Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Tennessee and Georgia; Attainment Demonstrations for the Chattanooga, Nashville, and Tri-Cities Early Action Compact Areas

The EPA is approving revisions to the Tennessee and Georgia State Implementation Plans (SIPs) submitted by the State of Tennessee, through the Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC) on December 29, 2004, and by the State of Georgia, through the Environmental Protection Division (GAEPD) on December 31, 2004, for the three Early Action Compact (EAC) areas in Tennessee and Georgia: the Chattanooga, Nashville, and Tri-Cities Areas (the Tennessee and Georgia EAC Areas). The Chattanooga EAC Area is the only one of the three with counties in both Tennessee and Georgia; the other two EAC Areas are located entirely within the State of Tennessee. The SIP revisions meet the requirements for the Tennessee and Georgia EAC Areas to attain and maintain the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (8-hour ozone standard) as described in the EAC Protocol and related regulations. EPA is also now approving the photochemical modeling used by Tennessee and Georgia to support the attainment and maintenance demonstrations of the 8-hour ozone standard in the Tennessee and Georgia EAC Areas. In this action, EPA is not finalizing its proposed rulemaking to defer the effective date of the nonattainment designations for EAC areas. In a separate action, published on June 8, 2005, EPA proposed to defer the effective date of the nonattainment deferred designation for EAC areas until December 31, 2006 (69 FR 23858). EPA final action on the deferral is expected to be published before September 30, 2005.