[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 198 (Monday, October 18, 2021)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 57586-57587]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-22165]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2020-0254; FRL-8727-03-R9]


Clean Air Plans; 2008 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area 
Requirements; West Mojave Desert, California

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Correcting amendment.

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SUMMARY: On September 27, 2021, the Environmental Protection Agency 
(EPA) issued a final rule titled ``Clean Air Plans; 2008 8-Hour Ozone 
Nonattainment Area Requirements; West Mojave Desert, California.'' That 
publication incorrectly listed the transportation conformity budgets 
for the West Mojave Desert Nonattainment Area (West Mojave Desert) for 
the 2008 ozone NAAQS. Additionally, the regulatory text in that 
publication inadvertently included portions of the State's submittal 
addressing contingency measures for failure to attain or to make 
reasonable further progress (RFP). This document corrects these errors 
and amends the regulatory text.

DATES: This rule will be effective on November 17, 2021.

ADDRESSES: The EPA has established a docket for this action under 
Docket ID No. EPA-R09-OAR-2020-0254. All documents in the docket are 
listed on the https://www.regulations.gov 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 https://www.regulations.gov, 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 
disabilities 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: Tom Kelly, Air Planning Office (AIR-
2), EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 
972-3856, or by email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On September 27, 2021, the EPA issued a 
final rule titled ``Clean Air Plans; 2008 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment 
Area Requirements; West Mojave Desert, California.'' \1\ That 
publication incorrectly listed the transportation conformity budgets 
provided in Table VI-3 of the ``2018 Updates to the California State 
Implementation Plan'' (``2018 SIP Update'').\2\ The corrected values 
for the transportation conformity budgets are shown in Table 1 below.
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    \1\ 86 FR 53223.
    \2\ Letter dated December 5, 2018, from Richard Corey, Executive 
Officer, CARB, to Mike Stoker, Regional Administrator, EPA Region 
IX, and electronically transmitted to the EPA's State Planning 
Electronic Collaboration System on December 11, 2018.

 Table 1--Transportation Conformity Budgets for 2020, 2023 and 2026 for
             the 2008 Ozone NAAQS in the West Mojave Desert
               [Average summer weekday, tons per day] \a\
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                      Budget year                          VOC     NOX
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020...................................................     7.9     17.6
2023...................................................     6.8     11.0
2026...................................................     6.2     10.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------
\a\ Source: Table VI-3 from the 2018 SIP Update.

    Other aspects of our final action regarding transportation 
conformity budgets are accurately described in the final rule, and the 
correct numbers were included in our May 10, 2021 proposed rule for 
this action.\3\
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    \3\ 86 FR 24809.
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    Additionally, while the final rule deferred action on the 
attainment plan's contingency measures for failure to attain or to make 
RFP, the regulatory text adopted by the final rule inadvertently 
included portions of the State's submittals related to the contingency 
measures element. This action corrects the regulatory text at 40 CFR 
52.220(c)(514)(ii)(A)(9) and 40 CFR 52.220(c)(563)(ii)(A)(1), 
(c)(563)(ii)(B)(1), and (c)(563)(ii)(C)(1) to specify that these 
portions of the submittals are excluded from the EPA's approval.
    The EPA has determined that this action falls under the ``good 
cause'' exemption in section 553(b)(3)(B) of the Administrative 
Procedure Act (APA)

[[Page 57587]]

which, upon finding ``good cause,'' authorizes agencies to dispense 
with public participation where public notice and comment procedures 
are impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest. 
Public notice and comment for this action are unnecessary because the 
underlying rule for which this correcting amendment has been prepared 
was already subject to a 30-day comment period, and this action merely 
corrects an error in the rule text. Further, this action is consistent 
with the purpose and rationale of the final rule, which is corrected 
herein. Because this action does not change the EPA's analyses or 
overall actions, no purpose would be served by additional public notice 
and comment. Consequently, additional public notice and comment are 
unnecessary.

Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    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 not subject to the regulatory flexibility provisions of 
the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
     Is not subject to sections 202 and 205 of the Unfunded 
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (UMRA) (Pub. L. 104-4);
     Does not impose a significant intergovernmental mandate or 
significantly or uniquely affect small governments, as described in 
sections 203 and 204 of the UMRA;
     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 this error correction action does not involve technical 
standards; and
     Does not involve special consideration of environmental 
justice related issues as required by 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 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).
    The Congressional Review Act (CRA) (5 U.S.C. 801 et seq.), as added 
by the Small 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. The EPA will submit a report containing 
this rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. 
House of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United 
States prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. This 
correction to 40 CFR part 52 for California is not a ``major rule'' as 
defined by 5 U.S.C. 804(2).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

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

    Dated: October 5, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.

    For the reasons stated in the preamble, the EPA amends 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

0
2. Section 52.220 is amended by revising paragraphs (c)(514)(ii)(A)(9), 
(c)(563)(ii)(A)(1), (c)(563)(ii)(B)(1), and (c)(563)(ii)(C)(1) to read 
as follows:


Sec.  52.220   Identification of plan--in part.

* * * * *
    (c) * * *
    (514) * * *
    (ii) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (9) 2018 Updates to the California State Implementation Plan, 
adopted on October 25, 2018, chapter VI (``SIP Elements for the Western 
Mojave Desert''), excluding section VI.D (``Contingency Measures''); 
and pages A-19 through A-22 of Appendix A (``Nonattainment Area 
Inventories'').
* * * * *
    (563) * * *
    (ii) * * *
    (A) * * *
    (1) CARB Review of the Mojave Desert AQMD and Antelope Valley AQMD 
Federal 75 ppb Ozone Attainment Plans for the Western Mojave Desert 
Nonattainment Area, released April 21, 2017, excluding section V.D 
(``Contingency Measures'').
* * * * *
    (B) * * *
    (1) AVAQMD Federal 75 ppb Ozone Attainment Plan (Western Mojave 
Desert Nonattainment Area), adopted on March 21, 2017, except the 
following portions: Chapter 2--Emission Inventories; ``Contingency 
Measures'' (page 18); ``Reasonable Further Progress Requirements,'' 
including Table 3 (pages 18-20); ``Conformity Budgets'' (page 21); 
``Transportation Conformity,'' including Table 4 (pages 21-23); 
Appendix A--Base Year Emission Inventory; and Appendix B--Future Year 
Emission Inventories.
* * * * *
    (C) * * *
    (1) MDAQMD Federal 75 ppb Ozone Attainment Plan (Western Mojave 
Desert Nonattainment Area), adopted on February 27, 2017, except the 
following portions: Chapter 2--Emission Inventories; ``Contingency 
Measures'' (page 20); ``Reasonable Further Progress Requirements,'' 
including Table 3 (pages 20-22); ``Conformity Budgets'' (page 23); 
``Transportation Conformity,'' including Table 4 (pages 23-25); 
Appendix A--Base Year Emission Inventory; and Appendix B--Future Year 
Emission Inventories.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2021-22165 Filed 10-15-21; 8:45 am]
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