[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 178 (Wednesday, September 15, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55977-55978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-22973]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0666-201032; FRL-9202-1]
Adequacy Status of the Knoxville, TN 1997 8-Hour Ozone
Maintenance Plan Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation
Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: EPA is notifying the public that it has found that the motor
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) contained in the State Implementation
Plan (SIP) revision for the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 8-Hour Ozone
Maintenance Plan are adequate for transportation conformity purposes.
This revision was submitted on July 14, 2010, by the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The Knoxville 1997
8-Hour ozone nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the
Knoxville Area'') for which MVEBs are established in today's notice is
comprised of the entire counties of Anderson, Blount, Jefferson, Knox,
Sevier, and Loudon as well as the portion of Cocke County that falls
within the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On
March 2, 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) ruled that submitted SIPs cannot be used
for transportation conformity determinations until EPA has
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's finding, the
Knoxville Area must use the MVEBs for future conformity determinations
for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS).
DATES: These MVEBs are effective September 30, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch, 61 Forsyth Street,
SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Sheckler can also be reached by
telephone at (404) 562-9222, or via electronic mail at
[email protected]. The finding is available at EPA's conformity
Web site:
[[Page 55978]]
http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/currsips.htm.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of a
finding that EPA has already made. EPA, Region 4, sent a letter to TDEC
on July 20, 2010, stating that the MVEBs identified for Knoxville in
Tennessee's maintenance SIP revision, submitted on July 14, 2010, are
adequate and must be used for transportation conformity determinations
in the Knoxville Area. Originally, on June 11, 2010, TDEC submitted its
maintenance plan for parallel processing which allowed EPA to initiate
our public comment period for adequacy of the MVEBs contained in
Tennessee's maintenance plan.
EPA posted the availability of the Knoxville Area MVEBs on EPA's
Web site on June 14, 2010, as part of the adequacy process, for the
purpose of soliciting comments. The adequacy comment period ran from
June 15, 2010, through July 14, 2010. During EPA's adequacy comment
period, no comments were received on the Knoxville Area MVEBs. Through
this notice, EPA is informing the public that these MVEBs are adequate
for transportation conformity. This finding has also been announced on
EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/pastsips.htm. The adequate MVEBs are provided in the
following table:
Knoxville, Tennessee 8-Hour Ozone MVEBs
[Tons per day]
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2024
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NOX................................................... 36.32
VOC................................................... 25.19
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Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule, 40 CFR Part 93, 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 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 NAAQS.
The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEBs are
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR
93.118(e)(4). We have also described the process for determining the
adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in our 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). Please note that an adequacy review is
separate from EPA's completeness review, and it should not be used to
prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of Tennessee's 1997 8-hour ozone SIP
revision for the Knoxville Area. Even if EPA finds a budget adequate,
the SIP revision could later be disapproved.
Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the
transportation partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new
MVEBs, if the demonstration has not already been made, pursuant to 40
CFR 93.104(e). See 73 FR 4419 (January 24, 2008).
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: September 3, 2010.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2010-22973 Filed 9-14-10; 8:45 am]
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