Extension of the Attainment Date of the Coachella Valley Extreme Nonattainment Area Under the 1997 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0570; FRL-12518-01-R9]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Extension of the Attainment Date of the Coachella Valley Extreme Nonattainment Area Under the 1997 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 to grant a one-year extension of the “Extreme” attainment date for the 1997 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) to the Riverside County (Coachella Valley) ozone nonattainment area (“Coachella Valley”). This action is based on the EPA's evaluation of air quality monitoring data and the extension request submitted by the State of California. We are taking comments on this proposal and plan to follow with a final action. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments must be received on or before April 16, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0570 at <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov.</E> For comments submitted at <E T="03">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, 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> If you need assistance in a language other than English or if you are a person with a disability who needs a reasonable accommodation at no cost to you, please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Tom Kelly, EPA Region IX, ARD-2-2, 75 Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105: phone: (415) 972-3856; email: <E T="03">kelly.thomasp@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document, “we,” “us,” and “our” refer to the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. 1997 Ozone NAAQS</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Coachella Valley 1997 Ozone Designation, Classifications and SIP Revisions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. The EPA's Authority and Requirements for Attainment Date Extensions</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Exceptional Events Demonstration</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. The State's Submittal and the EPA's Evaluation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Request for an Extension</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. The EPA's Evaluation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. The EPA's Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. 1997 Ozone NAAQS</HD> Ground-level ozone pollution is formed from the reaction of volatile organic compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) in the presence of sunlight. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> These two pollutants, referred to as ozone precursors, are emitted by many types of sources, including on- and off-road motor vehicles and engines, power plants and industrial facilities, and smaller area sources such as lawn and garden equipment and paints. <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  The State of California refers to reactive organic gases (ROG) rather than VOC in some of its ozone-related submissions. As a practical matter, ROG and VOC refer to the same set of chemical constituents, and for the sake of simplicity, we refer to this set of gases as VOC in this proposed rule. </FTNT> Scientific evidence indicates that adverse public health effects occur following exposure to ozone, particularly in children and adults with lung disease. Breathing air containing ozone can reduce lung function and inflame airways, which can increase respiratory symptoms and aggravate asthma or other lung diseases. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  EPA, Health Effects of Ozone Pollution, available at <E T="03">https://www.epa.gov/ground-level-ozone-pollution/health-effects-ozone-pollution.</E> </FTNT> Under section 109 of the Clean Air Act (CAA or “Act”), the EPA promulgates national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or “standards”) for pervasive air pollutants, such as ozone. The NAAQS are concentration levels whose attainment and maintenance the EPA has determined to be requisite to protect public health and welfare. In 1979, under section 109 of the CAA, the EPA established primary and secondary standards for ozone at 0.12 parts per million (ppm) averaged over a 1-hour period. <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  44 FR 8202 (February 8, 1979). </FTNT> On July 18, 1997, the EPA revised the primary and secondary NAAQS for ozone to set the acceptable level of ozone in the ambient air at 0.08 ppm, averaged over an 8-hour period. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> The EPA set the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS based on scientific evidence demonstrating that ozone causes adverse health effects at lower concentrations and over longer periods of time than was understood when the pre-existing 1-hour ozone standards were set. The EPA determined that the 8-hour standards would be more protective of human health, especially for children and for adults who are active outdoors, and for individuals with a preexisting respiratory disease, such as asthma. <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  62 FR 38856. Primary standards provide public health protection, including protecting the health of “sensitive” populations such as asthmatics, children, and the elderly. Secondary standards provide public welfare protection, including protection against decreased visibility and damage to animals, crops, vegetation, and buildings. Since the primary and secondary standards established in 1997 are set at the same level, we refer to them herein using the singular “1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS” or “1997 8-hour ozone standard.” </FTNT> In March 2008, the EPA completed another review of the primary and secondary ozone standards and tightened them further by lowering the level for both to 0.075 ppm. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> The EPA revoked the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS effective April 6, 2015;  <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> however, to comply with anti-backsliding requirements of the Act, areas designated nonattainment at the time that the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS was revoked remain subject to certain requirements based on their classification at the time of revocation, including requirements related to nonattainment contingency measures under CAA sections 172(c)(9) and 182(c)(9) and, for “Severe” and “Extreme” areas, major source fee programs under CAA section 185. <SU>7</SU> <FTREF/> The EPA's determination that an area failed to attain by its attainment date, which is made under CAA section 301 and consistent with section 181(b)(2), triggers these anti-backsliding requirements. <E T="03">See South Coast Air Quality Mgmt. Dist.</E> v. <E T="03">EPA,</E> 882 F.3d 1138, 1147 (D.C. Cir. 2018). <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  73 FR 16436 (March 27, 2008). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>6</SU>  80 FR 12264 (March 6, 2015). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>7</SU>  40 CFR 51.1100(o). </FTNT> On October 26, 2015, the EPA again revised the level of the primary (and secondary) ozone NAAQS once more to 0.70 ppm. <SU>8</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>8</SU>  80 FR 65292. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD2">B. Coachella Valley 1997 Ozone Designation, Classifications and SIP Revisions</HD> Following promulgation of a new or revised NAAQS, the EPA is required by the CAA to designate areas throughout the nation as attaining or not attaining the standards. Effective June 15, 2004, we designated nonattainment areas for the 1997 8-hour ozone standards. <SU>9</SU> <FTREF/> The designations and classifications for the 1997 8-hour ozone standards for California areas are codified at 40 CFR 81.305. In a rule governing certain facets of implementation of the 8-hour ozone standards (the Phase 1 Rule), the EPA classified the Coachella Valley as “Serious” for the 1997 8-hour ozone standards, with an attainment date no later than June 15, 2013. <SU>10</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>9</SU>  69 FR 23858 (April 30, 2004). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>10</SU>  69 FR 23858 (April 30, 2004). </FTNT> The Coachella Valley includes a part of the Colorado Desert in Riverside County, California, as well as parts of the adjacent mountain ranges. For a precise description of the geographic boundaries of the area, see 40 CFR 81.305. The Coachella Valley is under the jurisdiction of the South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD or “District”). The District and California Air Resources Board (CARB or “State”) are responsible for adopting and submitting a state implementation plan (SIP) to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone standards for nonattainment areas in their jurisdiction. The District primarily regulates stationary sources while CARB regulates mobile ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 38k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━