[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 7, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19408-19412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-07005]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R09-OAR-2020-0151; FRL-10007-67-Region 9]
Finding of Failure To Attain the 1987 24-Hour PM10 Standard;
Reclassification as Serious Nonattainment; Pinal County, Arizona
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is proposing to
determine that the West Pinal County, Arizona nonattainment area did
not attain the 1987 24-hour national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS or ``standard'') for particulate matter with a diameter of ten
micrometers or smaller (PM10) by December 31, 2018, the
statutory attainment date for the nonattainment area. This proposal is
based on the EPA's calculation of the PM10 design value for
the nonattainment area over the 2016-2018 period, using complete,
quality-assured, and certified PM10 monitoring data. If the
EPA makes a final determination that West Pinal County has failed to
attain the PM10 NAAQS by its attainment date, then Clean Air
Act (CAA) section 188(b)(2) requires that the nonattainment area be
reclassified to Serious by operation of law. Within 18 months from the
effective date of a reclassification to Serious, the State must submit
State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions that comply with the
statutory and regulatory requirements for Serious PM10
nonattainment areas.
DATES: Written comments must be received on or before May 7, 2020.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R09-
OAR-2020-0151 at https://www.regulations.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. 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. The 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 https://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jerry Wamsley, EPA Region IX, (415)
947-4111, [email protected].
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SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us'' and
``our'' refer to the EPA.
Table of Contents
I. Background and Regulatory Context
II. Criteria for Determining That an Area Has Attained the 1987 24-
Hour PM10 NAAQS
III. The EPA's Proposed Action and Associated Rationale
A. Data Completeness, Network Review, and Certification of Data
B. Finding of Failure to Attain the PM10 NAAQS
IV. Summary of Our Proposed Action
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. Background and Regulatory Context
The EPA sets the NAAQS for certain ambient air pollutants at levels
required to protect public health and welfare. Particulate matter with
an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a nominal ten micrometers
(microns), or PM10, is one of the ambient air pollutants for
which the EPA has established health-based standards, and we have
promulgated and revised the PM10 NAAQS several times.
The EPA revised the NAAQS for particulate matter on July 1, 1987,
replacing standards for total suspended particulates (TSP, particulate
less than 30 microns in diameter) with new standards applying only to
particulate matter up to 10 microns in diameter.\1\ In 1987, the EPA
established two PM10 NAAQS, an annual standard and a 24-hour
standard. An area attains the 24-hour PM10 standard of 150
micrograms per cubic meter ([mu]g/m\3\) when the expected number of
days per calendar year with a 24-hour concentration exceeding the
standard (referred to as an ``exceedance'') over a three-year period,
is equal to or less than one.\2\ The annual PM10 standard
was revoked on October 17, 2006.\3\
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\1\ 52 FR 24634 (July 1, 1987).
\2\ An exceedance is defined as a daily value that is above the
level of the 24-hour standard, 150 [mu]g/m\3\, after rounding to the
nearest 10 [mu]g/m\3\ (i.e., values ending in five or greater are to
be rounded up). Consequently, a recorded value of 154 [mu]g/m\3\
would not be an exceedance because it would be rounded to 150 [mu]g/
m\3\; whereas, a recorded value of 155 [mu]g/m\3\ would be an
exceedance because it would be rounded to 160 [mu]g/m\3\. See 40 CFR
part 50.6 and 40 CFR 50 Appendix K, section 1.0.
\3\ 71 FR 61144 (October 17, 2006).
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On May 31, 2012, the EPA designated a portion of state lands in
Pinal County, Arizona (``West Pinal County'') as nonattainment for the
1987 p.m.10 NAAQS based on 2006-2008 data.\4\ As a result of
the nonattainment designation, West Pinal County was classified as a
``Moderate'' PM10 nonattainment area.
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\4\ 77 FR 32024 (May 31, 2012). The boundaries for the West
Pinal County nonattainment area are described in 40 CFR 81.303.
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For a PM10 nonattainment area classified as Moderate
under the CAA, section 188(c) of the CAA states that the Moderate area
attainment date is ``as expeditiously as practicable, but no later than
the end of the sixth calendar year after the area's designation as
nonattainment.'' Consequently, the applicable attainment date for West
Pinal County, designated nonattainment in 2012, was December 31, 2018.
