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 McCarthy
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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 (O3)

Particulate Matter 

(PM2.5 and PM10)

Sulfur Dioxide (SO2)

Carbon Monoxide (CO)

Lead (Pb)

Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2)
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• 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.html
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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 SO2

Secondary

NO2 and SO2

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 2nd

Draft ISA 

Early May 2015

Release REA 

Planning 

document

June 2-3, 2015

CASAC meeting 

to discuss 2nd

draft ISA and 

REA Planning 

document

Summer 2015

1

st draft ISA

Fall 2015

Draft IRP

Nov/Dec

2015

Draft IRP

TBD3

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/
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• 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 NAAQSs
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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 SIP
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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

-- Modeling
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Comparative Trends since 1980
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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

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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 O3

• 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

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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

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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

• Carbon pollution standards for the power 

sector

• Methane Strategy

• Partnering 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.html
1. 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

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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 Gas 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?

mitchell.ken@epa.gov

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