
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 244 (Thursday, December 21, 2023)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 88308-88310]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28085]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2023-0232; FRL-11600-01-R4]


Air Plan Approval; GA; Miscellaneous Rule Revision

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to 
approve a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the 
State of Georgia, through the Georgia Environmental Protection Division 
(EPD) via a letter dated October 20, 2022. The revision seeks to change 
Georgia's Rules for Air Quality Control in the SIP by removing the 1971 
annual and 24-hour ambient air quality primary standard for sulfur 
dioxide (SO2), which no longer applied in Georgia as of 
April 30, 2022. EPA is proposing to approve this SIP revision because 
the State has demonstrated that this change is consistent with the 
Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).

DATES: Comments must be received on or before January 22, 2024.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. at EPA-
R04-OAR-2023-0232 at https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. 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. 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, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Josue Ortiz Borrero, Air Regulatory 
Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and 
Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 
Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960. The telephone number is 
(404) 562-8085. Mr. Ortiz Borrero can also be reached via electronic 
mail at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background

    On June 2, 2010, EPA revised the primary SO2 national 
ambient air quality standards (NAAQS or standards) to provide requisite 
protection of public health with an adequate margin of safety. See 75 
FR 35520 (June 22, 2010). Specifically, EPA established a new 1-hour 
SO2 standard at a level of 75 parts per billion (ppb), 
codified at 40 CFR 50.17.1 2 The 1-hour standard is met at 
an ambient air quality monitoring site when the 3-year average of the 
annual 99th percentile of daily maximum 1-hour average concentrations 
is less than or equal to 75 ppb, as determined in accordance with 
Appendix T of 40 CFR part 50 and 40 CFR 50.17(a) and (b).\3\ EPA set 
this new 1-hour short-term standard to replace the 1971 primary 24-hour 
standard of 0.14 parts per million (ppm) and the annual SO2 
standard set of 0.03 ppm.4 5 In the 2010 SO2 
NAAQS final rulemaking, the Administrator concluded it was appropriate 
to revoke the 24-hour and annual primary standards,\6\ stating ``a 1-
hour standard at [a] level of 75 ppb would have the effect of 
maintaining 24-hour and annual SO2 concentrations generally 
well below the levels of the current 24-hour and annual NAAQS.'' See 75 
FR at 35550. The final rule also states, based on health evidence and 
risk-based information, that the 1971 SO2 standards `` `are 
not adequate to protect public health, especially in relation to short-
term exposures to SO2 (5-10 minutes) by exercising 
asthmatics' '' and that the new 1-hour standard would provide requisite 
protection of public health with an adequate margin of safety. See 75 
FR at 35530, 35550.
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    \1\ See 75 FR 35520 and https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2010-06-22/pdf/2010-13947.pdf.
    \2\ See also NAAQS Table at https://www.epa.gov/criteria-air-pollutants/naaqs-table.
    \3\ On February 25, 2019, EPA finalized a second review of the 
SO2 standard, retaining the existing primary 1-hour 
SO2 NAAQS based on a review of the full body of currently 
available scientific evidence and exposure/risk information at the 
time. See 84 FR 9866 and https://www.epa.gov/so2-pollution/primary-national-ambient-air-quality-standard-naaqs-sulfur-dioxide.
    \4\ EPA promulgated the 1971 primary and secondary NAAQS for 
SO2 on April 30, 1971. See 36 FR 8186. The 1971 primary 
SO2 standards of 365 [mu]g/m\3\ (0.14 ppm), averaged over 
a period of 24 hours and not to be exceeded more than once per year, 
and 80 [mu]g/m\3\ (0.03 ppm), as an annual arithmetic mean.
    \5\ EPA did not revise the secondary 3-hour SO2 NAAQS 
set at 0.5 ppm in the 2010 or 2019 NAAQS review.
    \6\ EPA arrived at the same conclusion in the 2019 review of the 
SO2 standard when the agency retained the 1-hour 
SO2 standard of 75 ppb stating (respecting the rationale 
to revoke the previous SO2 standard) ``the evidence in 
this review [2019] is not substantively changed from that in the 
last review [2010].'' See 84 FR 9866 (March 18, 2019).
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Anti-Backsliding