CAA section 188(b)(2) requires the EPA to determine whether any
PM10 nonattainment area classified as Moderate attained the
24-hour PM10 NAAQS by the area's attainment date and
requires the EPA to make such a determination within six months after
that date. If the EPA determines that a Moderate area has not attained
the NAAQS by the relevant attainment date, then the area shall be
reclassified as a Serious area by operation of law. As discussed
previously, the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS is met when the
expected number of exceedances averaged over a three-year period is
equal to or less than one at each monitoring site within the
nonattainment area.
II. Criteria for Determining That an Area Has Attained the 1987 24-Hour
PM10 NAAQS
Generally, the EPA's determination of whether an area's air quality
meets the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS is based on three years of
complete, quality-assured data that has been gathered at established
state and local air monitoring stations (SLAMS) in a nonattainment area
and entered into the EPA's Air Quality System (AQS) database.\5\ Data
from ambient air monitors operated by state or local agencies in
compliance with the EPA monitoring requirements must be submitted to
AQS. Monitoring agencies certify annually that these data are accurate
to the best of their knowledge. Accordingly, the EPA relies primarily
on data in AQS when determining the attainment status of nonattainment
areas.
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\5\ AQS is the EPA's national repository of ambient air quality
data.
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Ambient air quality data must generally meet data completeness
requirements for each year under consideration. The completeness
requirements are met when at least 75 percent of the scheduled sampling
days for each quarter have valid data.\6\ The data requirements for
showing that a monitor has failed an attainment test, and thus recorded
a violation of the PM10 standard, are less stringent and the
75 percent data capture requirement does not apply provided there is
sufficient data to unambiguously establish nonattainment of the
standard.\7\
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\6\ 40 CFR part 50, Appendix K, section 2.3.
\7\ 40 CFR part 50, Appendix K, section 2.3(a).
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III. The EPA's Proposed Action and Associated Rationale
This proposed action is pursuant to the EPA's statutory obligation,
under CAA section 188(b)(2), to determine whether the West Pinal County
nonattainment area has attained the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS
by its December 31, 2018 attainment date. As discussed in Section II, a
nonattainment area's ambient data must meet several criteria if the EPA
is to determine that the nonattainment area has met the 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS. These criteria include complete, quality-assured
and certified data collected from a valid ambient air quality
monitoring network and a design value calculated from the ambient data
to be less than the applicable NAAQS.
A. Data Completeness, Network Review, and Certification of Data
In accordance with 40 CFR part 50, Appendices J and K, a finding of
attainment of the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS must generally be
based upon complete, quality-assured data gathered at monitoring sites
in the nonattainment area and entered in the AQS. For the 24-hour
PM10 standard, Appendix K provides that all data produced by
SLAMS and other sites submitted to the EPA in accordance with the part
58 requirements be used for evaluating attainment.\8\
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\8\ 40 CFR part 50, Appendix K, section 2.3(a).
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The PM10 ambient air quality monitoring data collected
within the West Pinal County nonattainment area for the 2016-2018
three-year period must meet data completeness criteria, or otherwise
unambiguously establish nonattainment according to 40 CFR part 50,
Appendix K, section 2.3. The ambient air quality monitoring data
completeness requirements are met when quarterly data capture rates for
all four quarters in a calendar year over a three-year period are at
least 75 percent. For the purposes of this proposal, we reviewed the
data for the 2016-2018 period for completeness and determined that the
PM10 data met the completeness criterion for all 12 quarters
at PM10 monitoring sites in the West Pinal County
nonattainment area.\9\
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\9\ AQS Design Value Report, dated March 5, 2020, included
within our docket. Also, refer to Table 1 below and its endnotes for
additional information concerning the Eloy and Maricopa monitoring
sites.
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[[Page 19410]]
The EPA's determination as to whether an area has attained the
PM10 NAAQS pursuant to CAA section 188(b)(2) is based on
monitored ambient air quality data. The validity of this determination
of attainment depends in part on whether the monitoring network
adequately measures ambient PM10 levels in the nonattainment
area. The Pinal County Air Quality Control District (``Pinal County'')
is the governmental agency with the authority and responsibilities
under the State's laws for collecting ambient air quality data for the
West Pinal County nonattainment area. Pinal County submits annual
monitoring network plans to the EPA. These plans discuss the status of
the ambient air monitoring network, as required under 40 CFR part 58.
The EPA reviews these annual network plans for compliance with the
applicable reporting requirements in 40 CFR 58.10. With respect to
PM10, the EPA has found that the annual network plans
submitted by Pinal County meet the applicable requirements under 40 CFR
part 58.\10\ Furthermore, we concluded from our 2019 Technical Systems
Audit of Pinal County's ambient air quality monitoring program that the
ambient air monitoring network currently meets or exceeds the
requirements for the minimum number of monitoring sites designated as
SLAMS for PM10 in the West Pinal County nonattainment
area.\11\ Pinal County certifies annually that the data it submits to
AQS are quality-assured and has done so for each year relevant to our
determination of attainment, 2016-2018.\12\
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\10\ We have included in our docket the correspondence
transmitting our annual network reviews, e.g., correspondence dated
October 30, 2018, from Gwen Yoshimura, Manager, Air Quality Analysis
Office, EPA Region IX, to Michael Sundblom, Director, Pinal County
Air Quality Control District.
\11\ We have included in our docket the correspondence
concerning the most recent audit; see correspondence dated September
24, 2019, from Elizabeth J. Adams, Director, Air and Radiation
Division, EPA Region IX, to Michael Sundblom, Director, Pinal County
Air Quality Control District.
\12\ We have included in our docket Pinal County's annual data
certifications for 2016, 2017 and 2018, e.g., correspondence dated
April 25, 2019, from Josh DeZeeuw, Air Quality Manager, Pinal County
Air Quality Control District, to Gwen Yoshimura, Manager, Air
Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region IX. Annual data certification
requirements can be found at 40 CFR 58.15.
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B. Finding of Failure To Attain the PM10 NAAQS
As discussed previously, the EPA's evaluation of whether the West
Pinal County nonattainment area has met the 1987 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS is based on our review of the monitoring data,
the adequacy of the PM10 monitoring network in the
nonattainment area, and the reliability of the data collected by the
network. The PM10 standard is attained when the expected
number of exceedances, averaged over a three-year period, is less than
or equal to one. The expected number of exceedances averaged over a
three-year period at any given monitor is known as the PM10
design value for that site. The PM10 design value for the
nonattainment area is the highest design value from a monitor within
that area. Three consecutive years of air quality data are required to
show attainment of the PM10 standard.
Table 1 provides the 2018 PM10 design values for all
regulatory monitoring sites measuring PM10 within the West
Pinal County nonattainment area, expressed as a single value
representing the average expected exceedances over the three-year
period, 2016-2018.\13\ The PM10 data show that the design
values at multiple monitoring sites are greater than 1.0 estimated
annual average exceedances of the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS.
Consequently, the EPA proposes to determine, based upon three years of
complete, quality-assured and certified data from 2016-2018, that the
West Pinal County nonattainment area did not attain the 1987 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS by the applicable attainment date of December 31,
2018.
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\13\ A design value is calculated using a specific methodology
from monitored air quality data and is used to compare an area's air
quality to a NAAQS. The methodologies for calculating expected
exceedances for the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS are found in 40
CFR part 50, Appendix K, Section 2.1(a).
Table 1--2018 Design Values for the 1987 24-Hour PM10 NAAQS at Air Quality Monitoring Sites in the West Pinal
County Nonattainment Area, Based on 2016-2018 Data
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Monitoring site AQS identification number Design value
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Casa Grande Downtown..................................... 04-021-0001-3 4.1
Coolidge \a\............................................. 04-021-3004-1 2.0
Stanfield................................................ 04-021-3008-3 14.3
Combs.................................................... 04-021-3009-3 2.0
Pinal County Housing..................................... 04-021-3011-3 7.4
Eloy \b\................................................. 04-021-3014-3/04-021-3014-1 6.0
Hidden Valley............................................ 04-021-3015-3 32.8
Maricopa 1405/Maricopa \c\............................... 04-021-3016-3/04-021-3010-3 3.4
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Source: EPA AQS Design Value Report, dated March 5, 2020. Table 1 includes only data from monitoring sites in
the nonattainment area. Additional information can be found in the EPA AQS Violation Day Count Report, dated
March 18, 2020, and included in our docket.
