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Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of Louisiana; Approval of the Maintenance Plans for the Parishes of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary; Redesignation of these Ozone Nonattainment Areas to Attainment
Note: EPA no longer updates this information, but it may be useful as a reference or resource.
[Federal Register: August 18, 1995 (Volume 60, Number 160)] [Rules and Regulations] [Page 43020-43026] From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Parts 52 and 81 [LA-24-1-7026a; FRL-5270-2] Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of Louisiana; Approval of the Maintenance Plans for the Parishes of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary; Redesignation of these Ozone Nonattainment Areas to Attainment AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Direct final rule.
SUMMARY: On March 27, 1995, December 12, 1994, October 21, 1994, November 18, 1994, and November 23, 1994, the State of Louisiana submitted revised maintenance plans and requests to redesignate the ozone nonattainment areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes to attainment. These maintenance plans and redesignation requests were initially submitted to the EPA during the Summer of 1993. Although the EPA deemed these initial submittals complete, certain approvability issues existed. The State of Louisiana addressed these approvability issues and has revised its submissions. Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), nonattainment areas may be redesignated to attainment if sufficient data are available to warrant the redesignation and the area meets the other CAA redesignation requirements. In this action, EPA is approving Louisiana's redesignation requests because they meet the maintenance plan and redesignation requirements set forth in the CAA and EPA is approving the 1990 base year emissions inventory. The approved maintenance plans will become a federally enforceable part of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for Louisiana.DATES: This final rule is effective on October 17, 1995, unless notice is received by September 18, 1995 that someone wishes to submit adverse or critical comments. If the effective date is delayed, timely notice will be published in the Federal Register (FR).
ADDRESSES: Comments should be mailed to Thomas H. Diggs, Chief, Air Planning Section (6T-AP), U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733. Copies of the State's petition and other information relevant to this action are available for inspection during normal hours at the following locations:
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, Air Programs Branch (6T-A), 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733. Air and Radiation Docket and Information Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC 20460. Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Air Quality, P.O. Box 82135, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70884-2135.
Anyone wishing to review this petition at the U.S. EPA office is asked to contact the person below to schedule an appointment 24 hours in advance.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Mick Cote, Planning Section (6TAP), Air Programs Branch, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, telephone (214) 665- 7219.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The CAA as amended in 1977 required areas that were designated nonattainment based on a failure to meet the ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) to develop SIPs with sufficient control measures to expeditiously attain and maintain the standard. The areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes, Louisiana were designated under section 107 of the 1977 CAA as nonattainment with respect to the ozone NAAQS on September 11, 1978 (40 CFR 81.319). In accordance with section 110 of the 1977 CAA, the State of Louisiana submitted an ozone SIP as required by part D on December 10, 1979. EPA fully approved this ozone SIP on October 29, 1981 (46 FR 53412). The most recent revision to the ozone SIP occurred on May 5, 1994, when the EPA approved a SIP revision for the State of Louisiana to correct certain enforceability deficiencies in their volatile organic compound (VOC) rules (59 FR 23164). For purposes of
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redesignations, the State of Louisiana has an approved ozone SIP. On November 15, 1990, the CAA Amendments of 1990 were enacted (Public Law 101-549, 104 Stat. 2399, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q). The ozone nonattainment designation for each of these areas continued by operation of law according to section 107(d)(1)(C)(i) of the CAA, as amended in 1990 (See 56 FR 56694, November 6, 1991). Since the State had not yet collected the required three years of ambient air quality data necessary to petition for redesignation to attainment in the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes, each of these areas was designated as unclassifiable-incomplete data for ozone. Lafayette Parish had collected the required three years of ambient air quality data, but the State likewise had not petitioned the EPA to redesignate the area to attainment. Lafayette Parish was consequently designated as unclassifiable-transitional for ozone. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) more recently has collected ambient monitoring data that show no violations of the ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of .12 parts per million. The State developed maintenance plans for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes, and solicited public comment. Subsequently, the State of Louisiana submitted requests, through the Governor's office, to redesignate these areas to attainment with respect to the ozone NAAQS. The initial redesignation requests for Beauregard, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes were submitted to the EPA on June 14, 1993. The initial redesignation requests for Grant and Lafayette Parishes were submitted to the EPA on May 25, 1993. Although these maintenance plans and redesignation requests were deemed complete, several approvability issues existed. The State of Louisiana addressed these approvability issues, and submitted revised maintenance plans and redesignation requests accordingly. The revised redesignation requests for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes were received on March 27, 1995, December 12, 1994, October 21, 1994, November 18, 1994, and November 23, 1994, respectively. These revised redesignation requests were accompanied by ozone maintenance SIPs. Please see the TSD for the detailed air quality monitoring data.Evaluation Criteria
The 1990 Amendments revised section 107(d)(3)(E) to provide five specific requirements that an area must meet in order to be redesignated from nonattainment to attainment: (1) the area must have attained the applicable NAAQS; (2) the area must meet all applicable requirements under section 110 and part D of the CAA; (3) the area must have a fully approved SIP under section 110(k) of the CAA; (4) the air quality improvement must be permanent and enforceable; and, (5) the area must have a fully approved maintenance plan pursuant to section 175A of the CAA. Section 107(d)(3)(D) allows a Governor to initiate the redesignation process for an area to apply for attainment status. Please see EPA's Technical Support Document (TSD) for a detailed discussion of these requirements.
