California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards;
Within the Scope Requests; Opportunity for Public Hearing and Comment
[Federal Register: November 21, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 223)]
[Notices]
[Page 70073-70075]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr21no05-40]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[AMS-FRL-7998-9]
California State Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Standards;
Within the Scope Requests; Opportunity for Public Hearing and Comment
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency, (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of opportunity for public hearing and public comment.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The California Air Resources Board (CARB) has notified EPA
that it has approved amendments to its on-highway motorcycle and
motorcycle engine for 2004 and subsequent model years. CARB requests
that EPA confirm CARB's findings that its amendments are within-the-
scope of previous waivers issued by EPA under section 209(b) of the
Clean Air Act (Act), 42 U.S.C. 7543(b).
DATES: EPA has tentatively scheduled a public hearing for December 27,
2005, 2005 beginning at 10 a.m. EPA will hold a hearing only if a party
notifies EPA by December 12, 2005, expressing its interest in
presenting oral testimony regarding CARB's requests or other issues
noted in this notice. By December 16, 2005, any person who plans to
attend the hearing should call David Dickinson of EPA's Compliance and
Innovative Strategies Division at (202) 343-9256 to learn if a hearing
will be held. Any party may submit written comments by January 30, 2006.
ADDRESSES: EPA will make available for public inspection at the Air and
Radiation Docket written comments received from interested parties, in
[[Page 70074]]
addition to any testimony given at the public hearing. The official
public docket is the collection of materials that is available for
public viewing at the Air and Radiation Docket in the EPA Docket
Center, (EPA/DC) EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC. The EPA Docket Center Public Reading Room is open from
8:30 to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The
telephone number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the
telephone number for the Air and Radiation Docket is (202) 566-1743.
The reference number for this docket is OAR-2004-0486. Parties wishing
to present oral testimony at the public hearing(s) should provide
written notice to David Dickinson at the address noted below; parties
should also submit any written comments to David Dickinson. If EPA
receives a request for a public hearing, EPA will hold the public
hearing at 1310 L St, NW., Washington, DC 20005.
For Obtaining and Submitting Electronic Copies of Documents, or For
Further Information: David Dickinson, Compliance and Innovative
Strategies Division (6405J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200
Pennsylvania Ave, NW., Washington, DC 20460. Telephone: (202) 343-9256,
Fax: (202) 343-2804, e-mail address: Dickinson.David@EPA.GOV. EPA will
make available an electronic copy of this Notice on the Office of
Transportation and Air Quality's (OTAQ's) homepage (http://www.epa.gov/
otaq/). Users can find this document by accessing the OTAQ homepage and
looking at the path entitled ``Regulations.'' This service is free of
charge, except any cost you already incur for Internet connectivity.
Users can also get the official Federal Register version of the Notice
on the day of publication on the primary website:
(http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/).
Please note that due to differences between the software used to
develop the documents and the software into which the documents may be
downloaded, changes in format, page length, etc., may occur. Parties
wishing to present oral testimony at the public hearing should provide
written notice to David Dickinson at: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., (6405J), Washington, DC 20460.
Telephone: (202) 343-9256.
Docket: An electronic version of the public docket is available
through EPA's electronic public docket and comment system. You may use
EPA dockets at http://www.regulations.gov/ to submit or view the public
comments, access the index listing of the contents of the official
public docket, and to access those documents in the public docket that
are available electronically. Although a part of the official docket,
the public docket does not include Confidential Business Information
(CBI) or other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute.
Once in the edocket system, select ``search,'' then key in the
appropriate docket ID number.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
Section 209(a) of the Clean Air Act, as amended (``Act''), 42
U.S.C. 7543(a), provides:
No State or any political subdivision thereof shall adopt or
attempt to enforce any standard relating to the control of emissions
from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines subject to this
part. No state shall require certification, inspection or any other
approval relating to the control of emissions from any new motor
vehicle or new motor vehicle engine as condition precedent to the
initial retail sale, titling (if any), or registration of such motor
vehicle, motor vehicle engine, or equipment.
Section 209(b)(1) of the Act requires the Administrator, after
notice and opportunity for public hearing, to waive application of the
prohibitions of section 209(a) for any state that has adopted standards
(other than crankcase emission standards) for the control of emissions
from new motor vehicles or new motor vehicle engines prior to March 30,
1966, if the state determines that the state standards will be, in the
aggregate, at least as protective of public health and welfare as
applicable federal standards. The Administrator must grant a waiver
unless he finds that (A) the determination of the state is arbitrary
and capricious, (B) the state does not need the state standards to meet
compelling and extraordinary conditions, or (C) the state standards and
accompanying enforcement procedures are not consistent with section
202(a) of the Act.
