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[Federal Register: April 7, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 66)]
[Notices]               
[Page 17709-17710]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr07ap10-47]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0153-201010-TN; FRL-9133-9]

 
Adequacy Status of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 PM2.5 Attainment 
Demonstration Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for Transportation 
Conformity Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found 
that the direct particulate matter (PM2.5) and Nitrogen 
Oxides (NOX) motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the 
Knoxville, Tennessee Attainment Demonstration Plan for the 1997 
PM2.5 standard, submitted April 4, 2008, by the Tennessee 
Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC), are adequate for 
transportation conformity purposes. On March 2, 1999, the United States 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit) 
ruled that submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used 
for transportation conformity determinations until EPA has 
affirmatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's finding, the 
Knoxville, Tennessee area, including the portion of Roane County, must 
use the MVEBs for future conformity determinations for the 1997 
PM2.5 standard.

DATES: The adequacy finding for the PM2.5 and NOX 
MVEBs are effective April 22, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, Environmental 
Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning 
Branch, Air Quality Modeling and Transportation Section, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Sheckler can also be reached 
by telephone at (404) 562-9222, or via electronic mail at 
sheckler.kelly@epa.gov. The finding is available at EPA's conformity 
Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of 
findings that EPA has already made. EPA Region 4 sent a letter to TDEC 
on February 11, 2010, stating that the PM2.5 and 
NOX MVEBs in the 1997 PM2.5 attainment 
demonstration for Knoxville, Tennessee, submitted April 4, 2008, are 
adequate and must be used for transportation conformity determinations 
in the Knoxville area. EPA posted the availability of the Knoxville 
MVEBs on EPA's Web site on April 14, 2008, as part of the adequacy 
process, for the purpose of soliciting comments. The comment period ran 
from April 14, 2008, through May 14, 2008. During EPA's adequacy 
comment period, no comments were received on the MVEBs for the area. 
Through this notice, EPA is informing the public that these MVEBs are 
adequate for transportation conformity. EPA's findings have also been 
announced on EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. The PM2.5 and 
NOx MVEBs are provided in the following table:

                Knoxville Area Direct PM2.5 and NOX MVEBs
                             [Tons per year]
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                Counties                     Pollutant         2009
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Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and a               PM2.5          283.63
 portion of Roane County................
Anderson, Blount, Knox, Loudon and a                 NOX        18,024.9
 portion of Roane County................
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    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act, as amended in 1990. EPA's conformity rule requires that 
transportation plans, programs and projects conform to State air 
quality implementation plans 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

[[Page 17710]]

timely attainment of the national ambient air quality standards.
    The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEBs are 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 Code 
of Federal Regulations 93.118(e)(4). 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 attainment 
demonstration plan for the Knoxville, Tennessee area. Even if EPA finds 
the budget adequate, the attainment demonstration plan could later be 
disapproved.
    EPA has described the process for determining the adequacy of 
submitted SIP budgets in a May 14, 1999, memorandum entitled 
``Conformity Guidance on Implementation of March 2, 1999, Conformity 
Court Decision. EPA has followed this guidance in making this adequacy 
determination. This guidance is incorporated into EPA's July 1, 2004, 
final rulemaking entitled ``Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments 
for the New 8-hour Ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air 
Quality Standards and Miscellaneous Revisions for Existing Areas; 
Transportation Conformity Rule Amendments: Response to Court Decision 
and Additional Rule Changes'' (69 FR 40004).
    Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the 
transportation partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new 
MVEBs, if the demonstration has not already been made, pursuant to 40 
CFR 93.104(e). See, 73 FR 4419 (January 24, 2008).

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: March 17, 2010.
Beverly H. Banister,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2010-7879 Filed 4-6-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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