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Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes; Pennsylvania; SIP for Rate of Progress and for Attainment of the NAAQS for Ozone of the Philadelphia- Wilmington-Trenton Ozone Nonattainment Area

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[Federal Register: January 20, 2000 (Volume 65, Number 13)]
[Notices]
[Page 3230-3231]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr20ja00-65]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6526-9]


Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for
Transportation Conformity Purposes; Pennsylvania; SIP for Rate of
Progress and for Attainment of the NAAQS for Ozone of the Philadelphia-
Wilmington-Trenton Ozone Nonattainment Area

AGENCY:  Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION:  Notice of Adequacy Status.

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SUMMARY:  EPA is announcing that the attainment motor vehicle emissions
budgets (hereafter referred to as ``budgets'') contained in the State
Implementation Plan (SIP) for the Attainment of the NAAQS for Ozone
Meeting the Requirements of the Alternative Ozone Attainment
Demonstration Policy--Phase II for the Pennsylvania Portion of the
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton Ozone Nonattainment Area, submitted on
April 30, 1998, are not adequate for transportation conformity
purposes. We are concurrently announcing that the Rate of Progress
(ROP) motor vehicle emission budgets contained in this same SIP
submittal are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. On
November 16, 1999, EPA announced the same decision in a Federal
Register publication entitled ``Adequacy Status of Submitted State
Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes: State
Implementation Plan for Attainment and Maintenance of the NAAQS for
Ozone--Southeastern Pennsylvania.'' We are, therefore, also announcing
that in a letter to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania dated December 22,
1999, we withdrew our findings regarding the adequacy of these budgets
originally made in an October 26, 1999 letter and announced in the
Federal Register on November 16, 1999. In the same December 22, letter,
we made new findings regarding the adequacy of these budgets.
Therefore, this announcement regarding the findings made on December
22, 1999 supersedes and renders moot the announcement published on
November 16, 1999 regarding the findings made on October 26, 1999.

DATES:  These findings regarding the adequacy of the budgets, made in a
letter dated December 22, 1999 to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, are
effective on February 4, 2000.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Larry Budney, U.S. EPA, Region III,
1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 19103 at (215) 814-2184 or by e-mail
at: budney.larry@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  Throughout this document the terms ``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 Phase II State Implementation Plan submitted by the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on April 30, 1998. This plan was submitted
to demonstrate ROP in the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-
Wilmington-Trenton ozone nonattainment area and to demonstrate
attainment of the one-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standard
(NAAQS) for ozone throughout the nonattainment area.
    On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that the budgets
contained in submitted SIPs cannot be used for transportation
conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them
adequate. As a result of our finding, the attainment budgets contained
in the submitted Phase II Ozone Attainment Plan may not be used for
future conformity determinations, but the ROP motor vehicle emission
budgets contained in the same submittal may be used for future
conformity determinations in the Pennsylvania portion of the
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton ozone nonattainment area.
    On April 30, 1998, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (PADEP) submitted its State Implementation Plan for the
Attainment and Maintenance of the NAAQS for Ozone Meeting the
Requirements of the Alternative Ozone Attainment Demonstration Policy--
Phase II. The SIP contained mobile source vehicle emissions budgets
both for ROP and for attainment. On August 2, 1999, the availability of
the SIP and the motor vehicle emission budgets was posted on EPA's
conformity WEB site for the purpose of soliciting public comment. The
comment period closed on August 31, 1999, and no comments were
received.
    On October 26, 1999, we sent a letter to the Commonwealth of
Pennsylvania which constituted final Agency actions on the adequacy of
the budgets contained in the Phase II SIP submitted by Pennsylvania on
April 30, 1998. Those actions were EPA's findings that the attainment
budgets were not adequate and that the ROP budgets were adequate. On
November 16, 1999, we published our findings that the attainment
budgets were not adequate and that the ROP budgets were adequate in a
Federal Register announcement entitled ``Adequacy Status of Submitted
State Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes:
State Implementation Plan for Attainment and Maintenance of the NAAQS
for Ozone--Southeastern Pennsylvania'' (64 FR 62198). As indicated in
that notice, the effective date of the Agency's October 26, 1999
findings was December 1, 1999.
    In a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPR) published on December 16,
1999 (64 FR 70428), we proposed that additional measures are needed to
support the attainment test for the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton
ozone nonattainment area. Pennsylvania has raised concerns that the
text found in the NPR at section II.B.3, entitled Motor Vehicle
Emissions Budget, may be interpreted to conclude that EPA took final
Agency action in its October 26, 1999 letter to determine that
additional measures to reduce emissions are required in the
Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton area to support the attainment test.
This is not the case. The action published by EPA on December 16, 1999
regarding the attainment demonstration contained in the Phase II SIP
submitted by the Commonwealth on April 30, 1998 and supplemented on
August 21, 1998, is a proposed action. EPA has invited comment on all
matters raised in the NPR, including the need for additional measures.
    We wished to clarify its intent and to address the Commonwealth's
concerns. Therefore, in a letter to the Commonwealth dated December 22,
1999, we withdrew the October 26, 1999 final actions as to the adequacy
of the motor vehicle emission budgets submitted by the Commonwealth in
its April 30, 1998 Phase II SIP for the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton
nonattainment area. In the same December 22, 1999 letter, we took
Agency actions on the adequacy of the budgets in Pennsylvania's Phase
II SIP by finding that the attainment budgets

