Clean Air Act Reclassification; Anchorage, Alaska, Carbon Monoxide Nonattainment Area

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 81

[AK 19-1707; FRL-5923-8]

Clean Air Act Reclassification; Anchorage, Alaska, Carbon

Monoxide Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmetnal Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: This action proposes to find that the Municipality of

Anchorage, Alaska, carbon monoxide (CO) nonattainment area has not

attained the CO national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) under

the Clean Air Act (CAA). The CO nonattainment occurred after Anchorage

received a one year extension from the mandated attainment date of

December 31, 1995 for moderate nonattainment areas to December 31,

1996. This proposed finding is based on EPA's review of monitored air

quality data for compliance with the CO NAAQS. Final action on this

proposed finding would result in the Anchorage CO nonattainment area

being reclassified by operation of law as a serious nonattainment area.

The result of such a reclassification would be that the State must

submit a new State implementation plan (SIP) providing for attainment

of the CO NAAQS by no later than December 31, 2000, the CAA attainment

deadline for serious CO areas.

DATES: Written comments on this proposal must be received by January 2,

1998.

ADDRESSES: Written comment should be addressed to Ms. Montel

Livingston, Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Air Quality (OAQ

107), Docket AK 17-1705, 1200 6th Avenue, Seattle, WA 98101.

Information supporting this action is available for inspection during

normal business hours at the following locations: EPA, Office of Air

Quality, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, and the Alaska

Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC), 410 Willoughby, Suite

105, Juneau, Alaska 99801-1795.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

John Pavitt, Alaska Air Coordinator, EPA Alaska Operations Office, 907/

271-3688.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

A. CAA Requirements and EPA Actions Concerning Designation and

Classification

The CAA Amendments of 1990 were enacted on November 15, 1990. Under

Section 107(d)(1)(C) of the CAA, each CO area designated nonattainment

prior to enactment of the 1990 Amendments, such as the Anchorage area,

was designated nonattainment by operation of law upon enactment of the

1990 Amendments. Under section 186(a) of the CAA, each CO area

designated nonattainment under section 107(d) was also classified by

operation of law as either ``moderate'' or ``serious'' depending on the

severity of the area's air quality problem. CO nonattainment

[[Page 63688]]

areas with a design value between 9.1-16.4 parts per million (ppm),

such as the Anchorage area, were classified as moderate. These

nonattainment designations and classifications were codified in 40 CFR

part 81. See 56 FR 56694 (November 6, 1991). States containing CO

moderate nonattainment areas that were classified as moderate

nonattainment by operation of law under section 107(d) were required to

submit State implementation plans (SIPs) designed to attain the CO

NAAQS as expeditiously as practicable but no later than December 31,

1995.\1\

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\1\ The moderate area SIP requirements are set forth in section

187(a) of the CAA Amendments of 1990 and differ depending on whether

the area's design value is below or above 12.7 ppm. The Anchorage

area has a design value above 12.7 ppm. 40 CFR 81.302.

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B. Attainment Date Extensions

If the State did not have the two consecutive clean years of data

necessary to show attainment of the NAAQS, section 186(a)(4) of the CAA

provides that EPA may approve a one year attainment date extension if

the State has: (1) complied with the requirements and commitments

pertaining to the applicable implementation plan for the area, and (2)

the area has measured no more than one exceedance of CO NAAQS at any

monitoring site in the nonattainment area in the year preceding 1996,

the extension year.

The Anchorage nonattainment area had two exceedances in 1994.

However, because the Anchorage nonattainment area had only one

exceedance in 1995, Anchorage qualified for a one year attainment date

extension to 1996. Two consecutive years of clean data are required in

order to attain the CO NAAQS. EPA granted the extension and the action

was published in the Federal Register on June 28, 1996 (61 FR 33676).

