[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 53 (Tuesday, March 19, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16792-16795]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-06208]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 81
[EPA-R09-OAR-2013-0135; FRL-9791-6]
Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of
California; Imperial Valley Planning Area for PM10; Clarification of
Nonattainment Area Boundary
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is clarifying the description of the Imperial Valley
planning area, an area designated as nonattainment for the national
ambient air quality standard for particulate matter with an aerodynamic
diameter of a nominal 10 microns or less (PM10). EPA is not
changing the boundaries of the PM10 area or the status of
the area as a ``serious'' PM10 nonattainment area but is
clarifying the description of this partial county area in the Code of
Federal Regulations.
DATES: This direct final rule is effective May 20, 2013, unless EPA
receives adverse comment by April 18, 2013. If adverse comments are
received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule
in the Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not
take effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final
rule based on the proposed rule.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2013-0135 by one of the following methods:
1. Federal eRulemaking Portal, at www.regulations.gov, please
follow the on-line instructions;
2. Email to [email protected]; or
3. Mail or delivery to La Weeda Ward, Air Division (AIR-1), U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, 600 Wilshire Blvd., Suite
1460, Los Angeles, CA 90017.
Instructions: All comments will be included in the public docket
without change and may be made available online at www.regulations.gov,
including any personal information provided, unless the comment
includes Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Information you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected should be clearly identified as such and
should not be submitted through www.regulations.gov or email.
www.regulations.gov is an ``anonymous access'' system, and EPA will not
know your identity or contact information unless you provide it in the
body of your comment. If you send an email directly to EPA, your email
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the
public comment. 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: The index to the docket for this action is available
electronically at www.regulations.gov and in hard copy at EPA Region
IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. While all documents
in the docket are listed in the index, some information may be publicly
available only at the hard copy location (e.g., copyrighted material),
and some may not be publicly available at either location (e.g., CBI).
To inspect the hard copy materials, please schedule an appointment
during normal business hours with the contact listed in the FOR FURTHER
INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: La Weeda Ward, Air Division (AIR-1),
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 9, 600 Wilshire Blvd.,
Suite 1460, Los Angeles, CA 90017, telephone number (213) 244-1812, or
email [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, wherever ``we'',
``us'' or ``our'' are used, we mean EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA's Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
EPA sets the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for
certain ambient air pollutants at levels required to protect public
health and welfare. Particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter
less than or equal to a nominal ten micrometers, or PM10, is
one of these ambient air pollutants for which EPA has established
health-based standards.
EPA revised the NAAQS for particulate matter on July 1, 1987 (52 FR
24633), replacing standards for total
[[Page 16793]]
suspended particulates (TSP less than 30 microns in diameter) that were
set in 1971 with new standards applying only to particulate matter up
to 10 microns in diameter (PM10). Simultaneously, EPA
published revised requirements for state implementation plans (SIPs) to
attain and maintain the standards (52 FR 24672, July 1, 1987). To focus
Federal and State resources on implementing the PM10 NAAQS
first in those areas of the country believed to be violating the
standards, EPA classified all areas of the Nation into one of three
groups. Group I areas were those having a very high probability of
violating the PM10 standards based on ambient air quality
data available for 1984 through 1987 for PM10 and TSP. Group
II areas had a moderate probability of violating the standards, and
Group III areas were those believed to be currently attaining the
standards.
A list of Group I and II areas in each State was published on
August 7, 1987 (52 FR 29383). Within Imperial County,\1\ EPA listed two
areas, ``Imperial Valley planning area'' and ``Yuma planning area,''
\2\ among the Group I areas. The remaining portions of any State not
listed as Group I or II were classified in Group III.
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\1\ Imperial County is located in the southeastern corner of
California. It borders Mexico to the south, Riverside County to the
north, Arizona to the east, and San Diego County to the west.
Imperial County lies within the Sonoran Desert.
\2\ EPA also listed ``Yuma planning area'' as a Group I area
within Yuma County, Arizona.
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On October 31, 1990 (55 FR 45799), EPA clarified the descriptions
of several Group I and II areas of concern. In so doing, EPA did not
clarify the description of the ``Imperial Valley planning area'' but
did eliminate ``Yuma planning area'' as a Group I or II area of concern
within Imperial County, California.