[[Page 3231]]

were not adequate and that the ROP budgets were adequate. The December
22, 1999 letter also clearly indicated that it superseded any final
actions which had occurred on October 26, 1999, and that the withdrawal
of the findings made on October 26, 1999 was effective immediately
(December 22, 1999).
    As stated above, on December 22, 1999, we informed the Commonwealth
of our finding that the motor vehicle emission budgets in the Phase II
SIP submitted by the Commonwealth are not adequate for the purposes of
transportation conformity. Among other things, the attainment budgets,
when considered together with all other emission reductions, must be
consistent with applicable requirements for attainment as required in
40 CFR Part 93, Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(iv). In making our finding that the
attainment budgets are not adequate, we have preliminarily determined
that the submitted Phase II attainment SIP does not fully provide for
attainment. This preliminary determination is not a final agency action
and is rather one of the issues in our December 16, 1999 Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking (64 FR 70428).
    On December 22, 1999, we also informed the Commonwealth that we
found the motor vehicle emission budgets in the 1999, 2002, and 2005
ROP plan adequate since they met the review criteria in 40 CFR Part 93,
Sec. 93.118(e)(4)(i) through (e)(4)(vi) of the conformity rule.
    This is an announcement of adequacy findings that we already made
on December 22, 1999. The effective date of these findings is February
4, 2000. 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 SIP Submissions for Conformity'').
Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) 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 NAAQS.
    The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's budgets are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
Please note that an adequacy finding is separate from EPA's
completeness finding, and separate from EPA's finding whether or not
the SIP is approvable. Even if we find a budget adequate, the SIP could
later be disapproved. We described our process for determining the
adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in a guidance memorandum dated May
14, 1999 titled ``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2,
1999 Conformity Court Decision''. We followed this guidance in making
our adequacy findings for the budgets contained in the ``SIP for Rate
of Progress Emission Reductions and for Attainment of the NAAQS for
Ozone Meeting the Requirements of the Alternative Ozone Attainment
Demonstration Policy--Phase II'' submitted on April 30, 1998 by PADEP.
You may obtain a copy of this guidance from EPA's conformity web site
referred to above or by calling the contact name listed in the For
Further Information Contact section of this notice.

    Authority:  42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.

    Dated: January 10, 2000.
Bradley M. Campbell,
Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 00-1362 Filed 1-19-00; 8:45 am]
BILLIING CODE 6560-50-P

 
 

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