[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2016)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 25605-25608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-10166]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2014-0250; FRL-9945-91-Region 4]
Air Plan Approval; Removal of I/M Program in Memphis and
Revisions to the 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan for Shelby County,
Tennessee
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving the
State of Tennessee's May 23, 2014, State Implementation Plan (SIP)
revision, submitted through the Tennessee Department of Environment and
Conservation (TDEC) on behalf of the Shelby County Health Department
(SCHD), seeking to modify the SIP by removing the Inspection and
Maintenance (I/M) program in the City of Memphis, Tennessee, and by
incorporating Shelby County's revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-
hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). Among other
things, the revised maintenance plan updates the emissions inventory
estimates and the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for the years
2006 and 2021, and contains an emissions reduction measure to offset
the emissions increase expected from the termination of City of Memphis
I/M program. EPA has determined that Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP
revision is consistent with the applicable provisions of the Clean Air
Act (CAA or Act).
DATES: This rule is effective May 31, 2016.
ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket
Identification No. EPA-R04-OAR-2014-0250. All documents in the docket
are listed on the www.regulations.gov Web site. Although listed in the
index, some information may not be publicly available, i.e.,
Confidential Business Information 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 through www.regulations.gov or in hard
copy at the Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and
Implementation 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 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.,
excluding federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Wong, Air Regulatory
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air
Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, Region 4, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
Mr. Wong can be reached by phone at (404) 562-8726 or via electronic
mail at [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Shelby County was designated as nonattainment for the carbon
monoxide (CO) NAAQS on March 3, 1978 (43 FR 8962). Local transportation
sources in the City of Memphis were identified as the prime
contributors to monitored CO violations in Shelby County at that time.
The City of Memphis I/M program was adopted as a control strategy to
attain the CO NAAQS.
On July 26, 1994 (59 FR 37939), EPA redesignated Shelby County to
attainment for the CO standard and approved the initial 10-year CO
maintenance plan for Shelby County. Subsequently, further improvements
in automotive technology led to a consistent reduction in locally
monitored levels of CO. On October 25, 2006 (71 FR 62384), EPA approved
the required second 10-year CO maintenance plan which demonstrated that
I/M was no longer needed to maintain the CO NAAQS.
On April 30, 2004 (69 FR 23858), EPA designated Shelby County,
Tennessee, and Crittenden County, Arkansas, as nonattainment for the
1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, with a classification of `moderate'
(hereinafter collectively referred to as the ``Memphis 1997 8-hour
Ozone Area'').\1\ Under CAA section 182(b)(4), moderate ozone
nonattainment areas with a census-defined urbanized area population
over a given threshold are required to adopt basic I/M as part of the
required SIP.
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\1\ On March 12, 2008, EPA promulgated a revised 8-hour ozone
NAAQS of 0.075 parts per million. See 73 FR 16436 (March 27, 2008).
EPA designated Shelby County; Crittenden County, Arkansas; and a
portion of Desoto County, Mississippi, as a marginal nonattainment
area for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS on April 30, 2012 (effective
July 20, 2012). See 77 FR 30088 (May 21, 2012). Currently,
monitoring data for the Memphis 2008 8-hour Ozone Area indicates
that the Area has attaining data for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS. As
noted above, marginal ozone nonattainment areas are not required to
adopt an I/M program.
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Following the initial designations for the 1997 8-hour ozone
standard, Shelby County, the State of Tennessee, Crittenden County, and
the State of Arkansas adopted additional measures to control ozone-
forming emissions in the region and petitioned EPA to use its
discretion under CAA section 181(a)(4) to reclassify the Area from
moderate to marginal. On September 22, 2004 (69 FR 56697), EPA granted
the petition to reclassify the Area, which removed the SIP planning
requirements mandated of moderate ozone nonattainment areas, including
the adoption of a mandatory I/M program, and reset the attainment
deadline to June 15, 2007. The Area
[[Page 25606]]
failed to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by the marginal area
attainment deadline. Consequently, on March 28, 2008 (73 FR 16547), EPA
reclassified the Area as a moderate nonattainment area. This
reclassification reset the attainment deadline to June 15, 2010, with
an attainment plan SIP revision due on March 1, 2009, to address all
CAA requirements for a moderate ozone nonattainment area, including an
I/M program in Shelby County pursuant to CAA section 184(b)(4).
