

[Federal Register: October 25, 2007 (Volume 72, Number 206)]
[Notices]               
[Page 60666]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25oc07-69]                         

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R09-OAR-2007-0887; FRL-8487-4

 
Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Budgets in Submitted Eight-Hour 
Ozone Attainment Plan for the Phoenix-Mesa Nonattainment Area for 
Transportation Conformity Purposes; Arizona

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, EPA is notifying the public that the Agency 
has found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the submitted 
Eight-Hour Ozone Plan for the Maricopa Nonattainment Area (June 2007) 
(``2007 MAG Eight-Hour Ozone Plan'') are adequate for transportation 
conformity purposes. The 2007 MAG Eight-Hour Ozone Plan was submitted 
to EPA on June 15, 2007 by the Arizona Department of Environmental 
Quality as a revision to the Arizona state implementation plan. As a 
result of our finding, the Maricopa Association of Governments (MAG) 
and the Federal Highway Administration must use the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets from the submitted eight-hour ozone attainment plan 
for future conformity determinations.

DATES: This finding is effective November 9, 2007.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Wienke Tax, U.S. EPA, Region IX, Air 
Division AIR-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901; 
(520) 622-1622 or tax.wienke@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean EPA.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. EPA Region IX sent a letter, dated October 4, 2007, to 
the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality on October 10, 2007 
stating that the motor vehicle emissions budgets for volatile organic 
compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOX) in the 
submitted 2007 MAG Eight-Hour Ozone Plan for 2008 are adequate. The 
budgets correspond to the Phoenix-Mesa 8-hour ozone nonattainment area, 
which encompasses roughly half of Maricopa County, including the cities 
of Phoenix and Mesa, and also the Apache Junction area of Pinal County, 
in central Arizona. The finding is available at EPA's conformity Web 
site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/adequacy.htm. 

The adequate motor vehicle emissions budgets (calculated for a Thursday 
in 2008) are provided in the following table:

                Adequate Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
                        [In metric tons per day]
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                VOC motor     NOX motor
                                                 vehicle       vehicle
                 Budget year                    emissions     emissions
                                                 budget        budget
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2008........................................         67.9         138.2
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Transportation conformity is required by Clean Air Act section 
176(c). EPA's conformity rule requires that transportation plans, 
transportation improvement programs, and projects conform to state air 
quality implementation plans (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 motor vehicle 
emission budgets are adequate for conformity purposes are outlined in 
40 CFR 93.118(e)(4). The process for determining the adequacy of such 
budgets is set forth at 40 CFR 93.118(f). Please note that an adequacy 
review is separate from EPA's completeness review, and should not be 
used to prejudge EPA's ultimate approval action for the SIP. Even if we 
find a budget adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved.

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: October 16, 2007.
Nancy Lindsay,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
 [FR Doc. E7-21073 Filed 10-24-07; 8:45 am]

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