[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 141 (Tuesday, July 24, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 40295-40296]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E7-14316]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R04-OAR-2006-0584; FRL-8444-4]


Adequacy Status of the Bi-State Louisville 8-Hour Ozone Motor 
Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation Conformity Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that we have found 
that the Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs) in Kentucky's bi-state 
Louisville 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance State Implementation Plan (SIP), 
submitted on September 29, 2006, by the Kentucky Division of Air 
Quality (KDAQ), are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. As 
a result of EPA's finding, the bi-state Louisville area must use the 
MVEBs from the September 29, 2006, bi-state Louisville 8-Hour Ozone 
Maintenance SIP for future conformity determinations for the 8-hour 
ozone standard. In a separate rulemaking, EPA has already approved 
these MVEBs. These MVEBs are identical to the MVEBs established for 
this area in the Indiana SIP.

DATES: These MVEBs were effective the date of publication (July 5, 
2007) for the final rulemaking.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lynorae Benjamin, Environmental

[[Page 40296]]

Engineer, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning 
Branch, Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Benjamin can also be reached by 
telephone at (404) 562-9040, or via electronic mail at 
[email protected]. The finding is available at EPA's conformity 
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/currsips.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    This notice is simply an announcement of a finding that EPA has 
already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to KDAQ on June 18, 2007, 
stating that the MVEBs in Kentucky's SIP, submitted on September 29, 
2006, are adequate. The bi-state Louisville 8-hour ozone nonattainment 
area is comprised of the following five counties: Bullitt, Oldham and 
Jefferson counties in Kentucky and Clark and Floyd counties in Indiana. 
EPA's adequacy comment period for Kentucky's SIP ran from April 27, 
2007, through May 29, 2007. During EPA's adequacy comment period no 
comments regarding the adequacy of the MVEBs were received. This 
finding has also been announced on EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/pastsips.htm. The adequate 
MVEBs are provided in the following table:

                 Bi-State Louisville 8-Hour Ozone MVEBs
                             [Tons per day]
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                                                    2003         2020
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VOC...........................................        40.97        22.92
NOX...........................................        95.51        29.46
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EPA has already approved these MVEBs in a separate rulemaking (72 FR 
36601, July 5, 2007), and is providing this notice for informational 
purposes.

    Transportation conformity is required by section 176 (c) of the 
Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990. 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.
    The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEBs are 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 Code 
of Federal Regulations 93.118(e)(4). We have described the process for 
determining the adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in our July 1, 2004, 
final rulemaking entitled, `` Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments 
for the New 8-hour Ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air 
Quality Standards and Miscellaneous Revisions for Existing Areas; 
Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments: Response to Court Decision 
and Additional Rule Changes'' (69 FR 40004). 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 EPA finds the MVEBs adequate, the Agency may later determine that 
the SIP itself is not approvable.

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

    Dated: June 25, 2007.
Russell L. Wright, Jr.,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
 [FR Doc. E7-14316 Filed 7-23-07; 8:45 am]
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