Rule2025-17061
Air Plan Approval; California; State Implementation Plan Revision for Chico, Modesto and Stockton Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Areas
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
September 5, 2025
Effective
October 6, 2025
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action to approve a revision to the California state implementation plan (SIP) that removes carbon monoxide (CO) contingency measures and monitoring requirements from the maintenance plan for three CO maintenance areas: Chico Urbanized Area, Modesto Urbanized Area, and Stockton Urbanized Area. We are approving the revision under the Clean Air Act (CAA or "Act").
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 90 Issue 170 (Friday, September 5, 2025)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 170 (Friday, September 5, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 42829-42831]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2025-17061]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0473; FRL-12323-02-R9]
Air Plan Approval; California; State Implementation Plan Revision
for Chico, Modesto and Stockton Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Areas
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Final rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final
action to approve a revision to the California state implementation
plan (SIP) that removes carbon monoxide (CO) contingency measures and
monitoring requirements from the maintenance plan for three CO
maintenance areas: Chico Urbanized Area, Modesto Urbanized Area, and
Stockton Urbanized Area. We are approving the revision under the Clean
Air Act (CAA or ``Act'').
DATES: This rule is effective October 6, 2025.
ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2024-0473. All documents in the docket are
listed on the <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a> website. Although listed in
the index, some information is not publicly available, e.g.,
Confidential Business Information (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 <a href="https://www.regulations.gov">https://www.regulations.gov</a>, or please
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT
section for additional availability information. 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: Ginger Vagenas, EPA Region 9, 75
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; phone: (415) 972-3964;
email: <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#b0c6d1d7d5ded1c39ed7d9ded7d5c2f0d5c0d19ed7dfc6"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="14627573717a75673a737d7a737166547164753a737b62">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,''
and ``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Proposed Action
II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
III. EPA Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Proposed Action
On March 31, 2025,\1\ the EPA proposed to approve the ``2023
Revision to the California State Implementation Plan for Carbon
Monoxide'' \2\ as a SIP revision to remove CO contingency measures and
monitoring requirements from the ``2004 Revision to the California
State Implementation Plan for Carbon Monoxide'' \3\ for the Chico,
Modesto, and Stockton maintenance areas. The proposal includes the
EPA's analysis of monitoring data demonstrating that ambient levels of
CO in the three maintenance areas were well below the CO national
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) throughout the maintenance
period, as well as the EPA's evaluation of the California Air Resources
Board's (CARB) demonstration that future CO emissions are consistent
with continued compliance with the CO NAAQS through 2050.\4\ We
proposed to approve this revision because we determined that it
complies with the relevant CAA requirements. Our proposed action
contains more information on the revision and our evaluation.
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\1\ 90 FR 14224, March 31, 2025.
\2\ CARB, ``2023 Revision to the California State Implementation
Plan for Carbon Monoxide,'' February 9, 2024.
\3\ California Air Resources Board (CARB), ``2004 Revision to
the California State Implementation Plan for Carbon Monoxide,''
adopted July 22, 2004.
\4\ See CARB, ``2023 Revision to the California State
Implementation Plan for Carbon Monoxide,'' February 9, 2024, table
4.
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II. Public Comments and EPA Responses
The EPA's proposed action provided a 30-day public comment period
that
[[Page 42830]]
closed April 30, 2025. During this period, we received one non-germane
comment and one comment opposing our action due to the human health and
climate effects of CO.
The commenter correctly notes CO is a precursor for ozone, which is
a greenhouse gas, and that high levels of CO have negative human health
effects. However, as noted in our proposal, the ambient concentration
of CO in the Chico, Stockton, and Modesto maintenance areas is well
below the NAAQS for CO (the level that the EPA has determined to be
protective of human health and the environment) and this action will
not interfere with the maintenance of the CO NAAQS or other CAA
requirements related to this standard.\5\ Further, these areas have
been attaining the CO NAAQS for at least 20 years, CARB has
demonstrated that they will likely continue to maintain the NAAQS due
to declining CO emissions,\6\ and assessing the indirect effect of CO
on the formation of greenhouse gases is beyond the scope of this
action. Finally, CARB has satisfied the requirements in 40 CFR 58.14 to
discontinue the CO monitors in the Chico Urbanized Area, Stockton
Urbanized Area, and Modesto Urbanized Area.
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\5\ 90 FR 14224, 14226-14227 (March 31, 2025).
\6\ Id.
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III. EPA Action
No comments were submitted that change our assessment of the SIP
revision, as described in our proposed action. Therefore, as authorized
in section 110(k)(3) of the Act and for the reasons provided in our
March 31, 2025 proposed rulemaking, the EPA is taking final action to
approve into the California SIP the ``2023 Revision to the California
State Implementation Plan for Carbon Monoxide,'' submitted to the EPA
on April 5, 2024.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the Clean Air Act, the Administrator is required to approve a
SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and
applicable Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a).
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the EPA's role is to approve state
choices, provided they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act.
Accordingly, this action merely approves State law as meeting Federal
requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those
imposed by State law. For that reason, 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> Is not subject to Executive Order 14192 (90 FR 9065,
February 6, 2025) because SIP actions are exempt from review under
Executive Order 12866;
<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 approves 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 Clean Air Act.
In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian
reservation land or in any other area where the EPA or an Indian Tribe
has demonstrated that a Tribe has jurisdiction. In those areas of
Indian country, the rule does not have Tribal implications and will not
impose substantial direct costs on Tribal governments or preempt Tribal
law as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9,
2000).
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).
Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by November 4, 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, Carbon monoxide,
Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
Dated: August 25, 2025.
Joshua F.W. Cook,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
For the reasons stated in the preamble, the Environmental
Protection Agency amends part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of
Federal Regulations as follows:
PART 52--APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS
0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart F--California
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2. Section 52.220a is amended in paragraph (e), table 2, under the
heading ``Multi-Area Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plans'' by adding an
entry for ``2023 Revision to the California State Implementation Plan
for Carbon Monoxide'' before the entry for ``2004 Revision to the
California State Implementation Plan for Carbon Monoxide, Updated
Maintenance Plan for Ten Federal Planning Areas'' to read as follows:
Sec. 52.220a Identification of plan-in part.
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(e) * * *
[[Page 42831]]
Table 2--1994 California Ozone Plan--State and Local Measures; Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (I/M) Program
SIPs; Gasoline and Diesel Fuel Provisions and Related Test Methods; Base Year Emission Inventory and VMT Offset
Demonstration Ozone SIPs; Pesticide-Related SIPs; Multi-Area Ozone Plan Elements; and Multi-Area Carbon Monoxide
Maintenance Plans
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Applicable State submittal
Name of SIP provision geographic area date EPA approval date Explanation
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Multi-Area Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plans
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2023 Revision to the California Chico Urbanized April 4, 2024.... 9/5/2025, 90 FR Removes carbon
State Implementation Plan for Area, Modesto [INSERT FEDERAL monoxide (CO)
Carbon Monoxide. Urbanized Area, REGISTER PAGE contingency measures
and Stockton WHERE THE and monitoring
Urbanized Area. DOCUMENT BEGINS]. requirements from the
maintenance plan for
certain areas.
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[FR Doc. 2025-17061 Filed 9-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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