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[Federal Register Volume 79, Number 201 (Friday, October 17, 2014)]
[Notices]
[Pages 62434-62435]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2014-24726]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[FRL-9918-06-Region 3]

Adequacy Status of the Submitted Maintenance Plans for the 
Delaware Portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 and 
2006 Fine Particulate Matter National Ambient Air Quality Standard 
Nonattainment Areas 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 Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (MVEBs) in the Delaware 
portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 and 2006 fine 
particulate matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality 
Standard (NAAQS) Maintenance Plans, submitted as a State Implementation 
Plan (SIP) revision by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and 
Environmental Control (DNREC), are adequate for transportation 
conformity purposes.

DATE: This is effective on November 3, 2014.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Asrah Khadr, Environmental Engineer, 
Office of Air Program Planning (3AP30), United States Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA 
19103, (215) 814-2071; khadr.asrah@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Today's notice is simply an announcement of 
a finding that EPA has already made. EPA Region III sent a letter to 
the DNREC on September 12, 2014 stating that EPA has found that the 
MVEBs in the Maintenance Plans for budget years 2017 and 2025, 
submitted on December 12, 2012, are adequate for transportation 
conformity purposes. As a result of EPA's finding, the State of 
Delaware must use the 2017 and 2025 MVEBs from the December 12, 2012 
Maintenance Plans for future conformity determinations in the Delaware 
portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New

[[Page 62435]]

Jersey 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS nonattainment area. Receipt of the 
submittal was announced on EPA's transportation conformity Web site. No 
comments were received. The findings letter is available at EPA's 
conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. The adequate direct PM and nitrogen oxides 
(NOX) MVEBs are provided in Table 1.

 Table 1--Delaware Portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 1997 and 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS Maintenance Plans
                                           MVEBs for Direct PM and NOX
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                                         Motor vehicle emissions budget for  Mobile vehicle emissions budget for
             Budget years                     direct PM-tons per year                 NOX-tons per year
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2017..................................                                 199                                6,273
2025..................................                                 199                                6,273
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    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act (CAA). EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation 
plans, transportation improvement programs, and projects conform to 
SIPs 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 national ambient air 
quality standards.
    The criteria by which we determine whether a SIP's MVEBs are 
adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). 
EPA described the process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP 
budgets in a July 1, 2004 preamble starting at 69 FR 40038 and used the 
information in these resources in making this adequacy determination. 
Delaware did not provide emission budgets for sulfur dioxide 
(SO2), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), or ammonia for the 
Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New Jersey 
nonattainment area because it concluded that emissions of these 
precursors from motor vehicles are not significant contributors to the 
area's PM2.5 air quality problem. The transportation 
conformity rule provision at 40 CFR 93.102(b)(2)(v) indicates that 
conformity does not apply for these precursors, due to the lack of 
MVEBs for these precursors and the State's conclusion that motor 
vehicle emissions of SO2, VOCs, and ammonia do not 
contribute significantly to the area's PM2.5 nonattainment 
problem. This provision of the transportation conformity rule predates 
and was not disturbed by the January 4, 2013 decision in the litigation 
on the PM2.5 implementation rule.\1\ EPA has preliminarily 
concluded that the State's decision to not include budgets for 
SO2, VOCs, and ammonia is consistent with the requirements 
of the transportation conformity rule. That decision does not affect 
EPA's adequacy finding for the submitted direct PM and NOX 
MVEBs for the Delaware portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-New 
Jersey nonattainment area.
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    \1\ EPA issued conformity regulations to implement the 1997 
PM2.5 NAAQS in July 2004 and May 2005 (69 FR 40004, July 
1, 2004 and 70 FR 24280, May 6, 2005, respectively). Those actions 
were not part of the final rule recently remanded to EPA by the 
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia in NRDC v. EPA, No. 
08-1250 (Jan. 4, 2013), in which the Court remanded to EPA the 
implementation rule for the PM2.5 NAAQS because it 
concluded that EPA must implement that NAAQS pursuant to the PM-
specific implementation provisions of subpart 4 of Part D of Title I 
of the CAA, rather than solely under the general provisions of 
subpart 1.
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    Please note that an adequacy review is separate from EPA's SIP 
review process. The Maintenance Plans containing the 2017 and 2025 
MVEBs were approved by EPA on August 5, 2014 (79 FR 45350). The MVEBs 
have been approved as part of the Delaware SIP, finding the MVEBs 
adequate makes them available for use for transportation conformity 
purposes.

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

    Dated: October 1, 2014.
William C. Early,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region III.
[FR Doc. 2014-24726 Filed 10-16-14; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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