1

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1 Environmental Protection Agency

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5 Public Meeting on

6 Proposed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule

7 Update for 2008 Ozone NAAQS

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9 9:28 to 10:50 a.m.

10 Thursday, December 17, 2015

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14 Environmental Protection Agency Headquarter

15 William Jefferson Clinton Building, East

16 1201 Constitution Avenue, N.W.

17 Room 1152

18 Washington, D.C. 2004

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1 EPA Panel:

2 DAVID RISLEY, Chairman of the Panel,

3 Air Office

4 STEPHANIE HOGAN, Office of General Counsel

5 BRIAN FISHER, Air Office

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1 C O N T E N T S

2 PAGE

3 PAUL G. BILLINGS, Senior Vice President,

4 Advocacy, American Lung Association 10

5 MARIA RACE, Director,

6 Federal Environmental Programs, NRG Energy 14

7 ZACK FABISH, Sierra Club 15

8 DAVID C. FOERTER, Executive Director,

9 Ozone Transport Commission 19

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1 P R O C E E D I N G S

2 MR. RISLEY: Thank you again, everyone, 

3 for bearing with us. 

4 My name is David Risley, and I am the 

5 Chair of today's session of the public hearing. 

6 Thank you for bearing the rain and for bearing 

7 with our technical difficulties to join us today.

8 We're to listen to your comments on the 

9 EPA's proposed Cross-State Air Pollution Rule 

10 update for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air 

11 Quality Standards, also called the CSAPR Update 

12 Rule. This proposal was issued by the EPA on 

13 November 16th, 2015.

14 I work in EPA's Air Office. Joining me 

15 on the panel are Brian Fisher, also from EPA's 

16 Air Office, and Stephanie Hogan from EPA's Office 

17 of General Counsel.

18 In the registration area, Erika Wilson 

19 and Gabrielle Stevens can provide a fact sheet on 

20 the Proposed Rule and help with any questions 

21 that you may have.

22 As mentioned in the Federal Register 
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1 Notice, we will adjourn the hearing at 8 p.m. or 

2 1 hour after the last registered speaker is 

3 finished.

4 The purpose of the proposed Cross-State 

5 Air Pollution Update Rule is to update the

6 existing Cross-State Air Pollution Rule's 

7 ozone-season program to reduce the air quality 

8 impacts of interstate transport of air pollution 

9 on downwind areas' ability to meet or maintain 

10 the 2008 ozone standard.

11 Starting in 2017, this Proposed Rule

12 would reduce summertime emissions of nitrogen 

13 oxides, or NOx from power plants in 23 states in 

14 the eastern half of the U.S., providing up to 

15 $1.2 billion and health benefits to millions of 

16 Americans.

17 This proposal supports states' 

18 obligations to address the problem of air 

19 pollution that is transported across state lines 

20 and helps address the agency's role and the 

21 backstopping states' obligations under the Clean 

22 Air Act's "Good Neighbor" provision.
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1 The original Cross-State Air Pollution 

2 Rule, which was finalized in July 2011, 

3 established a four-step approach to address 

4 interstate transport. This framework was 

5 affirmed by the Supreme Court earlier this year, 

6 and the agency is proposing to apply this

7 approach to the 2008 ozone NAAQs.

8 The proposal finds that ozone season --

9 and for the purposes of this rule, we mean May to 

10 September -- emissions of NOx in 23 eastern states 

11 affect the ability of downwind states to attain 

12 and maintain the 2008 ozone standards. Our 

13 analysis shows that the power plants in these 

14 states can quickly and affordably achieve NOx

15 reductions that would make significant and timely 

16 improvements in ozone air quality starting with 

17 the 2017 ozone season. Reducing ozone season NOx

18 solution from power plants is an important step 

19 in reducing the air quality impacts of interstate 

20 transport of ozone pollution with respect to the 

21 2008 standard and to improving the health of 

22 millions of Americans.
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1 The EPA estimates that the proposal would 

2 provide up to $1.2 billion in health benefits far 

3 outweighing the estimate cost of $93 million per 

4 year. The proposal was published in the Federal 

5 Register on December 3rd, 2015, and the comment 

6 period for the proposal is open for 45 days and 

7 will close on January 19th, 2016.

