State of Connecticut 

Department of Environmental Protection 

Adequacy Determination of the 

Connecticut State Implementation Plan with Regard to 

Clean Air Act Section 110(a)(1) and (2) for the 

8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard 

Program Infrastructure 

December 27, 2007 
Adequacy Determination of the Connecticut State Implementation Plan with 

Regard to Clean Air Act Section 110(a)(1) and (2) for the 

8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard 

Program Infrastructure 

The purpose of this document is to provide the U.S . Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) 

with a determination that Connecticut's State Implementation Plan (SIP) for air quality 

adequately meets the Clean Air Act (CAA) infrastructure requirements of Section 110(a)(1) and 

(2). This submission was requested in an October 2, 2007 guidance memo from William 

Harnett, Director of EPA's Air Quality Policy Division. 

As discussed in the guidance memo, on July 18, 1997, EPA promulgated new and revised 

national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ozone and particulate matter (PM). For 

ozone, EPA revised the NAAQS to provide an 8-hour averaging period (versus a 1-hour 

averaging period for the pre-existing NAAQS) and set the level of the standard at 0.08 ppm 

(versus 0.12 ppm for the pre-existing NAAQS). For PM, EPA promulgated a new 24-hour and a 

new annual NAAQS for PM2.5 (particles with an aerodynamic diameter less than or equal to a 

nominal 2.5 micrometers). Pursuant to CAA Section 110(a)(1) and (2), all States are required to 

submit plans to provide for the implementation, maintenance and enforcement of the 8-hour 

ozone and PM2.5 NAAQS, including such basic SIP requirements as emissions inventories, 

monitoring and modeling to assure attainment and maintenance of the standards. By statute, 

SIN meeting the requirements of Section 110(a)(1) and (2) are to be submitted by States within 

three years after promulgation of a new or revised standard . This being the case, States were 

required to submit such SIPs for the 1997 standards to EPA no later than July 2000. However, 

intervening litigation over the 1997 8-hour ozone and PM2.5 NAAQS created uncertainty about 

how to proceed and, to date, EPA has not explicitly approved submitted SIN as meeting the 

basic or infrastructure requirements enumerated in CAA Section 110(a)(1) and (2). 

In March of 2004, Earth Justice initiated a lawsuit against EPA for failure to take action against 

States that had not made SIP submissions to meet the requirements of Section 110(a)(1) and (2), 

i.e., failure to make a "finding of failure to submit." On March. 10, 2005, EPA entered into a 

consent decree with Earth Justice that obligated EPA to determine whether States have made SIP 

submissions required to meet CAA Section 110(a)(2)(D)(i) relating to interstate transport by no 

later than March 15, 2005. The consent decree also obligated EPA to make a determination 

whether States have made submissions necessary to meet the remaining Section 110(a)(1) and (2) 

requirements by December 15, 2007, for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS, and by April 4, 2008, for the 

PM2.5 NAAQS. (In a December 14, 2007 ruling by the U.S. District Court (D.C. Circuit), the 

December 15, 2007 deadline was extended to January 7, 2008.) To the extent that existing SIN 

for ozone and PM already meet these requirements, States need only inform EPA. 

The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (CTDEP) is submitting this document 

to inform EPA that the original submission of Connecticut's SIP on March 3, 1972 and 

numerous subsequent SIP revisions, one of which is pending final submission by CTDEP and 

one of which is now pending final approval by EPA, adequately fulfill the fourteen required 

Section 110(a)(1) and (2) elements. With CTDEP's submission, of Connecticut's final 8-hour 
ozone attainment demonstration, Connecticut will fully satisfy all of the 8-hour ozone 

infrastructure elements. 

The attached table sets out in detail those SIP elements and underlying statutory and regulatory 

authorities that satisfy each of the fourteen required infrastructure elements . See 40 CFR 52, 

Subpart H, for EPA's identification of Connecticut's SIP submissions to date and those 

regulations included therein. 

Of note among the pending SIP revisions mentioned above is the SIP revision addressing the 

interstate air pollution transport requirements of CAA Section 110(a)(2)(D)(i), which CTDEP 

submitted to EPA on March 13, 2007 and for which EPA proposed approval of on November 5, 

2007 (72 FR 62420). CTDEP considers that submission necessary to complete its infrastructure 

for 8-hour ozone. In addition, CTDEP has proposed its 8-hour ozone attainment demonstration. 

See http://www.ct. ov/dep/cwp/view.asp?a=2684&q=385886. CTDEP's submission of the final 

8-hour ozone attainment demonstration will complete Connecticut's 8-hour ozone infrastructure 

elements as required by CAA Section 110(a)(1) and (2).