[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 105 (Thursday, June 1, 2006)]
[Notices]
[Pages 31181-31182]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-8464]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[R08-OAR-2006-MT-0163; FRL-8177-5]


Adequacy Determination for the Missoula, MT Carbon Monoxide 
Maintenance State Implementation Plan for Transportation Conformity 
Purposes; State of Montana

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is notifying the public that we have 
found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Missoula, Montana 
Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plan, that was submitted by Montana 
Governor Brian Schweitzer with a letter signed May 27, 2005, are 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes. 40 CFR 93.118(e)(2) 
requires that EPA declare an implementation plan submission's motor 
vehicle emissions budgets adequate for conformity purposes prior to the 
budgets being used to satisfy the conformity requirements of 40 CFR 
part 93. As a result of our finding, the Missoula City-County, the 
Montana Department of Transportation and the U.S. Department of 
Transportation are required to use the motor vehicle emissions budgets 
from this submitted maintenance plan for future transportation 
conformity determinations.

DATES: This finding is effective June 16, 2006.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Kimes, Air & Radiation Program 
(8P-AR), United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, 999 
18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80202-2466, (303) 312-6445, 
[email protected].
    The letter documenting our finding is available at EPA's conformity 
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we'', ``us'', or 
``our'' are used to mean EPA.
    This action is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. We sent a letter to the State of Montana, Department of 
Environmental Quality on May 4, 2006, stating that the motor vehicle 
emission

[[Page 31182]]

budgets in the submitted Missoula, Montana Carbon Monoxide Maintenance 
Plan are adequate. This finding has also been announced on our 
conformity Web site at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.
    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. Our conformity rule requires that transportation plans, 
programs, and projects conform to SIPs and establishes the criteria and 
procedures for determining whether or not they demonstrate conformity. 
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 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 our completeness review, and it also should not be used to 
prejudge our ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved, and vice versa.
    The process for determining the adequacy of a transportation 
conformity budget is described at 40 CFR 93.118(f).
    For the reader's ease, we have excerpted the motor vehicle emission 
budget from the Missoula, Montana Carbon Monoxide Maintenance Plan and 
they are as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       Emission budget
                        Year                            (ton per day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2005...............................................               44.86
2010...............................................               43.22
2021...............................................               42.67
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    40 CFR 93.118(e)(1) requires that upon a finding of adequacy these 
budgets must be used in transportation conformity determinations unless 
the maintenance plan is later disapproved by EPA.

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

    Dated: May 18, 2006.
Robert E. Roberts,
Regional Administrator, Region 8.
 [FR Doc. E6-8464 Filed 5-31-06; 8:45 am]
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