[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 167 (Monday, August 30, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52834-52836]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-19714]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[Region II Docket No. R02-OAR-2004-NJ-0002, FRL-7807-6]


Approval and Promulgation of Implementation Plans; New Jersey; 
Revised Motor Vehicle Transportation Conformity Budgets

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: EPA is approving a revision to the New Jersey State 
Implementation Plan (SIP) transportation conformity budgets for carbon 
monoxide and ozone precursors. These budgets are being revised to 
reflect updated modeling estimates, as well as updated vehicle 
registration data. The intended effect of this action is to approve a 
SIP revision that will help the State continue to maintain the carbon 
monoxide National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and to continue 
progress in attaining the 1-hour NAAQS for ozone in the Northern New 
Jersey-New York-Long Island nonattainment area (NAA).

DATES: This rule will be effective August 30, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Copies of the State submittal(s) are available at the 
following addresses for inspection during normal business hours:

Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 Office, Air Programs Branch, 
290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
Environmental Protection Agency, Air and Radiation Docket and 
Information Center, Air Docket (6102), 401 M Street, SW., Washington, 
DC 20460.
New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, Bureau of Air 
Quality Planning, 401 East State Street, CN027, Trenton, New Jersey 
08625.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Reema Persaud, Air Programs Branch, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, New York, NY 
10007-1866, (212) 637-4249.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Background
II. Comment
III. What Are the Details of EPA's Specific Actions?
    A. Emission Inventories and Budgets Revised With MOBILE6
IV. Conclusions
V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

I. Background

    On June 28, 2004 (69 FR 36035), EPA published a notice of proposed 
rulemaking regarding a SIP revision submitted by the State of New 
Jersey for its portions of the two severe ozone NAAs--the New York-
Northern New Jersey-Long Island Area and the Philadelphia-Wilmington-
Trenton Area. For purposes of this action, these areas will be referred 
to as the Northern New Jersey NAA and the Trenton NAA, respectively. 
The proposal also addressed statewide revisions to the CO maintenance 
plan.
    The SIP revision was proposed under a procedure called parallel 
processing, whereby EPA proposes a rulemaking action concurrently with 
a state's procedures for amending its regulations. The proposed SIP 
revision was initially submitted to EPA on March 15, 2004 and the final 
SIP revision was formally submitted on May 21, 2004. A detailed 
description of New Jersey's submittal and EPA's rationale for the 
proposed action were presented in the June 28, 2004 notice of proposed 
rulemaking and will not be restated here.
    New Jersey made one administrative change from the proposal based 
on a comment they received. The written comment suggested that carbon 
monoxide budgets for all of the unclassified areas contained in 
Appendix I of the State's Proposed SIP submittal be included in tables 
within the main document. The May 21, 2004 document submitted by the 
State incorporated this change. Table 1 in this final approval notice 
incorporates the unclassified area budgets previously contained in 
Appendix I of the State's proposal.

II. Comment

    EPA received one comment on the June 28, 2004 proposal. The comment 
was submitted on July 28, 2004. The commentor stated a general 
opposition which did not address a specific aspect of the proposed 
plan.
    EPA Response: EPA requires the use of the most recent MOBILE model 
when performing transportation conformity

[[Page 52835]]

analyses and in order to perform these analyses the best available data 
must also be used. New Jersey submitted these new budgets to meet this 
requirement. These new budgets will enable state and local governments 
to more accurately plan transportation projects and ensure that ambient 
air quality is attained.

