[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 59 (Tuesday, March 28, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 18314-18315]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[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 
[email protected].

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\ https://www.epa.gov/state-and-local-transportation/conformity-adequacy-review-region-9.
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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
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2023..................................................      2.7      6.0
2026..................................................      2.5      5.8
2029..................................................      2.3      5.8
2031..................................................      2.2      5.7
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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]
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