UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION Ill 1650 Arch Street Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-2029

The Honorable Ben Grumbles, Secretary Maryland Department ofthe Environment 1800 Washington Boulevard Baltimore, Maryland 21230

Dear Secretary Grumbles: 

## NOV 1 

## .e.2015

Thank you for your letter dated October 20, 2015, in which you requested withdrawal of certainportions ofthe June 4, 2007 Maryland Department ofthe Environment (MDE) State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submittal, (SIP# 07-04), BaltimoreNonattainment Area 8-Hour Ozone State Implementation Plan and Base Year Inventory the "Moderate Area Plan," for the Baltimore nonattainment area for the 1997 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), the "Baltimore Area." On June 4, 2010 (75 FR 31709), EPA approved the 2002 base year inventory, reasonable further progress (RFP) plan up to 2008, RFP contingency measures, reasonable available control measure (RACM) demonstration, and 2008 transportation conformity motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEBs) associated with the June 4, 2007 Moderate Area Plan for the Baltimore Area. Your October 20, 2015 withdrew the remainder of the June 4, 2007 submittal, pertaining to the attainment demonstration, including modeling and weight ofevidence, the 2009 attainment year inventory, contingency measures for attainment, and 2009 transportation conformity MVEBs.

On May 26,2015 (80 FR29970), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) determined that the Baltimore Area attained the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS, based on monitored ambient air quality data for the 2012-2014 monitoring period. Under the provisions ofEPA's
ozone implementation rule (40 CFR 51.918), EPA's determination that an area is attaining the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS suspends the area's obligations to submit certainplanning requirements related to attainment ofthat standard, including an attainment demonstration and contingency measures, for as long as the area continues to attain the standard. Therefore, the statutory requirement for the portion ofthe June 4, 2007 Moderate AreaPlan which MDE withdrew has been suspended.

On May 8, 2009 (74 FR 21593), EPApublished a proposed rule to disapprove the ozone attainment demonstration portion ofMaryland's June 4, 2007 Moderate AreaPlan. With the withdrawal ofthe remaining portions ofthe June 4, 2007 Moderate AreaPlan, there is no longer any portion ofthe SIP revision pending before EPA for rulemaking action. OnNovember 10, 2015, EPA Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin signed a rulemaking notice withdrawing EPA'sproposed disapproval. That notice will be published in the Federal Register shortly. EPA is closing the docket for this action (Docket ID Number EPA-R03-0AR-2008-0931). EPA will maintain this now closed docket in its records, and is not returning a copy ofthe withdrawn SIP revision to MDE.

Printedon I00% recycled/recyclablepaper with I00%post-consumer fiber andprocess chlorine free. CustomerServiceHotline: 1-800-438-2474Ifyou have any questions, please do nothesitate to contact me orhave your staffcontact Ms. CristinaFernandez, Associate Director ofEPA RegionIII's Office ofAirProgram Planning, at 215-814-2178.

Sincerely,

# ~~ ctingDirector Air ProtectionDi

cc: George (Tad) S. Aburn, Director, Air and Radiation ManagementAdministration