GOVERNMENT OF THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA 


District Department of the Environment 


*** 


Office of the Director 

March 12, 2012 

Shawn M. Garvin 

Regional Administrator, Region III 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Mail Code 3RAOO 

1650 Arch Street 

Philadelphia, PA 19103-2029 

Subject: Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2008-0476 on the District of 

Columbia's 2008 Ozone Nonattainment Boundary 

On December 9,2011, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) sent its 

recommendation to Mayor Gray about the nonattainment boundary for the District of 

Columbia ("District") for the revised 2008 National Ambient Air Quality Standards 

(NAAQS) for 8-hour ozone. EPA indicated that additional information regarding the 

appropriate nonattainment area boundary could be submitted. 

Through this letter, the District Department ofthe Environment (DDOE) would like to 

reaffirm and further clarify the District's stance on the area's nonattainment boundary. 

• 	 On March 11,2009, the District's Mayor recommended that the nonattainment 

area for the 2008 8-hour ozone NAAQS, "should include at a minimum the entire 

Washington DC-MD-V A MSA." It was also stated that, "the District supports the 

idea of using larger combined statistical areas (CSA) instead ofthe MSA, based 

on sound science, for mitigating ozone." 

• 	 On February 3, 2012, in a letter to EPA's Docket (Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-OAR2008-0476), DDOE indicated that, "we share concern over ozone transport that 

lead the states of Maryland, Connecticut, and Delaware to urge EPA to establish 

large nonattainment areas as a way to ensure that upwind states are held 

accountable for their contribution to the high ozone levels that are measured 

throughout the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic States." 

In the March 2009 letter, the District highlighted the fact that, as a non-industrial 

jurisdiction with a small number of pollution sources, based on 2002 emissions estimates, 

the District's sources contributed less than ten percent of ozone precursor emissions 

released in the Washington DC-MD-V A nonattainment area. Projections for 2009 

showed emissions reductions in the District due to controls, but without a proportionate 

improvement in ambient air quality. Analyses by the Ozone Transport Commission 

OFTHE 

DEPARTMENT 

ENVIRONMENT 

DISTRICT green 

1200 

--------------------------~--------------------- First 

forward 	

St. NE, 5th Floor, Washington, DC 200021 Tel: (202) 535-2650 1 web:ddoe.dc.gov 

H M H

~ 
District of Columbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008--0476 

Page 2 

(OTC) since the 1990s identified transported pollution as a key contributor to ozone 

problems throughout the Ozone Transport Region (OTR). 

DDOE would like to take this opportunity to stress the need for additional controls for 

addressing transport. Under EPA's current proposal, most ofthe areas upwind ofthe 

District would be classified as a "marginal" or an "attainment" area, which means that no 

additional controls would be required. Without additional controls to reduce transported 

pollution, it is unlikely that the District will achieve the 2008 ozone standard by the 2015 

attainment date. 

DDOE urges EPA to address long-range transport by considering a larger multijurisdictional ozone nonattainment boundary that includes the District. At a minimum, 

the boundary for the nonattainment area has to be redefined to account for the expanded 

urban corridor and EPA should reconsider designating the W ashington-BaltimoreNorthern Virginia DC-MD-V A-WV CSA as the nonattainment area boundary. 

Large Nonattainment Area Boundary 

A super-regional nonattainment boundary that encompasses all contributing states would 

get at the heart ofthe nonattainment issues in District and throughout the OTR. As EPA 

stated in the five-factor analysis that accompanied the December 9,2011, letter to Mayor 

Grayl, "at this point in the designation process, EPA preliminarily agrees with the 

District ofColumbia that an appreciable part ofthe air quality problem within the District 

of Columbia is due to emissions outside its borders." The District cannot solve its air 

quality problems without a reduction in transported pollution from the contributing states. 

Based on an analysis conducted by EPA for the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule (CSAPR), 

emissions from states listed in the table below contribute significantly to the District's 

ozone air quality problem. For example, in 2012, EPA'sianalysis indicated that the 

cumulative contribution at the District's air monitors could be in the range of49 parts per 

billion (Ppb) to 52 ppb from states with individual contribution of at least 0.7 parts per 

billion (Ppb) or at least one percent ofthe NAAQS. Together, in 2012, the contributing 

states listed in the table below are expected to contribute at least 74 percent or 56.6 ppb 

of76.9 ppb base case average, at the highest reading ozone monitor in the District. 

Although different OTC states may offer different super-regional boundaries, based on 

various factors such as unique meteorology or topography or air quality contributions, the 

District urges EPA to take a broader view ofthe ozone problem to determine which states 

contribute most commonly to nonattainment issues throughout the Mid-Atlantic and 

Northeastern regions ofthe United States. 

