Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Indiana

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Parts 52 and 81

[IN83-1a; FRL-5882-6]

Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Indiana

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this action, EPA is approving a redesignation request

submitted by the State of Indiana on April 8, 1993. Supplemental

information was provided on June 17, 1997. In this submittal, Indiana

requested that a portion of Vermillion County be redesignated to

attainment of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for

particulate matter with an aerometric mean diameter less than 10

micrometers (PM-10). Subsequent to this approval, the portion of

Clinton Township, Vermillion County which includes sections 15, 16, 21,

22, 27, 28, 33 and 34 will be designated attainment for the PM-10

NAAQS.

DATES: The ``direct final'' is effective on October 27, 1997, unless

EPA receives written adverse or critical comments by September 25,

1997. If the effective date is delayed, timely notice will be published

in the Federal Register.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the revision request are available for inspection

at the following address: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region

5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago,

Illinois 60604. (It is recommended that you telephone Ryan Bahr,

Environmental Engineer, at (312) 353-4366 before visiting the Region 5

Office.)

Written comments should be sent to: J. Elmer Bortzer, Chief,

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

Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago,

Illinois 60604.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ryan Bahr, Environmental Engineer, at

(312) 353-4366.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

Each NAAQS consists of two standards: a primary standard for the

protection of public health and a secondary standard for the protection

of public welfare. The PM-10 NAAQS primary and secondary standard are

set at the same level. To reflect the scientifically demonstrated

relationship to health effects, this NAAQS level is composed of two

averaging times; a 24-hour concentration set at a level of 150

micrograms per cubic meter (g/m\3\) and an annual average

based on a 50 g/m\3\ annual arithmetic mean (See 40 CFR 50.6).

In 1988, several exceedances of the PM-10 NAAQS were recorded in

Vermillion County at monitoring sites located downwind of Peabody Coal

Company's Universal Mine, Blanford East Area. As a result of these

exceedances, and pursuant to section 107(d)(A)(B) of the Clean Air Act

(Act), a portion of Clinton Township in Vermillion County was

designated moderate nonattainment for PM-10 on November 6, 1991 (56 FR

56694).

In order to satisfy the requirements of part D and section 110 of

the Act for the nonattainment area, Indiana submitted a PM State

Implementation Plan (SIP) revision request to EPA on April 8, 1993.

Along with the PM SIP revision request for Vermillion County, Indiana

submitted a request for redesignation to attainment of the PM-10 NAAQS

for a portion of the county. EPA found the request complete and issued

a completeness letter on April 30, 1993. The EPA approved Indiana's PM

SIP submission for Vermillion County on February 15, 1994 (59 FR 7223).

Indiana supplemented the redesignation request submittal with updated

monitoring data on June 17, 1997. There have been no monitored

violations of the PM-10 standard in Vermillion County since the

original violations recorded in 1988.

On July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated new NAAQS for particulate matter.

This revision to the NAAQS added standards for particulate matter with

aerometric mean diameter less than 10 micrometers and changed the form

of the 24 hour PM-10 standard.

II. Evaluation Criteria

Section 107(d)(3)(D) of the Act, as amended in 1990, authorizes the

Governor of a State to request the redesignation of an area from

nonattainment to attainment. The criteria used to review redesignation

requests are derived from the Act. An area can be redesignated to

attainment if the following conditions are met:

(1) The area has attained the applicable NAAQS;

(2) The area has a fully approved SIP under section 110(k) of the

Act;

(3) The EPA has determined that the improvement in air quality in

the area is due to permanent and enforceable emission reductions;

(4) EPA has determined that the maintenance plan for the area has

met all of the requirements of section 175A of the Act; and,

(5) The State has met all requirements applicable to the area under

section 110 and part D of the Act.

III. Summary of State Submittal

The following paragraphs discuss how the State's redesignation

request for Vermillion County addresses the Act's requirements.

A. Demonstrated Attainment of the NAAQS

As explained in a September 4, 1992, memorandum ``Procedures for

Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to Attainment,'' from the

Director of the Air Quality Management Division to the Regional Air

Directors, three complete consecutive years of data showing PM-10 NAAQS

attainment are required for redesignation. A violation of the NAAQS

occurs when the number of exceedances per year, according to 40 CFR

50.6, is greater than 1.0. The July 18, 1997, promulgation retained the

exceedance form for the annual standard but revised the 24 hour

standard form. The 24 hour standard form was revised such that a

violation occurs when the 98th percentile concentration is greater than

the concentration limit of 150 g/m\3\. Indiana's April 8,

1993, submittal and June 17, 1997, supplement cite ambient monitoring

data showing that Vermillion County has met the NAAQS for the years

1994-1996, which were the three most recent consecutive years with

quality-assured monitoring data. Previous monitoring data for the

period of 1989 through 1993 indicates that the NAAQS has been met

continuously since the exceedances which occurred in 1988.

As shown in the table below, there have been no exceedances of the

PM-10 NAAQS at any monitor in Vermillion County since 1988. It can be

seen that the annual average PM-10 concentration has decreased

significantly from 45 micrograms per cubic meter (g/m\3\) in

1988 to 19 g/m\3\ in 1996 (the NAAQS is 50 g/m\3\).

The table presented below summarizes the Vermillion County

monitoring data submitted by Indiana in support of its redesignation

request. The NAAQS for PM-10 is based on an annual average of 50

g/m\3\ and a 24 hour concentration (1st High) of 150

g/m\3\.

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Vermillion county monitor readings (g/m \3\)

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Year Annual

average 1st high 2nd high 3rd high 4th high

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1988........................................... 45 202 180 120 119

1989........................................... 37 136 115 95 90

1990........................................... 36 110 108 103 103

1991........................................... 33 132 100 97 95

1992........................................... 29 84 81 66 66

1993*.......................................... 22 67 57 50 46

1994........................................... 23 61 57 46 45

1995........................................... 24 64 63 58 55

1996........................................... 19 57 44 43 42

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* 1993 data was not submitted from the State but was obtained from AIRS to complete the chart.

The monitored 24 hour PM-10 concentrations have also decreased

greatly in the last 5 years. The highest monitored concentration in

1988 was 202 g/m\3\ compared to 57 in 1996 (the NAAQS is 150

g/m\3\). The most significant improvement is seen between the

years 1991 and 1992 when mining operations in the nonattainment area

ceased. No additional PM-10 exceedances have been recorded since 1988

in the Aerometric Information and Retrieval System (AIRS) database

through 1996.

According to the PM-10 standard promulgated July 18, 1997, in order

to redesignate for PM-10, the 98th percentile of monitored readings

needs to fall below the 24 hour concentration of 150 g/m\3\.

As the maximum concentrations are below this level, it is evident that

the 98th percentile concentration is below the limit and the air

quality data meets this test and shows that Vermillion County meets the

PM-10 NAAQS.

Dispersion modeling is commonly used to demonstrate attainment of

the PM-10 NAAQS. The SIP was fully implemented and approved on February

15, 1994 (59 FR 7223). In the SIP, Indiana demonstrated that the one

PM-10 source had closed and the operating permit had been withdrawn.

Due to the absence of sources, EPA did not require Indiana to submit

dispersion modeling with its redesignation request for Vermillion

County. The State has continued to operate a PM-10 monitor in

Vermillion County and there have been no NAAQS exceedances since 1988.

B. Fully Approved SIP

The SIP for the area must be fully approved under section 110(k) of

the Act and must satisfy all requirements that apply to the area. EPA's

guidance for implementing section 110 of the Act is discussed in the

General Preamble to Title I (57 FR 13498, April 16, 1992). The PM-10

SIP for Vermillion County met the requirements of section 110 of the

Act and was approved by EPA on February 15, 1994 (59 FR 7223). The SIP

recognizes that the operating permit for the only source of PM-10

expired April 1, 1992, and commits to not renewing that permit. With

the closure of this source, there are no permitted or registered

sources in Vermillion County. The SIP also committed to maintaining a

monitor in Vermillion County until the area was redesignated.

C. Permanent and Enforceable Reductions in Emissions

Vermillion County's attainment of the PM-10 standards can be

attributed to the closure of the Blanford Mining Area in early 1992. As

specified in the SIP, the operation permit issued to Peabody Coal

Company for the Blanford Mining Area expired April 1, 1992, and will

not be renewed, making the closure a permanent and enforceable emission

reduction. Following land reclamation which was completed by November

1, 1993, the entire area has been returned to being used exclusively

for agricultural purposes. The Peabody Coal Company and any potential

new industry that would like to operate in Vermillion County may not

commence operating without the issuance of a new air permit by the

State under the federally delegated Prevention of Significant

Deterioration program. On February 15, 1994 (59 FR 7223), EPA approved

the control strategies in Indiana's PM-10 SIP for this county,

rendering them federally enforceable (56 FR 56694). The regulations are

permanent, and any future revisions to the rules must be submitted to

and approved by the EPA.