The end of the 2008 ozone monitoring season resulted in a design
value for the Memphis 1997 8-hour Ozone Area that met the NAAQS.
Tennessee, Mississippi, and Arkansas prepared separate, but
coordinated, redesignation requests and maintenance plans for their
respective portions of the Area. Tennessee, on behalf of Shelby County,
submitted the redesignation request and maintenance plan for its
portion of the 1997 8-hour Ozone Area to EPA on February 26, 2009,
prior to the attainment plan SIP revision due date.
EPA approved Tennessee's redesignation request and maintenance plan
on January 4, 2010 (75 FR 56). Although there was no longer a mandatory
requirement to implement I/M in Shelby County under section 184(b)(4)
of the CAA, the City of Memphis continued to operate its I/M program,
and the SIP-approved maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS
includes the implementation of a basic I/M program in Shelby County as
a contingency measure in the event that the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS is
violated in the 1997 8-hour Ozone Area after redesignation. In mid-
2012, the Memphis City Council voted to defund the City of Memphis I/M
program beginning with Fiscal Year 2013/2014. Vehicle inspection
operations at all four City of Memphis inspection stations ended on
June 28, 2013. Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP submission addresses the
termination of this program.
In a notice of proposed rulemaking (NPRM) published on February 12,
2016 (81 FR 7483), EPA proposed to approve the May 23, 2014, SIP
revision. No comments were received on the February 12, 2012, NPRM. The
details of Tennessee's submittal and the rationale for EPA's actions
are further explained in the NPRM.
II. Revised MVEBs
Tennessee's May 23, 2014, maintenance plan revision updates the
MVEBs for 2006 and 2021 using on-road mobile source emissions estimates
from MOVES and removes the MVEBs for 2009 and 2017. The revised 2021
MVEB accounts for the termination of the I/M program and the shutdown
of the Cleo, Inc. facility.\2\ These budgets are used by transportation
authorities to assure that transportation plans, programs, and projects
are consistent with, and conform to, the maintenance of acceptable air
quality in the Memphis 1997 8-hour Ozone Area.
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\2\ As discussed in the NPRM, the maintenance plan revision
includes emissions reductions from the closure of the Cleo, Inc.
facility to offset the estimated increase in emissions due to the
termination of the City of Memphis I/M program. The Cleo facility
was a gift wrap manufacturing plant and warehouse located at 4025
Viscount Avenue, Memphis, Tennessee.
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Under section 176(c) of the CAA, new transportation plans,
programs, and projects, such as the construction of new highways, must
``conform'' to (i.e., be consistent with) the part of the state's air
quality plan that addresses pollution from cars and trucks. Conformity
to the SIP means that transportation activities will not cause new air
quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely
attainment of the NAAQS or any interim milestones. If a transportation
plan does not conform, most new projects that would expand the capacity
of roadways cannot go forward. Regulations at 40 CFR part 93 set forth
EPA policy, criteria, and procedures for demonstrating and assuring
conformity of such transportation activities to a SIP. The regional
emissions analysis is one, but not the only, requirement for
implementing transportation conformity. Transportation conformity is a
requirement for nonattainment and maintenance areas. Maintenance areas
are areas that were previously nonattainment for a particular NAAQS but
have since been redesignated to attainment with an approved maintenance
plan for that NAAQS.
Under the CAA, states are required to submit, at various times,
control strategy SIPs and maintenance plans for nonattainment areas.
These control strategy SIPs (including RFP and attainment
demonstration) and maintenance plans create MVEBs for criteria
pollutants and/or their precursors to address pollution from cars and
trucks. Per 40 CFR part 93, a MVEB must be established for the last
year of the maintenance plan. A state may adopt MVEBs for other years
as well. The MVEB is the portion of the total allowable emissions in
the maintenance demonstration that is allocated to highway and transit
vehicle use and emissions. See 40 CFR 93.101. The MVEB serves as a
ceiling on emissions from an area's planned transportation system. The
MVEB concept is further explained in the preamble to the November 24,
1993 (58 FR 62188), Transportation Conformity Rule. The preamble also
describes how to establish the MVEB in the SIP and how to revise the
MVEB. According to 40 CFR 93.118, a maintenance plan must establish
MVEBs for the last year of the maintenance plan (in this case, 2021).
