WHATS EXCEPTIONAL? STATE EFFORTS TO MEET CLEAN AIR STANDARDS - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

THURSDAY, JUNE 18, 2020 3:00 PM ET / 2:00 PM CT / 1 PM MT / NOON PT

WHAT’S EXCEPTIONAL? STATE EFFORTS TO MEET CLEAN AIR STANDARDS

2020 SPRING WEBINAR SERIES

Hosted by NCSL’s Natural Resources and Infrastructure Committee



Who Decides a State’s Energy Mix?



New WOTUS Rule & States Response to Jurisdictional Changes



Solar on Agricultural Lands – Preserving Pollinator Habitat and Soil Health



State Legislative Trends: Traffic Safety



What’s Exceptional? State Efforts to Meet Clean Air Standards For more information on the webinars, and how to view past webinars visit NCSL’s Webpage

SPEAKERS

Mike Koerber

Deputy Director of Policy, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Mary Uhl

Executive Director, Western States Air Resources Council

Brad Busby

Air Monitoring and Assessment Manager, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality

Beth Palma

Group Leader for Geographic Strategies Group, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

Beth Palma U.S. EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards National Conference of State Legislatures June 18, 2020

Overview of the Exceptional Events Program

For illustration and discussion purposes only

Co Contents

• Exceptional Events
• 2016 Exceptional Events Rule Revisions
• Exceptional Events Process
• Exceptional Events Update
• Key Messages

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For illustration and discussion purposes only

• Unusual or naturally occurring events that can affect air quality but are not

reasonably controllable using techniques that tribal, state or local air agencies may implement to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)

• Must cause an exceedance or lead to a violation of a NAAQS; and
• Affect a regulatory determination

Excepti tional E Events ts

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Examples

• f

Exceptional Events

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For illustration and discussion purposes only 8

• On September 16, 2016, the EPA finalized the 2016 Revisions to the Exceptional Events Rule,

which address issues raised by stakeholders to reduce unnecessary burden and increase the administrative efficiency of the exceptional events demonstration process

• Overarching goal was to improve the demonstration development and review process by improving

communications, providing recommendations for demonstration narrative and analyses to include in demonstration packages, providing needed clarity in the rule and increasing administrative efficiency of demonstration submittal process

• https://www.epa.gov/air-quality-analysis/treatment-data-influenced-exceptional-events
• General Exceptional Events Rule Overview
• Establishes procedures and criteria for identifying and evaluating air quality monitoring data affected by

exceptional events

• Provides a mechanism by which air quality data can be excluded from regulatory decisions and actions
• Applies to all criteria pollutants and NAAQS and all event types to which the rule applies
• Applies to all state air agencies, to (delegated) local air agencies, to tribal air agencies that operate air quality

monitors that produce regulatory data and to federal land managers/federal agencies if agreed by the state

• Affects design value calculations, NAAQS designation decisions, attainment determinations, and State/Tribal/

Federal Implementation Plan (SIP/FIP/TIP) development

2016 Ex Exce ceptional E Events R Rule Revi visions

For illustration and discussion purposes only

Excepti tional Events ts P Process

Event occurs that leads to exceedance or violation of NAAQS AND has regulatory significance - data flagged Air agency notifies EPA and works with EPA Region to prepare/submit demonstration EPA reviews the demonstration If EPA concurs, data receive concurrence flags in the Air Quality System database 9

For illustration and discussion purposes only

Ex Exce ceptional Events U Update

• EPA has concurred on 34 state demonstrations that were submitted since EPA

revised the Exceptional Events Rule in September 2016

• Guidance documents to help right-size demonstrations and facilitate the

exceptional events process:

• Wildfire Guidance (September 2016)
• Stratospheric Ozone Intrusion Guidance (November 2018)
• Updated High Wind Dust Event Guidance (April 2019)
• Clarification Memo on Data Modification (April 2019)
• Prescribed Fire Guidance (August 2019)
• Electronic tracking and submission system for exceptional events

demonstrations is under development with deployment planned in Summer 2020

• EPA’s exceptional events webpage provides additional resources, including

example demonstrations for Ozone and PM

• https://www.epa.gov/air-quality-analysis/treatment-air-quality-data-influenced-exceptional-

events

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For illustration and discussion purposes only 11

