[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 92 (Wednesday, May 12, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26403-26405]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-10718]


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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

[Docket No. FR-4912-N-07]


Draft Conformity Determination for the Proposed World Trade 
Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan City of New York, New York 
County, NY

AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and 
Development, HUD.

ACTION: Notice of availability.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the federal Conformity Rule, the Lower 
Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) has reviewed the air quality 
analysis conducted for the proposed World Trade Center Memorial and 
Redevelopment Plan (Proposed Action). LMDC is a subsidiary of the 
Empire State Development Corporation (a political subdivision and 
public benefit corporation of the State of New York) and, as the 
recipient of HUD Community Development Block Grant funds appropriated 
for the World Trade Center disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts, 
acts as the responsible entity for compliance with the National 
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401 
et seq. (particularly sections 7506(c) and (d)) in accordance with 24 
CFR 58.4 and 58.5. A Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement 
(FGEIS) for the Proposed Action has been distributed and is currently 
available for public review (69 FR 22866, April 27, 2004).
    The Proposed Action is located in Lower Manhattan, New York County, 
which has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency (EPA) as a moderate non-attainment area for particulate matter 
less than 10 micrometers in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), and 
a severe non-attainment area for ozone. The area is in attainment of 
all other criteria pollutants: nitrogen dioxide (NO2), lead, 
sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). LMDC's review 
has been conducted consistent with the requirements of 40 CFR part 93, 
subpart B: ``Determining Conformity of General Federal Actions to State 
or Federal Implementation Plans'' issued on November 30, 1993. LMDC has 
determined that, during some of the construction years, annual nitrogen 
oxide (NOX) emissions from all the portions of the Proposed 
Action that may be federally-funded are predicted to exceed the de 
minimis threshold of 25 tons per year; accordingly, LMDC has prepared a 
general conformity determination to demonstrate that the federally-
funded portions of the Proposed Action conform with the ozone State 
Implementation Plan.
    As per the requirement in 40 CFR 93.153(h)(1), this notice lists 
the proposed activities that are presumed to conform and the basis for 
these presumptions. A comprehensive presentation of the bases for the 
conformity presumptions is included in the report entitled ``Draft 
Conformity Determination: World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment 
Plan.'' This document is currently available for public review and 
comment.

DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. eastern daylight time 
(e.d.t.) on June 11, 2004.

ADDRESSES: The Draft Conformity Determination is available at the 
following locations:

Chatham Square Library, 33 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002.
New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007.
Hamilton Fish Library, 415 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002.
Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy Street, New York, NY 10007.
Community Board 1, 49-51 Chambers Street 715, New 
York, NY 10007.
Community Board 2, 3 Washington Square Village, New York, NY 
10012.
Community Board 3, 59 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003.

    The Draft Conformity Determination is also available on the LMDC 
Web site at http://www.RenewNYC.com in the ``Planning, Design & 
Development'' section. All comments should be in writing and sent to 
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Attention: Comments WTC 
Memorial and Redevelopment Plan/Draft Conformity Determination, One 
Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William H. Kelley, Planning Project 
Manager, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza, 
20th Floor, New York, NY 10006; telephone: (212) 962-2300; fax: (212) 
962-2431; e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

A. Background

    The Proposed Action involves the construction of a World Trade 
Center Memorial and memorial-related improvements, as well as 
commercial, retail, museum and cultural facilities, new open space 
areas, new street configurations, and certain infrastructure 
improvements at the World Trade Center Site (WTC Site) bounded by 
Liberty, Church, and Vesey Streets and Route 9A and the Southern Site, 
which comprises two city blocks south of the WTC Site and portions of 
Liberty Street and Washington Street. A detailed description of the 
project components and the proposed construction process can be found 
in the FGEIS. The Draft Conformity Determination available for public 
review explicitly states which portions of the Proposed Action would be 
funded by HUD (or by another Federal agency) as well as portions that 
might be federally-funded (but could be funded by a non-Federal 
entity); however, all emissions that would be federally-funded or might 
be federally-funded have been included in the Draft Conformity analysis 
in order to present a conservative analysis. Specifically, the 
federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action might include cultural 
uses in the northwest and southwest quadrants of the WTC Site; the 
Memorial; public open spaces; deconstruction of the building at 130 
Liberty Street (Deutsche Bank); and/or sub-grade construction at the 
Southern Site.
    The Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, defines a non-
attainment area (NAA) as a geographic region that has been designated 
as not meeting one or more of the National Ambient Air Quality 
Standards (NAAQS). The Proposed Action is located in Lower Manhattan, 
New York County, which has been designated by the EPA as a moderate NAA 
of the NAAQS for PM10 and severe NAA for ozone. No formal 
designation has been made to date regarding attainment of the NAAQS for 
fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in aerodynamic 
diameter (PM2.5), which became effective September 16, 1997. 
The area is in attainment of all other criteria pollutants: nitrogen 
dioxide (NO2), lead, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and 
carbon monoxide (CO). EPA had re-designated New York City as in 
attainment for CO on April 19, 2002 (67 FR 19337); the CAA requires 
that a maintenance plan

