Air Plan Approval; AK, Fairbanks North Star Borough; 2006 24-Hour PM2.5 Serious Area and 189(d) Plan

<RULE> ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY <CFR>40 CFR Part 52</CFR> <DEPDOC>[EPA-R10-OAR-2024-0595; FRL-12391-04-R10]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT> Air Plan Approval; AK, Fairbanks North Star Borough; 2006 24-Hour PM <E T="0735">2.5</E> Serious Area and 189(d) Plan </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 approval of the State implementation plan (SIP) submission, submitted by the State of Alaska (Alaska or the State) on December 4, 2024, to address Clean Air Act requirements for the 2006 24-hour fine particulate matter (PM <E T="52">2.5</E> ) national ambient air quality standard in the Fairbanks North Star Borough PM <E T="52">2.5</E> nonattainment area. Alaska's submission includes SIP revisions to meet nonattainment planning requirements for emissions inventories, modeling and sulfur dioxide precursor demonstration for major stationary sources, control measures, attainment projection date, reasonable further progress requirements, motor vehicle emissions budgets, and contingency measures. </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> This action is effective on December 18, 2025. </EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> The EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-R10-OAR-2024-0595. All documents in the docket are listed on the <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov</E> website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, <E T="03">e.g.,</E> CBI or other information whose 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. Publicly available docket materials are available through <E T="03">https://www.regulations.gov,</E> or please contact the person identified in the <E T="02">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT</E> section for additional availability information. <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Matthew Jentgen, EPA Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue—Suite 155, Seattle, WA, 98101, (206) 553-0340, <E T="03">jentgen.matthew@epa.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> Throughout this document wherever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, it is intended to refer to the EPA. <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents </HD> <EXTRACT> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">I. Background</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">II. Public Comments and EPA Responses</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Emissions Inventories</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Pollutants Addressed</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">C. Control Strategy</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">D. Attainment Demonstration and Modeling</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">E. Reasonable Further Progress</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">F. Quantitative Milestones</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">G. Contingency Measures</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">H. Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for Transportation Conformity</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">III. EPA Final Action</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">A. Final Approval</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP1-2">B. Terminating Sanctions Clocks and Lifting the Transportation Conformity Freeze</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">IV. Incorporation by Reference</FP> <FP SOURCE="FP-2">V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews </FP> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Background</HD> This action is the latest in a series of regulatory actions regarding the Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area. For a complete regulatory history of the Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area, see the EPA's proposal, published on January 8, 2025 (90 FR 1600) (Proposal). The following is a summary of the history that is pertinent to this action. In 2009, the EPA designated a portion of the Fairbanks North Star Borough as “nonattainment” (Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area) for the 2006 24-hour PM <E T="52">2.5</E> National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), which is set at the level of 35 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m <SU>3</SU> ) (74 FR 58688, November 13, 2009). Effective July 2, 2014, the EPA classified the area as “Moderate” (79 FR 31566, June 2, 2014). Subsequently, Alaska submitted, and the EPA approved, a plan to meet the Moderate nonattainment area requirements (Fairbanks Moderate Plan) (82 FR 42457, September 8, 2017). On May 10, 2017, the EPA determined that the Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area failed to attain the 2006 24-hour PM <E T="52">2.5</E> NAAQS by the outermost statutory Moderate area attainment date of December 31, 2015 (82 FR 21711). Consequently, the area was automatically reclassified to Serious. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> Alaska submitted a plan to address the Serious PM <E T="52">2.5</E> nonattainment area requirements on December 13, 2019 (Fairbanks Serious Plan). On September 2, 2020, prior to taking action on the Fairbanks Serious Plan, the EPA determined that the area failed to attain by the Serious area attainment date of December 31, 2019 (85 FR 54509). Alaska submitted a revised plan to meet the requirements of CAA section 189(d) on December 15, 2020 (Fairbanks 189(d) Plan). <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  42 U.S.C. 7513(b)(2)(A). </FTNT> On <FTREF/> September 24, 2021, the EPA approved the 2013 base year emissions inventory and the PM <E T="52">2.5</E> precursor demonstration elements for nitrogen oxides (NO <E T="52">X</E> ) and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions of the Fairbanks Serious Plan as meeting the Serious area planning requirements (86 FR 52997). In the same action, the EPA approved other plan components as SIP strengthening, including: (1) the updated Fairbanks Emergency Episode Plan that the State adopted on November 18, 2020, and submitted on December 15, 2020; and (2) various regulatory control measures included in three separate SIP submissions (December 13, 2019, October 25, 2018, and November 28, 2018). The EPA did not determine as part of the September 24, 2021, approval whether these SIP-strengthening components met specific nonattainment plan requirements. In particular, the EPA did not determine whether the Fairbanks Serious Plan or Fairbanks 189(d) Plan met the following requirements for PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Serious nonattainment areas: (1) attainment projected emissions inventory, (2) control strategy, (3) attainment demonstration, (4) reasonable further progress, (5) quantitative milestones, or (6) contingency measures. <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  42 U.S.C. 7502(c)(1). </FTNT> On December 5, 2023, the EPA finalized its determination of whether the Fairbanks Serious Plan and Fairbanks 189(d) Plan met CAA requirements for PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Serious nonattainment areas. Specifically, the EPA approved Alaska's 2019 base year emission inventory included in the Fairbanks 189(d) Plan. The EPA approved certain discrete measures as meeting best available control measure requirements. The EPA also approved the plans as meeting nonattainment NSR requirements for purposes of CAA section 189(d) on December 5, 2023 (88 FR 84629). However, the EPA disapproved in part the Fairbanks Serious Plan and Fairbanks 189(d) Plan as not meeting the following requirements for PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Serious nonattainment areas: (1) attainment projected emissions inventory, (2) control strategy, in part, as not containing all required control measures, (3) attainment demonstration, (4) reasonable further progress, (5) quantitative milestones, or (6) contingency measures. On December 4, 2024, Alaska submitted a revision to the Fairbanks Serious and 189(d) Plans (Fairbanks Revised 189(d) Plan) to rectify the portions the EPA disapproved on December 5, 2023. The Fairbanks Revised 189(d) Plan includes an updated base year emissions inventory, attainment projected emissions inventory, major stationary source SO <E T="52">2</E> precursor demonstration, control strategy, modeled attainment demonstration, reasonable further progress provisions, quantitative milestones, and contingency measures. The EPA proposed to fully approve the plan revision on January 8, 2025 (90 FR 1600). This action finalizes the EPA's proposed approval of the Fairbanks Revised 189(d) Plan as meeting nonattainment plan requirements for the Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area. Table 1 of this preamble provides a summary of the EPA's December 5, 2023, final rule and this final rule approving the Fairbanks Revised 189(d) Plan. Table 1 illustrates how the Fairbanks Serious Plan and Fairbanks Revised 189(d) Plan collectively satisfy CAA requirements for the Fairbanks PM <E T="52">2.5</E> Nonattainment Area. The EPA's reasons for this action are explained in further detail in the following sections and in the separate Response to Comment document. <GPOTABLE COLS="3" OPTS="L2,nj,i1" CDEF="s100,r100,r100"> <TTITLE>Table 1—Summary of the EPA's Actions on Nonattainment Plan Requirements, 2023 Final Rule and 2025 Final Rule</TTITLE> <CHED H="1">Description of CAA planning requirement</CHED> <CHED H="1">2023 Final Rule</CHED> <CHED H="1">2025 Final Rule</CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">Base year emissions inventory for areas subject to CAA section 189(d), (CAA section 172(c)(3); 40 CFR 51.1008(c)(1))</ENT> <ENT>Approval of the 2019 base year emissions inventory</ENT> <ENT>Approval of the 2020 base year emission inventory.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> Attainment projected emissions inventory, (CAA section 172(c)(1);  <SU>2</SU> 40 CFR 51.1008(c)(2)) </ENT> <ENT>Disapproval of the 2024 attainment projected emissions inventory</ENT> <ENT>Approval of the 2027 attainment projected emissions inventory.</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01"> Pollutants addressed/Precursor demonstrations (CAA section 189(e);  <SU>3</SU> 40 CFR 51.1006 </ENT> <ENT> Approval of the comprehensive ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 118k characters. 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