Proposed Rule2021-22167
Rescission of Clean Data Determination and Call for Attainment Plan Revision for the Yuma, AZ 1987 PM10 Moderate Nonattainment Area
Primary source
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Published
October 19, 2021
Effective
June 1, 2021
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
On June 1, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published in the Federal Register a proposal to rescind our previously issued clean data determination for the Yuma, Arizona "Moderate" nonattainment area for the 1987 24-hour national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM<INF>10</INF>). We also proposed to find that the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP) is substantially inadequate to attain or maintain the PM<INF>10</INF> standard and to therefore issue a "SIP call" requiring Arizona to revise the SIP to address this inadequacy. Due to an administrative oversight, the contents of the rulemaking docket were not available for the full 30-day comment period. Therefore, the EPA is re-opening the comment period for the proposed rule for an additional 30 days. Furthermore, in response to a letter received during the initial comment period, we are also specifically seeking comment regarding the appropriate attainment date for the Yuma PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment area.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 86 Issue 199 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 19, 2021)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 57769-57770]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22167]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0249; FRL-8724-03-R9]
Rescission of Clean Data Determination and Call for Attainment
Plan Revision for the Yuma, AZ 1987 PM10 Moderate Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule; availability of supplemental information and re-
opening of comment period.
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SUMMARY: On June 1, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
published in the Federal Register a proposal to rescind our previously
issued clean data determination for the Yuma, Arizona ``Moderate''
nonattainment area for the 1987 24-hour national ambient air quality
standard (NAAQS) for particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter
less than or equal to a nominal 10 micrometers (PM<INF>10</INF>). We
also proposed to find that the Arizona State Implementation Plan (SIP)
is substantially inadequate to attain or maintain the PM<INF>10</INF>
standard and to therefore issue a ``SIP call'' requiring Arizona to
revise the SIP to address this inadequacy. Due to an administrative
oversight, the contents of the rulemaking docket were not available for
the full 30-day comment period. Therefore, the EPA is re-opening the
comment period for the proposed rule for an additional 30 days.
Furthermore, in response to a letter received during the initial
comment period, we are also specifically seeking comment regarding the
appropriate attainment date for the Yuma PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment
area.
DATES: The comment period for the proposed rule published at 86 FR
29219 on June 1, 2021, is reopened. Comments must be received on or
before November 18, 2021.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2021-0249 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. Follow the online
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot
be edited or removed from <a href="http://www.regulations.gov">www.regulations.gov</a>. 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 (i.e., on the web, cloud, or other
file sharing system). For additional submission methods, please contact
the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or
multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective
comments, please visit <a href="https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets">https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets</a>. If you need assistance in a language other than English or if
you are a person with disabilities who needs a reasonable accommodation
at no cost to you, please contact the person identified in the FOR
FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John J. Kelly, Air Planning Office
(AIR-2), EPA Region IX, (415) 947-4151, <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#a3c8c6cfcfda8dc9cccbcdc9e3c6d3c28dc4ccd5"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="a0cbc5ccccd98ecacfc8cecae0c5d0c18ec7cfd6">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our,'' refer to the EPA.
On June 1, 2021, the EPA published in the Federal Register a
proposal to rescind our previously issued clean data determination for
the Yuma PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment area.\1\ We also proposed
[[Page 57770]]
to find that the Arizona SIP is substantially inadequate to attain or
maintain the PM<INF>10</INF> standard and to issue a SIP call requiring
Arizona to revise the SIP to address this inadequacy. We proposed to
require Arizona to submit this Moderate nonattainment plan SIP
submission within 18 months of finalizing the SIP call and to set a new
attainment date of no later than December 31, 2025, because the
original maximum attainment date for this area under Clean Air Act
(CAA) section 188(c)(1) was December 31, 1994 (approximately four years
from the original designation).\2\ We proposed a deadline for
reasonably available control measures to be fully implemented in the
area by January 1, 2025, but also recommended that reasonable controls
be fully implemented as early as January 1, 2023. Earlier
implementation of reasonable controls would allow high-wind dust events
during the three-year period preceding the proposed attainment date
potentially to be considered ``natural events'' under the EPA's
exceptional events rule.\3\
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\1\ 86 FR 29219.
