## MARYLAND DEPARTMENT OF THE ENVIRONMENT

1800 Washington Boulevard • Baltimore MD 21230

410-537-3000 • 1-800-633-6101

Robert L. Ehrlich, Jr.

Governor

Michael S. Steele

Lt. Governor Kendl P. Philbrick Secretary



# Revision to Maryland’s Transportation Conformity State Implementation Plan

November 9, 2006

Prepared for:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Prepared by:

Maryland Department of the Environment

## This Page Left Intentionally Blank

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## TABLE OF CONTENTS

Executive Summary .......................................................................................................... 4 Introduction and Background ......................................................................................... 6

What is a SIP? ................................................................................................................. 6

What is SAFETEA-LU? ................................................................................................. 6 What is Transportation Conformity? .............................................................................. 7 Maryland Interagency Consultation ............................................................................... 8 Maryland Commitments: New SAFETEA-LU Requirements ..................................... 9 Substitution of Transportation Control Measures ........................................................... 9 PM2.5 and CO Hotspots ................................................................................................. 9 Appendix A, Conformity Regulations ........................................................................... 10

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### Executive Summary

This SIP revision formally revises the Maryland Transportation Conformity State Implementation Plan (SIP 03-02) to reflect ch anges in the conformity process that have

resulted from the enactment of SAFETEA-L U (Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) a nd the designation of Washington County by the EPA as a nonattainme nt area for fine particulate matter (PM2.5). Transportation conformity is a re quirement of the Clean Air Act (CAA) that helps control growth in mobile source emissi ons for areas that do not meet federal air quality standards.

SAFETEA-LU Conformity Process Changes

The Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) was enacted on August 10, 2005. Under this act, amendments were made to the transportation conformity rules (Section 6011 of th e Act), which require

states that have nonattainment areas to revi se their existing transportation conformity SIPs. The major transportation conformity amendments brought about by the enactment

of SAFETEA-LU consist of:

• The frequency of required conformity de terminations is now every four years (instead of every three years) unless the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) elects to update its transportation plan more frequently

• The act allows areas two years instead of the previous 18 months to determine conformity after EPA approves or finds an nonattainment area’s mobile budgets adequate

• Areas now have the option to shorten the horizon of transportation plan conformity determinations

• The latest year of a trans portation plan can now be the latest of the following: the 10th year of plan, the latest year in a SIP that contains a motor vehicle emission budget, or the year after the completion date of a regionally significant project

• The act gives nonattainment areas an a dditional 6 months to re-determine conformity after new motor vehicle em ission budget (MVEB) is found adequate, approved or promulgated

• The act grants a streamlined ability for st ates to substitute Transportation Control Measures (TCM’s) without having TCM substitution language in their SIPs

• The act adds a one-year grace period to conformity lapses

• The act streamlines requirements for conformity SIPs

• The act requires nonattainmen t areas to perform a quali tative analysis of PM2.5 hotspots for projects that EPA designate s of “air quality c oncern” such as highway and transit projects that involve sign ificant levels of diesel vehicle traffic

4Maryland Nonattainment Areas and SAFETEA-LU

On December 17, 2004, EPA designated Washi ngton County as being in nonattainment of the federal PM2.5 standard, thus making a transportation conformity determination required for proposed transpor tation projects in this c ounty. Under the rules of transportation conformity it is required that a public interagency c onsultation process be maintained. The Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) has revised (as seen in Appendix A of this SIP revision) the transportation conformity regulations for Maryland that address the in teragency consultation process to include Washington County.

The local Metropolitan Planning Organizati on (MPO) which is called the Hagerstown/ Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Orga nization (HEPMPO) is now charged with establishing a proactive public involveme nt process which provides a reasonable opportunity for review and comment before ta king action on a conformity determination for all transportation plans consistent with the requir ements of 23 CFR section 450.316(b). The MDE will be an ac tive participant in this pro cess. The addition of the HEPMPO interagency process will be codi fied in the revised Maryland conformity regulations under COMA R 26.11.26 (Appendix A).

