2008 OZONE NAAQS: Regulatory Update

airtox — Tue, 15 Sep 2015 17:46:12 +0000

On August 19^th, 2015, the EPA proposed to take action on the 36 Marginal non-attainment areas under the 2008 Ozone NAAQS. Below is a summary of the EPA’s three proposals on these areas:

1. 17 of these areas will receive attainment status based on 2012-2014 certified data.

2. 8 areas will receive 1-year attainment date extensions based on their 4^th highest daily maximum 8-hour value in 2014.

3. 11 areas will be bumped to “moderate” status, as they did not meet attainment based on 2012-2014 certified data. This implies that a revised SIP must be submitted for affected states. The Moderate attainment deadline is July 20^th, 2018.

In Connecticut, the Greater Hartford area along with the New York, New Jersey, Long Island area (which includes part of CT) were not attaining and not eligible for a 1-year extension. Connecticut will have to revise their SIP accordingly.

For a complete list of EPA attainment/nonattainment area designations, see link below:

http://www.epa.gov/ozonepollution/pdfs/20150819fr.pdf

If you have any questions on how this may affect your facility, please contact AIRTOX.

The post 2008 OZONE NAAQS: Regulatory Update appeared first on Air Tox.

EPA’s Clean Power Plan: a Brief Overview

airtox — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 14:29:50 +0000

As part of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan, the EPA developed a plan to cut carbon dioxide emissions from power-generating sources. Known as the Clean Power Plan, it provides guidelines for states on how to achieve CO2 emission reduction. The plan is slated to be finalized by mid-summer 2015. Below is a brief summary of the proposed plan.

The following are steps that states will take to comply with the plan:

Under the plan, states are given a unique target rate of CO2 emissions per unit of electricity generated to be achieved by 2030.
States will develop and submit action plans by 2016 of how they will achieve their assigned rate.
States must show meaningful progress towards their goal by 2020.

According to the EPA, under this plan, carbon dioxide pollution from the power sector will be reduced by 30% by 2030.

The Climate Action Plan allows states a large range of flexibility in developing their action plans, thereby letting states make the decision of when and where to make cuts in emissions. For instance, states can choose from a number of reduction strategies, including

Co-firing or switching to natural gas only
Retirements
Efficiency improvements at plants
Construction of natural gas combined-cycle plants
Expanding renewable energy
Multi-state cooperation programs
Market-based trading incentives
Energy conservation programs

It is the EPA’s intention that under this Climate Action Plan, states will be able to reduce harmful CO2 emissions all the while providing an incentive for innovation and guaranteeing a reliable and affordable energy system.

For more information, click on the link below:

http://www2.epa.gov/carbon-pollution-standards/clean-power-plan-proposed-rule

Slider reference: Rahm Emanuael/ CC-BY-SA-3.0

The post EPA’s Clean Power Plan: a Brief Overview appeared first on Air Tox.

Air Tox » EPA

2008 OZONE NAAQS: Regulatory Update

EPA’s Clean Power Plan: a Brief Overview