[Federal Register: May 12, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 92)]
[Notices]
[Page 26403-26405]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr12my04-62]
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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT
[Docket No. FR-4912-N-07]
Draft Conformity Determination for the Proposed World Trade
Center Memorial and Redevelopment Plan City of New York, New York
County, NY
AGENCY: Office of the Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and
Development, HUD.
ACTION: Notice of availability.
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SUMMARY: In accordance with the federal Conformity Rule, the Lower
Manhattan Development Corporation (LMDC) has reviewed the air quality
analysis conducted for the proposed World Trade Center Memorial and
Redevelopment Plan (Proposed Action). LMDC is a subsidiary of the
Empire State Development Corporation (a political subdivision and
public benefit corporation of the State of New York) and, as the
recipient of HUD Community Development Block Grant funds appropriated
for the World Trade Center disaster recovery and rebuilding efforts,
acts as the responsible entity for compliance with the National
Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 7401
et seq. (particularly sections 7506(c) and (d)) in accordance with 24
CFR 58.4 and 58.5. A Final Generic Environmental Impact Statement
(FGEIS) for the Proposed Action has been distributed and is currently
available for public review (69 FR 22866, April 27, 2004).
The Proposed Action is located in Lower Manhattan, New York County,
which has been designated by the United States Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) as a moderate non-attainment area for particulate matter
less than 10 micrometers in aerodynamic diameter (PM10), and
a severe non-attainment area for ozone. The area is in attainment of
all other criteria pollutants: nitrogen dioxide (NO2), lead,
sulfur dioxide (SO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). LMDC's review
has been conducted consistent with the requirements of 40 CFR part 93,
subpart B: ``Determining Conformity of General Federal Actions to State
or Federal Implementation Plans'' issued on November 30, 1993. LMDC has
determined that, during some of the construction years, annual nitrogen
oxide (NOX) emissions from all the portions of the Proposed
Action that may be federally-funded are predicted to exceed the de
minimis threshold of 25 tons per year; accordingly, LMDC has prepared a
general conformity determination to demonstrate that the federally-
funded portions of the Proposed Action conform with the ozone State
Implementation Plan.
As per the requirement in 40 CFR 93.153(h)(1), this notice lists
the proposed activities that are presumed to conform and the basis for
these presumptions. A comprehensive presentation of the bases for the
conformity presumptions is included in the report entitled ``Draft
Conformity Determination: World Trade Center Memorial and Redevelopment
Plan.'' This document is currently available for public review and
comment.
DATES: Comments must be received by 5 p.m. eastern daylight time
(e.d.t.) on June 11, 2004.
ADDRESSES: The Draft Conformity Determination is available at the
following locations:
Chatham Square Library, 33 East Broadway, New York, NY 10002.
New Amsterdam Library, 9 Murray Street, New York, NY 10007.
Hamilton Fish Library, 415 East Houston Street, New York, NY 10002.
Hudson Park Library, 66 Leroy Street, New York, NY 10007.
Community Board 1, 49-51 Chambers Street 715, New
York, NY 10007.
Community Board 2, 3 Washington Square Village, New York, NY
10012.
Community Board 3, 59 East 4th Street, New York, NY 10003.
The Draft Conformity Determination is also available on the LMDC
Web site at http://www.RenewNYC.com in the ``Planning, Design &
Development'' section. All comments should be in writing and sent to
Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, Attention: Comments WTC
Memorial and Redevelopment Plan/Draft Conformity Determination, One
Liberty Plaza, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10006.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: William H. Kelley, Planning Project
Manager, Lower Manhattan Development Corporation, One Liberty Plaza,
20th Floor, New York, NY 10006; telephone: (212) 962-2300; fax: (212)
962-2431; e-mail: wtcenvironmental@renewnyc.com.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
A. Background
The Proposed Action involves the construction of a World Trade
Center Memorial and memorial-related improvements, as well as
commercial, retail, museum and cultural facilities, new open space
areas, new street configurations, and certain infrastructure
improvements at the World Trade Center Site (WTC Site) bounded by
Liberty, Church, and Vesey Streets and Route 9A and the Southern Site,
which comprises two city blocks south of the WTC Site and portions of
Liberty Street and Washington Street. A detailed description of the
project components and the proposed construction process can be found
in the FGEIS. The Draft Conformity Determination available for public
review explicitly states which portions of the Proposed Action would be
funded by HUD (or by another Federal agency) as well as portions that
might be federally-funded (but could be funded by a non-Federal
entity); however, all emissions that would be federally-funded or might
be federally-funded have been included in the Draft Conformity analysis
in order to present a conservative analysis. Specifically, the
federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action might include cultural
uses in the northwest and southwest quadrants of the WTC Site; the
Memorial; public open spaces; deconstruction of the building at 130
Liberty Street (Deutsche Bank); and/or sub-grade construction at the
Southern Site.
The Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended in 1990, defines a non-
attainment area (NAA) as a geographic region that has been designated
as not meeting one or more of the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS). The Proposed Action is located in Lower Manhattan,
New York County, which has been designated by the EPA as a moderate NAA
of the NAAQS for PM10 and severe NAA for ozone. No formal
designation has been made to date regarding attainment of the NAAQS for
fine particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in aerodynamic
diameter (PM2.5), which became effective September 16, 1997.
The area is in attainment of all other criteria pollutants: nitrogen
dioxide (NO2), lead, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and
carbon monoxide (CO). EPA had re-designated New York City as in
attainment for CO on April 19, 2002 (67 FR 19337); the CAA requires
that a maintenance plan
[[Page 26404]]
ensure continued compliance with the CO NAAQS for former NAAs.
A State Implementation Plan (SIP) is a state's plan on how it will
meet the NAAQS under the deadlines established by the CAA. In November
1998, New York State submitted its Phase II Alternative Attainment
Demonstration for Ozone, which addressed attainment of the NAAQS by
2007, and has recently submitted revisions to the SIP for the
attainment of the one-hour ozone NAAQS. These SIP revisions included
additional emission reductions that EPA requested to demonstrate
attainment of the standard and also update the SIP estimates using a
new EPA model to predict mobile source emissions (MOBILE6).
The general conformity requirements in 40 CFR part 93, subpart B,
apply to those federal actions that are located in a non-attainment or
maintenance area, and that are not subject to transportation conformity
requirements at 40 CFR part 51, subpart T, or part 93, subpart A, where
the action's direct and indirect emissions have the potential to emit
one or more of the six criteria pollutants (or precursors, in the case
of ozone) at emission rates equal to or exceeding the prescribed rates
at 40 CFR 93.153(b), or where the action encompasses 10 percent or more
of a NAA or maintenance area's total emissions inventory for that
pollutant. In the case of New York City, the prescribed annual rates
are 25 tons of VOCs or NOX (severe ozone NAA), 100 tons of
CO (maintenance area), and in New York County only, 100 tons of
PM10 (moderate PM10 NAA).
LMDC, as the recipient of HUD Community Development Block Grant
Funds, has determined that the total annual direct and indirect
emissions of CO, VOCs and PM10 from the Proposed Action that
could be applicable to the general conformity regulations are less than
the rates prescribed in 40 CFR part 93 that would trigger the
requirement to conduct a general conformity determination. Therefore, a
general conformity determination for CO and PM10 emissions
is not required. Temporarily, during some of the construction years,
annual NOX emissions are predicted to exceed the prescribed
rate of 25 tons per year; accordingly, LMDC has concluded that a
determination of conformity with the ozone SIP is required.
B. Requirements of the Conformity Determination
The purpose of the conformity analysis is to establish that the
federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action would conform to the
New York ozone SIP, thereby demonstrating that total direct and
indirect emissions of the ozone precursors, NOX and VOC,
from the project would not:
Cause or contribute to any new violation of any standard in
the area,
Interfere with provisions in the applicable SIP for
maintenance of any standard,
Increase the frequency or severity of any existing violation
of any standard in any area, or
Delay timely attainment of any standard or any required
interim emission reductions or other milestones in the SIP for purposes
of--
1. A demonstration of reasonable further progress (RFP),
2. A demonstration of attainment, or
3. A maintenance plan.
For the purposes of a general conformity determination, direct and
indirect emissions are defined as follows (40 CFR 93.152):
Direct Emissions: Those emissions of a criteria pollutant or
its precursors that are caused or initiated by the Federal action and
occur at the same time and place as the action;
Indirect Emissions: Those emissions of a criteria pollutant or
its precursors that--
1. Are caused by the Federal action, but may occur later in time
and/or may be further removed in distance from the action itself but
are still reasonably foreseeable; and
2. The Federal agency can practicably control and will maintain
control over due to a continuing program responsibility of the Federal
agency.
