General Conformity

General Conformity Training Module 4.1: State, Tribal, and Local Involvement

Words that are shown in bold and italics are defined in the Glossary.

The state, tribal and local air quality agencies have a number of responsibilities under the General Conformity Regulations. Most of their responsibilities are connected to their duties as air quality program managers; the General Conformity program will assist the state, tribal and local agencies in meeting their air quality goals. Their responsibilities include:

Identification of emissions in the state or tribal implementation plan (SIP/TIP). Federal agencies will request the state, tribal, or local air quality agency to make a statement that the emissions for the federal action are included in the SIP/TIP. In order to make such a statement, the agency must ensure that the emission from the action along with all other emissions in the area will not exceed the budget for that category of emission in the SIP/TIP;

Review of draft determinations. Federal agencies are obligated to provide copies of their draft conformity demonstrations applicable to state air quality agency, any federally recognized tribe in the nonattainment or maintenance area, and the local Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). Those agencies have 30 days to comment on the draft demonstrations. Although the state, tribal, and local agencies are not required to comment on the draft demonstrations, they should review the demonstrations to ensure that the federal agency properly address the SIP/TIP issues and that any mitigation measures are appropriate;

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Commitment to include emissions in the SIP. One method of demonstrating conformity is to have the state or tribe commit to include the emissions caused by the action included in the SIP/TIP. The states and tribes are not obligated to make such a commitment; however, many may wish to do so in order for the federal agency to take the action. If a state or tribe makes such a commitment, then it has 18 months to submit a SIP/TIP revision to EPA. If the emission for the action would extend beyond the time period covered by the existing approved SIP/TIP and the new SIP/TIP is not to be submitted within 18 months, then the state or tribe must submit the commitment as a SIP/TIP revision;

Inclusion of offsets or mitigation measures in the SIP/TIP. In order to ensure that the offset or mitigation measures are enforceable by EPA, state or appropriate tribe, the offset or mitigation measures can be included in the SIP/TIP. The state, tribe or local agency would be responsible for developing, adopting, and submitting the revisions to incorporate the measure into the SIP/TIP;

Permits for offsets and mitigation measures. Another way that a state, tribe or local agency could make the offset or mitigation measure enforceable by themselves and EPA is to issue an air quality permit under a program that has been approved as part of the SIP/TIP. The state, tribe or local agency responsible for the permit program would have to issue the permit for the measure;

Emission Reduction Credit (ERC) programs. The General Conformity Regulations allow federal agencies to work with states and tribes to create ERCs for a facility. The states and tribe are not obligated to participate in the program, but must be in order for the federal agency to create and use the ERCs;

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Development of emission budgets. A federal agency can request that the state, tribe, or local agency develop an emission budget for its facility to be used in the conformity process. The emission budget would be useful in the development and implementation of the SIP/TIP and would reduce the number of draft conformity demonstrations that the state, tribe or Local agency would have to review. The state, tribe, or local agency may want to track the federal agency’s efforts in meeting the emission budget;

Review of emergency event exemption extension. The General Conformity Regulations allow federal agencies to take actions in response to emergency events without conducting a conformity evaluation. If the response extends beyond six months, the federal agency must make a determination that it is impractical to conduct the conformity evaluation. The federal agency must allow the state or tribe 15 days to review the draft determination before it makes a final determination;

Tracking of de minimis actions. Federal agencies are not required to report on actions with emissions below the de minimis levels. However, under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), the federal agencies must evaluate their significant actions. Although not required by the regulations, states, tribes, and local agencies should review and comment as necessary on the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) statements as they relate to emissions below the de minimis levels. In addition, states and tribes may want to track the actions with emissions below the de minimis levels at federal facilities or in specific areas if a number of those actions are occurring; and

Presumed to conform list. Federal agencies can add additional activities to the list of actions that are presumed to conform. As part of the procedure to create its own list, the federal agency must provide the appropriate states and tribes with the justification for its action and allow 30 days for their comments. In addition, the Regulations also allow state and tribes to create their own list that are presumed to conform in their area.

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