[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 149 (Thursday, August 4, 2022)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 47630-47632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-16740]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0607; FRL-10024-02-R9]


Air Plan Approval; Arizona; Maricopa County Air Quality 
Management Department

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Interim final determination.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is making an interim 
final determination that the Arizona Department of Environmental 
Quality (ADEQ) has submitted a rule and other materials on behalf of 
the Maricopa County Air Quality Department

[[Page 47631]]

(MCAQD or ``County'') that correct deficiencies in its Clean Air Act 
(CAA or ``Act'') state implementation plan (SIP) provisions concerning 
ozone nonattainment requirements. This determination is based on a 
proposed approval, published elsewhere in this issue of the Federal 
Register, of MCAQD's reasonably available control technology (RACT) 
demonstration for the aerospace coating category (``aerospace 
operations RACT certification'') and negative declarations for the 2008 
8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS or 
``standards'') in the portion of the Phoenix-Mesa ozone nonattainment 
areas regulated by the MCAQD, as well as a rule covering emissions of 
volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from surface coatings and industrial 
adhesives. The effect of this interim final determination is that the 
imposition of sanctions that were triggered by a previous partial 
disapproval by the EPA in 2021 is now deferred. If the EPA finalizes 
its approval of MCAQD's submission, relief from these sanctions will 
become permanent.

DATES: This interim final determination is effective on August 4, 2022. 
However, comments will be accepted on or before September 6, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2022-0607 at https://www.regulations.gov. For comments submitted at 
Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting 
comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from 
Regulations.gov. The 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. The 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, please contact the person identified in 
the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section. For 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. 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: Nicole Law, EPA Region IX, 75 
Hawthorne St., San Francisco, CA 94105. By phone: (415) 947-4126 or by 
email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, the terms ``we,'' 
``us,'' and ``our'' refer to the EPA.

Table of Contents

I. Background
II. EPA Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    On January 7, 2021 (86 FR 971), the EPA issued a final rule 
promulgating the partial approval, partial disapproval, and partial 
conditional approval for revisions to portions of the MCAQD portion of 
the Arizona SIP that had been submitted by ADEQ to the EPA for approval 
(``the 2017 RACT Submittal''). The 2017 RACT Submittal action addressed 
the MCAQD's RACT SIP requirements under the Act. In our 2017 RACT 
Submittal action, we determined that while MCAQD's SIP revision 
submittal strengthened the SIP, the submittal did not fully meet the 
requirements for RACT SIPs under the CAA. Our 2017 RACT Submittal 
action included a final partial disapproval action under title I, part 
D of the Act, relating to requirements for nonattainment areas. 
Pursuant to section 179 of the CAA and our regulations at 40 CFR 52.31, 
this partial disapproval action under title I, part D started a 
sanctions clock for imposition of offset sanctions 18 months after the 
action's effective date of February 8, 2021, and highway sanctions 6 
months later.
    On June 23, 2021, MCAQD adopted a RACT certification for VOCs 
emissions from aerospace operations (``aerospace operations RACT 
certification'') and on September 1, 2021, adopted negative 
declarations and revised Rule 336, ``Surface Coating Operations and 
Industrial Adhesive Application Process.'' On June 30, 2021, ADEQ 
submitted the aerospace operations RACT certification and on September 
17, 2021, ADEQ submitted the revised Rule 336 and negative declarations 
to the EPA for approval into the Arizona SIP (``2021 RACT Submittal''). 
The revised rule, negative declarations, and RACT certification are 
intended to address the disapproval issues under title I, part D that 
we identified in our 2017 RACT Submittal action. In the Proposed Rules 
section of this Federal Register, we have proposed approval of MCAQD 
Rule 336, the negative declarations, and the County's aerospace 
operations RACT certification. Based on this proposed approval action, 
we are also making this interim final determination, effective on 
publication, to defer imposition of the offset sanctions and highway 
sanctions that were triggered by our partial disapproval of the 2017 
RACT Submittal because we believe that the 2021 RACT Submittal corrects 
the deficiencies that triggered such sanctions.\1\
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    \1\ 40 CFR 52.31(d)(2).
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    The EPA is providing the public with an opportunity to comment on 
this deferral of sanctions. If comments are submitted that change our 
assessment described in this interim final determination and the 
proposed full approval of MCAQD Rule 336, the negative declarations, 
and the aerospace operations RACT certification in the 2021 RACT 
Submittal with respect to the title I, part D deficiencies identified 
in our 2017 RACT Submittal action, we would take final action to lift 
this deferral of sanctions under 40 CFR 52.31. If no comments are 
submitted that change our assessment, then sanctions and sanction 
clocks triggered by our 2017 RACT Submittal action would be permanently 
terminated on the effective date of our final approval of MCAQD Rule 
336, the negative declarations, and the aerospace operations RACT 
certification.