Under section 107(d)(4)(B) of the Clean Air Act (CAA or ``Act''),
as amended in 1990, certain areas were designated as nonattainment for
PM10 by operation of law upon enactment of the 1990
Amendments (i.e., November 15, 1990). These areas included all areas
included in Group I in EPA's 1987 list (unless changed by EPA prior to
the 1990 Amended Act) as well as certain Group II and III areas. The
Imperial Valley planning area, as a former ``Group I'' area, was one of
the areas designated as a PM10 nonattainment area by
operation of law effective November 15, 1990.
On March 15, 1991 (56 FR 11101), EPA announced all of those areas
that were designated nonattainment for PM10 by operation of
law and announced that all of the nonattainment areas were classified
as ``moderate,'' also effective November 15, 1990. The ``Imperial
Valley planning area'' was one of the areas listed by EPA in March 1991
as an ``initial'' PM10 nonattainment area. On November 6,
1991 (56 FR 56694), EPA codified the PM10 nonattainment area
designations, including the nonattainment area designation for
``Imperial Valley planning area,'' in 40 CFR part 81.\3\
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\3\ California area designations are codified at 40 CFR 81.305.
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States with ``moderate'' PM10 nonattainment areas were
required under the CAA as amended in 1990 to revise their SIPs to
provide for attainment of the PM10 NAAQS no later than
December 31, 1994. ``Moderate'' areas that failed to attain the
PM10 NAAQS by December 31, 1994 were subject to
reclassification to ``serious.'' Such reclassification would extend the
applicable attainment date to December 31, 2001 but would require the
SIP for the area to be further revised to meet more stringent
requirements than had applied to ``moderate'' areas. On August 11, 2004
(69 FR 48792), EPA determined that the Imperial Valley planning area
failed to attain the PM10 NAAQS by December 31, 1994 and
reclassified the area to ``serious.''
The listing of the ``Imperial Valley planning area'' in the
PM10 area designations table in 40 CFR 81.305 without
further description has led to some confusion as to the precise
boundaries of the designated nonattainment area, and the purpose of
today's direct final rule is to clarify the description of the
``Imperial Valley planning area'' to eliminate such confusion.
Specifically, we are clarifying in this action that the ``Imperial
Valley planning area'' PM10 nonattainment area is that
portion of Imperial County that is defined as follows: Commencing at
the southwest corner of Imperial County and extending north along the
Imperial-San Diego County line to the northwest corner of Imperial
County; then east along the Imperial-Riverside County line to the point
of intersection of the eastern boundary line of Hydrologic Unit
18100200; \4\ then southeasterly along the eastern boundary
line of Hydrologic Unit 18100200 to the Imperial County-Mexico
Border; then west along the Imperial County-Mexico Border to the point
of the beginning.
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\4\ Within Imperial County, the northeastern boundary of
Hydrologic Unit 18100200 generally follows the crestline of
the Chocolate Mountains.
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For the purposes of this action, EPA reviewed the Federal Register
documents listed above as well as EPA memoranda and State planning
documents. Based on that review, EPA confirmed the accuracy of the
above description. Specifically, EPA found that:
EPA's 1987 listing of two Group I areas within Imperial
County, i.e., the ``Imperial Valley planning area'' and the ``Yuma
planning area,'' establishes that ``Imperial Valley planning area'' is
a partial county area;
The long-standing use of Hydrologic Units to describe
other PM10 area designations in desert areas of California
(see, e.g., the PM10 area designations in 40 CFR 81.305 for
Coso Junction planning area, Owens Valley planning area, Trona planning
area, and Indian Wells planning area) establishes precedent for the use
of such units to describe the PM10 area designation for
``Imperial Valley planning area,'' which is also a California desert
area;
EPA staff memorandum dated July 17, 1991 describes the
``Imperial Valley Study Area'' boundary in terms of latitude and
longitude that approximate the hydrologic unit boundary;
EPA staff map, undated but believed to have been prepared
in the early 1990s, illustrates the Imperial Valley planning area in
terms of the northeastern boundary line for Hydrologic Unit
18100200;
EPA map (dated May 1992) of PM10 area
designations within Region IX shows the Imperial Valley nonattainment
area as covering that portion of the county east of a line that appears
to approximate the northeastern boundary line for Hydrologic Unit
18100200; and
A SIP submittal dated January 11, 1994 for the Imperial
Valley planning area from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to
EPA includes a PM10 plan that describes the nonattainment
area as containing ``most of Imperial County (approximately 80%) except
for the portion east of the Chocolate Mountain Range'' and includes a
figure that illustrates the nonattainment area showing a northeastern
boundary line that approximates the boundary for Hydrologic Unit
18100200.\5\
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\5\ See pages 1-2 and 1-3 of the Imperial Valley PM10
Plan submitted by CARB on January 11, 1994.
