Notice of Withdrawal of October 2, 2002, Attainment Date Extension, Determination of Nonattainment as of November 15, 1999, and Reclassification of the Baton Rouge Ozone Nonattainment Area

This rule finalizes EPA's finding that the Baton Rouge 1-hour ozone nonattainment area (hereinafter referred to as the Baton Rouge area) did not attain the 1-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS or standard) by November 15, 1999, the attainment date for serious nonattainment areas set forth in the Federal Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). As a result of this finding, the Baton Rouge area will be reclassified from a serious to a severe one-hour ozone nonattainment area by operation of law on the effective date of this rule. In addition, EPA is establishing a schedule for Louisiana to submit State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions addressing the CAA's pollution control requirements for severe ozone nonattainment areas within 12 months of the effective date of this rule and establishing November 15, 2005, as the date by which the Baton Rouge area must attain the ozone NAAQS. Finally, EPA is adjusting the dates by which the area must achieve a 9% reduction in ozone precursor emissions to meet the 2002 rate-of-progress requirement and is adjusting the contingency measure requirements as they relate to the 2002 ROP milestone. On December 11, 2002, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued its decision on EPA's extension policy used to extend the 1-hour ozone attainment deadline for the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas, area, without reclassifying the area. The Court rejected EPA's extension of Beaumont- Port Arthur's attainment date because it determined that the CAA precludes such an extension as a matter of law. We are issuing this rule in response to the rejection by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals of EPA's use of the extension policy.