Set 2 Why Clear Skies?

1
Impact of Recent EPA Actions on New Englands
Air Quality
Michael Kenyon Air Programs Branch Chief EPA
New England April 5, 2005
2
What Has EPA BeenDoing Lately?

• Eight-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Designations
• Announced April 2004
• Guidance on implementation provided in Phase 1
  Phase 2 Ozone Rules
• Fine Particles Nonattainment Designations
• Announced December 2004
• Guidance on implementation provided in Fine PM
  Rule
• Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR)
• Announced on March 9, 2005
• Caps and reduces SO2 and NOx emissions from power
  plants
• Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR)
• Announced on March 15, 2005
• Caps and reduces mercury emissions from
  coal-fired power plants

3

Health Impacts of Ozone Fine Particles

• In 1997, EPA set new health-based ambient air
  standards for ozone (averaged over 8-hours) and
  fine particulate matter (PM)
• Exposure to ground-level ozone causes
• Changes in lung function and respiratory symptoms
  
• Aggravation of asthma and other respiratory
  conditions, and may contribute to premature
  mortality
• Exposure to fine particles can lead to
• Aggravation of heart and lung disease
• Premature death
• Irregular heartbeats and heart attacks
• Work and school absences

4
Chapter 1Ozone Designations and Control
Strategies
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Classification of Ozone Nonattainment Areas

• 2001 US Supreme Court upholding ozone PM
  standards required EPA to use Subpart 2 of CAA
  for classifications
• EPA approach to Subpart 1 vs. 2 --
• If 2001-2003 1-hour design values were under
  .0121 ppm, then classified under Subpart 1
• If 1-hour design values were equal to or above
  .0121 ppm, then classified under Subpart 2
• EPA converted classification table thresholds for
  1-hour standard in Subpart 2 into thresholds
  using 8-hour design values

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Conversion of CAA Classification Thresholds for
Eight-Hour Standard
Area Classification Translated 8-hour ozone design value thresholds (ppm)
Marginal gt0.085
Moderate gt0.092
Serious gt0.107
Severe-15 gt0.120
Severe-17 gt0.127
Extreme gt0.187

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Classifications in New England
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Eight-Hour Ozone Implementation Rules

• Phase 1 (published April 2004) covers
• Classifications, attainment dates
• Transition from one-hour standard
• Anti-backsliding
• Phase 2 (not yet final)
• RACT
• RFP and attainment demonstrations
• Eight-hour NSR

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Timelines for 8-Hour Ozone Designations and
Implementation
Action Date
EPA finalizes phase 1 implementation rule April 15, 2004
EPA finalizes designations April 15, 2004
Effective date of designations June 15, 2004
EPA finalizes phase 2 implementation rule Spring 2005
Revocation of 1-hr ozone standard June 15, 2005
State plans due June 15, 2007
Attainment dates for New England nonattainment areas Marginal - June 15, 2007 Subpart 1 - June 15, 2009 Moderate - June 15, 2010
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Revocation of Old 1-Hour Standard and
Anti-Backsliding

• Revocation of 1-hour standard will occur June 15,
  2005
• Existing ozone requirements remain applicable
  after 1-hour standard is revoked
• Examples I/M programs, stage 2, RACT
• Exception for NSR Major source applicability
  cut-offs and offset ratios for the areas old
  1-hour classification may not continue to apply
• Depends on language of state SIP

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Downward Trend for Ozone Standards
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New Planning Requirements to Address 8-Hour Ozone

• States required to prepare 2002 inventories for
  VOC and NOx
• States need to prepare attainment demonstrations
  by June 2007 with modeling showing attainment by
  attainment deadline
• State plans need to show they are implementing
  all Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACM)

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Programs That Will Help States Address Ozone

• EPA and state strategies to reduce VOC and NOx
  emissions
• VOC and NOx reasonably available control
  technology (RACT)
• Stage 2 vapor recovery programs
• Federal reformulated gasoline
• NOx SIP call reductions from power plants in the
  Eastern US, implemented 2003/2004
• Cleaner motor vehicles EPAs Tier 2 tailpipe
  standards in 2004 and Californias LEV2 standards
• Federal NOx limits for heavy duty diesel engine
  controls (2004 2007)
• Federal non-road standards for diesel equipment,
  lawn and garden equipment, marine engines,
  locomotives
• Clean Air Interstate Rule

