2012 spring business meeting seattle, washington
TRANSCRIPT
2012 Spring Business MeetingSeattle, Washington
• Review NO2 Modeling requirements to identify issues causing difficulties;
• Identify and prioritize realistic solutions, and;
• Forward solutions on to the Directors.
• Alan Schuler – Alaska DEC• Clint Bowman – Washington Dept. of Ecology
• Cyra Cain – Montana DEQ• Jeff Gabler – WESTAR Council
• Phil Allen – Oregon DEQ• Tom Orth – Utah DEQ
Conference Calls• Identify and Prioritize Issues• Identify and Prioritize Realistic Solutions• EPA Participation (Roger Brode):
• Clarify and Explain Guidance Language• Summarize Current/Future Activities• Discuss EPA’s Position on Important Issues
• Summary Report from EPA’s 10th Conference on Air Quality Modeling (Marty Gray – UT DEQ)• Presented Work to Technical Committee• Detailed Write-ups (see links in agenda)
• Temporary/Portable/Intermittent/ Seasonal Sources
• In-Stack Ratios
• Significant Impact Level (SILs)
• Background Ambient Ozone Concentrations
• Other Monitoring Needs
Temporary/Portable/Seasonal/ Intermittent Sources•Craft Letter to EPA Requesting Refined Definitions & Clarifications Using Specific Examples (e.g.; Case-by-Case)
In-Stack Ratios•State agencies explore enhancements to compliance testing and CEM programs that would allow the instruments to report the in-stack ratio;
•Information compiled in national database to assist EPA in proposing more representative NO2/NOx in-stack ratios, and;
•Information used to identify default ratios that are process based, or it may provide support for a lower 1-hour NO2/NOx in-stack default ratio.
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Significant Impact Level (SIL)•Seek EPA confirmation that they are willing to accept higher interim values, or even alternative approaches (such as a population-dependent range of values);
•NESCAUM States Use 10 ug/m3 for 1-hr NO2 SIL, and;
•The committee further request that EPA consider higher SILs in their pending rulemaking.
Background Ambient Ozone Concentrations•Establish a database of all rural hourly ozone concentrations, and corresponding NO2 and NOx values from participating states, and;
•Additional monitoring may be required through WESTAR financial assistance.
Modeled Background Concentrations•Modeling domain could cover entire western state region
•Modeled O3, NOx, NO2 + monitored concentrations (apply to other pollutants and interstate transport?)
Other Needs•EPA Needs Additional Field Studies to Fully Evaluate Modeling Options;•Is WESTAR Willing to Fund a Case Study, or;•Partnership with Other Regional Organization?•Tasks Include:
• Identify participating facility• Collect ambient O3, NOx and meteorological data near NOx source
• Measure/calculate NOx emissions and in-stack ratios• Compare modeled NO2 impacts to ambient NO2 concentrations
• Committee will provide additional information if Directors support concept