Notice of General Public Interest, Published February 26, 2010, 

in the South Carolina State Register

Comments Received and Response 
NOTICES 11 

South Carolina State Register Vol. 34, Issue 2 

February 26, 2010 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 

PUBLIC NOTICE 

ATTAINMENT PLAN FOR THE RFATS MPO, S. C. 

8-HOUR OZONE NAAQS NONATTAINMENT AREA 

CHAPTER 61 

Statutory Authority: 1976 Code Sections 48-1-10 et seq. 

South Carolina Air Quality Implementation Plan:

The Department of Health and Environmental Control (Department) proposes to amend the the South Carolina 

Air Quality Implementation Plan (SIP) in association with the Rock Hill Fort Mill Area Transportation Study 

(RFATS) Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) 8-hour ozone nonattainment area. Interested persons are 

invited to present their views in writing to Andrew O. Hollis; Division of Air Planning, Development and 

Outreach; Bureau of Air Quality; 2600 Bull Street; Columbia, SC 29201. Comments may also be submitted 

via email to hollisao@dhec.sc.gov. To be considered, comments must be received no later than 5:00 p.m. on 

March 29, 2010, the close of the drafting comment period. The Department is also providing the public with 

the opportunity to request a public hearing on the issue. As such, a public hearing has been planned for April 

5, 2010, at 10 a.m. in the Wallace Room (3141), 2600 Bull Street, Columbia, South Carolina. The public is 

invited to attend. However, pursuant to 40 CFR 51.102, if no request for a public hearing is received by the 

close of the comment period (March 29, 2010), the hearing will be cancelled. If a public hearing has been 

cancelled, the Department will notify the public at least one week prior to the scheduled hearing via the 

“Public Involvement” or “Scheduled Public Hearings” link on the Regulation Development webpage at 

http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/baq/regulatory.aspx. Interested parties are also encouraged to contact 

Andrew Hollis at (803)-898-4196 for more information or to determine whether a public hearing has been 

cancelled. If no adverse comments and no request for a public hearing have been received by the close of the 

comment period, the SIP revision is effective on the date of publication of this notice in the State Register. 

Synopsis: 

In a Federal Register (FR) notice published on July 18, 1997 (62 FR 38856), the United States Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA) promulgated amendments to the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) 

for ozone. Based on its review of available scientific evidence linking exposures to ambient ozone to adverse 

health and welfare effects at levels allowed by the 1-hour ozone standard, the EPA replaced the 1-hour primary 

standard with an 8-hour standard at a level of 0.08 ppm based on the 3-year average of the annual fourthhighest daily maximum 8-hour average ozone concentrations measured at each monitor within an area. The 1-

hour secondary standard was also replaced by an 8-hour secondary standard identical to the 8-hour primary 

standard. 

Because of monitor readings in North Carolina indicating violation of the 1997 ozone standard, on April 30, 2004 

(69 FR 23858), the EPA designated and classified that portion of York County, South Carolina within the 

RFATS MPO as a moderate nonattainment area for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS as part of the Charlotte-GastoniaRock Hill nonattainment area. As a result of this designation, the Department was required to amend the SIP, in 

accordance with the requirements of Title I, Part D - Plan Requirements for Nonattainment Areas, Subpart 1, 

Section 172, and Subpart 2, Section 182 of the Clean Air Act (CAA), as amended (42 U.S.C. 7401, et seq.). 

On August 31, 2007, the Department submitted its required attainment plan for the RFATS MPO 8-hour ozone 

NAAQS nonattainment area. 

On November 17, 2008, the EPA sent letters to North Carolina and South Carolina, explaining its intention to 

propose disapproval of the attainment demonstrations for the Charlotte-Gastonia-Rock Hill area for the 1997 8-

hour ozone standard by January 9, 2009. Within these letters, the EPA indicated this decision was based on its 
12 NOTICES 

South Carolina State Register Vol. 34, Issue 2 

February 26, 2010 

belief that the area was unlikely to attain the 1997 ozone standard by June 15, 2010, or meet the requirements 

for a one-year extension of the attainment date. As a result, the Department withdrew its attainment 

demonstration on December 22, 2008, and committed to re-submit an amended attainment demonstration by 

November 30, 2009. EPA then made a finding of failure to submit State Implementation Plan revisions 

required for the 1997 8-hour ozone NAAQS to South Carolina and North Carolina for the Charlotte-GastoniaRock Hill nonattainment area [Federal Register notice published on May 8, 2009 (74 FR 21550)]. 

EPA presented as an option the resubmittal of the original attainment demonstration submitted in 2007 and then 

supplement this demonstration with additional information including the 2011 modeling and actual air quality 

data from 2009. The Department chose this option and we are now placing these documents on public notice. 

