[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 117 (Friday, June 18, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 34735-34736]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-14770]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0260-201019; FRL-9164-1]
Adequacy Status of the Alabama Portion (Jackson County) of the
Chattanooga, Tennessee Tri-State Area 1997 Annual PM2.5 Attainment
Demonstration Insignificance Finding 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 EPA has made
an insignificance finding through the transportation conformity
adequacy
[[Page 34736]]
process for directly emitted fine particulate matter (PM2.5)
and nitrogen oxides (NOX) emissions as contained in the 1997
PM2.5 attainment demonstration for the Alabama portion of
the tri-state Chattanooga, Tennessee nonattainment area (hereafter
referred to as the ``Jackson County Area''). On October 14, 2009, the
State of Alabama, through the Alabama Department of Environmental
Management (ADEM), submitted an attainment demonstration plan for the
1997 annual PM2.5 standard for Jackson County, Alabama as
part of the tri-state Chattanooga 1997 PM2.5 nonattainment
area. The tri-state Chattanooga 1997 annual PM2.5
nonattainment area is comprised of a portion of Jackson County,
Alabama; Catoosa and Walker Counties, Georgia; and Hamilton County,
Tennessee. As a result of EPA's finding, the portion of Jackson County
within the tri-state Chattanooga 1997 PM2.5 nonattainment
area is no longer required to perform a regional emissions analysis for
either directly emitted PM2.5 or NOX as part of
future PM2.5 conformity determinations for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 standard. This finding only relates to the Alabama
portion of this Area, and does not relieve the Georgia or Tennessee
portions of the tri-state 1997 PM2.5 nonattainment area from
the requirement of performing the regional emissions analyses for
direct PM2.5 and NOX. EPA will review the
adequacy of the Georgia and Tennessee submittals with regard to the
motor vehicle emission budgets or insignificance findings (if any and
if appropriate) in separate actions.
DATES: This insignificance finding for direct PM2.5 and
NOX is effective July 6, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dianna Smith, Environmental Scientist,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch,
Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth Street,
SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Smith can also be reached by telephone
at (404) 562-9207, or via electronic mail at [email protected]. The
finding is available at EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of a
finding that EPA has already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to ADEM
on March 25, 2010, stating that regional mobile source emissions of
direct PM2.5 and NOX emissions are insignificant
as provided in the Alabama portion of the 1997 annual PM2.5
attainment demonstration for the Jackson County Area submitted on
October 14, 2009. EPA posted the availability of the insignificance
finding on EPA's Web site on February 16, 2010, as part of the adequacy
process, for the purpose of soliciting comments. The comment period ran
from February 16, 2010, through March 18, 2010. During EPA's adequacy
comment period, no comments were received on the insignificance finding
for the Jackson County Area. Through this notice, EPA is informing the
public of the insignificance finding for direct PM2.5 and
NOX for the purpose of implementing transportation
conformity in the Jackson County Area for the 1997 PM2.5
standard. EPA's findings have also been announced on EPA's conformity
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
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. On March 2, 1999, the
District of Columbia Circuit Court ruled that submitted State
Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used for transportation
conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them
adequate.
The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's motor vehicle
emissions budget is adequate for transportation conformity purposes are
outlined in 40 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 93.118(e)(4). The
Transportation Conformity Rule in 40 CFR 93.109(k) states that a
regional emissions analysis is no longer necessary if EPA finds through
the adequacy or approval process that a SIP demonstrates that regional
motor vehicle emissions are an insignificant contributor to the air
quality problem for that pollutant/precursor. A finding of
insignificance does not change the requirement for a regional analysis
for other pollutants/precursors and does not change the requirement for
hot-spot analysis. (See 73 FR 4419, January 24, 2008.) 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
attainment demonstration plan for the Jackson County Area. Even if EPA
finds the insignificance determination adequate, the attainment
demonstration plan could later be disapproved.
Transportation partners should note this insignificance finding in
future transportation conformity determinations. Additionally, while
this insignificance finding waives the requirements for regional
emissions analyses for direct PM2.5 and NOX for
the Jackson County Area for the 1997 PM2.5 standard, as
mentioned above, it does not waive other conformity requirements for
the 1997 PM2.5 standard for the Jackson County Area, nor
does it waive transportation conformity requirements for other
pollutants/precursors for which the Area may be designated
nonattainment or redesignated to attainment with a maintenance plan.
EPA has described the process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets (which also applies to insignificance
determinations) in a 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'' (69 FR 40004).
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: June 8, 2010.
Beverly H. Banister,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2010-14770 Filed 6-17-10; 8:45 am]
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