[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 31 (Thursday, February 14, 2008)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 8637-8640]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-2781]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[Region 2 Docket No. EPA-R02-OAR-2008-0078; FRL-8529-9]
Determinations of Attainment of the Eight-Hour Ozone Standard for
Various Ozone Nonattainment Areas in Upstate New York State
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The EPA is proposing to determine that three ozone
nonattainment areas in New York, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Jefferson
County and Rochester areas, have attained the eight-hour National
Ambient Air Quality Standard for ozone. New York State has requested
these determinations, which are based upon three years of complete,
quality-assured ambient air monitoring data for the years 2004-2006.
These data demonstrate that the eight-hour ozone standard has been
attained in these areas. In addition, data for 2007 show that the areas
continue to attain the standard. If these proposed determinations are
made final, the requirements for the State to submit certain reasonable
further progress
[[Page 8638]]
plans, attainment demonstrations, contingency measures and any other
planning requirements of the Clean Air Act related to attainment of the
eight-hour ozone standard shall be suspended for so long as the areas
continue to attain the eight-hour ozone standard. One area requested by
New York, Essex County, does not have sufficient air quality data to
demonstrate attainment of the standard. EPA is not proposing to act on
New York State's request for Essex County at this time.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before March 17, 2008. Public
comments on this action are requested and will be considered before
taking final action.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R02-
OAR-2008-0078, by one of the following methods:
http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments.
E-mail: [email protected].
Fax: 212-637-3901.
Mail: Raymond Werner, Chief, Air Programs Branch,
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 Office, 290 Broadway, 25th
Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
Hand Delivery: Raymond Werner, Chief, Air Programs Branch,
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 Office, 290 Broadway, 25th
Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866. 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-R02-OAR-
2008-0078. 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 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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-
mail. 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 e-mail comment directly to EPA without going through
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 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.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Robert F. Kelly, Air Programs Branch,
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor,
New York, New York 10007-1866, (212) 637-4249.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Proposed Action
II. Background
III. Analysis of Air Quality Data
IV. Summary
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action
The EPA is proposing to determine that three ozone nonattainment
areas in New York, the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Jefferson County and
Rochester areas, have attained the eight-hour National Ambient Air
Quality Standard (NAAQS) for ozone. These determinations are based upon
three years of complete, quality-assured ambient air monitoring data
for the years 2004-2006. These data demonstrate that the eight-hour
ozone NAAQS has been attained in these areas. In addition, data for
2007 show that the areas continue to attain the standard. Pursuant to
40 CFR section 51.918, if these proposed determinations are made final,
the requirements for the State to submit certain reasonable further
progress plans, attainment demonstrations, and contingency measures
under section 172(c)(9) and any other planning State Implementation
Plans (SIPs) related to attainment of the eight-hour ozone NAAQS, will
be suspended for so long as the area continues to attain the ozone
NAAQS.
II. Background
On April 30, 2004 (69 FR 23857), EPA designated as nonattainment
any area that was violating the 8-hour ozone NAAQS based on the three
most recent years (2001-2003) of air quality data. At that time, a
number of areas in New York State, including the areas discussed in
this notice, were designated as nonattainment. The Albany-Schenectedy-
Troy area encompasses its 1999 metropolitan area, plus Greene County
which was part of the previously existing one-hour ozone area. The
Rochester area is the 1999 metropolitan area. Jefferson County is not
part of a metropolitan area and was designated nonattainment as a
single county. Air monitoring data on Whiteface Mountain violated the
air quality standard but surrounding areas at lower elevations did not
violated the standard, so the portion of Essex County above 1900 feet
in the Whiteface Mountain area was designated as nonattainment. (See 40
CFR 81.333.)
On March 19, 2007, New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation (New York) petitioned to EPA to find that air monitoring
data from four areas of upstate New York were showing attainment of the
eight-hour ozone standard for the most recent three years of ozone
data, from 2004 to 2006. These areas were the Albany-Schenectady-Troy,
Jefferson County, Essex County and Rochester nonattainment areas. On
June 14, 2007, New York updated its submittal to document its public
review process, including notice and comment.
