[Federal Register: April 29, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 82)]
[Notices]
[Page 22694-22695]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr29ap03-79]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[CA089-NOT; FRL-7489-2]
Adequacy Status of the San Diego County, California Submitted 1-
Hour Ozone Redesignation to Attainment and Maintenance Plan for
Transportation Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy determination.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that we have found
that the motor vehicle emissions budgets contained in the submitted San
Diego County, California serious 1-hour ozone nonattainment area
redesignation request and maintemance plan are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. As a result of our finding, the San
Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), the Federal Highway
Administration and the Federal Transit Authority must use the VOC and
NOX motor vehicle emissions budgets from the submitted plan
for future conformity determinations.
DATES: This determination is effective May 14, 2003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The finding is available at EPA's
conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq. Once there, go to
``Transportation Conformity,'' then select ``Adequacy Web Pages.'' You
may also contact John Kelly, U.S. EPA, Region IX, Air Division, AIR-2,
75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; (415) 947-4151 or
kelly.johnj@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
This notice announces our finding that the emissions budgets
contained in the Ozone Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for
San Diego County,
[[Page 22695]]
submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on December 20,
2002, are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. EPA Region
IX made this finding in a letter to CARB on April 9, 2003. We are also
announcing this finding on our conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq.
Once there, go to ``Transportation Conformity,'' then select
``Adequacy Web Pages.''
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act. Our conformity rule requires that transportation plans,
programs, and projects conform to state air quality implementation
plans (SIPs) and establishes the criteria and procedures for
determining whether or not they do. 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 motor vehicle
emission budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). One of these criteria is that the plan provide for
maintenance of the relevant ambient air quality standard. We have
preliminarily determined that the San Diego County 1-hour ozone
maintenance plan does provide for maintenance of the 1-hour ozone
standards and, therefore, can be found adequate.
We have described our process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets in guidance (May 14, 1999 memo titled
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity
Court Decision''). We followed this guidance in making our adequacy
determination on the emissions budgets contained in the San Diego
County 1-hour ozone maintenance plan.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671 q.
Dated: April 21, 2003.
Alexis Strauss,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 03-10549 Filed 4-28-03; 8:45 am]
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