ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R04-0AR-2010-0666-201032; FRL- ]

Adequacy Status of the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan

Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation Conformity Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Adequacy.

SUMMARY: EPA is notifying. the public that it has found that the motor vehicle

emissions budgets (MVEBs) contained in the State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision

for the Knoxville, Tennessee 1997 8-Hour Ozone Maintenance Plan are adequate for

transportation confonnity purposes. This revision was submitted on July 14,2010, by the

Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (IDEC). The Knoxville 1997

8-Hour ozone nonattainment area (hereafter referred to as "the Knoxville Area") for

which MVEBs are established in today's notice is comprised of the entire counties of

Anderson, Blount, Jefferson, Knox, Sevier, and Loudon as well as the portion of Cocke

County that falls within the boundaries of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. On

March 2, 1999, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

(DC Circuit) ruled that submitted.sIPs cannot be used for transportation conformity

detenninations until EPA has affmnatively found them adequate. As a result of EPA's

finding, the Knoxville Area must use the MVEBs for future confonnity detenninations

for the 1997 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS).

DATES: These MVEBs are effective [Insert date 15 days after publication].
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACf: Kelly Sheckler, U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region 4, Air Planning Branch, 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 fmding is available at EPA's

confonnity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq!stateresources/transconf!currsips.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This notice is simply an announcement of a

finding that EPA has already made. EPA, Region 4, sent a letter to TDEC on July 20,

2010, stating that the MVEBs identified for Knoxville in Tennessee's maintenance SIP

revision, submitted on July 14,2010, are adequate and must be used for transportation

conformity detenninations in the Knoxville Area. Originally, on June 11,2010, TDEC

submitted its maintenance plan for parallel processing which allowed EPA to initiate our

public comment period for adequacy of the MVEBs contained in Tennessee's

maintenance plan.

EPA posted the availability of the Knoxville Area MVEBs on EPA's Web site on

June 14,2010, as part of the adequacy process, for the purpose of soliciting comments.

The adequacy comment period ran from June 15,2010, through July 14,2010. During

EPA's adequacy comment period, no comments were received on the Knoxville Area

MVEBs. Through this notice, EPA is infonning the public that these MVEBs are

adequate for transportation confonnity. This finding has also been announced on EPA's

confonnity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq!stateresources/transconf!pastsips.htm.

The adequate MVEBs are provided in the following table:

2
KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 8-HOUR OZONE MVEBS

[Tons per day]

l 2024-

NOx 36.32

VOC 25.19

Transportation confonnity is required by section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act.

EPA's confonnity rule, 40 CFR Part 93, requires that transportation plans, programs and

projects confonn to state air quality implementation plans and establishes the criteria and

procedures for detennining whether or not they do so. Confonnity 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 detennines whether a SIP's MVEBs are adequate for

transportation confonnity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). We have also

described the process for detennining the adequacy ofsubmitted SIP budgets in our July

1,2004, final rulemaking entitled, "Transportation Confonnity Rule Amendments for the

New 8-Hour Ozone and PM2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards and

Miscellaneous Revisions for Existing Areas; Transportation Confonnity Rule

Amendments: Response to Court Decision and Additional Rule Changes" (69 FR 40004).

Please note that an adequacy review is separate from EPA's completeness review, and it

should not be used to prejudge EPA's ultimate approval of Tennessee's 1997 8-hour

ozone SIP revision for the Knoxville Area. Even if EPA finds a budget adequate, the SIP

revision could later be disapproved.

3
Within 24 months from the effective date of this notice, the transportation

partners will need to demonstrate conformity to the new MVEBs, ifthe demonstration

has not already been made, pursuant to 40 CPR 93.l04(e). See 73 PR 4419 (January 24,

2008).

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

Dated: 1/ ~J~IIJ j)

Sep 3, 2010

12~(k A. Stan}ey Meiburg

Acting Regional Administrator,

Region 4.

4