Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 

520 Lafayette Road North I St. Paul, Minnesota 55155-4194 I 651-296-6300 

800-657-3864 I 651-282-5332 TTY I wwwpc.a.,late.mn.Ll, I Equ~1 Opportun,ry Employer 

May 23,2011 

Ms. Susan Hedman 

Regional Administrator 

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency 

Region 5 

77 West Jackson Boulevard 

Chicago, IL 60604 

RE:	 State of Minnesota Designation Recommendation for Primary National Ambient Air Quality 

Standard for Sulfur Dioxide 

Dear Ms. Hedman: 

Pursuant to Section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act, and following the revision of the sulfur dioxide (S02) 

National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) on June 3, 2010, (75 FR 35520), the Minnesota Pollution 

Control Agency (MPCA) hereby submits the following designation recommendation for the new onehour NAAQS for S02. 

This recommendation does not include areas in the state that are under tribal jurisdiction. Those tribal 

governments which have met eligibility determination and have submitted a Tribal Implementation Plan 

to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) may submit designation requests to EPA under the 

Tribal Authority Rule of 1998 (63 FR 7254). 

This designation recommendation is based on a combination of air monitoring data collected from 2008 

through 2010 and emission inventory information. 

Monitoring Data 

Minnesota currently has seven monitoring sites, in four locations for S02' Locations are shown in the 

enclosed map. Quality assured S02 monitoring data for Minnesota has been submitted to the Air Quality 

System through 2010. The design values for all of these monitors clearly demonstrate attainment with 

the new one-hour standard. 

Monitored S02 Design Values 

Monitor Name Monitor County 2008-2010 S02 Design Value 

FHR 420 Dakota 20 

FHR 423 Dakota 11 

FHR 442 Dakota 3 

FHR 443 Dakota 2 

Minneapolis (954) Hennepin 35 

Duluth* 

(2010 data only) St. Louis 9 

Saint Paul !-'ark Washington 16 
S. Hedman 

May 23,2011 

Page Two 

The MPCA believes that this data could be used to support an attainment designation, particularly in 

Dakota County. Although four of the monitors are sited very close to Flint Hills Resources, a major 

source with average S02 emissions over 1000 tons per year (tpy), they showed concentrations that are 

about one quarter of the standard. 

However, on March 24, 2011, EPA issued a memorandum on Area Designations for the 2010 Revised 

Primary Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standards. This guidance indicates that an area that 

has no monitored violations and lacks an appropriate modeling analysis or other supporting information 

will be designated as unclassifiable. Therefore, the MPCA is not making any designation 

recommendations based solely on the monitoring data. 

Emissions Inventory Information 

The above-mentioned designation guidance, along with discussion in the preamble of the Final Rule 

concerning the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Dioxide (75 FR 35520), indicate 

a focus on sources with allowable emissions greater than 100 tpy as those that could cause or contribute 

to a violation of the new NAAQS. 

Based on this guidance, and taking into account the fact that there are no monitored violations in 

Minnesota, the MPCA recommends an attainment designation for all counties in Minnesota that contain 

only sources with a potential to emit less than 100 tpy. 

These counties include: 

Recommendation: Attainment; Counties with No Sources of S02 PTE > 100 tpy 

Aitkin Anoka Becker Beltrami 

Big Stone Cass Chippewa Chisago 

Clearwater Cottonwood Dodge Douglas 

Fillmore Freeborn Grant Houston 

Isanti Jackson Kanabec Kittson 

Lake of the Woods Le Sueur Lincoln Mahnomen 

Marshall Meeker Mille Lacs Morrison 

Murray Nicollet Norman Pennington 

Pine Pipestone Pope Red Lake 

Redwood Rice Rock Roseau 

Sibley Steele Stevens Todd 

Traverse Wabasha Wadena Waseca 

Watonwan Wilkin Wright Yellow Medicine 

Promulgating an attainment designation for all counties without a large S02 source (PTE> 100 tpy) and 

an unclassifiable designation for counties with such a source and no monitored attainment will allow the 

MPCA to focus resources in developing a maintenance state implementation plan (air quality control) on 
S. Hedman
 

May 23,2011
 

Page Three
 

the counties where the evidence shows there is most likely to be sources that could cause or contribute 

to an exceedance of the standard. This represents the MPCA's preferred set of designations for 

Minnesota. 

