Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Ohio

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52 And 81

[OH79-2-7115; FRL-5406-5]

Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation

of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Ohio

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

ACTION: Denial of comment period extension on proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: This action denies a request to extend the comment period on

the proposed rule approving the Cleveland/Akron/Lorain (CAL) ozone

nonattainment area redesignation to

[[Page 2761]]

attainment request and maintenance plan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mark J. Palermo, Regulation

Development Section, Regulation Development Branch (AR-18J), U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard,

Chicago, Illinois 60604. Telephone: (312) 886-6082.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On June 15, 1995, the USEPA published a

proposed rule (60 FR 31433) to approve a redesignation to attainment

request and maintenance plan submitted by the State of Ohio for the CAL

ozone nonattainment area, consisting of the Counties of Lorain,

Cuyahoga, Lake, Ashtabula, Geauga, Medina, Summit, and Portage. The

maintenance plan is designed to help the area meet the ozone air

quality standard for the next ten years. The comment period closed on

July 17, 1995. On July 19, 1995, the USEPA received a phone message

requesting that the public comment period on the proposed rulemaking be

extended until 30 to 60 days after Ohio releases the results of its

1994 air toxics monitoring study in order to have adequate time to

review the 1994 air toxics monitoring data relating to the city of

Cleveland before submitting comments in full. The Ohio study is an

intermittent year round monitoring program occurring in certain Ohio

cities, such as Cleveland, which samples ambient air concentrations of

certain air toxics at monitoring locations in those cities for twenty-

four hours every six days. In general, some air toxics compounds are

also classified as volatile organic compounds (VOC), which contribute

to ground-level ozone formation. The requestor wanted to use the air

toxics monitoring data gathered in the city of Cleveland in 1994

relating to VOCs and compare it with VOC emission inventory data used

by Ohio to justify the CAL area redesignation request. Results of the

Ohio air toxics study has been published from the beginning of the

program in 1989 to 1993, and at the time the extension request was made

the 1994 study had been completed but not yet published.

To fulfill one of the Clean Air Act's criteria for redesignating

ozone nonattainment areas under section 107(d)(3)(E), the State of Ohio

included ozone precursor emissions inventory data to demonstrate that

levels of VOCs in the CAL area decreased from 1990 to 1993 due to

enforceable emissions reductions resulting from the implementation of

two federal programs; lower fuel volatility and the Federal Motor

Vehicle Control Program. During that period ozone air pollution levels

also decreased in the CAL area as demonstrated by ozone ambient air

monitoring data. This data demonstrated that the area met the ozone

National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) during 1992 through

1994. Preliminary ozone monitoring data for the 1995 ozone season

demonstrate that the CAL area continues to maintain compliance with the

ambient air quality standards for ozone.

There is no justification to reopen the comment period to allow

time to review the 1994 Ohio air toxics study because the study was

neither designed nor intended to collect data which could identify the

aggregate ozone precursor emissions of VOC from every source in the CAL

area for a typical summer day or determine whether these emissions have

in fact risen or declined over time. The emission inventory data,

submitted in the CAL area redesignation request, on the other hand,

serves both these functions. As discussed in the June 15, 1995, Federal

Register, the State's data supporting the CAL area redesignation

request fully comports with requirements under the Clean Air Act and

was appropriately compiled in accordance with USEPA guidance (See 60 FR

at 31433). For the reasons discussed above, the request to extend the

comment period on the proposed rulemaking has been denied.

Dated: December 15, 1995.

Valdas V. Adamkus,

Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 96-1558 Filed 1-26-96; 8:45 am]

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