Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Partial Approval, Partial Disapproval and Promulgation; Texas; Regional Haze

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R06-OAR-2021-0539; FRL-12282-01-R6]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Quality State Implementation Plans; Partial Approval, Partial Disapproval and Promulgation; Texas; Regional Haze</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 to partially approve and partially disapprove the regional haze State implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by Texas on July 20, 2021, under the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's Regional Haze Rule (RHR) for the program's second implementation period. Texas's SIP submission addresses the requirement that states must periodically revise their long-term strategies for making reasonable progress towards the national goal of preventing any future, and remedying any existing, anthropogenic impairment of visibility, including regional haze, in mandatory Class I Federal areas. The SIP submission also addresses other applicable requirements for the second implementation period of the regional haze program. The EPA is taking this action pursuant to sections 110 and 169A of the Clean Air Act. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Written comments must be received on or before November 14, 2024. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R06-OAR-2021-0539 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from <E T="03">Regulations.gov</E> . The EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. The EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission ( <E T="03">i.e.,</E> on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> For additional submission methods, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> <E T="03">Docket:</E> The index to the docket for this action is available electronically at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov.</E> While all documents in the docket are listed in the index, some information may not be publicly available due to docket file size restrictions or content ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> CBI). <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Jennifer Huser, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1201 Elm St., Suite 500, Dallas, Texas 75270, at (214) 665-7347, or by email at <E T="03">Huser.Jennifer@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document wherever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, we mean the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. What action is the EPA proposing?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Background and Requirements for Regional Haze Plans</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Regional Haze Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Roles of Agencies in Addressing Regional Haze</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Requirements for Regional Haze Plans for the Second Implementation Period</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Identification of Class I Areas</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Calculations of Baseline, Current, and Natural Visibility Conditions; Progress to Date; and the Uniform Rate of Progress</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Long-Term Strategy for Regional Haze</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Reasonable Progress Goals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Monitoring Strategy and Other State Implementation Plan Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Requirements for Periodic Reports Describing Progress Towards the Reasonable Progress Goals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Requirements for State and Federal Land Manager Coordination</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. The EPA's Evaluation of Texas's Regional Haze Submission for the Second Implementation Period</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Background on Texas's First Implementation Period SIP Submission</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Texas's Second Implementation Period SIP Submission and the EPA's Evaluation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Identification of Class I Areas</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Texas Class I Areas</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Identification of Impacted Class I Areas Outside the State</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Calculations of Baseline, Current, and Natural Visibility Conditions; Progress to Date; and the Uniform Rate of Progress</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Long-Term Strategy for Regional Haze</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Source Selection</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Four Factor Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Additional Long-Term Strategy Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Reasonable Progress Goals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Reasonably Attributable Visibility Impairment (RAVI)</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Monitoring Strategy and Other Implementation Plan Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">I. Requirements for Periodic Reports Describing Progress Towards the Reasonable Progress Goals</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">J. Requirements for State and Federal Land Manager Coordination</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Environmental Justice Considerations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. What action is the EPA proposing?</HD> On July 20, 2021, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) submitted a plan (“2021 Texas Regional Haze Plan” or “Texas RH SIP”) to the EPA to satisfy the regional haze program requirements pursuant to CAA sections 169A and 40 CFR 51.308. The EPA is proposing to partially approve and partially disapprove Texas's Regional Haze plan for the second planning (implementation) period. Consistent with section 110(k)(3) of the CAA, the EPA may partially approve portions of a submittal if those elements meet all applicable requirements and may disapprove the remainder so long as the elements are fully separable. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> As required by section 169A of the CAA, the Federal RHR calls for State and Federal agencies to work together to improve visibility in 156 national parks and wilderness areas. The rule requires the states, in coordination with the EPA, National Park Service (NPS), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), Forest Service (FS), and other interested parties, to develop and implement air quality protection plans to reduce the pollution that causes visibility impairment. Visibility impairing pollutants include fine and coarse particulate matter (PM) ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> sulfates, nitrates, organic carbon, elemental carbon, and soil dust) and their precursors ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> sulfur dioxide (SO <E T="52">2</E> ), nitrogen oxides (NO <E T="52">X</E> ), and, in some cases, volatile organic compounds (VOC) and ammonia (NH <E T="52">3</E> )). As discussed in further detail below, the EPA is proposing to find that Texas has submitted a Regional Haze plan that does not meet all the Regional Haze requirements for the second planning period. For the reasons described in this document, the EPA is proposing to approve the elements of Texas's plan related to requirements contained in 40 CFR 51.308(f)(1), (f)(4), (f)(5), <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> and (f)(6). The EPA is proposing to disapprove the elements of Texas's plan related to requirements contained in 40 CFR 51.308(f)(2), (f)(3), and (i). The State's submission can be found in the docket for this action. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>   <E T="03">See</E> CAA section 110(k)(3) and July 1992 EPA memorandum titled “Processing of State Implementation Plan (SIP) Submittals” from John Calcagni, at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-07/documents/procsip.pdf.</E> </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  40 CFR 51.308(f)(5) requires that the second planning period SIP revision address the requirements listed in (g)(1) through (g)(5). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Background and Requirements for Regional Haze Plans</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Regional Haze Background</HD> In the 1977 CAA Amendments, Congress created a program for protecting visibility in the nation's mandatory Class I Federal areas, which include certain national parks and wilderness areas. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> CAA 169A. The CAA establishes as a national goal the “prevention of any future, and the remedying of any existing, impairment of visibility in mandatory class I Federal areas which impairment results from manmade air pollution.” CAA 169A(a)(1). The CAA further directs the EPA to promulgate regulations to assure reasonable progress toward meeting this national goal. CAA 169A(a)(4). On December 2, 1980, the EPA promulgated regulations to address visibility impairment in mandatory Class I Federal areas (hereinafter referred to as “Class I areas”) that is “reasonably attributable” to a single source or small group of sources. (45 FR 80084, December 2, 1980). These regulations, codified at 40 CFR 51.300 through 51.307, represented the first phase of the EPA's ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 288k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━