\2\ 86 FR 29221.
\3\ Id. at footnote 40 (citing 40 CFR 50.14(b)(5)(ii)).
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The public comment period for the proposed rule started on June 1,
2021, and ended on July 1, 2021. Due to an inadvertent administrative
oversight, the EPA did not post all the documents contained in the
docket until June 23, 2021. The EPA is re-opening the comment period
for the proposed rule for an additional 30 days, to allow for a full
comment period with access to the docket.
During the comment period, the EPA received comments from seven
commenters including the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
(ADEQ). In its comment letter, ADEQ noted that the EPA's authority to
establish a new attainment date is contained in section 110(k)(5),
which allows the EPA to adjust any dates applicable to the relevant
requirements ``as appropriate;'' that such adjusted dates could include
the attainment date if the original attainment date had elapsed; and
that CAA section 188(c)(1) ``establishes two alternative attainment
deadlines for moderate PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment areas: four years
after designation for areas designated in 1990, and six years after
designation for all other areas.'' \4\ ADEQ asserted that the CAA does
not require the EPA to set the new maximum attainment date according to
the shorter deadline and that ``the six-year deadline would be more
`appropriate''' for the Yuma PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment area.\5\ In
particular, ADEQ asserted that the EPA's recommended schedule for
implementation of reasonable controls by January 1, 2023, ``which
envisions implementation nineteen months after EPA's proposed finding
is completely unrealistic.'' \6\
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\4\ Letter dated June 30, 2021 from Daniel Czecholinski, Air
Quality Division Director, ADEQ, RE: Proposed Rescission of Clean
Data Determination and Call for Attainment Plan Revision for the
Yuma, AZ PM<INF>10</INF> Moderate Nonattainment Area, 2.
\5\ Id. (quoting CAA section 110(k)(5)).
\6\ Id. (emphasis in original).
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In response to ADEQ's comment, we are now also seeking comment on a
possible alternative attainment date for the Yuma PM<INF>10</INF>
nonattainment area. As noted by ADEQ, given that the original
attainment date of December 31, 1994, has elapsed, CAA section
110(k)(5) provides the EPA with discretion to adjust this date ``as
appropriate.'' \7\ We initially proposed an attainment date of December
31, 2025, based on the fact that the Yuma area's original attainment
date was approximately four years from its designation as a
nonattainment area in 1990. However, as also noted by ADEQ, for other
Moderate PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment areas, CAA section 188(c)(1)
sets a maximum attainment date of the end of the sixth calendar year
after the area's designation as nonattainment. Therefore, we are
specifically seeking comment on whether we should set a maximum
attainment date of December 31, 2027 (roughly six years from the
expected SIP call effective date), rather than December 31, 2025
(roughly four years from the expected SIP call effective date), for the
Yuma PM<INF>10</INF> nonattainment area, if we finalize our proposed
finding of inadequacy and SIP call.
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\7\ CAA section 110(k)(5) (``Any finding under this paragraph
shall, to the extent the Administrator deems appropriate, subject
the State to the requirements of this chapter to which the State was
subject when it developed and submitted the plan for which such
finding was made, except that the Administrator may adjust any dates
applicable under such requirements as appropriate (except that the
Administrator may not adjust any attainment date prescribed under
part D of this subchapter, unless such date has elapsed).'').
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We are also again soliciting public comments on all issues
discussed in our June 1, 2021 proposal. We will accept comments from
the public on that proposal until the date listed in the DATES section
above. We will consider all comments received during both the initial
comment period and this second comment period before taking final
action.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Particulate matter, Pollution.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: October 5, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-22167 Filed 10-18-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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