Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for Transportation Conformity Purposes: Phase II Ozone Attainment SIPs for the Baltimore Area and Cecil County

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-6475-7]

Adequacy Status of Submitted State Implementation Plans for

Transportation Conformity Purposes: Phase II Ozone Attainment SIPs for

the Baltimore Area and Cecil County

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy status.

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SUMMARY: In this document EPA is announcing that the motor vehicle

emissions budgets (hereafter referred to as ``budgets'') contained in

the submitted Phase II Ozone Attainment SIPs for the Baltimore ozone

nonattainment area and the Cecil County, Maryland portion of the

Philadelphia-Wilmington-Trenton ozone nonattainment area are not

adequate for transportation conformity purposes. As a result of our

finding, the budgets from these submitted State Implementation Plans

(SIPs) may not be used for future conformity

[[Page 62197]]

determinations in the Baltimore area and in Cecil County.

DATES: This document is effective November 16, 1999.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul T. Wentworth, P.E., U.S. EPA,

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA. 19103 at (215) 814-2183

or by e-mail at: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we,''

``us,'' or ``our'' are used we mean EPA. The word ``budgets'' refers to

the mobile source emission budget for volatile organic compounds (VOCs)

and the mobile source emissions budget for nitrogen oxides

(NOX). The word SIP in this document refers to the State

Implementation Plan revisions submitted to satisfy the requirements for

attainment of the 1-hour ozone standard.

On April 24, 1998, we received Phase II Ozone Attainment SIPs for

the Baltimore area and the Cecil County portion of the Philadelphia-

Wilmington-Trenton ozone nonattainment areas from the Maryland

Department of the Environment. The April 24, 1998 submittals contained

motor vehicle emissions budgets for NOX and VOC for the

Baltimore area and for Cecil County. On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit

Court ruled that budgets contained in submitted SIPs cannot be used for

conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them

adequate. In accordance with that ruling, on August 2, 1999, we posted

a notice on our web site at: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq stating that

we were taking comments on the adequacy of motor vehicle emissions

budget found in the April 24, 1998 submittals. The comment period

closed on August 31, 1999. We received no comments.

Today's document is simply an announcement of a finding that we

have already made. On October 26, 1999, EPA Region III sent letters to

the Maryland Department of the Environment stating that the motor

vehicle emissions budgets found in the April 24, 1998 submittals for

the Baltimore area and for Cecil County are not adequate for

transportation conformity purposes. The essential information in this

document will also be posted on EPA's conformity website: http://

www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on the ``Conformity'' button,

then look for ``Adequacy Review of 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 national ambient air quality standards.

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 review is separate from EPA's completeness

review, and EPA's review to determine if the SIP is approvable. Even if

we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved. We have

described our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP

budgets in guidance memorandum dated May 14, 1999 and titled

``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity

Court Decision''. We have followed this guidance in making this

adequacy determination for the budgets contained in the Phase II Ozone

Attainment SIPs for the Baltimore area and for Cecil County submitted

on April 24, 1998. You may obtain a copy of this guidance from EPA's

conformity web site: http://www.epa.gov/oms/traq (once there, click on

the ``Conformity'' button) or by calling the contact name listed in For

Further Information Contact section of this document.

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

Dated: November 4, 1999.

W. Michael McCabe,

Regional Administrator, Region III.

[FR Doc. 99-29887 Filed 11-15-99; 8:45 am]

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