[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33454-33455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13697]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0017: FRL-9682-6]
Adequacy Status: South Carolina: Reasonable Further Progress Plan
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget for Transportation Conformity for the
Portion of York County, South Carolina Within Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock
Hill, North Carolina-South Carolina; 1997 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment
Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public of its finding
that the volatile organic compounds (VOC) motor vehicle emissions
budget (MVEB) for the portion of York County, South Carolina that is
within the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, North Carolina-South Carolina
Area (hereafter referred to as the ``Charlotte bi-state Area'')
Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), submitted on August 31,
2007, and supplemented on April 29, 2010, by the South Carolina
Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) are adequate
for transportation conformity purposes. The South Carolina portion of
the Charlotte bi-state Area is comprised of a portion of York County,
South Carolina. On March 2, 1999, the District of Columbia Circuit
Court 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
South Carolina portion of the Charlotte bi-state Area must use the VOC
MVEB from the submitted RFP plan supplement for the Area for future
conformity determinations.
DATES: This adequacy finding for VOC is effective June 21, 2012.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, 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: Today's notice is simply an announcement of
findings that EPA has already made.
[[Page 33455]]
EPA Region 4 sent a letter to SC DHEC on May 25, 2012, stating that the
2008 VOC MVEB in the 1997 8-hour ozone RFP plan for the South Carolina
portion of the Charlotte bi-state Area, dated August 31, 2007, and
supplemented on April 29, 2010, are adequate. EPA posted the
availability of the York County MVEB on EPA's Web site on May 13, 2010,
as part of the adequacy process, for the purpose of soliciting
comments. The comment period ran from May 13, 2010, through June 14,
2010. EPA's findings have also been announced on EPA's conformity Web
site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/index.htm, (once there,
click ``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look for ``Adequacy
Review of SIP Submissions''). The adequate VOC MVEB is provided in the
following table:
York County, South Carolina 8-hr Ozone VOC MVEB
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2008 2008
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York County ( partial county) VOC MVEB
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VOC.............. 6.053 tons per day........ 5,493 kilograms per day
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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, 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. 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 MVEB are
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR
93.118(e) (4). 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'' (See 69 FR 40004). Please note that an adequacy review is
separate from the 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 MVEB adequate, the Agency may later disapprove the SIP.
Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the
transportation partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new
MVEB 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: May 29, 2012.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2012-13697 Filed 6-5-12; 8:45 am]
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