D. Fully Approved Maintenance Plan

Under section 107(d)(3)(E) and section 175A of the Act, the State

must submit a maintenance plan in order for an area to be redesignated

to attainment. The maintenance plan is intended to ensure that the area

will maintain the attainment status it has achieved, and that if there

is a violation, the plan will serve to bring the area back into

attainment with prescribed measures. Indiana has committed to not

reissue the permit for the Branford coal mining operation in Vermillion

County, and the area has been reclaimed for use as farmland. The

facility has been deleted from the State's emissions inventory, and

there are no other permitted or registered PM-10 sources located in the

Vermillion County nonattainment area. Subject new sources are required

to meet Prevention of Significant Deterioration requirements which have

been established to protect future air quality and ensure that a

violation will not occur in the future.

The monitoring since the original exceedances has shown that from

1989 to 1996, there have been no exceedances in the area. The readings

have shown, as expected, that the ambient levels of PM-10 in the area

are at levels which are only an insignificant fraction of the NAAQS.

Based on these facts, EPA has determined that Indiana's maintenance

plan for Vermillion County satisfies the provisions of the Act.

E. Part D and Other Section 110 Requirements

EPA approved the PM-10 SIP for Vermillion County on February 15,

1994 (59 FR 7223), after having concluded that the plan satisfied the

requirements of part D and section 110 of the Act. Several of the

section 110 requirements were revised in the 1990 amendments to the

Act. However, the existing SIP also conforms with the 1990 provisions

of the Act. As required by part D of the Act, Indiana has a fully

approved and implemented New Source Review Program. The existing

Prevention of Significant Deterioration program, which was federally

delegated for all attainment areas, will apply in all of Vermillion

County subsequent to this approval.

Section 176 Conformity Requirements

Section 176 of the Act requires States to revise their SIPs to

establish criteria

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and procedures to ensure that individual Federal actions will conform

to the overall air quality planning goals in the applicable State SIP.

Section 176 further provides that the State's conformity revisions must

be consistent with the Federal conformity regulations promulgated by

EPA under the Act. The requirement used by Federal agencies to

determine conformity is defined in 40 CFR part 93, subpart B (``general

conformity'').

Indiana has adopted general and transportation conformity rules for

PM-10 to satisfy provisions of part D. The State submitted a request

for a SIP amendment regarding conformity on January 23, 1997.

The EPA believes it is reasonable to interpret the conformity

requirements as not being applicable requirements for purposes of

evaluating redesignation requests under section 107(d). The rationale

for this is based on a combination of two factors. First, the

requirement to submit SIP revisions to comply with the conformity

provisions of the Act continues to apply to areas after redesignation

to attainment. Second, EPA's Federal conformity rules require a

conformity analysis in the absence of federally approved State rules.

Therefore, because areas are subject to the conformity requirements

regardless of whether they are redesignated to attainment, and must

implement conformity under Federal rules if State rules are not yet

approved, the EPA believes it is reasonable to view these requirements

as not being applicable requirements when evaluating a redesignation

request. Consequently, the PM-10 redesignation request for Vermillion

County may be approved notwithstanding the lack of fully approved

conformity rules. Refer to EPA's action in the Tampa, Florida ozone

redesignation finalized on December 7, 1995 (60 FR 62748).

IV. Final Rulemaking Action

EPA is approving the redesignation request and maintenance plan

submitted by Indiana on April 8, 1993, and supplemented on June 17,

1997. EPA, therefore, is redesignating the portion of Clinton Township,

Vermillion County which includes sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33

and 34 to attainment for the PM-10 NAAQS. The remainder of Vermillion

County will remain designated unclassifiable for the PM-10 NAAQS. The

EPA has completed its analysis of this SIP revision request based on a

review of the materials presented, and has determined that they are

approvable.

The EPA is publishing this action without prior proposal because

the Agency views this as a noncontroversial amendment and anticipates

no adverse comments. However, in a separate document in this Federal

Register publication, the EPA is proposing to approve the SIP revision

should written adverse or critical comments be filed. This action will

be effective October 27, 1997 unless, by September 25, 1997, written

adverse or critical comments are received.

