Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Pennsylvania; Removal of Allegheny County Requirements Applicable to Gasoline Volatility in the Allegheny County Portion of the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley Area

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is taking final action approving a state implementation plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, on behalf of the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) submitted a SIP revision on March 19, 2019 seeking to remove from the Pennsylvania SIP an Allegheny County requirement limiting summertime gasoline volatility in Allegheny County to 7.8 pounds per square inch (psi) Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP). The original purpose of that gasoline requirement was to address nonattainment under the 1-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) in the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley ozone nonattainment area (hereafter Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley Area). EPA acted in December 2018 to remove similar 7.8 psi RVP requirements that applied to the entire Pittsburgh- Beaver Valley Area, as the requirements are no longer needed to address nonattainment in the area and have been supplanted by other emissions control measures. This action serves to remove the separate comparable requirement in the Pennsylvania SIP that applies only to Allegheny County. The approval of this SIP revision is supported by the demonstration prepared by Pennsylvania in support of the earlier SIP revision. That demonstration shows that, pursuant to the Clean Air Act (CAA), removal of the 7.8 psi RVP requirements from the SIP will not interfere with the area's ability to attain or maintain any NAAQS, nor will it be inconsistent with any other CAA requirements. EPA is approving this revision to remove the ACHD requirements for use of 7.8 psi RVP gasoline in summer months from the Pennsylvania SIP, in accordance with the requirements of the CAA.