Air Plan Approval; Pennsylvania; Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program Certification for Moderate Nonattainment Under the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R03-OAR-2025-0130; FRL-11444-01-R3]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Air Plan Approval; Pennsylvania; Motor Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Program Certification for Moderate Nonattainment Under the 2015 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 approve a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This SIP revision addresses Clean Air Act (CAA) requirements for the enactment of a Basic vehicle emissions inspection and maintenance (I/M) program for the five counties comprising the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE Moderate nonattainment area (Philadelphia nonattainment area) for the 2015 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Written comments must be received on or before September 29, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-2025-0130 at <E T="03">www.regulations.gov,</E> or via email to <E T="03">gordon.mike@epa.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> For either manner of submission, 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 EPA's full public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit <E T="03">www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Brian Rehn, Planning & Implementation Branch (3AD30), Air & Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1600 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. The telephone number is (215) 814-2176. Mr. Rehn can also be reached via email at <E T="03">rehn.brian@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Clean Air Act I/M Requirements Applicable to Ozone Nonattainment Areas of Select Classification</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Philadelphia Ozone Nonattainment and Associated I/M Program Requirements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Region I/M Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Summary of Pennsylvania's September 2023 Basic I/M Certification SIP Revision and EPA's Analysis</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Description of Pennsylvania's September 2023 I/M Certification SIP</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Summary and EPA Review of the Required Elements of the Philadelphia Region I/M Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">1. Performance Standard Analysis for the Philadelphia Region for the Basic I/M Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">2. EPA Review of Additional Applicable CAA I/M Requirements of Pennsylvania's I/M Certification SIP</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">a. Implementation Milestones for Pennsylvania's Philadelphia Region I/M Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">b. Geographic Applicability of the Philadelphia Region I/M Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">c. Additional Required I/M Program Design Elements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">d. State Legal Authority for I/M Program Implementation and Operation</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">e. State Implementing Regulations, Interagency Agreements, and Memoranda of Understanding</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">f. Evidence of Adequate State Funding and Resources To Implement the Program</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">3. Summary of EPA's Review of Pennsylvania's I/M Certification SIP Elements</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. Proposed Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review, Executive Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review, and Executive Order 14192: Unleashing Prosperity Through Deregulation</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: Coordination With Indian Tribal Governments</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Executive Order 13045: Protection of Children From Environmental Health Risks 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 and Advancement Act (NTTAA)</FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> On September 28, 2023, Pennsylvania submitted to the EPA a SIP revision request titled “Basic I/M Program Certification” applicable to the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-MD-DE Moderate nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. I/M programs are required for certain urbanized nonattainment areas classified as Moderate and higher based on criteria detailed in the CAA and the Federal I/M rule at 40 CFR 51 subpart S. The CAA establishes two performance levels of I/M programs: “Basic” and “Enhanced.” Enhanced I/M programs are required in areas classified as Serious, Severe, or Extreme for the ozone NAAQS. In addition, all Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) in an Ozone Transport Region (OTR) as defined in the CAA are required to implement an Enhanced program regardless of air quality designation/classification in areas with a 1980 population greater than 100,000. By virtue of Pennsylvania's inclusion in an OTR, Pennsylvania already operates an Enhanced I/M Program that encompasses the nonattainment area (NAA), as described in Section I.B below. The Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City NAA was initially required to demonstrate attainment of the 2015 ozone NAAQS by the Marginal area attainment date of August 3, 2021. However, monitored ozone levels in the area failed to meet the NAAQS by that attainment date, so the area was reclassified by operation of law. In October 2022, the EPA issued a determination confirming that the area was reclassified from Marginal to Moderate nonattainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> This Moderate classification subjected the Philadelphia NAA to the CAA requirement for a Basic I/M program—among other CAA requirements for a Moderate NAA. <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  87 FR 60897, October 7, 2022. </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  Clean Air Act section 182(b). </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD2">A. Clean Air Act I/M Requirements Applicable to Ozone Nonattainment Areas of Select Classification</HD> Section 182 of the CAA outlines SIP requirements for each classification that are generally cumulative ( <E T="03">e.g.,</E> areas classified as Moderate ozone nonattainment must meet Moderate requirements in addition to Marginal classification requirements). Section 182(b)(4) requires States with areas classified as Moderate ozone nonattainment to implement a Basic I/M program. The EPA's Basic I/M regulations are codified at 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 51, subpart S. The relevant Federal performance standard  <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> for a Basic I/M program for an area classified as Moderate under an 8-hour ozone NAAQS is outlined in 40 CFR 51.352(e). The EPA allows newly classified Moderate NAAs that have an existing I/M program (for example, because of the area's nonattainment status and classification under a prior NAAQS, by virtue of being located in an ozone transport region) to demonstrate with performance standard modeling analysis and a review of applicable requirements in the I/M Rule that the existing EPA-approved I/M program would meet the performance standard for purposes of the new Moderate 2015 ozone NAAQS classification. <SU>4</SU> <FTREF/> If the existing I/M program does not meet all requirements for a Basic I/M program as required for the Moderate classification, the State must submit a SIP revision amending the I/M program so that it meets the requirements. <SU>5</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>  An I/M performance standard is a collection of program design elements which defines a benchmark program to which a state's proposed I/M program is compared in terms of its potential to reduce emissions of the ozone precursors nitrogen oxides (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  See 87 FR 60897, 60906; 87 FR 21842 (April 13, 2022). </FTNT> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>   <E T="03">Id.</E> </FTNT> In October 2022, the EPA provided states with guidance on evaluating a specific I/M program against the applicable Federal benchmark program outlined in the CAA and detailed in the I/M rule. This guidance (hereinafter referred to as the EPA guidance or the EPA PSM ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 47k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━