1 The EPA analysis that accompanied the December 9,2011, letter to Mayor Gray was titled, "District of 

Columbia Area Designations for the 2008 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards." 
District ofColumbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008-0476 

Page 3 

States with < 0.7 ppb 

contribution to the District's air 

monitors 

Stat • 

(> 

COB 

Dis 

• with> O.7ppb 

%ofNAAQS) 

ribution to the 

lriet's monitors 

Alabama New Hampshire Illinois 

Arkansas North Dakota Indiana 

Connecticut Oklahoma Kentucky 

Florida Rhode Island Maryland 

Georgia South Carolina Michigan 

Iowa South Dakota New Jersey 

Kansas Texas New York 

Louisiana Vermont Ohio 

Maine Delaware Pennsylvania 

Massachusetts Missouri Tennessee 

Minnesota North Carolina Virginia 

Mississippi Wisconsin West Virginia 

Nebraska 

According to the Clean Air Act (CAA) §182(b), states and jurisdictions added to the 

nonattainment area that are not currently in nonattainment would be required to adopt a 

SIP as well as the following control programs: 

Major source Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT); 

New Source Review (NSR); 

Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance (11M); 

Stage II gasoline vapor recovery. 

Also, CAA §176 requires transportation conformity in nonattainment areas. Extending 

nonattainment area requirements to additional jurisdictions would create regulatory parity 

while providing opportunity for the District to achieve its air quality improvement goals 

for the 2008 ozone NAAQS, as well as future NAAQS that may be even more stringent. 

CSA Nonattainment Area Boundary 

Because of urban sprawl in the Washington-Baltimore area, as noted in the District's 

March 2009 letter, DDOE urges EPA to reevaluate its approach for establishing a 

nonattainment boundary by accounting for the expanded urban corridor. EPA should 

reconsider designating the Washington-Baltimore-Northern Virginia DC-MD-VA-WV 

CSA as the nonattainment area boundary. 

Based on Office ofManagement and Budget (OMB) and U.S. Census Bureau 

classifications, a CSA nonattainment boundary for the Washington-Baltimore would 

bring additional counties into the nonattainment area as listed in the table below. With 

the CSA as the nonattainment boundary, the newly added jurisdictions would be required 

to adopt above mentioned control measures, both non-mobile and mobile controls, as 
District ofColumbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008-0476 

Page 4 

applicable. The District understands that the CSA counties in column three ofthe table 

below that are considered part ofthe Ozone Transport R~gion (OTRi may already 

comply with the requirements ofCAA §184, and these julrisdictions need to implement 

controls such as the major source RACT and vehicle I/Miprograms. 

State 

Counties/Citiesin 

Existing Nonattainment 

Areas as proposed by 

EPA 

Additional 

( c ountieslCitiesfor tbe 

IcASnonattainment 

boundary: 

~ uasbington-Baltimore­

.~ ortbem Virginia DC:. 

MD·VA':WV CSA* 

DC Washington, D.C. 1 

MD Calvert Countyl Queen Anne's Countyz"· 

Charles Countyl St. Mary's County4 

Frederick Countyl 

Montgomery Countyl 

Prince George's Countyl 

Anne Arundel County Z ! 

Baltimore CityZ 

Baltimore CountyZ 

Carroll County Z 

Harford County Z 

Howard County Z 

VA Arlington Countyl Clark Countyl 

Fairfax Countyl Fauquier Countyl 

Loudoun Countyl Spotsylvania Countyl' 

Prince William Countyl Stafford Countyl" 

City ofAlexandrial Warren Countyl 

City ofFairfaxl City ofFredericksburgl

." 

City ofFalls Churchl Frederick Count:i 

City ofManassasl Ci~ of WinchesterJ 

City ofManassas Parkl CuJlpeper County4 

WV nla Jeiferson Countyl 

Hampshire CountyJ 

Part ofWashmgton-Arhngton-Alexandna DC-MD-VA-WV MSA , 

1. 


Baltimore-Towson MD MSA2

; Winchester VA-WV MSA3; 


Lexington Park MD or Culpeper V A Micropolitan Areas4 


•• These areas are part of Fredericksburg nonattainment area 


(which also includes portions of Caroline County) 


••• This area is part ofthe Upper Eastern Shore nonattainrnent area under the 1997 NAAQS 


2 According to CAA §184(a), the OTR includes the State ofMaryland and the Consolidated Metropolitan 

Statistical Area that includes the District of Columbia, which includes parts of Virginia but not West 

Virginia. However, the District is not clear on whether Virginia counties that are not in the Washington 

DC-MD-VA nonattainment area are technically still part ofthe OTR. 
District ofColumbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008-D476 

Page 5 

DDOE is appreciative ofEPA's five-factor analysis in support of its December 2011 

boundary recommendation for the District. However, DDOE questions several ofthe 

conclusions drawn by EPA. 