Under this SIP revision Maryland also comm its meeting EPA requirements to complete carbon monoxide (CO) and fine particulate (PM 2.5) hotspot analyses for applicable transportation projects. Ma ryland also commits through th e nonattainment areas MPOs to identify mitigation measures not specifically addressed in a Transportation Improvement Program (TIP) or Plan in accordance with 40 CFR Part 93.122, 842.

References and Guidance

This document references Maryland SIP #03-02, and uses guidance issued by EPA, FHWA, FTA, and USDOT on hotspot anal yses and SAFETEA-LU conformity provisions. Additional guidance was found in Section 7 of EPA’s February 2006 document, Interim Guidance for Implementing the Transportation Conformity Provisions

in the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Tran sportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU) , and Section 6011 of the SAFETEA-LU Act itself, which deals with transportation conformity.

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### Introduction and Background

The purpose of this document is to revise the Maryland conformity SIP in accordance with the new requirements of SAFE TEA-LU, an updated federal law.

What is a SIP?

The State Implementation Plan (SIP) is a pl an for each State which identifies how that State will attain and/or maintain the primary and secondary National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) set forth in section 109 of the Clean Air Act ("the Act") and 40Code of Federal Regulations 50.4 through 50.12 and which includes federallyenforceable requirements. Each State is requ ired to have a SIP which contains control measures and strategies which demonstrate how each area will attain and maintain the NAAQS. These plans are developed through a public process, formally adopted by the State, and submitted by the Governor's design ee to EPA. The Clean Air Act requires EPA to review each plan and any plan revisions a nd to approve the plan or plan revisions if

consistent with the Clean Air Act.

SIP requirements applicable to all areas are provided in sectio n 110 of the Act. Part D of Title I of the Act specifies additional requi rements applicable to nonattainment areas. Section 110 and part D describe the elements of a SIP and include, among other things, emission inventories, a monitoring network, an air quality analysis , modeling, attainment demonstrations, enforcement mechanisms, and regulations which have been adopted by the State to attain or maintain NAAQS. EPA has adopted regulatory requirements which spell out the procedures for preparing, adopting and submitting SIPs and SIP revisions that are codified in 40 CFR part 51. EPA's action on each State's SIP is promulgated in 40 CFR part 52.

The contents of a typical SIP fall into several categories: (1) State-adopted control

measures which consists of e ither rules/regulations or s ource-specific requirements (e.g., orders and consent decrees); (2) State-submitte d comprehensive air quality plans, such as attainment plans, maintenan ce plans rate of progress plan s, and transportation control plans demonstrating how these state regul atory and source-specific controls, in conjunction with federal programs, will bring an d/or keep air quality in compliance with federal air quality standards; (3) State- s ubmitted "non-regulatory" requirements, such as emission inventories, small business co mpliance assistance programs; statutes demonstrating legal authority, monitoring networ ks, etc.); and (4) a dditional requirements promulgated by EPA (in the absence of a co mmensurate State provision) to satisfy a mandatory section 110 or part D (Clean Air Act) requirement.

What is SAFETEA-LU?

On August 10, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU). The act guarantees funding for highways, highway safe ty, and public trans portation. SAFETEALU builds on two prior transportation b ills - the Intermodal Surface Transportation

6Efficiency Act of 1991 (ISTEA) and the Transportation Equity Act for the 21 st Century (TEA-21). The act also revises several rules regarding trans portation conformity.

What is Transportation Conformity?

Transportation conformity ("conformity") is a provision of the Clean Air Act that ensures that Federal funding and approval goes to those transportation activities that are consistent with air quality goals. Conformity applies to transportati on plans and projects funded or approved by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) in areas that do not meet or previously have not met air quality standards for ozone, carbon monoxide, particulate matter, or nitrogen dioxide.

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### Maryland Interagency Consultation

The transportation conformity rule, 40 CFR Section 93.105, requires that the State Implementation Plan (SIP) address how th e principle agencies involved in the development of state implementation plans a nd the principle agencies involved in the continuing transportation planning proce ss will consult with each other to reach consensus on important issues.

