December 12, 2007

Mr. Richard Greene Regional Administrator United States EPA, Region VI 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200 Dallas, TX 75202-2733

Dear Mayor Greene:

The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is pleased to submit this document in response to the requirements found in Sections 110(a)(1) and (2) of the Clean Air Act (CAA).

This document is a revision to the Arkansas State Implementation Plan (SIP) to address interstate transport of air pollution under CAA Section 110(a)(2)(D)( i). The information in this document

demonstrates that Arkansas sour ces do not significantly contribute to the interstate transport of pollutants that impact nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other state with respect to the 8-hour ozone and PM 2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and demonstrates that Arkansas meets the required prevention of significant deterioration of air quality and protection of visibi lity provisions of the law.

In July 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued the (NAAQS) for 8-hour ozone and particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM 2.5 ). Section 110(a)(1) of the CAA requires states to submit (SIPs) within three years following the promulgation of new or revised standards. Litiga tion delayed implementation of the standards and created uncertainty on how states were to proceed. On March 10, 2005, EPA entered into a Consent Decree with Earth Justice to address the interstate transport of these pollutants under CAA Section 110(a)(2)(D)(i). On April 25, 2005, EPA published a “Finding of Failure To Submit Section 110 State Implementation Plans for Interstate Transport for the National Ambient Air Quality

Standards for 8-Hour Ozone and PM 2.5 ” (70 FR 21147). The April 25, 2005, finding effective May 25, 2005, started a 24-month clock for EPA to either issue a final Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) to address the requi rements of Section 110( a)(2)(D)(i) or to approve a SIP that addresses these requirements.

Each state must submit a SIP that contains adequate provisions “prohibiting ....any source or other type of emissions activity within the State from emitting any air pollutant in amounts which

will –

(I) contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other State with respect to any...national primary or secondary air quality standard,

or(II) interfere with measures required to be included in the applicable implementation plan for any other State...to prevent significant deterioration or to protect visibility.”

EPA published a guidance titled “SIP Guidance on S ection 110(a)(2)(D)(i) Findings of Failure to Submit” on August 11, 2006. The guidance outlines f our prongs that states must address in their 110(a)(2)(D)(i) SIPs “prohibiting ....any source or other type of emissions activity within the State from emitting any air pollu tant in amounts which will –

1. Contribute significantly to nonattainment of the NAAQS for areas in another state.

2. Interfere with maintenance of the NAAQS by any other state.

3. Interfere with measures required to meet implementation plan for any other State ... related to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD).

4. Interfere with measures required to meet th e implementation plan for any other State ... related to Regional Haze and Visibility.

This letter addresses each of these four elements.

Items 1 and 2 can be addressed using the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) and associated air quality modeling that EPA performed. CAIR will control the interstate transport of NO

x and SO 2 emitted by fossil-fuel fired Electric Generating Un its (EGUs) by creating an interstate cap and trade program. CAIR has three programs: Annual NO

x , Ozone Season NO

x and a year round

SO 2 program. Of the three programs in CAIR , EPA demonstrated through modeling that Arkansas would only participate in the Ozone Season NO

x program.

EPA published a guidance titled “Guidance for Stat e Implementation Plan (SIP) Submissions to Meet Current Outstanding Obligations Under Section 110(a)(2)(D)( i) for the 8-Hour Ozone and

PM 2.5 National Ambient Air Quality Standards” da ted August 15, 2006. That guidance states “...States within the CAIR region need not submit a SIP revision to satisfy CAIR.”

To determine which states impact nonattainme nt in other states, EPA performed ozone contribution modeling using both source apportionment modeling and zero-out modeling using the CAM-x model techniques for 31 States in the East and the District of Columbia including Arkansas. (See Final CAIR Preamble at, 70 FR 25249, May 12, 2005). EPA determined that Arkansas contributes to ground-level ozone forma tion in Texas. Arkansas submitted a SIP to EPA to address the transpor t of oxides of nitrogen (NO

x ) from Arkansas sources in the form of a CAIR SIP. EPA published their approval of the SIP on September 26, 2007, and it was final on November 26, 2007.

In addition to the ozone modeling, 37 States we re modeled for potential inclusion in the final CAIR by EPA to address PM 2.5 . Fourteen of these States, incl uding Arkansas, were not included in the CAIR because they did not contribute at least 0.2 ug/m3 to downwind nonattainment. (See Final CAIR Preamble at, 70 FR 25246, May 12, 2005). Since it was found that Arkansas does not significantly contribute to downwind PM 2.5 nonattainment areas, there is no requirement that Arkansas submit regulation change s and a SIP to address this.

Each SIP must include a preconstruction review program for major sources to satisfy the requirements of section 110(a)(2 )(D)(i) of the CAA. For nona ttainment areas this is the Nonattainment New Source Review (NNSR) program , and in attainment areas this is the PSD program. The PSD requirements in Item 3 can and have been addressed in an existing ArkansasSIP and related regulatory language that has been approved by EPA. The August 2006 guidance states “Because all areas are currently subjec t to some form of preconstruction permitting program for ozone and PM 2.5 it is not necessary, at this time, for states to make a SIP submission containing rule changes or modeling demonstrat ion to address section 110(a)(2)(D)(i)(II).”

This SIP revision certifies that Arkansas has EPA approved PSD and NNSR programs in place to prevent significant deterioration of air quality in Arkansas and neighboring states. Major sources in Arkansas are currently subject to PSD a nd NNSR permitting programs that implement the 8-

hour ozone and PM 2.5 standards. PSD regulatory language can be found in Chapter 9 of the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Comm ission Regulation 19, Regulations of the Arkansas Plan of Implementation for Air Pollu tion Control. NNSR regulatory language can be

found in Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecol ogy Commission Regulation 31, Nonattainment New Source Review Requirements.

There was a deadline of June 15, 2007, for st ates to submit SIPs that incorporate the requirements of the phase II ozone implementation rule into their PSD and NNSR programs. It was not necessary for Arkansas to make change s to the regulatory language to address these requirements because EPA has not found the Arkans as PSD program to be deficient and all of the existing Arkansas NNSR program re quirements address the requirements.

Arkansas has met the requirements for item four regardi ng the protection of vi sibility in section 110(a)(2)(D)(i). The Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission adopted Chapter 15 of Regulation 19 that established regional haze program requirements on October 15, 2007. The regulation became effective October 15, 2007. At th is time, it is not possi ble to assess whether there is any interference with meas ures in the applicable SIP for another state designed to protect visibility for the 8-hour ozone and PM 2.5 NAAQS until Arkansas’s regional haze SIP is submitted and approved by EPA.

The State of Arkansas hereby submits to the EPA that it has met the requirements for section 110(a)(2)(D)(i) of the CAA for the 8-hour ozone and PM 2.5 NAAQS and does not significantly

contribute to nonattainment or interfere with maintenance of the NAAQS in other states.

I look forward to your prompt approval of this SIP submission. If you have any questions, please contact Mike Bates at (501) 682-0750 or bates@adeq.state.ar.us. Thank you for your

attention to this matter.

Sincerely,

Mike Beebe

Governor