U.S EPA made a major error in calculating motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB) for the Indiana and Ohio portions of the Cincinnati-Hamilton OH/KY/IN area. In the erroneous notice published in the Federal Register on April 23, 2008, EPA calculated MVEBs as 72.16 tons per day (tpd) for VOC and 18.99 tpd for NOX. The numbers were inaccurate. On June 3, 2008, U.S. EPA announced the actual 2008 MVEBs are 46.00 tpd for VOC and 91.36 tpd for NOX. The Federal Register notice is at http://www.epa.gov/fedrgstr/EPA-AIR/2008/June/Day-03/a12373.htm. This was an error of great potential importance to the affected communities.
Transportation conformity is required by the Clean Air Act section 176(c) (42 U.S.C. 7506(c)) to ensure that federal funding and approval are given to highway and transit projects that are consistent with (”conform to”) the air quality goals established by a state air quality implementation plan (SIP). Conformity, to the purpose of the SIP, means that transportation activities will not cause new air quality violations, worsen existing violations, or delay timely attainment of the national ambient air quality standards. More iformation on this subject can be found at http://earth1.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/generalinfo.htm.