• EPA’s intent with the 2016 revisions to the Exceptional Events Rule

was to address issues raised by stakeholders and reduce the burden

• f the demonstration process while continuing to protect public

health

• Early coordination and communication between EPA and air agencies

is critical to ensure that benefits of the rule are achieved

• EPA continues to seek feedback and opportunities to streamline the

implementation process – our goal is continuous improvement

• EPA’s exceptional events webpage provides key resources and will be

updated as new materials become available

Key ey M Messages es

For illustration and discussion purposes only 12

Question

• ns

Denise Scott scott.denise@epa.gov (919) 541-4280 Beth Palma palma.elizabeth@epa.gov (919) 541-5432

Exceptional Events in the West

Mary Uhl, WESTAR NCSL Webinar June 18, 2020

WESTAR and WRAP region

What is important to know about Exceptional Events?

• Clean Air Act and EPA regulations rely heavily upon monitored air

quality data to characterize the attainment of National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

• The Clean Air Act recognizes that some monitor data may not be

appropriate to characterize the air quality of a city or region when that data is influenced by “exceptional” events that are not otherwise

• controllable. Events may be human-caused or natural.
• EPA has developed a regulation specifying how states may identify

monitor data influenced by exceptional events, exclude that data and protect public health from unhealthy levels of air pollution during these events.

State/Tribal/Local Air Agencies and Exceptional Events in the West

• Typical Exceptional Events in the west include wildfire, prescribed

and agricultural fire, stratospheric ozone intrusion and high wind dust events

• Air agencies have to make decisions about what days to request to

exclude based on the nonattainment status of the area, regulatory impact, agency resources available and whether there is sufficient evidence

• Multiple state impacts from exceptional events are possible;

coordination of state demonstrations is complex

• Exceptional event demonstrations are becoming a larger part of the

workload for state/local/tribal air agencies for a number of reasons

Wildfire Ozone Exceptional Event-Enumclaw, WA- July 5, 2015

Elaho Fire Boulder Creek Fire Impacted Ozone Monitor

February 12, 2018 Western Governors’ Association letter to EPA Asst. Admin. Bill Wehrum – Exceptional Events

“Exceptional event demonstrations are resource-intensive, costly and place a significant burden on strained state resources, especially when EPA does not review these state submissions in a timely manner. EPA should streamline the process for exceptional event demonstrations, provide additional technical tools for states and allocate resources to review state demonstrations.”

Western Technical Needs for Exceptional Events

Tracking and Analysis of Fire and Smoke Impacts Patterns and Impacts of Stratospheric Ozone Intrusions Patterns and Impacts

• f Global Air

Pollution Transport to the West Tracking and Analysis of Dust Emissions due to a Changing Climate

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Technical Needs for Understanding Global Transport and Western Impacts

Patterns and Impacts

• f Global Air

Pollution Transport to the West

WRAP Ozone/multi-pollutant studies and Regional Haze planning

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Technical Needs for Fire and Smoke Impacts

Tracking and Analysis of Fire and Smoke Impacts

Western regional analysis Fire Emissions Tracking System WRAP Fire Tools

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Technical Needs for Ozone Intrusion Impacts

Patterns and Impacts of Stratospheric Ozone Intrusions

Western regional meteorological analysis WRAP Ozone transport and modeling studies

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Technical Needs for High Wind Dust Events

Tracking and Analysis of Dust Emissions due to a Changing Climate

Western regional analysis Regional Haze planning studies

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EPA Exceptional Event Implementation Resources

• Wildfire-Ozone Guidance to assist air agencies in developing demonstrations for

wildfire events that cause elevated ozone levels in downwind areas

• 2007-to-2016 Exceptional Events Rule Crosswalk to provide a concise

understanding of provisional changes under the revised rule

• Best Practices for Multi-Agency Demonstrations to describe options for air

agencies to collaborate on developing demonstrations

• Mitigation Plan Checklist to assist air agencies in developing exceptional events

mitigation plans

• Examples of successful demonstrations developed under the 2016 rule for both
• zone and particulate matter-12 concurrences since final rule
• Online submission system for EE demonstrations

For more information: www.westar.org www.wrapair2.org

Exceptional Event Demonstrations

• ADEQ Experience and Lessons Learned

Brad Busby Arizona Dept. of Environmental Quality

Exceptional Events & ADEQ Experience

ADEQ Experience with Exceptional Events:

• About 60 Exceptional Event Submittals to EPA
• About 20 EPA Concurrences
• 0 Non-Concurrences

Exceptional Event Demonstrations Are:

