# EPA Updates American Petroleum Institute Southern Region Meeting May 19, 2015 Kenneth L. Mitchell, Ph.D. Air, Pesticides and Toxics Management Division

U.S. EPA; Atlanta, GA

# • Meeting the Challenges Ahead
• NAAQS Update o Ozone NAAQS Review 

# o RVP Actions


# • Action on Climate Change 

# Outline

### 1. Making a Visible Difference in

Communities Across the Country 

### 2. Addressing Climate Change and Improving Air Quality 3. Taking Action on Toxics and Chemical Safety 

### 4. Protecting Water: A Precious, Limited Resource 5. Launching a New Era of State, Tribal, and Local Partnerships 6. Embracing EPA as a High Performing Organization 7. Working Toward a Sustainable Future 

# EPA: Meeting the Challenges Ahead

Administrator Gina McCarthy4 

## National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS)
• The Clean Air Act requires EPA to 

## set two types of NAAQS for common air pollutants (“criteria pollutants”): • Primary standards to protect public health, including the health of sensitive 

### populations with an adequate margin of safety; and • Secondary standards to protect public welfare, including protection against visibility impairment, damage to animals, crops, vegetation, and buildings Six Criteria Pollutants Ground - level Ozone (O 3) Particulate Matter ( PM 2.5 and PM 10) Sulfur Dioxide (SO 2) Carbon Monoxide (CO) Lead ( Pb) Nitrogen Dioxide (NO 2)5 

## • EPA required to review (and revise 

## if appropriate) each NAAQS on a 5 -year cycle, with input from the Clean Air Act Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) • Different considerations apply to setting NAAQS than to implementing them • Setting NAAQS: health and environmental effects • Implementing NAAQS: account for cost, technical feasibility, time needed to attain 

# NAAQS

http://www.epa.gov/air/criteria.html6 Integrated Review Plan (IRP) : timeline and key policy- relevant issues and scientific questions Integrated Science Assessment (ISA) : evaluation and synthesis of most policy- relevant studies Risk/Exposure Assessment (REA): quantitative assessment, as warranted, focused on key results, observations, and uncertainties Workshop on science- policy issues

Public hearings and comments on proposal EPA final decisions on standards Interagency review Interagency review Agency decision

making and draft proposal notice Agency decision making and draft final notice Public comment Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee (CASAC) review Policy Assessment (PA): staff analysis of policy options based on integration and interpretation of information in the ISA and REA EPA proposed decisions on standards Peer- reviewed scientific studies 

## 5-Year NAAQS Review Process

## NAAQS Reviews: Status Update (As of April 2015) Ozone Lead Primary NO2 Primary SO 2 Secondary NO2 and SO 2 PM CO Last Review Completed (final rule signed) Mar 2008 Oct 2008 Jan 2010 Jun 2010 Mar 2012 Dec 2012 Aug 2011

Recent or Upcoming Major Milestone(s) 1 March 17, 2015

Comment period closed Oct 1, 2015 2 Final rule to be signed January 5,

2015 Proposed rule published in FR April 6, 2015 Comment period closed Jan 2015

Released 2 nd Draft ISA Early May 2015 Release REA Planning document June 2 -3, 2015 CASAC meeting to discuss 2 nd draft ISA and REA Planning document Summer 2015

1 st draft ISA Fall 2015

Draft IRP Nov/Dec

2015 Draft IRP TBD 3

1 IRP – Integrated Review Plan; ISA – Integrated Science Assessment; REA – Risk and Exposure Assessment; PA – Policy Assessment 2 Indicates court-ordered deadline 3 TBD = to be determined Additional information regarding current and previous NAAQS reviews is available at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/8



### • After a new or revised standard is finalized, EPA works with 

### state and local air agencies and tribes to: • Figure out which areas are not meeting the standard • Designate areas • Require states to submit plans to show how they will meet the standards via controls on key emissions sources • Require states to come into attainment with the standards within specific timeframe (usually ~3 - 10 years, but sometimes longer if air quality problems are really severe) 

## Implementing the NAAQSs9 

# State Implementation Plans
• States develop a State Implementation Plan (SIP) for each nonattainment area • SIP lays out controls that will be applied to sources to reduce emissions and bring area into attainment


### • EPA approves each SIP
• States monitor progress and reach attainment by deadlines • Penalties imposed for failure to attain


### • Each time new National Ambient Air Quality Standards are set, State must develop new SIP10 

# Federal Programs Help

• Federal measures assist states 

## in reaching attainment
• Key programs include: • Mobile source emissions/fuel requirements 

### • Regional programs to reduce transported pollution • Emissions control requirements for stationary sources http://epa.gov/oaqps001/urbanair/sipstatus/overview.html

