Adequacy Status of the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution
Control District, California Submitted Ozone Rate of Progress Plan for
Transportation Conformity Purposes
[Federal Register: July 24, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 142)]
[Notices]
[Page 43724-43725]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr24jy03-71]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[CA 097-NOA; FRL-7535-3]
Adequacy Status of the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution
Control District, California Submitted Ozone Rate of Progress Plan for
Transportation Conformity Purposes
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy determination.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that we have found
that the motor vehicle emissions budgets contained in the submitted
Amended 2002 and 2005 Ozone Rate of Progress Plan for the San Joaquin
Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes.
As a result of our finding, the various transportation planning
agencies in the San Joaquin Valley and the Federal Highway
Administration must use the VOC and NOX motor vehicle
emissions budgets from the Amended Rate of
[[Page 43725]]
Progress plan for future conformity determinations.
DATES: This determination is effective August 8, 2003.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: The finding is available at EPA's
conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/transp/traqconf.htm (once
there, click on the ``Transportation Conformity'' link, then look for
``Adequacy Web Pages'').
You may also contact David Wampler, U.S. EPA, Region IX, Air
Division AIR-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; (415)
972-3975 or wampler.david@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice announces our finding that the
emissions budgets contained in the Amended 2002 and 2005 Ozone Rate of
Progress Plan submitted by the State of California on behalf of the San
Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District on April 10,
2003, are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. EPA Region
IX made this finding in a letter to the State of California, Air
Resources Board on July 10, 2003. We are also announcing this finding
on our conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/transp/traqconf.htm
(once there, click on the ``Transportation Conformity'' link, then look
for ``Adequacy Web Pages'').
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 state air quality implementation
plans (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). One of these criteria is that the motor vehicle
emissions budgets, when considered together with all other emission
sources, is consistent with applicable requirements for the reasonable
further progress plan. We have preliminarily determined that the San
Joaquin Valley Amended 2002 and 2005 Ozone Rate of Progress plan meets
the necessary emissions reductions and, therefore, the motor vehicle
emissions budgets can be found adequate. Please note that an adequacy
review is separate from EPA's completeness review, and it also should
not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of the submitted plan
itself. Even if we find a budget adequate, the submitted plan could
later be disapproved.
We have described our process for determining the adequacy of
submitted SIP budgets in guidance (May 14, 1999 memo titled
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity
Court Decision''). We followed this guidance in making our adequacy
determination on the emissions budgets contained in the Amended 2002
and 2005 Ozone ROP Plan for San Joaquin Valley.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671 q.
Dated: July 14, 2003.
Laura Yoshii,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 03-18854 Filed 7-23-03; 8:45 am]
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