UNITED STATES ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHINGTO N , D

. C

. 20460

The Honorable Joe Martens Commissioner 

## MAR 2 02015

New York Department of Environmental Conservation 625 Broadway Albany, New York 12233

-000 1
Dear Mr. Martens: OFFICE OF AIR A ND R A DI AT ION

I am writing to update you on the status of the U.S. Env ironmental Protection Agency's progress in implementing the primar y 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 des ignations for the remainder of the country in separate future actions. On March 2, 2015 , the U.S. District Cour t fo r the Northern District of Californ ia 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 designation s. 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 fina l round by December 31, 2020

. T he EPA will complete these designations by des ignating areas as either nonattainment, unclassifiable/attainment, or unclassifiable

. In the first round of designations, the EPA will designate two groups of areas: I ) areas that have newly monitored violations of the 20 l 0 S02 standard , an d 2) areas that contain any stationary so urce that according to th e EPA's Air Markets Database either emi tted more th an 16,000 tons ofS 0 2 in 2012 or emitted more than 2,600 tons of S02 and h ad an em i ssion rate of at leas t 0.45 lbs S02/mmbtu in 2012 and that has not been announced (as of March 2, 20 15) for retirement. In the enclosure to this lette r, the EPA provides the schedule we intend to follow to meet the July 2, 2016, deadline . T he EPA has identified the follow ing electric power plant sources in your state as meeting the criteria established in the court's order:
2012 so2 2012 so2 State County Facility Name Emissions Emis sions Rate (tons) (lb/mmbtu) NRG Huntley Generation NY Erie Station 2,716 0.703 Kintigh Generating Station NY N iagara (AES Somerset LLC) 5,653 0.528

Interne t Ad d ress (U R L) • h tt p : //www

. epa
.gov Recycled/ Recy c labl e • Prin ted w i th Vege table Oil Based I n ks on t 00% Pos tconsumer. P rocess Chlorin e Free Recycl ed PaperThe EPA will u se the most recent available information when making des i gnat i on and boundary decisions fo r the indicated a r eas. If you would li k e to subm i t an updated r ecommendat i on and supporting informa t ion for the EPA to consider for the affec t ed areas in your state, we request that y ou do so by September 18 , 2015. The EPA h as updated its March 24 , 201 1 , designation guidance for the 2010 S0 2 standard to support analysis of designations and boundaries for these next rounds of designations. T he updated gu ida nce can be found on the EPA ' s website a t http :// epa . gov/airquality/sul(urdioxide / guida n ce.html. The EPA has also provided two t echnical ass i stance documents that provide advice on the use of modeling and monitor i ng data when determining if an area is meeting or not meet i ng the 2010 S0 2 standa r d. 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 design a tions by December 31, 2017 . These designations would address areas where states have not installed and begun operating a new

S0 2 monitoring network meeting th e E PA's spec i fications refe r enced in our proposed rule titled , " Data Requirements Rule for the 1-hour S02 primary NAAQS". Th i s rule, which was proposed in the Federal Register on May 13, 2014 , would direct state and tribal air agencies to provide data to characte r ize

current a ir quality i n areas with la r ge sou r ces of S02 if such areas do not have sufficient air quality moni to ring in place to id en t ify maximum S02 concentrations. The data co ll ected as a result of this proposed rule wou ld be used in the designations process. Lastly, the court's o r d er directs the EPA to designate all remaining areas by December 31, 2020 . The EPA will prov id e states with additional informat i on on the designations process associated with these l ater dead line s at a l ater date. We look forward to cont i nued dia l ogue w i th you and your staff as we work together to implement the 2010 S02 standard and achieve its intended public health protection. For additional i nfo rmati on regarding des i gnations for the 2010 so2 standa r d , please v i sit our website at www.epa . gov / so2designations. Shou ld you have any questions, please do not hesitate to call me or Scott Ma t hias ofmy staff at 919-541-5310 and mathias . scott @ epa.gov.**Sincerely ~**  Janet G . McCabe Acting Assistant Adm ini strator E nclosure cc : Jud i th Enck EPA Region 2 AdministratorENCLOSURE
TIMELINE FOR 20IO PRIMARY S02 NAAQS DESIGNATION PROCESS FOR AREAS ASSOCIATED W ITH JULY 2 , 20I6, COURT

- ORDERED DEADLINE* Milestone Date** Court Order March 2, 20 I 5 States may submit updated
·recommendations No later than September 18 , 2015 and supporting information for area designations to the E PA 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. , recommendatio ns ( 120-day letters) March 2 , 20 16 The EPA publishes public notice of state o/a February 3, 20 16 recommendations and the EPA ' s in tended modifications and init iate s 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 , 20 16 demon strate why an EPA modification is inappropriate The EPA promulgates final S02 area No later than Jul y 2, 2016 designation s (no later than I 6 months from Court Order) * The court 's order directs the EPA to promul gate additional rounds of designations by December 31, 201 7 , and by December 3 1 , 2020.
** o /a = on or about