COMAR 26.11.26, which has been included as Appendix A in this SIP document, has been revised to incorporate the changes in the federal conformity rule which were published in the SAFETEA-LU act on A ugust 10, 2005. The primary purpose of the federal amendment is to streamline the administrative procedures and provide greater flexibility in the existing transportation conformity regulation.

COMAR 26.11.26 has also been amended to provide a legal platform for the various consultation procedures that have been de veloped between the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE), Maryland Depart ment of Transportation (MDOT), and Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs). Th e recent revisions to the federal rule to reduce the administrative complexity of th e rule allow many decisions to be made through the interagency consultation proce ss. The revisions to COMAR 26.11.26 give state and local governments increased flexibil ity to set performance measures used to determine conformity, develop the SIP, a nd handle unique planning situations in a

manner beneficial to the environment and ec onomic development. The general regulatory platform of COMAR 26.11.26.03 allows consul tation to occur through a variety of processes. These processes are tailored to f it the resources and pla nning style of the area.

In 2004 EPA designated Washington County as nonattainment for PM2.5, thus making a transportation conformity determ ination required for this po llutant in that nonattainment area. The local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) wh ich is called the Hagerstown/ Eastern Panhandle Metropolitan Planning Organization (HEPMPO) will establish a proactive public involvement proc ess which provides a re asonable opportunity for review and comment before taking ac tion on a conformity determination for all transportation plans and TIPs consistent with the requirements of 23 CFR section 450.316(b). MDE will be very involved in this process and MDE commits to working with the HEPMPO on all PM2.5 conformity issues. MDE has formally added the HEPMPO interagency consultation process to Maryland’s Conformity regulation (see appendix A).

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### Maryland Commitments: New SAFETEA-LU Requirements

Upon the passage of SAFETEA-LU, changes were made to the transportation conformity process. The major changes reflected in this SIP revision are commitments to identify and support emission control measures that are not specifically identified in a TIP or plan and a requirement to make an analysis of poten tial PM2.5 hotspots at tr ansportation projects.

Substitution of Transportation Control Measures

The SAFETEA-LU Act provides for substitu tion of transportation control measures (TCMs) as an amendment to Section 176(c) of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. 7506 (c)). 40 CFR, Section 93.122(a)(4)(ii) which require s commitments for control measures not

included in a TIP or Plan.

An example of a commitment not included in a TIP or Plan would be a school bus retrofit project not being funded by FHWA or FTA, but is still being used for emission reduction credit in a conformity determination. Eviden ce needs to be identified that such a measure has adequate funding, personnel and authority for implementation, monitoring and

enforcement.

Maryland, in accordance with the requireme nts of 40 CFR Part 93.122, 842 commits to meeting this specific requirement of SAFETEA-LU.

PM2.5 and CO Hotspots

This provision applies to fine particulate (PM 2.5) hot spots and Carbon Monoxide (CO) and to project level conformity determina tions only (in accordance with 40 CFR Part 93.125(a)), not to regional confor mity determinations. EPA’s Transportation Conformity Guidance for Qualitative Hot-spot Analys is in PM 2.5 and PM 10 Nonattainment and

Maintenance Areas describes how to conduct PM 2.5 hot -spot analyses for “projects of air quality concern”, as defi ned in 40 CFR 93.123(b)(1).

The final rule establishing transportation conformity criteria and procedures for determining which transportati on projects must be analyzed for local air quality impacts in Particulate Matter (PM) 2.5 nonattainment and maintenance areas was published by EPA on March 10, 2006 (40 CFR 93.123(b)(1)). The EPA recommends under this final rule that an analysis be performed on poten tial PM2.5 hotspots for “projects of air quality concern” defined as projects which have a va lue of 8% or more pr ojected annual average daily traffic comprised of diesel trucks.

Maryland commits to meeting the requirements of the EPA hotspot rule(s) for PM2.5 and

CO.

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### Appendix A, Conformity Regulations