Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Tennessee: Knox County Supplement Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget Update |
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A. Stanley Meiburg
Environmental Protection Agency
February 20, 2013
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 34 (Wednesday, February 20, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11754-11758]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-03763]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2012-0762; FRL-9782-1]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; Tennessee:
Knox County Supplement Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget Update
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to approve a revision to the
Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP), submitted to EPA on December
13, 2012, by the State of Tennessee, through the Tennessee Department
of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). Tennessee's December 13, 2012,
SIP revision includes changes to the maintenance plan for the Knox
County 1-hour ozone area submitted on August 26, 1992, and approved by
EPA on September 27, 1993, and a subsequent SIP revision approved by
EPA on August 5, 1997. The Knox County 1-hour ozone area was comprised
of Knox County in its entirety. The December 13, 2012 SIP revision
proposes to increase the safety margin allocated to motor vehicle
emissions budgets (MVEB) for nitrogen oxides (NOX) and
volatile organic compounds (VOC) for Knox County to account for changes
in the emissions model and vehicle miles traveled (VMT) projection
model. EPA is approving this SIP revision because the State has
demonstrated that it is consistent with the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act).
DATES: This rule is effective on April 22, 2013 without further notice,
unless EPA receives relevant adverse comment by March 22, 2013. If EPA
receives such comment, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal in the
Federal Register informing the public that this rule will not take
effect.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R04-
OAR-2012-0762 by one of the following methods:
1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. Email: R4-RDS@epa.gov.
3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
4. Mail: EPA-R04-OAR-2012-0762, 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: Lynorae Benjamin, Chief, Regulatory
Development Section, Air Planning Branch, Air, Pesticides and Toxics
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
[[Page 11755]]
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-
2013-0762. 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: Kelly Sheckler, Air Quality and
Transportation Modeling 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. Kelly
Sheckler may be reached by phone at (404) 562-9222 or by electronic
mail address sheckler.kelly@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Background
II. EPA's Analysis of Tennessee's SIP Revision
III. Final Action
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background
The Knox County, Tennessee, 1-hour ozone attainment and maintenance
area is comprised of only Knox County in its entirety in Tennessee
(hereafter referred to as the ``Knox County'' or ``Area''). Knox County
was originally designated as marginal nonattainment for the 1-hour
ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) on November 6,
1991 (56 FR 56694).\1\ Knox County was redesignated as attainment for
the 1-hour ozone NAAQS on September 27, 1993 (58 FR 50271). In this
approval, was a 10-year air quality maintenance plan covering the years
1994-2004. A subsequent revision to the Knox County Area maintenance
plan was approved by EPA on August 5, 1997, that established MVEB for
transportation conformity purposes. That plan satisfied the CAA
requirement for a 10-year update of the Knox County 1-hour ozone
maintenance plan.
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\1\ Subsequent to designating Knox County nonattainment for the
1-hour ozone NAAQS, EPA has since designated Knox County as part of
the larger Knoxville nonattainment area for the 1997 8-hour ozone
NAAQS (see 69 FR 23857, April 30, 2004) and the 2008 8-hour ozone
NAAQS (see 77 FR 30160, May 21, 2012). This proposed action relates
primarily to the MVEB established for Knox County for the 1-hour
ozone NAAQS, and does not relate to the MVEB approved for 1997 8-
hour ozone NAAQS for the Knoxville Area, nor does it relate to any
pending MVEB that may be contemplated for the Knoxville Area for the
2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS.
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On October 12, 2012, TDEC submitted a draft SIP revision which
included changes to the emissions inventory for both on-road and off-
road mobile sources using the latest EPA-approved mobile emissions and
NONROAD models. New emissions data for both the new base year
(attainment year) and the projected years (2004 and 2014) were
calculated. The plan updated the 2004 MVEB and provided for a new MVEB
for the year 2014.
On December 18, 2012, (77 FR 74820), EPA proposed to approve
through parallel processing Tennessee's October 12, 2012, draft SIP
revision with changes to the maintenance plan for the Knox County 1-
hour ozone area. EPA did not receive any comments, adverse or
otherwise, for the December 18, 2012, proposed rulemaking. The MVEB for
the Knox County 1-hour ozone area that were published in EPA's proposed
rulemaking on December 18, 2012, were not the same as the MVEB provided
in Tennessee's December 13, 2012, final SIP revision related to the
Knox County 1-hour ozone area. Consequently, EPA is not finalizing its
December 13, 2012, proposal but is instead replacing that proposal with
today's direct final rulemaking and accompanying proposed rulemaking.
