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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 112 / Monday, June 14, 2021 / Rules and Regulations
EPA for treatment of tribes in the same manner as states. Under the TAR, tribes generally are not subject to the same submission schedules imposed by the CAA on states. As authorized by the TAR, tribes may seek eligibility to submit designation recommendations to the EPA.

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VI. What is the chronology for this designations action and what guidance did the EPA provide?
On February 25, 2016, the EPA issued guidance for states and tribal agencies to use for purposes of making designation recommendations as required by CAA
section 107d1A. See February 25, 2016, memorandum from Janet G.
McCabe, Acting Assistant Administrator, to Regional Administrators, Regions 110, titled, Area Designations for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards Designations Guidance.
The Designations Guidance provided the anticipated timeline for designations and identified important factors that the EPA recommended states and tribes consider in making their recommendations and that EPA
intended to consider in promulgating designations. These factors include air quality data, emissions and emissionsrelated data, meteorological data, geography/topography, and jurisdictional boundaries. In the Designations Guidance, the EPA asked that states and tribes submit their designation recommendations, including appropriate area boundaries, to the EPA by October 1, 2016. The EPA
had previously issued two guidance memoranda related to designating areas of Indian country that also apply for designations for the 2015 ozone NAAQS. See December 20, 2011, memorandum from Stephen D. Page, Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, to Regional Air Directors, Regions IX, titled, Policy for Establishing Separate Air Quality Designations for Areas of Indian Country, Tribal Designations Guidance and December 20, 2011, memorandum from Stephen D. Page, Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, to Regional Air Directors, Regions IX, titled, Guidance to Regions for Working with Tribes during the National Ambient Air Quality Standards NAAQS
Designations Process. In the Designation Guidance, the EPA
indicated the Agency expected to complete the initial designations for the 2015 ozone NAAQS on a 2-year schedule, by October 1, 2017, consistent with CAA 107d1Bi.

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On November 6, 2017, the EPA
designated as attainment/unclassifiable 2,646 counties,5 including tribal lands within those counties, for which the states recommended a designation of attainment or attainment/unclassifiable.
This represents approximately 85
percent of the counties in the U.S. The EPA also designated a three-county area in Washington as unclassifiable as recommended by the state. Consistent with the EPAs Tribal Designation Guidance, the EPA designated two areas of Indian country Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians and Forest County Potawatomi Community as separate attainment/unclassifiable areas.
On or about December 22, 2017, the EPA sent 120-day letters to Governors and tribal leaders notifying them of the EPAs preliminary response to their designation recommendations for all areas of the country not designated in the November 2017 action, with the exception of eight counties in the San Antonio metropolitan area. For the areas addressed in the 120-day letters, the EPA requested that states and tribes submit any additional information that they wanted the EPA to consider in making final designation decisions by February 28, 2018, including any certified 2017 air quality monitoring data.
Although not required by section 107d2B of the CAA, the EPA also provided a 30-day public comment period on the designation recommendations from states and tribes and the EPAs intended designations addressed in the 120-day letters to states and tribes. The EPA announced the public comment period in the Federal Register on January 5, 2018 83 FR 651.
On April 30, 2018, the EPA finalized designations for the areas addressed in the 120-day letter responses to states and tribes. In response to the Clean Wisconsin court decision relating to that April 30, 2018, action, the EPA has again applied a uniform, nationwide analytical approach and interpretation of CAA section 107d1 to these areas across the country and reviewed the state and tribal responses and public comments, as well as reviewed the court decision itself, in the Agencys decision 5 Any
reference to counties in this action also includes non-county administrative or statistical areas that are comparable to counties. Louisiana parishes; the organized boroughs of Alaska; the District of Columbia; and the independent cities of the States of Virginia, Maryland, Missouri, and Nevada are equivalent to counties for administrative purposes. Alaskas Unorganized Borough is divided into 10 census areas that are statistically equivalent to counties. As of 2017, there are currently 3,142 counties and countyequivalents in the United States.

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to revise certain designations remanded by the court. Comments from the states, tribes and the public, and EPAs updated responses to significant comments, are also available in the docket along with the individual TSDs for areas with associated remanded counties.
In the Clean Wisconsin decision, the D.C. Circuit directed the EPA to complete a process to revise, as appropriate, its April 2018 designations for the remanded counties as expeditiously as practicable. The CAA
does not require the EPA to follow a specific process when final designations are remanded to the Agency. The EPAs final action reflects a reasonable interpretation of the CAA section 107d requirements, particularly given the courts direction and the process already provided to states, tribes, and the public.
The EPA is finalizing the designations addressed in this action without providing additional opportunity for public comment or another 120-day period for states to respond. Under CAA
section 107d2B, the EPA is not required to provide a public comment period for designations actions. CAA
section 107d1Bii lays out a particular process when the EPA
disagrees with a states recommended designations. For the 14 counties addressed in this Federal Register document, the EPA is either 1 agreeing with the state recommendation, which does not require any further process, or 2 disagreeing with the state recommendation. For the latter category, the EPA has already expressed such disagreement and provided the relevant states Wisconsin, Indiana, and Missouri with the statutorily-mandated opportunity to demonstrate why EPAs intended designations were inappropriate.6 Each of those states took advantage of that opportunity and responded to the EPA with additional information.7 In the designations addressed in this Federal Register document, the EPA considered those responses, in addition to the rest of the data and information in the record.
Proceeding straight to finalization for these 14 areas also aligns with the 6 See 83 FR 651 2018 for the notification of availability of EPAs 120-day letters to the relevant states.
7 Comment submitted by Daniel L. Meyer, Secretary, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, EPAHQOAR201705480300;
Comment submitted by Bruno L. Pigott, Commissioner, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, EPAHQOAR201705480292;
Comment submitted by Darcy A. Bybee, Director, Air Pollution Control Program, Missouri Department of Natural Resources, EPAHQOAR
201705480303.

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