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Major Air Pollution Rules Since 1990 NOx
Emission Reductions at Full Implementation
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Chapter 2Fine PM Designations and Control
Strategies
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Particulate Matter What is it? A complex
mixture of extremely small particles and liquid
droplets
Hair cross section (70 mm)
30 times smaller than an average human hair
Human Hair (70 µm diameter)
M. Lipsett, California Office of Environmental
Health Hazard Assessment
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Where does particulate matter come from?
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Fine Particle Attainment and Nonattainment
Areas in the East
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Fine Particle Nonattainment Areas in the Northeast
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What is the timeline for implementing PM2.5
standards?

Date Action
Dec. 2004 EPA finalized designations
Spring 2005 EPA proposes implementation rule
Spring 2006 EPA finalizes PM2.5 implementation rule
April 2008 State implementation plans due
2010-15 Attainment dates for nonattainment areas
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Strategies that Will Reduce Future PM2.5 Levels

• Ozone strategies for NOx emissions
• (NOx SIP call, Tier 2 vehicle standards)
• Diesel emission improvements
• Heavy-duty standards for new vehicles and
  ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel
• (90 less PM per vehicle in 2007)
• (95 less NOx per vehicle -- 2007/2010 phase in)
• Similar NOx PM standards for new non-road
  engines
• Retrofit programs for existing vehicles
• Reductions of power plant emissions
• Completion of SO2 reductions under acid rain
  program
• SO2 NOx reductions under Clean Air Interstate
  Rule

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Other Fine Particle Pollution Concerns

• Although no New England areas outside of
  Connecticut are exceeding the PM2.5 standards,
  some urban areas have elevated levels
• Addressing PM2.5 in these areas can still produce
  significant public health benefits and reduce
  regional haze
• Addressing diesel emissions everywhere can also
  produce significant public health benefits

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Reducing Fine Particles Will Also Reduce Regional
Haze
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Diesel Exhaust and Air Toxics

• EPAs National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA)
  is showing high predicted ambient concentrations
  in New Englands urbanized counties.

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Regional Diesel ActivitiesAnti-Idling Urban
Buses

• Anti-idling education and enforcement
• EPA and states have developed educational
  materials to discourage idling, particularly by
  school bus drivers
• CT, MA NH have anti-idling rules
• Anti-idling enforcement by EPA against
• Eleven bus operators at Logan Airport in Boston
• The MBTA, the Boston area transit authority
• Urban transit bus retrofits
• MBTA -- Entire fleet of 980 buses will either be
  retrofitted with filters and use ULSD or run on
  compressed natural gas
• Rhode Island Public Transit Authority (RIPTA) --
  Using ULSD and plans to retrofit 156 buses
• Connecticut Transit Stamford Division -- 31
  buses equipped with filters and using ULSD

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Regional Diesel ActivitiesSchool Buses

• EPAs Clean School Bus USA Grants
• Statewide, Maine 450 buses
• Medford, Massachusetts 70 buses
• Stamford, Connecticut 35 buses
• Manchester/Nashua, New Hampshire 45 buses
• Warwick, Rhode Island 70 buses
• Funded through EPA or State Enforcement
  Settlement Agreements
• Boston, Massachusetts 600 buses
• Norwich, Connecticut 42 buses
• New Haven, Connecticut 180 buses
• Hartford, Connecticut 200 buses
• Bridgeport, Connecticut 200 buses

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Regional Diesel ActivitiesConstruction Retrofit
Projects

• Central Artery (Big Dig) Project in Boston
• 200 construction vehicles
• Q-Bridge on I-95 in New Haven, CT
• 64 construction vehicles
• Massachusetts Highway Department
• Effective March 2005, all construction contracts
  include requirements for retrofitted equipment
• In 2003, MassHighway invested 416 million in 475
  road and bridge construction projects
• MBTA has, since 2001, included requirements for
  retrofits in all construction contracts
• More than 40 projects in Greater Boston using
  retrofitted equipment

