State Implementation Plan Submittal Deadlines and Implementation Requirements for Reclassified Nonattainment Areas Under the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 51</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333; FRL-11817-01-OAR]</DEPDOC> <RIN>RIN 2060-AW25</RIN> <SUBJECT>State Implementation Plan Submittal Deadlines and Implementation Requirements for Reclassified Nonattainment Areas Under the Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Proposed rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing deadlines for submission of state implementation plan (SIP) revisions and implementation of the relevant control requirements that will apply for nonattainment areas reclassified as Moderate, Serious, and Severe under the current and any future ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) as a result of either failing to attain the standard by the applicable classification attainment date or the EPA granting a voluntary reclassification request. This proposal articulates the implementation requirements and timeframes that will apply for all such areas once reclassified. The EPA is also proposing regulatory revisions to codify its existing interpretation that following reclassification, a state is no longer required to submit SIP revisions addressing certain, but not all, requirements related to the prior classification level for an ozone nonattainment area. In addition, the EPA is articulating in this document how the proposed default deadlines and codification of applicable requirements following reclassification would apply specifically to any nonattainment areas that are reclassified as Serious under the 2015 ozone NAAQS. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on or before November 4, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may send comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333, by any of the following methods: • <E T="03">Federal eRulemaking Portal:</E> <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/</E> (our preferred method). Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. • <E T="03">Email:</E> <E T="03">a-and-r-docket@epa.gov.</E> Include Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333 in the subject line of the message. • <E T="03">Fax:</E> (202) 566-9744. • <E T="03">Mail:</E> U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Office of Air and Radiation Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460. • <E T="03">Hand Delivery or Courier (by scheduled appointment only):</E> EPA Docket Center, WJC West Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004. The Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-Friday (except federal holidays). <E T="03">Instructions:</E> All submissions received must include the Docket ID No. for this rulemaking. Comments received may be posted without change to <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov/,</E> including any personal information provided. For detailed instructions on sending comments and additional information on the rulemaking process, <E T="03">see</E> the “I. Public Participation” heading of the <E T="02">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION</E> section of this document. For information on EPA Docket Center services, please visit us online at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For information about this proposed rule, contact Erin Lowder, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Policy Division, C535-A Research Triangle Park, NC 27709; telephone number: (919) 541-5421; email address: <E T="03">lowder.erin@epa.gov;</E> or Robert Lingard, U.S. EPA, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Air Quality Policy Division, C539-01 Research Triangle Park, NC 27709; by telephone number: (919) 541-5272; email address: <E T="03">lingard.robert@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document “we,” “us,” or “our” means the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Public Participation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Overview and Basis of Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Overview of Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. What is the background for the proposed actions?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. What is the statutory authority for the proposed actions?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. What is the EPA proposing and what is the rationale?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Default Deadlines for Reclassified Nonattainment Areas Under the Ozone NAAQS</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Default Deadlines for Nonattainment Areas Reclassified as Moderate or Serious</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Default Deadlines for Nonattainment Areas Reclassified as Severe</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Status of Certain Requirements of Former Classification</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Introduction</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Leftover SIP Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Serious Area SIP Revisions for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS</FP> 1. Required Submission Elements 2. Submission and Implementation Deadlines <FP SOURCE="FP-2"> IV. Environmental Justice Considerations </FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review and Executive Order 14094: Modernizing Regulatory Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Executive Order 13132: Federalism</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Executive Order 13175: Consultation and Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental Health and Safety Risks</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Executive Order 13211: Actions That Significantly Affect Energy Supply, Distribution, or Use</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. National Technology Transfer Advancement Act (NTTAA)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations and Executive Order 14096: Revitalizing Our Nation's Commitment to Environmental Justice for All</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">K. Judicial Review</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Public Participation</HD> <E T="03">Written comments:</E> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333, at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> (our preferred method), or the other methods identified in the <E T="02">ADDRESSES</E> section. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from the docket. The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit to EPA's docket at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary Business Information (PBI), or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Clearly mark the part or all of the information that you claim to be CBI. For CBI information on any digital storage media that you mail to the EPA, mark the outside of the digital storage media as CBI or PBI and then identify electronically within the digital storage media the specific information that is claimed as CBI or PBI. In addition to one complete version of the comments that includes information claimed as CBI or PBI, you must submit a copy of the comments that does not contain the information claimed as CBI or PBI directly to the public docket through the procedures outlined in <E T="03">Instructions.</E> If you submit any digital storage media that does not contain CBI or PBI, mark the outside of the digital storage media clearly that it does not contain CBI. Information not marked as CBI or PBI will be included in the public docket and the EPA's electronic public docket without prior notice. Information marked as CBI or PBI will not be disclosed except in accordance with procedures set forth in 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 2. Our preferred method to receive CBI or PBI is for it to be transmitted to electronically using email attachments, File Transfer Protocol (FTP), or other online file sharing services ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive). Electronic submissions must be transmitted directly to the OAQPS CBI Office using the email address, <E T="03">oaqpscbi@epa.gov,</E> and should include clear CBI or PBI markings as described earlier. If assistance is needed with submitting large electronic files that exceed the file size limit for email attachments, and if you do not have your own file sharing service, please email <E T="03">oaqpscbi@epa.gov</E> to request a file transfer link. If sending CBI or PBI information through the postal service, please send it to the following address: OAQPS Document Control Officer (C404-02), OAQPS, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27711, Attention Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333. The mailed CBI or PBI material should be double wrapped and clearly marked. Any CBI or PBI markings should not show through the outer envelope. <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Overview and Basis of Proposal</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Overview of Proposal</HD> The EPA is proposing default SIP submittal and implementation deadlines for the current and future ozone NAAQS that would apply for mandatory reclassifications ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> from Marginal to Moderate, Moderate to Serious, and Serious to Severe), and also for areas voluntarily reclassified as Moderate, Serious, and Severe. These default reclassification SIP submittal and implementation deadlines would apply only in cases where the otherwise applicable deadlines that apply to areas in ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 160k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━