    When EPA revised the SO2 NAAQS in 2010, replacing the 
annual and 24-hour standards with a short term 1-hour standard, EPA 
also addressed the section 172(e) anti-backsliding provision of the CAA 
and determined what provisions are appropriate to provide for 
transition to the new standard. Section 172(e) of the CAA specifies 
that if EPA relaxes a NAAQS, control obligations no less stringent than 
those that apply in nonattainment area SIPs may not be relaxed, and 
adopting those controls that have not yet been adopted as needed may 
not be avoided. Even though the 2010 1-hour standard is more protective 
than the previous SO2 NAAQS, anti-backsliding provisions 
were necessary to insure that the health protection provided by the 
prior NAAQS continues to be achieved as well as maintained as states 
transition to the new standard.\7\ Specifically, EPA established at 40 
CFR 50.4(e) when the 1971 SO2 NAAQS would be revoked in 
areas, and when it was necessary to retain the older SO2 
standards, setting conditions needed for the eventual transition to the 
new 1-hour SO2 NAAQS. Specifically, 40 CFR 50.4(e) provides 
that the 1971 SO2 NAAQS will no longer apply to an area one 
year after the effective date of the designation of that area for the 
2010 SO2 NAAQS set forth in Sec.  50.17; except that the 
1971 SO2 NAAQS remains in effect for areas that are 
nonattainment for that NAAQS as of the effective date of the 2010 
SO2 NAAQS, and areas not meeting the requirements of a SIP 
call with respect to requirements for the 1971 SO2 NAAQS 
until that area submits, and EPA approves, an

[[Page 88309]]

implementation plan providing for attainment of the 2010 SO2 
NAAQS.
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    \7\ The owner or operator of a new or modified source will still 
be required to demonstrate compliance with the annual and 24-hour 
SO2 increments, even when their counterpart NAAQS are 
revoked. The annual and 24-hour increments are established in the 
CAA and will need to remain in the prevention of significant 
deterioration regulations because EPA does not interpret the CAA to 
authorize EPA to remove them. See 75 FR at 35578.
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SO2 NAAQS Designations

    After EPA promulgates a new or revised NAAQS, the agency is 
required to designate all areas of the country as either 
``nonattainment,'' ``attainment,'' or ``unclassifiable'' for that NAAQS 
pursuant to section 107(d) of the CAA. The CAA requires EPA to complete 
the initial designations process within two years of promulgating a new 
or revised standard or June 2012 for the 1-hour SO2 NAAQS. 
If the Administrator has insufficient information to make these 
designations by that deadline, the CAA provides EPA authority to extend 
the deadline for completing designations by up to one year. However, 
due to a lack of available and sufficient air quality data to inform 
designations, EPA was not prepared to issue designations for the 2010 
primary SO2 standard for the entire country within the CAA's 
two-year deadline.\8\ On July 27, 2012, EPA extended the deadline for 
area designations for the 2010 primary SO2 standard from 
June 2012 by one year to June 2013 due to having insufficient 
information to make initial area designations in two years. See 77 FR 
46295 (August 3, 2012). With this extension, EPA completed initial 
designations on June 3, 2013, based on air quality monitoring data 
available at the time.
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    \8\ This led EPA to convene a stakeholder process with state, 
tribes, industry, and non-governmental organizations in 2012 to 
refine the agency's analytical approach to inform designations, with 
credible air quality data. With input from a diverse group of 
stakeholders, EPA developed a comprehensive implementation strategy 
for the future SO2 designations actions that focused 
resources on identifying and addressing unhealthy levels of 
SO2 in areas where people are most likely to be exposed 
to violations of the standard. This resulted in the promulgation of 
the Data Requirements Rule (DRR) on August 21, 2015 (80 FR 51052), 
to inform the remaining designations.
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    Subsequently, lawsuits were filed against EPA alleging that the 
Agency had failed to perform a nondiscretionary duty under the CAA by 
not designating all portions of the country by June 3, 2013.\9\ EPA 
eventually entered into a consent decree on March 2, 2015, which 
required the agency to complete the remaining area designations in 
three specific deadlines or ``rounds'' of designations: July 2, 2016 
(``Round 2''), December 31, 2017 (``Round 3''), and December 31, 2020 
(``Round 4''). Round 1 designations were finalized as part of the 1-
year extension in August 2013. Subsequently, EPA published Federal 
Register notices completing the remaining three rounds of 
SO2 designations by the court-ordered deadlines. For 
Georgia, EPA designated areas in the state as attainment/unclassifiable 
in Rounds 2, 3, and 4 from 2016 through 2021, resulting in the entire 
state being designated as attainment/unclassifiable.\10\ Thus, on April 
30, 2022, one year after the effective date of the Round 4 
designations, the primary 24-hour and annual SO2 NAAQS no 
longer applied in Georgia.
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    \9\ Following the initial August 5, 2013, designations, three 
lawsuits were filed against EPA in different U.S. District Courts, 
alleging the agency had failed to perform a nondiscretionary duty 
under the CAA by not designating all portions of the country by the 
June 2, 2013, deadline. In an effort intended to resolve the 
litigation in one of those cases, EPA and the plaintiffs, Sierra 
Club, and the Natural Resources Defense Council, filed a proposed 
consent decree with the U.S. District Court for the Northern 
District of California. On March 2, 2015, the court entered the 
consent decree and issued an enforceable order for EPA to complete 
the area designations by three specific deadlines according to the 
court-ordered schedule.
    \10\ See 40 CFR 81.311.
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II. EPA's Analysis of Georgia's Submittal

