Document ID: EPA-HQ-OAR-2003-0083-1882
Agency: epa
Document Type: Supporting & Related Material
Title: 
Posted Date: 2004-09-10T04:00Z

August
11,
2004
Mr.
Donald
S.
Welsh
(
3RA00)
Regional
Administrator
U.
S.
Environmental
Protection
Agency
Region
III
Office
1650
Arch
Street
Philadelphia,
PA,
19103­
2029
RE:
Delaware's
Comments
on
MDE's
Petition
to
Reclassify
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
Ozone
Nonattainment
Area's
under
the
8­
Hour
Standard
Dear
Mr.
Welsh:

We
recently
received
a
copy
of
the
Maryland
Department
of
Environment's
(
MDE)
petition
to
EPA,
to
reclassify
Maryland's
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
"
moderate"
ozone
nonattainment
area
(
NAA)
to
a
"
marginal"
classification.

As
you
know,
over
the
past
30
years
we
have
learned
that
our
ozone
nonattainment
problem
is
pervasive,
and
that
both
the
extent
of
the
problem
and
the
emissions
that
cause
the
problem
are
very
large
in
scale.
Given
the
pervasive
nature
of
ozone,
Delaware
believes
that
the
only
solution
is
to
subject
upwind
areas
to
the
same
level
of
control
as
downwind
nonattainment
areas
(
see
Delaware's
July
14,
2003,
February
2,
2004,
and
February
27,
2004
letters
for
a
detailed
discussion
of
this
issue).

Delaware
acknowledges
that
Maryland
has
implemented
a
number
of
non­
mandated
control
strategies
in
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County.
Even
so,
Delaware
believes
Maryland's
petition
effectively
reduces
their
responsibility
as
an
upwind
area
to
Delaware,
and
therefore
requests
that
it
not
be
approved
by
the
EPA.

EPA's
guidance
for
the
ozone
NAA
"
bump­
downs"
requires
any
bump­
down
request
to
address
five
issues:
(
1)
discontinuity,
(
2)
attainment,
(
3)
emission
reductions,
(
4)
trends,
and
(
5)
years
of
data
(
Reference
1).
In
addition,
Section
181(
a)(
4)
of
the
Clean
Air
Act
Amendments
of
1990
(
CAAA)
require
that
any
bump­
down
petition
address
the
pollution
2
transport
between
the
subject
area
and
any
affected
areas.
As
a
downwind
state
from
Maryland,
Delaware
is
providing
EPA
with
the
following
comments.

1.
Discontinuity
EPA
guidance
requires
that,
"
a
five
percent
reclassification
must
not
result
in
an
illogical
or
excessive
discontinuity
relative
to
surrounding
areas"
(
Reference
1).
The
MDE
states
in
its
petition
that
approval
of
that
petition
would
create
no
discontinuity
within
Maryland.
However,
looking
beyond
Maryland's
boarders,
a
discontinuity
would
be
created
if
the
request
were
approved.
All
adjoining
Delaware
County's
are
classified
as
moderate
ozone
nonattainment,
so
reclassifying
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
to
marginal
would
create
a
"
hole"
between
the
Baltimore
moderate
NAA
and
the
Delaware
NAA.
Further,
MDE
states
in
their
petition,
"
whether
comparing
emissions
or
demographics
there
are
very
few
connections
between
the
remaining
Moderate
Nonattainment
areas
and
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
Counties."
While
this
may
be
true
within
Maryland,
there
is
a
relatively
strong
resemblance
between
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
and
the
relatively
rural
southern
Delaware
moderate
NAA
counties.

Attached
to
this
letter
is
a
comparison
of
2001­
2003
8­
hour
ozone
design
values
between
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
and
the
three
counties
in
Delaware
(
see
attached
Table
1).
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
have
the
highest
8­
hour
ozone
design
values
in
this
comparison.
It
would
be
illogical
to
classify
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
as
marginal
nonattainment,
since
the
adjacent
counties
in
Delaware,
with
lower
monitored
design
values,
are
classified
as
moderate
nonattainment,
and
the
Maryland
Counties
to
the
west
are
also
classified
as
moderate
nonattainment
(
i.
e.,
based
on
monitoring
data,
going
from
west
to
east,
the
air
quality
does
not
get
better
in
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County,
then
get
worse
in
Delaware).