LMDC has concluded that the pollutants of concern regarding the
ozone SIP conformity are the ozone precursors: NOX and VOCs.
These precursors were the basis for the ozone SIP analysis for the
ozone NAA, and are therefore used for this general conformity
determination. LMDC has determined that the only predicted emissions
due to the project would include direct emissions from engines
operating on-site during construction, and indirect emissions from
construction-related vehicles traveling to and from the site.\1\
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\1\ Pursuant to the direction of the Interagency Consultation
Group, LMDC is coordinating with the New York State Department of
Transportation, New York State Department of Environmental
Conservation, EPA, and the Metropolitan Planning Organization in
order to make transportation data from the operational phase of the
Proposed Action available for inclusion in the regional
transportation Best Practices model and in the regional
Transportation Improvement Program (TIP).
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C. Presumption of Conformity
LMDC has reviewed the air quality analysis conducted for the
Proposed Action consistent with the requirement of 40 CFR part 93,
``Determining Conformity of General Federal Actions to State or Federal
Implementation Plans (SIP).''
LMDC has determined that maximum predicted direct and indirect
emissions of CO and PM10 from the federally-funded portions
of the Proposed Action is predicted to be 58.0 and 3.2 tons per year,
respectively. The CO and PM10 emissions would be below the
prescribed level of 100 tons per year as defined at 40 CFR 93.153;
therefore, no further conformity determination was deemed necessary for
CO or PM10.
The Proposed Action would be located in an area designated as a
severe ozone non-attainment area under the 1-hour average ozone NAAQS.
The direct and indirect emissions during construction of the federally-
funded portions of the Proposed Action were predicted to exceed the
prescribed level for severe ozone non-attainment areas (25 tons per
year of NOX). Therefore, LMDC has reviewed the local
NOX and VOC emissions modeling analyses for the Proposed
Action and has determined the following:
The methods for estimating direct and indirect emissions
from the Proposed Action meet the requirements of 40 CFR 93.159. The
emissions scenario used in the air quality analysis is expected to
produce the greatest off-site impacts on a daily and annual basis. Non-
road engine emissions were predicted using the NONROAD model--the
latest EPA model for determining emissions from non-road engines. On-
road emissions were predicted using the MOBILE6 model--the latest EPA
model for predicting emissions from on-road vehicles. Resuspension of
road dust by on-road vehicles was estimated using the latest EPA
guidance set forth in ``AP-42--Compilation of Emission Factors.'' All
of the above emissions modeling procedures were conducted based on the
latest EPA guidance.
The federally-funded portion of the Proposed Action was
predicted to result in the following emissions of NOX and
VOCs (total tons per year):
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Year 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009-2013
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NOX........................... 4.2 61.4 39.6 19.2 16.1 None.
VOCs.......................... 0.4 6.2 3.6 1.5 1.3 None.
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Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.158(a)(5)(i)(A), the New York State
Department of Environmental Conservation has determined and documented
that the total of direct and indirect VOC and NOX emissions
from the federally-funded portions of the Proposed Action, together
with all other emissions in the non-attainment area, would not exceed
the emissions budget specified in the ``New York State Implementation
Plan for Ozone--Phase II Alternative Attainment Demonstration.''
The Proposed Action does not cause or contribute to any
new violation, or increase the frequency or severity of any existing
violation, of the standards for the pollutants addressed in 40 CFR
93.158.
The Proposed Action does not violate any requirements or
milestones in the ozone SIP.
Based on these determinations, the federally-funded portions of the
Proposed Action are presumed to conform to the applicable SIPs for the
project area. The activities that are presumed to conform include
construction-related activities of the portions of the Proposed Action
that may be federally-funded.
Questions may be directed to the individual named above under the
heading FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT.
Dated: May 5, 2004.
Roy A. Bernardi,
Assistant Secretary for Community Planning and Development.
[FR Doc. 04-10718 Filed 5-11-04; 8:45 am]
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