UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION

5 77 WEST JACKSON BOULEVARD CHICAGO,

I L 60604-3590 FEB 1 6 .2016

RE PL Y TO T H E A TI E N TIO N OF· The Honorab

l e Jo lm Kas ich Governor of Oh i o Riffe Center, 301 11 F l oor 77 South Hig h Stree

t Columb

u s, Ohio 43215 Dear Governor Kasic h : Thank you for your recommendat

i ons d ated September

1 6, 20 15 on air quali ty designation

s for the State of Ohio for
t h e 20 1 0 revis ion
t o the prim ary Nationa

l Amb

i ent A ir Quality Standa rd (N AAQS) for sulfur di ox id e (S02)

.Reducing levels ofS0 2 pollution
is an important part of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's co nm1itment
to acl ean, healthy env
i ron ment. Exposure
to S02 can cause
a range of adverse

h ealth effects, including narrowing of the airways which can cause difficulty breathing and increased asthma symp to ms

.T hi s letter is to not
i fy yo uof EPA 's preliminary intentions regar di ng your recommended designations. On June 3, 2010

,EPA st rength ened th e health-based
or "primary" standard for S0 2 by estab li sh ing a stan dard for 1-h our average S02 conce ntr ations at a level of 75 part s per billi on. W ithin one year afte ra n ew or rev
i sed standa rd i s established, the Clean Ai r Act requires th e Governo

r of each

s tat e to sub mit t oEPA
ali st of all areasin th est at e ,with recomm

e ndations for whet h er each area meets

t h e sta ndard. Thro u gh an interactive process,EPA con sid ers the recommendation

s and th en promul ga te s de s ignations for all areas across the co un try. O n July 25, 20 1 3, EPA designated 29 area
sin 16 s tat es as nonattairunent
ba sed on monitored

vi o lati ons ,but did not at tha t time designate other areas. Pur s uant to a Marc h 2, 20 1 5, court -ordered sch e dul e , 1 EPA mu st comp

l ete th erem ain in g S02 de si g nati o ns by thre e specifi c deadlines: Jul y 2

,2016, December 31,2017

,and Dece mber 31,2020

. T his curre nt round of designations,

to be comp

l eted by J ul y 2, 2016, ad dresses two gro ups of areas: (1) ar eas that have newly moni tored violations of the 2010 S02 NAAQS based on th e most recent three cal endar years of ce ttified monitored amb

i e nt ai r quality data

,and (2) ar eas th at conta

i n any
s tationary source that h ad not been announ ced as of Marc h 2, 2 015

,f or retirement and that accord in g to E PA

' sAir Markets Database emi tt ed in 2012
e ith er (i) more th an1 6 ,000 tons of S0 2 or (ii) mor e th an 2,600 tons of S0 2 with an ann ual aver age emi ss ion rate of at least 0.45 pounds

of SO :V MMBTU. 1 Sierra C lub v. McCarthy, No. 3 -1 3-cv-3953 (SI) (N.D

.Ca l. Mar

.2, 2 015 ). Recycled/Recyclable

• Printed w ith Vege

t ab

l e Oil B ase d In k s o n 1 00% Re c y c le d Pa p er (100% Pos

t -Consu m er)

# After caref ull y considering Ohio's reco mm endatio ns and other avai

l able technical

i nforma
ti on, EPA intends to de s ignat e as uncl assifiab

l e/attai nm e nt the following area, including th e following portion of a county: Intended Un cl ass ifi abl e / Attainment Area

I ntend
e d Uncla ssifi able/ Atta inm ent Area Counties C lennont County

C lermont Co unt y (p) Because EPA has insu ffi c i ent information
to determine whether the foll owi ng area is meet in g or not me eting

t he S02 NAAQS, EPA intends to designate this area as unclassifiable: Intended Un cla ss ifiable Area Gall ia County



# *Intended Unclass ifi able Counties Ga lli a County Meigs Count y (p ) The as t e ri sk(*
) indica tes a modifi cat ion to th e de s ignation that your staff
r eco mm ende d. T h e (p) indicate

s only a portion of the county will b e designated. The encl ose d Technical Support Document

p rovides

a detail ed analysis that supports our intended designation decision
s. If your

s tate has additional informat ion that EPA sho uld consider

p r i or to finali zi ng these d es i gnat ions

, pl ease

s ubmit it to us by A pril 19 , 2016

. We also wi ll b e publi

s hin g a notice in the 

# Feder
a l Register announcing

a 30 - day period for the publ ic to prov

i de i np ut on EPA's intended designation decisions. We will promulgate
th e de s ignation

s for these areas by July 2, 2016. We w ill designate

a ll ot her p rev
i ous
l y und es i gnat ed areas in th e state on a sche dul e consistent with

t he pre scri bed timing ofthe court order, i.e., by December 31,2017

, or D ecember

3 1 ,2020

. We look fo rward to a continued dialogue with you and your staff as we work to gether to complete

t he area designations and implement the 2010 pr imary S02 standa rd. Fo r addit

i onal information regarding d es ignation

s und e r the S02
s tandard

, please
v i s it o ur website at 

# www.epa.gov /so2desig nations. Should you ha ve any questions, plea se do not he s itat e to call me, or h ave your staff contact m e at 312
- 886
- 300 0 , or George Czerniak, Direc tor
, Air and Radiation Div is ion, at 3 12-353- 22 12 or czemiak

. george@e pa .gov

. Sincere

l y, 

# !pUll

{ Robert A. Kap

l an Acting Regional Administrator Enclosure cc: Craig Butle r, Director Ohio Environmental Prot ec tion Agency Ro bert H odanb osi, Chie
f Divis ion of Air Pollu tion Cont
r o l Ohio E n v ironm
e ntal Protection Agency