Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Virginia; Removal of the Regulation for the National Low Emission Vehicle Program

W.C. Early
Environmental Protection Agency
November 14, 2013

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 220 (Thursday, November 14, 2013)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 68377-68378]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-27028]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R03-OAR-2013-0407; FRL-9902-54-Region 3]


Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; 
Virginia; Removal of the Regulation for the National Low Emission 
Vehicle Program

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA proposes to approve the State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
revision submitted by the

[[Page 68378]]

Commonwealth of Virginia that serves to remove from the SIP Virginia's 
repealed regulation for the National Low Emission Vehicle (NLEV) 
program. Virginia repealed its regulation in December 2011, because the 
Virginia NLEV program regulation had by then expired and was superseded 
by more stringent federal Tier 2 passenger car and light-duty truck 
standards, which were promulgated by EPA on February 10, 2000. More 
stringent federal Tier 2 vehicle emission standards were implemented, 
on a phased-in basis, between model years 2004 and 2006, taking the 
place of the NLEV program. In the Final Rules section of this Federal 
Register, EPA is approving the Commonwealth's SIP submittal as a direct 
final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a 
noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A 
detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final 
rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, 
no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, 
the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments 
received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this 
proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any 
parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this 
time.

DATES: Comments must be received in writing by December 16, 2013.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID Number EPA-
R03-OAR-2013-0407 by one of the following methods:
    A. www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line instructions for 
submitting comments.
    B. Email: fernandez.cristina@epa.gov.
    C. Mail: EPA-R03-OAR-2013-0407, Cristina Fernandez, Associate 
Director, Office of Air Program Planning, Mailcode 3AP30, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103.
    D. Hand Delivery: At the previously-listed EPA Region III address. 
Such deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of 
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of 
boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-
2013-0407. 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 information that you consider to 
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or email. 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.
    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 during normal business hours at the Air Protection 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. Copies of the State submittal 
are available at the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, 629 
East Main Street, Richmond, Virginia 23219.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brian Rehn, (215) 814-2176, or by 
email at rehn.brian@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: For further information, please see the 
information provided in the direct final action, also titled ``Removal 
of the Regulation for the National Low Emission Vehicle Program,'' 
which is located in the ``Rules and Regulations'' section of this 
Federal Register publication.

    Dated: September 30, 2013.
 W.C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2013-27028 Filed 11-13-13; 8:45 am]
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