As Commissioner of the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency, I am duly authorized by the Governor of 

the State of Minnesota to submit this letter on his behalf. If you have questions or comments on this 

submission, please contact Catherine l\Jeuschler of my staff at 651-757-2607. 

?a1

Paul W. Aasen 

Commissioner 

PA/CN:jab 

Enclosure 
1 

Technical Support 

Monitored Values

More information on SO2 monitoring in Minnesota can be foundation in the MPCA’s Annual Air 

Monitoring Network Plan.1

 

Figure 1: SO2 Monitoring Sites in Minnesota

Figure 2: Monitored SO2 Design Values

 

 

1

 Gavin, K., McMahon, C. and Palmer, K. (2011) Annual air monitoring network plan for Minnesota. 

http://www.pca.state.mn.us/index.php/view-document.html?gid=13400

20 11 3 2

35

9 16

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

Concentration (ppb)

1-hr SO2 NAAQS Design Values, 2010

3-year average of the 99th percentile 1-hour SO2 concentration (ppb)

2008-2010

Standard
2 

Emissions Inventory

In determining which counties should be modeled during the implementation phase, the MPCA looked 

at average actual SO2 emissions from 2002 – 2009, and selected all facilities with average actual 

emissions over 10 tpy. Of these sources, all those with a PTE greater than 100 tpy are listed in the table 

below, sorted by county. The MPCA recommends that all counties without a source greater with a PTE 

greater than 100 tpy should be given an attainment designation. Any county with a source with a PTE 

greater than 100 tpy should be given an unclassifiable designation, and the MPCA will conduct modeling 

of those counties for the maintenance SIP due in June 2013. 

Table 1: SO2 Emission Sources

Facility ID County Facility Name 

Avg 2002 - 2009 

Actual Emissions (tpy) PTE (tpy) 

00900011 Benton Verso Paper Corp - Sartell Mill 849 2,624 

01300007 Blue Earth CHS Oilseed Processing - Mankato 188 3,090 

01300006 Blue Earth ADM - Mankato 143 1,847 

01300015 Blue Earth Xcel Energy - Key City/Wilmarth 36 519 

01500007 Brown Acme-Ochs Plant 25 240 

01700002 Carlton Sappi Cloquet LLC 261 2,975 

01900001 Carver Bongards' Creameries 44 1,409 

02700022 Clay Busch Agricultural Resources - Moorhead 383 2,805 

02700001 Clay American Crystal Sugar - Moorhead 491 2,293 

03100001 Cook Minnesota Power - Tac Harbor Energy Ctr 4,769 5,873 

03500002 Crow Wing Wausau Paper Mills LLC 462 4,198 

03700003 Dakota Xcel Energy - Black Dog 3,376 17,480 

03700015 Dakota Xcel Energy - Inver Hills 4 12,300 

03700011 Dakota Flint Hills Resources Pine Bend LLC 1,386 3,169 

03700016 Dakota Gopher Resource LLC 1,536 2,414 

03700043 Dakota Seneca Wastewater Treatment Plant 98 589 

03700070 Dakota Sanimax USA Inc 103 240 

04300041 Faribault Corn Plus 53 125 

04900007 Goodhue USG Interiors Inc - Red Wing 1,109 1,709 

04900001 Goodhue ADM - Red Wing 100 807 

04900005 Goodhue Xcel Energy - Red Wing Generating Plant 79 110 

05300011 Hennepin NRG Energy Center Minneapolis LLC 347 646 

05301050 Hennepin University of MN - Twin Cities 10 277 

05300127 Hennepin Owens Corning Roofing & Asphalt LLC Mpls 72 183 

05700006 Hubbard Lamb Weston/RDO Frozen 41 244 

06100004 Itasca Minnesota Power Inc - Boswell Energy Ctr 19,724 52,240 

06100001 Itasca Blandin Paper/Rapids Energy Center 89 2,606 

06100067 Itasca Essar Steel Minnesota (MSI) N/A 417 

06700005 Kandiyohi Willmar Municipal Utilities 615 1,936 
3 

Facility ID County Facility Name 

Avg 2002 - 2009 

Actual Emissions (tpy) PTE (tpy) 

