Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Indiana; South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision To Approved Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets |
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Susan Hedman
October 4, 2012
[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 193 (Thursday, October 4, 2012)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 60661-60666]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-24512]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 52
[EPA-R05-OAR-2012-0536; FRL-9737-6]
Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans;
Indiana; South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana Ozone Maintenance Plan Revision To
Approved Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Proposed rule.
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SUMMARY: EPA is proposing to approve Indiana's request to revise the
South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance air quality
State Implementation Plan (SIP) by replacing the previously approved
motor vehicle emissions budgets (budgets) with budgets developed using
EPA's Motor Vehicle Emissions Simulator (MOVES) 2010a emissions model.
Indiana submitted this request to EPA for parallel processing with a
letter dated June 15, 2012, and followed up with a final submittal
after the state public comment period ended on July 18, 2012.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before November 5, 2012.
ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-R05-
OAR-2012-0536, by one of the following methods:
1. www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instructions for
submitting comments.
2. Email: blakley.pamela@epa.gov.
3. Fax: (312)692-2450.
4. Mail: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies Section, Air
Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 77 West
Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604.
5. Hand Delivery: Pamela Blakley, Chief, Control Strategies
Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J), U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Regional Office normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information. The Regional Office official hours of business are
Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., excluding Federal
holidays.
Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-R05-OAR-
2012-0536. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at
[[Page 60662]]
www.regulations.gov, including any personal information provided,
unless the comment includes information claimed to be Confidential
Business Information (CBI) or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you consider to
be CBI or otherwise protected through www.regulations.gov or email. The
www.regulations.gov Web site is an ``anonymous access'' system, which
means EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an email comment
directly to EPA without going through www.regulations.gov your email
address will be automatically captured and included as part of the
comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on the
Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you
include your name and other contact information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional
instructions on submitting comments, go to section I of the
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section of this document.
Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the
www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy.
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically
in www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 5, Air and Radiation Division, 77 West Jackson
Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois 60604. This facility is open from 8:30
a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding Federal holidays.
We recommend that you telephone Patricia Morris, Environmental
Scientist at (312) 353-8656 before visiting the Region 5 office.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Morris, Environmental
Scientist, Control Strategies Section, Air Programs Branch (AR-18J),
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard,
Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 353-8656, patricia.morris@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA. This SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION
section is arranged as follows:
I. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
II. What action is EPA proposing to take?
III. What is the background for this action?
a. SIP Budgets and Transportation Conformity
b. Prior Approval of Budgets
c. The MOVES Emissions Model and Regional Transportation
Conformity Grace Period
d. Submission of New Budgets Based on MOVES2010a
IV. What are the criteria for approval?
V. What is EPA's analysis of the state's submittal?
a. The Revised Inventories
b. Approvability of the MOVES2010a-Based Budgets
c. Applicability of MOBILE6.2-Based Budgets
VI. What action is EPA taking?
VII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
I. What should I consider as I prepare my comments for EPA?
When submitting comments, remember to:
1. Identify the rulemaking by docket number and other identifying
information (subject heading, Federal Register date and page number).
2. Follow directions--EPA may ask you to respond to specific
questions or organize comments by referencing a Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) part or section number.
3. Explain why you agree or disagree; suggest alternatives and
substitute language for your requested changes.
4. Describe any assumptions and provide any technical information
and/or data that you used.
5. If you estimate potential costs or burdens, explain how you
arrived at your estimate in sufficient detail to allow for it to be
reproduced.
6. Provide specific examples to illustrate your concerns, and
suggest alternatives.
7. Explain your views as clearly as possible, avoiding the use of
profanity or personal threats.
8. Make sure to submit your comments by the comment period.
II. What action is EPA proposing to take?
EPA is proposing to approve new MOVES2010a-based budgets for the
South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance area. The
South Bend-Elkhart, Indiana area was redesignated to attainment of the
1997 8-hour ozone standard effective July 19, 2007 (72 FR 39577), and
the MOBILE6.2-based budgets were approved in that action. If EPA
finalizes this proposed approval, the newly submitted MOVES2010a-based
budgets will replace the existing MOBILE6.2-based budgets in the
state's 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan and must then be used in
future transportation conformity analyses for the area. At that time,
the previously approved MOBILE6.2-based budgets would no longer be
applicable for transportation conformity purposes.
