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Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for the Baltimore 2015 8-Hour Ozone Moderate Nonattainment Area Publication: Federal Register Agency: Environmental Protection Agency Byline: Adam Ortiz Date: 3 August 2023 Subjects: American Government  , The Environment
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 148 (Thursday, August 3, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51310-51311]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-16587]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R03-OAR-2023-0302; FRL-11045-01-R3]
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for the
Baltimore 2015 8-Hour Ozone Moderate Nonattainment Area
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: In this notice, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is
notifying the public that it has found that the 2023 motor vehicle
emissions budgets (MVEBs) for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and
nitrogen oxides (NOX), submitted by the Maryland Department
of the Environment (MDE) on March 7, 2023, for the 2015 8-hour ozone
national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes for the Baltimore 2015 8-hour ozone
moderate nonattainment area. As a result of EPA's finding, the State of
Maryland must use the MVEBs from the March 7, 2023, attainment
demonstration for future conformity determinations for the 2015 8-hour
ozone standard.
[[Page 51311]]
DATES: The motor vehicle budgets are effective August 18, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gregory Becoat, Planning &
Implementation Branch (3AD30), Air & Radiation Division, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, Region III, Four Penn Center, 1600
John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. The
telephone number is (215) 814-2036. Mr. Becoat can also be reached via
electronic mail at becoat.gregory@epa.gov.
ADDRESSES: Publicly available docket materials, identified by EPA-R03-
OAR-2023-0302, are available either electronically through
www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the EPA Docket Center, WJC West
Building, Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Ave. NW, Washington, DC. The
Docket Center's hours of operations are 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday
through Friday (except Federal Holidays). For further information on
the EPA Docket Center services and the current status, see www.epa.gov/dockets. You may access this Federal Register document electronically
from www.federalregister.gov/documents/current. This finding will also
be available at the EPA's conformity website: www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-3.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is an announcement of a finding
that EPA has already made. EPA Region 3 sent a letter to MDE on June 1,
2023, stating that the 2023 MVEBs are adequate for transportation
conformity purposes. The transportation conformity rule requires that
EPA conduct a public process and make an affirmative decision on the
adequacy of these budgets before they can be used by metropolitan
planning organizations (MPO) in transportation conformity
determinations.
As a result of this finding, upon the effective date of this notice
of adequacy, the MPO must use the MVEBs associated with the attainment
demonstration for future transportation conformity determinations. EPA
announced availability of the attainment demonstration and related
MVEBs on the EPA's transportation conformity website on April 3, 2023,
requesting comments by May 3, 2023. EPA received no comments in
response to the adequacy review posting. The MVEBs are provided in
Table 1 in this document.
Table 1--2023 Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for the Baltimore Area
Attainment Demonstration
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Mobile source
emission
Pollutant budget (tons
per day)
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VOC..................................................... 17.47
NOX..................................................... 35.26
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Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section
176(c), 42 U.S.C. 7506(c). EPA's conformity rule requires that long-
range transportation plans, transportation improvement programs, and
transportation projects conform to a state's air quality SIP and
establishes the criteria and procedures for determining whether or not
they 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 NAAQS. See id. at section
7506(c)(1)(B).
The criteria EPA uses to determine whether a SIP's MVEBs are
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4).
EPA has described the process for determining the adequacy of submitted
SIP budgets in 40 CFR 93.118(f). Under 40 CFR 93.104(e), within 2 years
of the effective date of this notice, the MPO and the U.S. Department
of Transportation will need to demonstrate conformity to the MVEBs. To
do so, the on-road motor vehicle emissions from implementation of the
long-range transportation plan should be projected consistently with
the MVEBs. 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 SIP. Even if EPA finds the MVEBs adequate, the
Agency may later determine that the SIP itself is not approvable.
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671q.
Adam Ortiz,
Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2023-16587 Filed 8-2-23; 8:45 am]
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