Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation Conformity Purposes; Connecticut

H. Curtis Spalding
Environmental Protection Agency
February 5, 2013

[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 5, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8122-8123]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-02492]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R01-OAR-2013-0020; A-1-FRL-9776-2]


Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for 
Transportation Conformity Purposes; Connecticut

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found 
that the 2017 and 2025 motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the 
June 22, 2012 Connecticut State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision are 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes. The submittal includes 
MOVES2010 motor vehicle emissions budgets for 2017 and 2025 for the 
Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island, 
NY-NJ-CT fine particle (PM2.5) nonattainment area. On March 
2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that budgets in submitted SIPs 
cannot be used for conformity determinations until EPA has 
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of our finding, the 
State of Connecticut can use the MOVES2010 motor vehicle emissions 
budgets from the submitted plan for future conformity determinations 
for the Connecticut portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long 
Island, NY-NJ-CT PM2.5 area.

DATES: These motor vehicle emissions budgets are effective February 20, 
2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, Environmental 
Scientist, Air Quality Planning Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, EPA New England Regional Office, Five Post Office Square, Suite 
100 (CAQ), Boston, MA 02109-3912, (617) 918-1668, cooke.donald@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' 
``us'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. EPA New England sent a letter to Connecticut Department 
of Energy and Environmental Protection on January 8, 2013, stating that 
the 2017 and 2025 MOVES2010 motor vehicle emissions budgets in the June 
22, 2012 State Implementation Plan (SIP) are adequate for 
transportation conformity purposes. This finding will also be announced 
on EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm, (once there, click on ``What SIP submissions 
has EPA already found adequate or inadequate?''). The adequate motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) are provided in the following table:

                                    Adequate Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
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                                                                           Direct PM2.5 (tons    NOX (tons per
                                                                                per year)            year)
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Year 2017 MVEBs for the Connecticut Portion of the New York-Northern New                575.8           12,791.8
 Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT 1997 annual PM2.5 and 2006 24-hour PM2.5
 Area....................................................................
Year 2025 MVEBs for the Connecticut Portion of the New York-Northern New                516              9,728.1
 Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT 1997 annual PM2.5 and 2006 24-hour PM2.5
 Area....................................................................
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    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule 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 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 national ambient air quality standards.
    The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle 
emission budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). Please note that an adequacy review is separate 
from EPA's completeness review, and it also should not be used to 
prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.
    We have described our process for determining the adequacy of 
submitted

[[Page 8123]]

SIP budgets in a May 14, 1999 memorandum entitled ``Conformity Guidance 
on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity Court Decision.'' 
Additional guidance on EPA's adequacy process was published in a July 
1, 2004 Federal Register final rulemaking, ``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). We followed this 
guidance in making our adequacy determination.

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

    Dated: January 25, 2013.
H. Curtis Spalding,
Regional Administrator, EPA New England.
[FR Doc. 2013-02492 Filed 2-4-13; 8:45 am]
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