If EPA approves the MOVES2010a-based budgets, the South Bend-
Elkhart 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance area must use the MOVES2010a-
based budgets starting on the effective date of the final approval. See
the official release of the MOVES2010 Emissions Model (75 FR 9411) for
background and section III(c) below for details.
III. What is the background for this action?
a. SIP Budgets and Transportation Conformity
Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), states are required to submit, at
various times, control strategy SIP revisions and maintenance plans for
nonattainment and maintenance areas for a given National Ambient Air
Quality Standard (NAAQS). These emission control strategy SIP revisions
(e.g., reasonable further progress (RFP) and attainment demonstration
SIP revisions) and maintenance plans include budgets of on-road mobile
source emissions for criteria pollutants and/or their precursors to
address pollution from cars, trucks, and other on-road vehicles. These
motor vehicle SIP budgets are the portions of the total emissions that
are allocated to on-road vehicle use that, together with emissions from
other sources in the area, will provide for attainment or maintenance,
if they are not exceeded. The budget serves as a ceiling on emissions
from an area's planned transportation system. For more information
about budgets, see the preamble to the November 24, 1993,
transportation conformity rule (58 FR 62188).
Under CAA section 176(c), transportation plans, Transportation
Improvement Programs (TIPs), and transportation projects must
``conform'' to (i.e., be consistent with) the SIP before they can be
adopted or approved. Conformity to the SIP means that transportation
activities will not cause new air quality violations, worsen existing
air quality violations, or delay timely attainment of the NAAQS or
delay an interim milestone. The transportation conformity regulations
can be found at 40 CFR parts 51 and 93.
[[Page 60663]]
In general, before budgets can be used in conformity
determinations, EPA must affirmatively find the budgets adequate.
However, budgets that are replacing approved budgets must be found
adequate and approved before the budgets can replace the older budgets.
Therefore, EPA cannot just find these replacement budgets adequate
because adequate budgets do not supersede approved budgets for the same
CAA purpose. If the submitted SIP budgets are meant to replace budgets
for the same purpose, as is the case with Indiana's MOVES2010a 1997 8-
hour ozone maintenance plan budgets, EPA must approve the revised SIP
and budgets, and must affirm that they are adequate at the same time.
Once EPA approves the budgets in the SIP, the revised budgets must be
used by state and Federal agencies in determining whether
transportation activities conform to the SIP as required by section
176(c) of the CAA. EPA's substantive criteria for determining the
adequacy of budgets are set out in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
b. Prior Approval of Budgets
EPA had previously approved budgets for the South Bend-Elkhart, 8-
hour ozone maintenance area for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
nitrogen oxides (NOX) for the year 2020 on July 19, 2007 (72
FR 39577). These budgets were based on EPA's MOBILE6.2 emissions model.
The ozone maintenance plan established 2020 budgets for the South Bend-
Elkhart, Indiana area of 6.64 tons per day (tpd) for VOCs and 7.73 tpd
for NOX. These budgets demonstrated a reduction in emissions
from the monitored attainment year and included a margin of safety.
c. The MOVES Emissions Model and Regional Transportation Conformity
Grace Period
The MOVES model is EPA's state-of-the-art tool for estimating
highway emissions. The model is based on analyses of millions of
emission test results and considerable advances in the agency's
understanding of vehicle emissions. MOVES incorporates the latest
emissions data, more sophisticated calculation algorithms, increased
user flexibility, new software design, and significant new capabilities
relative to those reflected in MOBILE6.2.
EPA announced the release of MOVES2010 in March 2010 (75 FR 9411).
EPA subsequently released two minor model revisions: MOVES2010a in
September 2010 and MOVES2010b in April 2012. Both of these minor
revisions enhance model performance and do not significantly affect the
criteria pollutant emissions results from MOVES2010.
MOVES will be required for new regional emissions analyses for
transportation conformity determinations (``regional conformity
analyses'') outside of California that begin after March 2, 2013, or
when EPA approves MOVES-based budgets, whichever comes first.\1\ Prior
to March 2, 2013, areas can continue to use MOBILE6 unless the area has
approved MOVES budgets. The grace period for regional conformity
analyses applies to both the use of MOVES2010 and approved minor
revisions (e.g., MOVES2010a and MOVES2010b). For more information, see
EPA's ``Policy Guidance on the Use of MOVES2010 and Subsequent Minor
Model Revisions for State Implementation Plan Development,
Transportation Conformity, and Other Purposes'' (April 2012), available
online at: www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/policy.htm#models.
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\1\ Upon the release of MOVES2010, EPA established a two-year
grace period before MOVES is required to be used for regional
conformity analyses (75 FR 9411). EPA subsequently promulgated a
final rule on February 27, 2012 to provide an additional year before
MOVES is required for these analyses (77 FR 11394). In this case the
grace period ends on March 2, 2013.
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EPA encouraged areas to examine how MOVES would affect future
transportation plan and TIP conformity determinations so, if necessary,
SIPs and budgets could be revised with MOVES or transportation plans
and TIPs could be revised (as appropriate) prior to the end of the
regional transportation conformity grace period. EPA also encouraged
state and local air agencies to consider how the release of MOVES would
affect analyses supporting SIP submissions under development (77 FR
9411 and 77 FR 11394).
The Michiana Council of Governments (MACOG), which is the
Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) for the South Bend-Elkhart
area, has used MOVES2010a emission rates with the transportation
network information to estimate emissions in the years of the
transportation plan and also for the SIP. Indiana is revising the
budgets at this time using the latest planning assumptions including
population and employment updates. In addition, newer vehicle
registration data has been used to update the age distribution of the
vehicle fleet. Since MOVES2010 (or a minor model revision) will be
required for conformity analyses after the grace period ends, Indiana
has concluded that updating the budgets with MOVES2010a will prepare
the areas for the transition to using MOVES for conformity analyses and
determinations. The interagency consultation group has had extensive
consultation on the requirements and need for new budgets.
d. Submission of New Budgets Based on MOVES2010a
On June 15, 2012, Indiana submitted to EPA, for parallel
processing, replacement budgets based on MOVES2010a for the South Bend-
Elkhart area. Indiana provided public review and comment which ended on
July 18, 2012. There were no comments. Indiana submitted the final SIP
revision request on August 17, 2012.
The MOVES2010a budgets are proposed to replace the prior approved
MOBILE6.2 budgets and are for the same years and pollutants/precursors.
The new MOVES2010a budgets are for the year 2020 for both VOCs and
NOX and are detailed in a Table in section V(b) of this
notice. Indiana has also provided the total emissions including mobile
emissions based on MOVES2010a for the attainment year of 2004, the
interim year 2010 and the 2020 maintenance year. The total safety
margin available in 2020 for NOX is 54.42 tpd and for VOC is
7.94 tpd. This information is detailed in the submittal and provided in
the following table. The safety margin is defined as the reduction in
emissions from the base year (in this case the 2004 attainment year) to
the final year of the maintenance plan (in this case the 2020 year).
The total emissions includes point, area, non-road, and on-road mobile
sources.
Table of Total Emissions With MOVES2010a Emissions
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Year 2004 2010 2020 Safety margin
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VOC............................................. 96.83 84.65 88.89 7.94
[[Page 60664]]
NOX............................................. 91.48 60.04 37.06 54.42
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The submittal demonstrates how all emissions decline from the
attainment year of 2004. In 2004, the total estimated NOX
emissions from all sources (including mobile, point, area, and non-road
sources) is 91.48 tpd and the total VOC emissions, for the 2004
attainment year, from all sources is 96.83 tpd. The 2020 estimated
emissions for total NOX from all sources is 37.06 tpd and
the total VOC emissions from all sources is 88.89 tpd. This is further
discussed in section V of this notice and detailed in a table. This
reduction in emissions demonstrates that the area will continue below
the attainment level of emissions and maintain the 1997 8-hour ozone
standard. The motor vehicle emissions, when included with point, area,
and non-road sources continue to demonstrate maintenance of the
attainment level of emissions in the South Bend-Elkhart area.
No additional control measures were needed to maintain the 1997
ozone standard in the South Bend-Elkhart area. An appropriate safety
margin for NOX and VOCs was discussed by the interagency
consultation group (the interagency consultation group as required by
the state conformity agreement, consists of Federal Highway
Administration, the Indiana Department of Transportation, Indiana
Department of Environmental Management, EPA, and the local MPO). The
allocation of safety margin is included in Table 5.2-A of the Indiana
submittal. The on-road MOVES2010a based budgets are in Table 5.2-A of
the submittal and are listed as 13.95 tpd for NOX and 6.73
tpd for VOCs in the year 2020. These budgets will continue to keep
emissions in the South Bend-Elkhart area below the calculated
attainment year of emissions.