EPA's ozone implementation rule at 40 Code of Federal Regulations
(CFR) sections 51.900-918, promulgated under sections 172 and 182 of
the Clean Air Act, describes the Clean Air Act requirements for areas
designated as not attaining the eight-hour ozone standard. For areas
where air quality is attaining the standard, section 51.918 of the
implementation rule provides that, upon a determination of attainment
by EPA, the requirements for a State to submit certain required
planning SIPs related to attainment of the eight-hour NAAQS, such as
attainment demonstrations, reasonable further progress plans and
contingency measures, shall be suspended. EPA's action only suspends
the requirements to submit the SIP revisions discussed above. If this
rulemaking is finalized and EPA subsequently determines after notice
and comment rulemaking in the Federal Register that any of these areas
have violated the standard, the basis for the suspension of these
requirements for that area would no longer exist, and the area would
thereafter have to address the pertinent requirements within a
reasonable period of time. EPA would establish that period taking into
account the individual circumstances
[[Page 8639]]
surrounding the particular submissions at issue.
The determinations that EPA proposes with this Federal Register
notice, that air quality data show attainment of the ozone standard,
are not equivalent to the redesignation of the areas to attainment.
Using monitoring data to show attainment of the ozone NAAQS is only one
of the criteria set forth in Clean Air Act section 107(d)(3)(E) that
must be satisfied for an area to be redesignated to attainment. To be
redesignated the State must submit and receive full approval of a
redesignation request for the area that satisfies all of the criteria
of section 107(d)(3)(E), including a demonstration that the improvement
in the area's air quality is due to permanent and enforceable
reductions and a fully-approved SIP meeting all of the applicable
requirements under section 110 and Part D and a fully-approved
maintenance plan.
III. Analysis of Air Quality Data
In New York's petition, it certified the air quality data submitted
by the State for the years 2004, 2005, and 2006 was accurate and
properly quality-assured and met state and EPA monitoring requirements.
New York submitted these data to EPA's Air Quality System, where it is
available to the public via http://www.epa.gov/ttn/airs/airsaqs/. After
New York submitted its petition, New York supplied additional quality-
assured air quality data from 2007 to EPA's Air Quality System
database. EPA has reviewed these data to determine if the areas
proposed by New York remain in attainment when the additional data from
2007 are included. Table I summarizes the ozone air quality data for
these four areas of upstate New York and EPA's evaluation of whether
these areas meet EPA's requirements for attaining the eight-hour ozone
NAAQS.
Table I.--Fourth Highest Concentrations and Design Values for the Eight-Hour Ozone Standard for Monitoring Sites
in Four Areas of Upstate New York
[In parts per million]
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fourth highest concentration Average of Attainment
------------------------------------ fourth highest --------------------------
Area/Site/EPA Site ID concentration
2004 2005 2006 2007 ------------------ 2004-6 2005-7
2004-6 2005-7
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Albany-Schenectady-Troy, NY.... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... Yes......... Yes.
Loudonville 360010012...... 0.072 0.080 0.069 0.075 0.073 0.074 ............ ...........
Schenectady 360930003...... 0.068 0.077 0.061 0.067 0.068 0.068 ............ ...........
Grafton Lakes 360830004.... 0.076 0.081 0.072 0.078 0.076 0.077 ............ ...........
Stillwater 360910004....... 0.077 0.084 0.073 0.081 0.078 0.079 ............ ...........
Essex Co. (Whiteface Mt.), NY.. ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... No*......... No.*
Whiteface Mt. Summit, NY 0.077 0.079 0.071 0.084 0.071 0.078 ............ ...........
360310002.
Whiteface Mt. Base, NY 0.071 0.073 0.071 0.078 0.078 0.074 ............ ...........
360310003.
Jefferson Co., NY 360450002.... 0.071 0.083 0.073 0.083 0.075 0.077 Yes......... Yes.
Rochester, NY.................. ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... ....... Yes......... Yes.
Rochester 2 0.057 0.080 0.081 0.078 0.072 0.079 ............ ...........
360551007.
Williamson 361173001....... 0.065 0.065 0.065 0.081 0.065 0.070 ............ ...........
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note: All values in parts per million (ppm).
* Whiteface Mountain Summit monitor recorded less than 75% data capture for the ozone seasons of 2004 and 2005
and does not have complete data for those years. The design value is the average of each year's fourth highest
concentration as described in Appendix I to 40 CFR part 50. From 40 CFR part 50, Appendix I, Section 2.2: The
standard-related summary statistic is the annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone
concentration, expressed in parts per million, averaged over three years. The 3-year average shall be computed
using the three most recent, consecutive calendar years of monitoring data meeting the data completeness
requirements described in this appendix. The computed 3-year average of the annual fourth-highest daily
maximum 8-hour average ozone concentrations shall be expressed to three decimal places (the remaining digits
to the right are truncated.)
