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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 229 / Thursday, December 2, 2021 / Proposed Rules
EPA may publish any comment received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any information you consider to be Confidential Business Information CBI or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Multimedia submissions audio, video, etc. must be accompanied by a written comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of the primary submission i.e., on the web, cloud, or other file sharing system. For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit www2.epa.gov/dockets/commentingepa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Tiereny Bell, 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.
The telephone number is 404 562
9088. Ms. Bell can also be reached via electronic mail at bell.tiereny@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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I. Background On October 1, 2015, EPA promulgated a revised 8-hour primary and secondary ozone NAAQS, strengthening both from 0.075 parts per million ppm to 0.070
ppm the 2015 8-hour Ozone NAAQS.
See 80 FR 65292 October 26, 2015. The 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS is set at 0.070 ppm based on an annual fourthhighest daily maximum 8-hour average concentration averaged over three years.
Under EPAs regulations at 40 CFR part 50, the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS is attained when the 3-year average of the annual fourth-highest daily maximum 8-hour average ambient air quality ozone concentration is less than or equal to 0.070 ppm. See 40 CFR 50.19.
Ambient air quality monitoring data for the 3-year period must meet a data completeness requirement. The ambient air quality monitoring data completeness requirement is met when the average percentage of days with valid ambient monitoring data is greater than 90 percent, and no single year has less than 75 percent data completeness as determined using Appendix U of part 50.
Upon promulgation of a new or revised ozone NAAQS, the CAA
requires EPA to designate as nonattainment any area that is violating
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the NAAQS based on the three most recent years of ambient air quality data at the conclusion of the designation process. On April 30, 2018, EPA
designated a 7-county area in and around metropolitan Atlanta as a marginal ozone nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS.1 The Atlanta Area was designated nonattainment for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS on April 30, 2018
effective August 3, 2018 using 2014
2016 ambient air quality data. See 83 FR
25776 June 4, 2018. On December 6, 2018, EPA finalized a rule titled Implementation of the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone: Nonattainment Area State Implementation Plan Requirements SIP Requirements Rule that establishes the requirements that state, tribal, and local air quality management agencies must meet as they develop implementation plans for areas where air quality exceeds the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS.2 See 83 FR 62998
December 6, 2018; 40 CFR part 51, subpart CC. This rule establishes nonattainment area attainment dates based on Table 1 of section 181a of the CAA, including an attainment date of August 3, 2021, three years after the August 3, 2018, designation effective date, for areas classified as marginal for the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Based on the nonattainment designation, Georgia was required to develop a SIP
revision addressing certain CAA
requirements for the Atlanta Area, including, pursuant to CAA section 182a3B, a SIP revision addressing the emissions statements requirements.
Ground level ozone is not emitted directly into the air but is created by chemical reactions between oxides of nitrogen NOX and volatile organic compounds VOC in the presence of sunlight. Emissions from industrial facilities and electric utilities, motor vehicle exhaust, gasoline vapors, and chemical solvents are some of the major sources of NOX and VOC. Section 182a3B of the CAA requires states with ozone nonattainment areas to submit a SIP revision requiring annual emissions statements to be submitted to 1 The nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone standard consists of the following counties:
Bartow, Clayton, Cobb, DeKalb, Fulton, Gwinnett, and Henry.
2 The SIP Requirements Rule addresses a range of nonattainment area SIP requirements for the 2015
8-hour ozone NAAQS, including requirements pertaining to attainment demonstrations, reasonable further progress, reasonably available control technology, reasonably available control measures, major nonattainment new source review, emission inventories, and the timing of SIP submissions and compliance with emission control measures in the SIP.

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the state by the owner or operator of each NOX and VOC stationary source.
However, a state may waive the emissions statements requirements for any class or category of stationary sources which emit less than 25 tons per year tpy of VOC or NOX if the state provides an inventory of emissions as required by CAA section 182 that accounts for emissions from those sources. See CAA section 182a3Bii. The first statement is due three years from the areas nonattainment designation, and subsequent statements are due at least annually thereafter.
On July 2, 2020, Georgia submitted a SIP revision to address the emissions statements requirements related to the 2015 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the Atlanta Area.3 On June 28, 2021, to correct a deficiency in the July 2, 2020, submittal, GA EPD submitted a draft SIP
revision supplementing that SIP
submittal along with a parallel processing request.4 Subsequently, on November 4, 2021, Georgia submitted the draft June 28, 2021, SIP submittal in final form, thus negating the need for EPA to parallel process the draft June 28, 2021, SIP submittal. EPA is proposing to approve the July 2, 2020, SIP submittal as updated by the November 4, 2021, SIP submittal, as meeting the requirements of section 182a3B of the CAA and associated federal regulations. EPAs analysis of these SIP revisions and how they address the emissions statements requirements is discussed in the analysis of states submittal section of this notice.
II. Analysis of States Submittal As discussed above, section 182a3B of the CAA requires states to submit a SIP revision requiring the owner or operator of each NOX and VOC
stationary source located in an ozone nonattainment area to submit to the state annual emissions statements. The first statement is due three years from 3 In the July 2, 2020, SIP revision, GA EPD
submitted a certification that existing Georgia rules satisfy the permit program requirements in section 172c5 and section 173 of the CAA. GA EPD also provided an emissions inventory to satisfy the requirements in section 182a1 of the CAA. EPA
will take action on these SIP revisions in separate rulemakings.
4 Georgias July 2, 2020, SIP revision included a request for conditional approval regarding the emissions statements requirements. Under CAA
section 110k4, EPA may conditionally approve a SIP revision based on a commitment from a state to adopt specific enforceable measures by a date certain, but not later than one year from the date of approval. Georgias November 4, 2021, SIP
revision supplements the July 2, 2020, submittal described later in this section and renders the conditional approval request moot as discussed in section II.

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