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UNITED STATE SENVIRO NMENT AL PROT ECT IONAGEN CY R EGION2**~** c;:;**1-~( PRO~~** NOV - 3 2014 The Honorable Joseph J. Martens Commissioner

290 BROADWAY NE WY ORK, NY1 0007- 18 66 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

625 Broadway ,141h Floor

A lbany, New York 12233-1010 Dear Commissioner Martens: This isin response to the 2014 Annual Monitoring Network Review Plan (Plan) for New York State's ambient air monitoring program, which you submitted to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on July 29,2 014. The EPA Region 2 has reviewed New York's Plan for consistency with 40 Code of Federal Regulations Part 58.10. The portions of the monitoring network plan involving the National Core multi-pollutant monitoring stations, PM2.s Speciation Trends Network stations, and Photochemical Assessment Monitoring stations are subject to approval by the EPA Administrator. Accordingly, we will forward that portion ofNew York 's Plan to EPA's Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards for review. My staff will work closely with our Headquarters counterparts and continue to keep you informed of the progress of the review of that portion of the Plan. In the Plan, the New York State Department Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) proposes to decrease the PM10 filter based sampling at40 Division St. in New York City (Division St. site; AQS #36-061-0134) and 185 Dingens St. in Buffalo (Buffalo site; AQS #36-029-0005) from 1in3 days to1 in6 days .In accordance with 40 CFR Part 58. 12(e), the EPA allows for reduced PM10 sampling frequency from 1in3 days to1in6 days if the maximum 24 hour value in the past year is below 70% of the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of 150 ug/m 3. The maximum value in 2013 for Division St. and Buffalo were 47.2 ug/m 3 and 45.5 ug/m 3, respectively. These values are well below 105 ug/m 3, 70% ofthe annual standard. Accordingly, the EPA concurs with these changes in PM10 sampling at the Division St. and Buffalo sites.

I would also like to take this opportunity to address the changes on New York State's Lead-Total Suspended Particles (Pb- TSP) airport short term special study. In accordance with 40 CFR Part 58

Appendix D 4. 5(a)(iii), Pb-TSP air monitoring would be conducted at15 airports across the country. The monitoring would be conducted fora period of 12 consecutive months, unless the monitoring data showed an exceedance of 50% of the Pb NAAQS ona rolling 3-month average, in which case Pb monitoring will continue at the site. New York State has two of the Pb- TSP airport monitoring sites, Brookhaven and Republic . The Brookhaven site (AQS #36-103-0024) was installed in October 2011 and proceeded to collect 13 consecutive months of data. The highest 3-month rolling average was 0.033 ug/m 3. The Republic site Internet Address (URL) • http://www.epa.gov Recyc: l ed/Recyc:lable • Printed with Vegetabl e011 BaNd Inks on Rec:yc:l«t Pa per (Minimum 50% Postcon.ume r con te nt)(AQS #36-1 03-0005) was operational from October 2012 to September 2013 .Its highest 3-month rolling average was 0.013 ug/m 3. Both these values are below 0.075 ug/m 3, which is 50% of the NAAQS. Asa result and in accordance with the regulations, these special study sites were shutdown. The EPA appreciates NYSDEC's involvement in this effort and concurs with New York on the shutdown ofthese sites. EPA looks forward to continuing working with NYSDEC on other upcoming new initiatives. ·; If you have further questions, please contact me at( 212) 637-3736 or your staff can contact Mr. Karl Mangels at (212) 63 7-4078 or Ms. Mazeeda Khan at (212) 63 7-3 715 of our Air Programs Branch. Sincerely, .**J~~D~ ~(**  Clean Air and Sustainability Division cc: David Shaw New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Dirk Felton New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Brian Lay

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation

Mo SiuHongNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation David Wheeler

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation