EPA Finalizes Nonattainment Designations for 24-Hour PM2.5 NAAQS
Thirty-one areas across the country, including portions of West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania, have been designated as nonattainment areas for falling short of the 24-hour National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) based on air quality data monitored from 2006 to 2008.
Pursuant to the Clean Air Act, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set NAAQS for six common air pollutants - carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, lead, particulate matter and sulfur dioxide - at levels deemed appropriate to protect public health and the environment. The EPA has established two particulate matter NAAQS - an annual standard and a 24-hour standard - for particulates with a diameter of 2.5 microns or less, i.e., "fine particulates." In 2006, the EPA strengthened the 24-hour PM2.5 standard from 65 µg/m3 to 35 µg/m3, while the annual standard of 15 µg/m3 was left unchanged. The 2006 standards were appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which remanded the 2006 annual PM2.5 standards to the EPA earlier this year for further proceedings. See Am. Farm Bureau Fed'n & Nat'l Pork Producers Council v. EPA, 559 F.3d 512 (D.C. Cir. 2009). Though remanded, the standards were not vacated; thus, the PM2.5 standards remain in effect while the EPA determines how to address the court's concerns.
In a November 13, 2009 final rule, 74 Fed. Reg. 58688, the EPA designated areas not in attainment of the standards. Areas in this region of the country identified as nonattainment for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 standard are: Allentown, PA; Canton-Massillon, OH; Charleston, WV; Cleveland-Akron-Lorain, OH; Harrisburg-Lebanon-Carlisle-York, PA; Johnstown, PA; Lancaster, PA; Liberty-Clairton, PA; Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley, PA; and Steubenville-Weirton, OH-WV.
Other areas, including Cincinnati, Columbus, and Dayton-Springfield, OH; Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH; Louisville, KY-IN; Morgantown, WV; Paducah-Mayfield, KY-IL; Parkersburg-Marietta, WV-OH; Reading, PA; and Youngstown, OH, had originally been proposed for nonattainment based on 2005 to 2007 data, but were found to be in attainment of the standard when the EPA considered the newer 2006 to 2008 air quality data. Virginia and Kentucky have no nonattainment designations for the 2006 24-hour PM2.5 standard.
Once the EPA designates an area as nonattainment, the state is subject to additional regulatory requirements and must develop a plan - a State Implementation Plan, or SIP - to meet NAAQS. SIPs generally include emission limits, control requirements, and a preconstruction permitting program designed to ensure that air quality is not significantly degraded by the addition of new sources of emissions.
For more information about the EPA's recent nonattainment designations and how they might impact permitting at your facility, please call us.
Katerina E. Milenkovski