Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Budgets in Submitted State
Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes; Maryland;
Revisions to the Phase II Plan for the Baltimore Ozone Nonattainment
Area: Revised To Reflect the Benefits of the Tier 2/Sulfur-in-Fuel Rule
[Federal Register: July 5, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 129)]
[Notices]
[Page 35421-35422]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr05jy01-35]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-7006-8]
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Budgets in Submitted State
Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes; Maryland;
Revisions to the Phase II Plan for the Baltimore Ozone Nonattainment
Area: Revised To Reflect the Benefits of the Tier 2/Sulfur-in-Fuel Rule
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy status.
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SUMMARY: EPA is announcing that the revised motor vehicle emissions
budgets (budgets) contained in the revised Phase II Plan for the
Baltimore Ozone Nonattainment Area (the Baltimore area) submitted by
the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) as a State
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision are adequate for transportation
conformity purposes. The revised Phase II Plan was submitted to EPA on
December 28, 2001. These amendments to Maryland's Phase II Plan for the
Baltimore area include revisions to its budgets to reflect the emission
reduction benefits associated with the Tier 2 Vehicle Standards/Sulfur-
in Fuel rule. EPA has found the budgets in Maryland's revised Phase II
Plan for the Baltimore area adequate for transportation conformity
purposes.
DATES: The findings that the budgets are adequate were made in a letter
dated June 19, 2001, from EPA Region III to the Maryland Department of
the Environment. These adequacy findings are effective on July 20,
2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul T. Wentworth, P.E., U.S. EPA,
Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 at (215) 814-2183
or by e-mail at: wentworth.paul@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' or
``our'' refer to EPA. The word ``budgets'' refers to the motor vehicle
emission budgets for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen
oxides (NOX). The word ``SIP'' in this document refers to
the revised Phase II Plan for the Baltimore area submitted by MDE to
EPA on December 28, 2000. The revised Phase II Plan includes the 2005
attainment demonstration motor vehicle emissions budgets for the
Baltimore nonattainment area.
On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that budgets
contained in submitted SIPs cannot be used for conformity
determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them adequate. By a
transmittal letter dated December 28, 2000, the MDE formally submitted
revisions to the Phase II Plan for the Baltimore area. On January 17,
2001, we posted the availability of the revised Phase II Plan and the
budgets on our conformity website for the purpose of soliciting public
comment on the adequacy of the budgets. The comment period closed on
February 16, 2001.
On June 19, 2001, EPA Region III sent a letter to the Maryland
Department of the Environment which constitutes final Agency action on
the adequacy of the budgets contained in the revised Phase II SIP.
Those actions were EPA's findings that the budgets of the revised Phase
II plan submitted by MDE for the Baltimore area are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes. As a result of our June 19, 2001
findings, the attainment budgets for 2005 contained in Maryland's
December 28, 2000 revised Phase II SIP for the Baltimore nonattainment
area may be used for future conformity determinations.
This is an announcement of adequacy findings that we have already
made on June 19, 2001. The effective date of these findings is July 20,
2001. These findings will also be announced on EPA's website: http://
www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button,
then look for ``Adequacy Review of Submissions for Conformity''). The
website will also contain a detailed analysis of our adequacy findings
and our responses to the comments submitted during our January 17,
2001-February 16, 2001 public comment period.
Transportation conformity is required by section 176 of the Clean
Air Act. EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans,
programs, and projects conform to SIPs and establishes the criteria and
procedures for determining whether or not they do so. 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 EPA determines whether a SIP's budgets are adequate for
conformity purposes are found 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
Please note that an adequacy finding for budgets contained in a SIP
is separate from EPA's completeness determination of the SIP
submission, and separate from EPA's action to approve or describe our
process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in
guidance memorandum dated May 14, 1999 and titled
[[Page 35422]]
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity
Court Decision''. We followed this guidance in making these adequacy
findings of the budgets in Maryland's revised Phase II plan. You may
obtain a copy of this guidance from EPA's conformity web site: http://
www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button)
or by calling the contact name listed in ``For Further Information
Contact'' section of this notice.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
Dated: June 22, 2001.
William C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 01-16811 Filed 7-3-01; 8:45 am]
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