[[Page 26404]]

ensure continued compliance with the CO NAAQS for former NAAs.
    A State Implementation Plan (SIP) is a state's plan on how it will 
meet the NAAQS under the deadlines established by the CAA. In November 
1998, New York State submitted its Phase II Alternative Attainment 
Demonstration for Ozone, which addressed attainment of the NAAQS by 
2007, and has recently submitted revisions to the SIP for the 
attainment of the one-hour ozone NAAQS. These SIP revisions included 
additional emission reductions that EPA requested to demonstrate 
attainment of the standard and also update the SIP estimates using a 
new EPA model to predict mobile source emissions (MOBILE6).
    The general conformity requirements in 40 CFR part 93, subpart B, 
apply to those federal actions that are located in a non-attainment or 
maintenance area, and that are not subject to transportation conformity 
requirements at 40 CFR part 51, subpart T, or part 93, subpart A, where 
the action's direct and indirect emissions have the potential to emit 
one or more of the six criteria pollutants (or precursors, in the case 
of ozone) at emission rates equal to or exceeding the prescribed rates 
at 40 CFR 93.153(b), or where the action encompasses 10 percent or more 
of a NAA or maintenance area's total emissions inventory for that 
pollutant. In the case of New York City, the prescribed annual rates 
are 25 tons of VOCs or NOX (severe ozone NAA), 100 tons of 
CO (maintenance area), and in New York County only, 100 tons of 
PM10 (moderate PM10 NAA).
    LMDC, as the recipient of HUD Community Development Block Grant 
Funds, has determined that the total annual direct and indirect 
emissions of CO, VOCs and PM10 from the Proposed Action that 
could be applicable to the general conformity regulations are less than 
the rates prescribed in 40 CFR part 93 that would trigger the 
requirement to conduct a general conformity determination. Therefore, a 
general conformity determination for CO and PM10 emissions 
is not required. Temporarily, during some of the construction years, 
annual NOX emissions are predicted to exceed the prescribed 
rate of 25 tons per year; accordingly, LMDC has concluded that a 
determination of conformity with the ozone SIP is required.

B. Requirements of the Conformity Determination

    The purpose of the conformity analysis is to establish that the 
federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action would conform to the 
New York ozone SIP, thereby demonstrating that total direct and 
indirect emissions of the ozone precursors, NOX and VOC, 
from the project would not:

 Cause or contribute to any new violation of any standard in 
the area,
 Interfere with provisions in the applicable SIP for 
maintenance of any standard,
 Increase the frequency or severity of any existing violation 
of any standard in any area, or
 Delay timely attainment of any standard or any required 
interim emission reductions or other milestones in the SIP for purposes 
of--
    1. A demonstration of reasonable further progress (RFP),
    2. A demonstration of attainment, or
    3. A maintenance plan.

    For the purposes of a general conformity determination, direct and 
indirect emissions are defined as follows (40 CFR 93.152):
 Direct Emissions: Those emissions of a criteria pollutant or 
its precursors that are caused or initiated by the Federal action and 
occur at the same time and place as the action;
 Indirect Emissions: Those emissions of a criteria pollutant or 
its precursors that--
    1. Are caused by the Federal action, but may occur later in time 
and/or may be further removed in distance from the action itself but 
are still reasonably foreseeable; and
    2. The Federal agency can practicably control and will maintain 
control over due to a continuing program responsibility of the Federal 
agency.