C. Reclassification to a Serious Nonattainment Area

1. EPA has the responsibility, pursuant to sections 179(c) and

186(b)(2) of the CAA, of determining whether the Anchorage area has

attained the CO NAAQS. Under section 186(b)(2)(A), if EPA finds that

the area has not attained the CO NAAQS, it is reclassified as serious

by operation of law. Pursuant to section 186(b)(2)(B) of the Act, EPA

must publish a notice in the Federal Register identifying areas which

it determines failed to attain the standard and therefore must be

reclassified as serious by operation of law. EPA makes attainment

determinations for CO nonattainment areas based upon whether an area

has two years (or eight consecutive quarters) of clean air quality

data.\2\ Section 179(c)(1) of the CAA states that the attainment

determination must be based upon an area's ``air quality as of the

attainment date.'' Consequently, EPA will determine whether an area's

air quality has met the CO NAAQS by December 31, 1995, based upon the

most recent two years of air quality data entered into the Aerometric

Information Retrieval System (AIRS) data base.

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\2\ See generally memorandum from Sally L. Shaver, Director, Air

Quality Strategies and Standards Division, EPA, to Regional Air

Office Directors, entitled ``Criteria for Granting Attainment Date

Extensions, Making Attainment Determinations, and Determinations of

Failure to Attain the NAAQS for Moderate CO Nonattainment Areas,''

October 23, 1995 (Shaver memorandum).

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EPA determines a CO nonattainment area's air quality status in

accordance with 40 CFR 50.8 and EPA policy.\3\ EPA has promulgated two

NAAQS for CO: an 8-hour average concentration and a 1-hour average

concentration. Because there were no violations of the 1-hour standard

recorded in the Anchorage area in 1994, 1995, and 1996, this notice

addresses only the air quality status of the Anchorage area with

respect to the 8-hour standard. The 8-hour CO NAAQS requires that not

more than one non-overlapping 8-hour average per year per monitoring

site can exceed 9.0 ppm (values below 9.5 are rounded down to 9.0 and

they are not considered exceedances). The second exceedance of the 8-

hour CO NAAQS at a given monitoring site within the same year

constitutes a violation of the CO NAAQS. Anchorage had two exceedances

of the CO NAAQS in 1994, one exceedance win 1995 (one exceedance does

not constitute a CO violation because a violation of the CO NAAQS means

two exceedances of the 8-hour CO NAAQS at a given monitoring site

within the same year), and three CO exceedances in 1996 (its non-

attainment extension year).

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\3\ See memorandum from William G. Laxton, Director, Technical

Support Division, entitled ``Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Design Value

Calculations,'' June 18, 1990. See also Shaver memorandum.

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2. SIP Requirements for Serious CO Areas: CO nonattainment areas

reclassified as serious under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA are required

to submit, within 18 months of the area's reclassification, SIP

revisions demonstrating attainment of the CO NAAQS as expeditiously as

practicable but no later than December 31, 2000. The serious CO area

planning requirements are set forth in section 187(b) of the CAA. EPA

has issued two general guidance documents related to the planning

requirements for CO SIPs. The first is the ``General Preamble for the

Implementation of Title I of the CAA Amendments of 1990'' that sets

forth EPA's preliminary views on how the Agency intends to act on SIPs

submitted under Title I of the CAA. See generally 57 FR 13498 (April

16, 1992) and 57 FR 18070 (April 28, 1992). The second general guidance

document for CO SIPs issued by EPA is the ``Technical Support Document

to Aid the States with the Development of Carbon Monoxide State

Implementation Plans,'' July 1992. If the Anchorage area is

reclassified to serious, the State would have to submit a SIP revision

to EPA within 18 months of reclassification that, in addition to the

attainment demonstration, includes: (1) a forecast of vehicle miles

travelled (VMT) for each year before the attainment year and provisions

for annual updates of these forecasts; (2) adopted contingency

measures; and (3) adopted transportation control measures and

strategies to offset any growth in CO emissions from growth in VMT or

number of vehicle trips. See CAA sections 187(a)(7), 187(a)(2)(A),

187(a)(3), 187(b)(2), and 187(b)(1). Upon reclassification, contingency

measures in the moderate area plan for the Anchorage area must be

implemented.