The updated MVEBs in the revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour
ozone NAAQS are for the base year (2006) and the last year of the first
10-year maintenance plan (2021). The 2021 MVEB reflects the total on-
road mobile source emissions for 2021 plus an allocation from the
available volatile organic compounds (VOC) and nitrogen oxides
(NOX) safety margins.\3\ The MVEBs are presented in Table 1,
below.
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\3\ The safety margin is the difference between the attainment
level of emissions (from all sources) and the projected level of
emissions (from all sources) in the maintenance plan. As discussed
in the NPRM, Shelby County chose to allocate 4.224 tpd of the
available VOC safety margin and 40.393 tpd of the available
NOX safety margin to the 2021 MVEBs.
Table 1--Shelby County VOC and NOX MVEBs
[Ozone season tons per day]
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2006 2021
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NOX............................................... 58.013 56.428
VOC............................................... 23.986 12.782
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The previously-approved 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan for
Shelby County contained interim MVEBs for years 2006, 2009, and 2017 in
addition to the required maintenance year MVEB of 2021. The consensus
formed during the interagency consultation process was that MVEBs
should only be set for 2006 and 2021.\4\ Therefore, the revised
maintenance plan removes the interim budgets for years 2009 and 2017.
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\4\ The transportation conformity provisions of the CAA require
interagency consultation in the development of MVEBs. The
consultation process involves federal agencies (EPA, Federal Highway
Administration, and Federal Transit Administration), state and local
transportation agencies, state and local air agencies, and
metropolitan planning organizations.
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III. Final Action
EPA is approving Tennessee's May 23, 2014, SIP revision seeking to
remove the City of Memphis I/M program from the SIP and to incorporate
Shelby County's revised maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone
NAAQS into the SIP.\5\ The maintenance plan includes,
[[Page 25607]]
among other things, an emissions reduction measure to offset the
emissions increase expected from the termination of City of Memphis I/M
program as well as revised emission inventory estimates and revised
2006 and 2021 MVEBs based upon new modeling associated with the
termination of the I/M program and the inclusion of the offset measure.
Within 24 months from this final rule, the transportation partners will
need to demonstrate conformity to the new NOX and VOC MVEBs
pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e)(3).
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\5\ The contingency measures portion of Shelby County's
maintenance plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, as incorporated
into the SIP, includes the implementation of an I/M program in
Shelby County as a contingency measure should a monitored violation
of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS occur in the former Memphis, TN-AR
nonattainment area. Today's final action does not remove the I/M
program from the contingency measures in the SIP-approved
maintenance plan.
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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 Act and applicable
federal regulations. See 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 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 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 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).
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 as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000), nor will it 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 June 28, 2016. 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. 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 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: April 20, 2016.
Heather McTeer Toney,
Regional Administrator, Region 4.
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
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 RR--Tennessee
0
2. Section 52.2220(e), is amended by adding an entry for ``8-Hour Ozone
Maintenance plan for the Shelby County, Tennessee Area'' at the end of
the table to read as follows:
Sec. 52.2220 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
EPA-Approved Tennessee Non-Regulatory Provisions
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Applicable State
Name of non-regulatory SIP geographic or effective EPA approval date Explanation
provision nonattainment area date
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* * * * * * *
Revised 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Memphis, Shelby 5/14/2014 4/29/2016 [Insert Revises the maintenance
plan for the Shelby County, County. citation of plan approved by EPA
Tennessee Area. publication]. on 1/4/10 to include a
revised emissions
inventory, revised
MVEBs, and an
emissions reduction
measure to offset the
termination of the
City of Memphis I/M
program.
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[FR Doc. 2016-10166 Filed 4-28-16; 8:45 am]
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