UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY REGION 8 1595Wynkoop Street DENVER, CO 80202-1129 Phone 800-227-8917 http://www.epa.gov/region08

Ref: 8P-AR 

# FEB 1 Terry O'Clair, Director Division ofAir Quality Environmental Health Section North DakotaDepartment ofHealth
. 918 E
. Divide Ave. Bismarck, ND 58501-1947 

### RE: Environmental Protection Agency May Propose Partial Federal ImplementationPlan for North Dakota Regional Haze Reasonable Progress Dear Mr. O'Clair: This letter is provided per the State ofNorth Dakota's request to inform you that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may propose additional Reasonable Progress (RP) emission controls in a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) for a portion ofthe North Dakota regional haze plan
. This supplements ourletter to you dated November29, 20I 0 which discussed our intent to propose a partial FIP for Best Available Retrofit Technology (BART) controls on some units. As currently proposed, the North Dakota regional haze plan does not appear to meet the requirements ofsection II0(a)(2)(D) orthose of40 CFR 51.308 due to some NOx BART controls described in our letter ofNovember29,20I 0 and the lack ofreasonable NOxcontrols on some units under RP. EPA is obligated to resolve this matter promptly in orderto comply with a Consent Decree that resulted from a WildEarth Guardians lawsuit; an extension to the Consent Decree requires that EPA sign a proposal notice lily March 15,2011 and a final notice by June 21, 2011 approvinga State Implementation Plan (SIP) or FIP or a combination SIP/FIP that meets the requirements ofsection I I0(a)(2)(D) ofthe Clean Air Act (CAA) regarding interference with measures in other states related to protection ofvisibility. Thus, we are moving forward with the technical and policy work needed to support a possible proposed FIP. See Section IIO(c)(I) of the CAA, 42 U.S.C. §7410(c)(l). We appreciate yourefforts in negotiating with the two companies involved in
.the RP issue and acknowledge thatyou may have reached agreement for Coyote Station to install controls for RP, and that you may submit a SIP revision for this source later this spring. We also appreciate your efforts to describe a "BART alternative" proposal to the Region and our Headquarters on January 25, 2011 for Leland Olds Station and Antelope Valley Station.

### In reviewing the information you provided to the Agency, ourpreliminary analysis suggests that the proposal would not meet the requirements of40 CFR SI.308(e)(2) and (3). In order to meet the aggressive schedule described above, we cannotcommit to entertaining additional proposals. We will work with you as best we can to minimize the number ofissues addressed in any proposed FIP. Ifwe receive a revised SIP submittal in a timely manner which includes RP emission controls at Coyote Station, for example, we will make every effort to take this into consideration in ouractions and approval decisions for the North Dakota regional haze plan
. Please note that we will only come to a final decision regarding the adequacy ofthe State's regional haze SIP when we act on the State's submittal through our own public notice and comment rulemaking. Ifyou have any questions on this notification, please contact me at 303-312-6416, orhave your staffcontact Gail Fallon at 303-312-6281. Sincerely,

Callie Videtich, Director Air Program

cc: Tom Bachman, NDDH John Bunyak, NPS Sandra Silva, USFWS Thomas Dzomba, USFS

2