(1) Attainment of the NAAQS for Ozone
Attainment of the ozone NAAQS is determined based on the expected number of exceedances in a calendar year. The method for determining attainment of the ozone NAAQS is contained in 40 CFR 50.9 and appendix H to that section. The simplest method by which expected exceedances are calculated is by averaging actual exceedances at each monitoring site over a three year period. An area is in attainment of the standard if this average results in expected exceedances for each monitoring site of 1.0 or less per calendar year. When a valid daily maximum hourly average value is not available for each required monitoring day during the year, the missing days must be accounted for when estimating exceedances for the year. Appendix H provides the formula used to estimate the expected number of exceedances for each year. The State of Louisiana's request is based on an analysis of quality-assured ozone air quality data which is relevant to both the maintenance plans and to the redesignation requests. The data come from the State and Local Air Monitoring Station network. With the exception of Grant Parish, the requests are based on ambient air ozone monitoring data collected for 3 consecutive years from January 1, 1990, through December 31, 1992. The data clearly show an expected exceedance rate of less than 1 for all these areas.
The Grant Parish monitor did not collect data from April through December of 1991 due to poor data capture. Once the data capture problem was corrected, the monitor collected data continuously through 1992. The resulting data spanned three complete years, from January 1989 through March 1991, and January 1992 through December 1992. EPA accepted the data as an adequate demonstration that the ozone standard was attained in Grant Parish. The decision to consider the data collected as adequate for redesignation purposes was based on several factors. First, Grant Parish has 3 full years of ozone data over a four year period. Second, Grant Parish is rural. The area's population is less than 50,000, and Grant Parish is not adjacent to any urban area. Third, Grant Parish has no major non-complying volatile organic compound sources. Finally, there has been only one monitored ozone concentration near the standard (0.103 ppm in October 1990) during the 4 year monitoring period.
The State did not collect ozone data for Grant Parish in 1993 or 1994. The ozone monitor was reinstalled in January 1995, and will continue to operate for the duration of the maintenance period. While the EPA generally requires that an area have the most recent three years of data for redesignation purposes, we are departing from established policy in this instance because of the continued downward trend of measured ozone values in this area, and no significant increase in the level of emissions in Grant Parish. Additionally, preliminary ozone data collected from the Grant Parish monitor from 1995 supports this downward trend argument. Please see the TSD for a detailed discussion of the area's downward trend. In addition to the demonstration discussed above, EPA required completion of air network monitoring requirements set forth in 40 CFR part 58. This included a quality assurance plan revision and a monitoring network review to determine the adequacy of the ozone monitoring network. The LDEQ fulfilled these requirements to complete documentation for the air quality demonstration. The LDEQ has also committed to continue monitoring in these areas in accordance with 40 CFR part 58.
