UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460

The Honorable Tom Easterly Commissio ner 

## MAR 2 02015

Indi a na Department of Enviro nmental Management I 00 North Senate Avenue Indianapolis, Ind iana 46204
Dear Mr. Easterly: OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIATION

1 am writing to update you on the status of the U

. S. Envi ro nmental Protecti on Agency's progress in implementing the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for su lfur dioxide (S 0 2 ) set in 2010 at 75 parts per billion (ppb) as a 1-hour average. In Jul y 2013, the EPA identified areas in 1 6 states as nonattainment and ex pres sed the intent to address designation s for the re mainder of the country in separate future actions. On Marc h 2, 2015, the U

. S

. D is trict Court fo r the Northern District of Cali fo rnia accepted as an enf o rc eable order an agreement between the EPA and Sierra Club and Natural Re sources Defense Cou nc il to resolve litigati on concerning the deadline for completing the designations. The court's order directs the EPA to complete designations in three add iti o nal rounds: the fi rst round by July 2, 2016, the second round by Decembe r 31 , 2017, and the fi na l round by December 31 , 2020. The EPA will comple te these desig nati ons by designating areas as either nonattainment, unclassifiable/attainment , or unclassi fiable.
In the fi rs t round of de s ignations, the EPA will de s ignate two g roups of areas: 1) areas th at h ave newly mo nitored violation s of the 20 I0 S02 standard , and 2) areas that contain any s tationary source that according to the EPA's A ir M arke ts Database either emitted more than 16 , 000 tons ofS02 in 20 12 or emitted more than 2 , 600 tons of S 0 2 and had an emiss ion rate of at least 0.45 lbs S02immbtu in 20 12 and that has not been announced (as of March 2 , 20 15) fo r retirement. In the enclos ure to th is letter, the EPA provides the schedu le we intend to foll ow to meet the July 2 , 2016 , deadline. T he EPA has identified th e fo llowing e lectric power plant sources in your s ta t e as meeting the criteri a es tab li s hed in the cour t's o rder:

2012 S02 20 12 so2 State County Facility Name Emiss io n s Emissions Rate (ton s) (lb/mmbtu) I N Posey A B B rown Generati ng 7 , 091 0.521 Station

I n t ernet Address (URL) • http : //www.epa

.gov Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oi l Based I nks on tOO% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled PaperIN J effe rson C lif ty Creek Power Plan t 52,839 1.767 IN Gibson Gibson Gen e r at in g Station 22,4 47 0 .249 IN L a P o rte M i chigan City Ge n e r at ing 11 , 584 1.006 Station IN S pencer Rockport P ower Plant / 54,390 0.583 R ock port Gen e r ati n g Station The E PA will u se the mo st r ecent avai labl e information when making design at i on a nd boundary decisions for the i ndic at ed areas. If you wo uld like to s ubmi t an updated re commendat i on and sup portin g information f o r the E PA to consider for the affected areas in yo ur state , we request that yo u

do so b y September 18 , 20 1 5. The EPA h as updated its March 24 , 201 1 , de s i g nation guidance fo r the 20 1 0 S0 2 s t andar d to support ana lysis of designations and boundaries for th ese next rounds of designations. The updated guidance ca n

be found on the EPA's website at http :/ /e pa. gov/airqu a/i ty/sul( urdioxide / guidan ce.h tml. T he EPA has

a l so provided two technical assis t a nce docum en t s that provide advice on the use of modeling and monitoring data when determinin g if an area i s meeting or not meeting the 2010 S0 2 s tandard. These documents can be found on th e E PA's websit e at http :// epa .gov/a irquality/sul(urdi oxidel implem ent.h tml . The court 's order direct s the E PA to complete the seco nd round of area desi g nati ons by Decemb e r 31 , 2017. These designat ion s would address areas where st at es have not ins talled and begun operat i ng a new

S02 monit oring n etwork m ee t i n g the E PA 's specificatio n s r eferenced in our pr oposed ru le titl ed, ·'Data Requirem e nt s Rule for the 1-hour S 0 2 prim ary NAAQS". This rul e, which was proposed in the Federal R e gist e r on May 13 , 2014, w ould direct state and tribal air ag e nci es to provide data to characteri ze current a ir quality in areas with large sources of S 0 2 if such ar eas do not have suffic ient air quality monitorin g in pl ace to identif y maximum S0 2 co n cen tration s . The data collect ed as a result of thi s p r oposed ru l e wo uld be used in the designations process. L astly , the cou rt 's orde r directs the E PA to designate a ll r emain in g areas by D ece mber 31 , 2 0 20 . T he EPA w i ll provide states with additional information o n the des ignat i ons process associated with these later deadlines a t a l ate r date. We look forward to continued d i alogue with you and yo ur staff as we work to gether to implem e nt the

20 I 0 S0 2 standa rd and achieve it s intended public h ea lth prot ection . For additi o n a l information regarding d esignat i o ns for the 2010 S0 2 standard, p l ease visit our website a t www.e pa.go v / so2designations. Shou ld you have any questions , p l ease do n ot he si tate to call me or Scott Mathias of m y s ta ff at 919-541-5 3 10 and mathias.scott@epa.gov. Sincerely, **~** .... **~** )<-.CJanet G . McCabe Ac tin g Ass i stant Adminis trator E nclosure cc : S u san Hedman EP A R egion 5 Administrator

### ENCLOSURE
TIMELINE FOR 2010 PRIMARY S02 NAAQS DESIGNATION PROCESS FOR AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH JULY 2, 2016, COURT-ORDERED DEADLINE* Milestone Date** 

### Court Order March 2 , 2015 States may submit updated recommendations No later than September 18,2015 and supporting information for area designations to the EPA The EPA notifies states concerning any o/a January 22, 2016, but absolutely no later intended modification s to their than 120 days prior to final designations, 

### i.e., recommendations ( 120-day letters) March 2, 2016 The EPA publishes pub lic notice of state o/a February 3, 2016 recommendations and the EPA's intended modifications and initi ates 30-day public comment period End of 30

-day pub lic commentperiod

- o /a March 4 , 2016 States provide additional information to o/a April 8 , 2016 demonstrate why an EPA modification is inappropriate The EPA promulgates final S02 area No later than July 2, 2016 designations (no later than 16 months from Court Order)



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## * The court's order directs the EPA to promulgate additiOnal rounds of designations by December 31 , 2017, and by December 31, 2020. 

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### = on or about