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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 169 / Friday, September 3, 2021 / Proposed Rules
provides rules for the implementation of current and future PM2.5 NAAQS.
On April 6, 2018, EPA issued a finding of failure to submit under section 110k of the CAA finding that several states, including Pennsylvania, failed to submit specific moderate area SIP elements for the 2012 annual PM2.5
NAAQS required under subpart 4 of part D of Title I of the CAA.5 In particular, Pennsylvania was late in submitting the following specific moderate area SIP elements for the Allegheny County Area: An attainment demonstration; control strategies, including reasonably available control measures RACM and reasonably available control technologies RACT; a reasonable further progress RFP plan;
quantitative milestones; and contingency measures. That finding triggered the sanctions clock under section 179 of the CAA, as well as an obligation under section 110c of the CAA for EPA to promulgate a Federal Implementation Plan FIP no later than two years from the effective date of the finding, if Pennsylvania did not submit, and EPA had not approved, the required SIP element submissions.
Pennsylvania submitted the required Allegheny County Area PM2.5 Plan on September 30, 2019. On November 1, 2019, EPA determined the submitted PM2.5 Plan for the Allegheny County Area to be technically and administratively complete, per the requirements in accordance with CAA
section 110k and 40 CFR part 51, appendix V. This completeness determination corrected the deficiency identified in EPAs April 6, 2018 83 FR
14759 document finding that Pennsylvania failed to submit certain nonattainment area planning requirements for the Allegheny County Area for the 2012 PM2.5 NAAQS, turning off the sanctions clock but not the FIP
clock triggered by the April 6, 2018
finding. On May 14, 2021 86 FR 26388, EPA approved most required elements of the Allegheny County Area PM2.5
Plan, except for the contingency measures element of the plan, which EPA conditionally approved. That action terminated EPAs FIP obligation for all CAA required nonattainment plan elements except for the contingency measures element. As to the contingency measures element of the Allegheny County Area PM2.5 Plan, EPAs May 14, 2021 conditional approval action suspended EPAs FIP
obligation for the duration of the conditional approval. Upon EPAs approval of a SIP submission fulfilling the State commitment that had provided 5 83

FR 14759 April 6, 2018.

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the basis for the conditional approval, EPAs FIP obligation with respect to the contingency measures element of the Allegheny County Area Plan will be terminated.
In accordance with the requirements of 40 CFR 51.1015, EPA may issue a clean data determination for a specific area if we determine the area has attained the relevant NAAQS based on three years of quality-assured, certified air quality monitoring data.6 Over the past two decades, EPA has consistently applied its Clean Data Policy interpretation to attainment related provisions of subparts 1, 2, and 4 of the CAA. EPA codified portions of the longstanding Clean Data Policy approach in the PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule 40 CFR 51.1015a for the implementation of current and future PM2.5 NAAQS.7 For a complete discussion of the history of EPAs Clean Data Policy and our longstanding interpretation of that policy under the CAA, please refer to the August 24, 2016
PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule 81 FR
58010.
As provided in 40 CFR 51.1015, so long as an area continues to meet the NAAQS, finalization of a CDD suspends the requirements for a nonattainment area to submit an attainment demonstration, associated RACM and RACT, an RFP plan, quantitative milestones, contingency measures, and any other SIP planning requirements related to the attainment of the 2012
annual PM2.5 NAAQS. The requirement to submit a projected attainment inventory as part of an attainment demonstration or RFP plan is also suspended by this determination. As discussed in the 2016 PM2.5 SIP
Requirements Rule, the nonattainment base year emissions inventory required by section 172c3 of the CAA is not suspended by this determination because the base inventory is a requirement independent of planning for an areas attainment.8 Additionally, as discussed in the PM2.5 SIP
Requirements Rule and required by sections 110a2C; 172c5; 173;
189a, and 189e of the CAA, nonattainment New Source Review NNSR requirements are not suspended by a CDD because this requirement is independent of the areas attainment planning.9
6 Per the requirements for determining whether an area has attained the annual PM2.5 NAAQS at 40
CFR 50.18c and 40 CFR Appendix N to part 50.
7 See 81 FR 58010, 58161 August 24, 2016.
8 See 81 FR 58009 at 58028 and 581278 August 24, 2016 and 80 FR 15340 at 154412 March 23, 2015.
9 See 81 FR 58010 at 58107 and 58127 August 24, 2016.

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By extension, the requirement to submit a motor vehicle emissions budget MVEB for the attainment year for the purposes of transportation conformity is also suspended. A MVEB
is that portion of the total criteria pollutant emissions associated with allowable highway and transit vehicle use, as defined in the submitted or approved control strategy implementation plan revision or maintenance plan, for a certain date.
The MVEB serves as a cap on highway mobile source section emissions for the purpose of meeting RFP milestones or demonstrating attainment or maintenance of the NAAQS. For purposes of the transportation conformity regulations, the control strategy implementation plan revision is the implementation plan which contains specific strategies for controlling the emissions of, and reducing ambient levels of, pollutants in order to satisfy CAA requirements for demonstrations of RFP and attainment.
Given that MVEBs are required to support RFP and attainment demonstration requirements in the attainment plan, suspension of the RFP
and attainment demonstration requirements through a CDD also suspends the requirement to submit MVEBs for attainment and RFP
milestone years. Suspension of planning requirements under the clean data policy pursuant to 40 CFR 51.1015
does not preclude the state from submitting suspended elements of its moderate area attainment plan for EPA
approval for the purposes of strengthening the states SIP, nor does issuance of a CDD compel the state to withdraw previously submitted or SIPapproved elements of its moderate area attainment plan.
A CDD is not equivalent to a redesignation under CAA section 107d3, and the state must still meet the statutory requirements for redesignation in order to be redesignated to attainment. In accordance with 40 CFR 51.1015a1
and 2, a CDD suspends the aforementioned SIP obligations until the area is redesignated to attainment after which time such requirements are permanently discharged; or until EPA
determines that the area has re-violated the PM2.5 NAAQS. In the event the area re-violates the NAAQS, the state shall once again be required to submit all required attainment plan elements for the Moderate nonattainment area, by a deadline established by EPA through publication in the Federal Register of the determination that the area is once
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