UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20460 

The Honorable John Line Stine 

Commissioner 

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency 

520 Lafayette Road N 

St. Paul, Minnesota 55155-4194 

Dear Mr. Stine: 

MAR 2 0 2015 

OFFICE OF 

AIR AND RADIATION 

I am writing to update you on the status of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's progress in 

implementing the primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (S02) 

set in 2010 at 75 parts per billion (ppb) as a !-hour average. In July 2013, the EPA identified areas in 16 

states as nonattainment and expressed the intent to address designations for the remainder of the country 

in separate future actions. 

On March 2, 2015, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California accepted as an 

enforceable order an agreement between the EPA and Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense 

Council to resolve litigation concerning the deadline for completing the designations. The court's order 

directs the EPA to complete designations in three additional rounds: the first round by July 2, 2016, the 

second round by December 31, 2017, and the final round by December 31 , 2020. The EPA will 

complete these designations by designating areas as either nonattainment, unclassifiable/attainment, or 

unclassifiable. 

In the first round of designations, the EPA will designate two groups of areas: 1) areas that have newly 

monitored violations of the 20 I 0 S02 standard, and 2) areas that contain any stationary source that 

according to the EPA's Air Markets Database either emitted more than 16,000 tons of S02 in 2012 or 

emitted more than 2,600 tons of S02 and had an emission rate of at least 0.45 lbs S02/mmbtu in 2012 

and that has not been announced (as of March 2, 2015) for retirement. In the enclosure to this letter, the 

EPA provides the schedule we intend to follow to meet the July 2, 2016, deadline. 

While there are currently no violating monitors and no sources in Minnesota meeting the above criteria 

established in the court's order, the EPA has identified the following electric power plant source in 

South Dakota as meeting the criteria established in the court's order, and may potentially be impacting 

your state: 

Internet Address {URL) • http://www.epa.gov 

Recycled/Recyclable • Printed with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Chlorine Free Recycled Paper 
20 12 S02 Emissions 20 12 S02 Emissions 

State County Facility Name (tons) Rate (lb/mmBtu) 

SD Grant Big Stone Plant - Otter 12,290 0.813 

Tail Power Company 

You may wish to discuss the designation for this area with representatives of South Dakota, and provide 

your own designation recommendation for the potentially affected area in your state. 

The EPA will use the most recent available information when making area designation and boundary 

decisions for the indicated area. If you would like to submit information or recommendations for the 

potentially affected area in your state, we request that you do so by September 18, 2015 . 

The EPA has updated its March 24, 2011, designation guidance for the 2010 S02 standard to support 

analysis of designations and boundaries for these next rounds of designations. The updated guidance can 

be found on the EPA's website at http :IIepa. govlairquality/sulfitrdioxidelguidance. html. The EPA has 

also provided two technical assistance documents that provide advice on the use of modeling and 

monitoring data when determining if an area is meeting or not meeting the 2010 S02 standard. These 

documents can be found on the EPA's website at http://epa.gov/airquality/sul(urdioxide!implement.html. 

The court's order directs the EPA to complete the second round of area designations by December 3 l, 

2017. These designations would address areas where states have not installed and begun operating a new 

S02 monitoring network meeting the EPA's specifications referenced in our proposed rule titled, "Data 

Requirements Rule for the 1-hour S02 primary NAAQS". This rule, which was proposed in the Federal 

Register on May 13, 2014, would direct state and tribal air agencies to provide data to characterize 

current air quality in areas with large sources of S02 if such areas do not have sufficient air quality 

monitoring in place to identify maximum S02 concentrations. The data collected as a result of this 

proposed rule would be used in the designations process. Lastly, the court's order directs the EPA to 

designate all remaining areas by December 31, 2020. The EPA will provide states with additional 

information on the designations process associated with these later deadlines at a later date. 

We look forward to continued dialogue with you and your staff as we work together to implement the 

2010 S02 standard and achieve its intended public health protection. For additional information 

regarding designations for the 2010 S02 standard, please visit our website at 

www.epa.gov/so2designations. Should you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me or Scott 

Mathias of my staff at 919-54 1-53 10 and mathias.scott@epa.gov. 

Sincerely, 

Janet G. McCabe 

Acting Assistant Administrator 

Enclosure 

cc: Susan Hedman 

EPA Region 5 Administrator 
ENCLOSURE 

TIMELINE FOR 2010 PRIMARY SOz NAAQS DESIGNATION PROCESS FOR AREAS 

ASSOCIATED WITH JULY 2, 2016, COURT-ORDERED DEADLINE* 

Milestone Date** 

Court Order March 2, 2015 

States may submit updated recommendations No later than September 18, 2015 

and supporting information for area 

designations to the EPA 

The EPA notifies states concerning any o/a January 22, 2016, but absolutely no later 

intended modifications to their than 120 days prior to final designations, i.e. , 

recommendations ( 120-day letters) March 2, 2016 

The EPA publishes public notice of state o/a February 3, 2016 

recommendations and the EPA's intended 

modifications and initiates 30-day public 

comment period 

End of 30-day public comment period o/a March 4, 2016 

States provide additional information to o/a April 8, 2016 

demonstrate why an EPA modification is 

inappropriate 

The EPA promulgates final SOz area No later than July 2, 2016 

designations (no later than 16 months from 

Court Order) 

* The court's order directs the EPA to promulgate additional rounds of designations by 

December 31 , 2017, and by December 31, 2020. 

** o/a = on or about