In sum, EPA believes that the data submitted by the LDEQ provides an adequate demonstration that the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes attained the ozone NAAQS. Moreover, the monitoring data continue to show attainment to date. If the monitoring data records a violation of the NAAQS before the direct final action is effective, the direct final approval of the redesignation will be withdrawn and a proposed disapproval substituted for the direct[[Page 43022]]
final approval. Please see the TSD for a detailed discussion of the monitoring data.(2) Section 110 Requirements
For purposes of redesignation, to meet the requirement that the SIP contain all applicable requirements under the CAA, EPA has reviewed the SIP to ensure that it contains all measures that were due under the CAA prior to or at the time the State submitted its redesignation request, as set forth in EPA policy. EPA interprets section 107(d)(3)(E)(v) of the CAA to mean that, for a redesignation request to be approved, the State must have met all requirements that applied to the subject area prior to or at the same time as the submission of a complete redesignation request. In this case, the dates of submission of a complete redesignation request are May 25, 1993, for Grant and Lafayette Parishes, and June 14, 1993, for Beauregard, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes. Requirements of the CAA that come due subsequently continue to be applicable to the area at later dates (see section 175A(c)) and, if redesignation of any of the areas is disapproved, the State remains obligated to fulfill those requirements. These requirements are discussed in the following EPA documents: ``Procedures for Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to Attainment,'' John Calcagni, Director, Air Quality Management Division, September 4, 1992; ``State Implementation Plan (SIP) Actions Submitted in Response to Clean Air Act (CAA) Deadlines,'' John Calcagni, Director, Air Quality Management Division, October 28, 1992; and ``State Implementation Plan (SIP) Requirements for Areas Submitting Requests for Redesignation to Attainment of the Ozone and Carbon Monoxide (CO) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) on or after November 15, 1992,'' Michael H. Shapiro, Acting Assistant Administrator, September 17, 1993. EPA has analyzed the Louisiana SIP and determined that it is consistent with the requirements of amended section 110(a)(2). The SIP contains enforceable emission limitations, requires monitoring, compiling, and analyzing ambient air quality data, requires preconstruction review of new major stationary sources and major modifications to existing ones, provides for adequate funding, staff, and associated resources necessary to implement its requirements, and requires stationary source emissions monitoring and reporting.
(3) Part D Requirements
Before the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes can be redesignated to attainment, the Louisiana SIP must have fulfilled the applicable requirements of part D of the CAA. Under part D, an area's classification indicates the requirements to which it will be subject. Subpart 1 of part D sets forth the basic nonattainment requirements applicable to all nonattainment areas, classified as well as nonclassifiable. Subpart 2 of part D establishes additional requirements for nonattainment areas classified under table 1 of section 181(a)(1). Since the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes are considered nonclassifiable, the State is only required to meet the applicable requirements of subpart 1 of part D--specifically sections 172(c) and 176. As long as EPA did not determine that any of the pertinent section 172(c) requirements were applicable prior to the submission of these redesignation requests in 1993, none of these requirements are applicable for purposes of this redesignation action. Section 176(c) of the CAA requires States to revise their SIPs to establish criteria and procedures to ensure that Federal actions, before they are taken, conform to the air quality planning goals in the applicable State SIP. The requirement to determine conformity applies to transportation plans, programs and projects developed, funded, or approved under title 23 U.S.C. or the Federal Transit Act (``transportation conformity''), as well as to all other Federal actions (``general conformity'').
Section 176 further provides that the conformity revisions to be submitted by the States must be consistent with Federal conformity regulations that the CAA required EPA to promulgate. The EPA promulgated final transportation conformity regulations on November 24, 1993 (58 FR 62118) and general conformity regulations on November 30, 1993 (58 FR 63214). These conformity rules require that States adopt both transportation and general conformity provisions in the SIP for areas designated nonattainment or subject to a maintenance plan approved under CAA section 175A.
Pursuant to 40 CFR 51.396 of the transportation conformity rule and 40 CFR 51.851 of the general conformity rule, the State of Louisiana was required to submit a SIP revision containing transportation conformity criteria and procedures consistent with those established in the Federal rule by November 25, 1994. Similarly, Louisiana was required to submit a SIP revision containing general conformity criteria and procedures consistent with those established in the Federal rule by December 1, 1994. Louisiana submitted both its transportation and general conformity rules to EPA on November 10, 1994. As these requirements did not come due until after the original submission date of these redesignation requests, these conformity rule submissions need not be approved prior to taking action on these redesignation requests.
