[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7834-7835]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02771]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0135; FRL-9524-01-R9]


Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in 1997 Annual 
PM2.5 Serious Area and Section 189(d) Attainment Plan Revision for San 
Joaquin Valley; California

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or ``Agency'') is 
notifying the public that the Agency has found motor vehicle emissions 
budgets (``budgets'') adequate in a California state implementation 
plan (SIP) submittal for the San Joaquin Valley. Specifically, our 
finding relates to budgets in the area's ``Attainment Plan Revision for 
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 Standard'' (``15 [mu]g/m\3\ SIP 
Revision''), submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on 
November 8, 2021. We find that these budgets are adequate for 
transportation conformity purposes for the 1997 annual fine particulate 
matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards 
(NAAQS). Upon the effective date of this notice of adequacy, the San 
Joaquin Valley metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the U.S. 
Department of Transportation must use these adequate budgets in future 
transportation conformity determinations. Furthermore, once the San 
Joaquin Valley MPOs have used the adequate budgets to demonstrate 
conformity of their transportation plans to the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP 
Revision, the conformity freeze put in place as of December 27, 2021, 
will be lifted.

DATES: This finding is effective February 25, 2022.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Graham, Air Planning Office 
(ARD-2), EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; 
(415) 972-3877 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,'' or 
``our'' refer to the EPA.
    This notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. By letter dated February 1, 2022, EPA Region IX notified 
CARB that the budgets in the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision for the 
reasonable further progress (RFP) year of 2020 and the attainment year 
of 2023 are adequate.\1\ The finding is available at the EPA's 
conformity website.\2\ We announced the availability of the 15 
[micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision and related motor vehicle emissions budgets 
on the EPA's transportation conformity website on November 15, 2021, 
and requested comments by December 15, 2021. We received no comments in 
response to the adequacy review posting. The adequate motor vehicle 
emissions budgets are provided in the following table:
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    \1\ Letter dated February 1, 2022, from Matthew Lakin, Acting 
Director, Air and Radiation Division, EPA Region IX, to Richard 
Corey, Executive Officer, CARB.
    \2\ https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-9.

       Adequate Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for the San Joaquin Valley for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS
                                              [Annual average, tpd]
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                                                          2020 (RFP year)             2023 (attainment year)
                     County                      ---------------------------------------------------------------
                                                       PM2.5            NOX            PM2.5            NOX
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Fresno..........................................             0.9            25.3             0.8            15.1

[[Page 7835]]

 
Kern (San Joaquin Valley portion)...............             0.8            23.3             0.7            13.3
Kings...........................................             0.2             4.8             0.2             2.8
Madera..........................................             0.2             4.2             0.2             2.5
Merced..........................................             0.3             8.9             0.3             5.3
San Joaquin.....................................             0.6            11.9             0.6             7.6
Stanislaus......................................             0.4             9.6             0.4             6.1
Tulare..........................................             0.4             8.5             0.4             5.2
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    Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section 
176(c). The EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans, 
transportation improvement programs, and transportation projects 
conform to a state's SIP and establishes the criteria and procedures 
for determining whether or not they conform. 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 we use to determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle 
emissions budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4), promulgated on August 15, 1997.\3\ We further 
described our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP 
budgets in our final rule dated July 1, 2004, and we used the 
information in these resources in making our adequacy determination.\4\ 
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from the EPA's 
completeness review and should not be used to prejudge the EPA's 
ultimate action on the SIP submittal. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP submittal could later be disapproved.
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    \3\ 62 FR 43780, 43781-43783.
    \4\ 69 FR 40004, 40038-40047.
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    Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e), within two years of the effective 
date of this notice, San Joaquin Valley MPOs and the U.S. Department of 
Transportation will need to demonstrate conformity to the new budgets 
if the demonstration has not already been made.\5\ Once the San Joaquin 
Valley MPOs have used the adequate budgets to demonstrate conformity of 
their transportation plans to the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision, the 
conformity freeze put in place as of December 27, 2021, under 40 CFR 
93.120(a)(2) \6\ will be lifted. For demonstrating conformity to the 
budgets in this plan, the on-road motor vehicle emissions from 
implementation of the transportation plan or program should be 
projected consistently with the budgets in this plan, i.e., by taking 
the emissions results derived from CARB's EMFAC model (short for 
EMission FACtor) and then rounding the emissions up to the nearest 
tenth of a ton per day. The trading mechanism for the budgets in the 15 
[micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS 
is not yet approved. The EPA will consider approval of the trading 
mechanism as part of the action on the submittal.
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    \5\ 73 FR 4420 (January 24, 2008).
    \6\ On November 26, 2021 (86 FR 67329), the EPA disapproved the 
RFP and attainment demonstrations and associated budgets in the 
``2018 Plan for the 1997, 2006, and 2012 PM2.5 
Standards'' for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Upon the 
effective date of that final action (i.e., December 27, 2021), the 
San Joaquin Valley area became subject to a conformity freeze under 
40 CFR 93.120 of the transportation conformity rule.
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    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: February 3, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-02771 Filed 2-9-22; 8:45 am]
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