U NITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTO N , D.C. 20460

The Honorable Donald 

### R. van der V aart Secretary 

## MAR 2 02015

North Carolina Department of Enviromnent and Natural Resources 217 W. Jones Street Raleigh , North Carolina 27699-1601
Dear Mr. van der Vaa11: OFF I CE OF A I R 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 1-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 fu ture 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 des ignations

. The court's order directs the EPA to complete designations in three additional rounds: the first round by July 2, 20 1 6, the second round by December 31,2017, and the final round by December 3 1 ,2 020. The EPA will complete these designation s 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 2010 S02 standard, and 2) areas that contain any stationa ry source that according to the EPA 's A ir 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. The EPA has identified the following electr ic power plant source in your s tate as meeting the criteria estab li shed in the court 's order:

2012 so2 2012 S02 State County Facility Name Emi ssions Emissions Rate (tons) (lb/mmbtu) CP I USA North Caro li na NC B runswick Southport 2,923 0 .736

Internet Address (UR L) • http:/ /www

.epa

. gov Recycled/Recyctable • Pri nted with Vegetable Oil Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer, Process Ch l orine Free Recycled PaperThe EPA wi ll use t he most recent available infom1ation when making designation and boundary decisions for the ind icated area. If you would like to subm i t an updated recommendation and supporting information for the EPA to consider for the affected area in your state, we request that you do so by

Septembe r 18,2015. The EPA has updated its Ma r ch 24, 2011, designation guidance for the 201 0 S02 standard to support analysis of des i gnations and boundaries for these next rounds of designa t ions. T h e updated g uidance can be found on the E PA's website at http://epa.gov/airquality/sul(urdioxidelguidance.html . The EPA has also prov i ded two technical assistance documents th at provide advice on the use of modelin g and monitoring data when determining if an area is meeting or not meeting the 2010 S02 standard . The se documents can be found on the EPA's website a t http://epa.gov/airquality/sulfurdioxide l implement.html. T he court's order d i rects the EPA to comple t e the second round of area designations by December 31, 2017. These designations would address areas where states have no t installed and begun operating a new

S02 mon i to r ing network meet i ng the EPA's specifications referenced in our proposed rule titled, " Da ta Requirements Ru l e fo r the 1-h our S02 primary NAAQS". T llis rule, which was p r oposed 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 s uch areas do no t have s uffici en t air qua li ty monitoring in place to ide n t i fy maximum S02 conce n tra tion s. T he da ta co ll ected as a result of this

proposed rule would be used in the designations process . Las t l y, the court's order directs th e E PA to designate all r emain i ng areas by December 31, 2020. The E PA will provide states with a ddi tional information on t he designat i ons process assoc i ated with these l ater dead lin es at a later date . We look forward to continued dia l ogue w i th you and your staff as we work together to implement the 2010 S02 standard a nd achieve its intended public health protection. For additional information r egarding designations for the 20 1 0 S02 standard, please vis i t our website at www . epa . gov/so2designations. Shou l d yo u have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me o r Scott Mathias ofmy s ta ff at 919 -5 41 - 5310 and mathias.scott@epa.gov . Sincerely , Janet G. McCabe Acting Assistant Admin i stra t or Enclosu r e cc: Heather McTeer EPA Region 4 Adm i nistratorENCLOSURE
TIMELINE FOR 2010 PRIMARY S02 NAAQS DES IGNATION PROCESS FOR AREAS ASSOCIATED WITH JULY 2, 2016 , COURT-ORD ERED DEADLINE* Milestone Date** Court Order March 2 , 20 15 States may submit updated recommendations No later than Septembe r 18 , 2 015 and supporting information for area designations to the E PA The EPA notifies states concerning any o/a January 22, 20 1 6 , but absolutely no later intended modifications to their than 120 days prior to fina l designations, 

### i.e., r ecommendations ( 120-day letters) March 2, 2016 The EPA publishe s public notice of state o/a February 3, 20 1 6 r ecommendations and the EPA's intended modifications and initi ates 30-day public comment p eriod End of 30-day publ ic comment per iod o /a March 4 , 20 1 6 States provide additiona l information to o/a April 8 , 2016 demonstrate why an EPA modification is inappropriat e T he EPA promu lgates fin al S02 area No later than July 2, 2016 desig nations (no later than 1 6 months from Court Order)



### .. *The court's order d irects the EPA to promulgate add1tlonal round s of designatiOnS by December 31 ,20 17 , and by December 31 , 2020. 

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