Fall line Air Quality Study

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Fall line Air Quality Study
Briefing to the Middle Georgia Clean Air
Coalition January 13, 2005

• Final Report An analysis of air quality and
  options for managing it in Middle Georgia

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About the FAQS

• Goal to provide all stakeholders with an
  objective and unbiased evaluation of air quality
  in Middle Georgia that they may use to develop an
  effective and efficient plan for improving it.
• Objectives to assess urban and regional air
  pollution, identify the sources of pollutants and
  pollutant precursors, and evaluate potential
  solutions to realized and potential poor air
  quality in the Augusta, Macon, and Columbus
  metropolitan areas.
• Methodology Field Studies, Modeling Studies, and
  Cost Studies
• Duration 44 months (May 2000 December 2004)
• Cost 2.8 million sponsored by GA EPD and GA DOT

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FAQS A Mammoth Team Effort!
Principal Investigator Dr. Michael E.
Chang Co-Principal Investigators Dr. Armistead
Russell Dr. Karsten Baumann Investigators Dr.
Yongtao Hu Dr. Dan Cohan Ms. Di Tian Ms.
Rosa Chi Dr. Rodney Weber Dr. Michael
Bergin Dr. Doug Worsnop Dr. Carlos
Cardelino
Senior Advisors Dr. C. S. Kiang Dr. William
Chameides
many more!!
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Ground-level OzoneFormation
Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs)
Nitrogen Oxides (NOx)
Ozone (O3) Smog

Combustion Processes
Fuels, Paints, Solvents, Vegetation
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Summary of FAQS NOx and VOC emissions inventories
for the year 2000 daily totals (in tons/day)
a. Includes Richmond, Columbia, Mc Duffie
counties of GA, and Aiken and Edgefield counties
of SC. b. Includes Muscogee, Chattahoochee, and
Harris of GA and Russell county of AL. c.
Includes Bibb, Houston, Jones, Peach, and Twiggs
counties of GA.
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Daily maximum ozone on August 17, 2000 in
the 12-km grid (on the left) and in the 4-km grid
(on the right)
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Summary of FAQS NOx and VOC emissions inventories
for the year 2007 daily totals (in tons/day)
a. Includes Richmond, Columbia, Mc Duffie
counties of GA, and Aiken and Edgefield counties
of SC. b. Includes Muscogee, Chattahoochee, and
Harris of GA and Russell county of AL. c.
Includes Bibb, Houston, Jones, Peach, and Twiggs
counties of GA.
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Daily maximum ozone on August 17, 2000 in the
12-km grid (on the left) and in the 4-km grid
(on the right)
Daily maximum ozone concentrations in the 12-km
grid (on the left) and in the 4-km grid (on the
right) on August 17 when FAQS2007 emissions are
used
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Year 2007 attainment modeling for 8-hour ozone in
Macon
aRelative reduction factor is the ratio of Year
2007 and Base Year modeled concentrations. bAnnual
4th highest 8-hour ozone observations, averaged
over three years straddling the episode base
year. cProduct of RRF and the observed design
value. dMinimal reduction in Year 2007 modeled
concentrations for which RRFDesignValue lt 85
ppb. eExcludes three days with modeled Base Year
O3 lt 70 ppb, in accordance with EPA methodology.
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Potential Controls for Point Sources in the Macon
Area
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Potential Controls for Additional Sources in the
Macon Area
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Taken together, the menu of measures represents
the potential to control 20-35 of NOx and VOC in
Georgia regions, but with marginal costs
increasing rapidly beyond 15-20 reductions
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Emissions and Sensitivity of Ozone to those
Emissions in Macon in 2007
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If Macon needs to reduce ozone concentrations by
2.7 ppb, the optimized annualized cost is
estimated to be 750,000 primarily for low-cost
NOx controls for industrial sources and local
locomotives in the Macon region.
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Why so cheap?

• Measures assumed to have zero net
  costcontinuation of lower-emitting Powder River
  Basin (PRB) coal at Scherer, a seasonal burning
  ban, parking pricing, replacement of water
  heaters, and the planned closure of Brown
  Williamson Tobaccoachieve 2.1 ppb of the
  reduction, 1.8 ppb of which is due to the PRB
  coal.

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The least-cost approach to reduce Macon ozone by
the necessary 6.4 ppb would be an ensemble of
measures totaling 72.6 million annually.
Participation from neighboring Georgia regions is
essential, as full implementation of all
considered control measures within the Macon
region would not quite achieve the necessary
reduction.
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Major components of least-cost Macon attainment
strategy August 1999 episode
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Fall line Air Quality Study

• Final Report An analysis of air quality and
  options for managing it in Middle Georgia

Complete Report and Executive Summary Available
at http//cure.eas.gatech.edu/faqs/finalreport
Send Questions and Comments to chang_at_eas.gatech.
edu