EPA is approving the State's implementation plan revision as a direct
final action with a parallel proposal because the Agency views this as
a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A
detailed rationale for the approval is discussed below.
II. EPA's Analysis of Tennessee's SIP Revision
As discussed above, on December 13, 2012, the State of Tennessee,
through TDEC, submitted a SIP revision to revise the MVEB for the Knox
County 1-hour ozone maintenance plan to increase the safety margin as a
result of new emissions model, VMT projection models, and other
emission model input data. The MVEB (expressed in tons per day (tpd))
that are being updated through today's action were originally approved
by EPA on September 27, 1993, updated on August 5, 1997, and February
4, 2004, and are outlined in the table below.
Table 1--Original MVEB for Knox County
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX............................................. 33.89 tpd 22.49 tpd
VOC............................................. 29.24 tpd 22.12 tpd
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TDEC is currently allocating portions of the available safety
margin \2\ to the
[[Page 11756]]
MVEB to account for new emissions models, VMT projections models, as
well as changes to future vehicle mix assumptions, that influence the
emission estimations. TDEC has now decided to allocate a majority of
the safety margin available to the MVEB. Specifically, 7.97 tpd of the
available VOC safety margin (15.94) is allocated to the 2004 MVEB, and
11.61 tpd for the available 2014 MVEB (23.22). Additionally, 2.79 tpd
of the available NOX safety margin are allocated to the 2004
MVEB and 18.43 tpd for the 2014 MVEB. The remaining safety margin for
VOC for 2004 is 7.97 tpd and for 2014 is 11.61 tpd. As a result, there
will be no safety margin remaining for NOX for 2004 and
2014.
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\2\ A safety margin is the difference between the attainment
level of emissions from all source categories (i.e., point, area,
and mobile) and the projected level of emissions from all source
categories. The State may choose to allocate some of the safety
margin to the MVEB, for transportation conformity purposes, so long
as the total level of emissions from all source categories remains
equal to or less than the attainment level of emissions.
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The following tables provide the adjusted VOC and NOX
emissions data, for the 2004 base attainment year inventories, as well
as the projected VOC and NOX emissions inventory 2014.
Table 2--Knox County Total Volatile Organic Compounds Emissions
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Available
Year Area Non-road Biogenic Mobile Point Total safety
margin
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1990............................... 28.82 9.81 32.43 40.84 8.06 119.96 .........
1993............................... 29.25 9.96 32.43 32.35 8.64 112.63 .........
2004............................... 30.90 10.52 32.43 21.27 8.90 104.02 15.94
2010............................... 31.84 10.84 32.43 13.93 9.76 98.80 .........
2014............................... 32.48 11.06 32.43 10.51 10.26 96.74 23.22
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Table 3--Knox County Total Nitrogen Oxides Emissions
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Safety
Year Area Non-road Biogenic Mobile Point Total margin
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1990............................... 3.66 9.77 0 37.62 8.96 60.01 .........
1993............................... 3.72 9.92 0 34.85 9.54 58.03 .........
2004............................... 3.92 10.48 0 31.10 11.73 57.23 2.79
2010............................... 4.04 10.79 0 19.99 12.53 47.35 .........
2014............................... 4.13 11.01 0 13.27 13.17 41.58 18.43
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Table 4--Knox County NOX MVEB
[tpd]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX Emissions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Base Emissions.................................... 31.10 13.27
Safety Margin Allocated to MVEB................... 2.79 18.43
NOX Conformity MVEB............................... 33.89 31.71
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Table 5--Knox County VOC MVEB
[tpd]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004 2014
------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOC Emissions
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Base Emissions.................................... 21.27 10.51
Safety Margin Allocated to MVEB................... 7.97 11.61
VOC Conformity MVEB............................... 29.24 22.12
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Taking into consideration the portion of the safety margin applied
to the MVEB, the resulting difference between the attainment level of
emissions from all sources and the projected level of emissions from
all sources in the maintenance area, the area still attains the NAAQS
and meets the maintenance requirements. The new safety margins, are
listed below in Table 6.