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Retrofit and Idle Control Projects in New England
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Chapter 3Clean Air Interstate Rule
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Electric Power Generation A Major Source of
Emissions
SO2 Emissions
NOx Emissions
10.9 Million Tons
Power Sector
4.5 Million Tons
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5.0 Million Tons
16.3 Million Tons
Other
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Total 20.8 Million Tons
Total 15.9 Million Tons
Source SO2 and NOx data is from EPAs 2003
National Emissions Inventory. Other sources of
pollutants include transportation and other
mobile sources and industrial sources.
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Three Regulatory Approaches At Play

• Clear Skies Act -- Pending
• Congressional bill to reduce NOx, SO2 and mercury
  emissions from power plants by roughly 70 each
• Congressional action would provide more certainty
  and simplify implementation
• Northeast states oppose largely due to NSR and
  Section 126 petition provisions and absence of
  CO2 caps
• Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) -- March 10,
  2005
• EPA finalized rule to reduce NOx and SO2
  emissions in order to reduce interstate
  contributions to ozone and fine particle
  nonattainment
• Clean Air Mercury Rule (CAMR) March 15, 2005
• As result of deadline in settlement agreement,
  EPA finalized rule setting 2010 and 2018 caps on
  power plant emissions of mercury and allowing
  trading to meet caps
• Relies heavily on reduction control technologies
  for NOx, SO2 and PM

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Long-Range Transport of Air Pollution

• Emissions contributing to PM2.5 and ozone
  nonattainment often travel across state lines,
  especially in the eastern U.S.
• SO2 and NOx, and other pollutants, contribute to
  PM2.5 transport
• NOx and other pollutants contribute to ozone
  transport.
• Attaining national ambient air quality standards
  will require some combination of emission
  reductions from
• Sources located in or near nonattainment areas
  (such as mobile sources) and
• Sources, such as power plants, located further
  from the nonattainment area.
• EPA is also addressing ozone and particle
  pollution from mobile sources by implementing
  national fuel and engine standards.

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Areas Designated Nonattainment for Ozone and
PM2.5 NAAQS in 2004
126 ozone nonattainment areas with 474
counties 47 PM2.5 nonattainment areas with 224
counties
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The CAIR Approach

• EPA analyzed SO2 and NOx emissions from power
  plants to determine whether states will
  significantly contribute to other states
  nonattainment of either ozone or fine PM
  standards
• If significant contribution was projected from
  individual states, those states were included in
  CAIR
• 25 states and DC were found to significantly
  contribute to other states ozone nonattainment
• Only New England states were Massachusetts and
  Connecticut
• 23 states were found to significantly contribute
  to other states fine particle nonattainment
• No New England states

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Key Elements of CAIR

• CAIR sets an emission reduction requirement (or
  budget) for each affected state, based on
  capping power plant emissions collectively at
  levels that EPA believes are highly
  cost-effective to achieve
• Provides an optional cap and trade program based
  on successful Acid Rain and NOx Budget Trading
  programs as a method to implement the necessary
  reductions
• Includes a two-phase program with declining power
  plant emission caps
• SO2 annual caps 3.6 million tons in 2010 and
  2.5 million in 2015
• NOx annual caps 1.5 million tons in 2009 and 1.3
  million in 2015
• NOx ozone season caps 580,000 tons in 2009 and
  480,000 tons in 2015
• Emission caps are divided into State SO2 and NOx
  budgets
• Allows states flexibility on how to achieve the
  required reductions, including which sources to
  control and whether to join the trading program

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CAIR Health and Environmental Benefits Benefits
over 25 Times Greater than Costs

• By 2015, CAIR will result in
• 85-100 billion in health benefits each year,
  preventing
• 17,000 premature deaths
• 22,000 non-fatal heart attacks
• 12,300 hospital admissions
• 1.7 million lost work days
• 500,000 lost school days.
• Almost 2 billion in improved visibility benefits
  each year.
• Other non-monetizable benefits reductions of
  mercury emissions, acid rain, nitrification,
  eutrophication, and more.
• In 2015, CAIR will cost about 3.6 billion a
  year. Implementation beyond 2015 leads to higher
  annual benefits and costs.

