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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 229 / Thursday, December 2, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
official hours of business are Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding Federal holidays.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Evan Adams of the Air Regulatory Management Section, Air Planning and Implementation Branch, Air and Radiation Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street SW, Atlanta, Georgia 303038960.
Mr. Adams can be reached by telephone at 404 5629009, or via electronic mail at adams.evan@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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I. Background On December 30, 2019, EPA proposed to approve SIP submissions from Alabama, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee 1 as meeting the interstate transport requirements of CAA section 110a2DiI, or the Good Neighbor provision, for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. See 84 FR 71854. Specifically, the 2019 notice of proposed rulemaking NPRM originally proposed to find that emissions from sources in these states will not significantly contribute to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS in any other state based on information for the analytic year 2023, consistent with the 2024 Moderate area attainment date. Refer to the December 30, 2019 NPRM for an explanation of the CAA requirements, the four-step framework that EPA applies under the Good Neighbor provision for ozone NAAQS, a detailed summary of the state submissions, and EPAs proposed rationale for approval. See 84 FR 71854.
The public comment period for the December 30, 2019, NPRM closed on January 29, 2020.2
1 The submittals from these six southeastern states were submitted separately under the following cover letters: Alabama Department of Environmental Management dated August 20, 2018
received by EPA on August 27, 2018; Florida Department of Environmental Protection dated September 18, 2018 received by EPA on September 26, 2018; Georgia Environmental Protection Division dated September 19, 2018 received by EPA on September 24, 2018; North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality dated September 27, 2018 received by EPA October 10, 2018; South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control dated and received by EPA
on September 7, 2018; and Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation dated September 13, 2018 received by EPA on September 17, 2018.
2 On March 24, 2020, former EPA Region 4
Administrator Mary Walker signed a document hereinafter referred to as the March 24, 2020
document that EPA had intended to become a final rule upon publication in the Federal Register.
However, the March 24, 2020 document was never published in the Federal Register. Further, on January 19, 2021, former EPA Region 4
Administrator Mary Walker signed a second document hereinafter referred to as the January 19, 2021 document that EPA had intended to become
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Subsequent to the publication of the NPRM on December 30, 2019, two events caused EPA to adjust its analysis of the aforementioned SIP submissions.
First, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit D.C.
Circuit issued its ruling in Maryland v.
EPA, 958 F.3d 1185 D.C. Cir. 2020
Maryland, which held that EPA must address Good Neighbor obligations consistent with the 2021 attainment date for downwind areas classified as being in Marginal nonattainment under the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS, not at some later date. 958 F.3d at 120304
citing Wisconsin v. EPA, 938 F.3d 303, 314 D.C. Cir. 2019 Wisconsin.3
Second, on October 30, 2020, EPA
released and accepted public comment on updated 2023 modeling that used the 2016 emissions platform developed under the EPA/Multi-Jurisdictional Organization MJO/state collaborative project as the primary source for the base year and future year emissions data. On April 30, 2021, EPA published the final Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule CSAPR Update for the 2008 ozone NAAQS Revised CSAPR
Update using the same modeling that was made publicly available in the proposed rulemaking for the Revised CSAPR Update.4 Although that modeling focused on the year 2023, EPA
conducted an interpolation analysis of these modeling results to generate air a final rule, which EPA posted to its website at https www.epa.gov/air-quality-implementationplans/epas-approval-2015-8-hour-ozone-interstatetransport-requirements. EPA noted in that posting Notwithstanding the fact that the EPA is posting a pre-publication version, the final rule will not be promulgated until published in the Federal Register. EPA will not publish either the March 24, 2020 document or the January 19, 2021
document in the Federal Register, and now intends that this notice constitutes final action with respect to the 2019 proposal, superseding all versions of previous draft final action documents.
3 Maryland involved EPAs denial of administrative petitions filed by the states of Maryland and Delaware under CAA section 126b, seeking to have EPA impose emissions limits on sources in upwind states alleged to be emitting in violation of the Good Neighbor Provision. The court disagreed with EPA that use of a 2023 analytic year, consistent with the 2024 attainment date for areas classified as being in Moderate nonattainment, was a proper reading of the courts earlier decision in Wisconsin. Id. at 1204.
4 Revised Cross-State Air Pollution Rule Update for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS, 86 FR 23054; see also Emissions Modeling TSD titled Preparation of Emissions Inventories for the 2016v1 North American Emissions Modeling Platform. This TSD
is available in the docket for this action and at https www.epa.gov/air-emissionsmodeling/
2016v1-platform. The underlying modeling files are available on data drives in the Docket office for public review. See the docket for the Revised CSAPR Update EPAHQOAR20200272. See also Air Quality Modeling Data Drives_Final RCU.pdf, available in the docket for this action for a file inventory and instructions on how to access the modeling files.

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quality and contribution values for the 2021 analytic year, consistent with the Maryland holding, as the relevant analytic year for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS.
As a result, EPA issued a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking SNPRM on July 19, 2021, which relied on the new modeling and analysis to supplement EPAs proposed finding in the December 30, 2019 NPRM
that emissions from sources in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina will not significantly contribute to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS in any other state.5 See 86 FR 37942. The new modeling and analysis indicated that Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, individually, will not contribute greater than one percent of the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS to any potential nonattainment or maintenance receptors in 2021. In addition, EPA analyzed past and projected emissions of ozone precursors nitrogen oxides NOX and volatile organic compounds VOCs, finding a downward trend in emissions to support the modeling analysis and indicate that the contributions from emissions from sources in Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina to ozone receptors in downwind states will continue to decline and remain below one percent of the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Thus, the July 19, 2021 SNPRM provided that EPA continues to propose to approve the interstate transport portions of the infrastructure SIP submissions from Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina as meeting CAA section 110a2DiI requirements for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. See 86 FR
37942.
The technical rationale for EPAs proposed action is given in the July 19, 2021 SNPRM and in supportive materials contained in the docket for this action. The comment period for the July 19, 2021 SNPRM closed on August 18, 2021, and EPA received no additional comments. However, EPA
did receive comments on the original December 30, 2019 NPRM, and relevant responses are provided in section II.
EPA is finalizing the approval of this action based on the technical rationale 5 EPA previously proposed to approve infrastructure SIP elements submitted to fulfill the interstate transport requirements of CAA section 110a2DiI for the states of Alabama and Tennessee for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS in the December 30, 2019, NPRM referenced previously in this rule. However, the July 19, 2021 SNPRM did not address these submissions, and EPA is deferring action on the referenced SIP submissions from Alabama and Tennessee at this time.

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