The Federal Register

Deferral of Effective Date of Nonattainment Designations for 8- Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards for

Tue, Dec 16 2003 11:00:00 GMT

The EPA is proposing to defer the effective date of air quality designations for certain areas of the country that do not meet the 8hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). Early Action Compact (compact) areas have agreed to reduce groundlevel ozone pollution earlier than the Clean Air Act (CAA) requires. By April 15, 2004, EPA will designate all areas for the 8hour ozone NAAQS. The EPA is proposing that, when it promulgates the designations in April 2004, EPA will issue the first of three deferrals of the effective date of the designation for any compact area that is designated nonattainment and continues to meet all compact milestones. In this proposal, EPA is proposing to defer until September 30, 2005, the effective date of the 8hour ozone nonattainment designation for specific areas.

The EPA believes this program provides an incentive for early planning, early implementation, and early reductions of emissions leading to expeditious attainment and maintenance of the 8hou

Adequacy Status of Motor Vehicle Budgets in Submitted State Implementation Plan for Transportation Conformity

Tue, Dec 16 2003 11:00:00 GMT

EPA is announcing that the motor vehicle emission budgets (the budgets) for the Metropolitan Washington, DC OneHour Ozone Nonattainment Area (the Washington, DC area) identified in the revised 2005 Attainment Demonstration Plan (attainment plan) and the 2005 Rate of Progress (ROP) plan are adequate for transportation conformity purposes. This attainment plan was submitted to EPA by the Commonwealth of Virginia, the State of Maryland and the District of Columbia as State Implementation Plan (SIP) revisions on August 19, 2003, September 2, 2003, and September 5, 2003, respectively. These SIP revision submittals included ROP plans for 2002 and 2005 which also identified motor vehicle emissions budgets. EPA has made findings of adequacy for the budgets of the attainment plan and the 2005 ROP plan for transportation conformity purposes. EPA has taken no action on the budgets identified in the 2002 ROP plan.

Notice of the Availability of the Final Document for the U.S.- Mexico Border 2012 Program

Tue, Dec 16 2003 11:00:00 GMT

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announces the availability of the ``Border 2012: U.S.Mexico Environmental Program'' Framework Document (Border Plan or Border 2012). Border 2012 is a 10 year, binational, resultsoriented, environmental program for the U.S. Mexico border region, which has been developed by EPA, Secretaria del Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (SEMARNAT, Mexico's Secretariat of Environment and Natural Resources),
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the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Secretaria de Salud (Mexico's Secretariat of Health), the U.S. border Tribes, and the environmental agencies from each of the ten U.S.Mexico border States. The mission of Border 2012 is to protect public health and the environment in the U.S.Mexico border region, in a manner consistent with the principles of sustainable development. The Border 2012 Program is the latest multiyear, binational planning effort to be implemented under the La Paz Agreement and succeeds Border XXI, a fiveyear program that