
[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 241 (Thursday, December 15, 2011)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 77950-77952]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-32178]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-1036-201161; FRL-9507-1]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and 
Designations of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Georgia; 
Atlanta; Determination of Attainment by Applicable Attainment Date for 
the 1997 8-Hour Ozone Standards

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to determine pursuant to the Clean Air Act 
(CAA), that the Atlanta, Georgia, ozone nonattainment area (hereafter 
referred to as ``the Atlanta Area'' or ``the Area'') has attained the 
1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) by its 
applicable attainment date of June 15, 2011. A determination of 
attainment was made by EPA on June 23, 2011, based on quality-assured 
and certified monitoring data for the 2008-2010 monitoring period. EPA 
is now proposing to find that the Atlanta Area attained the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS by its applicable attainment date. EPA is proposing this 
action because it is consistent with the CAA and its implementing 
regulations.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 17, 2012.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2010-1036, by one of the following methods:
    1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    2. Email: benjamin.lynorae@epa.gov.
    3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
    4. Mail: EPA-R04-OAR-2010-1036, Regulatory Development Section, Air 
Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
    5. Hand Delivery or Courier: Ms. Lynorae Benjamin, Chief, 
Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides 
and Toxics Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. Such 
deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office's normal hours 
of operation. The Regional Office's official hours of business are 
Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 4:30, excluding Federal holidays.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. ``EPA-R04-OAR-
2010-1036.'' EPA's policy is that all comments received will be 
included in the public docket without change and may be made available 
online at www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit through 
www.regulations.gov or email, information that you consider to be CBI 
or otherwise protected. The www.regulations.gov Web site is an 
``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an email comment directly to EPA without 
going through www.regulations.gov, your email address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses. For additional information about EPA's public 
docket visit the EPA Docket Center homepage at http://www.epa.gov/epahome/dockets.htm.
    Docket: All documents in the electronic docket are listed in the 
www.regulations.gov index. 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 either electronically in www.regulations.gov or 
in hard copy at the Regulatory Development Section, Air Planning 
Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. EPA requests that if at all possible, you 
contact the person 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 to 4:30, excluding 
Federal holidays.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For information regarding this 
attainment determination, contact Mr. Sean Lakeman, Regulatory 
Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics 
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection

[[Page 77951]]

Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. 
Telephone number: (404) 562-9043; email address: lakeman.sean@epa.gov. 
For information regarding 8-hour ozone NAAQS, contact Ms. Jane Spann, 
Regulatory Development Section, at the same address above. Telephone 
number: (404) 562-9029; email address: spann.jane@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

I. What action is EPA taking?
II. What is the background for this action?
III. What is the air quality in the Atlanta area for the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS for the 2008-2010 monitoring period?
IV. What is the proposed action and what is the effect of this 
action?
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. What action is EPA taking?

    Based on EPA's review of the quality-assured and certified 
monitoring data for 2008-2010, and in accordance with section 179(c)(1) 
of the CAA and EPA's regulations, EPA proposes to determine that the 
Atlanta Area has attained the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by the applicable 
attainment date of June 15, 2011.\1\ The Atlanta Area is comprised of 
Barrow, Bartow, Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, Dekalb, 
Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth, Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, 
Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and Walton Counties in Georgia. On June 
23, 2011, EPA published a final rulemaking making a determination of 
attainment to suspend the requirements for the Atlanta Area to submit 
an attainment demonstration and associated reasonably available control 
measures (RACM), a reasonable further progress (RFP) plan, contingency 
measures, and other planning State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions 
related to attainment of the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS so long as the 
Area continues to attain the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. See 76 FR 36873. 
Today's proposed action merely makes a determination that the Atlanta 
Area has attained the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by its applicable 
attainment date. This action is not a re-proposal of the attainment 
determination to suspend the requirements for the Atlanta Area to 
submit an attainment demonstration and associated RACM, a RFP plan, 
contingency measures, and other planning SIP revisions related to 
attainment of the standard. More information regarding the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS and the Area's attainment of that NAAQS is available at 76 
FR 36873 (June 23, 2011).
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    \1\ Effective June 15, 2004, EPA designated the Atlanta Area as 
a marginal area under the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Subsequently, EPA 
took action to reclassify the area to moderate for the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS. Moderate areas for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS had an 
applicable attainment date of June 15, 2010, unless the Area 
qualified for an extension. On November 30, 2010, EPA took final 
action to extend the applicable attainment date for the Atlanta Area 
to June 15, 2011. See 75 FR 73969 for more information.
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II. What is the background for this action?

    As a nonattainment area for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, the 
Atlanta Area had an applicable attainment date of June 15, 2011 (based 
on 2008-2010 monitoring data). Pursuant to section 179(c) of the CAA, 
EPA is required to make a determination on whether the Area attained 
the standard by its applicable attainment date. Specifically, section 
179(c)(1) of the CAA reads as follows: ``As expeditiously as 
practicable after the applicable attainment date for any nonattainment 
area, but not later than 6 months after such date, the Administrator 
shall determine, based on the area's air quality as of the attainment 
date, whether the area attained the standard by that date.''

