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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 227 / Tuesday, November 30, 2021 / Rules and Regulations monitoring data. Therefore, the April 30, 2018 initial designations for these states were based on air quality data from 20142016.
The EPAs reliance on only information available at the time of the April 30, 2018, designations action to support the revised designations in this Federal Register document is reasonable in light of the circumstances.
The CAA does not specify what data the Agency must rely on in re-promulgating designations upon remand from a court.
As such, the EPAs reasonable reliance on data available on April 30, 2018, reflects the EPAs dedication to national consistency and the specific direction of the court in Clean Wisconsin: to issue revised designations as expeditiously as practicable in responding to the remand.5
Section 107d of the CAA lays out a particular timeline for designations decisions to be made, triggered from the promulgation date of a NAAQS. For the 2015 ozone NAAQS, the designation of every area of the country, apart from those remanded to the Agency, relied on the existing record.6 As the D.C. Circuit stated in previous cases reviewing the EPAs designations decisions, inconsistency is the hallmark of arbitrary agency action. 7 Relying on the data available to the Agency at the time of the April 2018 designations action would prevent inconsistent treatment between the remanded counties and every other area of the country.
In addition, both our previous action responding to the Court remand for 14
counties and this action expand the boundaries of existing nonattainment areas but do not create any new nonattainment areas. If it is important to treat areas across the country consistently, it is that much more important that the EPA treat different portions of the same nonattainment area consistently. The EPA received some comments on this approach;
further explanation for the EPAs decision to rely on the data available on April 30, 2018, appears in the EPAs Response to Comments document, available in the electronic docket for this action www.regulations.gov, docket number EPAHQOAR20170548 and at the EPAs Ozone Designations web
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5 Clean
Wisconsin, 964 F.2d at 1176.
is discussed earlier in this section, almost every designation relied on monitored 20142016
design values. The few exceptions were for states that early-certified 20152017 data in accordance with the Designation Guidance.
7 Catawba County v. EPA, 571 F.3d 20, 51 D.C.
Cir. 2009; see also Mississippi Commn v. EPA, 790
F.3d 138, 160 D.C. Cir. 2015.
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page https www.epa.gov/ozonedesignations.
The D.C. Circuits direction to act as expeditiously as practicable also weighs in favor of using information available on April 30, 2018. Gathering and analyzing new data would necessarily have taken longer, because much of the data the EPA generally relies upon in its designations decisionmaking process is obtained outside the Agency, including from states.
VIII. What are the ozone air quality classifications and implementation dates?
In accordance with CAA section 181a1, each area designated as nonattainment for the ozone NAAQS is classified by operation of law when designated by the EPA. Under Subpart 2 of part D of title I of the CAA, state planning and emissions control requirements for ozone are determined, in part, by a nonattainment areas classification. The ozone nonattainment areas are classified based on the severity of their ozone levels as determined based on the areas design value, which represents air quality in the area for the most recent 3 years.8 The possible classifications are Marginal, Moderate, Serious, Severe, and Extreme.
Nonattainment areas with a lower classification have ozone levels that are closer to the standard than areas with a higher classification. Areas in the lower classification levels have fewer and/or less stringent mandatory air quality planning and control requirements than those in higher classifications. On March 9, 2018 83 FR
10376, the EPA published the Classifications Rule that establishes how the statutory classifications will apply for the 2015 ozone NAAQS, including the air quality thresholds for each classification category. Each nonattainment areas design value, based on the then-most recent 3 years of certified air quality monitoring data, is used to establish the classification for the area.
The regulatory tables included at the end of this action for the Denver Metro/
North Front Range, CO nonattainment area and the El Paso-Las Cruces, TX
NM nonattainment area provide the classification for the designated nonattainment area for the 2015 ozone NAAQS based on the design value for the area and the classification thresholds established in the Classification Rule. Both of these areas 8 The air quality design value for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS is the 3-year average of the annual 4th highest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone concentration. See 40 CFR part 50, Appendix U.

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addressed in this Federal Register document are Marginal nonattainment areas.
As established in the final implementing regulations for the 2015
ozone NAAQS, nonattainment areas including the areas subject to this final action shall attain the 2015 standards as expeditiously as practicable but not later than the dates provided in Table 1
of 40 CFR 51.1303a expressed in years after the effective date of area designations, which was August 3, 2018
83 FR 25776; June 4, 2018. The resulting attainment date for Marginal areas is not later than 3 years from the designation effective date, or August 3, 2021. Further, states with Marginal nonattainment areas have 2 years from the effective date of designation to submit state implementation plan SIP
revisions addressing emissions inventories required by CAA section 182a1 and emissions statement regulations CAA section 182a3B
83 FR 62998, 63000; December 6, 2018. See also 40 CFR 51.1315. The resulting emissions inventory and emissions statement SIP revisions were due August 3, 2020. The August 3, 2021, Marginal area attainment date still applies for the areas subject to this final action, inclusive of the revised nonattainment boundaries. As with the other 14 remanded counties, the August 3, 2020, SIP submission requirements apply to the entirety of Weld County, Colorado. The EPA expects states with areas subject to this final action to work with their respective EPA Regional office to submit any necessary supplements or revisions to fulfill the Marginal area SIP revision requirements associated with the nonattainment boundaries in this final action as expeditiously as practicable.
However, the EPA recognizes that Texas is in a unique position among the states affected by the D.C. Circuits remand. For all of the other nonattainment area boundaries modified either in this document or in the previous action 86 FR 31438; June 14, 2021 in response to the courts decision, the relevant states already had counties or portions of counties as a part of those nonattainment areas, and thus already had an August 3, 2020, deadline to submit SIPs meeting the requirements for a Marginal nonattainment area.
However, no portion of Texas was already designated nonattainment as a part of the Dona Ana, New Mexico area;
as such, Texas had no notice that it should prepare a Marginal area SIP
submission for that area. Given the lack of prior notice, the EPA believes it is reasonable to provide Texas with a deadline of December 30, 2022 to
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