American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2015 - 37

reduction standards such as the Clean Power Plan and the Mercury and Air Toxics
Standards, will cut smog-forming emissions significantly and help states meet the
new ozone standard.
To ensure people are alerted when
ozone reaches unhealthy levels, EPA
says it is extending the ozone monitoring
season for 32 states and the District of Columbia.
According to Janes McCabe, acting assistant administrator for EPA's Office of
Air and Radiation, while portions of current rules and guidance will need to be updated when the NAAQS is revised, many
remain applicable under the 2008
NAAQS. To manage the revised standard,
each state must review its air quality
management state implementation plan
(SIP) for ozone, she says, adding that because states updated their regulations to
meet the 2008 standard, most will need
only to certify that their SIPs are sufficient
to meet the new ozone standard.
States with areas designated nonattainment will have additional planning and
control obligations, McCabe says. Formal
attainment plans for the 2015 standard are
not anticipated to be due before 2020 or
2021, she adds, pointing out this time
frame roughly coincides with the next
planning cycle for any currently moderate nonattainment areas that fail to attain
by the 2018 deadline for the 2008 ozone
NAAQS.
Background Ozone
A number of stakeholders have expressed concerns that some U.S. locations
may violate ozone standards because of
background concentrations arising from
natural events such as wildfires or from anthropogenic sources in Mexico, Canada or
other international locations, the agency
says.
Under the Clean Air Act, states are not
responsible for reducing emissions from
background sources, the agency points out.

CLEAN WATER. . . . .
FROM PAGE 34

redrawing of jurisdictional lines over
certain of the nation's waters," the judges
wrote.
The clarification provided by the rule
is long overdue, and the federal agencies
have conscientiously endeavored to promulgate new standards to protect water quality that conform to the Supreme Court's
guidance, the court allows, but adds,
"Yet, the sheer breadth of the ripple effects
caused by the rule's definitional changes
counsels strongly in favor of maintaining
the status quo for the time being."
❒

For areas impacted by international
sources, federal regulations only require
emission controls on local sources. The
agency adds it is working with its counterparts in Mexico, Canada and China to
improve air quality management.
The CAA's "Good Neighbor" provision requires upwind states to develop SIPs
that prohibit emissions in amounts that
would contribute significantly to nonattainment in another state, EPA says. Those
Good Neighbor SIPs are due within three
years of promulgating a new or revised
NAAQS, meaning that transport SIPs
for the 2015 ozone NAAQS are required
by October 2018.
That provision will be addressed in the
2015 NAAQS using the framework of the
Cross-State Air Pollution Rule, EPA
states. That involves a four-step process:
* Identify downwind receptors expected to have problems attaining or maintaining clean air standards;
* Determine which upwind states
contribute to those problems in amounts
sufficient to link them;
* Apportion upwind responsibility;
and
* Eliminate emissions from states
found to contribute to nonattainment in
other states.
The agency says it expects to conduct
the modeling needed to identify projected nonattainment areas in downwind
states and identify the responsible upwind
states by fall 2016.
"Finally, in light of our shared responsibility to address interstate transport,
we intend to continue ongoing discussions
with eastern states and to undertake discussions with western states. These discussions are necessary to make sure we have
a common understanding of the nature of
interstate transport and that we are working together," EPA says.

Impacts On One State
In an example of how the 70 ppb ozone
NAAQS will impact one state, the Center for Regulatory Solutions (CRS) predicts
it will push 27 Ohio counties into nonattainment, including six in the Cleveland
metropolitan area that will be in nonattainment for the first time.
CRS says the new cap on ozone-forming emissions will hamper Ohio's ability
to open manufacturing facilities, expand
operating businesses, or upgrade its road
network. The lower standard also will punish governmental bodies such as Hamilton County, which has decreased its
ozone levels substantially, and would
continue to see improvements under the
2008 standard of 75 ppb.
The analysis quotes David Berger,

mayor of Lima, Oh., as saying Allen County is in attainment at 73 ppb, but that there
are no easy paths to the new standard, "because the major sources of ozone are related to traffic and motor vehicles. Primary
ozone sources are not related to manufacturing. Yet, drastic new mandates to reduce
ozone would cause manufacturing job losses, and the loss of city, state and federal
revenues.
"Parts of our nation's Midwest have not
yet recovered from the recession and our
substantial loss of manufacturing jobs,"
Berger says. "Income stagnation prevails, and Lima's median household income at roughly $28,000 a year remains
substantially below the Ohio and national levels. We cannot afford to lose ground."
Congressman Bob Latta, R-Oh., says
EPA's own data show the 2008 regulations
are reducing ozone levels. Its new standard
will create a nation of nonattainment
counties and effectively stifle any future
investment or economic growth in those
areas, he adds.
"Without allowing sufficient time for
counties to implement the current ozone
requirements, the EPA has moved the goal
posts in the middle of the game and created what could be the most costly regulation in history," Latta warns.
❒

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NOVEMBER 2015 37

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2015

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