## In Summary -- Air Quality Management Cycle WHAT REDUCTIONS ARE NECESSARY? HOW TO ACHIEVE IMPLEMENT EVALUATE RESULTS ESTABLISH GOALS

-- National Rules

-- State Plans

-- Controls on Existing Sources

-- Limits on new sources

-- Compliance & Enforcement -- Monitoring

-- Modeling

-- Benefits Analysis -- Using science to set standards -- Monitoring

-- Inventories

-- Modeling12 

# Comparative Trends since 198013 

## NAAQS Review and Implementation - Ozone

http://www.epa.gov/air/ozonepollution/

# 2014 Ozone NAAQS Review
• Based on an extensive body of scientific evidence, EPA is proposing to revise both the primary ozone standard, to protect public health, and the 

### secondary standard, to protect the public welfare
• Proposed to set both standards within a range of 65 to 70 parts per billion ( ppb) 

### (8 - hour average)
• EPA accepted comments on levels for the health standard as low as 60 ppb and on the proposed decision that the 

### current standard is not protective

14 http://www.epa.gov/ttn/naaqs/standards/ozone/s_o3_index.html 2014 Proposed Ozone Standards Health - based: 65 - 70 ppb Welfare- based: 65 - 70 ppb

# Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP)
• In 1987, EPA determined that increasing gasoline volatility was causing an increase in evaporative VOC emissions 

## and leading to more ground - level O 3 

## • To provide for cleaner air and greater public health protection, EPA enforces maximum limits on the RVP of 

## gasoline sold during the fuel controlled season (June 1 to September 15) of each year • 9.0 psi or 7.8 psi depending on the state, the month, and the area’s initial ozone designation with respect to the ozone NAAQS during the summer ozone season

15 http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/gasolinefuels/volatility/standards.htm

# Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP)

• An area where the more stringent federal RVP of 7.8 psi is required can request to have the requirement relaxed to 9.0 psi
• Relaxation requires the area to be designated as (or redesignated to) attainment with no violating monitors
• The area must submit a non - interference demonstration through a 

### revision to the SIP showing continued attainment of the ozone NAAQS with the less stringent RVP standard in place, which is followed by a two -step process: 1. The non - interference demonstration must be reviewed and approved by the EPA regional office through notice and rulemaking 2. The Administrator must then approve the removal of the subject area from the list of covered areas through notice and rulemaking


### • The overall relaxation can take up to two years under an expedited process 16

# Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP)

• Greensboro, NC; Raleigh, NC; six Florida counties – 

### APPROVED
• Birmingham, AL • Regional review and approval of submitted non - interference demonstration complete • Administrator direct final rule published May 7, 2015 (effective on July 6, 2015, without further notice unless EPA receives adverse comment by June 8, 2015)

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### Status of recent relaxation requests in EPA Region 4

### • President Obama’s Climate Action

Plan takes a series of ambitious 

### steps to combat climate change • Cuts GHG pollution in America through domestic policies that involve both voluntary and regulatory action • Prepares our country for the impacts of climate change • Leads international efforts to address global climate change • Advances the Science 

# The President’s Climate Action Plan

https://www.whitehouse.gov/climate - change

### • EPA is reducing GHG emissions and

promoting a clean energy economy 

### through highly successful partnerships and common - sense regulatory initiatives, such as: • EPA's vehicle GHG rules 

### • C arbon pollution standards for the power sector • Methane Strategy • P artnering with the private sector through voluntary energy and climate programs • Reducing EPA's own carbon footprint 

# What EPA is Doing - Getting Reductions

http://epa.gov/climatechange/EPAactivities.html1. New power plants

• Proposed January 8, 2014 • Final Summer 2015 2. Modified and reconstructed power plants • Proposed June 2014 • Final Summer 2015 3. Existing power plants • Proposed Guidelines June 2014 • Final Guidelines Summer 2015 • State Plans due Summer 2016 • Proposed Federal Plan summer 2015 (final ready summer 2016) 

### Carbon Pollution Standards for the Power Sector

http://www.epa.gov/cleanpowerplan 15

# President’s Methane Strategy

• 1/14/15 - The Administration announced a new goal to cut 

### methane emissions from the oil and gas sector by 40–45% from 2012 levels by 2025

• To help meet this goal, EPA will: • Propose and set commonsense rules for methane and ozone -forming emissions from new and modified sources • Propose new guidelines to reduce VOCs • Expand on the successful Natural G as STAR program by launching a new partnership in collaboration with key stakeholders later in 2015

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http:// www.epa.gov/airquality/oilandgas/

# Questions? m itchell.ken@epa.gov

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