[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 66 (Wednesday, April 7, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 17709-17710]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-7879]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0153-201010-TN; FRL-9133-9]
Adequacy Status of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 PM2.5 Attainment
Demonstration Motor Vehicle Emissions 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 EPA has found
that the direct particulate matter (PM2.5) and Nitrogen
Oxides (NOX) motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the
Knoxville, Tennessee Attainment Demonstration Plan for the 1997
PM2.5 standard, submitted April 4, 2008, by the Tennessee
Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the United States
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit)
ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used
for transportation conformity determinations until EPA has
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's finding, the
Knoxville, Tennessee area, including the portion of Roane County, must
use the MVEBs for future conformity determinations for the 1997
PM2.5 standard.
DATES: The adequacy finding for the PM2.5 and NOX
MVEBs are effective April 22, 2010.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, Environmental
Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning
Branch, Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Sheckler can also be reached
by telephone at (404) 562-9222, or via electronic mail at
[email protected]. The finding is available at EPA's conformity
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of
findings that EPA has already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to TDEC
on February 11, 2010, stating that the PM2.5 and
NOX MVEBs in the 1997 PM2.5 attainment
demonstration for Knoxville, Tennessee, submitted April 4, 2008, are
adequate and must be used for transportation conformity determinations
in the Knoxville area. EPA posted the availability of the Knoxville
MVEBs on EPA's Web site on April 14, 2008, as part of the adequacy
process, for the purpose of soliciting comments. The comment period ran
from April 14, 2008, through May 14, 2008. During EPA's adequacy
comment period, no comments were received on the MVEBs for the area.
Through this notice, EPA is informing the public that these MVEBs are
adequate for transportation conformity. EPA's findings have also been
announced on EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. The PM2.5 and
NOx MVEBs are provided in the following table:
Knoxville Area Direct PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs
[Tons per year]
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Counties Pollutant 2009
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Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and a PM2.5 283.63
portion of Roane County................
Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and a NOX 18,024.9
portion of Roane County................
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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
[[Page 17710]]
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). 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 attainment
demonstration plan for the Knoxville, Tennessee area. Even if EPA finds
the budget adequate, the attainment demonstration plan could later be
disapproved.
EPA has described the 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. EPA has followed this guidance in making this adequacy
determination. This guidance is incorporated into EPA's 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).
Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the
transportation partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new
MVEBs, if the demonstration has not already been made, pursuant to 40
CFR 93.104(e). See, 73 FR 4419 (January 24, 2008).
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: March 17, 2010.
Beverly H. Banister,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2010-7879 Filed 4-6-10; 8:45 am]
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