IV. What are the criteria for approval?
EPA has always required that revisions to existing SIPs and budgets
continue to meet applicable requirements (i.e., RFP, attainment, or
maintenance). States that revise their existing SIPs to include MOVES
budgets must therefore show that the SIP continues to meet applicable
requirements with the new level of motor vehicle emissions contained in
the budgets. The SIP must also meet any applicable SIP requirements
under CAA section 110.
In addition, the transportation conformity rule (at 40 CFR
93.118(e)(4)(iv)) requires that ``the budgets, when considered together
with all other emissions sources, is consistent with applicable
requirements for RFP, attainment, or maintenance (whichever is relevant
to the given implementation plan submission).'' This and the other
adequacy criteria found at 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) must be satisfied before
EPA can find submitted budgets adequate or approve them for conformity
purposes.
In addition, EPA has stated that areas can revise their budgets and
inventories using MOVES without revising their entire SIP if (1) the
SIP continues to meet applicable requirements when the previous motor
vehicle emissions inventories are replaced with MOVES base year and
milestone, attainment, or maintenance year inventories, and (2) the
state can document that growth and control strategy assumptions for
non-motor vehicle sources continue to be valid and any minor updates do
not change the overall conclusions of the SIP. For example, the first
criterion could be satisfied by demonstrating that the emissions
reductions between the baseline/attainment year and maintenance year
are the same or greater using MOVES than they were previously. The
Indiana submittal meets this requirement, as described below in section
V.
For more information, see EPA's latest ``Policy Guidance on the Use
of MOVES2010 for SIP Development, Transportation Conformity, and Other
Purposes'' (April 2012).
V. What is EPA's analysis of the state's submittal?
a. The Revised Inventories
The Indiana SIP revision request for South Bend-Elkhart 1997 ozone
maintenance seeks to revise only the on-road mobile source inventories
and not the non-road inventories, area source inventories, or point
source inventories for the 2020 year for which the SIP revises the
budgets. IDEM has certified that the control strategies remain the same
as in the original SIP, and that no other control strategies are
necessary. Attainment of the ozone standard with current control
strategies is confirmed by the monitoring data for South Bend-Elkhart,
IN, which continues to monitor attainment for the 1997 8-hour ozone
standard. The area is also monitoring attainment for the 2008 8-hour
ozone standard. Thus, the current control strategies are continuing to
keep the area in attainment of the NAAQS.
EPA has reviewed the emission estimates for point, area, and non-
road sources and concluded that no major changes to the projections
need to be made, as discussed further below. Indiana finds that growth
and control strategy assumptions for non-mobile sources (i.e., area,
non-road, and point) have not changed significantly from the original
submittal for the years 2004, 2010, and 2020. As a result, the growth
and control strategy assumptions for the non-mobile sources for the
years 2004, 2010, and 2020 continue to be valid and do not affect the
overall conclusions of the plan.
Indiana confirms that the SIP continues to demonstrate its purpose
of maintaining the 1997 ozone standard because the emissions are
continuing to decrease from the attainment year to the final year of
the maintenance plan. The total emissions in the revised SIP (which
includes MOVES2010a emissions from mobile sources) are 91.48 tpd for
NOX and 96.83 tpd for VOCs in the 2004 attainment year. The
total emissions from all sources in the 2020 year are 37.06 tpd for
NOX and 88.89 tpd for VOCs. These totals demonstrate that
emissions in the South Bend-Elkhart area are continuing to decline and
remain below the attainment levels.
Indiana has submitted MOVES2010a-based budgets for the South Bend-
Elkhart area that are clearly identified in Table 5.2-A of the
submittal. The on-road budgets for 2020 are 13.95 tpd for
NOX and 6.73 tpd for VOCs. These are the budgets that are
being proposed for approval.
b. Approvability of the MOVES2010a-Based Budgets
EPA is proposing to approve the MOVES2010a-based budgets submitted
by the state for use in determining transportation conformity in the
South Bend-Elkhart 1997 ozone maintenance area. EPA is making this
proposal based on our evaluation of these budgets using the adequacy
criteria found in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) and our in-depth evaluation
[[Page 60665]]
of the State's submittal and SIP requirements. EPA has determined,
based on its evaluation, that the area's maintenance plan would
continue to serve its intended purpose with the submitted MOVES2010a-
based budgets and that the budgets themselves meet the adequacy
criteria in the conformity rule at 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
The adequacy criteria found in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4) are as follows:
The submitted SIP was endorsed by [the Governor/Governor's
designee] and was subject to a state public hearing (Sec.
