Notice of Proposed Actions on Attainment Demonstrations for the One-Hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone

SUMMARY: This document announces that, elsewhere in today's Federal

Register, EPA is proposing individually to approve or conditionally

approve, and, in the alternative, to disapprove attainment

demonstration State implementation plans (SIPs or plans) for ten areas

in the eastern United States that are not in attainment of the 1-hour

health and welfare-based national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS

or standard) for ground-level ozone. These areas are designated as

nonattainment for the ozone standard. The SIP demonstrations were

prepared and forwarded to EPA from States and the District of Columbia

(D.C.) where the nonattainment areas are located. They were submitted

to meet the requirements of Title I of the Clean Air Act (CAA). The

nonattainment areas on which EPA is proposing action are listed in the

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section according to the EPA Regional Office

in which they are located.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: General questions concerning this

document should be directed to Sharon Reinders, (919) 541-5284. Your

comments or questions about a specific area should be directed to the

EPA Regional Office representative identified in the SUPPLEMENTARY

section. Information on how to contact the Regional Office appears in

the document for each individual area.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The nonattainment areas on which EPA is

proposing action are listed in the following according to the EPA

Regional Office in which they are located:

Region I--Greater Connecticut (CT)

The Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long

Island area Springfield (Western Massachusetts) (MA).

Region II--New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-CT)

The New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton area.

Region III--Baltimore (MD)

Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton (PA-NJ-DE-MD) Metropolitan

Washington (DC-MD-VA).

Region IV--Atlanta (GA)

Region V--Milwaukee-Racine (WI)

Chicago-Gary-Lake County (IL-IN).

Region VI--Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (TX)

Your comments or questions about a specific area should be directed

to the EPA Regional Office representative identified as follows:

Regional Offices

Region I--Richard Burkhart (617) 918-1664,

Region II--Paul Truchan (212) 637-4249 or Kirk Wieber (212) 637-3381,

Region III--Dave Arnold (215) 814-2172,

Region IV--Scott Martin (404) 562-9036,

Region V--Edward Doty (312) 886-6057 or Michael Leslie (312) 353-6680,

Region VI--Guy Donaldson (214) 665-7242.

The CAA and several guidance memoranda issued earlier by EPA

provide relevant background information for the specific rulemaking

proposals appearing in today's Federal Register. The important CAA

sections and EPA guidance are described below and in the documents on

individual areas elsewhere in today's Federal Register.

In 1990, Congress amended the CAA to address, among other things,

continued nonattainment of the ground-level ozone NAAQS. Public Law

101-549, 104 Stat. 2399 codified at 42 U.S.C., 7401-7671q (1991). The

CAA, as amended, divides 1-hour ozone nonattainment areas into, in

general, five classifications based on ozone air quality concentrations

(marginal, moderate, serious, severe, and extreme nonattainment); and

establishes specific requirements, including SIP submittal and

attainment dates, for each classification. CAA sections 107(d)(1)(C)

and (4), and 181.

The CAA also requires States to submit a SIP to provide for

attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard which includes a demonstration

of attainment (including air quality modeling) for the nonattainment

area, as well as emission control measures needed to attain by the

attainment date. CAA section 182(c)(2)(A) and (d). In addition, the CAA

requires States to submit a SIP for serious and severe nonattainment

areas which provide for emissions reductions of 9 percent from their

baseline emissions for each 3-year period from 1997 until the area's

attainment date (9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs). The CAA section

182(c)(2)(B) and (d) establishes November 15, 1994, as the required

date for these SIP submittals.

Notwithstanding significant efforts by the States, EPA determined

that the States were not able to meet the November 15, 1994 deadline

for the required SIP submissions because of the complexity of the ozone

problem and the recognition that intrastate emissions reductions alone

would not be sufficient to reach attainment. On March 2, 1995, EPA

Assistant Administrator Mary D. Nichols sent a memorandum to EPA

Regional Administrators indicating that many States had been unable to

adopt and submit attainment and 9 percent rate of progress SIPs within

the deadlines prescribed by the CAA due to interstate ozone transport

beyond their control. The March 2, 1995 memorandum called for a

collaborative process among the States in the eastern half of the

country to evaluate and address transport of ozone and its precursors.

This memorandum led to the formation of the Ozone Transport Assessment

Group (OTAG).1 After a comprehensive study of air pollution

transport in the eastern United States, OTAG concluded that transport

of ozone and its precursors is significant and should be reduced

regionally to enable States in the eastern half of the country to

attain the ozone NAAQS. To allow time for the OTAG study to be

addressed in the individual nonattainment area SIPs, EPA provided until

April 1998 to submit certain portions of the attainment demonstration

and 9 percent rate-of-progress SIPs. The States generally submitted the

SIPs between April and October 1998; some States are still submitting

additional revisions as described in the individual proposed rulemaking

actions.

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\1\ Letter from Mary A. Gade, Director, State of Illinois

Environmental Protection Agency to Environmental Commissioners of

States (ECOS) Member, dated April 13, 1995.

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Six environmental organizations have filed a complaint in U.S.

District Court regarding EPA's failure to promulgate a Federal

implementation plan (FIP) for each of these areas in the absence of

fully approved attainment demonstrations for the areas. In response to

that lawsuit, EPA has entered into a consent decree to settle these

claims. The consent decree provides a framework for further action

regarding the ozone attainment demonstrations for these areas and

establishes dates for future EPA

[[Page 70319]]

rulemaking action. In particular, the consent decree establishes dates

by which EPA is to determine the adequacy of the motor vehicle emission

budgets associated with the attainment demonstrations for the areas and

deadlines by which EPA is to promulgate FIPs for areas for which it has

not approved attainment demonstration and 9 percent rate-of-progress

SIPs. (A copy of the consent decree is being placed in the dockets for

the proposals regarding the attainment demonstrations.) The consent

decree, which is being lodged with the United States District Court for

the District of Columbia, is still subject to the public notice and

comment provisions of section 113(g) of the CAA. (A document regarding

the section 113(g) process for the consent decree will be published

separately in the Federal Register.)

Consistent with the dates in the consent decree, EPA is moving

forward in a coordinated fashion to take action on the attainment plans

for each of the 10 areas identified above. The EPA's proposals on the

attainment plans are a critical next step in ensuring that each of

these areas has in place a complete plan for achieving air quality

meeting the 1-hour ozone standard. The EPA intends to take final action

on elements of each of these plans during the next year.

The EPA's actions today reflect consistent application of EPA

policies on motor vehicle emission budgets, credits for interstate

nitrogen oxide reductions, and the need for additional emissions

reductions, as well as other issues. These policies are discussed in

detail in the documents for each area which appear elsewhere in today's

Federal Register. The application of these policies to the plans for

individual areas is discussed in the individual documents for each

area.

Dated: December 1, 1999.

Robert Perciasepe,

Assistant Administrator for Air and Radiation.

[FR Doc. 99-31708 Filed 12-15-99; 8:45 am]

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