[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 76 (Wednesday, April 21, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 20783-20785]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-8935]
[[Page 20783]]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0150-201009(a); FRL-9138-9]
Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans: Tennessee;
Visibility Impairment Prevention for Federal Class I Areas; Removal of
Federally Promulgated Provisions
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is taking direct final action to rescind the Federally
promulgated provisions regarding visibility in 40 CFR 52.2234 of the
Tennessee State Implementation Plan (SIP). EPA approved Tennessee's
visibility rules addressing new source review (NSR) on July 18, 1996,
and a plan addressing monitoring and reporting of visibility on July 2,
1997. EPA's approval of these rules neglected to remove the previous
Federally promulgated provisions from the Federal Implementation Plan
(FIP) contained in 40 CFR 52.2234. EPA is correcting this omission in
this rulemaking. This action is being taken pursuant to section 110 of
the Clean Air Act (CAA).
DATES: This rule is effective on June 21, 2010 without further notice,
unless EPA receives relevant adverse comment by May 21, 2010. 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-2010-0150, by one of the following methods:
1. http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. E-mail: [email protected].
3. Fax: (404) 562-9019.
4. Mail: ``EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0150,'' 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, 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-
2010-0150.'' EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and may be made available
online at http://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 http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail, information that you consider to be CBI
or otherwise protected. The http://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 e-mail comment directly to EPA without
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail 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
http://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 http://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: Nacosta C. Ward, 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. Ms. Ward may be
reached by phone at (404) 562-9140 or by electronic mail address
[email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Background for Today's Action
II. Final Action
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background for Today's Action
On February 9, 1993, and December 19, 1994, the State of Tennessee
submitted provisions constituting its plan to address visibility
impairment in Federal Class I areas. EPA approved these submittals on
July 2, 1997 (62 FR 35681). On January 17, 1995, the State of Tennessee
also submitted rules for addressing visibility in its NSR program. EPA
fully approved this submittal on July 18, 1996 (61 FR 35387).
The aforementioned submittals provide the necessary revisions to
Tennessee's plan for visibility impairment prevention for Class I
areas, and satisfied EPA's requirements as set forth in 40 CFR 51.300
through 51.304 and 51.306. These visibility provisions were submitted
to EPA in order to satisfy the second part of the Settlement Agreement
with the Environmental Defense Fund, et al., Environmental Defense Fund
v. Thomas, number C826850 RPA, and are described at 49 FR 20647 on May
16, 1984. The schedule for submittal and promulgation of these
visibility provisions was renegotiated and subsequently extended by a
court order on September 9, 1986.
The second part of the Settlement Agreement required EPA to propose
and promulgate Federal Visibility SIPs, addressing the general
visibility plan provisions including implementation control strategies
(40 CFR 51.302), integral vista protection (40 CFR 51.302 through
51.307), and long-term strategies (40 CFR 51.306) for those States
whose SIPs EPA had determined to be inadequate with respect to the
above provisions (see January 23, 1986,
[[Page 20784]]
notice of deficiency (51 FR 3046) and March 12, 1987, notice proposing
FIPs for deficient State SIPs (52 FR 7803)). However, as provided in
the renegotiated Settlement Agreement, a State could avoid the
promulgation of said provisions if they submitted a visibility SIP by
August 31, 1987. The State of Tennessee did not submit a plan by August
31, 1987, and as a result EPA promulgated Part 2 provisions for
Tennessee in a FIP to satisfy the Settlement Agreement on November 24,
1987.
Subsequently, the State of Tennessee provided SIP revisions on
February 9, 1993, December 19, 1994, and January 17, 1995, with the
intent to replace the EPA-promulgated provisions (or FIP) that was put
in place. The EPA actions on July 18, 1996 and July 2, 1997, fully
approved these Tennessee SIP revisions but inadvertently did not remove
the Federally-promulgated provisions in 40 CFR 52.2234. Today's action
corrects that oversight.
II. Final Action
EPA is taking direct final action to correct an omission related to
the visibility requirements for Tennessee. Specifically, EPA is
removing the previous Federally promulgated provisions in 40 CFR
52.2234 for visibility for Tennessee because the State later submitted,
and EPA approved, revisions covering visibility requirements for
Tennessee. EPA is approving the aforementioned changes to the Tennessee
SIP because they are consistent with the CAA and Agency requirements.
EPA is publishing this rule without prior proposal because the Agency
views this as a noncontroversial submittal 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 adverse
comments be filed. This rule will be effective June 21, 2010 without
further notice unless the Agency receives adverse comments by May 21,
2010.
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. Parties interested in commenting
should do so at this time. If no such comments are received, the public
is advised that this rule will be effective on June 21, 2010 and no
further action will be taken on the proposed rule.
III. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the Clean Air Act, 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 Clean Air Act.
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 Clean Air Act; 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 located in the State,
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 Clean Air Act, petitions for
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by June 21, 2010. 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, Intergovernmental
relations, Incorporation by reference, Particulate matter, Reporting
and recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds, Sulfur
dioxide.
Dated: April 1, 2010.
Beverly H. Banister,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
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40 CFR part 52 is amended as follows:
PART 52--[AMENDED]
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1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:
[[Page 20785]]
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Subpart RR--Tennessee
Sec. 52.2234 [Removed and Reserved]
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2. Section 52.2234 is removed and reserved.
[FR Doc. 2010-8935 Filed 4-20-10; 8:45 am]
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