II. This Action

By today's action, EPA is proposing to find that the Anchorage CO

nonattainment area failed to demonstrate attainment of the CO NAAQS by

December 31, 1996, the CO attainment extension date. This proposed

finding is based upon air quality data showing exceedances of the CO

NAAQS during 1996.

Ambient Air Monitoring Data: The following table lists the

monitoring sites in the Anchorage CO nonattainment area where the 8-

hour CO NAAQS was exceeded during 1996, based on data validated by the

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and entered into the

AIRS data base.

[[Page 63689]]

Anchorage Carbon Monoxide Exceedances of the 8-Hour Standard--1996

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Number

8-hour CO Max 8-hour Second-max exceedances

Monitoring site reading Date reading 8-hour 8-hour

(PPM) reading standard

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Spenard & Benson................. 10.1 1/22/96.................. ........... ........... ...........

9.5 12/27/96................. ........... ........... ...........

9.6 12/31/96................. ........... ........... ...........

Year--1996............... 11.0 9.6 3

Seward Hwy & Benson.............. 10.0 1/22/96.................. ........... ........... ...........

9.5 12/27/96................. ........... ........... ...........

9.5 12/31/96................. ........... ........... ...........

Year--1996............... 10.8 10.5 3

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Because the 1996 exceedances are valid for use in determining the

attainment status of the Anchorage area, EPA is proposing to find,

based on the 1996 CO violations discussed above, that the area did not

attain the CO NAAQS by its extension year deadline of December 31,

1996. If EPA finalizes this finding, by operation of law Anchorage will

be reclassified a serious CO nonattainment area.

III. Executive Order (EO) 12866

Under E.O. 12866, 58 FR 51735 (October 4, 1993), EPA is required to

determine whether regulatory actions are significant and therefore

should be subject to OMB review, economic analysis, and the

requirements of the Executive Order. The Executive Order defines a

``significant regulatory action'' as one that is likely to result in a

rule that may meet at least one of the four criteria identified in

section 3(f), including, under paragraph (1), that the rule may ``have

an annual effect on the economy of $100 million or more or adversely

affect, in a material way, the economy, a sector of the economy,

productivity, competition, jobs, the environment, public health or

safety, or State, local or tribal governments or communities.'' The

Agency has determined that the finding of failure to attain proposed

today would result in none of the effects identified in section 3(f).

Under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA, findings of failure to attain and

reclassification of nonattainment areas are based upon air quality

considerations and must occur by operation of law in light of certain

air quality conditions. They do not, in and of themselves, impose any

new requirements on any sectors of the economy. In addition, because

the statutory requirements are clearly defined with respect to the

differently classified areas, and because those requirements are

automatically triggered by classifications that, in turn, are triggered

by air quality values, findings of failure to attain and

reclassification cannot be said to impose a materially adverse impact

on State, local or tribal government or communities.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility

Under the Regulatory Flexibility Act, 5 U.S.C. 601 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 economic 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. As discussed in section III of this notice,

findings of failure to attain and reclassification of nonattainment

areas under section 186(b)(2) of the CAA do not in and of themselves

create any new requirements. Therefore, I certify that today's proposed

action does not have a significant impact on small entities.

V. Unfunded Mandates

Under sections 202, 203, and 205 of the Unfunded Mandates Reform

Act of 1995 (Unfunded Mandates Act), signed into law on March 22, 1995,

EPA must assess whether various actions undertaken in association with

proposed or final regulations include a Federal mandate that may result

in estimated costs of $100 million or more to the private sector, or to

State, local or tribal governments in the aggregate. EPA believes, as

discussed above, that the proposed finding of failure to attain and

reclassification of the Anchorage nonattainment area are factual

determinations based upon air quality considerations and must occur by

operation of law and, hence, do not impose any Federal

intergovernmental mandate, as defined in section 101 of the Unfunded

Mandates Act.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 81

Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide,

Intergovernmental relations.

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

Dated: November 12, 1997.

Chuck Clarke,

Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97-30242 Filed 12-1-97; 8:45 am]

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