OFFICIAL SITE OF THE STATE OF NEW JERSEY

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is proposing Revisions to New Jersey’s Ozone and Carbon Monoxide State Implementation Plans (SIPs) – Meeting the Requirements of the Regional NO_x Cap Program and Establishment of Transportation Conformity Budgets.

A public hearing is scheduled on the DEP’s proposal on September 28, 1999 at 10:00 a.m. at:
The War Memorial Building, Exhibition Room on the lower level
West Lafayette and Barracks Streets
Trenton, New Jersey.

Written comments relevant to the proposal may be submitted until close of business September 30, 1999, to :
Michael Marotta, Esq.
DEP Docket No. 21-99-08/707
NJDEP – Office of Legal Affairs
P.O. Box 402
Trenton, New Jersey 08625-0402
FAX number: 609-984-3488 (copies sent by FAX should be followed with a copy sent by mail).

BACKGROUND:

The proposed SIP revision demonstrates how New Jersey will meet the state-wide oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) emission budget (herein referred to as a NO_x cap) for 2007 that was established by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) in its NO_x SIP Call published in the Federal Register on October 27, 1998. The USEPA established such NO_x emission caps in 23 jurisdictions to mitigate the interstate transport of ozone and ozone precursors such as NO_x. It is expected that the NO_x reductions necessary to meet the cap will reduce the formation of ozone in the atmosphere and thereby have significant public health benefits. To attain this cap New Jersey is relying primarily on the reduction in NO_x emissions to be obtained through the implementation of New Jersey’s NO_x Budget Program. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia issued a stay on the USEPA’s SIP Call rulemaking. However, notwithstanding its prior decision to remand the eight (8)-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS), it left the one-hour ozone standard intact. Therefore, it is still necessary for New Jersey to demonstrate attainment with this standard.

The New Jersey NO_x Budget Program, along with other NO_x emission controls in place and expected to be in place in New Jersey, will limit statewide NO_x emissions to 99,965 tons per ozone season, by the year 2007. This is below the USEPA-established statewide NO_x budget cap level of 100,133 tons. Reporting systems are in place that will produce data which will be publicly available and which can be used to monitor progress towards this goal.

Additionally, the proposed SIP contains transportation conformity emission limits or “budgets” that are consistent with the attainment demonstration in the Phase 2 ozone and carbon monoxide SIP that was previously submitted to the USEPA . These transportation conformity budgets pertain both to the 1-hour ozone and carbon monoxide NAAQS. In respect to the ozone NAAQS, the proposed total motor vehicle emission budgets for the three metropolitan planning organizations would be 126 tons per day of VOCs and 288 tons per day of NO_x in the attainment years (2005 in southern New Jersey and 2007 in northern New Jersey), which would be a reduction from 262 tons per day of VOCs and 395 tons per day of NO_x in 1999. In respect to the carbon monoxide NAAQS, the budget for carbon monoxide would be 690 tons per day in the five-county area. This transportation conformity budget for carbon monoxide is being proposed in anticipation of the USEPA’s approval of the State’s repeal of its oxygenated gasoline rules at N.J.A.C. 7:27-25.