Linking Transportation and Air Quality Planning : Implementation of the Transportation Conformity Regulations in 15 Nonattainment Areas

By Environmental Protection Agency

Book Id: WPLBN0000148369
Format Type: PDF eBook
File Size: 0.1 MB
Reproduction Date: 2007

Title:	Linking Transportation and Air Quality Planning : Implementation of the Transportation Conformity Regulations in 15 Nonattainment Areas
Author:	Environmental Protection Agency
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Ecology, Natural resource issues, Environemtal protection
Collections:	Environmental Awareness Library Collection
Historic Publication Date:
Publisher:	United States Environmental Protection Agency


Citation APA MLA Chicago Agency, E. P. (n.d.). Linking Transportation and Air Quality Planning : Implementation of the Transportation Conformity Regulations in 15 Nonattainment Areas. Retrieved from http://gutenberg.cc/

Description
Excerpt: It is a genuine pleasure to thank the many people who have made this research possible. We owe our most important debt of gratitude to the more than 230 individuals – identified by name in an appendix to this report – who were interviewed and provided other data about the transportation conformity process. Their knowledge and insight are reflected on virtually every page that follows. Without the cooperation, patience, and candor of all of these people – sometimes provided on multiple occasions – this study quite literally could not have been carried out. From the outset, the researchers were promised full intellectual independence by the federal agency sponsors, EPA and FHWA. That independence has been scrupulously respected by the federal agency staff with whom we have worked closely throughout this project. Particular assistance, for which we are extremely grateful, was provided by Laura Voss, Meg Patulski, Kathryn Sargeant, and Margo Oge of the Environmental Protection Agency, and Lucy Garliauskas and James Shrouds of the Federal Highway Administration.

Table of Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . v Executive Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix Chapter 1: The Conformity Assessment Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Project Purposes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 Focal Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 Selection of the Research Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Research Methods and Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 The Research in Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Outline of the Report . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Chapter 2: The Purposes and Requirements of Transportation Conformity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Policy Antecedents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Purposes and Expectations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Pollution Reduction and Public Health . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 A Procedural Framework and Incentives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Improving the Planning Process . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Public Deliberation and Decision Making . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Advancing the Environmental Advocacy Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Conformity Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The 1991 Interim Conformity Guidance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18 The 1993 Conformity Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Performance Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20 Procedural Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21 Penalties and Penalty Triggers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Amendments to the 1993 Conformity Rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 The August 1995 Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 National Highway System Designation Act of 1995 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The November 1995 Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 The August 1997 Amendments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27 Chapter 3: Implementing the Transportation Conformity Requirements . . 28 Passing the Emissions Tests . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Budget Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Build/No-Build Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Less-than-1990 Test . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37