[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 48 (Monday, March 13, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15390-15391]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-05050]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R02-OAR-2023-0047; FRL-10617-01-R2]


Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for the New 
Jersey Portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-
CT, 2008 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, the EPA is notifying the public that it has 
found that the 2020 motor vehicle emissions budgets for volatile 
organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOX), 
submitted by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection on 
November 18, 2021, for the 2008 national ambient air quality standard 
(NAAQS) for ozone (the Budgets), are adequate for transportation 
conformity purposes for the New Jersey portion of the New York-Northern 
New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT, 2008 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. 
This revision to the State Implementation Plan (SIP) included 2020 
summer day VOC and NOX Budgets associated with the SIP's 
reasonable further progress demonstration.

DATES: This finding is effective March 28, 2023.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lily Black, Environmental Protection 
Agency Region 2, Air and Radiation Division, 290 Broadway, 25th Floor, 
New York, New York 10007-1866; (212) 637-3884, [email protected].

ADDRESSES: Publicly available docket materials, identified by EPA-R02-
OAR-2023-0047, are available either electronically through 
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West 
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The 
Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m.-4:30 p.m., Monday-
Friday (except Federal Holidays). For further information on the EPA 
Docket Center services and the current status, see: https://www.epa.gov/dockets. You may access this Federal Register document 
electronically from https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/current. 
This finding will also be available at the EPA's conformity website: 
https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-2.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.
    Today's notice is an announcement of a finding that we have already 
made. EPA Region 2 sent a letter to the New Jersey Department of 
Environmental Protection on January 19, 2023, stating that the 2020 
motor vehicle emissions budgets (Budgets) are adequate for 
transportation conformity purposes.
    The transportation conformity rule requires that the EPA conduct a 
public process and make an affirmative decision on the adequacy of 
these budgets before they can be used by metropolitan planning 
organizations in transportation conformity determinations.

[[Page 15391]]

    As a result of this finding, upon the effective date of this notice 
of adequacy, the North Jersey Transportation Planning Authority (NJTPA) 
must use the Budgets in future transportation conformity 
determinations. The Budgets are associated with the reasonable further 
progress milestone demonstration.
    We announced availability of the plan and related Budgets on the 
EPA's transportation conformity website on March 8, 2022, requesting 
comments by April 8, 2022. We received no comments in response to the 
adequacy review posting.
    The Budgets are provided in Table 1.

           Table 1--Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for NJTPA
                             [tons per day]
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                 Year                         NOX              VOC
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2020..................................           76.77            42.46
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    Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section 
176(c), 42 U.S.C. 7506(c). The EPA's conformity rule requires that 
long-range transportation plans, transportation improvement programs, 
and transportation projects conform to a state's air quality 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. See id. at section 
7506(c)(1)(B).
    The criteria the EPA uses to determine whether a SIP's motor 
vehicle emission budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are 
outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).\1\ And we have described our process 
for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in 40 CFR 
93.118(f). Under 40 CFR 93.104(e), within 2 years of the effective date 
of this notice, NJTPA and the U.S. Department of Transportation will 
need to demonstrate conformity to the Budgets. To do so, the on-road 
motor vehicle emissions from implementation of the long-range 
transportation plan should be projected consistently with the Budgets.
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    \1\ 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. Even if we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later 
be disapproved.
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    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

Lisa Garcia,
Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 2023-05050 Filed 3-10-23; 8:45 am]
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