On January 3, 2006, the EPA, in 70 FR 69443, published the final rule for the Delaware County-Muncie, Indiana area establishing a determination of attainment and a redesignation of Delaware County to attainment of the 8-hour ozone standard. Delaware County, Muncie, Indiana was defined as an orphan maintenance area in the court decision as the region was a maintenance area for the 1997 Ozone NAAQS at the time of its revocation (80 FR 12264, March 6, 2015) and was designated attainment for the 2008 Ozone NAAQS in EPA’s original designations for the NAAQS (77 FR 30160, May 21, 2012).

The transportation conformity regulation at 40 CFR 93.109 sets forth the criteria and procedures for determining conformity. In orphan areas that have one or more MPOs, transportation conformity for transportation plans and TIPs for the 1997 ozone NAAQS can be demonstrated without a regional emissions analysis pursuant to 40 CFR 93.109(c). As no regional emissions analysis is required in orphan areas, there is no requirement to use the latest emissions model (40 CFR 93.111), or use either the emissions budget test or interim emissions test (40 CFR 93.118 and 93.119).

Therefore, transportation conformity for the 1997 ozone NAAQS for the Delaware-Muncie TP and TIP can be demonstrated by showing the remaining requirements in Table 1 in 40 CFR 93.109 have been met. These requirements, which are laid out in Section 2.4 of EPA’s guidance and addressed below, include:
  • Latest planning assumptions (93.110)
  • Consultation (93.112)
  • Transportation Control Measures (93.113)
  • Fiscal constraint (93.108)
Use of the latest planning assumptions, per 40 CFR 93.110

These criteria generally apply to regional emissions analyses. In orphan areas, ensuring the latest planning assumptions are used applies to information about TCMs in an approved SIP (40 CFR 93.113). No Transportation Control Measures (TCM) are included in the Indiana SIP for the Muncie-Delaware County Orphan Maintenance Area.

Development of the Delaware-Muncie TP 2045, which supports the FY 2020-2024 DMTIP, included updating the land use assumptions derived from the estimates of current and future population, employment, travel, and congestion. All forecasts utilized the best available planning assumptions concerning development and socio-economic forecasts to the year 2045.

Consultation requirements, according to 40 CFR 93.112

An Interagency Consultation Group (ICG) is reviewing this document concurrent with a 10-day public comment period to ensure all requirements of the conformity determination have been met. The ICG members have the opportunity to request a conference call should an agency want to discuss the document with the ICG. A list of the ICG members receiving this Transportation Conformity Determination Report is as follows:

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