Technical Support Document (TSD) For 

Liberty-Clairton PM 2.5 Nonattainment Area 2006 Standards: 

State Implementation Plan (SIP) Attainment Demonstration 

and Base Year Inventory 

TSD Prepared August 2015 by 

Jessica Fry 

Office of Air Monitoring and Analysis, 3AP40 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 3 

1650 Arch Street 

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103 

Rev~~Le !o~~te Director 

Office of Air Monitoring and Analysis (3AP40) 

o~ u;S" I6ate tgiled 
I. Introduction 

The purpose of this document is to provide a technical summary of the Office of Air 

Monitoring and Analysis (OAMA) review of the emissions inventories submitted with 

the Liberty-Clairton PM 2.5 Nonattainment Area (NAA) State Implementation Plan (SIP) 

for the 2006 Standards by the Allegheny County Health Department (ACHD). This 

review determines the approvability of the SIP Base Year Inventory and an evaluation of 

the methods used. A SIP Base Year Inventory is the starting point from which other SIP 

inventories are derived as well as serving as the benchmark for other SIP planning 

activities, such as the establishment of an emissions reduction credit program. Projection 

year inventories are essentially used to track progress; the purpose of which is to 

demonstrate a reduction in emissions of regulated sources from the Base Year to a 

projected year. On November 13, 2009, the Liberty-Clairton area, located in Allegheny 

County and comprised of the boroughs of Glassport, Liberty, Lincoln, Port Vue, and the 

city of Clairton was designated as nonattainment for the 2006 PM2.5 NAAQS. Any 

questions pertaining to this technical summary should be directed to Alice H. Chow, 

Associate Director, Office of Air Monitoring and Analysis, at 215-814-2144 or via email 

at chow.alice@epa.gov. 

II. 2007 SIP Base Year Inventory 

The SIP base year inventory is the primary inventory from which other 

inventories (3-year cycle inventories, reasonable further progress inventories, modeling 

inventories) are derived. Under section 172(c)(3) of the Clean Air Act (CAA) states are 

required to submit a comprehensive, accurate, current accounting of actual emissions 

from all sources (point, nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad) in the nonattainment. 1 This 

inventory contains primary PM2.s emissions (including condensibles), PMto, S02, NOx, 

VOC, and NH3. This section will discuss the 2007 emissions inventory that was 

submitted by ACHD. 

For the 2007 base year inventory for the point, nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad 

categories, ACHD used the 2007 Version 3.3 Emissions Inventory developed for the 

Mid-Atlantic/Northeast Visibility Union (MANE-VU) through the Mid-Atlantic Regional 

Air Management Association (MARAMA) regional planning process as a starting point 

for emission development. Documentation of the development of the inventory can be 

found in Technical Support Document for the Development of the 2007 Emission 

Inventory for the Regional Air Quality Modeling in the Northeast I Mid-Atlantic Region 

Version 3.3. January 23, 2012. Refined emission calculations for nonpoint, nonroad, and 

onroad emissions were made by TranSystemsiE.H. Pechan (TSIPechan) under contract to 

ACHD. Point source emission updates were made by ACHD. 

The 2007 point source inventory contains emissions for all point sources in the 

NAA. EPA guidance for emissions inventory development provides that actual 

emissions should be used for purposes of the base year inventory. ACHD used the 2007 

MARAMA/MANE-VU inventory as a starting point for emission development. Further 

1 "Emissions inventory Guidance for implementation of Ozone and Particulate Matter National Ambient 

Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) and Regional Haze Regulations" EPA-454/R-05-00 I, August 2005, 

updated November 2005. 
adjustments were made by ACHD to account for newer emission estimates, based on 

updated stack tests and emission factors. 

The nonpoint, also known as "area," source emissions inventory for 2007 was 

developed using the 2007 MANE-VU inventory as a starting point with refinements 

made by TSIPechan. Priority source categories were identified by TSIPechan and 

emission estimates were updated using more localized activity data and emission 

calculation methodologies at the NAA-level. The following source categories were 

considered a priority: Residential Wood Combustion; Construction Dust; Industrial Coal 

Combustion; Commercial /Institutional Coal Combustion; Commercial Cooking; and 

Open Burning. For the source categories that were not prioritized the 2007 MANE-VU 

emissions were used and county level data was apportioned by population to account for 

the area in the NAA (1.64 percent). 

The nonroad source emissions inventory for 2007 was developed using a similiar 

methodology as the nonpoint. Priority source categories were identified by TSIPechan 

and refinements were made to the 2007 MANE-VU inventory to get a better 

representation of emissions at the NAA-level. Class I and 111111 line haul locomotives, 

commercial marine vessels, and diesel construction equipment were identified as priority 

sources. There are no airports or passenger rail lines in the NAA. For the source 

categories that were not prioritized the 2007 MANE-VU emissions were used and county 

level data was apportioned by population to account for the area in the NAA (1.64 

percent). 

The 2007 onroad mobile source inventory was developed using EPA's highway 

mobile source emissions model MOVES2010a. TSIPechan used local activity to replace 

default inputs in the model where appropriate. 

OAMA staff reviewed the files and the emission results provided by ACHD and 

found them to be acceptable.