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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 Publication: Federal Register Agency: Environmental Protection Agency Byline: Lisa Garcia Date: 13 March 2023 Subjects: American Government  , The Environment
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[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, black.lily@epa.gov.
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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