[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 186 (Tuesday, September 27, 2005)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 56374-56376]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-19257]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[TX-126-1-7691; FRL-7974-7]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Texas;
Transportation Control Measures in the Dallas/Fort Worth Ozone
Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The EPA is approving revisions to the Texas Ozone State
Implementation Plan (SIP). This approval incorporates the
Transportation Control Measures, submitted by the Governor of Texas on
April 25, 2000 (as substituted by the Texas Commission on Environmental
Quality on January 14, 2004), into the SIP for the Dallas/Fort Worth
Ozone Nonattainment Area. The inclusion of Transportation Control
Measures in the SIP fulfills one requirement found under Section
182(c)(5) of the Federal Clean Air Act which provides that serious
ozone nonattainment areas incorporate such measures into the state air
quality plan. This action also fulfills of EPA's obligations under a
Federal district court Consent Decree to act on these measures (70 FR
32326).
DATES: This rule is effective on October 27, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the documents relevant to this action are in the
official file which is available at the Air Planning Section (6PD-L),
Environmental Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas,
Texas 75202. The file will be made available by appointment for public
inspection in the Region 6 FOIA Review Room between the hours of 8:30
a.m. and 4:30 p.m. weekdays except for legal holidays. Contact the
person listed in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT paragraph below or
Mr. Bill Deese at (214) 665-7253 to make an appointment. If possible,
please make the appointment at least two working days in advance of
your visit. There will be a 15 cent per page fee for making photocopies
of documents. On the day of the visit, please check in at the EPA
Region 6 reception area at 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas.
Copies of any State submittals are also available for public
inspection at the State Air Agency listed below during official
business hours by appointment:
Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Office of Air Quality,
12124 Park 35 Circle, Austin, Texas 78753.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Peggy Wade, Air Planning Section (6PD-
L), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite
700, Dallas, Texas 75202, telephone (214) 665-7247; fax number (214)
665-7263; e-mail address [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and ``our'' refers to EPA.
Outline
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
II. What is the Background for This Action?
III. What Comments Were Received During the Public Comment Period?
IV. Final Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What Action Is EPA Taking?
The EPA is approving the Transportation Control Measures (TCM) for
the Dallas-Fort Worth 1-hour ozone nonattainment area (i.e., Collin,
Dallas, Denton and Tarrant counties) submitted by Texas on April 25,
2000. In addition, we note that certain changes to the original TCMs
occurred as they were substituted in January 2004 in accordance with
the Texas TCM substitution rule ( 30 TAC 114.270; see 67 FR 72379) and
the EPA guidance document Policy Guidance on the Adoption and Use of
SIP TCM Substitution Mechanisms in SIPs (EPA Office of Transportation
and Air Quality, April 7, 2004). The Texas TCM substitution rule
provides a mechanism in Texas to allow an area to substitute TCMs
without the requirement of a SIP revision.
II. What Is the Background for This Action?
A SIP revision for the Dallas--Fort Worth (DFW) 1-hour ozone
nonattainment area was submitted to EPA by the State of Texas on April
25, 2000. This SIP revision contained many control measures designed to
improve the air quality in the DFW area. EPA has since approved, in
separate Federal Register notices, a number of aspects of this SIP
submittal. EPA proposed approval of the TCMs in this SIP, which are
located in Appendix G, on January 18, 2001 (66 FR 4756). Our proposed
approval of these original TCMs did not remove or revise any previously
approved TCMs in the SIP. The total emission reductions creditable to
the TCMs contained in this appendix are 4.73 tons per day (tpd) of
nitrogen oxide (NOX) emissions and 2.95 tpd of volatile
organic compounds (VOC) emissions in the 4-county nonattainment area.
These TCMs are scheduled to be implemented no later than July, 2007.
These TCMs strengthen the SIP and comply with the requirements of
section 110(l) of the Clean Air Act. Specific details on these TCMs,
and the amount of reductions attributable to each measure, are
available in the Technical Support Document associated with this
action.
The EPA transportation conformity regulations define TCMs as any
measure specifically identified and committed to in the SIP that is
either one of the types listed in the Clean Air Act (CAA) at Section
108(f)(1)(A), or any other measure with the purpose of reducing
emissions or concentrations of air pollutants from transportation
sources by reducing vehicle use or changing traffic flow or congestion
conditions. According to the transportation conformity regulations,
Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPO), such as the North Central
Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), must demonstrate timely
implementation of TCMs by incorporation into the area's Metropolitan
Transportation Plan (MTP) and Transportation Improvement Program (TIP)
with appropriate funding dedicated to each TCM (40 CFR 93.113).