2.
Attainment
EPA
guidance
requires
that
when
a
state
submits
its
bump­
down
petition
it
must
provide
evidence
that
the
area
would
attain
compliance
with
the
NAAQS
by
the
earlier
date
associated
with
the
lower
classification,
which
would
be
2007
in
this
case.
The
petition
provides
as
evidence
the
following:
reduced
transport
emissions
due
to
the
NOx
SIP
Call,
trend
of
exceedances
and
attainment
of
the
1­
hour
ozone
standard,
EPA's
modeling
results.

First,
Delaware
agrees
that
the
NOx
SIP
Call
will
reduce
upwind
emissions
to
both
Maryland
and
Delaware.
However,
the
NOx
SIP
Call
will
not
result
in
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
attaining
the
8­
hour
ozone
standard
by
2007.
Additionally,
base
case
2010
Clear
Skies
Initiative
modeling
(
see
below)
indicates
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
will
remain
nonattainment
in
2010,
and
since
this
modeling
includes
full
implementation
of
the
NOx
SIP
Call,
and
other
federal
initiatives,
Delaware
believes,
lacking
other
reductions,
attainment
by
2007
is
unlikely.

Second,
a
trend
of
exceedances
and
recent
attainment
of
the
1­
hour
ozone
standard
does
not
support
attainment
the
8­
hour
ozone
standard
in
2007.
Continuous
improvement
3
relative
to
the
1­
hour
ozone
standard
over
the
past
decade
is
the
general
trend
of
all
1­
hour
ozone
nonattainment
areas
in
the
nation.
Attainment
of,
or
approaching
attainment
of
the
1­
hour
standard
does
not
necessarily
co­
occur
or
guarantee
attainment
of
the
8­
hour
standard,
witnessed
by
the
fact
that
many
1­
hour
attainment
areas
in
the
nation
are
now
classified
nonattainment
under
the
8­
hour
standard.

Third,
the
petition
states
that
the
EPA
modeling
efforts
in
the
Clear
Skies
Initiative
indicate
that
the
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
may
expect
5­
10
ppb
ozone
reduction
by
2010,
and
that
"
the
10
ppb
benefit
will
get
us
very
close
to
the
new
standard."
This
statement
is
more
consistent
with
a
moderate
classification
than
a
marginal
classification
(
i.
e.,
moderate
areas
have
a
2010
attainment
date).
Even
so,
this
modeling
shows
that
in
2010
Kent
County
will
be
still
above
the
standard
(
i.
e.,
Kent
will
not
attain
by
2007
nor
2010),
so
it
does
not
support
a
bump­
down
to
a
marginal
classification.

3.
Emission
Reductions
The
EPA's
guidance
requires
that
a
bump­
down
request
provide
evidence
that
the
area
would
achieve
the
appropriate
total
percent
emission
reduction
necessary
to
attain
in
the
shorter
time
period.
As
stated
in
the
petition,
Maryland
has
implemented
numerous
federal
and
regional
measures
in
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
county
over
the
past
decade
or
so.
Delaware
believes
that
those
measures
have
played
a
critical
role
in
controlling
emissions
in
this
region.
However,
these
measures
don't
seem
to
have
reduced
the
emissions
in
these
counties
significantly
(
see
discussion
in
4
below).

In
Table
3
and
Table
4
of
the
petition,
emission
reductions
are
shown
for
the
time
period
2002
to
2014.
There
is
no
emission
reduction
and
percentage
calculations
for
the
shorter
time
period,
i.
e.,
from
2002
to
2007.
There
is
no
information
in
the
petition
that
shows
emission
reductions
and
percentages
are
appropriate,
and
enough
to
enable
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
to
attain
by
2007.

