[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 138 (Tuesday, July 20, 2004)]
[Notices]
[Page 43412]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-16451]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[UT-001-0058; FRL-7789-8]


Adequacy Status of the Provo, Utah Carbon Monoxide Redesignation 
and Maintenance Plan Emission Budgets for Transportation Conformity 
Purposes

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of adequacy.

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SUMMARY: In this document, EPA is notifying the public that we have 
found that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the Provo, Utah 
Carbon Monoxide Redesignation and Maintenance Plan, that was submitted 
by the Utah Governor on April 1, 2004, are adequate for conformity 
purposes. On March 2, 1999, the D.C. Circuit Court ruled that budgets 
in submitted State Implementation Plans (SIPs) cannot be used for 
conformity determinations until EPA has affirmatively found them 
adequate. As a result of our finding, the Mountainland Association of 
Governments, the Utah Department of Transportation and the U.S. 
Department of Transportation are required to use the motor vehicle 
emissions budgets from this submitted maintenance plan for future 
transportation conformity determinations.

DATES: This finding is effective August 4, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jeffrey Kimes, Air & Radiation Program 
(8P-AR), United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, 999 
18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, Colorado 80202-2466, (303) 312-6445. 
The letter documenting our finding is available at EPA's conformity Web 
site: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Throughout this document wherever ``we'', 
``us'', or ``our'' are used we mean EPA.
    This action is simply an announcement of a finding that we have 
already made. We sent a letter to the Utah Division of Air Quality on 
June 30, 2004, stating that the motor vehicle emissions budgets in the 
submitted Provo, Utah Carbon Monoxide Redesignation and Maintenance 
Plan are adequate. This finding has also been announced on our 
conformity Web site at http://www.epa.gov/otaq/transp/conform/adequacy.htm.
    Transportation conformity is required by section 176(c) of the 
Clean Air Act. Our conformity rule requires that transportation plans, 
programs, and projects conform to SIPs and establishes the criteria and 
procedures for determining whether or not they demonstrate conformity. 
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). Please note that an adequacy review is separate 
from our completeness review, and it also should not be used to 
prejudge our ultimate approval of the SIP. Even if we find a budget 
adequate, the SIP could later be disapproved, and vice versa.
    We have described our process for determining the adequacy of 
submitted SIP budgets in a memo entitled, ``Conformity Guidance on 
Implementation of March 2, 1999 Conformity Court Decision,'' dated May 
14, 1999. We followed this guidance in making our adequacy 
determination.
    For the reader's ease, we have excerpted the motor vehicle emission 
budgets from the Provo, Utah Carbon Monoxide Redesignation and 
Maintenance Plan and they are as follows: Motor vehicle emissions 
budget for the year 2014 is 70.44 tons per day of CO. The final year 
budget, for the year 2015 and beyond, is 72.10 tons per day of CO.

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

    Dated: July 9, 2004.
Robert E. Roberts,
Regional Administrator, Region VIII.
[FR Doc. 04-16451 Filed 7-19-04; 8:45 am]
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