    LMDC has concluded that the pollutants of concern regarding the 
ozone SIP conformity are the ozone precursors: NOX and VOCs. 
These precursors were the basis for the ozone SIP analysis for the 
ozone NAA, and are therefore used for this general conformity 
determination. LMDC has determined that the only predicted emissions 
due to the project would include direct emissions from engines 
operating on-site during construction, and indirect emissions from 
construction-related vehicles traveling to and from the site.\1\
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    \1\ Pursuant to the direction of the Interagency Consultation 
Group, LMDC is coordinating with the New York State Department of 
Transportation, New York State Department of Environmental 
Conservation, EPA, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization in 
order to make transportation data from the operational phase of the 
Proposed Action available for inclusion in the regional 
transportation Best Practices model and in the regional 
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
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C. Presumption of Conformity

    LMDC has reviewed the air quality analysis conducted for the 
Proposed Action consistent with the requirement of 40 CFR part 93, 
``Determining Conformity of General Federal Actions to State or Federal 
Implementation Plans (SIP).''
    LMDC has determined that maximum predicted direct and indirect 
emissions of CO and PM10 from the federally-funded portions 
of the Proposed Action is predicted to be 58.0 and 3.2 tons per year, 
respectively. The CO and PM10 emissions would be below the 
prescribed level of 100 tons per year as defined at 40 CFR 93.153; 
therefore, no further conformity determination was deemed necessary for 
CO or PM10.
    The Proposed Action would be located in an area designated as a 
severe ozone non-attainment area under the 1-hour average ozone NAAQS. 
The direct and indirect emissions during construction of the federally-
funded portions of the Proposed Action were predicted to exceed the 
prescribed level for severe ozone non-attainment areas (25 tons per 
year of NOX). Therefore, LMDC has reviewed the local 
NOX and VOC emissions modeling analyses for the Proposed 
Action and has determined the following:
     The methods for estimating direct and indirect emissions 
from the Proposed Action meet the requirements of 40 CFR 93.159. The 
emissions scenario used in the air quality analysis is expected to 
produce the greatest off-site impacts on a daily and annual basis. Non-
road engine emissions were predicted using the NONROAD model--the 
latest EPA model for determining emissions from non-road engines. On-
road emissions were predicted using the MOBILE6 model--the latest EPA 
model for predicting emissions from on-road vehicles. Resuspension of 
road dust by on-road vehicles was estimated using the latest EPA 
guidance set forth in ``AP-42--Compilation of Emission Factors.'' All 
of the above emissions modeling procedures were conducted based on the 
latest EPA guidance.
     The federally-funded portion of the Proposed Action was 
predicted to result in the following emissions of NOX and 
VOCs (total tons per year):

[[Page 26405]]



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             Year                   2004         2005         2006         2007         2008        2009-2013
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NOX...........................          4.2         61.4         39.6         19.2         16.1  None.
VOCs..........................          0.4          6.2          3.6          1.5          1.3  None.
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     Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.158(a)(5)(i)(A), the New York State 
Department of Environmental Conservation has determined and documented 
that the total of direct and indirect VOC and NOX emissions 
from the federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action, together 
with all other emissions in the non-attainment area, would not exceed 
the emissions budget specified in the ``New York State Implementation 
Plan for Ozone--Phase II Alternative Attainment Demonstration.''
     The Proposed Action does not cause or contribute to any 
new violation, or increase the frequency or severity of any existing 
violation, of the standards for the pollutants addressed in 40 CFR 
93.158.
     The Proposed Action does not violate any requirements or 
milestones in the ozone SIP.
    Based on these determinations, the federally-funded portions of the 
Proposed Action are presumed to conform to the applicable SIPs for the 
project area. The activities that are presumed to conform include 
construction-related activities of the portions of the Proposed Action 
that may be federally-funded.
    Questions may be directed to the individual named above under the 
heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.

    Dated: May 5, 2004.
Roy A. Bernardi,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
[FR Doc. 04-10718 Filed 5-11-04; 8:45 am]
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