Rule2025-04790
Interim Final Determination To Stay and Defer Sanctions; California; Sacramento Metro Area
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
March 21, 2025
Effective
March 21, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making an interim final determination to stay and defer the imposition of sanctions under the Clean Air Act (CAA), based on a proposed determination that the Sacramento Metro area has attained the 2008 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by its December 31, 2024, attainment date. The proposed determination of attainment is published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 54 (Friday, March 21, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 54 (Friday, March 21, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 13288-13289]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-04790]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2025-0070; FRL-12637-01-R9]
Interim Final Determination To Stay and Defer Sanctions;
California; Sacramento Metro Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Interim final determination.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making an interim
final determination to stay and defer the imposition of sanctions under
the Clean Air Act (CAA), based on a proposed determination that the
Sacramento Metro area has attained the 2008 8-hour ozone national
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by its December 31, 2024,
attainment date. The proposed determination of attainment is published
elsewhere in this issue of the Federal Register.
DATES: This interim final determination is effective on March 21, 2025.
However, comments will be accepted until April 21, 2025.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2025-0070 at <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>. For comments submitted at
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">Regulations.gov</a>, follow the online instructions for submitting
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from
<a href="http://Regulations.gov">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 a disability
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: Laura Lawrence, EPA Region IX, 75
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105; phone: (415) 972-3407; email:
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#5c303d2b2e39323f3972303d292e3d1c392c3d723b332a"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="caa6abbdb8afa4a9afe4a6abbfb8ab8aafbaabe4ada5bc">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
On June 15, 2023, we published a disapproval of two submittals
intended to satisfy the contingency measures requirement of CAA
sections 172(c)(9) and 182(c)(9).\1\ This disapproval was based on our
finding that the State's submittal did not include specific measures to
be triggered upon a failure to attain (``attainment contingency
measures'') or to meet a reasonable further progress (RFP) milestone
(``RFP contingency measures''). The 2023 disapproval action started
sanctions clocks for imposition of the offset sanction 18 months after
July 17, 2023, and the highway funding sanction six months later,
pursuant to CAA section 179 and our regulations at 40 CFR 52.31. Under
40 CFR 52.31(d)(1), the offset sanction applies 18 months after the
effective date of a disapproval and the highway funding sanction
applies six months after the offset sanction, unless we determine that
the deficiencies forming the basis of the disapproval have been
corrected. Accordingly, the offset sanction went into effect for the
area on January 17, 2025, and the highway funding sanction is set to
come into effect on July 17, 2025.
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\1\ 88 FR 39179.
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In the Proposed Rules section of this issue of the Federal
Register, we are proposing to determine that the Sacramento Metro area
attained the 2008 ozone NAAQS by its December 31, 2024 attainment date,
based on quality-assured and certified ambient air quality monitoring
data from 2022 through 2024. If we finalize that attainment
determination as proposed, the requirement for the area to have RFP and
attainment contingency measures for the 2008 ozone NAAQS will no longer
apply. Based on our proposed determination, we are taking this interim
final action, effective on publication, to stay the imposition of the
offset sanction and to defer the highway funding sanction that were
[[Page 13289]]
triggered by our June 15, 2023, disapproval.
The EPA is providing the public with an opportunity to comment on
this stay and deferral of sanctions. If comments are submitted that
change our assessment described in this final determination and our
proposed determination of attainment, we intend to take subsequent
final action to reimpose sanctions pursuant to 40 CFR 52.31(d). If no
comments are submitted that change our assessment, then all sanctions
and sanction clocks associated with our June 15, 2023, final action
will be permanently terminated on the effective date of a final
determination of attainment.
II. EPA Action
We are making an interim final determination to stay the imposition
of the offset sanction and to defer the imposition of the highway
funding sanction associated with our June 15, 2023, disapproval of
attainment and RFP contingency measures for the Sacramento Metro area,
based on our concurrent proposed determination that the area has
attained the 2008 ozone NAAQS by the applicable attainment date. As
described in the proposed determination of attainment, a final
determination of attainment by the attainment date will mean that
contingency measures are no longer required for the area.
Because the EPA has preliminarily determined that the area is no
longer subject to the requirement that was the basis for our previous
disapproval action, relief from sanctions should be provided as quickly
as possible. Therefore, EPA is invoking the good cause exception under
the Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in not providing an opportunity
for comment before this action takes effect.\2\ However, by this
action, the EPA is providing the public with an opportunity to comment
on the EPA's determination after the effective date, and the EPA will
consider any comments received in determining whether to reverse such
action.
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\2\ 5 U.S.C. 553(b)(B).
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The EPA believes that notice-and-comment rulemaking before the
effective date of this action to stay and defer sanctions is
impracticable and contrary to the public interest. Through our proposed
action, the EPA has preliminarily determined that the Sacramento Metro
area has attained the 2008 ozone NAAQS by the attainment date, and,
consequently, that contingency measures are no longer required for the
area. Therefore, it is not in the public interest to apply sanctions.
The EPA believes that it is necessary to use the interim final
rulemaking process to stay and defer sanctions while the EPA completes
our notice and comment process for the determination regarding the
area's attainment. Moreover, with respect to the effective date of this
action, the EPA is invoking the good cause exception to the 30-day
notice requirement of the APA because the purpose of this notice is to
relieve a restriction.\3\
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\3\ 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1).
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III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
This action stays and defers Federal sanctions and imposes no
additional requirements. Accordingly, this action:
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order 12866 (58
FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
<bullet> Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
<bullet> Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
<bullet> Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
<bullet> Does not have federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
<bullet> Is not subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885,
April 23, 1997) because it proposes to approve a state program;
<bullet> Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
<bullet> Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the CAA.
In addition, this action does not have Tribal implications, as
specified in Executive Order 13175, because this determination will not
impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal
law. The EPA has identified Tribal areas within the Sacramento Metro
nonattainment area; these are discussed in our proposed determination
of attainment, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal
Register. We note that both the proposed determination of attainment,
if finalized, and this determination to stay and defer sanctions, will
apply throughout the nonattainment area, including on Tribal lands
within the nonattainment areas.
This action is subject to the Congressional Review Act, and the EPA
will submit a rule report to each House of the Congress and to the
Comptroller General of the United States. This action is not a ``major
rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2). The CRA allows the issuing agency
to make a rule effective sooner than otherwise provided by the CRA if
the agency makes a good cause finding that notice and comment
rulemaking procedures are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to
the public interest (5 U.S.C. 808(2). The EPA has made a good cause
finding for this action as discussed in Section II of this preamble,
including the basis for that finding.
Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for
the appropriate circuit by May 20, 2025. Filing a petition for
reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule does not affect
the finality of this action for the purposes of judicial review nor
does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial review may
be filed and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such rule or
action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to
enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: March 11, 2025.
Cheree D. Peterson,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2025-04790 Filed 3-20-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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