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SEMCOG invites public comment on eight-hour ozone air quality conformity analysis SEMCOG announces the public comment period on the eight-hour ozone conformity demonstration for the 2030 Regional Transportation Plan (RTP) and 2004-2006 Transportation Improvement Program (TIP). On April 15, 2004, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) officially designated the seven-county SEMCOG region, plus Lenawee County, as a single nonattainment area for the new eight-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard. Provisions in the federal Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990 require that all areas designated as "nonattainment" or maintenance" for one or more of the air quality standards demonstrate that transportation investment in the region's RTP or TIP will not worsen air quality or delay the timely attainment of air quality standards. Since the early 1990s, SEMCOG has been analyzing RTP and TIP conformity relative to the one-hour ozone standard. Replacing the one-hour ozone standard with the new eight-hour standard requires a new analysis that demonstrates conformity in the entire eight-county nonattainment area. While conformity must now be demonstrated in Lenawee County as well as the seven-county SEMCOG region, only the seven-county portion will be acted on by the agency's Transportation Advisory Council and Executive Committee. The Lenawee County Rural Task Force will act on the Lenawee portion of the analysis. For the SEMCOG region, conformity is demonstrated if forecasted emissions for specific future years are less than or equal to the established emissions level limits (budgets) set forth in the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for ozone. Until a SIP for the eight-hour ozone standard is submitted in 2007, budgets from Southeast Michigan's one-hour ozone SIP are being used for conformity (per EPA guidance). SEMCOG's analysis shows that forecasted emissions for the two ozone precursors — volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) — are well below established mobile source emissions budgets for all analysis years. Thus, conformity is demonstrated. Detailed information on the analysis is available from SEMCOG Information Services. Comments on the analysis should be mailed, phoned, or faxed to SEMCOG Information Services; contact information is available in the box on the reverse side. Address e-mail comments to infoservices@semcog.org. Comments can be made in person at the following meeting, held at SEMCOG offices:
Contact: SEMCOG Information Services.
Dates set for five Membership Outreach meetings Once again, SEMCOG will be visiting each county in the next couple of months to talk about issues relevant to its members and to conduct Executive Committee elections. Five of these Membership Outreach meetings (formerly, Spring Workshops) have been scheduled:
As dates for the Membership Outreach meetings are finalized for Livingston and Macomb Counties, they will be listed in Regional Update and letters will be sent to SEMCOG members. Contact: Durene Brown, SEMCOG Membership Manager.
Executive Committee approves 2005 legislative platform The Executive Committee has approved priority legislative issues for 2005. The goals of SEMCOG's legislative program are enhancing quality of life in Southeast Michigan, maintaining local control, improving regional cooperation, increasing financial resources, and expanding local tools. Highlights of federal issues include reauthorization of the expired federal transportation funding legislation, more federal funds for transit and water infrastructure needs, supporting rules and regulations that achieve the greatest protection of public heath and the environment in the most cost-effective manner, restricting diversions of water from the Great Lakes, and maintaining the federal Community Development Block Grant program. Priority state issues include developing short-term and long-term solutions to the transportation and transit funding problems, maintaining and increasing local government revenue sources for delivering quality public services, obtaining incentives for "best management Practices" by local governments to achieve efficiencies in providing essential services, maintaining and enhancing local government decision-making, and equitable taxation and regulation of manufactured housing units within manufactured housing communities. Contact: SEMCOG Information Services for a copy of the entire 2005 Legislative Policy Platform or view it at www.semcog.org.
2005 Cool Cities grants available The Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth (DLEG) has introduced its 2005 Cool Cities Grants and Planning Program. The 2005 program is significantly different from the 2004 program in that it combines four programs under the Cool Cities — Cool Cities Neighborhoods in Progress, Cool Cities Michigan Main Street, Cool Cities Blueprints for Michigan's Downtowns, and Cool Cities Blueprints for Michigan's Neighborhoods. Information on eligibility requirements for all of these programs is available on the Cool Cities Web site — www.coolcities.com. About 30 awards will be made under this program in 2005. Final applications for all of these programs are due before April 29, 2005, but Notices of Intent are due earlier. The Notice of Intent and application will be available online by February 18, 2005. DLEG will hold three pre-bid workshops for the Cool Cities program in February. In Southeast Michigan, a pre-bid workshop is scheduled for Tuesday, February 15, 2005, from 9 a.m.-12:30 p.m. at Eastern Michigan University, Pease Auditorium. Contact: Julie Hales-Smith, (517) 373-6026, or e-mail halesj@michigan.gov; or Karen Gagnon, (517) 241-3203, or e-mail kgagno@michigan.gov.
River cleanup grants available for 2005 The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announce the release of the 2005 Grant Application Package for Michigan's Volunteer River, Stream, and Creek Cleanup Program (VRSCCP). A total of $25,000 is available for FY 2005, with funding provided by the DEQ through fees collected from the sale of the state's Water Quality Protection license plates. The Michigan VRSCCP provides small grants to local units of government to help implement cleanup of trash and debris within or along the banks of rivers, streams, and creeks to improve the waters in Michigan. Local governments may partner with nonprofit organizations or other volunteer groups to carry out the cleanups. There is a minimum local match of 25 percent of the total project costs. Applications are available at www.glv.org/streamclean; the deadline is February 28, 2005. Grants are expected to be awarded in April. Contact: John Hummer, GLC, (734) 971-9135, or e-mail: jhummer@glc.org
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