93.118(e)(4)(i));
Before the control strategy implementation plan was
submitted to EPA, consultation among Federal, state, and local agencies
occurred, and the state fully documented the submittal (Sec.
93.118(e)(4)(ii));
The budgets are clearly identified and precisely
quantified (Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(iii));
The budgets, when considered together with all other
emissions sources, are consistent with applicable requirements for RFP,
attainment, or maintenance (Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(iv));
The budgets are consistent with and clearly related to the
emissions inventory and control measures in the control strategy
implementation plan (Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(v); and
The revisions explain and document changes to the previous
budgets, impacts on point and area source emissions and changes to
established safety margins and reasons for the changes (including the
basis for any changes related to emission factors or vehicle miles
traveled) (Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(vi).
Our review finds that Indiana has met all of the adequacy criteria.
The final submittal is dated August 17, 2012, and signed by the
governor's designee. All public hearing materials were submitted with
the formal SIP revision request. The interagency consultation group,
which is comprised of the state air agency, state Department of
Transportation, Federal Highway Administration, EPA, and the MPOs for
the area, have discussed and reviewed the budgets developed with
MOVES2010a and the safety margin allocation. The budgets are clearly
identified and precisely quantified in the submittal in table 5.2-A.
The budgets when considered with other emissions sources (point, area,
non-road) are consistent with continued maintenance of the 1997 ozone
standard. The budgets are clearly related to the emissions inventory
and control measures in the SIP. The changes from the previous budgets
are clearly explained with the change in the model from MOBILE6.2 to
MOVES2010a and the revised and updated planning assumptions. The inputs
to the model are detailed in the Appendix to the submittal. EPA has
reviewed the inputs to the MOVES2010a modeling and participated in the
consultation process. The Federal Highway Administration--Indiana
Division and the Indiana Department of Transportation have taken a lead
role in working with the MPO and contractor to provide accurate, timely
information and inputs to the MOVES2010a model runs. The MACOG network
model provided the vehicle miles of travel and other necessary data
from the travel demand network model.
The CAA requires that revisions to existing SIPs and budgets
continue to meet applicable requirements (in this case, maintenance).
Therefore, states that revise existing SIPs with MOVES must show that
the SIP continues to meet applicable requirements with the new level of
motor vehicle emissions calculated by the new model.
To that end, Indiana's submitted MOVES2010a budgets meet EPA's two
criteria for revising budgets without revising the entire SIP:
(1) The SIP continues to meet applicable requirements when the
previous motor vehicle emissions inventories are replaced with
MOVES2010a base year and milestone, attainment, or maintenance year
inventories, and
(2) The state can document that growth and control strategy
assumptions for non-motor vehicle sources continue to be valid and any
minor updates do not change the overall conclusions of the SIP.
The State has documented that growth and control strategy
assumptions continue to be valid and do not change the overall
conclusions of the maintenance plan. The emission estimates for point,
area and non-road sources have not changed. Indiana finds that growth
and control strategy assumptions for non-mobile sources (i.e., area,
non-road, and point) from the original submittal for the years 2004,
2010, and 2020 were developed before the downturn in the economy over
the last several years. Because of this, the factors included in the
original submittal may project more growth than actual into the future.
As a result, the growth and control strategy assumptions for the non-
mobile sources for the years 2004, 2010, and 2020 continue to be valid
and do not affect the overall conclusions of the plan.
Indiana confirms that the SIP continues to demonstrate its purpose
of maintaining the 1997 ozone standard because the emissions are
continuing to decrease from the attainment year to the final year of
the maintenance plan. The total emissions in the revised SIP (which
includes MOVES2010a emissions for mobile sources) decrease from the
2004 attainment year to the year 2020 (the last year of the maintenance
plan). These totals demonstrate that emissions in the South Bend-
Elkhart area are continuing to decline and remain below the attainment
levels. The table below shows total emissions in the South Bend-Elkhart
area including point, area, non-road, and mobile sources and
demonstrates the declining emissions from the 2004 attainment year.
