[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 22 (Friday, February 1, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7429-7430]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-02219]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9774-9]


Adequacy Status of the Dallas-Fort Worth, TX Reasonable Further 
Progress 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: EPA is notifying the public that it has found that the motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas (DFW) 
Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
revision, submitted on January 17, 2012 by the Texas Commission on 
Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are adequate for transportation conformity 
purposes. As a result of EPA's finding, the DFW area must use these 
budgets for future conformity determinations.

DATES: These budgets are effective February 19, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The essential information in this 
notice will be available at EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. You may also 
contact Mr. Jeffrey Riley, Air Planning Section (6PD-L), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, 
Texas 75202-2733, telephone (214) 665-8542, Email address: 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and 
``our'' refers to EPA. The word ``budget(s)'' refers to the mobile 
source emissions budget for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the 
mobile source emissions budget for nitrogen oxides (NOX).
    On January 17, 2012, we received a SIP revision from the TCEQ. This 
revision consisted of an RFP SIP for the DFW ozone nonattainment area. 
This submission established MVEBs for the DFW area for the years 2011 
and 2012. The MVEB is the amount of emissions allowed in the state 
implementation plan for on-road motor vehicles; it establishes an 
emissions ceiling for the regional transportation network. The MVEBs 
are provided in Table 1:

Table 1--Dallas-Fort Worth Reasonable Further Progress NOX and VOC MVEBs
                      [Summer season tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                    2011         2012
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NOX...........................................       197.05       195.39
VOC...........................................        89.54        82.20
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    On February 27, 2012, EPA posted the availability of the DFW area 
MVEBs on EPA's Web site for the purpose of soliciting public comments, 
as part of the adequacy process. The comment period closed on March 28, 
2012, and we received no comments.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that EPA has 
already made. EPA Region 6 sent a letter to TCEQ on December 27, 2012, 
finding that the MVEBs in the DFW RFP SIP, submitted on January 17, 
2012 are adequate and must be used for transportation conformity 
determinations in the DFW area. This finding has also been announced on 
EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule, 40 Code of Federal Regulations 
(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 national ambient air 
quality standards.
    The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEB is 
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 the DFW RFP SIP revision submittal. 
Even if EPA finds the budgets adequate, the DFW RFP SIP revision 
submittal could later be disapproved.

[[Page 7430]]

    Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the DFW-
area transportation partners, such as the North Central Texas Council 
of Governments, 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: January 16, 2013.
Ron Curry,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.
 [FR Doc. 2013-02219 Filed 1-31-13; 8:45 am]
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