Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; State of California; Redesignation of the San Francisco Bay Area to Nonattainment for Ozone

EPA is taking final action to redesignate the San Francisco Bay Area (Bay Area) as a nonattainment area for the 1-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS). The Clean Air Act (CAA or Act) provides that EPA may at any time revise the designation of an area on the basis of air quality, planning and control considerations, following notification to the Governor. On August 21, 1997, EPA notified the Governor of California that the Agency intended to propose to redesignate the Bay Area from attainment to nonattainment of the federal 1-hour ozone standard, based on a total of 43 exceedances and 17 violations of the standard since the June 1995 redesignation to attainment.