[Federal Register: May 10, 2001 (Volume 66, Number 91)]
[Notices]
[Page 23922-23923]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr10my01-66]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[IL-202; FRL-6976-9]
Adequacy Status of the Metro East St. Louis, IL, Submitted Ozone
Attainment State Implementation Plan for Transportation Conformity
Purposes; Notice of Withdrawal of Adequacy
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of withdrawal of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: EPA has decided to withdraw our finding of adequacy and find
inadequate the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Metro East St.
Louis, Illinois, ozone attainment demonstration State Implementation
Plan (SIP) submitted on November 15, 1999, and supplemented on February
10, 2000. We are withdrawing our adequacy finding due to a recent court
decision. The United States Court of Appeals for the District of
Columbia Circuit decided on August 30, 2000, that the implementation of
the Nitrogen Oxides ( NOX) SIP Call rule could not be
required before May 31, 2004. The emission levels in the St. Louis
attainment demonstration SIP were based on the assumption that
transport of ozone precursors into St. Louis from upwind states would
be addressed by May 2003 pursuant to EPA's NOX SIP Call.
Without these regional NOX SIP Call controls in place in
2003, the Metro East St. Louis area will not be able to demonstrate
attainment as described in the submitted SIP. For this reason, the
motor vehicle emissions budgets for 2003 can no longer be considered
adequate and are inadequate. The notice of the adequacy determination
that is being withdrawn was made on June 12, 2000, in a letter to the
State and was published in the Federal Register on July 3, 2000.
DATES: The notice of adequacy is withdrawn as of May 10, 2001.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Patricia Morris (312-353-8656)
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
On June 12, 2000, EPA Region 5 sent a letter to the Illinois
Environmental Protection Agency stating that the motor vehicle
emissions budgets for NOX and volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) in the November 15, 1999, and supplemented on February 10, 2000,
Metro East St. Louis ozone attainment demonstration SIP for 2003 were
adequate for the purpose of transportation conformity. EPA published a
notice in the Federal Register on July 3, 2000, [65 FR 41068]
announcing that we had made an adequacy determination for the motor
vehicle emissions budgets in the Metro East St. Louis attainment
demonstration SIP. This finding was also announced on EPA's conformity
website, http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq.
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 conform.
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.
EPA described the 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''). This guidance was used in making the
[[Page 23923]]
adequacy determination on the motor vehicle emissions budgets contained
in the ozone attainment demonstration for St. Louis. The criteria by
which EPA determines whether a SIP's motor vehicle emission budgets are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
An adequacy review is separate from EPA's SIP completeness review, and
it also should not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate action to approve
or disapprove the SIP. The SIP could later be disapproved for reasons
unrelated to transportation conformity even though the budgets had been
deemed adequate.
EPA believes that a consequence of the D.C. Circuit's order
delaying the implementation date of the NOX SIP Call rule is
that the budgets submitted by Illinois can no longer be considered
adequate for purposes of transportation conformity and that these
budgets are now inadequate. This belief is based on the fact that the
attainment demonstration relied on the expected reductions from the
NOX SIP call in 2003, whereas those reductions can not now
be assumed prior to 2004.
On November 8, 2000, EPA sent a letter to Illinois advising
Illinois of the need to revise the Metro East St. Louis ozone
attainment demonstration and to submit revised budgets. The revised
budgets are expected to be based on controls that will be in place by
the year 2004.
Consequently, EPA has decided to withdraw the June 12, 2000,
adequacy determination and is instead finding that the budgets are
inadequate. EPA is taking this action without prior notice and comment
because adequacy determinations are not considered rulemaking subject
to the procedural requirements of the Administrative Procedures Act. In
addition, EPA does not believe further notice through EPA's conformity
website is necessary in advance because of the delay in the
NOX SIP Call implementation date, it is clear that the
budgets can no longer be considered adequate. Consequently, further
public comment would be unnecessary and not in the public interest. In
this action, EPA is also withdrawing all statements and comments
previously made in relation to its earlier determination of the
adequacy of the budgets for transportation conformity purposes. The
substance of the budgets and any revisions to them will be further
reviewed by EPA as part of its final decision to on the 1-hour ozone
attainment demonstration SIP for the St. Louis nonattainment area. This
SIP was initially submitted to EPA on November 15, 1999 and
supplemented on February 10, 2000.
EPA will announce the withdrawal of the adequacy determination and
inadequacy finding on its conformity website, (go to http://
www.epa.gov/otaq/traq and then click on ``conformity'').
Dated: April 30, 2001.
Jerri-Anne Garl,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 01-11836 Filed 5-9-01; 8:45 am]
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