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

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 51</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333; FRL-11817-02-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> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is finalizing 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 final rule articulates the implementation requirements and timeframes that will apply for all such areas once reclassified. The EPA is also finalizing 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. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This rule is effective on February 18, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA established Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2024-0333 for this action. All documents on the docket are listed at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> Although listed in the docket index, some information may not be publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information for which disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Docket materials are available electronically to the public through <E T="03">http://www.regulations.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> For information about this final 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. General Information</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Does this action apply to me?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Overview and Basis of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Background and Summary of Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Statutory Authority for Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Final Actions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Default Deadlines for Reclassified Nonattainment Areas Under the Ozone NAAQS</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Comments and Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Default Deadlines Generally</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. SIP Submittal Deadline for All Elements, Except for the CAA Section 185 Fee Program Element</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. SIP Submittal Deadline for the CAA section 185 Fee Program Element</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. Deadline for RACT Implementation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">e. Deadline for I/M Implementation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Status of Certain Requirements of Former Classification</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Comments and Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Serious Area SIP Revisions for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Summary of Proposal</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. Final Rule</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Comments and Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Due Date for Serious Area SIP Revisions and RACT Implementation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Deadline for Serious Area I/M Implementation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Environmental Justice Considerations</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Judicial Review</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VI. Severability</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">VII. 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. Congressional Review Act (CRA)</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. General Information</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Does this action apply to me?</HD> Entities potentially affected directly by this final rule include state, local, and tribal governments and air pollution control agencies (“air agencies”) responsible for attainment and maintenance of the NAAQS. Entities potentially affected indirectly by this final rule as regulated sources include owners and operators of sources of emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) that contribute to ground-level ozone formation. <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Where can I get a copy of this document and other related information?</HD> In addition to being available in the docket, an electronic copy of this <E T="04">Federal Register</E> document will be posted at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/ozone-implementation-regulatory-actions.</E> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Overview and Basis of Final Rule</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Background and Summary of Final Rule</HD> The EPA is finalizing in this action default SIP submittal and implementation deadlines for areas reclassified as Moderate, Serious, and Severe by operation of law pursuant to Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) section 181(b)(2) and voluntary reclassification requests pursuant to CAA section 181(b)(3). These default deadlines are applicable for all current and future ozone NAAQS. States responsible for areas initially designated as nonattainment under an ozone NAAQS are required to prepare and submit SIP revisions by deadlines relative to the effective date of the rule establishing area designations and classifications, and the submission deadlines vary depending on the SIP element required ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> the statute provides 3 or 4 years from initial nonattainment designation to submit SIPs for some requirements and 2 years for others). Areas initially designated as nonattainment are also required to implement reasonably available control technology (RACT) as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than January 1 of the 5th year after the effective date of designations. The EPA recognizes that upon reclassification to a higher classification, especially when under CAA section 181(b)(2), a state can be faced with limited time to submit and implement required SIP revisions prior to the next attainment date. In addition, in some cases, the SIP submission and implementation deadlines associated with areas formerly classified at a particular level may have already passed at the time of reclassification, making it impossible to apply those original SIP submission and implementation deadlines to areas that are reclassified to that classification level upon failure to attain by a lower classification attainment date or by voluntary request. In light of these considerations, the EPA has historically adjusted deadlines pursuant to the general rulemaking authority granted under CAA section 301(a) to prescribe regulations as are necessary to carry out the functions of the Act, and the specific authority granted by CAA section 182(i). <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> The EPA has promulgated these adjustments of SIP submission and implementation deadlines that apply to reclassified areas with the intent to assure consistency amongst submissions, encourage meaningful reductions towards expeditious attainment of the NAAQS—mindful of newly applicable attainment dates—and promote planning flexibility where possible. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  CAA section 182(i) specifically provides authority to the EPA to adjust applicable deadlines, other than attainment dates, for areas that are reclassified as a result of failure to attain under CAA section 182(b)(2), to the extent such adjustment is necessary or appropriate to assure consistency among the required submissions. The provision does not specifically reference areas that are voluntarily reclassified under CAA section 181(b)(3); the EP ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 215k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━