Table of Total Emissions With MOVES2010a Mobile Emissions
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Year 2004 2010 2020
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VOC............................................................. 96.83 84.65 88.89
NOX............................................................. 91.48 60.04 37.06
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The following table displays the submitted budgets that are
proposed in the notice to be approved. The budgets include an
appropriate margin of safety while still maintaining total emissions
below the attainment level.
Table of Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets (MOVES) South Bend-Elkhart,
Indiana for Year 2020
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VOC (tpd)..................................................... 6.73
NOX (tpd)..................................................... 13.95
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Based on our review of the SIP and the new budgets provided, EPA
has determined that the SIP will continue to meet its requirements if
the revised motor vehicle emissions inventories are replaced with
MOVES2010a inventories.
[[Page 60666]]
c. Applicability of MOBILE6.2-Based Budgets
Pursuant to the State's request, EPA is proposing that, if we
finalize the approval of the revised budgets, the state's existing
MOBILE6.2-based budgets will no longer be applicable for transportation
conformity purposes upon the effective date of that final approval.
In addition, once EPA approves the MOVES2010a-based budgets, the
regional transportation conformity grace period for using MOBILE6
instead of MOVES2010 (and subsequent minor revisions) for the
pollutants included in these budgets will end for the South Bend-
Elkhart ozone maintenance area on the effective date of that final
approval.\2\
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\2\ For more information, see EPA's ``Policy Guidance on the Use
of MOVES2010 and Subsequent Minor Revisions for State Implementation
Plan Development, Transportation Conformity, and Other Purposes''
(April 2012).
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VI. What action is EPA taking?
EPA is proposing in this action that the South Bend-Elkhart,
Indiana existing approved budgets for VOCs and NOX for 2020
for the 1997 8-hour ozone maintenance plan, that were based on the
MOBILE6.2 emissions model, be replaced with new budgets based on the
MOVES2010a emissions model. Once this proposal is finalized, future
transportation conformity determinations would use the new, MOVES2010a-
based budgets and would no longer use the existing MOBILE6.2-based
budgets. EPA is also proposing to find that the South Bend-Elkhart
area's maintenance plan would continue to meet its requirements as set
forth under the CAA when these new budgets are included.
VII. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews
Under the CAA, the Administrator is required to approve a SIP
submission that complies with the provisions of the CAA and applicable
Federal regulations. 42 U.S.C. 7410(k); 40 CFR 52.02(a). Thus, in
reviewing SIP submissions, EPA's role is to approve state choices,
provided that they meet the criteria of the CAA. Accordingly, this
action merely approves state law as meeting Federal requirements and
does not impose additional requirements beyond those imposed by state
law. For that reason, this action:
Is not a ``significant regulatory action'' subject to
review by the Office of Management and Budget under Executive Order
12866 (58 FR 51735, October 4, 1993);
Does not impose an information collection burden under the
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.);
Is certified as not having a significant economic impact
on a substantial number of small entities under the Regulatory
Flexibility Act (5 U.S.C. 601 et seq.);
Does not contain any unfunded mandate or significantly or
uniquely affect small governments, as described in the Unfunded
Mandates Reform Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-4);
Does not have Federalism implications as specified in
Executive Order 13132 (64 FR 43255, August 10, 1999);
Is not an economically significant regulatory action based
on health or safety risks subject to Executive Order 13045 (62 FR
19885, April 23, 1997);
Is not a significant regulatory action subject to
Executive Order 13211 (66 FR 28355, May 22, 2001);
Is not subject to requirements of Section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995 (15 U.S.C. 272
note) because application of those requirements would be inconsistent
with the CAA; and
Does not provide EPA with the discretionary authority to
address, as appropriate, disproportionate human health or environmental
effects, using practicable and legally permissible methods, under
Executive Order 12898 (59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994).
In addition, this rule does not have tribal implications as
specified by Executive Order 13175 (65 FR 67249, November 9, 2000),
because the SIP is not approved to apply in Indian country located in
the state, and EPA notes that it will not impose substantial direct
costs on tribal governments or preempt tribal law.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 52
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Incorporation by
reference, Intergovernmental relations, Nitrogen oxides, Ozone,
Volatile organic compounds.
Dated: September 21, 2012.
Susan Hedman,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2012-24512 Filed 10-3-12; 8:45 am]
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