NJ DEPARTMENT of ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

ENVIRONMENTAL REGULATION

DIVISION OF AIR QUALITY

BUREAU OF AIR QUALITY PLANNING  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 

Notice of SIP Revision Proposals 

Proposed revisions to New Jersey’s State Implementation Plan covering,
1) the Federal Clean Air Act infrastructure requirements, and 2) the
update of the early transportation conformity budgets for Mercer County

Take notice that the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
(Department) is proposing two revisions to New Jersey’s State
Implementation Plan (SIP).  The first revision addresses the
requirements under 42 U.S.C. § 7410, Section 110(a)(1) and (2) of the
Clean Air Act, for the 1997 8-Hour Ozone and the 1997 Fine Particulate
Matter (PM2.5) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).  The
second revision updates the initial early transportation conformity
budgets for PM2.5 to incorporate the latest planning assumptions.  The
previously submitted budgets were approved by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) on July 10, 2006.

Section 110(a) of the Clean Air Act requires states to submit an
implementation plan to the USEPA Administrator that demonstrates the
states’ ability to implement, maintain, and enforce the NAAQS. These
elements were compiled and submitted separately in what is referred to
as an “Infrastructure” SIP. Most of these requirements have already
been addressed in past SIP revisions or through regulations. This SIP
revision complies with the infrastructure requirements for the 1997
8-Hour Ozone and the 1997 PM2.5 NAAQS.

In the recent 8-Hour Ozone Attainment Demonstration SIP, the Department
updated the planning assumptions that were used in the SIP development
and in the transportation conformity analyses.  The distribution of
vehicle miles traveled (VMT) between vehicle types was updated to
reflect a greater fraction of the total VMT should be attributed to the
heaviest class of diesel trucks.  When the updated VMT/vehicle type mix
is used, the predicted emissions of direct PM2.5 and annual NOx
increase.  The higher predictions result in values that are
significantly higher than the initial early PM2.5 budgets.  The amount
of the budget exceedance for Mercer County is much greater than the
emission reductions that could be achieved by changes to transportation
projects by 2009.  Therefore, a revision of the early budget for Mercer
County is needed.  These revised transportation budgets are needed by
the Metropolitan Planning Organization (Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission) by the Spring of 2008 to enable them to demonstrate
conformity of their Transportation Improvement Program with the SIP.  If
the USEPA is unable to approve these budgets in time, the Delaware
Valley Regional Planning Commission will not be able to maintain their
regular schedule of revisions to their Transportation Improvement
Program.

  SEQ CHAPTER \h \r 1 Copies of the Department’s proposal are
available from the Department’s web site at
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/baqp, the Department’s Public Information
Center at 401 E. State Street in Trenton, the Department’s Regional
Enforcement Offices, and a number of public libraries throughout the
State.  For more information on obtaining copies, please contact:

Ms. Willa Williams

NJDEP Air Quality Planning

401 E.  State Street, 7th Floor

P.O. Box 418

Trenton, NJ 08625-0418

phone: (609) 292-6722

fax: (609) 633-6198

willa.williams@dep.state.nj.us

A public hearing concerning the Department’s proposed SIP revisions is
scheduled as follows:

	Monday, January 28, 2008 at 10:00 a.m.

The NJDEP Building, Public Hearing Room (1st Floor)

401 East State Street

Trenton, New Jersey

This hearing is being held in accordance with the provisions of Section
110(a)(1) and (2) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7410.  Written
comments may be submitted by close of business January 31, 2008, to:

NJ Department of Environmental Protection

Alice Previte, Esq.

Attn:  DEP Docket # 31-07-12

Office of Legal Affairs

P.O. Box 402

Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0402

