Notice2023-06344
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in 2008 8-Hour Ozone Extreme Area and Reasonable Further Progress Plan for Coachella Valley; California
Primary source
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Published
March 28, 2023
Effective
April 12, 2023
Issuing agencies
Environmental Protection Agency
Abstract
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is notifying the public that we have found motor vehicle emissions budgets ("budgets") for the Coachella Valley adequate for transportation conformity purposes. Specifically, our finding relates to budgets in the "Request to Reclassify Coachella Valley for the 2008 8-hour Ozone Standard and the Updated Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets" ("Coachella Valley Extreme RFP Plan"), submitted to the EPA for inclusion in the California state implementation plan (SIP) by the California Air Resources Board (CARB) on December 7, 2022. Upon the effective date of this notice of adequacy, the Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) and the U.S. Department of Transportation must use these budgets in future transportation conformity analyses.
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 59 (Tuesday, March 28, 2023)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 28, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18314-18315]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-06344]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[EPA-R09-OAR-2023-0182; FRL-10800-01-R9]
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in 2008 8-Hour
Ozone Extreme Area and Reasonable Further Progress Plan for Coachella
Valley; California
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of adequacy.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is notifying the
public that we have found motor vehicle emissions budgets (``budgets'')
for the Coachella Valley adequate for transportation conformity
purposes. Specifically, our finding relates to budgets in the ``Request
to Reclassify Coachella Valley for the 2008 8-hour Ozone Standard and
the Updated Motor Vehicle Emission Budgets'' (``Coachella Valley
Extreme RFP Plan''), submitted to the EPA for inclusion in the
California state implementation plan (SIP) by the California Air
Resources Board (CARB) on December 7, 2022. Upon the effective date of
this notice of adequacy, the Southern California Association of
Governments (SCAG) and the U.S. Department of Transportation must use
these budgets in future transportation conformity analyses.
DATES: This finding is effective April 12, 2023.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karina O'Connor, Planning Section
(ARD-2-1), Air and Radiation Division, EPA Region IX, 75 Hawthorne
Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; (775) 434-8176 or
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#8be4e8e4e5e5e4f9a5e0eaf9e2e5eacbeefbeaa5ece4fd"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="c9a6aaa6a7a7a6bbe7a2a8bba0a7a889acb9a8e7aea6bf">[email protected]</span></a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, ``we,'' ``us,'' or
``our'' refer to the EPA.
This notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have
already made. By letter dated March 17, 2023, EPA Region IX notified
CARB that the budgets in the Coachella Valley Plan for the reasonable
further progress (RFP) years of 2023, 2026, 2029, and 2031 are adequate
for transportation conformity purposes.\1\ The finding is available at
the EPA's conformity website.\2\
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\1\ Letter dated March17, 2023, from Elizabeth Adams, Director,
Air and Radiation Division, EPA Region IX, to Steven S. Cliff,
Executive Officer, CARB.
\2\ <a href="https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-9">https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-9</a>.
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We announced the availability of the Coachella Valley Extreme RFP
Plan and related RFP motor vehicle emissions budgets on the EPA's
transportation
[[Page 18315]]
conformity website on December 21, 2022 and requested comments by
January 20, 2023. We received no comments in response to the adequacy
review posting. The motor vehicle emissions budgets that we have found
adequate are provided in the following table:
Adequate Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for the Coachella Valley for
the 2008 8-Hour Ozone Standard
[tpd]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ozone precursor
Year -----------------
VOC NOX
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2023.................................................. 2.7 6.0
2026.................................................. 2.5 5.8
2029.................................................. 2.3 5.8
2031.................................................. 2.2 5.7
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Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section
176(c). The EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans,
transportation improvement programs, and transportation projects
conform to a state's SIP and establishes the criteria and procedures
for determining whether or not they conform. 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 we use to determine whether a SIP's motor vehicle
emissions budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4), promulgated on August 15, 1997.\3\ We further
described our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP
budgets in our final rule dated July 1, 2004,\4\ and we used the
information in these resources in making our adequacy determination.
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from the EPA's
completeness review and does not prejudge the EPA's ultimate action on
the SIP submittal. Even if we find a budget adequate, the SIP submittal
could later be disapproved. Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e), SCAG and the
U.S. Department of Transportation will need to demonstrate conformity
to the new budgets within two years of the effective date of this
notice.\5\ For demonstrating conformity to the new budgets, the on-road
motor vehicle emissions from implementation of the transportation plan
or program for the area should be projected consistent with the
budgets, i.e., by taking the emissions results derived from CARB's
EMFAC model (short for EMission FACtor) and then rounding the emissions
up to the nearest tenth of a ton per day.
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\3\ 62 FR 43780, 43781-43783.
\4\ 69 FR 40004, 40038-40047.
\5\ See 73 FR 4420 (January 24, 2008).
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Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.
Dated: March 22, 2023.
Martha Guzman Aceves,
Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2023-06344 Filed 3-27-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
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