UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGEN C Y REG

I ON 6 The Ho norable Asa Hutc h i nson Gov e rnor of Arkansas 500 W oodlane Street Littl e Rock, Arkansas 7220 1 Dear Governor Hutchinson

: 1445 ROSS AVENUE

,SUITE 1200 DALLAS

,TEXAS 75202

-2733 February 11, 2016 Office of the Regional Administrator Th ank you for your recom menda

t i ons dated September
11 ,2015, on air quality designations for the sta t e of Arkansas for the 2010 revision to the primary Nationa

l Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for sul fur dioxide

( S0 2 ) .Re d ucing levels of S0 2 pollut

i on is an important part of the U.S. Envi ro nmental Protectio
n Agenc y' s commitment
to a clean, healthy environment. Exposure to S02 can cause a range of adverse
h eal th ef fects, including narrowing of the airways which can cause difficu lt y breat hi ng and increased

as thma symptoms.
T h is letter is to notify you of the EPA's preliminary inten ti ons regarding yo urr ecommended designations. On J une 3, 2010, the EPA
st rengthened the health-based or "primary" standard for S02 by estab

l ishing
a stand ard for 1-hour avera ge S0 2 con centrations
at a leve
l of75 parts per billion. Within one year after a new or revised standard is est ablished, the C l eanAir Act requires the Governor of each state to submit to the E PA a list of all areas i n the st ate ,wi t h rec o mmendat

i ons for whether each area meets the stand ar d. Through ani n tera cti ve process, the EPA considers the recommen

d ations and then promulgates desig n ations for all areas a cross the country. On Ju l y25 ,2013, the EPA des i gnated 29 areasin 16 st ates as non attainment,

b ut d i d not at tha t time designate othe r areas. Pursuant to a March 2, 2015, courtorder ed schedule,

1 the EPA m ust co mplete the remaining S02 designations by three specific deadlines: July 2, 2016, December

3 1 ,2017, and December 31
,2020. This c urrent round of design
a tion s ,to b e comp

l et ed by July 2 ,2016, addres

ses tw o groups of areas:

( 1) areas

t hat have newly m on itored viola t ions of the 2010 S0 2 NAAQS based on the most recent three calen da r years of certified monitore
d ambient air quality data, and (2) areas

t hat con t ain any stationary source that had not been ann o unced
as of M arch 2 ,2015

,for ret i rement and that according to t he EPA's Air Ma r kets Database em itt ed in 2012 either (i) more

t han 16,0 0 0 tons of S0 2 or (ii) more than 2,600 tons of S02 with an annu al average

emi ssion rate of at leas t 0.45 pounds of S02/mmBTU. Aft erc arefully considering Arkans
as' r ecom mendations and other available technical information, the EPA

i nt ends to des i gnate asunclass

i fiable
/ attainment the following area: 1 Si erraClub v. lvfcCarthy, No
.3- 13 -cv-3953 (SI) (N.D. Cal. Mar. 2, 2015). This paper is printed with vegetable-oil

-based

i nks and

i s 1 00-percent pos t consumer recycled material

, chlor

i ne-free-processed and recyc

l ableIn tended Unclass ifiabl e / Attainment Area Je ffe rson Co unt y, A rkansas Intende
d U nclassifiable

/ Atta inmen

t Area Co unt ies Je ff erson County Because the EPA has in sufficie nt informatio n t o d ete rmi n e whether the following area is meet ing or not meeting the S02 NAAQ
S , the EPA intends to des ign ate this area as uncl assifia ble
: I n ten ded Unc
l as si fiable Area In d epende nce Cou nty, Arkansas* Intended Unclassifiab

l e Co untie s I nde pendence County The asterisk (*) i n dicate
s the d es i gnation for this in tende d unclassifiab

l e area re prese n ts a modifi cat ion to the d esi gnatio n that you h ave recommended. Th e e nclo se d Technical Suppo rt Document

p rov id es a deta iled analysis that su pports our intende
d designation decis

i ons. If your state has additi o na l informa

t ion t ha t the EPA sho u l d consi der pri o r t o 

### finalizing these d esig nati ons, p le ase submit it to us by 

### April

1 9, 2016. We a l so 

### will be publishing

a notice in the Fed er a l R egis
t er anno uncing
a 30-day
p eriod for the p ublic to pr ovide input on the EPA's intended desig n a ti on dec is ions. We will promulgate the designations for th ese areas by Ju l y 

### 2, 2 01 6 . We will designate

a ll o ther p re viou s ly undes igna
t ed area s in the state o n a sche dule consistent
w i th the pre sc ribed timing ofthe
c o urt order, i.e., by December



### 3 1 ,2 017, o r Decem ber 

### 3 1 ,2 0 20 . We
l oo k forward to a con t inued dialogue with you and you r s ta ff as we wo rk t ogether to comp

l et e the area designations and im ple me n t th e 

### 20 1 0 prim ary S(h
s tandard. For ad dit i o nal inf ormatio
n re gard ing designations und er the S02
s t andar d , please vis it our website at www.epa.g ov/s o2designat ion s. Shou

l d you have any que stions

, p le ase d o not hesita te to call me, or have your staff co ntac
t 

### Mr. Guy Donaldson of my staff at 

### (21 4 ) 665- 7242, or via emai
l at Dona ldson.g uy @ epa.gov. Enc lo sure cc : Ms. Becky K eogh Director, Arkansas Department of Environmental Qual ity M r . Stuart Spencer C hief of Air Divis ion
, Ar k ansas Department of Environmenta

l Qu ality