Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Submitted Reasonable Further Progress Plan for San Diego 8-Hour Ozone for Transportation Conformity Purposes; California |
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Alexis Strauss
Environmental Protection Agency
17 November 2017
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 221 (Friday, November 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54339-54340]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-25020]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R09-OAR-2017-0507; FRL-9970-42-Region 9]
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Submitted
Reasonable Further Progress Plan for San Diego 8-Hour Ozone for
Transportation Conformity Purposes; 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 that the motor vehicle
emissions budgets (``budgets'') for the Reasonable Further Progress
(RFP) milestone year 2017 from the ``2008 Eight-Hour Ozone Attainment
Plan for San Diego County (December 2016)'' (``2016 San Diego Ozone
Plan'' or ``plan''), are adequate for transportation conformity
purposes for the 2008 ozone national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS). The California Air Resources Board (CARB) submitted the 2016
San Diego Ozone Plan to the EPA on April 12, 2017, as a revision to the
California State Implementation Plan (SIP). Upon the effective date of
this notice of adequacy, the previously-approved budgets for the 1997
8-hour ozone standards will no longer be applicable for transportation
conformity purposes, and the San Diego Association of Governments
(SANDAG) and the U.S. Department of Transportation must use these
adequate budgets in future transportation conformity determinations.
DATES: This finding is effective December 4, 2017.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Kelly, EPA, Region IX, Air
Division AIR-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San
[[Page 54340]]
Francisco, CA 94105-3901; (415) 947-4151 or kelly.johnj@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.
Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. The EPA sent a letter to CARB on October 19, 2017 stating
that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the submitted 2016 San
Diego Ozone Plan for the RFP milestone year 2017 are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes.\1\ We announced availability of the
plan and related budgets on the EPA's transportation conformity Web
site on July 20, 2017, requesting comments by August 21, 2017. We
received no comments in response to the adequacy review posting. The
finding is available at the EPA's conformity Web site: https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/state-implementation-plans-sip-submissions-epa-has-found-adequate-or. The adequate motor vehicle
emissions budgets are provided in the following table:
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\1\ See letter from Matthew J. Lakin, Acting Director, Air
Division, EPA Region IX, to Richard Corey, Executive Officer, CARB,
dated October 19, 2017.
Adequate Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
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Volatile
organic Nitrogen
Budget year compounds oxides (tons
(tons per per summer
summer day) day)
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2017.................................. 23 42
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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 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.
The criteria we use to determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle
emission budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4), promulgated on August 15, 1997.\2\ We have 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.\3\
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. Even if we find a budget adequate, the SIP
could later be disapproved.
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\2\ See 62 FR 43780 (August 15, 1997).
\3\ See 69 FR 40004 (July 1, 2004).
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Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e), within 2 years of the effective date
of this notice, SANDAG and the U.S. Department of Transportation will
need to demonstrate conformity to the new budgets if the demonstration
has not already been made.\4\ 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 county's emissions results derived from CARB's EMFAC model (short
for EMission FACtor) and then rounding the emissions up to the nearest
ton.
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\4\ See 73 FR 4419 (January 24, 2008).
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Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: October 25, 2017.
Alexis Strauss,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2017-25020 Filed 11-16-17; 8:45 am]
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