Texas Register, Volume 23, Number 17, Pages 3957-4141, April 24, 1998 Page: 4,011
3957-4141 p. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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in designated program areas low emission [clean-fuel] vehicles in
accordance with the number of credits issued and the time frame
specified by the commission; and
(2) the [affected] entity agrees to name the EPA as a
third-party beneficiary of its contract with the commission.
(b) Contracts entered into under this section may be enforced
in the courts of the State of Texas by an order of specific performance.
This agency hereby certifies that the proposal has been re-
viewed by legal counsel and found to be within the agency's
legal authority to adopt.
Filed with the Office of the Secretary of State, on April 9, 1998.
TRD-9805040
Kevin McCalla
Director, Legal Division
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission
Proposed date of adoption: July 29, 1998
For further information, please call: (512) 239-1970
Subchapter G. Transportation Planning
30 TAC 114.260
The commission proposes amendments to 1 14.260, con-
cerning Transportation Conformity, and a proposed revision to
the State Implementation Plan (SIP) concerning Transportation
Conformity.
EXPLANATION OF PROPOSED RULE
The Texas transportation conformity rule and its associated SIP
were adopted on October 19, 1994, in response to the Fed-
eral Clean Air Act (FCAA) requirements. The FCAA required
states to submit a revision to their SIP no later than November
25, 1994 establishing enforceable criteria and procedures for
making conformity determinations for metropolitan transporta-
tion plans, transportation improvement programs, and projects
funded by the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) or the
Federal Transit Administration (FTA). Emissions estimates of
transportation plans, programs, and projects must be found to
conform with their corresponding emissions estimates or bud-
gets contained in the applicable SIP before they are approved or
funded by the United States Department of Transportation or the
Metropolitan Planning Organizations (MPOs) in nonattainment
and maintenance areas. Failure to demonstrate transportation
conformity will result in a partial loss of federal highway fund-
ing. The Texas transportation conformity SIP and rule were ap-
proved by the United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) on November 8, 1995. Since their initial promulgation, the
EPA has amended the federal transportation conformity rules
three times; on August 7, 1995, November 14, 1995, and Au-
gust 15, 1997. As a result of the August 15, 1997 amendments,
Texas is required to amend the SIP and state transportation con-
formity rule to incorporate the federal amendments by August
15, 1998.
The proposed amendments will incorporate, by reference, the
August 15, 1997, amendments to the federal transportation
conformity rule (40 CFR, Part 51 Subpart T and Part 93 Subpart
A) with the exception of 93.102(d) and 93.105. Section
93.102(d) established a grace period for new nonattainment
areas and has been disallowed as a result of the Sierra Club
versus the EPA federal court case on November 4, 1997.Section 93.105 requires states to develop their own consultation
procedures subject to the EPA guidelines. Section 114.260
establishes the interagency and public consultation procedures
consistent with the EPA guidelines.
Most of the amendments to the federal transportation conformity
rule are organizational or are slightly less stringent in nature.
However, the amendment that requires a nonattainment area
to demonstrate transportation conformity to a nitrogen oxide
(NOx) motor vehicle emissions budget, regardless of the area's
NOx waiver status, is more stringent than the current Texas
transportation conformity rule. The proposed revisions to
114.260 will adopt the new federal NOx requirements by
reference.
This proposed rule revision will also simplify the transportation
control measure (TCM) requirements by deleting references to
114.270(d), which is the TCM Enforcement Rule. Instead of
being required to develop new TCMs consistent with the trans-
portation conformity process to make up an emissions reduc-
tion shortfall, the nonattainment and maintenance area MPOs
would only be required to ensure timely TCM implementation
and report the implementation and emissions reductions status
of adopted TCMs annually to the commission. Finally, this pro-
posed rule will clarify the transportation conformity determina-
tion process by identifying who makes the determinations, who
issues the joint conformity finding, and when the conformity is
effective. MPOs and their governing bodies, or the Texas De-
partment of Transportation, if applicable, would make the trans-
portation conformity determinations. Upon completion of the
transportation conformity review process, the FHWA and the
FTA would issue a joint conformity finding, indicating the trans-
portation conformity status of the documents under review. The
transportation conformity determination would be effective on
the date of the joint conformity finding.
FISCAL NOTE
Mr. Stephen Minick, Strategic Planning and Appropriations Divi-
sion, has determined that for the first five-year period the rule as
proposed is in effect, there may be significant fiscal implications
for state or local government as a result of administration or en-
forcement of the rule. One of the federal rules being adopted
by reference requires nonattainment or maintenance areas to
demonstrate transportation conformity to a NOx mobile source
emissions budget, regardless of the area's NOx waiver status.
Current MPO officials in Texas nonattainment areas predict that
it will be extremely difficult to demonstrate transportation con-
formity for NOx. If they cannot, highway sanctions will be im-
posed, resulting in a partial loss of federal highway funding for
implementing agencies. Additional resources will be needed
to develop NOx mobile source emissions budgets and sufficient
on-road mobile source NOx emissions control strategies to en-
sure an area's compliance.
The other portions of the rule being amended will have minimal
fiscal impact. All of the affected agencies are subject to the
requirements of the current transportation conformity rule, so
the effect of the rule will be minimal. The rule amendment would
not increase or decrease costs for these agencies. There will
be no significant fiscal implications to the commission.
PUBLIC BENEFIT
Mr. Minick has also determined that for each year of the first five
years the rule as proposed is in effect, the public benefit of this
rule will be the limitation of on-road mobile source emissionsPROPOSED RULES April 24, 1998 23 TexReg 4011
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Texas. Secretary of State. Texas Register, Volume 23, Number 17, Pages 3957-4141, April 24, 1998, periodical, April 24, 1998; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth113836/m1/57/: accessed April 27, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting UNT Libraries Government Documents Department.