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Air Quality Beyond Ozone and PM2.5 Sheila Holman North Carolina Division of Air Quality 6 th Annual Unifour Air Quality Conference June 15, 2012
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Topics to be covered Current Status for all Criteria Pollutants in North Carolina Air Toxics Mercury TMDL Greenhouse Gases Hydraulic Fracturing
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Current Schedule for NAAQS 3 Recent Changes NO 2 Primary SO 2 Primary NOx/SOx Secondary CO Latest Standard 2010 20122011 Next Revisions LeadOzonePM 2.5 Latest Standard 2008 2006 Next Review 2014 2012
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Duke and Progress Energy SO2 Emissions Note: Final 2013 SO2 reduction goal in Clean Smokestacks Act is 130,000 tons
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Duke and Progress Energy NOx Emissions Note: Final NOx reduction goal in Clean Smokestacks Act is 2009
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Lead Standard On November 12, 2008, EPA strengthened the NAAQS for lead to 0.15 μ g/m 3 ◦ This was a 90% reduction in the level of the previous standard of 1.5 μg /m 3 EPA has changed the lead monitoring network requirements to ensure monitors are assessing air quality in areas that might violate the new standard. 6
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Lead Standard EPA designated areas in November 2011, with an effective date of Dec. 31, 2011 ◦ All of NC was designated unclassifiable/attainment Do not expect any impact on North Carolina’s current industry ◦ Sources that emit ≥ 0.5 tons/year in the future may have to monitor for lead. 7
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Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2 ) Standards Primary Standard strengthened on January 22, 2010 ◦ New 1-hour NO 2 standard at 100 parts per billion (ppb); and ◦ Retained the annual average NO 2 standard of 53 ppb Secondary Standard retained on March 21, 2012 ◦ 53 ppb annual average 8
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NO 2 Primary Standard EPA designated areas in Feb. 2012, with effective date of Feb. 29, 2012 ◦ All areas in NC designated unclassifiable/attainment at the township level There may be another round of designations once there are 3 years of data from road-side monitors 9
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Sulfur Dioxide (SO 2 ) Standards Primary standard strengthened on June 2, 2010 ◦ New 1-hour SO 2 standard of 75 ppb ◦ Revoked existing annual and 24-hour primary SO 2 standards for areas currently attaining these standards Secondary standard retained on March 21, 2012 ◦ 500 ppb averaged over 3 hours 10
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SO 2 Primary Standard Current SO 2 design values County Design Values 2008-20102009-2011 Beaufort33 ppb27 ppb Forsyth37 ppb14 ppb Mecklenburg61 ppb20 ppb New Hanover107 ppb89 ppb Wake17 ppb14 ppb
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SO 2 Primary Standard NC recommendation submitted June 2011 ◦ Requested a deferral until the end of 2012 ◦ If deferral not granted then recommended a small area in New Hanover County be designated nonattainment
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SO 2 Primary Standard
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Designations on existing monitors was expected to be in June 2012 ◦ April 2012 Letter from Assistant Administrator to Commissioners EPA to proceed with designations based on existing data EPA is re-thinking the implementation strategy Held stakeholder meetings in late May/early June Comment deadline June 22, 2012
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1997 Ozone Standard All areas in North Carolina are attaining the 1997 standard ◦ NCDAQ submitted a redesignation request for the Charlotte/Gastonia region in November 2011 ◦ Redesignation being held up until Reasonable Available Control Technology (RACT) rule revised 15
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2008 Ozone Standard Primary and Secondary standards set at 75 ppb ◦ Was under reconsideration, so implementation was delayed ◦ Sept. 2011 it was decided not to reconsider the standard EPA gave states the opportunity to revise their boundary recommendations that were submitted in 2009 16
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2008 Ozone Standard Only the Charlotte-Gastonia- Salisbury area violating the standard Revised boundary recommendation submitted February 29, 2012 EPA announced final boundaries in late April 2012.
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2008 Ozone Standard
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CO Standard August 2011 EPA retained the existing CO NAAQS ◦ 1-hour standard of 35 ppm ◦ 8-hour standard of 9 ppm. NC has been attaining both standards since 1991 19
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PM 2.5 Standards Existing Standards ◦ 1997 Annual standard 15 μ g/m3 ◦ 2006 24-hour standard 35 μ g/m3 NC attaining both standards ◦ Both the Hickory & Triad areas were redesignated to attainment/ maintenance effective December 2011 20
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PM 2.5 Standard Standards being reviewed ◦ Proposal signed June 14, 2012 ◦ Expect final standard by December 14, 2012 Final Risk Assessment released March 2010 ◦ Considers revising annual standard between 10 – 13 μ g/m 3 ◦ Considers revising daily standard between 25 – 35 μ g/m 3 21
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PM 2.5 Standards Based on 2009-2011 data ◦ Daily standard design values All below 25 μ g/m 3 ◦ Annual standard design values Highest value is 11.2 μ g/m 3 Designations will be based on either 2011-2013 or 2012-2014 data
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2009-2011 Annual PM 2.5 Design Values
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Air Toxics Air Toxics Draft Legislation– Exemption of federally covered emission sources Authorizes DENR to require a federally regulated source or facility to meet the requirements of the state air toxics program if DENR makes a written finding that a source or facility presents or will present an unacceptable risk to human health DAQ to Study Rules
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Mercury TMDL Background Information DWQ is working to establish a statewide Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) for mercury DWQ determined that 98% of mercury in North Carolina waters comes from atmospheric deposition. DAQ performed air quality modeling to determine what percent of the mercury deposition in North Carolina comes from North Carolina air emission sources
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12- KM Modeling Domain
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Air Quality Modeling Results Zero out run indicated ~16% of the mercury deposition in North Carolina is coming from air emission sources in North Carolina Clean boundary conditions indicate that 70% of the mercury deposition in North Carolina comes from outside of the 12-km modeling domain
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Expected Reductions in NC’s Mercury air Emissions Source Type 2002 lbs/year 2010 lbs/year 2016* lbs/year 2003-2016 Reduction Electric Generating 3,50096370080% Other Point 1,80088180056% Total 5,3001,8441,50072% Expected Reductions in North Carolina’s Total Mercury Air Emissions Source Type 2002 lbs/year 2010 lbs/year 2016* lbs/year 2003-2016 Reduction Electric Generating 1,64565512592% Other Point 1,05044040062% Total 2,6951,09552581% Expected Reductions in Deposition-Prone Mercury Air Emissions
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Greenhouse Gases On February 28th and 29th, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals - D.C. Circuit heard oral arguments in legal challenges to EPA's Endangerment Finding and GHG regulations issued under the Clean Air Act for passenger vehicles and CAA permitting for stationary sources Decision expected in next few weeks
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Hydraulic Fracturing Study complete in May Legislation to legalize hydraulic fracturing in NC under consideration in the short session Air Quality Concerns ◦ Impact on Ozone, PM2.5 and NO2 ◦ Air Toxics issues
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QUESTIONS? Sheila Holman Director Department of Environment and Natural Resources Division of Air Quality Sheila.Holman@ncdenr.gov (919) 707-8730 31
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