[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 16 (Tuesday, January 26, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4063-4064]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-1462]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R05-OAR-2008-0682; FRL-9106-5]
Adequacy Status of the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio Submitted Annual
Fine Particulate Matter Attainment Demonstration for Transportation
Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that we have found
that the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) for fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) as a
precursor to fine particulate matter in the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area
are adequate for use in transportation conformity determinations. Ohio
submitted the Cleveland/Akron area budgets with the attainment
demonstration submittal initially on July 16, 2008, and subsequently
submitted the public hearing results on December 5, 2008. As a result
of our finding, the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area must use the MVEBs from
the submitted PM2.5 attainment demonstration plan for future
transportation conformity determinations.
DATES: This finding is effective February 10, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Morris, Environmental
Scientist, Criteria Pollutant Section (AR-18J), Air Programs Branch,
Air and Radiation Division, United States Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604,
(312) 353-8656, [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we'',
``us'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
Background
Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. On December 7, 2009, EPA Region 5 sent a letter to the
Ohio Environmental Protection Agency stating that the 2009 MVEBs for
the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area, which were submitted with the state's
PM2.5 attainment demonstration, are adequate. Receipt of
these MVEBs was announced on EPA's transportation conformity Web site,
and no comments were submitted. The finding is available at EPA's
conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
The adequate 2009 MVEBs, in tons per year (tpy), for
PM2.5 and NOX for the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area
are as follows:
Cleveland/Akron, Ohio
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PM2.5 (tpy) NOX (tpy)
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2009.................................. 818.11 43553.48
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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 state air quality
implementation plans and establishes the criteria and procedures for
determining whether or not they do
[[Page 4064]]
conform. Conformity to a State Implementation Plan (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 transportation conformity purposes
are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). We have described our process for
determining the adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in our July 1, 2004
preamble starting at 69 FR 40038, and we used the information in these
resources while making our adequacy determination. 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 we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.
The finding and the response to comments are available at EPA's
transportation conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
Dated: January 13, 2010.
Walter W. Kovalick Jr.,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2010-1462 Filed 1-25-10; 8:45 am]
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