ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

[EPA-ROI-OAR-2008-0107; A-1-FRL- ] 

Adequacy Status of the Massachusetts 8-Hour Ozone Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for 

Transportation Conformity Purposes; Massachusetts. 

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

ACTION : Notice of adequacy. 

SUMMARY: EPA is notifying the public that EPA has found that the 2008 and 2009 motor 

vehicle emissions budgets in the January 31, 2008 Massachusetts 8-hour ozone State 

Implementation Plan revision are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. The 

submittal includes 2008 and 2009 motor vehicle emission budgets for the Boston-LawrenceWorcester (Eastern Massachusetts) and Springfield (Western Massachusetts) 8-hour ozone 

nonattainment areas. As a result of our finding, Massachusetts must use these motor vehicle 

emission budgets for future conformity determinations. 

DATES: This finding is effective [insert date 15 days after Federal Register publication] . 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Donald O. Cooke, Environmental Scientist, 

Air Quality Planning Unit, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA New England Regional 

Office, One Congress Street, Suite 1100 (CAQ, Boston, MA 02114-2023, (617) 918-1668, 

cooke_.donald c ,epa .gov. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Throughout this document, whenever "we," "us" or "our" is used, we mean EPA. 
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Today's action is simply an announcement of a finding that we have already made. EPA 

New England sent a letter to the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection on 

March 7, 2008, stating that the 2008 and 2009 motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) in the 

Boston-Lawrence-Worcester (Eastern Massachusetts) and Springfield (Western Massachusetts) 

8-hour ozone nonattainment areas are adequate. Massachusetts submitted the budgets on 

January 31, 2008, as part of the 8-hour ozone attainment demonstration and reasonable further 

progress plan for Eastern and Western Massachusetts. This submittal was announced on EPA's 

conformity website, and received no comments. (See 

http ://www.ena.gov/otag/stateresources/transconf/adequacy htm . Once there, click on "What 

SIP submissions are currently under EPA adequacy review?") 

The 2008 and 2009 MVEBs, in tons per summer day (tpsd), for volatile organic 

compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) for Eastern and Western Massachusetts, are as 

follows : 

Adequate Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets 

Boston-Lawrence-Worcester 

(Eastern Massachusetts) Area 

Springfield 

(Western Massachusetts) Area 

VOC (tpsd) NOX (tpsd) VOC (tpsd) NOX (tpsd) 

Year 2008 68 .30 191 .30 11 .80 31 .30 

Year 2009 63.50 174.96 10.73 27 .73 

Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act. 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 
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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 national ambient 

air quality standards. 

The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle emissions budgets are 

adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93 .118(e)(4) . We have described our 

process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in our July 1, 2004, preamble 

starting at 69 FR 40038, and we used the information in these resources while making our 

adequacy determination. 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 we find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved. 

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401-7671 q. 

3- 1 ©°c.7 .~- L,.3, 

Dated: Robert W. Varney, 

Regional Administrator, 

EPA New England.