Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2009-0491-4563
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2011-07-18T04:00Z

1. Emission Inventories
      To inform air quality modeling for the development of the final Transport Rule, EPA developed emission inventories for a 2005 base year and for 2012 and 2014 projections.  The inventories for all years include emission estimates for EGUs, non-EGU point sources, stationary nonpoint sources, onroad mobile sources, nonroad mobile sources, and biogenic (non-human) sources.  EPA's air quality modeling relies on this comprehensive set of emission inventories because emissions from multiple source categories are needed to model ambient air quality and to facilitate comparison of model outputs with ambient measurements.  In addition, EPA considers all relevant emissions (regardless of source category) when determining whether a state is found to be significantly contributing to or interfering with maintenance of a particular NAAQS in another state.
      The emission inventories were processed through the Sparse Matrix Operator Kernel Emissions (SMOKE) Modeling System version 2.6 to produce the gridded, hourly, speciated, model-ready emissions for input to the CAMx air quality model.  Additional information on the development of the emission inventories and related data sets for emissions modeling are provided in the Emission Inventory Final Transport Rule TSD.
      On October 27, 2010, EPA issued a NODA on "Revisions to Emission Inventories."  The NODA's primary purpose was to notify the public about changes to emission inventories made since the proposal modeling.  The affected emission sectors were non-EGU stationary point sources, nonpoint sources, and Category 3 commercial marine vessel sources.  The NODA also presented a newly released model for developing onroad mobile source emissions for use in air quality modeling for the final Transport Rule. 
      The major comments received in response to the emission inventories and modeling included in the proposed Transport Rule and the October 27 NODA are summarized in the following subsections.  EPA agreed with the comments summarized below and adopted technical corrections or updates to the emission inventories and modeling accordingly. For EPA to be able to take appropriate action, comments on the emission inventories needed to be specific enough to allow for credible alternative data sources to be located.  EPA adopted corrections from comments on in-place control programs or devices where the controls were enforceable and quantifiable.
a. Foundation Emission Inventory Data Sets
      EPA developed emission data representing the year 2005 to support air quality modeling of a base year from which future air quality could be forecasted.  EPA used the 2005 National Emission Inventory (NEI), version 2 from October 6, 2008, as the chief basis for the U.S. inventories supporting the 2005 air quality modeling.  This inventory includes 2005-specific data for point and mobile sources, while most nonpoint data were carried forward from version 3 of the 2002 NEI.  The future base case scenarios modeled for 2012 and 2014 represent predicted emission reductions primarily from already promulgated federal measures. 
      EPA used a 2006 Canadian inventory and a 1999 Mexican inventory for the portions of Canada and Mexico within the air quality modeling domains for all modeled scenarios.  Emissions from Canada and Mexico for all source sectors (including EGUs) in these countries were held constant for all base- and future-year cases.  EPA made this assumption because it does not currently have sufficient data to support projections of future-year emissions from Canada and Mexico.