[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 178 (Wednesday, September 15, 2010)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 55977-55978]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-22973]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 52

[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0666-201032; FRL-9202-1]


Adequacy Status of the Knoxville, TN 1997 8-Hour Ozone 
Maintenance Plan Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation 
Conformity Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: EPA is notifying the public that it has found that the motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) contained in the State Implementation 
Plan (SIP) revision for the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 8-Hour Ozone 
Maintenance Plan are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. 
This revision was submitted on July 14, 2010, by the Tennessee 
Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC). The Knoxville 1997 
8-Hour ozone nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as ``the 
Knoxville Area'') for which MVEBs are established in today's notice is 
comprised of the entire counties of Anderson, Blount, Jefferson, Knox, 
Sevier, and Loudon as well as the portion of Cocke County that falls 
within the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On 
March 2, 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of 
Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) ruled that submitted SIPs cannot be used 
for transportation conformity determinations until EPA has 
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's finding, the 
Knoxville Area must use the MVEBs for future conformity determinations 
for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS).

DATES: These MVEBs are effective September 30, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch, 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:

[[Page 55978]]

http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/currsips.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of a 
finding that EPA has already made. EPA, Region 4, sent a letter to TDEC 
on July 20, 2010, stating that the MVEBs identified for Knoxville in 
Tennessee's maintenance SIP revision, submitted on July 14, 2010, are 
adequate and must be used for transportation conformity determinations 
in the Knoxville Area. Originally, on June 11, 2010, TDEC submitted its 
maintenance plan for parallel processing which allowed EPA to initiate 
our public comment period for adequacy of the MVEBs contained in 
Tennessee's maintenance plan.
    EPA posted the availability of the Knoxville Area MVEBs on EPA's 
Web site on June 14, 2010, as part of the adequacy process, for the 
purpose of soliciting comments. The adequacy comment period ran from 
June 15, 2010, through July 14, 2010. During EPA's adequacy comment 
period, no comments were received on the Knoxville Area MVEBs. Through 
this notice, EPA is informing the public that these MVEBs are adequate 
for transportation conformity. 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:

                 Knoxville, Tennessee 8-Hour Ozone MVEBs
                             [Tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                              2024
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NOX...................................................             36.32
VOC...................................................             25.19
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    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule, 40 CFR Part 93, 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 so. Conformity to a 
SIP means that transportation activities will not produce new air 
quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely 
attainment of the NAAQS.
    The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEBs are 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 
93.118(e)(4). We have also 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 should not be used to 
prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of Tennessee's 1997 8-hour ozone SIP 
revision for the Knoxville Area. Even if EPA finds a budget adequate, 
the SIP revision could later be disapproved.
    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: September 3, 2010.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2010-22973 Filed 9-14-10; 8:45 am]
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