# COPY FOR YOUR INFORMATION
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Assistant Commissioner Office ofAir Resources, Climate Change & Energy, 141h Floor 625 Broadway, Albany, New York 12233-1010 Phone: (518) 402-8537 • Fax: (518) 402-9016 Website: www.dec.ny.go Peter M. Iwanowicz Acting Commissioner

December 15, 2010 Ms. Judith Enck Regional Administrator United States Environmental Protection Agency 290 Broadway, 26th Floor New York, New York 10007-1866 Dear Regional Administrator Enck: On February 9,2010, EPA strengthened its National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for nitrogen dioxide (N02)byestablishing a new, one hourprimaryNAAQS at the level of 100parts perbillion (Ppb). This revision ofthe NAAQS requires New York, as a partner with EPA in administering the Clean Air Act, to make recommendations to EPA no later than January 22,2011 for areas to be designated attainment, nonattainment and/or unclassifiable. As such, on behalfofGovemor David Patterson, I am submittingNew York State's designation recommendations for the new, one hourprimaryNAAQS N02 standard. This new standard will protect the publichealth by limiting exposures to short-term peak concentrations of N02(which primarily occur near majorroads) and bylimiting community-wideN02 concentrations to levels below those that havebeen linked to respiratory-related emergency department visits and hospital admissions in the United States. Compliance with the standard is based on the three-year average ofthe 98th percentile ofthe annual distribution ofdaily maximum one hour average concentrations. To determine compliance with the new standard, EPAis establishing new ambient air monitoring and reporting requirements for N02. The addition ofa new, onehourN02standard and changes to the N02 monitoring network include the following requirements: Community Wide Monitoring: A minimum ofone monitormustbeplaced in any urban area with a population greater than or equal to one million people in order to access community-wide concentrations. SomeN02 monitors already in operation in New York State maymeet the community-wide monitor siting requirement ofat least one monitor within an urban area with apopulation greaterthan or equal to one million people. However, the siting ofadditional monitors would be necessary to fully comply with the new requirements.2 NearRoadMonitoring: NewYork does not, at this time, have a state-wide near-road monitoring network that meets the specific requirements underthe new NAAQS that at least one monitor be located near a major road in urban areas with apopulation greaterthan or equal to 500,000 people, as well as have monitors located in other areas where maximum concentrations are expected. A second monitor is required nearmajorroads under other specific conditions. Monitoring to ProtectSusceptible and Vulnerable Populations: We expect that New York will host at least one ofthese additional monitors, which must begin operating no later than January 1, 2013.

. New York intends to makethe required submission ofa monitoring plan for N02 by the June 2012 deadline, six months priorto the January 1,2013 monitoring start date. Thereafter, the expanded network ofN02monitors are expected to be fully deployed in New York, and three years ofair quality collected, enabling EPAto re-designate areas in 2016 or 2017 (depending on when monitoring sites become operational) based on the air quality data from the new monitoring network.
EPA expects to identify, or "designate", areas as attaining ornot attaining the new standard by January 2012, within two years ofestablishing the newN02standard. These designations will bebased on the existing community-widemonitoring network. Areas with monitors recording violations ofthe new standards will be designated "nonattainment." EPA anticipates designating all other areas ofthe country as ''unclassifiable'' to reflect the fact that there is insufficient data available to detennine ifthose areas are meetingthe revised NAAQS. Based on an analysis ofNew York's metropolitan areas and a comparison to the new requirements underthe N02NAAQS, the Departmenthas detennined that several areas ofNew York State would be subjectto the new N02monitoringrequirements. Those areas, and the level ofmonitoring that would berequired consistent with EPArequirements, are as follows:
Designated Metropolitan Statistical Area RecommendedMonitoring Existing Monitoring Buffalo-Niagara Falls Population: 1,124,309 I Near-road and 1Community-based required 1Community-based Monitor NewYork-Northern New Jersey-Long Island Population: 19,006,798 2Near-road and I Community-based required I Community-based Monitor Albany-Schenectady-Troy Population: 853,919 I Near-road required None Poughkeepsie-NewburghMiddletown Population: 672,525 I Near-road required None

Rochester Population: 1,034,090 1Near-road required and I Community-based required None Syracuse Population: 643,794 I Near-road required None3 

### Prior to making any attainment designation recommendation, the Departmentmust fully evaluate the existing NOz monitoring stations and the associated data that has been collected to determine ifnonattainment has been indicated. Only two Core-Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) within New York Statehave existing NOz monitors in place (meaning that they have been monitoring NOz since at least 2005): Buffalo-NiagaraFalls and New York- Northern New Jersey

