UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY R EG

I O N 6 The Honorable

G r eg Abbott Governor ofTex as Post Office Box

I 2428 Austin, Texas 78 7 11 Dear Governor

A b b ott:

1 445 RO SS AVE NUE

, SU IT E
1 200 D A LL A S
, T EXAS

7 5 2 0 2
- 2733 February
11, 2016

Office of the Regional Adm

i nistrator Thank you for y our recommendat

i ons date
d September

18

, 2 01 5 , on air quality designati

o ns for

t h e s ta t e ofTexas for the 20 10 revision

to the primary

N atio n al Ambient Air Quality Standard
(N AAQS)
fo r sulfur dioxide (S0 2)

. Reducing levels of S02 pollution

is an

i m porta

n t part
o f the U.S. Environmental Protection Agenc

y 's commitment

to a c

l ean, healthy environment. Exp
o sure to S02 can cause

a range of adverse health ef fe cts, includi

n g narrowing

of the airways which can cause difficulty breathing and increased asthma

s ym pt oms. This letter
is to notify you of th e E PA

' s preliminary

i n t entions

r e garding your recommend

e d d e sig n a t ion s. On June 3, 201 0,
t h e E PA streng th ened the health-based

or "p ri mary" standar

d for S02 by establ

i shing

a standard for 1-ho
u r average S02 concentrations

a t a level

o f 75 parts per billion. Within one year after

a new or revised

st a n d ard is establis

h ed, the Clean Air Act re q uires the Governor
of each state

t o subm

i t to the EPA

a list o f all areas

i n the state, with reco mm endati on s for whether each area meets the standard. Throug

h an interactive process, the EPA co nsider

s t h e re commendations

and then promulg ates designations
for all areas acros

s the
c o untry. On July 25,20 13, th e EPA designated

29 areas in 16
s ta t e s as nonattainment

, bu
t did not
a t t hat time

d esignate

o th er areas. Pursuant

t o a March
2, 20
1 5, courtordered schedule

, I t he E P A m u s t complete the remaining so2 designations

by three specific deadlines: July 2, 2016

, Dec
e mber 31, 2 0 17

, and December

3 1 , 2020. This current

r o un d of de s ignati

o n s, t o be c o mpl
e t e d by J u l y 2

, 20
1 6 , addresses two groups ofarea

s : ( 1 ) areas that have

n ew ly monitored violations oft he 2010 S02 NAA QS based on the most recen

t three calendar years of c ertified mon

i tored ambient air qua

l ity da
t a, and (2) areas that contain any stationar

y source that had no
t b een annou

n ced as of March

2 , 2015, for retiremen

t and that according

to the EPA's Air Markets Data base

e mitted
in 2012 either (i) more than 16

, 000 tons of S02 or (ii) more than

2
, 600 tons of S0 2 with an annual ave rag e emission rate
o f at least

0 .45 p ounds of S0 2 / mrnBT
U

. Aft er carefully

c o ns ide
r i n g T e x as

' recomm

e ndations and other av a ila b le technic

a l i nformation,
the EPA intends
to design

a t e as nonattainment

or unclassifiable

/ attainrnent
the
f ollowing areas

, including the following countie

s or portions
of counties: 1 Sierra Club

v . M c C arthy

, No. 3-13-cv-395

3 ( SI) (N .D. Ca l. M ar. 2, 2015). Th

i s paper

i s printed with vegetable-oil-based

inks and

i s 100

- pe

r cent postconsumer recyc

l ed materia

l , chlorine-free-processed

and recyc

l ableIn ten ded Nona
tt ainment Area Fr ee s t one-Anderson Counties, Te xas (parts of)* R u sk -Gregg- Panola Counties, T exas (parts of)* Titus County, Texas (part)* I n t ended Unclass

i fiable

/ Attainment Area Atascosa County,

T exas Go liad County, Texa

s L am b C ou nty, T exas Li m e s tone Co un
t y , Texas R o be rtson Co u nty, Texas Intended Nonattainmen

t Counties Freestone County (p) and Anderson County (p) Rusk County
(p ), Gregg County (p ), an d Pano

l a County 

### (p) Titus Cou
n ty (p) (p) indicates portion of county In tended

U nclas sifiab

l e / Attainment Area Cou
n ties Atascosa County Goliad County Lamb County Li me
s tone County Roberts on County

. T h e asterisk(*)

in dicat es the designation
and boundary
for

t he intended nonattainment areas repre

s ents

a modification

to the designation and boun dary th a t you have reco mme nded. Be cause the EPA has

i n s u fficient information

to determine whether the following areas are meeting
or not meeting

t he S 02 NAAQ
S, the E PA int en ds to designate these areas as uncla ss ifiable: In t ended Unclassifia

b le Area M c Lennan Coun ty
, Texas

* M il am Cou
n ty, T exas* P o tt er County, Texas* F ort Bend County, Texas

*

In t ende
d Unclassifiable Coun

t ies Mc L ennan County Milam Co unty Potter Co unty Fort Be nd C o u nty The aster isk (*)

i n dicates the des ignation for th ese intended unclassifiabl

e areas represen

ts a modification

to th e d esignation that you ha ve re c ommended. As noted above,

w e intend

t o de s ignate Fort Ben d County
as unclassifiable.

On January
25

, 20 16

, th e E PA received

a r e vi sed modeling submittal from

i ndustry for the area surround

i ng the W.A. Paris
h E l ectric Generati ng S t ation

l ocated
in Fort Ben d County, Te xas. The E PA's review of this la t est modeling

is curre ntl y underway. Due to the da t e of receipt of the lates

t mod

e li ng fro m ind u stry re l ativ
etoour scheduledtimelineforproposingdesignationsinordertomeetthecourt-ordereddeadline,wehavenothadsufficienttimetothoroughlyreviewtheJanuary25,2016submittaltodetermineifthemodelingissufficienttosupportadesignationofunclassifiable/attainment.TheEPAwillcontinueourreviewofindustry'sJanuary25,2016submittalandwilltakeitintoconsiderationinourfinaldesignationfortheareaaroundW.A.ParishElectricGeneratingStation.TheenclosedTechnicalSupportDocumentprovidesadetailedanalysisthatsupportsourintendeddesignationdecisions.IfyourstatehasadditionalinformationthattheEPAshouldconsiderpriortofinalizingthesedesignations,pleasesubmitittousbyApril19,2016.\VealsowillbepublishinganoticeintheFederalRegisterannouncinga30-dayperiodforthepublictoprovideinputontheEPA'sintendeddesignationdecisions.WewillpromulgatethedesignationsfortheseareasbyJuly2,2016.Wewilldesignateallotherpreviouslyundesignatedareasinthestateonascheduleconsistentwiththeprescribedtimingofthecourtorder,i.e.,byDecember31,2017,orDecember31,2020.Welookforwardtoacontinueddialoguewithyouandyourstaffasweworktogethertocompletetheareadesignationsandimplementthe2010primaryS02standard.ForadditionalinformationregardingdesignationsundertheS02standard,pleasevisitourwebsiteatwww.epa.gov/so2designations.Shouldyouhaveanyquestions,pleasedonothesitatetocallme,orhaveyourstaffcontactMr.GuyDonaldsonofmystaffat(214)665-7242,orviaemailatDonaldson.guy@epa.gov.Enclosurecc:RichardAHyde,P.E.ExecutiveDirector,TexasCommissiononEnvironmentalQualitySteveHagle,P.E.DeputyDirector,OfficeofAir,TexasCommissiononEnvironmentalQuality