for the Charleston Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve the fine particulate matter
(PM2.5) 2002 base year emissions inventory portion of the
West Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the
State of West Virginia (WV), through the West Virginia Department of
Environmental Protection (WVDEP), on November 4, 2009 for the
Charleston, WV nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as the
Charleston Area or Area). The emissions inventory is part of the West
Virginia November 4, 2009 SIP revision that was submitted to meet
nonattainment requirements related to the Charleston Area for the 1997
PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) SIP. EPA
is proposing to approve the 2002 base year PM2.5 emissions
inventory for the Charleston Area in accordance with the requirements
of the Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before November 1, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-
R03-OAR-2012-0422 by one of the following methods:
A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
B. Email: [email protected].
C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2010-0140, Donna Mastro, Acting Associate
Director, Office of Air Program Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
D. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address.
Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-
2012-0422. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change, and may be made available online
at www.regulations.gov, including any
[[Page 60095]]
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
information that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through
www.regulations.gov or email. The 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 email comment directly to EPA without
going through www.regulations.gov, your email 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.
Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the
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 www.regulations.gov or
in hard copy during normal business hours at the Air Protection
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal
are available at the West Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection, Division of Air Quality, 601 57th Street SE., Charleston,
West Virginia 25304.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Irene Shandruk, (215) 814-2166, or by
email at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Summary of SIP Revision
III. Proposed Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' ``us,'' or ``our'' is
used, we mean EPA. On July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38652), EPA promulgated the
1997 PM2.5 NAAQS, including an annual standard of 15.0
micrograms per cubic meter ([micro]g/m\3\) based on a 3-year average of
annual mean PM2.5 concentrations, and a 24-hour (or daily)
standard of 65 [micro]g/m\3\ based on a 3-year average of the 98th
percentile of 24-hour concentrations. EPA established the standards
based on significant evidence and numerous health studies demonstrating
that serious health effects are associated with exposures to
PM2.5.
Following promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, EPA is required
by the CAA to designate areas throughout the United States as attaining
or not attaining the NAAQS; this designation process is described in
section 107(d)(1) of the CAA. In 1999, EPA and state air quality
agencies initiated the monitoring process for the 1997 PM2.5
NAAQS and, by January 2001, established a complete set of air quality
monitors. On January 5, 2005, EPA promulgated initial air quality
designations for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS (70 FR 944), which
became effective on April 5, 2005, based on air quality monitoring data
for calendar years 2001-03.
On April 14, 2005, EPA promulgated a supplemental rule amending the
agency's initial designations (70 FR 19844), with the same effective
date (April 5, 2005) at 70 FR 944. As a result of this supplemental
rule, PM2.5 nonattainment designations are in effect for 39
areas, comprising 208 counties within 20 states (and the District of
Columbia) nationwide, with a combined population of approximately 88
million. The Charleston Area, which is the subject of this rulemaking,
was included in the list of areas not attaining the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS. The Charleston Area consists of Kanawha and
Putnam Counties in West Virginia.
On October 11, 2011 (76 FR 62640), EPA determined that West
Virginia had attained the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS in the Charleston
Area. That determination was based on complete, quality-assured,
quality-controlled, and certified ambient air monitoring data for the
2007-2009 three-year period that showed the area attained the 1997
PM2.5 NAAQS and continues to attain the standard. The
October 11, 2011 determination suspended the requirements for West
Virginia to submit an attainment demonstration, associated reasonably
available control measures, a reasonable further progress plan,
contingency measures, and other planning SIP revisions related to
attainment of the standard for so long as the nonattainment area
continues to meet the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS. Section 172(c)(3) of
the CAA requires submission and approval of a comprehensive, accurate,
and current inventory of actual emissions. This proposed approval is
limited to the emissions inventory for the Charleston Area. Separate
action will be taken on the remainder of West Virginia's SIP submittal.
II. Summary of SIP Revision
The 2002 base year emission inventory submitted by WVDEP on
November 4, 2009 for the Charleston Area includes emissions estimates
that cover the general source categories of point sources, non-road
mobile sources, area sources, on-road mobile sources, and biogenic
sources. The pollutants that comprise the inventory are nitrogen oxides
(NOX), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), PM2.5,
coarse particles (PM10), ammonia (NH3) and sulfur
dioxide (SO2). EPA has reviewed the results, procedures and
methodologies for the base year emissions inventory submitted by WVDEP.
The year 2002 was selected by WVDEP as the base year for the emissions
inventory per 40 CFR 51.1008(b). A discussion of the emissions
inventory development as well as the emissions inventory for the
Charleston Area can be found in Appendices C and D of the November 4,
2009 SIP submittal.
Table 1, below, provides a summary of the annual 2002 emissions of
NOX, VOCs, PM2.5, PM10, NH3
and SO2 for the Charleston Area submittal.
Table 1--Summary of 2002 Baseline Emissions Inventory for the Charleston Area in Tons per Year (tpy)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Source sector NH3 NOX PM10 PM2.5 SO2 VOC
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Point................................................... 25 60,138 1,134 632 130,109 3,292
Area.................................................... 70 1,614 10,039 2,396 2,486 9,209
Nonroad................................................. 1 3,957 229 213 239 2,828
Onroad.................................................. 312 10,213 233 632 411 7,073
[[Page 60096]]
Biogenic................................................ N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total............................................... 407 76,016 11,635 3,410 133,245 40,702
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The CAA section 172(c)(3) emissions inventory is developed by the
incorporation of data from multiple sources. States were required to
develop and submit to EPA a triennial emissions inventory according to
the Consolidated Emissions Reporting Rule (CERR) for all source
categories (i.e., point, area, nonroad mobile and on-road mobile). The
review and evaluation of the methods used for the emissions inventory
submitted by West Virginia are found in the Technical Support Document
dated August 12, 2010, available online at www.regulations.gov, Docket
No. EPA-R03-OAR-2012-0422. EPA finds that the process used to develop
this emissions inventory for the Charleston Area is adequate to meet
the requirements of CAA section 172(c)(3), the implementing
regulations, and EPA guidance for emission inventories.
III. Proposed Action
EPA is proposing to approve the 2002 base year emissions inventory
portion of the SIP revision submitted by the State of West Virginia on
November 4, 2009 for the Charleston Area. We have made the
determination that this action is consistent with section 110 of the
CAA. EPA is soliciting public comments on the issues discussed in this
document. These comments will be considered before taking final action.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable
Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal
requirements and does 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 rule, pertaining to the PM2.5
2002 base year emissions inventory portion of the West Virginia SIP for
the Charleston Area, does not have tribal implications as specified by
Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIP
is not approved to apply in Indian country located in the state, 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, Nitrogen dioxide,
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur
oxides, Volatile organic compounds.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: September 13, 2012.
W.C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2012-24242 Filed 10-1-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P