07100002 Koochiching Boise White Paper LLC - Intl Falls 74 446 

07300016 Lac Qui Parle Associated Milk Producers Inc - Dawson 44 554 

07500003 Lake Northshore Mining - Silver Bay 2,499 9,095 

08300038 Lyon ADM Corn Processing - Marshall 515 1,024 

09100007 Martin Interstate Power & Light - Fox Lake 186 2,427 

08500049 McLeod 3M - Hutchinson Tape Manufacturing Plant 190 1,124 

09900001 Mower Austin Utilities - NE Power Station 1,562 4,840 

09900002 Mower Hormel Foods Corp/QPP - Austin 142 236 

10500001 Nobles Swift Pork Co - Worthington 29 240 

10900011 Olmsted Rochester Public Utilities - Silver Lake 2,241 6,221 

10900084 Olmsted Mayo Medical Center Rochester 77 3,868 

10900010 Olmsted Associated Milk Producers Inc - Rochester 61 241 

10900005 Olmsted Olmsted Waste-to-Energy Facility 20 101 

11100002 Otter Tail Otter Tail Power Co - Hoot Lake Plant 2,987 19,360 

11900002 Polk American Crystal Sugar - E Grand Forks 747 3,589 

11900001 Polk American Crystal Sugar - Crookston 486 1,809 

12300410 Ramsey Waldorf Corp - A Rock-Tenn Co 149 8,914 

12300694 Ramsey 3M - Administrative Offices - Maplewood 453 4,336 

12300063 Ramsey District Energy St Paul Inc-Hans O'Nyman 345 2,863 

12300055 Ramsey Gerdau Ameristeel US Inc - St Paul Mill 35 707 

12900014 Renville Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Coop 1,039 3,716 

13900005 Scott Anchor Glass Container Corp - Shakopee 380 540 

13900013 Scott CertainTeed Corp 32 152 

13900003 Scott Rahr Malting Co - Shakopee 101 127 

14100004 Sherburne Xcel Energy - Sherburne Generating Plant 24,860 79,545 

14100003 Sherburne Great River Energy - Energy Recovery Project 40 148 

13700015 St Louis Minnesota Power Inc - Hibbard 297 7,464 

13700005 St Louis US Steel Corp - Minntac 1,771 5,790 

13700027 St Louis Hibbing Public Utilities Commission 520 4,733 

13700113 St Louis United Taconite LLC - Fairlane Plant 2,894 3,914 

13700028 St Louis Virginia Dept of Public Utilities 471 2,997 

13700013 St Louis Minnesota Power - Laskin Energy Center 1,539 2,865 

13700061 St Louis Hibbing Taconite Co 440 1,628 

13700031 St Louis Georgia-Pacific - Duluth Hardboard 230 1,546 

13700063 St Louis US Steel Corp - Keetac 642 1,480 

13700022 St Louis Duluth Steam Cooperative Association 345 1,000 

13700318 St Louis Mesabi Nugget, Phase I N/A 421 

13700032 St Louis Northshore Mining Co - Babbitt 34 402 

13700062 St Louis ArcelorMittal Minorca Mine Inc 128 333 
4 

Facility ID County Facility Name 

Avg 2002 - 2009 

Actual Emissions (tpy) PTE (tpy) 

14500003 Stearns Melrose Dairy Proteins LLC 41 317 

14500026 Stearns St Cloud State University 57 248 

14500032 Stearns Associated Milk Producers - Paynesville 31 239 

14500008 Stearns Order of St Benedict/St John’s Abbey 91 225 

15100038 Swift Fibrominn Biomass Power Plant 56 590 

16300005 Washington Xcel Energy - Allen S King Generating 15,192 3,027 

16300003 Washington Saint Paul Park Refining Co LLC (Marathon) 495 2,770 

16900013 Winona Malteurop North America Inc - Winona 27 240 

 
5 

Map of Recommendation

Figure 3: Minnesota County Map; Proposed Unclassifiable Areas Shaded