[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 84 (Monday, May 2, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24474-24475]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-10564]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R04-OAR-2009-1011; FRL-9301-3]
Adequacy Status of the Greensboro/Winston-Salem/Highpoint North
Carolina 1997 Annual PM2.5 Maintenance Plan Motor Vehicle
Emissions Budgets for Transportation Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of Adequacy.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public of its finding
that the direct fine particulate (PM2.5) and nitrogen oxides
(NOX) motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/Highpoint, North Carolina area (hereafter
referred to as ``the Triad Area'') maintenance plan for the 1997 annual
PM2.5 standard, submitted on December 18, 2009, and
supplemented on December 22, 2010, by the North Carolina Department of
Environment and Natural Resources (NCDENR) are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. The Triad Area is comprised of
Guilford and Davidson Counties in their entirety. 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. As a result of EPA's finding, the Triad Area must use the
PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs from the submitted
maintenance plan for the Area for future conformity determinations.
DATES: The adequacy finding for the PM2.5 and NOX
MVEBs are effective May 17, 2011.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dianna B. 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/transp.htm (once there, click on the
``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look for ``Adequacy
Review of SIP Submissions'').
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Today's notice is simply an announcement of
findings that EPA has already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to
NCDENR on February 2, 2011, stating that the 2011 and 2021 sub-area
PM2.5 and NOx MVEBs in the 1997 PM2.5
maintenance plan for the Triad Area, dated December 18, 2009, and
supplemented on December 22, 2010, are adequate. EPA posted the
availability of the Triad MVEBs on EPA's Web site on November 23, 2010,
as part of the adequacy process, for the purpose of soliciting
comments. The comment period ran from November 23 through December 23,
2010. EPA's findings have also been announced on EPA's conformity Web
site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/index.htm, (once there,
click ``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look for ``Adequacy
Review of SIP Submissions''). The adequate PM2.5 and
NOX MVEBs are provided in the following table:
Triad, North Carolina Annual PM2.5 MVEBS
[Kilograms/year]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2011 2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guilford County Sub-area MVEB
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX..................................... 11,133,605 6,309,650
PM2.5................................... 421,841 421,841
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Davidson County Sub-area MVEB
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX..................................... 4,086,413 2,148,938
PM2.5................................... 153,313 153,313
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990. EPA's conformity rule, 40 Code of
Federal Regulations (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. 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 (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). EPA has described the process for determining the
adequacy of submitted SIP budgets 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). 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 the MVEB adequate, the Agency may later disapprove
the SIP.
Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the
transportation
[[Page 24475]]
partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new MVEB 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: April 18, 2011.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2011-10564 Filed 4-29-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P