8 The EPA has received several requests for 

9 extension of the comment period, which we are 

10 considering.

11 If you would like more details on the 

12 Proposed Rule, there are fact sheets available at 

13 the registration desk, or you can visit our 

14 website as epa.gov/airmarkets, and click on the 

15 link for the CSAPR update rule.

16 So, before we get started, I'd like to go 

17 through a few housekeeping items and ground rules 

18 that will help make today's hearing run a little 

19 smoothly. First, please be sure you've checked 

20 in at the registration desk, even if you are not 

21 planning to speak today. If you are signed up to 

22 speak online or by phone, but you haven't told us 
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OLENDER REPORTING, INC.

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1 that you are here, please step out to the 

2 registration desk and let the EPA staff know that 

3 you have arrived.

4 I will call up each speaker. When your 

5 name is called, please come to the speakers table 

6 at the front of the room, specifically the one to 

7 your right. The microphones there are alive, so 

8 when you begin talking, they will pick that up.

9 When I call you to speak, please state 

10 your name and spell it for the court reporter. 

11 Your comments will be transcribed and included in 

12 the record of comments on the Proposed Rule.

13 Each speaker will have 5 minutes to give 

14 comments. We have a timer light to help you know 

15 how much time you have left to speak, and 

16 Stephanie has that to my left. When the light 

17 turns from green to yellow, that means you have 1 

18 minute remaining. When it turns red, that is the 

19 signal that you are at 5 minutes and it is time 

20 to stop. When you are finished speaking, you may 

21 leave the table.

22 We are here to listen to you today; 
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1 however, a panel member may ask questions to 

2 clarify your comments. I will then call up the 

3 next speaker and so on. 

4 If you have brought a written copy of 

5 your testimony, please give that to the staff at 

6 the registration desk before you leave. We will 

7 put any written comments submitted today in the 

8 official docket for the proposed rule. We also 

9 have comment cards available at the registration 

10 desk, if you would like to submit additional 

11 written comments today. If you want to comment 

12 in writing later, stop by the materials table 

13 near the registration desk and pick up a copy of 

14 the instructions for submitting written comments. 

15 Comments must be received by the close of the 

16 comment period.

17 Let me assure you that EPA gives just as 

18 much consideration to comments we receive in 

19 writing as we do to comments we receive at public 

20 hearings like this one.

21 If you have any questions, please see the 

22 staff at the registration desk, and someone will 
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1 assist you.

2 Thank you again for taking the time today 

3 to share your comments on EPA's proposal. Let's 

4 get started.

5 Our first speaker is Paul Billings.

6 MR. BILLINGS: Good morning. I am 

7 pleased to speak today in support of 

8 strengthening the Cross-State Air Pollution 

9 Update Rule. My name is Paul Billings, P-a-u-l, 

10 B-i-l-l-i-n-g-s. I am Senior Vice President for 

11 Advocacy at the American Lung Association. The 

12 American Lung Association is the nation's oldest 

13 voluntary health organization. Our mission is to 

14 save lives by improving lung health and 

15 preventing lung disease.

16 Ground-level ozone pollution, or smog, 

17 harms health and causes premature death. Let me 

18 repeat that: Ozone kills.

19 We have known for decades that ozone 

20 causes asthma attacks, sending children and 

21 adults to the ER or hospital for treatment. 

