United States

Environmental Protection

Agency

Office of Mobile Sources

Air and Radiation

Reducing Aircraft and Airport

Emissions in the South Coast

In 1990, the South Coast air basin contained approximately 16

tons per day of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and 13 tons per day

of volatile organic compounds (VOC) from airport activities.

These activities included emissions from ground service

equipment (GSE), auxiliary power units (APU) and aircraft

engines. Because attainment in the South Coast will require

reductions from every source of emissions, it has always been

important to evaluate the feasibility of reductions from all

sources including aircraft and airports.

Previous Regulatory Activities

In order to reduce emissions from these activities, the U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed a Federal

Implementation Plan (FIP) in 1994 which included an airport cap/

bubble with a 25-45 percent reduction range for VOC and a 35-45

percent reduction range for NOx. The proposal also presented a list

of possible mitigation options to achieve these reductions. These

included operational controls for commercial aircraft such as single/

reduced engine taxiing, reduced use of reverse thrust and towing of

aircraft to the runway. The mitigation options also included controls

for APUs and GSE such as using alternative fuels and electrification.

EPA420-F-96-010

July 1996

Environmental

Fact Sheet

Federal

Implementation

Plan Proposal
In 1995, EPA issued an interim final FIP which dropped the airport

bubble/cap requirements and proposed regulations for achieving

reductions from only APUs and GSE. The APU and GSE

regulations would require minimizing APU operations and

electrifying GSE to the maximum extent feasible. Instead of the 25-

45 percent reduction range for VOC and NOx proposed in 1994, the

interim final proposal would achieve approximately a 16-25 percent

reduction for VOC and NOx. Shortly after it was approved, the

interim final FIP was rescinded by the United States Congress.

As EPA was working on the FIP, the State of California was

developing its clean air plan and, in November 1994, adopted the

1994 California Ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP). This Plan

included a commitment for EPA to adopt emission standards that

would achieve a 30 percent reduction in VOCs and NOx from new

commercial aircraft engines.

EPA has participated in the international process for evaluating new

aircraft emission standards. The International Civil Aviation

Organization (ICAO) is responsible for evaluation and recommendation of worldwide commercial aircraft engine standards and the

United States is represented by the Federal Aviation Administration

(FAA). EPA has been working with the FAA.

Currently, ICAO is considering a 16 percent NOx stringency

increase to be phased in from 2000 to 2008. If adopted, the full

emissions reduction potential of this new standard would occur well

after 2010, the attainment date for the South Coast. More

specifically, emission benefits at that time could be minimal, clearly

not delivering the reductions identified in the SIP for aircraft engine

emission standards. However, there remain other emission control

strategies (such as those identified in the FIP), that may have the

potential to provide most or all of the reductions desired from the

aviation sector.

The Public Consultative Process

One of the purposes of the public consultative process is to have all

stakeholders work together to identify the best options for achieving

further emissions reductions from mobile source controls at airports

to the extent they are needed for attainment of the ozone health

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Interim Final

Federal

Implementation

Plan

California

Ozone State

Implementation

Plan

International

Standards
standard in the South Coast. The process will also identify the

appropriate parties responsible for adopting and implementing the

controls expeditiously.

A series of public meetings have been scheduled to complement

ongoing processes as well as initiate new discussions on how to

reduce emissions from various categories of mobile sources. In

October 1996, EPA will hold a second public meeting which will

focus on pending national and international ship and aircraft

controls, and possible reductions from port and airport measures.

More details on this meeting will be sent out in the next two months.

EPA wants your involvement in this process and would like to hear

about any ideas you may have to help make this process a success.

We also want to hear about ongoing efforts to look at reducing

emissions from airports and aircraft. Please call Julia Barrow at

(415) 744-1230 with any comments or questions about the process.

Public Meetings

Input

Requested

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