AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Final rule.

SUMMARY:

In accordance with the Clean Air Act (CAA), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is redesignating the Ohio portion of the Steubenville Ohio-West Virginia interstate sulfur dioxide (SO₂) nonattainment area (Steubenville nonattainment area) from nonattainment to attainment. EPA is also approving Ohio's maintenance plan. Emissions of SO₂ in the area have been reduced and the air quality in the nonattainment area is currently well below the 2010 SO₂ national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS).

DATES:

This final rule is effective on November 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES:

EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-2019-0394. All documents in the docket are listed on the www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., 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 either through www.regulations.gov or at the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. This facility is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays. We recommend that you telephone Mary Portanova, Environmental Engineer, at (312) 353-5954, before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Portanova, Environmental Engineer, Control Strategies Section, Air Programs Branch (AR18J), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-5954, portanova.mary@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Throughout this document whenever “we,” “us,” or “our” is used, we mean EPA.

I. Background Information

On September 20, 2019 (84 FR 49492), EPA proposed to redesignate the Ohio portion of the Steubenville Ohio-West Virginia interstate SO₂ nonattainment area from nonattainment to attainment of the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS. EPA also proposed to approve Ohio's SO₂ maintenance plan for the area. An explanation of the CAA requirements for redesignation, a detailed analysis of the redesignation request and maintenance plan, and EPA's reasons for proposing approval were provided in the notice of proposed rulemaking and will not be restated here. The public comment period for this proposed rule ended on October 21, 2019.

The Steubenville nonattainment area is comprised of a portion of Jefferson County, Ohio and a portion of Brooke County, West Virginia. The Ohio portion of the Steubenville nonattainment area includes Cross Creek Township, Steubenville Township, Warren Township, Wells Township, and Steubenville City in Jefferson County.

Ohio and West Virginia prepared nonattainment State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to provide for attainment of the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS in the Steubenville nonattainment area by the SO₂ attainment date of October 4, 2018. EPA approved the nonattainment SIPs from Ohio and West Virginia on October 22, 2019 (84 FR 56385).

II. Public Comments

EPA received two public comments on the September 20, 2019 proposal to redesignate the Ohio portion of the Steubenville nonattainment area. Both comments supported the proposed redesignation. The comments are included in the docket for this action.

III. What action is EPA taking?

EPA is redesignating the Ohio portion of the Steubenville nonattainment area from nonattainment to attainment of the 2010 SO₂ NAAQS. The Ohio portion of the Steubenville nonattainment area includes Cross Creek Township, Steubenville Township, Warren Township, Wells Township, and Steubenville City in Jefferson County. Ohio has demonstrated that the area is attaining the SO₂ standard, and that the improvement in air quality is due to permanent and enforceable SO₂ emission reductions in the nonattainment area. EPA is also approving Ohio's maintenance plan, which is designed to ensure that the area will continue to maintain the SO₂ standard.

In accordance with 5 U.S.C. 553(d), EPA finds there is good cause for these actions to become effective immediately upon publication. This is because a delayed effective date is unnecessary due to the nature of a redesignation to attainment, which relieves the area from certain CAA requirements that would otherwise apply to it. The immediate effective date for this action is authorized under both 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(1), which provides that rulemaking actions may become effective less than 30 days after publication if the rule “grants or recognizes an exemption or relieves a restriction,” and section 553(d)(3), which allows an effective date less than 30 days after publication “as otherwise provided by the agency for good cause found and published with the rule.” The purpose of the 30-day waiting period prescribed in section 553(d) is to give affected parties a reasonable time to adjust their behavior and prepare before the final rule takes effect. This rule, however, does not create any new regulatory requirements such that affected parties would need time to prepare before the rule takes effect. Rather, this rule relieves the State of planning requirements for this nonattainment area. For these reasons, EPA finds good cause under 5 U.S.C. 553(d)(3) for these actions to become effective on the date of publication of these actions.

IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

Under the CAA, redesignation of an area to attainment and the accompanying approval of the maintenance plan under CAA section 107(d)(3)(E) are actions that affect the status of the geographical area and do not impose any additional regulatory requirements on sources beyond those required by state law. A redesignation to attainment does not in and of itself impose any new requirements, but rather results in the application of requirements contained in the CAA for areas that have been redesignated to attainment. Moreover, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA 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 Orders 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011);
• Is not an Executive Order 13771 (82 FR 9339, February 2, 2017) regulatory action because SIP approvals are exempted under Executive Order 12866;
• 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, the SIP is not approved to apply on any Indian reservation land or in any other area where 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 as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000), because redesignation is an action that affects the status of a geographical area and does not impose any new regulatory requirements on tribes, impact any existing sources of air pollution on tribal lands, nor impair the maintenance of ozone national ambient air quality standards in tribal lands.

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 January 28, 2020. 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. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects

40 CFR Part 52

• Environmental protection
• Air pollution control
• Incorporation by reference
• Intergovernmental relations
• Sulfur oxides

40 CFR Part 81

• Environmental protection
• Air pollution control
• National parks
• Wilderness areas

Title 40 CFR parts 52 and 81 are amended as follows:

PART 52—APPROVAL AND PROMULGATION OF IMPLEMENTATION PLANS

1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

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

2. In § 52.1870, the table in paragraph (e) is amended under “Summary of Criteria Pollutant Maintenance Plan” by adding an entry for “SO ₂ (2010)” before the entry “CO (1979)” to read as follows:

PART 81—DESIGNATION OF AREAS FOR AIR QUALITY PLANNING PURPOSES

3. The authority citation for part 81 continues to read as follows:

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

4. Section 81.336 is amended by revising the entry “Steubenville, OH-WV” in the table entitled “Ohio—2010 Sulfur Dioxide NAAQS (Primary)” to read as follows: