Environmental Protection Agency
EPA is proposing a limited approval of a revision to the Alabama state implementation plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Alabama through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), on July 15, 2008, that addresses regional haze for the first implementation period. This revision addresses the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and EPA's rules that require states to prevent any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas (national parks and wilderness areas) caused by emissions of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area (also referred to as the "regional haze program"). States are required to assure reasonable progress towards the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. EPA is proposing a limited approval of this SIP revision to implement the regional haze requirements for Alabama on the basis that the revision, as a whole, strengthens the Alabama SIP. Additionally, EPA is proposing to rescind the federal regulations previously approved into the Alabama SIP on November 24, 1987, and to rely on the provisions in Alabama's July 15, 2008, SIP submittal to meet the long-term strategy (LTS) requirements for reasonably attributable visibility impairment (RAVI). EPA has previously proposed a limited disapproval of the Alabama regional haze SIP because of deficiencies in the State's regional haze SIP submittal arising from the remand by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) to EPA of the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR). Consequently, EPA is not proposing to take action in this rulemaking to address the State's reliance on CAIR to meet certain regional haze requirements.
Document Headings Document headings vary by document type but may contain the following: the agency or agencies that issued and signed a document the number of the CFR title and the number of each part the document amends, proposes to amend, or is directly related to the agency docket number / agency internal file number the RIN which identifies each regulatory action listed in the Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions See the Document Drafting Handbook for more details. Environmental Protection Agency 40 CFR Part 52 [EPA-R04-OAR-2009-0782-201149, FRL-9638-8] AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). ACTION: Proposed rule. SUMMARY: EPA is proposing a limited approval of a revision to the Alabama state implementation plan (SIP) submitted by the State of Alabama through the Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM), on July 15, 2008, that addresses regional haze for the first implementation period. This revision addresses the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) and EPA's rules that require states to prevent any future and remedy any existing anthropogenic impairment of visibility in mandatory Class I areas (national parks and wilderness areas) caused by emissions of air pollutants from numerous sources located over a wide geographic area (also referred to as the “regional haze program”). States are required to assure reasonable progress towards the national goal of achieving natural visibility conditions in Class I areas. EPA is proposing a limited approval of this SIP revision to implement the regional haze requirements for Alabama on the basis that the revision, as a whole, strengthens the Alabama SIP. Additionally, EPA is proposing to rescind the federal regulations previously approved into the Alabama SIP on November 24, 1987, and to rely on the provisions in Alabama's July 15, 2008, SIP submittal to meet the long-term strategy (LTS) requirements for reasonably attributable visibility impairment (RAVI…
Citation: 77 FR 11937
