UNITED STATES ENV I RONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY WASHI N GTON, D .C. 20460

The Honorable Randy Huffman Cabinet Secretary 

## MAR 2 02015

West Virginia Department ofEnvironmental Protection 607 57th Street SE Charleston, West Virginia 25304
Dear Mr. Huffman: OFFICE OF AIR AND RADIAT I ON

I am writing to update you on the status ofthe 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 ofthe country in separa te 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 2010 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 ofMarch 2 , 20 15) 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 West Virginia meeting the above criteria establi shed in the court's order, the EPA has identified the following electric power plant source in Ohi o as meeting the criteria established in the court's order, and may potentially be impacting your state:
2012 S02 Emissions 2012 S02 Emissions State County Facility Name (tons) Rate (lb/mmBtu) OH Gallia General James M 31,269 0.360 Gavin

Internet Address (URL) • http : //www.epa

.gov Recycled/Recyclable • Pri nted with Vegetab le Oi l Based Inks on 100% Postconsumer

. P r ocess Chlorine Free Recycled PaperYou may wish to d iscuss the designation for th i s area w i t h representatives of Oh i o, and provide your own designation recommendation for the potentially affected area in your state. The EPA will use the most recent available informa t i on when mak i ng area designation and boundary decisions for the i n dicated 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 , des i gnation guidance for the 2010 SOz standard to support analysis of design a tions and boundaries for these nex t rounds of des i gnations. The upda t ed guidance can be found on the E PA ' s website at http :// epa.gov / airquali tyl sul(urdioxide l guidan c e.html. The EPA has also provided two t echnical assistance documents that provide advice on the u s e of modeling and monitoring data when determining if an area is meeting or not meeting the 2010 S0 2 standard. These documents can be found on the EPA ' s website a t http :// epa.gov / airquality/sul(urdioxidelimplement . html . The court's order directs the EPA to comp l ete the second r ound of area designations by December 31, 2017 . These designations would address areas where states have not installed and begun opera t ing a new S02 monitoring network meet i ng t he EPA's specifications referenced in our proposed rule titled, "Data Requirements Rule for the 1 - hour S0 2 primary NAAQS". This rule, which was proposed in the Federal Register on May 13 , 2014 , would direct state and tribal air agencies to provide da t a to characterize

current air quality in areas with large sources of S0 2 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 a ll 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 ach i eve its intended public health protection. For additional information regarding designations for the 2010 S0 2 standard, p l ease visit our website a t www.epa . gov / so2designations . Should you have any questions , please do not hesitate to call me or Scott

Mathias ofmy staff at 919-541-5310 and mathias.scott@epa . gov. Sincerely, Janet G. McCabe Acting Assistant Administrator Enclosure cc: Shawn Garvin EPA Region 3 Admin i stratorENCLOSURE
TIMELINE FOR 2010 PRIMARY S02NAAQS DESIGNATION PRO CESS 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 de signations to the E PA The EPA notifies states c oncerning 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, 20 16 T he EPA publi shes public notice of state o/aFebruary 3 , 2016 recommendations and the EPA's intended modifications and initiates 30-day public comment period End of 30-day public comment period of a March 4, 20 16 States provide addi tional information to o f a April 8, 2016 demonstrate why an EPA modification is inappropriate The EPA promulgates final S02 area No later than July 2, 20 16 designations (no later than 16 months from Court Order)



### .. * The court's order d1rects the EPA to promulgate additional rounds of de signatiOns by December 31 , 20 17 , and by December 31 , 2020

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