[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 91 (Thursday, May 10, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 23922-23923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-11836]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[IL-202; FRL-6976-9]


Adequacy Status of the Metro East St. Louis, IL, Submitted Ozone 
Attainment State Implementation Plan for Transportation Conformity 
Purposes; Notice of Withdrawal of Adequacy

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of withdrawal of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: EPA has decided to withdraw our finding of adequacy and find 
inadequate the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Metro East St. 
Louis, Illinois, ozone attainment demonstration State Implementation 
Plan (SIP) submitted on November 15, 1999, and supplemented on February 
10, 2000. We are withdrawing our adequacy finding due to a recent court 
decision. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia Circuit decided on August 30, 2000, that the implementation of 
the Nitrogen Oxides ( NOX) SIP Call rule could not be 
required before May 31, 2004. The emission levels in the St. Louis 
attainment demonstration SIP were based on the assumption that 
transport of ozone precursors into St. Louis from upwind states would 
be addressed by May 2003 pursuant to EPA's NOX SIP Call. 
Without these regional NOX SIP Call controls in place in 
2003, the Metro East St. Louis area will not be able to demonstrate 
attainment as described in the submitted SIP. For this reason, the 
motor vehicle emissions budgets for 2003 can no longer be considered 
adequate and are inadequate. The notice of the adequacy determination 
that is being withdrawn was made on June 12, 2000, in a letter to the 
State and was published in the Federal Register on July 3, 2000.

DATES: The notice of adequacy is withdrawn as of May 10, 2001.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Morris (312-353-8656)

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On June 12, 2000, EPA Region 5 sent a letter to the Illinois 
Environmental Protection Agency stating that the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets for NOX and volatile organic compounds 
(VOCs) in the November 15, 1999, and supplemented on February 10, 2000, 
Metro East St. Louis ozone attainment demonstration SIP for 2003 were 
adequate for the purpose of transportation conformity. EPA published a 
notice in the Federal Register on July 3, 2000, [65 FR 41068] 
announcing that we had made an adequacy determination for the motor 
vehicle emissions budgets in the Metro East St. Louis attainment 
demonstration SIP. This finding was also announced on EPA's conformity 
website, http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq.
    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 conform. 
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.
    EPA described the process for determining the adequacy of submitted 
SIP budgets in guidance (May 14, 1999, memo titled ``Conformity 
Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999, Conformity Court 
Decision''). This guidance was used in making the

[[Page 23923]]

adequacy determination on the motor vehicle emissions budgets contained 
in the ozone attainment demonstration for St. Louis. The criteria by 
which EPA determines whether a SIP's motor vehicle emission budgets are 
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). 
An adequacy review is separate from EPA's SIP completeness review, and 
it also should not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate action to approve 
or disapprove the SIP. The SIP could later be disapproved for reasons 
unrelated to transportation conformity even though the budgets had been 
deemed adequate.
    EPA believes that a consequence of the D.C. Circuit's order 
delaying the implementation date of the NOX SIP Call rule is 
that the budgets submitted by Illinois can no longer be considered 
adequate for purposes of transportation conformity and that these 
budgets are now inadequate. This belief is based on the fact that the 
attainment demonstration relied on the expected reductions from the 
NOX SIP call in 2003, whereas those reductions can not now 
be assumed prior to 2004.
    On November 8, 2000, EPA sent a letter to Illinois advising 
Illinois of the need to revise the Metro East St. Louis ozone 
attainment demonstration and to submit revised budgets. The revised 
budgets are expected to be based on controls that will be in place by 
the year 2004.
    Consequently, EPA has decided to withdraw the June 12, 2000, 
adequacy determination and is instead finding that the budgets are 
inadequate. EPA is taking this action without prior notice and comment 
because adequacy determinations are not considered rulemaking subject 
to the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. In 
addition, EPA does not believe further notice through EPA's conformity 
website is necessary in advance because of the delay in the 
NOX SIP Call implementation date, it is clear that the 
budgets can no longer be considered adequate. Consequently, further 
public comment would be unnecessary and not in the public interest. In 
this action, EPA is also withdrawing all statements and comments 
previously made in relation to its earlier determination of the 
adequacy of the budgets for transportation conformity purposes. The 
substance of the budgets and any revisions to them will be further 
reviewed by EPA as part of its final decision to on the 1-hour ozone 
attainment demonstration SIP for the St. Louis nonattainment area. This 
SIP was initially submitted to EPA on November 15, 1999 and 
supplemented on February 10, 2000.
    EPA will announce the withdrawal of the adequacy determination and 
inadequacy finding on its conformity website, (go to http://www.epa.gov/otaq/traq and then click on ``conformity'').

    Dated: April 30, 2001.
Jerri-Anne Garl,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 01-11836 Filed 5-9-01; 8:45 am]
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