• Detailed and lengthy documents with complex analyses

– Demonstrations can range from about 50 to 200+ pages

• Time consuming and costly to produce

– Estimated at $20,000 to $40,000 per event

• A necessary and invaluable tool for air agencies to ensure

natural events beyond their control don not result in non- attaining federal air health standards resulting in unnecessary regulation or negative economic impact

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GOAL LEAN

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Save Time Reduce Costs Maintain a High Quality Product

Exceptional Event Swimlane Process Map

4 Initial Data Collection and Event Screening Event Prioritization (Internal & w/ EPA) & Initial Notification Submittal Exceptional Event Demonstration Development & Submittal

Early Communication with Regional EPA is KEY

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Initial Notification Conference Calls Before and During Preparation Allow Region Early Review During Preparation Highlight “Unique Content” Combine Demos for Regional & Multi-Day Events Provide Agency and EPA Walk-Thru of Event Demonstration Prior to Public Comment Period

Tools – PM10 Event Screening

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8 Point Scale

0-2 = Stop - Pursuit not recommended 3-5 = Caution - Proceed with caution 6-8 = Go - Pursuit recommended

Criteria Used for Dust Events

***IS THE EVENT REGULATORILY SIGNIFICANT?***

• 1. Event Historically Unusual - > 95th Percentile?
• 2. Monitor Winds & Gusts > 15 mph?
• 3. NWS Winds & Gusts > 25 mph?
• 4. Weather Observations Related to Event?
• 5. NWS Statements about Event?
• 6. ADEQ Health Watch or High Pollution Advisory?
• 7. Multiple Area Monitors Experiencing Event?
• 8. Previously Concurred with Event Setup?

Tools – GIS Imagery

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Tools – Visibility Cameras / Video Loops

http://www.phoenixvis.net/tlapse_camera.aspx

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Tools – Visibility Movies

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Cutting-Edge Tools – GR2Analyst 2.0

• RADAR Visualization Software
• Compiles current RADAR data and allows for archived data to

be loaded for historical analysis (Phoenix area = 1993-present)

• Allows for RADAR-estimated wind speeds with Lat/Long

location to be determined

• Create a 3-D visual of some well defined dust storms, day or

night

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Wildfire Ozone EE Guidance In Oct. 2016 EPA Released the “Final Guidance on the Preparation of Exceptional Events Demonstrations for Wildfire Events that May Influence Ozone Concentrations”

• The same six required elements from EE rule apply
• 3 tiered approach for the Clear Causal Relationship

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Clear Causal Tiers for Wildfire - Ozone Event

In Arizona, most of the events we have looked at tend to fall into Tier 3 due to the time of year (higher background O3) and the smoke transport distance

Tier 3: Most Complex – Multiple Analyses for weight of evidence

Key: In addition to all Tier 1 and 2 Keys, provide additional evidence to show fire emissions were transported to the monitor and caused the exceedance

Tier 2: More analysis required

Key 1: Fire Emissions over distance to monitoring site analysis (Q/D) > 100 Key 2: Comparison of event related O3 to non-event high O3

Tier 1: Events that clearly influence concentrations

Key: Seasonality and/or the distinctive level of the monitored concentration

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Wildfire - Ozone Demonstration Challenges

• ADEQ has submitted two Wildfire-Influenced Ozone

Exceptional Event demonstrations to EPA

• Both June 5, 2015 and July 7, 2017 showed wildfire

emissions resulted in ozone exceedances in Phoenix

• Both Received EPA Concurrence

– Results in the Phoenix-Mesa nonattainment area having an

attaining 2017 Design Value for the 2008 Ozone Standard

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ADEQ Exceptional Event Takeaways

• Process Improvements, Streamlining, and Development of

Supporting Evidence

– Develop Technical Expertise – Follow the Revised Rule and Guidance Documents – Coordinate with EPA early and often in the process – Screen Exceedance Events for Exceptional-ness – Map Out Exceptional Event Process – Develop Standard Language Templates – Visualize your event and your data

• Utilize GIS Imagery whenever possible
• Utilize Visibility Cameras or other photographic evidence

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Brad Busby

Arizona Dept. Of Environmental Quality Air Quality Monitoring and Assessment (602) 771-7676 bb4@azdeq.gov

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Questions re: Webinar Series? Contact Kristen.Hildreth@NCSL.ORG Questions re: the Exceptional Events Rule? Kristen.Hildreth@ncsl.org or Laura.Shields@ncsl.org