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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 137 / Wednesday, July 21, 2021 / Proposed Rules that the goal of no visibility degradation for the twenty percent best days is also being achieved. Caney Creek Wilderness area in Arkansas is also on track to achieve its visibility reduction goals.

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H. Review of Visibility Monitoring Strategy The monitoring strategy for regional haze in Louisiana relies upon participation in the IMPROVE 72
network, which is the primary monitoring network for regional haze nationwide. The IMPROVE network provides a long-term record for tracking visibility improvement or degradation.
LDEQ currently relies on data collected through the IMPROVE network to satisfy the regional haze monitoring requirement as specified in 40 CFR
51.308d4 of the Regional Haze Rule.
In Louisiana, there is one active IMPROVE site monitor AQS ID: 22
0719000 located in Orleans County and represents the 5,000 acres of the Breton National Wilderness Refuge.
In the progress report, LDEQ reported observed visibility data annually for the Breton National Wilderness Refuge to the EPA from the IMPROVE dataset.73
LDEQ tracked the annual visibility index at Breton from 2001 to 2018 and reported five-year visibility trends for comparison of baseline, current, and natural conditions. LDEQ continues to track these visibility trends at Breton and identified no future changes in this network. Baseline and natural conditions for visibility progress comparisons were made using the 2008
SIP revision, when available. Otherwise, baseline 74 and natural conditions values were also from the IMPROVE
dataset.75 The Breton IMPROVE monitor also quantified aerosol species that were related to visibility impairment. The 72 See 64 FR 35715 July 1, 1999. Data from IMPROVE show that visibility impairment caused by air pollution occurs virtually all the time at most national parks and wilderness areas. The average visual range in many Class I areas i.e., national parks and memorial parks, wilderness areas, and international parks meeting certain size criteria in the western United States is 100150 km, or about one-half to two-thirds of the visual range that would exist without anthropogenic air pollution. In most of the eastern Class I areas of the United States, the average visual range is less than 30 km, or about one-fifth of the visual range that would exist underestimated natural conditions.
73 http vista.cira.colostate.edu/DataWarehouse/
IMPROVE/Data/SummaryData/RHRl2018/SIAl grouplmeansl12l19l2p.csv.
74 The State noted that the Breton IMPROVE
monitor did not meet the data capture requirements of the Regional Haze Rule for the 20002004
baseline monitoring period, so data from a nearby monitoring site, the Gulfport SEARCH site, was used to supplement the Breton monitoring data to establish the baseline.
75 http vista.cira.colostate.edu/IMPROVE/Data/
NaturalConditions/NaturalConditionsII_Format2_
v2.xls.

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aerosol species collected at Breton for regional haze purposes included ammonium sulfate, ammonium nitrate, organic mass, elemental carbon, fine soil, coarse mass, and sea salt. The major cause of reduced visibility at Breton was identified as sulfate particles, formed principally from SO2.76 The EPA proposes to conclude that the State has adequately addressed the applicable provision under 40 CFR
51.308 for a visibility monitoring strategy.
I. Determination of Adequacy of Existing Implementation Plan Louisiana provided a negative declaration stating that the Louisiana Regional Haze SIP is adequate and no further substantive revisions are needed at this time. Since the original Louisiana Regional Haze SIP submission in 2008, the State submitted three subsequent SIP revisions to fulfill its commitment to address all of the deficiencies identified in our two previous June 7, 2012, and July 3, 2012, actions on the 2008 SIP. Specific controls and enforceable limits were imposed on eleven major stationary sources that resulted in a significant decrease in visibility impairing pollutants. These controls, approved by EPA, included BART reductions on eight EGU sources and three non-EGU sources. When considering the SIP requirements that we approved in these SIP revisions along with the visibility and emission information provided in the progress report; it is clear that the implementation plan is adequate to meet its emission reductions and visibility goals for the first implementation period. Current visibility conditions in Louisiana have improved beyond the 2018 RPGs.
Visibility has also improved at the one Arkansas Class I areas affected by Louisiana sources. The current emission trends show that SO2, NOX, and PM
emissions the main contributors to regional haze in Louisiana have all been decreasing since the baseline period. The emission reductions necessary for meeting the established RPGs were achieved and exceeded the established goals. Because the SIP will ensure the control of SO2, NOX, and PM
emission reductions relied upon by Louisiana and other states in setting their RPGs, the EPA is proposing to approve Louisianas finding that there is no need for revision of the existing implementation plan to achieve the RPGs for the Class I areas in Louisiana and in nearby states impacted by 76 See Figure 15 and Tables 16 through 23 pages 3240 of the progress report.

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Louisiana sources. We, therefore, propose to approve Louisianas negative declaration under 40 CFR 51.308h that no further substantive revisions are needed.
J. Consultation With Federal Land Managers The Regional Haze Rule requires the State to provide the designated Federal Land Managers FLMs with an opportunity for in-person consultation at least sixty days prior to holding any public hearings on a SIP revision for the first implementation period. Louisiana invited the FLMs to comment on its draft progress report on October 29, 2020, which was sixty days prior to the public review comment period on December 28, 2020. No comments were received from the Federal Land managers. The EPA proposes to conclude that Louisiana has adequately addressed the applicable FLM
provisions under 40 CFR 51.308i.
III. EPAs Proposed Action The EPA is proposing to approve Louisianas regional haze five-year progress report SIP revision submitted March 25, 2021 as meeting the applicable regional haze requirements set forth in 40 CFR 51.308g. The EPA
is also proposing to approve Louisianas determination of adequacy under 40
CFR 51.308h that no further substantive revisions are needed. Lastly, the EPA is proposing to find that Louisiana fulfilled its requirement in 40
CFR 51.308i regarding state coordination with FLMs.
IV. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP submission that complies with the provisions of the Act and applicable Federal regulations.
42 U.S.C. 7410k; 40 CFR 52.02a.
Thus, in reviewing SIP submissions, the EPAs role is to approve state choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this action merely proposes to approve state law as meeting Federal requirements and does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state law. For that reason, this action:
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Orders 12866 58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993 and 13563 76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011;
Does not impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act 44
U.S.C. 3501 et seq.;

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