Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plan; Illinois Designation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes; Illinois

On November 14, 1995, May 9, 1996, June 14, 1996, February 3, 1997, and, October 16, 1997, the State of Illinois submitted State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision requests to meet commitments related to the conditional approval of Illinois' May 15, 1992, SIP submittal for the Lake Calumet (SE Chicago), McCook, and Granite City, Illinois, Particulate Matter (PM) nonattainment areas. The EPA is approving the SIP revision request as it applies to the Granite City area, including the attainment demonstration for the Granite City PM nonattainment area. The SIP revision request corrects, for the Granite City PM nonattainment area, all of the deficiencies of the May 15, 1992, submittal (as discussed in the November 18, 1994, conditional approval notice). No action is being taken on the submitted plan revisions for the Lake Calumet and McCook areas at this time. They will be addressed in separate rulemaking actions. On March 19, 1996, and October 15, 1996, Illinois submitted requests to redesignate the Granite City PM nonattainment area to attainment status for the PM National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The EPA is approving this request, as well as the maintenance plan for the Granite City area which was submitted with the redesignation request to ensure continued attainment of the NAAQS.