As noted in Table I, an area achieves attainment of the eight-hour
ozone standard when an area's monitoring sites all have a design value
of less than 0.085 ppm, calculated as described in 40 CFR part 50,
Appendix I. In this case, all of the sites have a design value less
than 0.085 ppm, but the Whiteface Mountain summit site in Essex County
does not have complete data for 2004 and 2005, so there is not enough
data to ensure the area is meeting the standard. Appendix I of 40 CFR
part 50 stipulates that in order to be used for showing attainment of
the standard, the three years of data must have an average percent of
days with valid ambient monitoring data of greater than 90%, and no
single year with less than 75% data completeness. The monitor at the
summit of Whiteface Mountain recorded 64 and 74 percent of the required
data in 2004 and 2005, respectively. Therefore, Essex County does not
have sufficient data to support a determination that it is an area
attaining the eight-hour ozone standard, and EPA is not proposing in
this notice to make such a determination.
EPA proposes to determine that quality-assured data from 2004
through 2006 from Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Jefferson County and
Rochester demonstrate that these areas met the eight-hour ozone
standard. EPA has reviewed the latest quality-assured data, through
September 2007, and preliminary data through the end of the ozone
season of 2007 to insure that these areas still attain the ozone
standard.
EPA notes that New York's March 19, 2007 and June 14, 2007 requests
also petitioned EPA to find that the Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Jefferson
County, Essex County and the Buffalo-Niagara one-hour ozone
nonattainment areas were showing attainment of the one-hour ozone
standard. (The Rochester area was not designated as nonattainment for
the one-hour standard, only the eight-hour standard.) EPA is not
addressing that portion of the petition in this notice, but intends to
propose action on this part of New York's request in a future, separate
Federal Register notice.
EPA is soliciting public comments on the issues discussed in this
notice. EPA will consider these comments before taking final action.
Interested parties may participate in the Federal rulemaking procedure
by submitting written comments to EPA as discussed in the ADDRESSES
section of this Federal Register.
[[Page 8640]]
IV. Summary
EPA is proposing to determine that the Albany-Schenectady-Troy,
Jefferson County and Rochester ozone nonattainment areas have attained
the eight-hour ozone standard based on three years of complete,
quality-assured monitoring data at all ozone monitoring sites in the
areas. Data through the 2007 ozone season demonstrate that the areas
continue to attain the standard. As provided in 40 CFR 51.918, if EPA's
determinations that these areas have attained the eight-hour ozone
standard are made final, they would suspend the requirements under
section 182(b)(1) for submission of the reasonable further progress
plan and ozone attainment demonstration and the requirements of section
172(c)(9) concerning submission of contingency measures and any other
planning SIP relating to attainment of the eight-hour NAAQS. This
suspension of requirements would be effective as long as the areas
continue to attain the eight-hour ozone standard. EPA will await
additional, complete data before determining whether the Whiteface
Mountain area in Essex County is attaining the standard.
EPA emphasizes that its proposed determinations are contingent upon
the continued monitoring and continued attainment and maintenance of
the eight-hour ozone NAAQS in these affected areas. If these
determinations are finalized and EPA subsequently determines, after
notice and comment rulemaking, that an area violated the standard, the
basis for the suspension of the planning requirements would no longer
exist, and the area would thereafter have to address the pertinent
requirements.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this
proposed action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and
therefore is not subject to review by the Office of Management and
Budget. For this reason, this action is also not subject to Executive
Order 13211, ``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect
Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This
action proposes to make a determination based on air quality data, and
would, if finalized, result in the suspension of certain Federal
requirements. 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 proposes to make a determination based on air
quality data, and would, if finalized, result in the suspension of
certain Federal requirements, 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 proposed 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 proposed 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),
because it merely proposes to make a determination based on air quality
data and would, if finalized, result in the suspension of certain
Federal requirements, and does not alter the relationship or the
distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean Air
Act. This proposed 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), because it proposes to determine
that air quality in the affected area is meeting Federal standards.
The requirements of section 12(d) of the National Technology
Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply
because it would be inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when
determining the attainment status of an area, to use voluntary
consensus standards in place of promulgated air quality standards and
monitoring procedures that otherwise satisfy the provisions of the
Clean Air Act.
This proposed 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.)
Under Executive Order 12898, EPA finds that this rule involves a
proposed determination of attainment based on air quality data and will
not have disproportionately high and adverse human health or
environmental effects on any communities in the area, including
minority and low-income communities.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Nitrogen oxides,
Ozone, Volatile organic compounds, Intergovernmental relations,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: February 6, 2008.
Alan J. Steinberg,
Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. E8-2781 Filed 2-13-08; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P