Findings of Failure To Attain and Reclassification of Areas in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and Wisconsin as Serious for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

Federal Register Extracts

Regulatory Documents

Agency: "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)."

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is determining that the Allegan County, MI; Berrien County, MI; Chicago, IL-IN-WI; Cleveland, OH; Milwaukee, WI; Muskegon County, MI; Sheboygan County, WI; and Illinois portion of the St. Louis, MO-IL areas failed to attain the 2015 ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) by the applicable attainment date. The effect of failing to attain by the applicable attainment date is that the areas will be reclassified by operation of law to "Serious" nonattainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS on January 16, 2025, the effective date of this final rule. This action fulfills EPA's obligation under the Clean Air Act (CAA) to determine whether ozone nonattainment areas attained the NAAQS by the attainment date and to publish a document in the Federal Register identifying each area that is determined as having failed to attain and identifying the reclassification.

DATES: This final rule is effective on January 16, 2025.

ADDRESSES: EPA has established a docket for this action under Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-2024-0546. All documents in the docket are listed on the https://www.regulations.gov website. Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business Information (CBI), Proprietary Business Information (PBI), 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 https://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 Eric Svingen, Environmental Engineer, at [phone] before visiting the Region 5 office.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Eric Svingen, Air and Radiation Division (AR-18J), Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604, [phone], [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Overview of Action EPA is required to determine whether areas designated nonattainment for an ozone NAAQS attained the standard by the applicable attainment date, and to take certain steps for areas that failed to attain (see CAA section 181(b)(2)). EPA's determination of attainment for the 2015 ozone NAAQS is based on a nonattainment area's design value (DV) as of the attainment date. /1/

FOOTNOTE 1 A DV is a statistic used to compare data collected at an ambient air quality monitoring site to the applicable NAAQS to determine compliance with the standard. The data handling conventions for calculating DVs for the 2015 ozone NAAQS are specified in appendix U to 40 CFR part 50. The DV for the 2015 ozone NAAQS is the 3-year average of the annual fourth highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone concentration. The DV is calculated for each air quality monitor in an area, and the DV for an area is the highest DV among the individual monitoring sites located in the area. END FOOTNOTE

The 2015 ozone NAAQS is met at an EPA regulatory monitoring site when the DV does not exceed 0.070 parts per million (ppm). For the Moderate nonattainment areas for the 2015 ozone NAAQS addressed in this action, the attainment date was August 3, 2024. Because the DV is based on the three most recent, complete calendar years of data, attainment must occur no later than December 31 of the year prior to the attainment date (i.e., December 31, 2023, in the case of Moderate nonattainment areas for the 2015 ozone NAAQS). As such, EPA's determinations for each area are based upon the complete, quality-assured, and certified ozone monitoring data from calendar years 2021, 2022, and 2023.

This action addresses eight areas in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin that were classified as Moderate for the 2015 ozone NAAQS as of the Moderate area attainment date of August 3, 2024. EPA is addressing the remaining areas, including the Missouri portion of the St. Louis area, in separate actions. Table 1 provides a summary of the DVs and the EPA's air quality-based determinations for the eight Moderate areas addressed in this action.

Table 1-Summary of Nonattainment Areas in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, and Wisconsin Classified as Moderate for the 2015 Ozone NAAQS

Nonattainment area 2021-2023 Attainment by the

design value attainment date

(DV)

(ppm)

Allegan County, MI 0.075 Failed to attain.

Berrien County, MI 0.073 Failed to attain.

Chicago, IL-IN-WI 0.077 Failed to attain.

Cleveland, OH 0.073 Failed to attain.

Milwaukee, WI 0.074 Failed to attain.

Muskegon County, MI 0.077 Failed to attain.

Sheboygan County, WI 0.077 Failed to attain.

St. Louis, MO-IL 0.074 Failed to attain.

EPA is finding that the eight Moderate areas in Table 1 did not attain by their attainment dates, because their 2021-2023 DVs are greater than 0.070 ppm. If EPA determines that a nonattainment area classified as Moderate failed to attain by the attainment date, CAA section 181(b)(2)(B) requires EPA to publish a determination in the Federal Register, no later than 6 months following the attainment date, identifying each such area and identifying the applicable reclassification.

Under CAA section 181(b)(2)(A), the effect of this determination is that these eight areas will be reclassified by operation of law as Serious on the effective date of this final rule. The reclassified areas will then be subject to the Serious area requirement to attain the 2015 ozone NAAQS as expeditiously as practicable, but not later than August 3, 2027.

Once reclassified as Serious, the relevant States must submit to EPA the SIP revisions for these areas that satisfy the statutory and regulatory requirements applicable to Serious areas established in CAA section 182(c) and in the 2015 Ozone NAAQS SIP Requirements Rule (see 83 FR 62998, December 6, 2018). EPA is establishing deadlines for submitting SIP revisions for these reclassified areas in a separate action.

II. What is the background for this action?

On October 26, 2015, EPA issued its final action to revise the NAAQS for ozone to establish a new 8-hour standard (see 80 FR 65452, October 26, 2015). In that action, EPA promulgated identical tighter primary and secondary ozone standards designed to protect public health and welfare that specified an 8-hour ozone level of 0.070 ppm. Specifically, the standards require that the 3-year average of the annual fourth highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone concentration may not exceed 0.070 ppm.

--This is a summary of a Federal Register article originally published on the page number listed below--

Final determination.

CFR Part: "40 CFR Part 81"

Citation: "89 FR 101901"

Document Number: "EPA-R05-OAR-2024-0546; FRL-12410-01-R5"

Federal Register Page Number: "101901"

"Rules and Regulations"