In some cases, the MPO might find itself unable to demonstrate that
TCMs are meeting the timely implementation criteria because obstacles
to
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implementation are impossible to overcome. In the August 15, 1997
transportation conformity rule (62 FR 43779, see p. 43810), EPA
committed to issuing guidance on how an area may substitute TCMs
without the requirement for a SIP revision. EPA believes that such a
substitution mechanism is possible if states explicitly incorporate
such a policy containing replicable procedures into the SIP and we have
since issued guidance to that effect (Policy Guidance on the Adoption
and Use of SIP TCM Substitution Mechanisms in SIPs, EPA Office of
Transportation and Air Quality, April 7, 2004). The State of Texas has
developed a TCM substitution policy (30 TAC 114.270) and submitted it
to EPA as a SIP revision on May 17, 2000. EPA approved this policy as a
revision to the Texas SIP on December 5, 2002 (67 FR 72379). Among the
requirements of this policy are that the substituted measures provide
equal or greater emission reductions than those being eliminated. It
also requires that the substituted measures, in accordance with section
110(l) of the Clean Air Act, do not interfere with any applicable
requirement for reasonable further progress or timely attainment of any
NAAQS. The policy creates a replicable process whereby a TCM working
group recommends potential substitutions to TCEQ and, following a
public hearing and EPA review and concurrence, TCEQ approves the
substitute TCMs.
Pursuant to 30 TAC 114.270, on September 19, 2003, the NCTCOG
convened an interagency working group of the transportation partners to
review proposed TCMs to be used as substitute measures for certain TCMs
contained in Appendix G of the April 2000 SIP which were no longer
feasible to implement. Substitution of TCMs was needed because many of
the original TCMs were impossible to implement due to design concept,
scope or funding issues, or were inadvertently given double-credit in
the original SIP (e.g., one measure was counted as a reduction in two
separate categories), or the scheduled implementation date had slipped
beyond the July 2007 commitment in the SIP. By letter dated November
20, 2003, after appropriate public notice and hearing, EPA concurred on
the substituted measures and they were subsequently adopted by the TCEQ
on January 14, 2004. The substituted measures fall into the categories
of intersection improvements, bicycle and pedestrian projects, high-
occupancy-vehicle facilities, rail, grade separations, park-and-ride
facilities, and van pools. As a whole, they provide additional emission
reductions of 59.4 pounds-per-day of NOX and 372.8 pounds-
per-day of VOC as compared to the original TCMs.
III. What Comments Were Received During the Public Comment Period?
EPA proposed approval of this SIP, including the TCMs and other
measures, on January 18, 2001. The comment period closed on March 19,
2001, and we did not receive any comments on the original TCMs included
in the SIP. The TCEQ held another comment period culminating in a
public hearing regarding the appropriateness of the proposed measures
to be used as TCM substitutions from September 24, 2003, to October 29,
2003. No comments were received.
IV. Final Action
The EPA is approving the TCMs found in the SIP for the Dallas-Fort
Worth 1-hour ozone nonattainment area submitted by Texas on April 25,
2000. These TCMs were substituted in January, 2004, in accordance with
the Texas TCM substitution rule.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) has exempted this
regulatory action from Executive Order 12866, entitled ``Regulatory
Planning and Review.'' This rule is not a ``significant energy action''
as defined in Executive Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations
That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR
28355 (May 22, 2001)), because it is not likely to have a significant
adverse effect on the supply, distribution, or use of energy. This
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and
imposes no additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law.
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under state law and does
not impose any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by
state law, it 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).
This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism
implications because it does not have substantial direct effects on the
States, on the relationship between the national government and the
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the
various levels of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely approves a state rule
implementing a Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean
Air Act.
This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 ``Protection
of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety Risks'' (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997). EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 as
applying only to those regulatory actions that are based on health or
safety risks, such that the analysis required under section 5-501 of
the Order has the potential to influence the regulation. This rule is
not subject to Executive Order 13045 because it approves a state
program.
In reviewing SIP submissions under the National Technology Transfer
and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C 272 note), EPA's role is to
approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the
Clean Air Act. In this context, in the absence of a prior existing
requirement for the State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS),
EPA has no authority to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use
VCS. It would thus be inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it
reviews a SIP submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that
otherwise satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Thus, the
requirements of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act of 1995 do not apply. This rule does not impose an
information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et sec., 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 rule and other
required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House of
Representatives, and
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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. section 804(2).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by November 28, 2005. Filing a
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule
does not affect the finality of this rule 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, Hydrocarbons,
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen
oxides, Ozone, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile
organic compounds.
Dated: September 19, 2005.
Lawrence E. Starfield,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6.
0
40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--[AMENDED]
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart SS--Texas
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2. In Sec. 52.2270, the second table in paragraph (e) entitled ``EPA
Approved Nonregulatory Provisions and Quasi-Regulatory Measures in the
Texas SIP'' is amended by adding one new entry to the end of the table
to read as follows:
Sec. 52.2270 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
EPA Approved Nonregulatory Provisions and Quasi-regulatory Measures in the Texas SIP
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Applicable State
Name of SIP provision geographic or submittal/ EPA approval date Comments
nonattainment area effective date
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* * * * * * *
Dallas--Fort Worth SIP, Appendix Dallas/Fort Worth 01/14/2004 09/27/2005 [Insert FR
G; Transportation Control Ozone page number where
Measures in the Dallas/Fort Worth Nonattainment Area. document begins].
Ozone Nonattainment Area.
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[FR Doc. 05-19257 Filed 9-26-05; 8:45 am]
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