The EPA recently published additional guidance on maintenance plans and their applicability to conformity issues in a memorandum entitled ``Limited Maintenance Plan Option for Nonclassifiable Ozone Nonattainment Areas,'' (limited maintenance plan memo) from Sally L. Shaver, Director, Air Quality Strategies & Standards Division, on November 16, 1994. This limited maintenance plan memo discusses maintenance requirements for certain areas petitioning for redesignation to attainment. Nonclassifiable ozone nonattainment areas with design values less than 8512f the exceedance level of the ozone standard are no longer required to project emissions over the maintenance period.
The Federal transportation conformity rule (58 FR 62188) and the Federal general conformity rule (58 FR 63214) apply to areas operating under maintenance plans. Under either rule, one means by which a maintenance area can demonstrate conformity for Federal projects is to indicate that expected emissions from planned actions are consistent with the emissions budget for the area. Based on guidance discussed in the limited maintenance plan memo, emissions inventories in areas that qualify for the limited maintenance plan approach are not required to be projected over the life of the maintenance plan. EPA feels it is unreasonable to expect that such an area will experience so much growth in that period that a violation of the NAAQS would occur. Emissions budgets in limited maintenance plan areas would be treated as essentially not constraining emissions growth, and would not need to be capped for the maintenance period. In these cases, Federal projects subject to conformity determinations could be considered to satisfy the ``budget test'' of the Federal conformity rules.(4) Fully Approved SIP
The EPA finds that the State of Louisiana has a fully approved SIP for the areas of Beauregard, Grant,
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Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes.(5) Permanent and Enforceable Measures
Under the CAA, EPA approved Louisiana's SIP control strategy for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes, satisfied that the rules and the emission reductions achieved as a result of those rules were enforceable. Several Federal and Statewide rules are in place which have significantly improved the ambient air quality in these areas. Existing Federal programs, such as the Federal Motor Vehicle Control Program and the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) limit of 7.8 pounds per square inch for gasoline, will not be lifted upon redesignation. These programs will counteract emissions growth as the areas experience economic growth over the life of their maintenance plans.
The State adopted VOC rules such as oil/water separation; degreasing and solvent clean-up processes; surface coating rules for large appliances, furniture, coils, paper, fabric, vinyl, cans, miscellaneous metal parts and products, and factory surface coating of flat wood paneling; solvent-using rules for graphic arts; and miscellaneous industrial source rules such as for cutback asphalt. The applicable reasonably available control technology (RACT) rules will also remain in place in the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes. In addition, the State permits program, the PSD permits program, and the Federal Operating Permits program will help counteract emissions growth. The EPA finds that the combination of existing EPA-approved SIP and Federal measures ensure the permanence and enforceability of reductions in ambient ozone levels that have allowed the area to attain the NAAQS.(6) Fully Approved Maintenance Plan Under Section 175A
In today's document, EPA is approving the State's maintenance plans for the areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes because EPA finds that the LDEQ's submittal meets the requirements of section 175A. Thus, these areas will have fully approved maintenance plans in accordance with section 175A as of the effective date of this redesignation. Section 175A of the CAA sets forth the elements of a maintenance plan for areas seeking redesignation from nonattainment to attainment. The plan must demonstrate continued attainment of the applicable NAAQS for at least ten years after the Administrator approves a redesignation to attainment. Eight years after the redesignation, the State must submit a revised maintenance plan which demonstrates that attainment will continue to be maintained for the ten years following the initial tenyear period. To provide for the possibility of future NAAQS violations, the maintenance plan must contain contingency measures, with a schedule for implementation, adequate to assure prompt correction of any air quality problems. Each of the section 175A plan requirements is discussed below.
Demonstration of Maintenance
The requirements for an area to redesignate to attainment are discussed in the memorandum entitled ``Procedures for Processing Requests to Redesignate Areas to Attainment,'' John Calcagni, Director, Air Quality Management Division, September 4, 1992 (Calcagni memo). One aspect of a complete maintenance demonstration discussed in the Calcagni memo is the requirement to develop an emission inventory from one of the three years during which the area has demonstrated attainment. This inventory should include VOCs, and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) from the area in tons per day measurements. In addition to the Calcagni memo, more recent guidance on the redesignation of certain nonattainment areas to attainment is provided in the limited maintenance plan memo.
