UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECT I ON AGENCY WASH I NGTON , D

. C

. 20460

Mr. David Glatt Chief Environmenta l Health Section North Dakota Department of Health 918 East Divide Avenue B ismarck , North Dakota 58501

- 1947
Dear Mr. Glatt: 

## M .A R2 0201 5

OFF ICE OF A I R A N D RA D IA T ION

I am writing to update you on the s tatus of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's progress in implementing the primary National Ambient Air Quali ty Standard (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (S02) s et in 2010 at 75 parts per billi on (ppb) as a !-hour average
. In July 2013, the EPA identified areas in
. i 6 states as nonattainment and expressed the intent to address des ignations fo r the rem ainder of the country in separate future actions.
On March 2, 2015 , the U

. S. District Court fo r the Northern District of California accepted as an enforceable order an agreement between the EPA and Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council to resolve litigation concern ing the deadl ine for completing the des ignations. The court's order directs the EPA to complete designations in three additional rounds: the first round by July 2 , 2016 , the second round by December 31 , 2017, and the final round by December 31 , 2020. The EPA will complete these designations by designating areas as either nonattainment, unclassifiable/attainment, or unclassifiable

. In th e first round of designations, the E PA will designate two groups of areas: 1) areas that have newly monitored violation s of the 2010 S02 standard , and 2) areas that contain any stationary source that according to the EPA's A ir Markets Database either emitted more than 16,000 tons ofS02 in 2012 or emitted more than 2 , 600 tons of S02 and had an emission rate of at least 0.45 lbs S02/ mmbtu in 2012 and that has no t been announced (as of March 2, 20 15) for retirement. In the enclosure to this letter, the E PA provides the schedule we intend to follow to meet the July 2 , 2016 , deadline

. The EPA has identified the following area in your state as one that may have a newly recorded violation of the 201 0 so 2 standard based on prelimina ry air quali ty monitoring data collected between 2012 and 2014:
State County Air Quality Monitor Location 2012

- 2014 Systems Monitor Preliminar y S02 Identification Number Design Value (ppb) ND Williams 38-105

-0105 Amerada Hes s #3 202

I n t

erne t Address (U R L) • h ttp ://www.epa

.gov Recycled/ Recyclable • Pri nt ed w ith Vegetable Oi l Based Inks on 1 00% Postcons u mer. P r ocess Ch l ori ne F r ee Recycl ed PaperThe EPA has also identified the fo llowing electric power plant sources in your state as meeting the criteria established in the court's order : 2012 so2 2012 so2 State County Facility Name Emissions Emissions Rate (tons) (lb/MMBtu) ND McLean Coal C r eek Station 16 , 273 0 . 337 ND Mercer Coyote Stat i on 10 , 639 0 . 788 NO Merce r Leland Olds Power Plant 38 , 323 2.061 The EPA will use the most recent availab l e infom1ation when making designat i on and boundary decisions for the indicated areas . If you would like to submit updated r ecommendations and supporting i nformat i on for the EPA to consider for the affected areas in your state, we r equest that you do so by Sep t ember 1 8,2015. The EPA has updated its March 24, 201 1 , designat i on guidance for th e 2010 S02 standard to support analysis of designations and boundaries fo r these next rounds of designations. T he updated guidance can be found on the EPA's website a t http://epa.gov/airquality/su(furdioxide/guidance . html. The EPA has also provided two technical assistance documents tha t provide advice on the use of modeling and monitoring data when determining if an area is meeting or not meeting the 20 1 0 S02 s tandard. These documents can be found on the EPA's website at http://epa . gov/airqualitylsulfurdioxide / implement. html. The court's order d i rects the E P A to complete th e second round of area designations by December 31 , 2017 . These designation s would address areas where states have not installed and begun operating a new S02 monitoring ne t work meeting th e EPA's specifications referenced in our proposed rule titled , "Data Requirements Rule for the 1- hour S02 primary NAAQS". Thi s rule, wh i ch was proposed in th e Federal Register on May 13, 2014, would d i rect state and tr i bal a i r agenc i es to prov i de da ta to characterize

current air quality in areas with l arge sources of S02 if such areas do not have sufficient air quality mon i tor i ng i n place to ide n tify maximum S02 concentrations . The data co ll ected as a resul t of this proposed rule would be used in th e designat i ons process . L astly, the court's order directs the EPA to designate all remaining areas by December 31, 2020. The EPA will prov i de states w i th additional inform ation on the designations process associated with these later dead li nes at a l ater date. We look forward to contin u ed dialogue w i th you and your staff as we work together to implement the 2010 S02 standard and ach i eve its intended public health protection . For addi t ional information regard i ng designations for the 2010 S02 standa r d, please v i sit our website at www.epa.gov/so2designations . Shou ld you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me or Scott Mathias of my staff at 919-54 1- 53 1 0 and mathias.scott@epa.gov. Sincerely, _j**~** )._\._..___ J anet G. McCabe Ac t ing Assistant Administrator Enclosure cc: Shaun McGrath EPA Region 8 AdministratorENCLOSURE
TIMELINE FOR 2010 PRIMARY S02 NAAQS DESIGNATION PROCESS FOR AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH JULY 2, 2016, COURT-ORDERED DEADLINE* Milestone Date** Court Order March 2 , 20 15 States may submit updated recommendations No later than September 18 , 2015 and supporting informatio n for area de s ig nations to the EPA The EPA notifie s s tates concerning any o/a January 22, 2016 , but absolutely no later intended modifications to their than 120 days prior to final designations , 

### i. e., recomme ndations (120-day letters) March 2, 2016 The EPA publishes public notice of state o/a February 3, 2016 recommendations and the EPA 's intended mo difications and initiates 30-day public comment period End of 30-day public c omment period o / a March 4 , 2016 S tates provide add it io nal information to o/a Apri l 8 , 2016 demonstrate why an EPA modification is inappropriate The EPA promulgate s final S02 area No later than July 2, 20 16 designations (no later than 16 months from Court Order)

.. 

## * The court's order directs the EPA to promulgat e additional round s of des ignatiOn s by December 31 , 2017, and by December 31, 2020. 

## * * o/a = on or about