[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 11, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43698-43699]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20705]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-6418-1]
Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for
Transportation Conformity Purposes: Metropolitan Washington, DC Area--
Phase I Rate of Progress Plan
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy status.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
[[Page 43699]]
SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is announcing that the motor vehicle
emissions budgets (hereafter referred to as ``budgets'') contained in
the submitted Rate of Progress (ROP) Plan for the Metropolitan
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area (comprised of the District of
Columbia and portions of the State of Maryland and Commonwealth of
Virginia) are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. As a
result of our finding, the budgets from the submitted ROP plan may be
used for future conformity determinations in the Metropolitan
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area.
DATES: These budgets are effective August 26, 1999.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul T. Wentworth, U.S. EPA, Region
III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19103 at (215) 814-2183 or by
e-mail at: [email protected]
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we'',
``us'', or ``our'' are used we mean EPA. The word ``budgets'' refers to
the mobile source emission budget for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
and the mobile source emissions budget for nitrogen oxides
(NOX). The word SIP in this document refers to the State
Implementation Plan revision submitted to satisfy the rate-of-progress
requirements for 1999, commonly referred to as the Post 96 ROP plan.
On May 20, 1999, we received the Post 96 ROP Plan for the
Metropolitan Washington DC ozone nonattainment area. The May 20, 1999
submittal is a revision to the previous ROP plan submitted in 1997.
There are two mobile source emission budgets found in this plan for the
year 1999. The emissions budget for VOCs is 128.5 tons/day and the
emissions budget for NOX is 196.4 tons/day. These two
revised, adequate post-1996 budgets replace the adequate budgets in the
previous rate-of-progress plan.
On March 2, 1999, the US District Court ruled that budgets
contained in submitted SIPs cannot be used for conformity
determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them adequate. In
accordance with that ruling, on June 2, 1999, we posted a notice on our
web site at: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq stating that we were taking
comments on the adequacy of motor vehicle emissions budget found in the
May 20, 1999 submitted revised plan. The comment period closed on July
15, 1999, and we received no comments.
Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. On July 28, 1999, EPA Region III sent letters to the
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Maryland Department
of the Environment, and the Washington DC Environmental Regulation
Administration stating that the motor vehicle emissions budgets found
in Post 96 ROP plan submitted on May 20, 1999 for the Metropolitan
Washington DC ozone nonattainment are adequate. The essential
information in this notice will also be posted on EPA's conformity
website: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on the
``Conformity'' button, then look for ``Adequacy Review of Submissions
for Conformity'').
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation
plans, programs, and projects conform to SIPs and establishes the
criteria and procedures for determining whether or not they do so.
Conformity to a SIP means that transportation activities will not
produce new air quality violations, worsen existing violations, or
delay timely attainment of the national ambient air quality standards.
The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's budgets are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from EPA's completeness
review, and EPA's review to determine if the SIP is approvable. Even if
we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.
We have described our process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets in guidance memorandum dated May 14, 1999 and
titled ``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999
Conformity Court Decision''. We have followed this guidance in making
this adequacy determination for the budgets contained in the revised
Post 96 ROP plan submitted on May 20, 1999 for the Metropolitan
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area. You may obtain a copy of this
guidance from EPA's conformity web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq
(once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button) or by calling the
contact name listed in ``For Further Information Contact'' section of
this document.
Thomas Voltaggio,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 99-20705 Filed 8-10-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
