Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; West Virginia; 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards

AGENCY:

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:

Proposed rule.

SUMMARY:

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposes to approve the state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the State of West Virginia for the purpose of updating the effective date by which the State regulations incorporate by reference the national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS), additional monitoring methods, and additional equivalent monitoring methods. This update will effectively add the following to the West Virginia SIP: The 2015 ozone NAAQS, monitoring reference and equivalent methods pertaining to fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), carbon monoxide (CO), and course particulate matter (PM₁₀), and it will revise the ozone monitoring season to March 1st through October 31st, the Federal Reference Method (FRM), the Federal Equivalent Method (FEM), and the Photochemical Assessment Monitoring Stations (PAMS) network. The SIP revision will also change a reference from the “West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection,” to the “Division of Air Quality.” In the Final Rules section of this Federal Register, EPA is approving the State's SIP submittal as a direct final rule without prior proposal because the Agency views this as a noncontroversial submittal and anticipates no adverse comments. A detailed rationale for the approval is set forth in the direct final rule. If no adverse comments are received in response to this action, no further activity is contemplated. If EPA receives adverse comments, the direct final rule will be withdrawn and all public comments received will be addressed in a subsequent final rule based on this proposed rule. EPA will not institute a second comment period. Any parties interested in commenting on this action should do so at this time.

DATES:

Comments must be received in writing by November 15, 2017.

ADDRESSES:

Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R03-OAR-2017-0413 at http://www.regulations.gov,, or via email to stahl.cynthia@epa.gov. For comments submitted at Regulations.gov, follow the online instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. For either manner of submission, the 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, please contact the person identified in the For Further Information Contact section. For the full EPA public comment policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general guidance on making effective comments, please visit http://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Joseph Schulingkamp, (215) 814-2021, or by email at schulingkamp.joseph@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

For further information on this rulemaking action to approve West Virginia's SIP revisions to update of the effective date by which the State regulations incorporate by reference the Federal NAAQS, additional monitoring methods, and additional equivalent monitoring methods, effectively adding the 2015 ozone NAAQS and ambient air monitoring reference and equivalent methods pertaining to PM_2.5, PM₁₀, and CO, and changing the reference to the state air agency, please see the information provided in the direct final action, with the same title, that is located in the “Rules and Regulations” section of this Federal Register publication.