[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 189 (Monday, October 4, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54692-54693]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-21557]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[EPA-R09-OAR-2021-0135; FRL-8835-01-R9]


Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets in Submitted 
8-Hour Ozone Attainment Plan for San Diego; California

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or ``Agency'') is 
notifying the public that the Agency has found motor vehicle emissions 
budgets (``budgets'') adequate in a California state implementation 
plan (SIP) submittal for San Diego County. Specifically, our finding 
relates to budgets in the area's ``2020 Plan for Attaining the National 
Ambient Air Quality Standards for Ozone in San Diego County (October 
2020)'' (``2020 San Diego Ozone Plan'' or ``plan''). We find that these 
budgets are adequate for transportation conformity purposes for the 
2008 and 2015 ozone national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS). 
Upon the effective date of this notice of adequacy, prior budgets for 
the 2008 ozone NAAQS previously found adequate by the EPA will no 
longer be applicable for transportation conformity purposes, and the 
San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG) and the U.S. Department 
of Transportation must use these adequate budgets in future 
transportation conformity determinations.

DATES: This finding is effective October 19, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Kelly, EPA, Region IX, Air 
Division AIR-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901; 
(415) 947-4151 or kelly.johnj@epa.gov.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document, whenever ``we,'' 
``us,'' or ``our'' is used, we mean the EPA.
    Today's notice is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) submitted the 
plan to the EPA on January 12, 2021, as a revision to the California 
SIP. The plan contains budgets for both the 2008 and the 2015 ozone 
NAAQS. These budgets are used for the 2008 ozone NAAQS reasonable 
further progress (RFP) milestone years 2020 and 2023 and for the 
attainment year 2026. For the 2015 ozone NAAQS, these budgets are used 
for RFP milestone years 2023, 2026, and 2029, and for the attainment 
year 2032.
    The EPA sent a letter to CARB dated September 21, 2021 stating that 
the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the submitted 2020 San Diego 
Ozone Plan are adequate for transportation conformity purposes.\1\ The 
finding is available at the EPA's conformity website.\2\ We announced 
availability of the plan and related budgets on the EPA's 
transportation conformity website on June 4, 2021, requesting comments 
by July 6, 2021. We received no comments in response to the adequacy 
review posting. The adequate budgets are provided in the following 
tables:
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    \1\ See letter dated September 21, 2021 from Elizabeth J. Adams, 
Director, Air and Radiation Division, EPA Region IX, to Richard 
Corey, Executive Officer, CARB.
    \2\ https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/state-implementation-plans-sip-submissions-epa-has-found-adequate-or.

  San Diego County Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for 2008 Ozone NAAQS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Volatile
                                              organic        Nitrogen
                                             compounds     oxides (tons
               Budget year                   (tons per      per average
                                          average summer    summer day)
                                               day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2020....................................            16.3            28.1
2023....................................            13.6            19.3
2026....................................            12.1            17.3
------------------------------------------------------------------------


  San Diego County Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets for 2015 Ozone NAAQS
------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             Volatile
                                              organic        Nitrogen
                                             compounds     oxides (tons
               Budget year                   (tons per      per average
                                          average summer    summer day)
                                               day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023....................................            13.6            19.3
2026....................................            12.1            17.3
2029....................................            11.0            15.9
2032....................................            10.0            15.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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 air quality 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 NAAQS.
    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 have further 
described our process for determining the adequacy of submitted SIP 
budgets in our final rule dated July 1, 2004, and we used the 
information in these resources in making our adequacy determination.\4\ 
Please note that an adequacy review is separate from the EPA's 
completeness review and should not be used to prejudge the EPA's 
ultimate action on the SIP submittal. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP submittal could later be disapproved.
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    \3\ See 62 FR 43780, 43781-43783 (August 15, 1997).
    \4\ See 69 FR 40004, 40038-40047 (July 1, 2004).
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    Pursuant to 40 CFR 93.104(e), within two years of the effective 
date of this notice, SANDAG and the U.S. Department of Transportation 
will need to demonstrate conformity to the new budgets if the 
demonstration has not already been made.\5\ For demonstrating 
conformity to the budgets in this plan, the on-road motor vehicle 
emissions from implementation of the transportation plan or program 
should be projected consistently with the budgets in this plan, i.e., 
by taking the county's emissions results derived from CARB's EMFAC 
model (short for EMission FACtor) and then rounding

[[Page 54693]]

the emissions up to the nearest tenth of a ton per day.
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    \5\ See 73 FR 4420 (January 24, 2008).
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    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 7401 et seq.

    Dated: September 28, 2021.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 2021-21557 Filed 10-1-21; 8:45 am]
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