Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; State of New Jersey; Redesignation of Areas for Air Quality Planning Purposes and Approval of the Associated Maintenance Plan

On December 26, 2012 the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) submitted a request for the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to approve the redesignation of the New Jersey portion of the New York-N.New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ- CT nonattainment area, and the New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia- Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE nonattainment area, from nonattainment to attainment for the 1997 annual and the 2006 24-hour Fine Particle (PM<INF>2.5</INF>) National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). In conjunction with its redesignation request, New Jersey submitted a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision containing a maintenance plan for the areas that provides for continued maintenance of the 1997 annual and 2006 24-hour PM<INF>2.5</INF> NAAQS. The submittals included the 2007 ammonia (NH<INF>3</INF>), volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen oxides (NO<INF>X</INF>), direct PM<INF>2.5</INF> and sulfur dioxide (SO<INF>2</INF>) emissions inventories submitted to meet the comprehensive emissions inventory requirements of section 172(c)(3) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), and accompanying motor vehicle emissions budgets. EPA is taking final action to approve the requested SIP revisions and to redesignate the New Jersey portions of the New York- N.New Jersey-Long Island, NY-NJ-CT nonattainment area, and the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE nonattainment area, to attainment for the 1997 annual and the 2006 24-hour PM<INF>2.5</INF> NAAQS.