III. What is the air quality in the Atlanta area for the 1997 8-hour 
ozone NAAQS for the 2008-2010 monitoring period?

    Under EPA's regulations at 40 CFR 50.10, the 1997 8-hour ozone 
NAAQS is met when the 3-year average of the annual fourth highest daily 
maximum 8-hour average ambient air quality ozone concentrations, as 
determined in accordance with 40 CFR part 50, Appendix I, is less than 
or equal to 0.08 parts per million (ppm) (i.e., 0.084 ppm when rounding 
is considered) in the subject area.
    EPA reviewed the ambient air monitoring data for the Atlanta Area 
in accordance with the provisions of 40 CFR part 50, Appendix I. All 
data considered have been quality-assured, certified, and recorded in 
EPA's Air Quality System database. This review addresses air quality 
data collected in the 3-year period from 2008-2010. The 3-year period 
from 2008-2010 is the period EPA must consider for areas that had an 
applicable attainment date of June 15, 2011.

                     Table 1--Design Values for Counties in the Atlanta, Georgia Nonattainment Area for the 1997 8-Hour Ozone NAAQS
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                                                                                                                                             2008-2010
                 Location                                    AQS site ID                    2008 (ppm)      2009 (ppm)      2010 (ppm)     Design value
                                                                                                                                               (ppm)
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Cobb County...............................  GA NATIONAL GUARD, MCCOLLUM PARKWAY (13-067-           0.075           0.076           0.079           0.076
                                             0003).
Coweta County.............................  UNIVERSITY OF W. GA AT NEWNAN (13-077-0002).           0.075           0.065           0.065           0.068
Dawson County.............................  DAWSONVILLE, GA, FORESTRY COMMISSION (13-085-          0.075           0.067           0.073           0.071
                                             0001).
Dekalb County.............................  2390-B Wildcat Road, Decatur, GA (13-089-              0.087           0.077           0.075           0.079
                                             0002).
Douglas County............................  DOUGLASVILLE, W. STRICKLAND ST. (13-097-               0.080           0.072           0.074           0.075
                                             0004).
Fulton County.............................  CONFEDERATE AVE. (13-121-0055)..............           0.084           0.077           0.080           0.080
Gwinnett County...........................  GWINNETT TECH, 1250 ATKINSON RD (13-135-               0.079           0.073           0.072           0.074
                                             0002).
Henry County..............................  HENRY COUNTY EXTENSION OFFICE (13-151-0002).           0.086           0.074           0.078           0.079
Paulding County...........................  YORKVILLE (13-223-0003).....................           0.072           0.067           0.071           0.070
Rockdale County...........................  CONYERS MONASTERY, 3780 GA HWY 212 (13-247-            0.089           0.070           0.076           0.078
                                             0001).
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[[Page 77952]]

    As shown above in Table 1, during the 2008-2010 design period, the 
Atlanta Area met the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. The official annual 
design value for the Atlanta Area for the 2008-2010 period is 0.080 
ppm. More detailed information on the monitoring data for the Atlanta 
Area during the 2008-2010 design period is provided in EPA's June 23, 
2011, final rulemaking to approve the clean data determination for the 
Atlanta Area for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS. See 76 FR 36873.

IV. What is the proposed action and what is the effect of this action?

    This action is a proposed determination that the Atlanta Area has 
attained the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by its applicable attainment date 
of June 15, 2011, consistent with the CAA section 179(c)(1). Finalizing 
this proposed action would not constitute a redesignation of the 
Atlanta Area to attainment of 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS under section 
107(d)(3) of the CAA. Further, finalizing this proposed action does not 
involve approving a maintenance plan for the Atlanta Area as required 
under section 175A of the CAA, nor would it find that the Atlanta Area 
has met all other requirements for redesignation. Even if EPA finalizes 
today's proposed action, the designation status of the Atlanta Area 
would remain nonattainment for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS until such 
time as EPA determines that the Area meets the CAA requirements for 
redesignation to attainment and takes action to redesignate the Area.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This action proposes to make a determination of attainment based on 
air quality, and would not impose additional requirements beyond those 
imposed by state law. For that reason, this proposed action:
     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);
     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 CAA; 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, this proposed determination that the Atlanta Area 
attained the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS by its applicable attainment date 
does not have tribal implications as specified by Executive Order 13175 
(65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because the SIPs are not approved to 
apply in Indian country located in the states, and EPA notes that it 
will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal governments or 
preempt tribal law.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by 
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, 
Particulate matter, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Sulfur 
oxides, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: December 8, 2011.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2011-32178 Filed 12-14-11; 8:45 am]
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