\a\ The AQS Design Value Report contains design values for two monitors at the Coolidge monitoring site. The
second monitor (04-021-3004-2) is a collocated quality assurance monitor and is not used for comparison to the
NAAQS.
\b\ The EPA manually calculated the design value for the Eloy monitoring site by combining data from a manual
monitor (04-021-3014-1) with data from a continuous monitor (04-021-3014-3) that replaced the manual monitor
in early 2016. The monitors are reflected separately in the AQS Design Value Report. We have provided this
combined design value in the EPA 2018 PM10 Design Value Report, available from the EPA Air Trends website at
https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-design-values and in our docket via an Excel spreadsheet.
\c\ Pinal County relocated the Maricopa site (04-021-3010) to the Maricopa 1405 site (04-021-2016) in January
2017. The EPA approved this relocation; consequently, the data from both sites are combined to form one
continuous record for calculating a design value. See correspondence from Gwen Yoshimura, Acting Manager, Air
Quality Analysis Office, EPA Region IX, to Michael Sundblom, Director, Pinal County Air Quality Control
District, dated December 15, 2016. The monitors are reflected separately, however, in the AQS Design Value
Report. We have provided this combined design value in the EPA 2018 PM10 Design Value Report, available from
the EPA Air Trends website at https://www.epa.gov/air-trends/air-quality-design-values and in our docket via
an Excel spreadsheet.
If the EPA determines that a Moderate nonattainment area has failed
to attain the PM10 NAAQS by its applicable attainment date,
then CAA section 188(b)(2) provides that the area shall be reclassified
as a Serious area by
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operation of law. Accordingly, if the EPA takes final action on our
proposed determination that the West Pinal County Moderate area failed
to attain the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS by December 31, 2018,
the area will be reclassified to Serious. The EPA is taking comment on
this proposed finding of failure to attain and reclassification of the
West Pinal County PM10 nonattainment area from Moderate to
Serious.
IV. Summary of Our Proposed Action
In accordance with section 188(b)(2) of the CAA, the EPA is
proposing to determine that the West Pinal County Moderate
nonattainment area did not attain the 1987 24-hour PM10
NAAQS by its applicable attainment date of December 31, 2018. Our
proposed determination that West Pinal County failed to attain the
PM10 NAAQS is based on complete, quality-assured, and
certified PM10 monitoring data for the appropriate three-
year period, 2016-2018. We are soliciting comment on this proposed
finding that the West Pinal County Moderate nonattainment area failed
to attain the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS.
If we finalize our action as proposed, West Pinal County will be
reclassified as a Serious PM10 nonattainment area by
operation of law and will be subject to all applicable Serious area
attainment planning and nonattainment New Source Review requirements.
This includes the requirement to submit a Serious area air quality plan
within 18 months of the effective date of our final rule, per section
189(b)(2) of the CAA. This Serious area air quality plan must
demonstrate attainment of the 24-hour PM10 NAAQS by December
31, 2022, ten years after the area's designation to nonattainment, per
section 188(c)(2) of the CAA.
We will accept comments from the public on these proposals for the
next 30 days. The deadline and instructions for submission of comments
are provided in the DATES and ADDRESSES sections at the beginning of
this preamble.
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
A. Executive Order 12866: Regulatory Planning and Review, and Executive
Order 13563: Improving Regulation and Regulatory Review
This action is not a significant regulatory action under the terms
of Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993) and Executive
Order 13563 (76 FR 3821, January 21, 2011), and therefore was not
submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.
B. Executive Order 13771: Reducing Regulations and Controlling
Regulatory Costs
This action is not an Executive Order 13771 regulatory action
because it is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order
12866.
C. Paperwork Reduction Act
This action does not impose an information collection burden under
the provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501-3521)
because it does not contain any information collection activities.
