The US Environmental Protection Agency released its final amendments to state implementation plan (SIP) requirements for states to implement the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) to control ground-level ozone formation on Nov. 8.
“This final rule grants states the flexibilities they need to incorporate factors that are often outside their control, such as international air pollution, so they can meet the 2015 ozone standards and continue our nation’s tremendous clean air progress,” EPA Acting Administrator Andrew Wheeler said.
Oil and gas associations and other business groups have expressed concerns that federal ozone control programs have not considered background ozone from national parks and other nonindustrial sources which can push an area into non-attainment, triggering large penalties.
The new requirements apply to states and Indian tribes with nonattainment areas, and to northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states in the Ozone Transport Region, which was established under the Clean Air Act. It includes Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Virginia.
EPA said the amendments were a response to President Donald Trump’s Apr. 12 memorandum directing EPA’s administrator to ensure implementation of air-quality standards under NAAQS and the CAA’s regional haze programs is efficient and cost-effective.
For example, the final rule clarifies that states can take advantage of CAA regulatory relief tools for areas, including ones that are not on their border, which could not meet ozone standards because of international contributions beyond their control, it said.
To assist state, local, and tribal agencies, EPA said the rule its interpretation of applicable statutory provisions and outlines additional flexibilities to meet 2015 ozone standards.
The final rule also maximizes flexibility and builds upon past EPA practice in provisions related to demonstrations for attainment and reasonable further progress, pollution sources outside of a nonattainment area, trading provisions for pollutants that react to form ozone, and SIP timing, the federal environmental regulator said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
