Energy Law, Fall 2010Natashia Holmes

natashiaholmes@sbcglobal.net

Brief review of 1990 Amendments to the Clean Air Act which impacted the development of federal transportation programs

Overview of the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program

Case Study: Northeastern Illinois’ implementation of the CMAQ program

CMAQ policy considerations for the next federal transportation bill

Originally enacted in 1977Made significant improvements in U.S. air

quality….but environmental and health issues due to urban air pollution persisted

Congress’ effort to strengthen efforts to meet National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

Targeted reducing main culprits of urban air pollution:

Allowed EPA to designate boundaries of ‘nonattainment’ areas

Ozone (smog) Particulate Matter

Source: United States Environmental Protection Agency

Geographical area whose air quality does not meet federal air quality standards designed to protect public health

Enacted in 1991, first multi-year federal transportation funding program

Focused on multi-modal, environmentally sensitive, transportation planning

Established the Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) Program to implement ambient air quality standards

CMAQ was reauthorized in the Transportation Act for the 21st Century (TEA-21, 1998), and

Safe Accountable Flexible Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users (SAFETEA-LU, 2005)*

Emphasis remains on intermodal connections, quality of life, clean air and economic competitiveness

SAFETEA-LU expired Sept. 20, 2009, but has since been operating under continuing resolutions at original authorization levels.

First federal transportation program explicitly targeting air quality improvement

Serves to implement the air quality standards set by the 1990 Clean Air Act

Provides funding to states to use in ‘nonattainment ‘ areas for projects that help address air quality concerns from transportation sources

Improving Air QualityRelieving Congestion

High-Occupancy Vehicle Lane (HOV)

Natural Gas Filing station

Conformity AnalysisEnsures that federal transportation funding

goes only to transportation activities that are consistent with federal clean air goals

Emissions AnalysisProjects seeking funding must estimate the

expected emissions, with particular attention to CO, VOCs, NOx, PM, for the purposes of project evaluation and selection

Funding is provided to either a State or Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO)

MPOs are federally mandated for areas of a state with 50,000+ population, and as a condition for spending federal highway or transit funds in urbanized areas, have responsibility for planning, programming and coordination of federal highway and transit investments.

General Categories of Funding:Traffic flow improvementsShared ride programsTravel Demand ManagementBicycle/ pedestrian facilities, programsTransit improvementsOther projects….

Traditional funding ratio is 80 percent (federal share)/20 (local share)However, the Energy Independence and

Security Act of 2007 provided for up to a 100 percent Federal share for CMAQ projects in FY 2008 and 2009.

Eligible projects must be included in the MPO’s/Statewide Transportation Improvement Program

Transportation Improvement Program is prioritized listing/program of transportation projects covering a period of four years that is developed by an MPO as part of the metropolitan transportation planning process, and required for projects to be eligible for federal funding

Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)Metropolitan Planning Organization for the

northeastern Illinois region

Responsible for the development of a comprehensive regional for the northeastern Illinois region (GoTo2040)

Responsible for the development and maintenance of travel forecasting methods used in the air quality conformity analysis of transportation improvement programs and regional transportation plans

Administers and implements the CMAQ program for the northeastern Illinois metropolitan area

Commonly referred to as ‘metropolitan Chicago’

9.5 million populationEncompasses seven

counties 3rd largest intermodal

hub in the world3rd worst congested

metropolitan area in the US

Northeastern Illinois does not meet national ambient air quality standards for ground-level ozone (smog) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), such as soot

Moderate non-attainment area for the 8-hour ozone standard, and

Non-attainment area for the annual fine particulate matter (PM2.5) standard

CMAP issues ‘Call for projects’Applicants must submit a proposal for one of

the eligible project funding categoriesCMAP’s Project Selection Committee reviews

the applications and ranks them according to the evaluation methodology

Projects selected for funding become a part of the TIP

Non-exempt projects are the only CMAQ projects ‘modeled’ for conformity before they are included in the TIP

Primary ranking: cost per kilogram of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) eliminated over the life of the project. Additional ranking

categories: cost per kilogram of nitrogen

oxides (NOx) eliminated; cost per thousand vehicle-

miles traveled (VMT) eliminated;

and cost per thousand trips eliminated.

Year Daily VOC Reduction (kg)

1992 451.13 1993 1,141.24 1994 40,310.57* 1995 6,901.73 1996 894.69 1997 1,471.55 1998 107.68 1999 3,430.24 2000 2,879.05 2001 725.40 2002 567.01 2003 536.23 2004 3,351.42* 2005 25,540.96* 2006 2,584.08* 2007 719.64 2008 701.82 2009 221.10 2010 780.10

CMAQ Program VOC Emission Reduction s

2010-2011 Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning, CMAQ funding distribution

Source: Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning

Should the metropolitan planning process take in consideration the location of generators for the purpose of locating charging stations (electric cars)?

Should the MPO Policy Committee be expanded to include a representative from the ICC and the EPA?

Should project criteria be more strictly defined and used only for projects that directly eliminate one person auto-use?

Should the ability to ‘flex’ CMAQ funds be eliminated?

Should rail infrastructure improvements be allowed, if air quality benefits and congestion relief result from the project?

Federal Highway Administration, http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/ Federal Transit Administration, http://www.fta.dot.gov/ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.epa.gov/ Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning,

http://www.cmap.illinois.gov/ Metropolitan Planning Council, http://www.metroplanning.org/ Illinois Department of Transportation, http://www.dot.il.gov/ Texas Transportation Institute, 2009 Annual Urban Mobility

Report, http://mobility.tamu.edu/ums/ Chicago Region Environmental and Transportation Efficiency

Project, http://www.createprogram.org/