Delaware
believes
a
moderate
classification
is
consistent
with
Maryland's
obligation
to
reduce
emissions
and
mitigate
their
negative
contribution
on
downwind
states
(
see
transport
discussion
below).
For
example,
Rate­
of­
progress
(
ROP)
emission
reduction
requirements
are
mandated
in
moderate
NAA's
by
the
CAAA,
are
subject
to
EPA
and
public
review,
and
will
help
Maryland
mitigate
its
negative
impact
on
Delaware.
No
ROP
reductions
are
required
under
the
CAAA
for
marginal
areas,
so
if
the
bump­
down
were
approved
Maryland
emission
reduction
requirements
would
be
reduced.

4.
Trends
EPA
guidance
requires
that
near­
term
and
long­
term
trends
in
emissions
and
air
quality
support
a
bump­
down
reclassification.
The
petition
did
not
provide
any
near­
term
emissions
trend
analysis.
Although
emission
reductions
are
estimated
for
2002
and
2014,
there
is
no
evidence
that
indicates
near­
term
reductions
(
i.
e.,
before
2007)
will
occur.
The
long­
term
data
provided
in
the
petition
actually
demonstrates
a
net
emission
increase
between
1990
and
2002
(
for
VOC
emissions:
19.98
TPD
in
Table
1
and
15.26
TPD
in
Table
3,
a
24%
4
decrease;
for
NOx
emissions:
9.79
TPD
in
Table
2
and
12.45
TPD
in
Table
4,
a
27%
increase).

Regarding
evidence
for
air
quality
improvement,
the
petition
provides
monitoring
data
(
i.
e.,
design
values),
and
the
number
of
exceedances
of
the
1­
hour
ozone
standard.
The
8­
hour
ozone
standard
reflects
the
fact
that
citizens
are
more
vulnerable
to
longer
time
(
8
hours)
exposure
at
lower
ambient
ozone
concentrations.
Therefore,
any
air
quality
trend
analysis
should
evaluate
8­
hour,
not
1­
hour
ozone
trends.

Based
on
publicly
available
data,
Delaware
conducted
a
trend
comparison
of
the
8­
hour
ozone
design
values
of
the
Millington
site
with
the
nearest
monitors
in
Delaware,
which
are
Lum's
Pond
site
(
Summit
Bridge)
in
New
Castle
County,
and
Killen's
Pond
site
(
Felton)
in
Kent
County.
The
8­
hour
design
values
are
the
three
year
average
of
the
4th
highest
daily
8­
hour
average,
truncated
to
three
decimals.
The
results
of
the
comparison
are
shown
in
Figure
1
(
attached
to
this
letter),
and
indicate
that
the
8­
hour
ozone
trend
at
the
Millington
site
is
increasing,
not
decreasing.
In
addition,
we
reviewed
the
number
of
days
exceeding
the
8­
hour
ozone
standard
at
the
Millington
site
(
Figure
2).
Again,
the
trend
is
increasing
instead
of
decreasing.
Delaware
believes
that
the
trends
in
both
design
values
and
exceedance
days
do
not
show
evidence
of
air
quality
improvement
under
the
8­
hour
standard.

5.
Years
of
Data
The
petition
indicates
the
2001­
2003
design
value
of
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
is
0.095
ppb.
Delaware
agrees
that
this
most
recent
design
value
meets
the
5%
eligibility
requirement
for
bump­
down
reclassification.
However,
as
indicted
above,
this
design
value
is
higher
than
the
design
values
of
all
three
of
Delaware's
moderate
nonattainment
counties
(
see
attached
Table
1).

6.
Transport
and
Contribution
The
petition
does
not
provide
analysis
on
how
it
will
address
emission
transport
and
contribution
from
Maryland
to
downwind
states,
including
Delaware.

The
EPA
specified
in
its
supporting
document
to
the
Interstate
Transport
Rule
that
Maryland
is
an
upwind
state
contributing
significantly
to
the
2010
8­
hour
ozone
nonattainment
in
Delaware's
New
Castle
County
(
Reference
2).
While
the
Interstate
Transport
Rule
modeling
indicated
that
the
State
of
Maryland
significantly
contributed
to
Delaware
in
2010,
it
did
not
specifically
address
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County.
To
estimate
the
contribution
of
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
to
Delaware,
we
conducted
CALGRID
modeling.