22 Newer evidence has recently linked ozone to 
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1 low-birth weight, cardiovascular problems, and 

2 central nervous system problems. The American 

3 Lung Association works to protect those who are 

4 especially vulnerable to these impacts, including 

5 children and adults with asthma and people with 

6 chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

7 We are pleased to see the EPA is moving 

8 forward with an updated version of the 

9 Cross-State Air Pollution Rule to address what we 

10 have called "secondhand smog." A strong Final 

11 Rule is vital to protect people in communities 

12 that are downwind of polluting sources. However, 

13 the proposal must be strengthened if it is to 

14 fulfill the Clean Air Act requirements to protect 

15 public health.

16 First, the proposal must be strengthened 

17 so that it fully cleans up significant air 

18 pollution transported across state lines. As 

19 proposed, the rule fails to fully address 

20 interstate air pollution and, therefore, comply 

21 with the Clean Air Act. The proposal only 

22 requires polluting plants to run emission 
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1 controls they have already installed. More must 

2 be done to protect the air in downwind 

3 communities.

4 If EPA is concerned that polluting plants 

5 lack enough lead time to install new pollution 

6 controls by the 2017 compliance date, one 

7 solution would be to create a phased-in approach 

8 to the rule. EPA could add a phase two with 

9 additional time to comply. In this way, EPA 

10 could ensure upwind states clean up the air 

11 pollution that impacts downwind states, not 

12 merely the pollution that can be reduced by 

13 upwind plans running their existing controls.

14 Second, we urge that the Final Rule not 

15 allow the use of emission credits accumulated 

16 during the litigation delays that stalled the 

17 original Cross-State Air Pollution Rule. These 

18 credits are the result of a reduction that should 

19 have happened between 2012 and 2015. Applying 

20 these credits further weakens the potential 

21 health benefits of the rule.

22 The weaknesses in the proposal are 
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1 exacerbated by the fact that this rule will 

2 implement outdated ozone standards. The 2008 

3 National Ambient Air Quality Standards for ozone, 

4 75 parts per billion, fail to protect human 

5 health with an adequate margin of safety. This 

6 is why EPA updated the standards to 70 parts per 

7 billion earlier this year.

8 Even this level is not fully protective 

9 of public health. The American Lung Association 

10 has long advocated for an ozone standards of 60 

11 parts per billion, which reflects the health 

12 science that shows it is necessary to protect the 

13 health of children and other vulnerable 

14 populations.

15 We ask the EPA to strengthen the proposal 

16 so that it at least fully cleans up interstate 

17 transport, even if that cleanup is based on the 

18 outdated standard.

19 For too long, people in communities 

20 across the eastern half of the country have 

21 suffered from the health impacts of air pollution 

22 that blows across state lines. EPA's proposed 
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1 Cross-State Air Pollution Update is a step in the 

2 right direction to protect them from the health 

3 impacts of ozone. We are pleased to see the 

4 proposed rule would prevent more than 93,000 

5 asthma attacks and prevent nearly 80,000 missed 

6 days of work and school each year.

7 On behalf of the American Lung 

8 Association and the communities I serve, I call 

9 on EPA to achieve greater health benefits by 

10 strengthening the proposal.

11 Thank you.

12 MR. RISLEY: Thank you very much.

13 Our next speaker will be Maria Race.

14 MS. RACE: Good morning. My name is 

15 Maria Race, M-a-r-i-a, R-a-c-e, and I am Director 

16 of Federal Environmental Programs for NRG Energy. 

17 We are a large energy producer spanning many 

18 states, providing over 50,000 megawatts of power.

19 We would like to respectfully request a 

20 30-to-45-day extension in order to better prepare 

21 our comments. Due to the holidays, many of our 

22 key employees are on vacation, including an 
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1 analyst who is out of the country until January 

2 in order to fully review the data files for all 

3 our EGUs and to do justice to the serious effect 

4 of the CSAPR update rule for our company over 

5 multiple states, we would like to request this 

6 extension.