In response to the Department’s decision, the EPA is requiring additional information to include: nitrogen oxide 

and volatile organic compound (VOC) motor vehicle emissions budgets (MVEB) (a NOX budget has already 

been submitted in the previous attainment demonstration), additional modeling showing 1997 ozone standard 

compliance in the 2011 ozone season, updates to the air quality data analysis which include the 2009 ambient 

data, a 2008 VOC MVEB for the Reasonable Further Progress (RFP) appendix, and updated information on 

emissions and controls that may affect air quality during the 2010 ozone season. In conjunction with these 

additions the Department will also submit an update to the 2009 NOX MVEB. 

These draft submittals and further information is available via the Department’s website at

http://www.scdhec.gov/environment/baq/Metrolina-SC_Nonattainment/. 

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 

PUBLIC NOTICE 

In accordance with Section 44-7-200(C), Code of Laws of South Carolina, the public is hereby notified that a 

Certificate of Need application has been accepted for filing and publication February 26, 2010, for the 

following project(s). After the application is deemed complete, affected persons will be notified that the 

review cycle has begun. For further information, please contact Mrs. Sarah “Sallie” C. Harrell, Division of 

Planning and Certification of Need, 2600 Bull St., Columbia, SC 29201 at (803) 545-4200. 

Affecting Aiken County 

Renovation for the replacement of the existing extremity Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) unit with a 1.5 

Tesla MRI unit 

Carolina Musculoskeletal Institute, P.A. 

Aiken, South Carolina 

Project Cost: $1,195,200 

Affecting Beaufort County 

Construction of a psychiatric hospital to include twenty-two (22) psychiatric beds 

Beacon Harbor Geriatric Psychiatric Hospital 

Bluffton, South Carolina 

Project Cost: $9,079,397 

Affecting Florence County 

Construction of a new patient tower located between the Main Tower and the Pavilion Tower; upfit of the 

eighth (8th) floor of the Pavilion Tower to be used for inpatient rooms and support space; and renovation of 

the Main Tower. There will be no change in the licensed bed capacity 

The Department had no response to the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s 

letter dated March 17, 2010, since the letter contained no comments. 

































BOARD: 

Paul C. Aughcry, 111 

Chairman 

Edwin H. Cooper, UI 

Vice Choirman 

Steven G. Kisner 

S-tary 

BOARD: 

Henry C. Scott 

M. David Mitchell, MD 

Glenn A. McCall 

C. Earl Hunter, Commissianer Coleman F. Budrhouse, MD 

Promoting andpmtectiag the hedth of the public and the enuimnment 

April 27,2010 

Mr. J. David Farren, Senior Attorney 

Southern Environmental Law Center 

200 West Franklin Street, Suite 330 

Chapel Hill, NC 275 16-2559 

Re: Response to the Supplement to the South Carolina %Hour Ozone Attainment 

Demonstration for the Charlotte-Gastonia Rock Hill NC-SC (Metrolina) Nonattainment 

Area 

Dear Mr. Farren: 

Thank you for your comments. In your March 29,2010, letter you stated South Carolina should focus on 

developing strategies for controlling emissions and ensuring attainment of the health-based air quality 

standards. We agree. The original attainment demonstration has been supplemented to demonstrate that 

the Metrolina area is expected to attain the 1997 %-hour ozone standard with a oneyear extension of the 

attainment date. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Bureau of Air 

Quality (the Department) has worked, with guidance provided by the United States Environmental 

Protection Agency (EPA), to ensure that the attainment demonstration and supplement fulfill the 

requirements of the Clean Air Act. 

We disagree with the Southern Environmental Law Center's position that the law requires that the 

Metrolina area be reclassified to a "Serious" nonattainment status. No monitors in the Metrolina region 

exceeded the level of the 1997 8-hour ozone standard during the 2009 ozone season. 

Focusing more of our limited state resources on State Implementation Plan (SIP) redevelopment for the 

less stringent 1997 ozone standard, for which an approvable attainment demonstration was first submitted 

almost two years ago, would not produce meaningful results. As EPA has determined that the 1997 

ozone standard is obsolete and finalized a more stringent, protective ozone standard in 2008, and is on 

track to further strengthen this standard in August 2010, focusing limited resources on developing control 

measures to meet the more restrictive standard rather than on a process for the sake of process is a more 

prudent use of state resources. We believe our efforts toward improving air quality and protecting the 

health of South Carolinians are better sewed by focusing on achieving the more protective current and 

future ozone standards. 

Robert J/ ~rown, ~f., Director 

Division of Air Assessment, Innovations and Regulation 

SCDHEC Bureau of Air Quality 

ec Carol Kemker, Deputy Director, Air Pesticides, Toxics Management, Region 4 EPA 

Keith Overcash, Director, North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, 

Division of Air Quality 

Myra Reece, Chief, BAQ, SCDHEC 

SOUTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL 

2600 Bull Street Columbia, SC 29201 Phone: (803) 898-3432 www.scdhecgov