Delaware
conducted
CALGRID
modeling
using
2010
OTC
NOx
Resolution
emissions,
which
accounts
for
22%
NOX
reduction
from
CSA2003
elevated
point
sources.
This
modeling
shows
as
much
as
10
ppb
contribution
from
Maryland's
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
to
Delaware's
1­
hour
ozone
concentrations
(
see
Figure
3
attached
to
this
letter).
Although
this
modeling
is
addressing
the
1­
hour
ozone
concentration,
it
reflects
the
5
fact
that
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
contribute
significantly
to
Delaware's
ozone
nonattainment
problem.

7.
Concluding
Remarks
Based
on
this
review
Delaware
believes:

1.
The
petition's
use
of
the
1­
hour
ozone
data
to
support
this
request
is
not
appropriate.
8­
hour
ozone
emission
trend
and
air
quality
analysis
(
see
attached
Figures
1
and
2)
does
not
support
the
petition.
2.
The
petition
did
not
provide
adequate
evidence
to
show
attainment
of
the
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
in
2007.
A
bump­
down
could
reduce
Maryland
emission
reduction
obligations,
which
could
adversely
impact
its
own
attainment
efforts
and
efforts
of
the
downwind
states
as
well.
3.
The
petition
does
not
adequately
address
issues
regarding
ozone/
precursor
transport.
Delaware
is
against
approval
of
any
bump­
down
petition,
unless
transport
and
contribution
issues
are
addressed
to
our
satisfaction.
4.
It
would
be
illogical
to
classify
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County
as
marginal
nonattainment,
since
the
adjacent
counties
in
Delaware,
with
lower
monitored
design
values,
are
classified
as
moderate
nonattainment,
and
the
Maryland
Counties
to
the
west
are
also
classified
as
moderate
nonattainment
(
i.
e.,
based
on
monitoring
data,
going
from
west
to
east,
the
air
quality
does
not
get
better
in
Kent
and
Queen
Anne's
County,
then
get
worse
in
Delaware).

If
you
have
any
question,
or
would
like
to
discuss
this
matter
further,
please
contact
me
at
(
302)
739­
4791.

Sincerely,

Ali
Mirzakhalili
Administrator
cc:
John
A.
Hughes
John
B.
Blevins
Diane
L.
Franks,
MDE
Judith
Katz
David
Arnold
6
References
1.
"
Air
Quality
Designations
and
Classifications
for
the
8­
Hour
Ozone
National
Ambient
Air
Quality
Standards;
Early
Action
Compact
Areas
with
Deferred
Effective
Dates",
USEPA,
40
CFR
Part
81,
Federal
Register:
April
30,
2004
(
Volume
69,
Number
84),
Rules
and
Regulations,
Page
23857­
23951.

2.
Appendix
G:
Metrics
for
8­
Hour
Ozone
Contributions
to
Downwind
Nonattainment
Counties
in
2010,
Technical
Support
Document
for
the
Interstate
Air
Quality
Rule
Air
Quality
Modeling
Analyses,
USEPA,
January
2004.

Table
1.
Comaprison
of
2001­
2003
Design
Values
of
Kent/
Queen
Anne's
NAA
and
Delaware
Maryland
Delaware
Kent/
Queen
Anne's
New
Castle
Kent
Sussex
2001­
2003
0.095
0.094
0.090
0.091
Figure
1.
Comparison
of
the
8­
hour
ozone
design
values.

Ozone
8­
hr
Design
Values
0.080
0.085
0.090
0.095
0.100
0.105
0.110
1989
­
1991
1990
­
1992
1991
­
1993
1992
­
1994
1993
­
1995
1994
­
1996
1995
­
1997
1996
­
1998
1997
­
1999
1998
­
2000
1999
­
2001
2000
­
2002
2001
­
2003
ppm
Millington
Lums
Killens
Millington
Trend
7
Figure
2.
Trend
of
number
of
days
exceeding
the
8­
hour
ozone
standard
at
Millington.

Number
of
Days
Exceeding
Ozone
8­
hour
Standard
Millington,
Kent
County
MD
0
5
10
15
20
25
1989
1990
1991
1992
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
Num.
Days
8
Figure
3.
Kent/
Queen
Ann's
contribution
to
Delaware.