Approval and Promulgation of Air Quality Implementation Plans; Virginia; Redesignation of the Richmond-Petersburg 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area to Attainment and Approval of the Area's Maintenance Plan and 2002 Base-Year Inventory

EPA is approving a redesignation request and a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VADEQ) is requesting that the Richmond-Petersburg nonattainment area (herein referred to as the "Richmond Area" or the "Area") be redesignated as attainment for the 8-hour ozone national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS). In conjunction with its redesignation request, the Commonwealth submitted a SIP revision consisting of a maintenance plan for the Richmond Area that provides for continued attainment of the 8-hour ozone NAAQS for the next 11 years, until 2018. Concurrently, EPA is approving the Commonwealth's maintenance plan for the 8-hour ozone standard. EPA is not taking final action in this rulemaking on the Commonwealth's request that the 8-hour maintenance plan supersede the previous maintenance plan for the 1-hour standard. EPA is also approving the adequacy determination for the motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) that are identified in the Richmond 8-hour maintenance plan for purposes of transportation conformity, and is approving those MVEBs. EPA is also approving the 2002 base year emissions inventory for the Area. EPA is approving the redesignation request, the maintenance plan, and the 2002 base year emissions inventory as revisions to the Virginia SIP in accordance with the requirements of the Clean Air Act (CAA).