- Long Island. There is also one monitor in Steuben County (western New York) that is outside ofa designated Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). While these monitors do not fully satisfythe revised location criteria for monitoring, the Department has calculated the following design values in accordance with EPA's criteria (three year 98th 

### percentile average ofthe annual distribution ofdaily maximum I-hour average concentrations), for the following rolling three yearperiods, for those monitoring locations for whichNOzmonitoring data was availablebeginning in 2005 (parts perbillion):

City County Location Three Year 98th Percentile Average (ppb) 2005-07 2006-08 2007-09 New York Bronx 200th Street and Southern Blvd 70 N/A N/A New York Bronx IS 52, 681 Kelly St 75 70 72 New York Bronx 200th Street and Southern Blvd N/A N/A 67 New York New York PS 59,228 E. 57th St 78 78 N/A NewYork Queens Queens College 69 67 67 EastMeadow Nassau Eisenhower Park 60 58 58 Amherst Erie Audubon GolfCourse 49 48 44 Buffalo Erie Trailer,I85 Dingens St 79 82 86 Addison Steuben 8301 Ackerson Rd, Pinnacle SP N/A N/A 11 

### New York- Northern NewJersey - Long Island: The six monitoring stations within the New York MSA all have design values below the 100 ppb standard for the three-yearrolling time periods shown. EPA would require at least two "nearroad" and one "community-wide"monitor for this MSA to fully establish attainment. Two ofthe monitoring locations within this MSAmay qualify as "community-wide" monitors: Queens College (Queens) and 200th 

### Street and Southern Blvd (Bronx). The historical record for these monitoring stations provides a perspective on how NOz design values have changed over time, and also provides a context for the current design values within the proposed one-hour standard. The following chart shows a consistent decline in the 98th 

### Percentile Values over the timeperiod shown, with a slightuptick in concentrations from 2007­ 2009, with the exception ofthemonitoring station at Queens College, where concentration values remained nearlylevel during that timeframe.4

200 180 160 140 120 c: .S! 100 .0

.... CIJ 80 Q. II>



### .... .... 60 III Q. 40 20

0 

## NewYork Metropolitan Area Monitoring Data

-Eisenhower Park (Nassau County) -Holtsville (Suffolk County) -Queens College (Queens) -Harding Lab (Bronx) -KellySt (Bronx) -Pfizer Lab (Bronx)

Year 

### Buffalo-Niagara Falls: The two N02monitoring stations within this CBSA have design values well below the 100 ppb standard for thertuU1ing three year design valueperiods begilU1ing in 2005 and ending in 2009. EPA would require at least one "nearroad" and one "community-wide"monitor for this CBSA to fully establish attainment. The existingmonitors in this CBSAdo not meet these requirements. Thehistorical record of98th Percentile N02 concentrations in the following graph reveals a steep decline in concentration values at the Dingens St. monitoring station in the late seventies. Both monitoring stations show a slight decline in concentrations from about 1980 to the present, with the exception oftwo notable spikes for the Dingens St. station, centered around 1987 and 2007, respectively. Themonitoring data for the station located at PilU1acle State Park in Steuben Countyis included for reference purposes even though it is outside the boundaries ofthe CBSA (2005-2007 data only). 

### Albany-Schenectady-Troy, Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, Rochester, Syracuse: There is no active orrecent (since 2005) N02monitoring within these CBSAs, so the attainment status ofthese areas calU10t be determined and are thus unclassifiable.5 

## Buffalo-Niagara Falls N02 Monitoring Data
250 .,--------------------­

200 

### +1--------------------­

c:: o 

### == 150



## ... Q) c.. III 100**+-------\,------~r__---------___t~** III c.
50**+-----------~~'-----~=Iito=** __

0 -Audubon Golf Course (Erie) -185 Dingens St. (Erie)
Pinnacle State Park (Steuben)

rl M Lf) 00 0 rl M Lf) r--- CJ) rl M Lf) r--- CJ) rl M Lf) r--- CJ) r--- r--- r--- r--- 00 00 00 00 00 00 CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) 0 0 0 0 0 CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) CJ) 0 0 0 0 0 M rl rl M M rl rl rl M rl rl rl rl rl rl N N N N N Year Adjacent 

### States:
In addition to assessing the existing monitoring data within New York State, the Department has also assessed 

### NOz monitoring data from neighboring states Connecticut and New Jersey (as both are part ofthe New York Metropolitan Area, or "NYMA") in order to detennine ifNew York emissions contribute significantly to nonattainment in, or interfere with maintenance by, any other state as a result ofthe interstate transport ofpollutants. The calculated 98th 

