Air Quality Monitoring Issues WESTAR Fall Business Meeting Millennium Harvest House Boulder, Colorado September 17-19, 2007 Bruce Louks Idaho Department of Environmental Quality

Ozone Monitoring Issues under Revised NAAQS  Ozone NAAQS NPRM…… Ozone seasons will stay the same. Longer seasons will require rulemaking. Does not affect existing QA/QC requirements EPA may make specific proposals regarding monitoring requirements later MSA’s with <350,000 will still not be required to monitor Assuming NAAQS of ppm, about 70 areas will be >85% which affects number of required monitors (actually 65 already have, 5 more will be added)

Secondary Ozone NAAQS  CASAC supported using a cumulative seasonal indicator called W126 Aimed at reducing forest and crop damage Highest 3 consecutive months of ozone season 12 hours per day, weighted by concentration CASAC recommended a range of 7 to 15 ppm- hours  EPA proposes W126 range of 7-21 ppm hrs, or alternately, the secondary standard should equal the primary standard  Rural SLAMS, NPS and possibly CASTNET ozone monitors could support designations in near term, but only in spots

What is W126?

Coming Next:Lead NAAQS  Final Rule due September 1, 2008  NAAQS may be revised enough to make 10-30% existing monitors show violations  Monitoring issues with the rule: Existing network is spotty. How many more monitors are needed? Where? Monitoring method….hi-vol TSP or lo-vol TSP or PM10? How? Sampling frequency QA – collocation, flow checks, etc.

National Ambient Air Monitoring Strategy  EPA plans to update for consistency with PM NAAQS, final monitoring rule  EPA intends to finalize internal document by end of October  NACAA will have opportunity to comment  EPA will sign document at appropriate senior level  Hopefully in time to influence 2009 grant guidance

Steering Committee Comments on Monitoring Strategy Proposal  Original intent of strategy document that S/L/T NAAQS and Air Toxics networks leverage other networks (IMPROVE, Castnet), not the other way around  Make funding visible in document  Consider new approach for defining urban/rural  Broaden health component as data client

2008 President’s Budget  Same as 2007 proposal  Cuts compared to FY2006 ~ $15M cut from general 105 STAG $17M cut from PM 2.5 STAG, remaining $25.5M moved to 105  About $10M for air toxics monitoring ~ 50% of this will fund community-scale projects from the recent solicitation Guidance says EPA will use 103 authority for all FY2008 air toxics monitoring STAG funds.

FY08 Monitoring Funds  Both House/Senate looking to fund $220M (2006 enacted) plus diesel retrofits  Rescission likely……..how much?  Retains 103…..not clear how much  EPA recommends we take a critical look at moving PM 2.5 monitoring under Section 105 States will have to match Section 103 could then be for other programs, e.g. air toxics, mercury

FY 2008 Grant Guidance  Defines outcome for 2007 Regional allocations Common end date of March 31 for PM 2.5 Common end date of June 30, 2008 for NATTS  Explains President’s 2008 budget  Air toxics STAG will be spent as 103  Announces plan to cut IMPROVE 15%, unless NACAA advises otherwise  Cites STAG reallocation process  Reaffirms priority for required monitoring.

Impacts of Level Funding  Rule changes impact monitoring resources  What is an adequate network? Imbalance between minimum national network requirements and actual operating networks Reductions in non-essential monitoring could free up substantial $$ and can be applied for new initiatives  Strategy Document needs to drive this realignment

2008 Issues Still to Settle  Regional and State allocation framework Assessment of current needs in light of PM 2.5 and ozone NAAQS revision, etc. Pro rata allocation based on 2007 pattern but adjusted to a common grant period.  IMPROVE How much to cut IMPROVE vs. State/Local grants…..15%? NACAA is internalizing this discussion and will provide EPA with a recommendation. Which sites to cut in Class I areas?  How much EPA versus grantee control?

Atmospheric Mercury Initiative  EPA is leading the planning effort with NADP to establish a new network for monitoring atmospheric mercury species  Scientific and policy communities have shown strong support for this network Data needed for model evaluation and for assessment of Hg control programs  The goals of this atmospheric mercury initiative are to: Build a data set for analyzing spatial and temporal trends Provide data for evaluating models and assessing source-receptor relationships Facilitate the calculation of wet, dry, and total deposition

Proposed Atmospheric Mercury Initiative Sites

Update on Technical Aspects  Emphasis on ensuring this is an inclusive, multi- stakeholder initiative through multiple meetings and collaboration  Developing standard operating procedures for atmospheric Hg species (initial SOPs Summer 2007)  NADP technical workshop – Chicago, IL – September 2007 Experts operating Tekran systems Consensus on the automated Hg monitoring SOP among Hg monitoring experts NACAA will send 3 experts  Developing capacity to electronically collect and share atmospheric Hg data from 3 initial monitoring sites

Funding Opportunities  This is a voluntary effort looking for partners to collaborate  Limited EPA funding available this year to support existing speciated ambient mercury sites participating in the monitoring effort Limited funding designated for site operations and/or to upgrade equipment (e.g., for how a site can interface with the network)  Near-term plan for a competitive acquisition process (i.e., contracts) An efficient way to make a small amount of resources available for monitoring services and existing data collection efforts  Patchwork funding expected over the next couple of years

CASTNET Budget in the Near Future  25% Reduction in FY08 EPA CASTNET budget  Translates to 8-10 sites shutting down  Continuing reduction at NPS Anticipate shutting down 8 sites over 5 years  Impact on Funding to NADP Reduce Site Audit Program Eliminate support for 10 sites  For 2008, 86 → ~69 sites 45 EPA sites 24 NPS sites  Facing 280K per yr Ozone QA cost Conversion may be delayed

Ozone Monitor Upgrades

Proposed NADP Passive Ammonia Network  Purpose: To determine actual costs of network, sampling variability and other considerations  Bi-Weekly measurements  Core network of 10 EPA- sponsored sites $7700 per site  QAPP & SOPs to be prepared  Total program cost $225K over two years  Additional sites may be added at $5k/site

Other Projects  $100K for PAMS review  Addition of PAH to NATTS  Addition of 3-5 sites to NATTS  Carbon channel changeout for PM2.5 speciation network nearly complete

Summary  There is not enough money to go around to support all monitoring initiatives  There are efforts underway to integrate monitoring networks to meet common objectives  There will be more competition for resources and there will be cuts and reductions in levels of effort, somewhere…..  Monitoring costs need to be updated for the next ICR