[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 42 (Thursday, March 4, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9893-9894]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-4551]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[R08-CO-2010-0001; FRL-9121-8]
Adequacy Determination for the Denver Metro Area and North Front
Range 8-Hour Ozone Attainment Plan's Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
for Transportation Conformity Purposes; State of Colorado
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that the Agency
has found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets for nitrogen oxides
(NOX) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) contained in the
Denver Metro Area and North Front Range 8-Hour Ozone Attainment Plan
(hereafter ``Denver/NFR Ozone Attainment Plan'') are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. The Denver/NFR Ozone Attainment
Plan was submitted to EPA as a revision to the State Implementation
Plan (SIP) on June 18, 2009, by James B. Martin, Director, Colorado
Department of Public Health and Environment. As a result of our
finding, the Denver Regional Council of Governments (DRCOG), the North
Front Range Metropolitan Planning Organization (NFR MPO), the Colorado
Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of Transportation
are required to use these motor vehicle emissions budgets for future
transportation conformity determinations once this finding becomes
effective.
DATES: This finding is effective March 19, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tim Russ, Air Program (8P-AR), United
States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, 1595 Wynkoop Street,
Denver, Colorado 80202-1129, (303) 312-6479, or [email protected].
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our,'' are used, we mean EPA.
This notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. EPA sent a letter to the Colorado Department of Public
Health and Environment (CDPHE) on January 21, 2010, stating that the
motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB) in the submitted Denver/NFR
Ozone Attainment Plan are adequate. The MVEBs in the Denver/NFR Ozone
Attainment Plan were posted for adequacy review on EPA's transportation
conformity Web site on October 15, 2009. The public comment period
closed on November 16, 2009 and we did not receive any comments in
response to the adequacy review posting (see http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/currsips.htm#denver-me).
The MVEBs we found adequate are presented in the following table:
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2010 NOX 2010 VOC
Area of applicability emissions emissions
(tons per day) (tons per day)
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Northern Subarea \1\.................... 20.5 19.5
Southern Subarea \1\.................... 102.4 89.7
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Total Nonattainment Area............ 122.9 109.2
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\1\ The Subareas are defined in section VI of the Denver/NFR Ozone
Attainment Plan.
As we stated in our January 21, 2010 letter to CDPHE, the initial
conformity determination must be done using the total nonattainment
area MVEBs for NOX and VOCs. After the initial conformity
determination, DRCOG and the NFR MPO may switch from using the total
nonattainment area MVEBs to using the sub-area MVEBs for determining
conformity. To switch to use of the sub-area MVEBs (or to subsequently
switch back to use of the total nonattainment area MVEBs), DRCOG and
the NFR MPO must use the process as described in the Denver/NFR Ozone
Attainment Plan on pages VI-4 through VI-6.
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act. The conformity rule provisions at 40 CFR part 93 require
that transportation plans, programs, and projects conform to SIPs and
establish 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 Standard
(NAAQS).
The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's MVEBs are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4)
which was promulgated August 15, 1997 (see 62 FR 43780). We described
our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP MVEBs in our
July 1, 2004 Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments (see 69 FR
40004). We used these resources in making our adequacy determination.
Please note that our adequacy review is separate from our rulemaking
action on the Denver/NFR Ozone Attainment Plan and should not be used
to prejudge our ultimate approval or disapproval of the SIP revision.
Even if we find a budget adequate, we may later disapprove the SIP.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
[[Page 9894]]
Dated: February 19, 2010.
Carol Rushin,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 8.
[FR Doc. 2010-4551 Filed 3-3-10; 8:45 am]
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