D. Regulatory Flexibility Act
I certify that this action will not have a significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (RFA), 5 U.S.C. 601-612. This action will not impose
any requirements on small entities. This proposed action, if finalized,
would require the state to adopt and submit SIP revisions to satisfy
the statutory requirements that apply to Serious areas and would not
itself directly regulate any small entities. We continue to be
interested in the potential impacts of the proposed rule on small
entities and welcome comments on issues related to such impacts.
E. Unfunded Mandates Reform Act
This action does not contain any unfunded mandate of $100 million
or more and does not significantly or uniquely affect small
governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform Act (UMRA) (2
U.S.C. 1531- 1538). This action itself imposes no enforceable duty on
any state, local, or tribal governments, or the private sector. This
action proposes to determine that the West Pinal County nonattainment
area failed to attain the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS by its
applicable attainment date, which would trigger reclassification as a
Serious nonattainment area and existing statutory timeframes for the
state to submit SIP revisions. Such a reclassification in and of itself
does not impose any federal intergovernmental mandate.
F. Executive Order 13132: Federalism
This action does not have federalism implications. It will not have
substantial direct effects on the states, on the relationship between
the national government and the states, or on the distribution of power
and responsibilities among the various levels of government, as
specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999). The
requirement to submit SIP revisions to meet the 1987 24-hour
PM10 NAAQS is imposed by the CAA. This proposed rule does
not alter the distribution of power and responsibilities established in
the CAA. Thus, Executive Order 13132 does not apply to this action. In
the spirit of Executive Order 13132 and consistent with EPA policy to
promote communications between the EPA and state and local governments,
the EPA specifically solicits comments on this proposed action from
state and local officials.
G. Executive Order 13175, Consultation and Coordination With Indian
Tribal Governments
This action does not have tribal implications as specified in
Executive Order 13175. No areas of Indian country are located within
the West Pinal County PM10 nonattainment area. Therefore, no
tribal areas are implicated in the area that the EPA is proposing to
find failed to attain the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS by the
applicable attainment date. The CAA and the Tribal Authority Rule
establish the relationship of the federal government and tribes in
developing plans to attain the NAAQS, and this rule does nothing to
modify that relationship. Thus, Executive Order 13175 does not apply to
this action.
H. Executive Order 13045, Protection of Children From Environmental
Health Risks and Safety Risks
The EPA interprets Executive Order 13045 (62 FR 19885, April 23,
1997) as applying only to those regulatory actions that concern
environmental health or safety risks that the EPA has reason to believe
may disproportionately affect children, per the definition of ``covered
regulatory action'' in section 2-202 of the Executive Order. This
proposed action is not subject to Executive Order 13045 because the
effect of this proposed action, if finalized, would be to reclassify
the West Pinal County nonattainment area as Serious nonattainment for
the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS, which would trigger additional
Serious area planning requirements under the CAA. This proposed action
does not establish an environmental standard intended to mitigate
health or safety risks.
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I. Executive Order 13211, Actions That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use
This proposed rule is not subject to Executive Order 13211,
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001) because it
is not a significant regulatory action under Executive Order 12866.
J. National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act
This action is not subject to the requirements of Section 12(d) of
the National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C.
272 note) because it does not involve technical standards.
K. Executive Order 12898: Federal Actions To Address Environmental
Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Population
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, Feb. 16, 1994) establishes
federal executive policy on environmental justice. Its main provision
directs federal agencies, to the greatest extent practicable and
permitted by law, to make environmental justice part of their mission
by identifying and addressing, as appropriate, disproportionately high
and adverse human health or environmental effects of their programs,
policies, and activities on minority populations and low-income
populations in the United States. The EPA has determined that this
action will not have disproportionately high and adverse human health
or environmental effects on minority or low-income populations because
it does not affect the level of protection provided to human health or
the environment. The effect of this proposed action, if finalized,
would be to reclassify the West Pinal County nonattainment area as
Serious nonattainment for the 1987 24-hour PM10 NAAQS, which
would trigger additional Serious area planning requirements under the
CAA.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Particulate
matter, Incorporation by reference, Intergovernmental relations,
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: March 30, 2020.
John Busterud,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2020-07005 Filed 4-6-20; 8:45 am]
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