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[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 109 (Wednesday, June 6, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 33454-33455]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-13697]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R04-OAR-2010-0017: FRL-9682-6]

Adequacy Status: South Carolina: Reasonable Further Progress Plan 
Motor Vehicle Emissions Budget for Transportation Conformity for the 
Portion of York County, South Carolina Within Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock 
Hill, North Carolina-South Carolina; 1997 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment 
Area

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public of its finding 
that the volatile organic compounds (VOC) motor vehicle emissions 
budget (MVEB) for the portion of York County, South Carolina that is 
within the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill, North Carolina-South Carolina 
Area (hereafter referred to as the ``Charlotte bi-state Area'') 
Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone 
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), submitted on August 31, 
2007, and supplemented on April 29, 2010, by the South Carolina 
Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) are adequate 
for transportation conformity purposes. The South Carolina portion of 
the Charlotte bi-state Area is comprised of a portion of York County, 
South Carolina. On March 2, 1999, the District of Columbia Circuit 
Court 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 
South Carolina portion of the Charlotte bi-state Area must use the VOC 
MVEB from the submitted RFP plan supplement for the Area for future 
conformity determinations.

DATES: This adequacy finding for VOC is effective June 21, 2012.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kelly Sheckler, 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: Today's notice is simply an announcement of 
findings that EPA has already made.

[[Page 33455]]

EPA Region 4 sent a letter to SC DHEC on May 25, 2012, stating that the 
2008 VOC MVEB in the 1997 8-hour ozone RFP plan for the South Carolina 
portion of the Charlotte bi-state Area, dated August 31, 2007, and 
supplemented on April 29, 2010, are adequate. EPA posted the 
availability of the York County MVEB on EPA's Web site on May 13, 2010, 
as part of the adequacy process, for the purpose of soliciting 
comments. The comment period ran from May 13, 2010, through June 14, 
2010. EPA's findings have also been announced on EPA's conformity Web 
site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/index.htm, (once there, 
click ``Transportation Conformity'' text icon, then look for ``Adequacy 
Review of SIP Submissions''). The adequate VOC MVEB is provided in the 
following table:

             York County, South Carolina 8-hr Ozone VOC MVEB
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                              2008                        2008
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                 York County ( partial county) VOC MVEB
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VOC..............  6.053 tons per day........  5,493 kilograms per day
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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, 40 CFR part 
93, 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 timely 
attainment of the NAAQS.
    The criteria by which EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEB are 
adequate for transportation 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 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'' (See 69 FR 40004). Please note that an adequacy review is 
separate from the 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 MVEB adequate, the Agency may later disapprove the SIP.
    Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the 
transportation partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new 
MVEB 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: May 29, 2012.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 2012-13697 Filed 6-5-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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