First, EPA should consider revisiting its interpretation or 'use ofthe term "nearby" to 

delineate nonattainment boundaries for the ozone NAAQS (i.e., such as one county out 

from a violating monitor, as EPA has typically used as a basis for whether or not to 

include a county in a nonattainment area). It is widely aoknowledged that precursor 

emissions ofozone travel distances much farther than previously believed. 

It appears that EPA made determinations about which cotmty should be linked to which 

nonattainment area in the Washington-Baltimore corridot based on "Maryland's 

recommendations." DDOE does not agree with EPA's apparent interpretation of 

Maryland's recommendation. In their March 10, 2009, letter to EPA, Maryland stated 

that they only recommended the existing nonattainment structure, "if EPA is confident 

that strong national rules will be in place three years in advance of Maryland's attainment 

date," or by 2011. In the alternative, Maryland advocated for a large regional 

nonattainment area. EPA has not been able to follow thrCl>ugh with strong national 

controls. 

Ofparticular note is EPA's weight on Maryland's suppo~ed recommendations for a 

couple of counties (Prince George's County and Frederick County). The analyses appear 

to indicate that the two counties could be included as part of at least two different 

nonattainment areas. Perhaps, upon further reconsideration of Maryland's 

recommendations, and since numerous counties could realistically be included in more 

than one nonattainment area in the Washington-Baltimore CSA, EPA will agree that it 

would be appropriate to develop a larger nonattainment area that encompasses CSA 

boundary. 

Finally, EPA should consider more heavily weighting the influence ofthe entire region's 

mobile sector emissions. In EPA's analysis, "traffic and commuting patterns" are rarely 

mentioned as factors that influenced EPA's preliminary boundary decisions. The mobile 

sector (on-road and off-road) is a major contributor to emissions in urban areas such as 

the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas and controls on the mobile sector 

provide local air quality benefit. 

The Metropolitan Planning Organization's (MPO) travel demand modeling recognizes 

the undeniable influence ofmobile emissions from jurisdictions surrounding the region's 

current nonattainment areas. This is indicated by the regionally-determined "model 

area," which is the transportation analysis zone (TAZ) used in air quality conformity 

assessments for the National Capital region's transportation planning. Please see the map 

in Attachment A. Vehicle miles traveled (VMT) and the emissions from these exurban 

counties contribute to the National Capital region's air quality. Mobile sector control 

programs in some ofthese counties create local benefits and would be very appropriate. 
District of Columbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008-0476 

Page 6 

This can be achieved by including the exurban counties as part of the nonattainment area 

with CSA as the boundary. 

In summary, based on EPA's analyses, the District's air quality is significantly impacted 

by the transported air pollution from outside its boundaries. The District cannot attain the 

2008 ozone NAAQS without the precursor pollution reductions in contributing 

jurisdictions. DDOE encourages EPA to address transport by considering a larger multijurisdictional ozone nonattainment boundary that includes the District. Alternately, 

DDOE urges EPA to reconsider designating the Washington-Baltimore area by using 

CSA boundary. 

If you wish to discuss these issues further, please do not hesitate to contact me at (202) 

535-2615, or Ms. Cecily Beall, Associate Director of the Air Quality Division, at (202) 

535-2626. 

Thank you for consideration of our comments. 

ophe A.G. Tulou, Director 

District Department of the Environment 

1200 First Street, NE, 5th Floor 

Washington, DC 20002 

cc: 	 Diane Esher, Director, Air Protection Division, EPA Region III 

Cecily Beall, Associate Director, Air Quality Division, DDOE 

Enclosure 
District of Columbia 

Comments to Docket ID No. EPA-OAR-HQ-2008-0476 

Page 7 

ATTACHMENT A 

EXHIBIT 1 


Washington, D.C.- Maryland - Virginia 


Planning Areas 


Model Area 

8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area 

PMB Nonattainmenl Area 

___..... Winter CO Maintenance Area 

3 

Source: "Air Quality Conformity Determination of the 2011 Constrained Long Range Plan for 

the Washington Metropolitan Region" (November 16, 2011 ); found at: 

http://www.mwcog.org/store/item.asp?PUBLICAnON ID=424