[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 12 (Tuesday, January 20, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 2711-2712]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-1109]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[CT-057-7216f; A-1-FRL-7611-8]


Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Budgets in Submitted State 
Implementation Plan for Transportation Conformity Purposes; 
Connecticut; Revised Attainment Plan for the Connecticut Portion of the 
New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island and the Greater Connecticut 
Ozone Nonattainment Areas

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found 
that the 2007 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the June 17, 2003 
Connecticut State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision are adequate for 
conformity purposes. The submittal included MOBILE6.2 motor vehicle 
emissions budgets for 2007 for the Connecticut portion of the New York-
Northern New Jersey-Long Island ozone nonattainment area and the 
Greater Connecticut ozone nonattainment area. On March 2, 1999, the DC 
Circuit Court ruled that budgets in submitted state implementation 
plans cannot be used for conformity determinations until EPA has 
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of our finding, the 
Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island 
ozone nonattainment area and the Greater Connecticut ozone 
nonattainment area can use the MOBILE6.2 motor vehicle emissions 
budgets from the submitted plan for future conformity determinations.

DATES: These budgets are effective February 4, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, Environmental 
Scientist, Air Quality Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA 
New England Regional Office, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAQ), 
Boston, MA 02114-2023, (617) 918-1668, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Today's notice is simply an announcement of 
a finding that we have already made. EPA New England sent a letter to 
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection on January 6, 2004 
stating that the 2007 MOBILE6.2 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the 
June 17, 2003 SIP are adequate. This finding will also be announced on 
EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/adequacy.htm (once there, click on ``What SIP submissions has EPA 
already found adequate or inadequate?'').
    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 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.

[[Page 2712]]

    The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle 
emission 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 it also should not be used to 
prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.
    We've described our 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.'' Additional guidance on EPA's adequacy process was 
published in a June 30, 2003 Federal Register notice of proposed 
rulemaking, ``Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments: Response to 
Court Decision and Additional Rule Changes'' (68 FR 38973). We followed 
this guidance in making our adequacy determination.
    The MOBILE6.2 motor vehicle emission budgets for 2007 are as 
follows: 16.4 tons per summer day (tpsd) for volatile organic compounds 
(VOC) and 29.7 tpsd for nitrogen oxides (NOX) in the 
Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island 
severe ozone nonattainment area, and 51.9 tpsd for VOC and 98.4 tpsd 
for NOX in the Greater Connecticut serious ozone 
nonattainment area.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671 q.

    Dated: January 8, 2004.
Robert W. Varney,
Regional Administrator, EPA New England.
[FR Doc. 04-1109 Filed 1-16-04; 8:45 am]
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