II. EPA Action

    We are making an interim final determination to defer CAA section 
179 sanctions associated with our partial disapproval action on January 
7, 2021, of MCAQD's RACT SIP and Rule 336 with respect to the 
requirements of part D of title I of the CAA. This determination is 
based on our concurrent proposal to fully approve MCADQ Rule 336, the 
negative declarations, and the aerospace operations RACT certification, 
which resolve the deficiencies that triggered sanctions under section 
179 of the CAA.
    Because the EPA has preliminarily determined that MCAQD's 2021 RACT 
Submittal addresses the deficiencies under part D of title I of the CAA 
identified in our 2017 RACT Submittal action and are fully approvable, 
relief from sanctions should be provided as quickly as possible. 
Therefore, the EPA is invoking the good cause exception under the 
Administrative Procedure Act (APA) in not providing an opportunity for 
comment before this action takes

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effect (5 U.S.C. 553(b)(3)). However, by this action, the EPA is 
providing the public with a chance to comment on the EPA's 
determination after the effective date, and the EPA will consider any 
comments received in determining whether to reverse such action.
    The EPA believes that notice-and-comment rulemaking before the 
effective date of this action is impracticable and contrary to the 
public interest. The EPA has reviewed the State's submittal and, 
through its proposed action, is indicating that it is more likely than 
not that the State has submitted a revision to the SIP that corrects 
deficiencies under part D of the Act that were the basis for the action 
that started the sanctions clocks. Therefore, it is not in the public 
interest to impose sanctions. The EPA believes that it is necessary to 
use the interim final rulemaking process to defer sanctions while the 
EPA completes its rulemaking process on the approvability of the 
State's submittal. Moreover, with respect to the effective date of this 
action, the EPA is invoking the good cause exception to the 30-day 
notice requirement of the APA because the purpose of this notice is to 
relieve a restriction (5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1)).

III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    This action defers sanctions and imposes no additional 
requirements. 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 the EPA with the discretionary authority 
to address disproportionate human health or environmental effects with 
practical, appropriate, and legally permissible methods under Executive 
Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
     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).
     Is subject to the CRA, and the EPA will submit a rule 
report to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller General of 
the United States. The CRA allows the issuing agency to make a rule 
effective sooner than otherwise provided by the CRA if the agency makes 
a good cause finding that notice and comment rulemaking procedures are 
impracticable, unnecessary or contrary to the public interest (5 U.S.C. 
808(2)). The EPA has made a good cause finding for this rule as 
discussed in section II of this preamble, including the basis for that 
finding.
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the CAA, petitions for judicial review 
of this action must be filed in the United States Court of Appeals for 
the appropriate circuit by October 3, 2022. Filing a petition for 
reconsideration by the EPA Administrator of this final rule does not 
affect the finality of this rule for the purpose of judicial review nor 
does it extend the time within which 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 CAA section 307(b)(2)).

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

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

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

    Dated: July 27, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-16740 Filed 8-3-22; 8:45 am]
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