Table 6--New Safety Margins for the Knox County
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Year VOC tpd NOX tpd
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2004.............................................. 7.97 0
2014.............................................. 11.61 0
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As shown in Tables 2 and 3 above, VOC and NOX total
emissions in Knox County are projected to steadily decrease from 2004
to the maintenance year of 2014. This VOC and NOX emission
decrease demonstrates continued attainment/maintenance of the 1-hour
ozone NAAQS for ten years from 2004 (the year the Area was effectively
designated attainment for the 1-hour ozone NAAQS) as required by the
CAA.
The revised MVEB that Tennessee submitted for the Knox County Area
were developed with projected mobile source emissions derived using the
MOBILE6 motor vehicle emissions model. This model was the most current
model available at the time Tennessee was performing its analysis.
However, EPA has now issued an updated motor vehicle emissions model
known as Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator or MOVES. In its announcement
of this model, EPA established a two-year grace period for continued
use of MOBILE6.2 in regional emissions analyses for transportation plan
and transportation improvement programs (TIPs) conformity
determinations (extending to March 2, 2013),\3\ after which states
(other than California) must use MOVES in conformity determinations for
TIPs. As stated above, MOBILE6.2 was the applicable mobile source
emissions model that was available when the original SIP was submitted.
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\3\ EPA previously extended the grace period to use MOVES for
regional emissions analysis in conformity determinations to March 2,
2013 (77 FR 11394).
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III. Final Action
EPA is taking direct final action to approve Tennessee's December
13, 2012, SIP revision to allocate a portion of the available safety
margin to the MVEB for the Knox County 1-hour ozone maintenance Area.
This action, will result in higher NOX and VOC MVEB for
transportation conformity purposes for Knox County, and would still be
consistent with attainment for the 1-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is proposing
this action because it is consistent with the CAA and the
[[Page 11757]]
transportation conformity requirements at 40 CFR part 93.
On March 12, 2008, EPA issued revised ozone NAAQS. The current
action, however, is being taken to address requirements under the 1997
8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal
because the Agency views this as a non-controversial amendment and
anticipates no adverse comments. However, in the proposed rules section
of this Federal Register publication, EPA is publishing a separate
document that will serve as the proposal to approve the SIP revision
should an adverse comment be filed. This rule will be effective on
March 22, 2013 without further notice unless the Agency receives
adverse comment by March 22, 2013. If EPA receives such comments, then
EPA will publish a document withdrawing the final rule and informing
the public that the rule will not take effect. All public comments
received will then be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on the
proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period on this
action. Any parties interested in commenting must do so at this time.
If no such comments are received, the public is advised this rule will
be effective on April 22, 2013 and no further action will be taken on
the proposed rule.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, 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 CAA. 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 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 rule does not have tribal implications as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000),
because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country, and EPA
notes that it will not impose substantial direct costs on tribal
governments or preempt tribal law.
The Congressional Review Act, 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. EPA will submit a report containing this action 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. A major rule cannot
take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C.
804(2).
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 April 22, 2013. 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. Parties with objections to this direct final rule are
encouraged to file a comment in response to the parallel notice of
proposed rulemaking for this action published in the proposed rules
section of today's Federal Register, rather than file an immediate
petition for judicial review of this direct final rule, so that EPA can
withdraw this direct final rule and address the comment in the proposed
rulemaking. 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, Ozone,
Intergovernmental relations, Incorporation by reference, Nitrogen
dioxides, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, and Volatile
organic compounds.
Dated: February 7, 2013.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
40 CFR part 52 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 II--Tennessee
0
2. Section 52.2220(e) is amended by adding a new entry at the end of
the table for the ``MVEB Update for the 1-hour Ozone Maintenance Plan
for Knox County, Tennessee'' to read as follows:
Sec. 52.2220 Identification of plan.
* * * * *
(e) * * *
[[Page 11758]]
EPA Approved Tennessee Non-Regulatory Provisions
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Applicable geographic
Name of non-regulatory SIP or nonattainment State EPA approval date Explanation
provision area effective date
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* * * * * * *
MVEB Update for the 1-hour Ozone Knox County, TN...... 12/13/2012 02/20/13.............
Maintenance Plan for Knox County, [Insert citation of
Tennessee. publication].
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[FR Doc. 2013-03763 Filed 2-19-13; 8:45 am]
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