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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 183 / Friday, September 24, 2021 / Proposed Rules milestone date, consistent with the control strategy in the SJV PM2.5
Plan.214 The identified regulatory measures include State measures for light-duty vehicles and non-road vehicles and several District measures for stationary and area sources.215
CARB submitted its 2017 Quantitative Milestone Report for the San Joaquin Valley to the EPA on December 20, 2018.216 The report includes a certification that CARB and the District met the 2017 quantitative milestones identified in the SJV PM2.5 Plan for the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS and discusses the States and Districts progress on implementing the three CARB measures and six District measures identified in Appendix H as quantitative milestones for the 2017 milestone year. On February 15, 2021, the EPA determined that the 2017 Quantitative Milestone Report was adequate.217 In our evaluation of the 2017 Quantitative Milestone Report, we found that the control measures in the Plan are in effect, consistent with the RFP
demonstration in the SJV PM2.5 Plan for the 1997 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS, but we noted that the determination of adequacy did not constitute approval of any component of the SJV PM2.5 Plan.218
3. The EPAs Review of the States Submission The RFP demonstration in the SJV
PM2.5 Plan identifies quantitative milestone dates i.e., December 31 of 2017, 2020, and 2023 that are consistent with the requirements of 40
CFR 51.1013a4 and presents projected RFP emissions levels for direct PM2.5 and NOX to be achieved by these milestone dates based on the implementation schedule for existing control measures in the area i.e., baseline measures. The projected emissions levels based on the implementation schedule in the Plan 214 Id. We note that the Districts identified quantitative milestones for 2023 appear to contain a typographical error, as they include a District report on the status of SIP measures adopted between 2017 and 2020 as per the schedule included in the adopted Plan. Id. at H18 and H
19. We understand that the District intended to refer here to the status of SIP measures adopted between 2020 and 2023, consistent with the schedule in the 2018 PM2.5 Plan.
215 Id. at H18 and H19 District milestones, and H21 and H22 State milestones.
216 Letter dated December 20, 2018, from Richard W. Corey, Executive Officer, CARB, to Michael Stoker, Regional Administrator, EPA Region IX, with attachment 2017 Quantitative Milestone Report for the 1997 and 2006 NAAQS.
217 Letter dated February 15, 2021, from Deborah Jordan, Acting Regional Administrator, EPA Region IX, to Richard W. Corey, Executive Officer, CARB, with enclosure titled EPA Evaluation of 2017
Quantitative Milestone Report.
218 Id.

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demonstrate that the control strategy will achieve direct PM2.5 and NOX
emissions reductions at rates representing generally linear progress towards attainment between the 2013
baseline year and the 2020 attainment year. The target emissions levels and associated control requirements provide for objective evaluation of the areas progress towards attainment of the 1997
24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS.
The States quantitative milestones in Appendix H are to implement specific measures listed in the States control measure commitments that apply to heavy-duty trucks and buses, light-duty vehicles, and non-road equipment sources and may provide substantial reductions in emissions of direct PM2.5
and NOX from mobile sources in the San Joaquin Valley. Similarly, the Districts quantitative milestones in Appendix H
are to implement specific measures listed in the Districts control measure commitments that apply to sources such as residential wood burning, commercial charbroiling, glass melting furnaces, and internal combustion engines, and that may provide substantial reductions in emissions of direct PM2.5 and NOX from stationary sources. These milestones provide an objective means for tracking the States and Districts progress in implementing their respective control strategies and, thus, provide for objective evaluation of the San Joaquin Valleys progress toward timely attainment.
For these reasons, we propose to determine that the SJV PM2.5 Plan satisfies the requirements for RFP in CAA section 172c2 and 40 CFR
51.1012 and for quantitative milestones in CAA section 189c and 40 CFR
51.1013 for the 1997 24-hour PM2.5
NAAQS in the San Joaquin Valley for purposes of both the Serious area and CAA section 189d attainment plans.
Because we are proposing to determine that the San Joaquin Valley has attained the 1997 24-hour PM2.5 NAAQS by the December 31, 2020 attainment date, as discussed in section V of this proposed rule, we are also proposing to determine that the requirement for a postattainment milestone will no longer apply in the San Joaquin Valley nonattainment area for these NAAQS.
As described in section IV.E.1 above, the purpose of the post-attainment quantitative milestone is to provide the EPA with the tools necessary to monitor the areas continued progress toward attainment in the event the area fails to attain by the attainment date.219 Once an area has attained the NAAQS, no further milestones are necessary or
meaningful. 220 Similarly, the section 189c2 requirement to submit a quantitative milestone report no longer applies when the area has attained the standard.221 Accordingly, upon a final determination that the San Joaquin Valley area has attained the 1997 24hour PM2.5 NAAQS by the attainment date, the post-attainment RFP milestone will no longer have purpose and the EPA is proposing to find that the requirement will no longer apply to the San Joaquin Valley. If we finalize this action as proposed, the State will no longer be required to submit a quantitative milestone report for the San Joaquin Valley under 40 CFR 51.1013b for the purposes of the 2023 postattainment milestone year identified in the Plan for the 1997 24-hour PM2.5
NAAQS.
F. Contingency Measures 1. Requirements for Contingency Measures Under CAA section 172c9, each state required to make a nonattainment plan SIP submission must include, in such plan, contingency measures to be implemented if an area fails to meet RFP
RFP contingency measures or fails to attain the NAAQS by the applicable attainment date attainment contingency measures. Under the PM2.5 SIP Requirements Rule, states must include contingency measures that will be implemented following a determination by the EPA that the state has failed: 1 To meet any RFP
requirement in the approved SIP; 2 to meet any quantitative milestone in the approved SIP; 3 to submit a required quantitative milestone report; or 4 to attain the applicable PM2.5 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date.222
Contingency measures must be fully adopted rules or control measures that are ready to be implemented quickly upon failure to meet RFP or failure of the area to meet the relevant NAAQS by the applicable attainment date.223
The purpose of contingency measures is to continue progress in reducing emissions while a state revises its SIP to meet the missed RFP requirement or to correct ongoing nonattainment. Neither the CAA nor the EPAs implementing regulations establish a specific level of emissions reductions that implementation of contingency measures must achieve, but the EPA
recommends that contingency measures provide for emissions reductions 220 75

FR 13710, 13713 March 23, 2010.

221 Id.
222 40

CFR 51.1014a.
FR 58010, 58066 and General Preamble Addendum, 42015.
223 81

219 81

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FR 58010, 58064.

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