Proposed Amendments to District of Columbia’s State Implementation Plan Regarding Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets
Notice is hereby given that a public hearing will be held on Monday, September 4, 2023, at 5:30 p.m. The public hearing will be held using teleconferencing, which allows for both a video and voice over internet protocol (VOIP) connection.
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This public hearing provides interested parties an opportunity to comment on the proposed revision to the District of Columbia’s State Implementation Plan (“SIP”), found at 40 C.F.R. Part 52, Subpart J.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) redesignated the District to “maintenance” for the 2008 8-hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) based on approval of the maintenance plan submitted by the District, effective on August 15, 2019 (84 Fed. Reg. 33855, July 16, 2019). This maintenance plan included the Motor Vehicle Emissions Budgets (“MVEB”) needed to demonstrate that state transportation plans conformed with the maintenance plan.
EPA published an updated model to estimate emissions from onroad mobile sources called MOVES3 (86 Fed. Reg. 1106, January 7, 2021). On January 10, 2023, it became mandatory that states use MOVES3 when conducting transportation conformity analyses to determine compliance with MVEBs.
In regard to MVEBs in the District’s maintenance plan, the plan states that:
“the MVEBs will be re-evaluated if there… [are] changes to USEPA’s emissions estimation model that result in significant changes in emissions inventories or to accommodate transportation planning issues when the Constrained Long-Range Plan horizon year is extended beyond 2040.”
The National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board conducted an analysis, which determined that MOVES3 constituted a change “to USEPA’s emissions estimation model that result[ed] in significant changes in emissions inventories”, and subsequently developed revised MVEBs using MOVES3. These revised MVEBs constitute this SIP revision.
Once the District has received and responded to public comments in a finalized SIP amendment, these updated MVEBs will be submitted to EPA as a SIP revision.
Copies of the proposed SIP revision are available for public review.
Written comments can be submitted to:
Department of Energy and Environment
1200 First Street, NE, Fifth Floor
Washington, DC 20002
or by email to Mr. Joseph Jakuta at [email protected] by 4:00 p.m. on September 4, 2023.
Interested parties wishing to testify at this hearing must submit, in writing, their name, address, telephone number, and affiliation to Air Quality Division (AQD) to:
Department of Energy and Environment
1200 First Street, NE, Fifth Floor
Washington, DC 20002
or by email to Mr. Joseph Jakuta at [email protected] by 4:00 p.m. on September 4, 2023.
Questions can be directed to Mr. Joseph Jakuta at [email protected] or by phone at 202-669-5817.
No comments will be accepted after September 4, 2023.