Attainment Inventory
The LDEQ adopted comprehensive inventories of VOC, NO<INF>X, and CO emissions from area, stationary, and mobile sources using 1990 as the base year to demonstrate maintenance of the ozone NAAQS. EPA has determined that 1990 is an appropriate year on which to base attainment level emissions because EPA policy allows States to select any one of the three years in the attainment period as the attainment year inventory. The State's submittals contain the detailed inventory data and summaries by source category.
The LDEQ provided the stationary source estimates for each company meeting the emissions criteria by requiring the submission of complete emission inventory questionnaires which had been designed to obtain site-specific data. The LDEQ generated area source emissions for each source category based on EPA's ``Procedures for the Preparation of Emissions Inventories for Precursors of Carbon Monoxide and Ozone, Volume I'', and the
EPA document entitled ``Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors''. The non-road mobile source inventory was developed using methodology recommended in EPA's ``Procedures for Emission Inventory Preparation. Volume IV: Mobile Sources''. Data were provided regarding an EPA-sponsored study entitled ``Nonroad Engine Emission Inventories for CO and Ozone Nonattainment Boundaries.'' On-road emissions of VOC, NO<INF>X, and CO were calculated on a county-wide basis using EPA's MOBILE5a computer model.
In the limited maintenance plan memo, EPA set forth new guidance on maintenance plan requirements for certain ozone nonattainment areas. The limited maintenance plan memo identified criteria through which certain nonclassifiable ozone nonattainment areas could choose to submit less rigorous maintenance plans. As mentioned earlier, the method for calculating design values is presented in the June 18, 1990 memorandum, ``Ozone and Carbon Monoxide Design Value Calculations,'' from William G. Laxton, former Director of the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards Technical Support Division. Nonclassifiable ozone nonattainment areas whose design values are calculated at or below 0.106 parts per million (ppm) at the time of redesignation, are no longer required to project emissions over the maintenance period. The 0.106 ppm represents 8512f the ozone exceedance level of 0.125 ppm. As explained in the November 16, 1994 limited maintenance plan memo, the EPA believes if an area begins the maintenance period at or below 8512f the ozone exceedance level of the NAAQS, the existing Federal and SIP control measures, along with the PSD program, will be adequate to assure maintenance of the ozone NAAQS in the area. The areas of Beauregard, Grant, Lafayette, Lafourche, and St. Mary Parishes have calculated design values of 0.106, 0.090, 0.102, 0.096, and 0.085 ppm, respectively. In light of this, and the lack of any recent history of violations of the ozone NAAQS, EPA believes that it is reasonable to conclude that the combination of the RACT measures in the SIP, the Federal Motor Vehicle Control Program, the RVP limit of 7.8 pounds per square inch, and the applicability of preconstruction review in accordance with the prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) requirements of part C of Title I, provides adequate assurance that the ozone NAAQS will be maintained. Thus, the EPA believes these areas[[Page 43024]]
qualify for the limited maintenance plan approach. The following are tables of the revised average peak ozone season weekday VOC and NOXemissions for the major anthropogenic source categories for the 1990 attainment year inventory. Beauregard Parish 1990 Emissions source tons per day Grant Parish 1990 Emissions source tons per day Lafayette Parish 1990 tons Emissions source per day Lafourche Parish 1990 Emissions source tons per day St. Mary Parish 1990 tons Emissions source per day Louisiana--Ozone Designation Classification Date \1\ Type Date \1\ Type * Beauregard Parish.......... Oct. 17, 1995............. Attainment......... * Grant Parish............... Oct. 17, 1995............. Attainment.......... * Lafayette Parish........... Oct. 17, 1995............. Attainment.......... * Lafourche Parish........... Oct. 17, 1995............. Attainment.......... * St. Mary Parish............ Oct. 17, 1995............. Attainment.......... * \1\ This date is November 15, 1990, unless otherwise noted.