Air Plan Approval; KY: Removal of Reliance on Reformulated Gasoline in the Kentucky Portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton Area

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is approving a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted on September 13, 2017, by the Commonwealth of Kentucky, through the Kentucky Division for Air Quality (KDAQ) in support of the Commonwealth's separate petition requesting that EPA remove the federal reformulated gasoline (RFG) requirements for Boone, Campbell, and Kenton counties in the Kentucky portion of the Cincinnati-Hamilton, Ohio-Kentucky-Indiana 2008 8-hr ozone maintenance area (hereinafter referred to as the "Northern Kentucky Area" or "Area"). The SIP revision revises the Commonwealth's maintenance plan emissions inventory and associated motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs), for years 2020 and 2030, to remove reliance on emissions reductions from the federal RFG program requirements, a program that the Commonwealth voluntarily opted into in 1995. The SIP revision also includes a non-interference demonstration evaluating whether removing reliance on the RFG requirements in the Northern Kentucky Area would interfere with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA or Act). EPA is approving this SIP revision and the corresponding non-interference demonstration because EPA determined that the revision is consistent with the applicable provisions of the CAA. Please note that this final rule does not remove the federal RFG requirement. On April 18, 2017, Kentucky's Energy and Environment Cabinet submitted a separate petition to the EPA Administrator requesting to opt-out of the federal RFG program in the Northern Kentucky Area, and the Administrator will act on that petition in the near future.