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National NOx and SO2 Power Plant
EmissionsHistoric and Projected with CAIR
SO2
NOx
Projected, w/ CAIR
Source EPA
40
Ozone and Particle Pollution CAIR, together with
other Clean Air Programs, Will Bring Cleaner Air
to Areas in the East - 2010
Ozone and Fine Particle Nonattainment Areas
(March 2005)
Projected Nonattainment Areas in 2010 after
Reductions from CAIR and Existing Clean Air Act
Programs
14 ozone nonattainment areas 20 PM2.5
nonattainment areas
104 ozone nonattainment areas with 408counties 43
PM2.5 nonattainment areas with 211 counties
Projections concerning future levels of air
pollution in specific geographic locations were
estimated using the best scientific models
available. They are estimations, however, and
should be characterized as such in any
description. Actual results may vary
significantly if any of the factors that
influence air quality differ from the assumed
values used in the projections shown here.
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8-HOUR OZONE NONATTAINMENT AREAS
With Clean Air Interstate Rule and Other EPA
Clean Air Rules
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CAIR Summary

• CAIR will significantly cut emissions of SO2 and
  NOx from power plants and
• Helps cities and states in the East meet new,
  more stringent national ambient air quality
  standards (NAAQS) for ozone and fine particles.
• Guarantees substantial benefits for public health
  and the environment.
• Achieves the largest reduction in air pollution
  in more than a decade (since the highly
  successful Acid Rain Program).
• Provides one of the largest investments in
  pollution control technology in history.

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Chapter 4Clean Air Mercury Rule
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Power Generation Is a Major Source of Mercury
2000 Sulfur Dioxide
1999 Mercury
2000 Nitrogen Oxides
Utilities (22)
Utilities (63)
Utilities (40)
Other stationary combustion includes
residential and commercial sources.
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Mercury Emissions from Power Plants Causes Human
Exposure to Mercury
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Mercury Contamination in Fish

• Currently 44 states have issue fish consumption
  advisories for some or all of their waters due to
  contamination from mercury.

States with Fish Advisories Due to Mercury
Note For more information about the
relationship between fish advisories and human
exposure to mercury, see the EPA Report
America's Children and the Environment Measures
of Contaminants, Body Burdens, and Illnesses
available at http//yosemite.epa.gov/ochp/ochpweb.
nsf/content/publications.htm
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Clean Air Mercury Rule

• US is first country in world to regulate mercury
  emissions from coal-fired power plants
• Reflects a market-based, cap-and-trade approach
  to address mercury from coal-fired generation
  units, which allows utilities to obtain
  reductions in most cost-effective manner
• Sets two phased-in caps
• 2010 cap 38 tons per year
• 2018 cap 15 tons per year
• When fully implemented, will reduce utility
  emissions of mercury from 48 tons a year to 15
  tons, a reduction of nearly 70

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Use of Section 111 for CAMR

• Section 111 Provisions
• Guidelines for State Plans 111(d)
• Sets emission rates for existing coal-fired
  utility units under a cap-and-trade program
• Phase 1 2010 Capped at 38 tons
• Phase 2 2018 Capped at 15 tons
• States are assigned an emissions budget for
  mercury and each state must submit a State Plan
  on how it will meet budget
• States can choose to join trading program by
  adopting EPAs model trading rule (or adopt
  regulations that mirror necessary components)
• Federal rule for new sources 111(b)
• Includes new utility emission limits for mercury
• Benefits of 111 Approach
• Will reduce nationwide mercury emissions by 33
  tons (69 percent) from todays levels when fully
  implemented after 2018
• Potential for earlier and greater reductions than
  MACT alternative
• Meshes well with CAIR, creating an integrated
  multipollutant approach to controlling emissions
  from power plants.