III. What Are the Details of EPA's Specific Actions?

A. Emission Inventories and Budgets Revised With MOBILE6

    New Jersey's May 21, 2004 SIP revision contained revised motor 
vehicle emissions budgets recalculated using MOBILE6 and updated motor 
vehicle registration data. The carbon monoxide (CO) budgets for North 
Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA), as well as South 
Jersey Transportation Planning Organization (SJTPO) and Delaware Valley 
Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC), were updated using MOBILE6 
modeling. For the analysis years and other conditions of the CO budgets 
the MOBILE6 model predicts significantly greater CO emissions than 
MOBILE5. However, the CO air quality monitors reflect that actual 
emission and the monitoring trends and emission trends over time are 
still downwards so the updates to the CO budgets do not affect the 
conclusion of the maintenance plans for each CO maintenance area.
    VOC and NOX budgets were also updated for the NJTPA 
because of a significant change in planning assumptions involving 
vehicle registration information. An analysis was performed that 
compared these updated budgets in MOBILE6 to MOBILE5 based budgets that 
were representative of the one-hour ozone attainment demonstration. The 
analysis demonstrated that the updated budgets continue to support 
predicted achievement of rate of progress and projected attainment of 
the one-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA is approving these budgets as part of New 
Jersey's SIP.
    Table 1 below summarizes the revised Reasonable Further Progress 
(RFP) and attainment year motor vehicle emissions inventories statewide 
and by nonattainment area in tons per day (tpd).

                                                  Table 1.--New Jersey Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                            CO emissions  (tons per winter day)           VOC emissions  (tons per ozone  NOX emissions  (tons per ozone
                                 --------------------------------------------------------              day)                            day)
                                                                                         ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                      1997                2007                 2014            2005            2007            2005            2007
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
North Jersey Transportation          \1\ 1550.  \1\ 783.39                        605.63      \2\ 148.27      \2\ 125.82      \2\ 253.06      \2\ 198.34
 Planning Authority (NJTPA).                    Monmouth Co.
                                                231.55
                                                Morris Co.
                                                244.05
                                  ............  Middlesex Co.
                                                244.99
                                  ............  Somerset Co.
                                                135.92
                                  ............  Ocean Co.
                                                126.79
South Jersey Transportation             \3\ NA  Atlantic Co.                          NA              NA              NA              NA              NA
 Planning Organization (SJTPO).                 91.68
                                                Salem Co.
                                                31.99
Delaware Valley Regional                    NA  Burlington Co.                        NA              NA              NA              NA              NA
 Planning Commission (DVRPC).                   170.43
                                                Camden Co.
                                                149.73
                                                Mercer Co.
                                                128.49
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ For Passaic, Bergen, Essex, Hudson and Union counties.
\2\ For all counties within the MPO.
\3\ NA--Budget revisions not applicable.

IV. Conclusions

    EPA is taking final action to approve New Jersey's May 21, 2004 SIP 
revision. In accordance with the parallel processing procedures, EPA 
has evaluated New Jersey's final SIP revision submitted on May 21, 
2004, and finds that no substantial changes were made from the proposed 
SIP revision submitted on March 15, 2004. The submittal revises New 
Jersey's transportation conformity budgets for CO and ozone precursors 
based on MOBILE6 modeling, which incorporated 2002 vehicle registration 
data. The updates to the CO budgets do not affect the continued 
maintenance of the CO NAAQS for each CO maintenance area. The updated 
VOC and NOX budgets continue to support the predicted 
achievements of the rate of progress and the projected attainment of 
the 1-hour ozone NAAQS for Northern New Jersey/NewYork City/ Long 
Island nonattainment area by the attainment date of 2007.

V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews

    Under Executive Order 12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993), this 
action is not a ``significant regulatory action'' and therefore is not 
subject to review by the Office of Management and Budget. For this 
reason, this action is also not subject to Executive Order 13211, 
``Actions Concerning Regulations That Significantly Affect Energy 
Supply, Distribution, or Use'' (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001). This action 
merely approves State law as meeting Federal requirements and imposes 
no additional requirements beyond those imposed by State law. 
Accordingly, the Administrator certifies that this rule will not have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities 
under the Regulatory Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.). Because 
this rule approves pre-existing requirements under State law and does 
not impose

