[Federal Register: May 6, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 87)]
[Notices]
[Page 24037]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr06my05-61]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[R04-OAR-2005-NC-0002-200508; FRL-7909-2]
Adequacy Status of the Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and Winston-
Salem, NC Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plan Updates for Transportation
Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found
that the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEB) in the Charlotte
(Mecklenburg County), Raleigh/Durham (Durham and Wake Counties), and
Winston-Salem (Forsyth County) carbon monoxide maintenance plan
updates, submitted March 23, 2005, by the North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR), are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the DC Circuit
Court ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be
used for transportation conformity determinations until EPA has
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's finding, the
Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and Winston-Salem areas can use the MVEB
from the submitted Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and Winston-Salem carbon
monoxide maintenance plan updates, respectively, for future conformity
determinations.
DATES: These MVEB are effective May 23, 2005.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Matt Laurita, Environmental Engineer,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch,
Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth Street,
SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Mr. Laurita can also be reached by
telephone at (404) 562-9044, or via electronic mail at
laurita.matthew@epa.gov. The finding is available at EPA's conformity
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp.htm (once there, click on the
``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look for ``Adequacy
Review of SIP Submissions'').
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that EPA has
already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to NCDENR on April 29, 2005,
stating that the MVEB in the submitted Charlotte, Raleigh/Durham, and
Winston-Salem carbon monoxide maintenance plan updates submitted on
March 23, 2005, are adequate. This finding has also been announced on
EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp.htm, (once
there, click on the ``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look
for Adequacy Review of SIP Submissions''). The adequate MVEB are
provided in the following tables.
Charlotte Area MVEB
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
County Pollutant 2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mecklenburg.......................... CO...................... 470.18
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Raleigh/Durham Area MVEB
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
County Pollutant 2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Durham............................... CO...................... 177.22
Wake................................. CO...................... 384.27
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Winston-Salem Area MVEB
[Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
County Pollutant 2015
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Forsyth.............................. CO...................... 247.64
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990. EPA's conformity rule requires that
transportation plans, programs and projects conform to state air
quality implementation plans 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 EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEB are
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 Code
of Federal Regulations 93.118(e)(4). Please note that an adequacy
review is separate from EPA's completeness review, and it also should
not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if EPA
finds a budget adequate, the Agency may later determine that the SIP
itself is not approvable.
EPA has described the process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets in guidance (May 14, 1999 memorandum entitled
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity
Court Decision''). EPA has followed this guidance in making this
adequacy determination. This guidance is incorporated into EPA's July
1, 2004, final rulemaking entitled ``Transportation Conformity Rule
Amendments for the New 8-hour Ozone and PM2.5 National
Ambient Air Quality Standards and Miscellaneous Revisions for Existing
Areas; Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments: Response to Court
Decision and Additional Rule Changes.''
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
Dated: April 29, 2005.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 05-9213 Filed 5-5-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P