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Proposed Section 112 MACT Approach

• History
• December 2000 EPA announced that it had
  concluded that it was appropriate and necessary
  to regulate mercury from power plants under
  Section 112 Maximum Achievable Control Technology
  (MACT) provisions, which started 4-year clock to
  propose and finalize mercury MACT
• December 2003 EPA proposed Section 112 MACT
  standards but in alternative proposed to regulate
  pursuant to Section 111
• March 2005 Chose to regulate pursuant to
  Section 111
• Reversed 2000 determination that it is
  appropriate and necessary to regulate under
  Section 112
• Characteristics of Section 112 MACT Approach
• Limits are based on the average of the top 12 of
  sources
• Three-year compliance deadline
• Emission standards applicable to each source

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Controls to Capture Mercury

• Removal in PM Controls
• Mercury can be adsorbed onto fly ash surfaces
  Hg2 is more readily adsorbed than Hg0
• Mercury can be physically adsorbed at relatively
  lower temperatures (hot-side ESP vs. cold-side
  ESP)
• Capture in Wet Scrubbers
• Hg2 capture depends on solubility of each
  compound Hg0 is insoluble and cannot be captured
• Capture enhanced by SCR
• Mercury Specific Controls
• New sorbent injection technologies very promising
• No mercury-specific controls found to be
  commercially available yet, but are projected to
  soon be

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Local and Global Context of EPAs Clean Air
Mercury Rule

• US and New England are reducing mercury emissions
  significantly
• CAMR is first requirement to reduce mercury
  emissions from power plants in world
• CAMR alone cannot solve health issues associated
  with mercury
• Mercury cycling through environment
• US emissions are dwarfed by global emissions
• Fish consumed by Americans mostly caught overseas

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US Mercury Emissions Have Dropped 45
221 Tons
196 Tons
(Gold mines, institutional boilers, chlorine
production, hazardous waste incineration, etc.)
Tons Per Year
112 Tons
1.6
4.9
Source EPA
53


60 Reduction in New England Mercury Emissions
1996-2003 from Forthcoming NESCAUM Report
Canada 8.8 TPY
1996 EI NESCAUM 17.6 TPY
NESCAUM Region 60 reduction based on 1996 and
2003 emission inventories
Rest of the US 123.7 TPY
2003 EI NESCAUM 7.0 TPY
EGU Electric Generating Unit MWC/MWI Municipal
Waste Combustor/Medical Waste Incinerator SSI
Sewage Sludge Incinerator Other Rest of Point
Sources (other than above 3 Classes) Plus Area
and Mobile Sources TPY Short Tons per Year
(Emission Unit)
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Mercury Cycling Pathways
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Mercury Emissions Are a Global Problem
1999 Global Mercury Emissions
Source Based on Pacyna, J., Munthe J.,
Presentation at Workshop on Mercury, Brussels,
March 29-30, 2004
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Mercury Deposition in the U.S.
U.S. Mercury Deposition from U.S. Utilities
U.S. Mercury Deposition from All Global Sources
341.3
Tons of Mercury
Tons of Mercury
2020 U.S. Utilities Deposition after CAIR and CAMR
2001 U.S. Utilities Deposition
2001 Total Deposition
Source EPA
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Solutions to Mercury Impacts on New England

• CAMR is one important step
• Reductions by other countries are needed
• US active in UNEP discussions
• EPA NEs and states continued aggressive
  implementation of regional mercury actions are
  needed
• EPA New England has been active participant and
  supporter of New England Governors/Eastern
  Canadian Premiers Mercury Action Plan
• Since 2001, EPA has provided New England states
  and institutions over 2.17 million in grants for
  implementation of mercury activities or research
• Just a few of EPA New Englands mercury
  activities are
• Obtaining commitments from 124 New England
  hospitals to identify and eliminate use of
  mercury products and generation of mercury waste
• Organizing conferences on how to reduce mercury
  in schools
• Support of recycling of fluorescent bulbs
• Support of mercury deposition monitoring and fish
  sampling
• Education and outreach about mercury exposures
• Educate public about EPA/FDA and state fish
  advisories

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For Further Information www.epa.gov/cair www.e
pa.gov/mercury