CARB submitted a June 18, 2003, letter to the Administrator
notifying EPA that it had adopted amendments, on October 22, 1999, to
its on-highway motorcycle regulations and requesting that EPA confirm
that its amendments are within the scope of previously granted waivers
of federal preemption. The new amendments provide, among other
requirements:
(1) A combined level of hydrocarbon (HC) and oxides of nitrogen
(NOX) emissions as HC + NOX for 2004 and
subsequent model years (in comparison to the preexisting on-highway
Class III motorcycle HC-only standard);
(2) Two tiers of standard (Tier-1 and -2), with a Tier-1 standard
of 1.4 g/km for HC + NOX for model years 2004 through 2007
and a Tier-2 standard of 0.08 for HC + NOX for model year
2008 and beyond;
(3) Retention of corporate averaging for Class III engine families
but an addition of a not-to-exceed cap limit for each emission level
from each engine family; and
(4) A new definition of ``small volume manufacturer'' that applies
in model year 2008 and beyond and clarification of the definition for
``motorcycle engine.''
CARB asserts, and requests that the Administrator confirm, that its
on-highway motorcycle amendments fall within the scope of EPA's
previously granted waivers, and thereby may be deemed to meet the
requirements of section 209(b) of the Act set forth above.
EPA has decided in the past that when California's amendments: (1)
Do not undermine the previous determination that California's
standards, in the aggregate, are at least as protective of public
health and welfare as comparable Federal standards; (2) do not affect
the consistency of California's requirements with section 202(a) of the
Act; and (3) raise no new issues affecting EPA's previous waiver
determinations, then EPA's concurrence that the amendments are within
the scope of a previous waiver determination is merited.
When EPA receives new waiver requests from CARB, EPA publishes a
notice of opportunity for public hearing and comment and then publishes
a decision in the Federal Register following the public comment period.
In contrast, when EPA receives within the scope waiver requests from
CARB, EPA traditionally publishes a decision in the Federal Register
and concurrently invites public comment if an interested party is
opposed to EPA's decision.
Because of the many new elements of CARB's on-highway motorcycle
rule, EPA invites comment on the following issues before making a
determination for CARB's within the scope request: (1) Should EPA
consider CARB's requests as within the scope of a previous waiver
request or should they be considered and examined as new waiver
requests? (2) If EPA were to consider CARB's request as a within the
scope request then do California's amendments (a) undermine
California's previous determinations that its standards, in the
aggregate, are at least as protective of public health and welfare as
comparable Federal standards, (b) affect the consistency of
California's requirements with section 202(a) of the Act, and (c)
[[Page 70075]]
raise new issues affecting EPA's previous waiver determinations? (3) If
EPA were to consider CARB's requests as a new waiver request, then
provide comment on (a) whether California's determination that its
standards are at least as protective of public health and welfare as
applicable federal standards is arbitrary and capricious, (b) whether
California needs separate standards to meet compelling and
extraordinary conditions, and (c) whether California's standards and
accompanying enforcement procedures are consistent with section 202(a)
of the Act.
II. Procedures for Public Participation
If a public hearing is held, any party desiring to make an oral
statement on the record should file ten (10) copies of its proposed
testimony and other relevant material with David Dickinson at the
address listed above no later than December 23, 2005. In addition, the
party should submit 25 copies, if feasible, of the planned statement to
the presiding officer at the time of the hearing.
In recognition that a public hearing is designed to give interested
parties an opportunity to participate in this proceeding, there are no
adverse parties as such. Statements by participants will not be subject
to cross-examination by other participants without special approval by
the presiding officer. The presiding officer is authorized to strike
from the record statements that he or she deems irrelevant or
repetitious and to impose reasonable time limits on the duration of the
statement of any participant.
If a hearing is held, the Agency will make a verbatim record of the
proceedings. Interested parties may arrange with the reporter at the
hearing to obtain a copy of the transcript at their own expense.
Regardless of whether a public hearing is held, EPA will keep the
record open until January 25, 2006. Upon expiration of the comment
period, the Administrator will render a decision on CARB's request
based on the record of the public hearing, if any, relevant written
submissions, and other information that he deems pertinent.
Persons with comments containing proprietary information must
distinguish such information from other comments to the greatest
possible extent and label it as ``Confidential Business Information''
(CBI). If a person making comments wants EPA to base its decision in
part on a submission labeled CBI, then a nonconfidential version of the
document that summarizes the key data or information should be
submitted for the public docket. To ensure that proprietary information
is not inadvertently placed in the docket, submissions containing such
information should be sent directly to the contact person listed above
and not to the public docket. Information covered by a claim of
confidentiality will be disclosed by EPA only to the extent allowed and
by the procedures set forth in 40 CFR part 2. If no claim of
confidentiality accompanies the submission when EPA receives it, EPA
will make it available to the public without further notice to the
person making comments.
Dated: November 3, 2005.
Elizabeth Craig,
Acting Assistant Administrator, for Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 05-22996 Filed 11-18-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
![[logo] US EPA](https://webarchive.library.unt.edu/eot2008/20090510202840im_/http://www.epa.gov/epafiles/images/logo_epaseal.gif){kind=logo}