Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans and Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of Louisiana; Correction of Classification; Approval of the Maintenance Plan; Redesignation of Pointe Coupee Parish to Attainment for Ozone

This document announces the Administrator's decision to remove Pointe Coupee Parish (Pointe Coupee), Louisiana, from the Baton Rouge serious ozone nonattainment area, to reclassify Pointe Coupee from serious to marginal, and to redesignate Pointe Coupee to attainment for ozone. Pointe Coupee was classified as a serious ozone nonattainment area by the EPA on November 6, 1991 (56 FR 56694). However, the EPA has determined that the strategy used in including Pointe Coupee as part of the Baton Rouge serious ozone nonattainment area was incorrect. Pursuant to section 110(k)(6) of the Clean Air Act as amended in 1990 (the Act), which allows the EPA to correct its actions, the EPA is today granting the State's request to correct the classification of Pointe Coupee. In addition to approving this correction of Pointe Coupee's classification, the EPA is today approving a request from the State of Louisiana to redesignate Pointe Coupee to attainment for ozone. On December 20, 1995, the State of Louisiana submitted a maintenance plan and request to redesignate the Pointe Coupee Parish ozone nonattainment area to attainment. Under the Act, nonattainment areas may be redesignated to attainment if sufficient data are available to warrant the redesignation and the area meets the other redesignation requirements. In this action, the EPA is approving Louisiana's redesignation request and maintenance plan because it meets the maintenance plan and redesignation requirements set forth in the Act, and the EPA is approving the 1993 base year emissions inventory. The approved maintenance plan will become a federally enforceable part of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for Louisiana.