Background: Local air pollution control agencies periodically submit air quality plan updates and regulations to the Department of Ecology (ecology) for inclusion in Washington's state implementation plan (SIP). The SIP is a statewide plan for meeting federal health-based standards for certain air pollutants.
Ecology will hold a public hearing to receive comments on including the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's (PSCAA's) updated carbon monoxide motor vehicle emissions budget (MVEB) in the SIP. Vehicle emissions from transportation improvement plans and projects must be compared to the MVEB specified in the SIP for the PSCAA area. If the emissions remain below the budget, the plan or project "conforms" to the SIP.
PSCAA's MVEB was updated using the latest motor vehicle emission factor model MOBILE6, publicly released by the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on January 29, 2001. MOBILE6 improves the calculation of transportation-related carbon monoxide emissions by using more accurate data. For transportation conformity purposes, the updated MVEB will apply through the year 2015, if adopted into the SIP. This action involves the carbon monoxide maintenance area contained within the counties of King, Pierce, and Snohomish in Washington state.
The board of directors of PSCAA will conduct a public hearing on this issue. The board is expected to adopt the updated MVEB following the local hearing. Ecology's public hearing on including the updated MVEB in the SIP will follow.
Hearing schedule: Thursday, November 20, 2003, at 9:15 a.m., Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, 110 Union Street, Suite 500, Seattle, WA.
For a SIP hearing, only comments related to including and/or removing the PSCAA regulations in or from the SIP can be considered. Written comments must be postmarked no later than November 25, 2003, and should be sent to Brett Rude, Department of Ecology, P.O. Box 47600, Olympia, WA 98504-7600.
For more information: For more information about the content of the regulations prior to the hearing, please contact John Anderson (Puget Sound Clean Air Agency).
If you have special accommodation needs, please contact the agency receptionist at Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, (206) 689-4010 (voice) or (800) 833-6388 (TTY) by November 13, 2003.