[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 11, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 43698-43699]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20705]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6418-1]


Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for 
Transportation Conformity Purposes: Metropolitan Washington, DC Area--
Phase I Rate of Progress Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy status.

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[[Page 43699]]

SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is announcing that the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets (hereafter referred to as ``budgets'') contained in 
the submitted Rate of Progress (ROP) Plan for the Metropolitan 
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area (comprised of the District of 
Columbia and portions of the State of Maryland and Commonwealth of 
Virginia) are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. As a 
result of our finding, the budgets from the submitted ROP plan may be 
used for future conformity determinations in the Metropolitan 
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area.

DATES: These budgets are effective August 26, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul T. Wentworth, U.S. EPA, Region 
III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19103 at (215) 814-2183 or by 
e-mail at: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we'', 
``us'', or ``our'' are used we mean EPA. The word ``budgets'' refers to 
the mobile source emission budget for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 
and the mobile source emissions budget for nitrogen oxides 
(NOX). The word SIP in this document refers to the State 
Implementation Plan revision submitted to satisfy the rate-of-progress 
requirements for 1999, commonly referred to as the Post 96 ROP plan.
    On May 20, 1999, we received the Post 96 ROP Plan for the 
Metropolitan Washington DC ozone nonattainment area. The May 20, 1999 
submittal is a revision to the previous ROP plan submitted in 1997. 
There are two mobile source emission budgets found in this plan for the 
year 1999. The emissions budget for VOCs is 128.5 tons/day and the 
emissions budget for NOX is 196.4 tons/day. These two 
revised, adequate post-1996 budgets replace the adequate budgets in the 
previous rate-of-progress plan.
    On March 2, 1999, the US District Court ruled that budgets 
contained in submitted SIPs cannot be used for conformity 
determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them adequate. In 
accordance with that ruling, on June 2, 1999, we posted a notice on our 
web site at: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq stating that we were taking 
comments on the adequacy of motor vehicle emissions budget found in the 
May 20, 1999 submitted revised plan. The comment period closed on July 
15, 1999, and we received no comments.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. On July 28, 1999, EPA Region III sent letters to the 
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Maryland Department 
of the Environment, and the Washington DC Environmental Regulation 
Administration stating that the motor vehicle emissions budgets found 
in Post 96 ROP plan submitted on May 20, 1999 for the Metropolitan 
Washington DC ozone nonattainment are adequate. The essential 
information in this notice will also be posted on EPA's conformity 
website: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on the 
``Conformity'' button, then look for ``Adequacy Review of Submissions 
for Conformity'').
    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 SIPs 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 national ambient air quality standards.
    The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's budgets are 
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). 
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from EPA's completeness 
review, and EPA's review to determine if the SIP is approvable. Even if 
we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.
    We have described our process for determining the adequacy of 
submitted SIP budgets in guidance memorandum dated May 14, 1999 and 
titled ``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 
Conformity Court Decision''. We have followed this guidance in making 
this adequacy determination for the budgets contained in the revised 
Post 96 ROP plan submitted on May 20, 1999 for the Metropolitan 
Washington DC ozone nonattainment area. You may obtain a copy of this 
guidance from EPA's conformity web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq 
(once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button) or by calling the 
contact name listed in ``For Further Information Contact'' section of 
this document.
Thomas Voltaggio,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 99-20705 Filed 8-10-99; 8:45 am]
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