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[Federal Register: April 1, 2010 (Volume 75, Number 62)]
[Notices]               
[Page 16456-16457]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr01ap10-63]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R06-OAR-2008-0932; FRL-9132-9]

 
Adequacy Status of the Beaumont-Port Arthur, TX Maintenance Plan; 
8-Hour Ozone Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets for Transportation 
Conformity Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

[[Page 16457]]


ACTION: Notice of adequacy determination.

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SUMMARY: EPA is notifying the public that it has found that the motor 
vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB) in the Beaumont-Port Arthur, Texas 
(BPA) Redesignation Request/Maintenance Plan State Implementation Plan 
(SIP) revision, submitted on December 16, 2008, by the Texas Commission 
on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are adequate for transportation 
conformity purposes. As a result of EPA's finding, the BPA area must 
use these budgets for future conformity determinations for the 1997 8-
hour ozone standard.

DATES: These budgets are effective April 16, 2010.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
    The essential information in this notice will be available at EPA's 
conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. You may also contact Mr. Jeffrey Riley, Air Planning 
Section (6PD-L), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, 1445 
Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, telephone (214) 665-8542, E-mail 
address: Riley.Jeffrey@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document ``we,'' ``us,'' and 
``our'' refers to EPA. The word ``budget(s)'' refers to the mobile 
source emissions budget for volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the 
mobile source emissions budget for nitrogen oxides (NOX).
    On December 16, 2008, we received a State Implementation Plan (SIP) 
revision from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). 
This revision consisted of a Redesignation Request/Maintenance Plan SIP 
for the Beaumont-Port Arthur (BPA) ozone nonattainment area. This 
submission established the motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB) for 
the BPA area for the year 2021. The MVEB is the amount of emissions 
allowed in the state implementation plan for on-road motor vehicles; it 
establishes an emissions ceiling for the regional transportation 
network. The MVEB is provided in Table 1:

             Table 1--Beaumont/Port Arthur NOX and VOC MVEB
                      [Summer season tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                  2021
------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOX..........................................................   \*\ 7.24
VOC..........................................................       4.77
------------------------------------------------------------------------
** Includes an allocation of 1 tpd from the available NOX safety margin.

    On April 15, 2009, EPA posted the availability of the BPA area 
budget on EPA's Web site, as part of the adequacy process, for the 
purpose of soliciting public comments. The comment period closed on May 
15, 2009, and we received no comments.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that EPA has 
already made. EPA Region 6 sent a letter to TCEQ on March 4, 2010, 
finding that the MVEB in the BPA Redesignation Request/Maintenance Plan 
SIP, submitted on December 16, 2008, is adequate and must be used for 
transportation conformity determinations in the BPA area. This finding 
has also been announced on EPA's conformity Web site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm.
    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. EPA's conformity rule, 40 Code of Federal Regulations 
(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 so. 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 EPA determines whether a SIP's MVEB is 
adequate for transportation conformity purposes are outlined in 40 CFR 
93.118(e)(4). We have also described the process for determining the 
adequacy of submitted SIP budgets in our 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'' (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 the BPA Redesignation Request/
Maintenance Plan SIP revision submittal. Even if EPA finds a budget 
adequate, the Redesignation Request/Maintenance Plan SIP revision 
submittal could later be disapproved.
    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: March 24, 2010.
Lawrence E. Starfield,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 6.
[FR Doc. 2010-7314 Filed 3-31-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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