[[Page 52836]]

any additional enforceable duty beyond that required by State law, it 
does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or uniquely 
affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded Mandates Reform 
Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4).
    This rule also does not have tribal implications because it will 
not have a substantial direct effect on one or more Indian tribes, on 
the relationship between the Federal Government and Indian tribes, or 
on the distribution of power and responsibilities between the Federal 
Government and Indian tribes, as specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 
FR 67249, November 9, 2000). This action also does not have Federalism 
implications because it does not have substantial direct effects on the 
States, on the relationship between the national government and the 
States, or on the distribution of power and responsibilities among the 
various levels of government, as specified in Executive Order 13132 (64 
FR 43255, August 10, 1999). This action merely approves a State rule 
implementing a Federal standard, and does not alter the relationship or 
the distribution of power and responsibilities established in the Clean 
Air Act. This rule also is not subject to Executive Order 13045 
``Protection of Children from Environmental Health Risks and Safety 
Risks'' (62 FR 19885, April 23, 1997), because it is not economically 
significant.
    In reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve State 
choices, provided that they meet the criteria of the Clean Air Act. In 
this context, in the absence of a prior existing requirement for the 
State to use voluntary consensus standards (VCS), EPA has no authority 
to disapprove a SIP submission for failure to use VCS. It would thus be 
inconsistent with applicable law for EPA, when it reviews a SIP 
submission, to use VCS in place of a SIP submission that otherwise 
satisfies the provisions of the Clean Air Act. Thus, the requirements 
of section 12(d) of the National Technology Transfer and Advancement 
Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272 note) do not apply. This rule does not 
impose an information collection burden under the provisions of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.).
    The Congressional Review Act, 5 U.S.C. section 801 et seq., as 
added by the Small Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 
1996, generally provides that before a rule may take effect, the agency 
promulgating the rule must submit a rule report, which includes a copy 
of the rule, to each House of the Congress and to the Comptroller 
General of the United States. EPA will submit a report containing this 
rule and other required information to the U.S. Senate, the U.S. House 
of Representatives, and the Comptroller General of the United States 
prior to publication of the rule in the Federal Register. A major rule 
cannot take effect until 60 days after it is published in the Federal 
Register. This action is not a ``major rule'' as defined by 5 U.S.C. 
804(2).
    Under section 307(b)(1) of the Clean Air Act, petitions for 
judicial review of this action must be filed in the United States Court 
of Appeals for the appropriate circuit by October 29, 2004. Filing a 
petition for reconsideration by the Administrator of this final rule 
does not affect the finality of this rule for the purposes of judicial 
review nor does it extend the time within which a petition for judicial 
review may be filed, and shall not postpone the effectiveness of such 
rule or action. This action may not be challenged later in proceedings 
to enforce its requirements. (See section 307(b)(2).)

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Carbon monoxide, 
Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen dioxide, Ozone, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Volatile organic compounds.

    Dated: August 18, 2004.
Jane M. Kenny,
Regional Administrator, Region 2.

0
Part 52, chapter I, title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations is 
amended as follows:

PART 52--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 52 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Subpart FF--New Jersey

0
2. Section 52.1581 is amended by adding paragraph (d) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.1581  Control strategy: Carbon monoxide.

* * * * *
    (d) The 1997, 2007, and 2014 carbon monoxide conformity emission 
budgets for five counties in the New York/Northern New Jersey/Long 
Island carbon monoxide maintenance area and ten other counties 
representing other carbon monoxide maintenance areas included in New 
Jersey's May 21, 2004 SIP revision are approved.

0
3. Section 52.1582 is amended by adding paragraph (j) to read as 
follows:


Sec.  52.1582  Control strategy and regulations: Ozone.

* * * * *
    (j)(1) The revised 1997, 2005, 2007 and 2014 motor vehicle emission 
inventories calculated using MOBILE6 included in New Jersey's May 21, 
2004 State Implementation Plan revision is approved.
    (2) The 2005 conformity emission budgets for the New Jersey portion 
of the Philadelphia/Wilmington/Trenton nonattainment area and the 2005 
and 2007 conformity emission budgets for the New Jersey portion of the 
New York/Northern New Jersey/Long Island nonattainment area included in 
New Jersey's May 21, 2004 State Implementation Plan revision are 
approved.

[FR Doc. 04-19714 Filed 8-27-04; 8:45 am]
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