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Through today's action, EPA is not changing the boundaries of the
Imperial Valley planning area PM10 nonattainment area, but
is simply clarifying the boundaries of the existing PM10
nonattainment area by providing a more detailed description herein and
in 40 CFR 81.305. EPA is also not changing the status or classification
of the Imperial Valley planning area PM10 nonattainment
area. As such, the area
[[Page 16794]]
remains designated as ``nonattainment'' for PM10 and
classified as ``serious.''
II. EPA's Final Action
EPA is clarifying that the Imperial Valley planning area
PM10 nonattainment area is that portion of Imperial County
that is defined as follows: Commencing at the southwest corner of
Imperial County and extending north along the Imperial-San Diego County
line to the northwest corner of Imperial County; then east along the
Imperial-Riverside County line to the point of intersection of the
eastern boundary line of Hydrologic Unit 18100200; then
southeasterly along the eastern boundary line of Hydrologic Unit
18100200 to the Imperial County-Mexico Border; then west along
the Imperial County-Mexico Border to the point of the beginning. EPA is
not changing the boundaries of the PM10 area or the status
of the area as a ``serious'' PM10 nonattainment area but is
simply clarifying the description of this partial county area and
amending the applicable table in 40 CFR 81.305 accordingly.
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because we view
this as a non-controversial action and anticipate no adverse comments.
However, in the proposed rules section of this Federal Register
publication, we are publishing a separate document that will serve as
the proposal to approve the SIP revision if relevant adverse comments
are received. This rule will be effective on May 20, 2013 without
further notice unless we receive adverse comments by April 18, 2013. If
we receive adverse comments, we will publish a timely withdrawal in the
Federal Register informing the public that the rule will not take
effect. We will address all public comments in a subsequent final rule
based on the proposed rule. We will not institute a second comment
period on this action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so
now.
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This action simply clarifies the description of an existing air
quality planning area and would not impose additional requirements
beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
Is not ``significant regulatory actions'' 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 economically significant regulatory actions based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not significant regulatory actions 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 disproportionate human health or environmental effects with
practical, appropriate, and legally permissible methods under Executive
Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, this action does not have Tribal implications as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000),
because the action simply clarifies the description of existing air
quality planning area and thus will not impose substantial direct costs
on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal law.
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. 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 20, 2013. 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. Parties with objections to this direct final rule are
encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of
proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed rules
section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an immediate
petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can
withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed
rulemaking. 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 81
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, National parks,
Wilderness areas.
Dated: March 6, 2013.
Jared Blumenfeld,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
PART 81--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart C--[Section 107 Attainment Status Designations]
0
2. Section 81.305 is amended in the table for ``California-PM-10'' by
revising the entry for ``Imperial County'' to read as follows:
Sec. 81.305 California.
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[[Page 16795]]
California--PM10
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Designation Classification
Designated Area --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date Type Date Type
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* * * * * * *
Imperial County 11/15/90 Nonattainment 9/10/04 Serious
Imperial Valley planning area: That
portion of Imperial County that is
defined as follows:
Commencing at the southwest corner of
Imperial County and extending north
along the Imperial-San Diego County
line to the northwest corner of
Imperial County; then east along the
Imperial-Riverside County line to
the point of intersection of the
eastern boundary line of Hydrologic
Unit 18100200; then
southeasterly along the eastern
boundary line of Hydrologic Unit
18100200 to the Imperial
County-Mexico Border; then west
along the Imperial County-Mexico
Border to the point of the beginning.
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[FR Doc. 2013-06208 Filed 3-18-13; 8:45 am]
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