7 Thank you very much.

8 MR. RISLEY: Thank you.

9 Our next speaker is Zack Fabish.

10 MR. FABISH: Good morning. My name is 

11 Zack Fabish, and that's spelled Z-a-c-k, and then 

12 the last name, F-a-b-i-s-h. I'm here on behalf 

13 of the Sierra Club, and I think I really want to 

14 back up a lot of what Paul Billings shared with 

15 us just a few minutes ago.

16 There have been some very good things 

17 about implementing the 2008 ozone standard. It's 

18 obviously a lot stronger than the 1997 ozone 

19 standard, and it's heartening to see EPA speeding 

20 up the time difference between what an act 

21 happens and when a proposal to result in 

22 interstate problems with that act happens, and so 
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1 that's very positive.

2 Obviously, ground-level ozone presents an 

3 enormous public health problem, and it also 

4 presents, in particular with the issue of 

5 transport, an enormous injustice and fairness 

6 issue because you have a lot of states, 

7 particularly along the Eastern Seaboard, that 

8 suffer from high ozone levels that are in large 

9 part driven by emissions from upwind states.

10 Ozone ultimately adds enormous 

11 environmental justice issues simply because if 

12 you look at the areas that have high levels of 

13 ozone, those areas are disproportionately 

14 populated by minorities and a disproportionately 

15 lower income. So efforts by the EPA to reduce 

16 ground-level ozone are incredibly beneficial, so 

17 thank you for that.

18 However, with regard to the new CSAPR, 

19 CSAPR II, the CSAPR update, there are some 

20 problems. First of all, the 2008 ozone standard 

21 of 75 parts per billion, EPA has come out and 

22 said 75 parts per billion is not safe. It has 
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1 said that 70 parts per billion is the new 

2 standard, and it's the opinion of many in the 

3 environmental and public health community that 

4 the science actually suggested that 65 or 60 

5 parts per billion should have been where that was 

6 set. But so there is a big delta between the 

7 level of ozone that is safe and the level of 

8 ozone that this CSAPR update is targeting.

9 And that kind of brings me to the two 

10 problems that the American Lung Association 

11 actually already mentioned, which is that even 

12 given that 75 parts per billion is not quite 

13 where we need to be, the CSAPR update is not 

14 designed to resolve interstate impact. By EPA's 

15 admission and by design, it is intended to 

16 achieve what reductions could be readily or 

17 usually achieved by operating existing controls. 

18 And that's problematic because there still 

19 remains a significant fraction that lacks any 

20 kind of controls.

21 In the State of Pennsylvania, there is a 

22 very large power plant called Brunot Island. 
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1 It's a 2-gigawatt power plant, lacks any kind of 

2 ozone controls, and modeling that we've done has 

3 indicated that it causes up to 10 parts per 

4 billion in terms of ozone impacts at downwind 

5 monitors.

6 We think that the CSAPR update should be 

7 revised or changed before the final one to make 

8 sure that it is doing more than simply setting 

9 allocations based on what would happen if the 

10 emission fleet actually ran the controls that 

11 they already have, and that could be done both by 

12 sending it to actually resolve interstate impacts 

13 or by recognizing that further gains in terms of 

14 control operation from what EPA has proposed are 

15 achievable.

16 In the rule, EPA calculates that units 

17 equipped with selective catalytic reduction can 

18 achieve .075 pounds per million BTU, but actually 

19 they could go as low as .05.

20 So there are further reductions that are 

21 available and that should be included in the new 

22 rule. Additionally, a phased approach may be the 
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1 right approach here because, as with CSAPR I, 

2 that could ensure that ultimately interstate 

3 impacts are resolved.

4 Secondly, I want to echo statements about 

5 the number of credits. There are a huge number 

6 of basically ill-gotten credits out there that 

7 flow from a failed litigation strategy that 

8 delayed CSAPR I. So allowing those credits to 

9 vitiate further the already partial measure that 

10 is CSAPR update simply because the emission fleet 

11 got an extra 3 years out of a litigation strategy 

12 I think would be quite egregious.

13 And with that, I want to say thank you 

14 for your time and thank you for the opportunity 

15 to testify. Thank you.