### percentile values, and the calculated design values for 2007-09 for New Jersey and Connecticut are shown in the following tables (the New Jersey counties located within the New York Metropolitan Area are shaded grey). None ofthe design values in either state exceed the 

### NOz primary standard of 100 ppb:

County 

### Design Values: New Jersey Monitoring Sites Federal 98th Percentile (ppb) Monitor ID Design Value (ppb)

Hudson Morris Essex Union Bergen Cumberland Mercer MiddJlesex Bayonne Chester East Orange ElizabethLab Leona Millville Rider University Rutgers University 340170006 340273001 340131003 340390004 340030006 340110007 340210005 340230011 2007



### - 36 65 74



### - 39. 41 51 2008



### - 42 56 77 66 40 43 50 2009 63 36 66 72 68 41 40 51 2007

- 2009

- 38 62 74

- 40 41 51 I

II6 

### Design Values: Connecticut County Monitoring Sites Federal 98th Percentile (Ppb) Design Value (Ppb) Monitor ill 2007 2008 2009 2007

- 2009 Fairfield Westport 09-001-9003 57 52 48 52 Hartford East Hartford! 09-003-1003 49 44 46 46 McAuliffe Litchfield Thomaston 09-005-0004 40 32 34 35 New Haven New Haven! 09-009-0027 64 54 52 57 Criscuolo Since there are no monitors indicating non-attairunent in either state, New York State cannot, at this time, be deemed to contribute to, or interfere with, attairunent ofthe N02NAAQS in the other states within the New York Metropolitan Area boundary. Recommendations: The Department lacks N02monitoring data for New York State that meets EPA's monitoringrequirements of"nearroad" and "community-wide"monitoring for the purposes of this NAAQS. No nonattairunent is indicated based on the remaining data, however, in either New York State orthe other states in the New YorkMetropolitan Area (i.e., Connecticut and New Jersey). As such, the Departmentrecommends that the following statistical areas, as well as the remainder ofthe state, be designated as ''unclassifiable'' with respect to the national primary ambient air quality standard for N02

• New York

- Northern New Jersey

- Long Island, NY-Metropolitan Statistical Area (NYMA MSA) • Buffalo-Niagara Falls, CBSA • Albany-Schenectady-Troy, CBSA • Poughkeepsie-Newburgh-Middletown, CBSA • Rochester, CBSA • Syracuse, CBSA We believe thateach ofthese recommendations is consistent with Section 107(d) ofthe Clean Air Act.7 

### Should you have any questions regarding these recommendations, please do not hesitate to contactme at (518) 402-8537 or David J. 

### Shaw, Director ofthe Department's Division ofAir Resources, at (518) 402-8452. Sincerely, 

# LtL:!---­

Assistant Commissioner Office ofAir Resources, Climate Change & 

### Energy Enclosure

cc: D. Shaw R. Sliwinski M. Reis 1. 

### Close C. McCarthy



### B\ 

### :Z Wd 62 :)30GIUIPUBLIC NOTICE
NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION "NEW YORK STATE DESIGNATION RECOMMENDATIONS FOR OXIDES OF

NITROGEN WITH RESPECT TO THE REVISED ONE-HOUR AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARD" Notice is hereby given that the NEW YORK STATE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTALCONSERVATION (Department) has submitted recommendations on the attainment status ofNew York State with respect to nitrogen dioxide (N02) to the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for approval. On February 9, 2010, EPA revised its National AmbientAir Quality Standard (NAAQS) for N02byestablishing a new, one hourprimary NAAQS at the level of 100 parts per billion (ppb). This revision ofthe NAAQS requires New York, as well as other states, to make recommendations to EPA no later than January 22, 2011 for areas to be designated as attainment, nonattainment and/or unclassifiable. After a review ofthe available ambient airmonitoring data for N02according to the requirements ofthe revised NAAQS rulemaking (75 FR 6474), the Department has detelmined that the present monitOling does notmeet the requirements ofthe revised rule in al1 respects. Therefore, a designation of"unclassifiable" has been recommended to the EPA for the entire state. Requirements for future monitoring, however, wil1 enable the Department to establish the attainment status within the time required under federal rules. All inquiries regarding this action should be submitted to Mr. James Close, New York State Department ofEnvironmental Conservation, 625 Broadway - 2nd Floor, Albany, New York, 12233-3251 orbye-mail toairsips@gw.dec.state.ny.us.Mr

. Close can also be reached at (518) 402-8396.