If the EPA receives such comments, this action will be withdrawn

before the effective date by publishing a subsequent notice that will

withdraw the final action. All public comments received will be

addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this action serving as a

proposed rule. The EPA will not institute a second comment period on

this action. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should

do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public is

advised that this action will be effective October 27, 1997.

Nothing in this action should be construed as permitting or

allowing or establishing a precedent for any future request for

revision to any state implementation plan. Each request for revision to

the state implementation plan shall be considered separately in light

of specific technical, economic, and environmental factors and in

relation to relevant statutory and regulatory requirements.

V. Administrative Requirements

A. Executive Order 12866

The Office of Management and Budget has exempted this regulatory

action from Executive Order 12866 review.

B. Regulatory Flexibility Act

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 600 et seq, EPA must

prepare a regulatory flexibility analysis assessing the impact of any

proposed or final rule on small entities. 5 U.S.C. 603 and 604.

Alternatively, EPA may certify that the rule will not have a

significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. Small

entities include small businesses, small not-for-profit enterprises,

and government entities with jurisdiction over populations of less than

50,000.

SIP approvals under section 110 and subchapter I, part D of the

Clean Air Act do not create any new requirements but simply approve

requirements that the State is already imposing. Therefore, because the

Federal SIP approval does not impose any new requirements, the

Administrator certifies that it does not have a significant impact on

any small entities affected. Moreover, due to the nature of the

Federal-State relationship under the Act, preparation of a flexibility

analysis would constitute Federal inquiry into the economic

reasonableness of state action. The Clean Air Act forbids EPA to base

its actions concerning SIPs on such grounds. Union Electric Co. v. U.S.

EPA, 427 U.S. 246, 255-66 (1976); 42 U.S.C. 7410 (a)(2).

Redesignation of an area to attainment under section 107(d)(3)(E)

of the Act does not impose any new requirements on small entities.

Redesignation is an action that affects the status of a geographical

area and does not impose any regulatory requirements on sources. The

Administrator certifies that the approval of the redesignation request

will not affect a substantial number of small entities.

C. Unfunded Mandates

Under section 202 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act of 1995,

signed into law on March 22, 1995, EPA must undertake various actions

in association with any proposed or final rule that includes a Federal

mandate that may result in estimated costs to state, local, or tribal

governments in the aggregate; or to the private sector, of $100 million

or more. This Federal action approves pre-existing requirements under

state or local law, and imposes no new Federal requirements.

Accordingly, no additional costs to state, local, or tribal

governments, or the private sector, result from this action.

D. Submission to Congress and the General Accounting Office

Under section 5 U.S.C. 801(a)(1)(A) as added by the Small Business

Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, EPA submitted a report

containing this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate,

the U.S. House of Representatives and the Controller General of the

General Accounting Office prior to publication of the rule in today's

Federal Register. This rule is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5

U.S.C. 804(2).

E. Petitions for Judicial Review

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 October 27, 1997. 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

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be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Intergovernmental

relations, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Particulate

matter.

Dated: August 14, 1997.

David A. Ullrich,

Acting Regional Administrator.

For the reasons stated in the preamble, part 52, chapter I, title

40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

2. Section 52.776 is amended by adding paragraph (q) to read as

follows:

Sec. 52.776 Control strategy: Particulate matter.

* * * * *

(q) Approval--On April 8, 1993, and supplemented on June 17, 1997,

the State of Indiana submitted a maintenance plan and a request that

sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27, 28, 33 and 34 of Clinton Township in

Vermillion County be redesignated to attainment of the National Ambient

Air Quality Standard for particulate matter. The redesignation request

and maintenance plan satisfy all applicable requirements of the Clean

Air Act.

PART 81--[AMENDED]

1. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

2. In section 81.315, in the table entitled ``Indiana--PM-10,'' the

entry for Vermillion County is amended to read as follows:

Sec. 81.315 Indiana.

* * * * *

Indiana--PM-10

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Designation Classification

Designated area ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Date Type Date Type

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Vermillion County Part of Oct. 27, 1997................ Attainment..................

Clinton Township, including

sections 15, 16, 21, 22, 27,

28, 33 and 34.

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[FR Doc. 97-22667 Filed 8-25-97; 8:45 am]

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