    Georgia's October 22, 2022, submittal proposes to revise Rule 391-
3-1-.02(4), ``Ambient Air Standards'', at subparagraphs (b)1 and (b)2 
of paragraph (b), ``Sulfur Dioxide'' to remove the 1971 annual and 24-
hour ambient air quality primary SO2 standards which, as 
discussed in section I, no longer applied in Georgia after April 30, 
2022. The subsequent subparagraphs at Rule 391-3-.02(4)(b), are 
renumbered respectively.
    As described above, EPA designated all counties in Georgia as 
attainment/unclassifiable through the three rounds of designations for 
the 2010 1-hour primary NAAQS, with the final Round 4 designations 
effective on April 30, 2021. Thus, these 1971 standards no longer 
applied anywhere in Georgia effective on April 30, 2022. Moreover, with 
no SO2 nonattainment areas in Georgia for the 1971 or 2010 
SO2 NAAQS, the revocation of the 1971 SO2 
standards would not be deferred until nonattainment and maintenance 
planning requirements are met as described above. For these reasons, 
EPA is proposing to approve Georgia's October 22, 2022, revision to 
Rule 391-3-1-.02(4), ``Ambient Air Standards'', at paragraph (b), 
``Sulfur Dioxide.''

III. Incorporation by Reference

    In this document, EPA is proposing to include in a final EPA rule 
regulatory text that includes incorporation by reference. In accordance 
with requirements of 1 CFR 51.5, and as explained in sections I and II 
of this preamble, EPA is proposing to incorporate by reference Georgia 
Rule 391-3-1-.02(4), ``Ambient Air Standards,'' paragraph (b), ``Sulfur 
Dioxide,'' State effective September 19, 2022, to remove subparagraphs 
(b)1 and (b)2 and renumber the remaining provisions accordingly. EPA 
has made and will continue to make these materials generally available 
through www.regulations.gov and at the EPA Region 4 Office (please 
contact the person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section of this preamble for more information).

IV. Proposed Action

    EPA is proposing to approve Georgia's October 20, 2022, SIP 
submittal, which would remove the 1971 annual and 24-hour primary 
SO2 NAAQS from the Georgia SIP at Rule 391-3-1-.02(4) and 
renumber the remaining provisions of Rule 391-3-1-.02(4)(b) accordingly 
for the reasons discussed herein.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP 
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA 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 CAA. Accordingly, this 
proposed action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal 
requirements and does 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 Orders 12866 (58 
FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 14094 (88 FR 21879, April 11, 2023);
     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 subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, 
April 23, 1997) because it approves a state program;

[[Page 88310]]

     Is not a significant regulatory action subject to 
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001); and
     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, 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 proposed 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).
    Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions To Address Environmental 
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 59 FR 7629, 
February 16, 1994) directs Federal agencies to identify and address 
``disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental 
effects'' of their actions on minority populations and low-income 
populations to the greatest extent practicable and permitted by law. 
EPA defines environmental justice (EJ) as ``the fair treatment and 
meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, 
national origin, or income with respect to the development, 
implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and 
policies.'' EPA further defines the term fair treatment to mean that 
``no group of people should bear a disproportionate burden of 
environmental harms and risks, including those resulting from the 
negative environmental consequences of industrial, governmental, and 
commercial operations or programs and policies.''
    Georgia EPD did not evaluate EJ considerations as part of its SIP 
submittal; the CAA and applicable implementing regulations neither 
prohibit nor require such an evaluation. EPA did not perform an EJ 
analysis and did not consider EJ in this proposed action. Consideration 
of EJ is not required as part of this proposed action, and there is no 
information in the record inconsistent with the stated goal of E.O. 
12898 of achieving environmental justice for people of color, low-
income populations, and Indigenous peoples.

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.

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

    Dated: December 14, 2023.
Jeaneanne Gettle,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2023-28085 Filed 12-20-23; 8:45 am]
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