[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 220 (Tuesday, November 16, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62199-62200]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-29893]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6475-6]


Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for 
Transportation Conformity Purposes: Lancaster Area Request for 
Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone--Maintenance Plan

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy status.

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SUMMARY: In this document EPA is announcing that the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets (hereafter referred to as ``budgets'') contained in 
the maintenance plan submitted with the Lancaster Area Request for 
Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania 
ozone nonattainment area are not adequate for transportation conformity 
purposes. As a result of our finding, the budgets from the submitted 
maintenance plan revision cannot be used for future conformity 
determinations in the Lancaster ozone nonattainment area.

DATES: This document is effective November 16, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Larry Budney, U.S. EPA, Region III, 
1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19103 at (215) 814-2184 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

[[Page 62200]]

nitrogen oxides (NOX). The word SIP in this document refers 
to the maintenance plan which was submitted as State Implementation 
Plan revision to satisfy the Clean Air Act's requirements for such a 
plan when requesting a redesignation to attainment for ozone.
    On January 26, 1996, we received the Lancaster Area Request for 
Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone. The submittal included the 
required maintenance plan as a SIP. This submitted maintenance plan 
contained motor vehicle budgets for NOX and VOCs. 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 August 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 Lancaster Area 
Request for Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone's submitted 
maintenance plan SIP for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania ozone 
nonattainment area. The comment period closed on August 31, 1999, and 
we received no comments.
    Today's document is simply an announcement of a finding that we 
have already made. On October 26, 1999, EPA Region III sent a letter to 
the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection stating that 
the motor vehicle emissions budgets found in the Lancaster Area Request 
for Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone's maintenance plan SIP for 
the Lancaster ozone nonattainment area are not 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 a 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 Lancaster 
Area Request for Redesignation as Attainment for Ozone's maintenance 
plan SIP for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania 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.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
    Dated: November 4, 1999.
W. Michael McCabe,
Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 99-29893 Filed 11-15-99; 8:45 am]
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