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Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in 1997 Annual PM2.5 Serious Area and Section 189(d) Attainment Plan Revision for San Joaquin Valley; California Publication: Federal Register Agency: Environmental Protection Agency Byline: Martha Guzman Aceves Date: 10 February 2022 Subjects: American Government  , The Environment
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[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 28 (Thursday, February 10, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 7834-7835]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-02771]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R09-OAR-2022-0135; FRL-9524-01-R9]
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in 1997 Annual
PM2.5 Serious Area and Section 189(d) Attainment Plan Revision for San
Joaquin Valley; California
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or ``Agency'') is
notifying the public that the Agency has found motor vehicle emissions
budgets (``budgets'') adequate in a California state implementation
plan (SIP) submittal for the San Joaquin Valley. Specifically, our
finding relates to budgets in the area's ``Attainment Plan Revision for
the 1997 Annual PM2.5 Standard'' (``15 [mu]g/m\3\ SIP
Revision''), submitted by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on
November 8, 2021. We find that these budgets are adequate for
transportation conformity purposes for the 1997 annual fine particulate
matter (PM2.5) national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS). Upon the effective date of this notice of adequacy, the San
Joaquin Valley metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) and the U.S.
Department of Transportation must use these adequate budgets in future
transportation conformity determinations. Furthermore, once the San
Joaquin Valley MPOs have used the adequate budgets to demonstrate
conformity of their transportation plans to the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP
Revision, the conformity freeze put in place as of December 27, 2021,
will be lifted.
DATES: This finding is effective February 25, 2022.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ashley Graham, Air Planning Office
(ARD-2), EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105;
(415) 972-3877 or graham.ashleyr@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,'' or
``our'' refer to the EPA.
This notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. By letter dated February 1, 2022, EPA Region IX notified
CARB that the budgets in the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision for the
reasonable further progress (RFP) year of 2020 and the attainment year
of 2023 are adequate.\1\ The finding is available at the EPA's
conformity website.\2\ We announced the availability of the 15
[micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision and related motor vehicle emissions budgets
on the EPA's transportation conformity website on November 15, 2021,
and requested comments by December 15, 2021. We received no comments in
response to the adequacy review posting. The adequate motor vehicle
emissions budgets are provided in the following table:
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\1\ Letter dated February 1, 2022, from Matthew Lakin, Acting
Director, Air and Radiation Division, EPA Region IX, to Richard
Corey, Executive Officer, CARB.
\2\ https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-9.
Adequate Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for the San Joaquin Valley for the 1997 Annual PM2.5 NAAQS
[Annual average, tpd]
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2020 (RFP year) 2023 (attainment year)
County ---------------------------------------------------------------
PM2.5 NOX PM2.5 NOX
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Fresno.......................................... 0.9 25.3 0.8 15.1
[[Page 7835]]
Kern (San Joaquin Valley portion)............... 0.8 23.3 0.7 13.3
Kings........................................... 0.2 4.8 0.2 2.8
Madera.......................................... 0.2 4.2 0.2 2.5
Merced.......................................... 0.3 8.9 0.3 5.3
San Joaquin..................................... 0.6 11.9 0.6 7.6
Stanislaus...................................... 0.4 9.6 0.4 6.1
Tulare.......................................... 0.4 8.5 0.4 5.2
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Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section
176(c). The EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans,
transportation improvement programs, and transportation projects
conform to a state's 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.
The criteria we use to determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle
emissions budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4), promulgated on August 15, 1997.\3\ We further
described our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP
budgets in our final rule dated July 1, 2004, and we used the
information in these resources in making our adequacy determination.\4\
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from the EPA's
completeness review and should not be used to prejudge the EPA's
ultimate action on the SIP submittal. Even if we find a budget
adequate, the SIP submittal could later be disapproved.
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\3\ 62 FR 43780, 43781-43783.
\4\ 69 FR 40004, 40038-40047.
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Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e), within two years of the effective
date of this notice, San Joaquin Valley MPOs and the U.S. Department of
Transportation will need to demonstrate conformity to the new budgets
if the demonstration has not already been made.\5\ Once the San Joaquin
Valley MPOs have used the adequate budgets to demonstrate conformity of
their transportation plans to the 15 [micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision, the
conformity freeze put in place as of December 27, 2021, under 40 CFR
93.120(a)(2) \6\ will be lifted. For demonstrating conformity to the
budgets in this plan, the on-road motor vehicle emissions from
implementation of the transportation plan or program should be
projected consistently with the budgets in this plan, i.e., by taking
the emissions results derived from CARB's EMFAC model (short for
EMission FACtor) and then rounding the emissions up to the nearest
tenth of a ton per day. The trading mechanism for the budgets in the 15
[micro]g/m\3\ SIP Revision for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS
is not yet approved. The EPA will consider approval of the trading
mechanism as part of the action on the submittal.
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\5\ 73 FR 4420 (January 24, 2008).
\6\ On November 26, 2021 (86 FR 67329), the EPA disapproved the
RFP and attainment demonstrations and associated budgets in the
``2018 Plan for the 1997, 2006, and 2012 PM2.5
Standards'' for the 1997 annual PM2.5 NAAQS. Upon the
effective date of that final action (i.e., December 27, 2021), the
San Joaquin Valley area became subject to a conformity freeze under
40 CFR 93.120 of the transportation conformity rule.
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Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: February 3, 2022.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2022-02771 Filed 2-9-22; 8:45 am]
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