Notice of Availability of Annex to the Report of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission

The purpose of this notice is to inform the public that the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) has submitted an Annex to the 1996 report of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission (GCVTC) to EPA on September 29, 2000. This submittal was required under 40 CFR 51.309 of the regional haze rule in order for nine Western States to have the option of submitting State plans implementing the GCVTC recommendations by December 31, 2003. The Annex contains a number of recommendations addressing sulfur dioxide emissions (a key precursor to the formation of fine particles and regional haze) in the region, including a set of emissions milestones for the 2003-2018 period across the 9-State region. In the coming months, we will review the Annex to determine whether it meets the requirements of the regional haze rule and applicable requirements under the Clean Air Act (CAA). At the end of this review, we will propose changes to the regional haze rule to incorporate recommendations from the Annex if we find, after a formal 60-day public notice and comment period, that the Annex meets the requirements of the regional haze rule and the CAA. Regarding today's notice of availability, we are not having a formal comment period on the Annex at this time. However, should members of the general public wish to provide any informal comments to us on the documents making up the Annex, we will consider these comments during the upcoming review of the Annex. We request that these informal comments be submitted to docket number A-2000-51 within 30 days of the date of publication of this notice.