16 MR. RISLEY: Thank you.

17 Our next speaker is David Foerter.

18 MR. FOERTER: Good morning. Thank you 

19 for the opportunity to comment on the proposed 

20 CSAPR update rule for the 2008 National Ambient 

21 Air Quality Standards. My name is David Foerter, 

22 D-a-v-i-d, F-o-e-r-t-e-r. I am the Executive 
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1 Director for the Ozone Transport Commission.

2 The Ozone Transport Commission was 

3 created under the Clean Air Act to work with EPA 

4 and the states in the Ozone Transport Region to 

5 coordinate ground-level ozone pollution planning 

6 in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic region.

7 The proposed CSAPR update rule is 

8 important to the Ozone Transport Commission, as 

9 it updates and reenergizes a statutory process 

10 that must lead to the requisite emission 

11 reductions for states to be able to attain and 

12 maintain the 2008 ozone NAAQS and soon the 2015 

13 ozone NAAQS. EPA should finalize the rule 

14 expeditiously because any delays will result in 

15 continued harm to public health and hinder states 

16 in achieving the ozone NAAQs. In the Ozone 

17 Transport Region, more than 22 million people 

18 currently live in areas that do not meet the 

19 ozone standard.

20 The Clean Air Act requires under section 

21 110(a)(2)(D) that states submit "Good Neighbor" 

22 State Implementation Plans, or SIPs, to ensure 
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1 their emissions do not significantly contribute 

2 to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance in 

3 any other state. Should a state fail to submit 

4 or submit an inadequate Good Neighbor SIP, EPA is 

5 required to promulgate a Federal Implementation 

6 Plan, or FIP.

7 The timing for completing Good Neighbor 

8 SIPs is critical to ensuring timely reductions in 

9 pollutant transport contributions to enable all 

10 areas to attain and maintain the ozone standard; 

11 however, historically many states failed to 

12 submit on time even incomplete Good Neighbor SIPs 

13 and appear to wait at least 2 years, 2 additional 

14 years, until the FIP becomes final and before 

15 taking any action. As a result, the state and 

16 federal actions for the 2008 ozone standard are 

17 significantly overdue.

18 EPA acknowledged that the CSAPR update 

19 rule only offers a partial solution to pollution 

20 transport. Without delaying the CSAPR update 

21 rule, EPA should develop a FIP that fully 

22 addresses Good Neighbor obligation under the 2008 
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1 ozone NAAQS, including the consideration of 

2 potential emission reductions from high-emitting 

3 sources other than electric generating units.

4 Lastly, in order for the OTC states to 

5 achieve the benefit of the 2015 ozone NAAQS, we 

6 urge EPA to proceed with the development of 

7 guidance and rules for states to address their 

8 Good Neighbor obligations under the 70 PPB 

9 standard in parallel with finalizing requirements 

10 for the 75 PPB rule.

11 The OTC and some of its individual member 

12 states intend to provide additional written 

13 comments in the near future.

14 Again, I thank you for the opportunity to 

15 submit these comments and look forward to working 

16 together with EPA to ensure the residents of the 

17 Ozone Transport Region are breathing clean, 

18 healthy air. Thank you.

19 MR. RISLEY: Thank you.

20 So our understanding is that we don't 

21 currently have any further registered speakers. 

22 Per the Federal Register Notice, we will stay 
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1 here in order to provide others the opportunity 

2 to comment for 1 hour after the last speaker has 

3 finished, so we will plan to remain here until 

4 about 10:50.

5 [Off the record from 9:48 to 10:50 a.m.]

6 MR. RISLEY: It is now 10:50, and this 

7 concludes today's hearing. Thanks, everyone, for 

8 coming.

9 [Whereupon, at 10:50 a.m., the public 

10 hearing concluded.]

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