[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 241 (Monday, December 18, 2017)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 59969-59971]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-27214]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R01-OAR-2016-0626; A-1-FRL-9972-20-Region 1]


Air Plan Approval; Vermont; Regional Haze Five-Year Progress 
Report

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving 
Vermont's Regional Haze Five-Year Progress Report (Progress Report), 
submitted on February 29, 2016 as a revision to its State 
Implementation Plan (SIP). Vermont's SIP revision addresses 
requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA) and EPA's rules that require 
states to submit periodic reports describing the progress toward 
reasonable progress goals (RPGs) established for regional haze and a 
determination of adequacy of the State's existing regional haze SIP. 
EPA is approving Vermont's Progress Report on the basis that it 
addresses the progress report and adequacy determination requirements 
for the first implementation period covering through 2018.

DATES: This rule is effective on January 17, 2018.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket 
Identification No. EPA-R01-OAR-2016-0626. All documents in the docket 
are listed on the http://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed 
in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.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 at http://www.regulations.gov or at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 
New England Regional Office, Office of Ecosystem Protection, Air 
Quality Planning Unit, 5 Post Office Square--Suite 100, Boston, MA. EPA 
requests that if at all possible, you contact the contact listed in the 
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section to schedule your inspection. 
The Regional Office's official hours of business are Monday through 
Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding legal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anne K. McWilliams, Air Quality 
Planning Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, New England

[[Page 59970]]

Regional Office, 5 Post Office Square--Suite 100, (Mail code OEP05-2), 
Boston, MA 02109-3912, telephone (617) 918-1697, facsimile (617) 918-
0697, email [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.

Table of Contents

I. Background and Purpose.
II. Response to Comment.
III. Final Action.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews.

I. Background and Purpose

    On August 16, 2017, EPA proposed to approve Vermont's Regional Haze 
Five-Year Progress Report. See 82 FR 38864. The Progress Report was 
submitted by Vermont as a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision on 
February 29, 2016. In conjunction with the August 16, 2017 notice of 
proposed rulemaking (NPR), EPA issued a direct final rule (DFR) 
approving the Vermont Progress Report. See 82 FR 38834. In the DFR, EPA 
stated that if an adverse comment were to be submitted to EPA by 
September 15, 2017, the action would be withdrawn and not take effect, 
and a final rule would be issued based on the NPR. EPA received one 
adverse comment prior to the close of the comment period. Therefore, 
EPA withdrew the DFR on October 13, 2017. See 82 FR 47630. Today's 
action is a final rule based on the NPR.
    A detailed discussion of Vermont's February 29, 2016 SIP revision 
and EPA's rationale for approving the SIP revision were provided in the 
DFR and will not be restated here, except to the extent relevant to our 
response to the public comment we received.

II. Response to Comment

    EPA received one adverse comment on its proposed approval of the 
Vermont Progress Report.
    Comment: The commenter stated that Vermont should have considered 
visibility effects on parks in Canada and ocean marine sanctuaries.
    Response: In section 169A(a)(1) of the 1977 Amendment to the Clean 
Air Act (CAA), Congress created a program for protecting visibility in 
certain of the nation's national parks and wilderness areas. This 
section on the CAA establishes as a national goal the ``prevention of 
any future, and remedying of any existing, impairment of visibility in 
mandatory Class I Federal areas which impairment results from manmade 
air pollution.'' Areas designated as mandatory Class I Federal areas 
consist of national parks exceeding 6000 acres, wilderness areas and 
national memorial parks exceeding 5000 acres, and all international 
parks that were in existence on August 7, 1977 (42 U.S.C. 7472(a)). In 
accordance with section 169A of the CAA, EPA, in consultation with the 
Department of Interior, promulgated a list of 156 areas where 
visibility is identified as an important value. See 44 FR 69122, 
November 30, 1979. The requirements of the visibility program set forth 
in section 169A of the CAA apply only to these ``mandatory Class I 
Federal areas.'' When we use the term ``Class I area'' in this and 
other regional haze actions, we mean a ``mandatory Class I Federal 
area'' where visibility has been identified as an important value.
    The list of 156 areas includes Roosevelt/Campobello International 
Park (RCIP) located in New Brunswick, Canada. The Vermont Regional Haze 
Plan for the first planning period affirmed that emissions from Vermont 
did not contribute to the visibility impairment at this Class I area. 
See 77 FR 11914, February 28, 2012. The Vermont Progress Report 
confirms, however, that not only has the state reduced visibility 
impairing emissions consistent with its regional haze SIP, but that the 
reasonable progress goals for RCIP for the first regional haze planning 
period have already been met.\1\
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    \1\ Visibility impairment is measured by monitors in the 
Interagency Monitoring of Protected Visual Environments (IMPROVE) 
program. Due to the proximity of the Moosehorn Wilderness Area 
IMPROVE monitor to RCIP, the Moosehorn monitor is considered 
representative of visibility at RCIP. More discussion of the 
visibility status of RCIP can be found in EPA's proposed approval of 
the Maine Regional Haze 5-Year Progress Report. See 82 FR 33471, 
July 20, 2017.
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    Based on the requirements of section 169A of the CAA, EPA finds 
that the Progress Report appropriately considered the visibility status 
of nearby Class I areas, including that of the Roosevelt/Campobello 
International Park in Canada. There are no nearby marine sanctuaries 
identified as Class I areas.

III. Final Action

    EPA is approving Vermont's Regional Haze Five-Year Progress Report 
SIP revision, submitted by VT DEC on February 29, 2016, as meeting the 
applicable regional haze requirements set forth in 40 Code of the 
Federal Regulations (CFR) 51.308(g) and (h).

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, EPA's role is to approve state 
choices, provided that 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:
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review 
by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
     Does not impose an information collection burden under the 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
     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.);
     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);
     Does not have Federalism implications as specified in 
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
     Is not an economically significant regulatory action based 
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 
19885, April 23, 1997);
     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
     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; and
     Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to 
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental 
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under 
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
    In addition, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian 
reservation land or in any other area where 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).
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. 801 et seq., as added by the 
Small

[[Page 59971]]

Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996, generally 
provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency promulgating 
the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy of the rule, 
to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of the 
United States. Section 804, however, exempts from section 801 the 
following types of rules: Rules of particular applicability; rules 
relating to agency management or personnel; and rules of agency 
organization, procedure, or practice that do not substantially affect 
the rights or obligations of non-agency parties. 5 U.S.C. 804(3). 
Because this is a rule of particular applicability, EPA is not required 
to submit a rule report regarding this action under section 801.
    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 February 16, 2018. 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, Lead, Nitrogen 
dioxide, Ozone, Particulate matter, Regional haze, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: December 6, 2017.
Ken Moraff,
Acting Regional Administrator, EPA New England.

    Part 52 of chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations 
is amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart UU--Vermont

0
2. In Sec.  52.2370, the table in paragraph (e) is amended by adding an 
entry for ``Vermont Regional Haze Five-Year Progress Report'' at the 
end of the table to read as follows:


Sec.  52.2370   Identification of plan.

* * * * *
    (e) * * *

                                             Vermont Non-Regulatory
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                                        Applicable
    Name of non-regulatory SIP        geographic or       State submittal     EPA approval date     Explanation
            provision               nonattainment area  date/effective date
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                                                  * * * * * * *
Vermont Regional Haze Five-Year    Statewide..........  Submitted 2/29/2016  12/18/2017, [Insert
 Progress Report.                                                             Federal Register
                                                                              citation].
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[FR Doc. 2017-27214 Filed 12-15-17; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P


