[Federal Register: October 12, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 198)]
[Notices]
[Page 52129]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12oc01-79]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[CO-001-0066; FRL-7082-3]
Adequacy Status of the Denver, Colorado PM10 Maintenance Plan for
Transportation Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is notifying the public that we have
found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Denver
particulate matter of 10 micrograms in size or smaller
(PM10) maintenance plan submitted on July 30, 2001, are
adequate for conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit
Court ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be
used for conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found
them adequate. As a result of our finding, the Denver Regional Council
of Governments, the Colorado Department of Transportation and the U.S.
Department of Transportation are required to use the motor vehicle
emissions budgets from this submitted maintenance plan for future
conformity determinations.
DATES: This finding is effective October 29, 2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kerri Fiedler, Air & Radiation Program
(8P-AR), United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, 999
18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80202-2466, (303) 312-6493.
The letter documenting our finding is available at EPA's conformity
website: http://www.epa.gov/oms/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we,''
``us,'' or ``our'' are used we mean EPA.
This action is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. We sent a letter to the Colorado Air Pollution Control
Division on September 20, 2001 stating that the motor vehicle emissions
budgets in the submitted Denver PM10 maintenance plan are
adequate. This finding has also been announced on our conformity Web
site at http://www.epa.gov/oms/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the
Clean Air Act. Our 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. 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 our completeness review, and it also should not be used to
prejudge our ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if we find a budget
adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved, and vice versa.
We've described our process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets in a memo entitled, ``Conformity Guidance on
Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity Court Decision,'' dated May
14, 1999. We followed this guidance in making our adequacy
determination.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: October 4, 2001.
Andrew M. Gaydosh,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region VIII.
[FR Doc. 01-25739 Filed 10-11-01; 8:45 am]
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