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Sally Shaver Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards US Environmental Protection Agency Fall 2004 WESTAR Business Meeting October 4-6, 2004. Clean Air Sustainable Agriculture Sound Land Management Clean Water Key elements: Scientific assessment Outreach and education - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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Sally ShaverOffice of Air Quality Planning and Standards
US Environmental Protection AgencyFall 2004 WESTAR Business Meeting
October 4-6, 2004
Agricultural Air Quality
Ag Strategy Vision Statement
Clean Air Sustainable Agriculture
Sound Land ManagementClean Water
Key elements:Scientific assessment
Outreach and educationImplementation/compliance
• Ozone and PM designations and implementation– Fugitive dust– Conservation management practices
• Permitting– Title V– New source review– Offsets
• Pesticide application
What are the issues?
• Agricultural equipment– Title II rule amendment - pumps
• Fire– Prescribed fire, wildfire– BlueSky/Rains
• AFO/CAFO– Particulate Matter (PM)– Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)– Ammonia (NH3)– Odor
What are the issues? (cont)
Attainment or Unclassifiable Areas (2668 counties)
Nonattainment Areas (432 entire counties)
Nonattainment Areas (42 partial counties)
Attainment and Nonattainment Areas in the U.S.8-Hour Ozone Standard
State Recommendations for Fine ParticlesNational Ambient Air Quality Standards
Nonattainment (full county): 142Nonattainment (partial county): 9
EPA Response to State Recommendations on PM2.5 Designations – June 29, 2004
Counties Designated Nonattainment for PM10
Title V – NSR Ag Impacts
• Title V could apply to farms, resulting in:- Paperwork burden- Unnecessary public scrutiny - Little if any benefit for the additional burden- Continuous compliance assurance monitoring
and reporting- Biosecurity impacts
Title V – NSR Ag Impacts (cont)
• Change in farming practices could trigger NSR (NSR being the bigger issue), resulting in:
- Requirements to obtain offsets for emissions increases
- Applying lowest achievable emissions rate to new equipment or new practices
- Paperwork burden
Pesticide Application
• VOC• Toxics• Methyl Bromide• Spray Drift
Agricultural Equipment • Emissions from farm equipment
– PM and NOx• Irrigation pumps
– Stationary source v. mobile – State regulated– Mobile source – national rules apply– Title II
• Alternatives– Cleaner burning diesel engines– Natural gas engines– Electric engines
Fire
Fire• Pollutants:
– PM– Regional haze– Episodic ozone – Air toxics
• Impacts:– Water runoff to
streams– Air quality– Visibility– Smoke
EPA’s Fire Policies• EPA acknowledges the use of fire as an efficient and
economical land management tool in maintaining the health of fire-tolerant and fire-dependent plant and animal ecosystems– Maintain species diversity– Enhance agricultural production– Eliminate the threat of disease– Reduce catastrophic wildfires
• PM-10 Natural Events Policy (1996)• Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed
Fires (1998)• Agricultural Burning Policy (on hold)
Blue Sky RAINS• BlueSky/RAINS (BSR) is an interactive web-based
tool that predicts smoke concentrations on a variety of sensitive receptors
• BSR couples the latest available science in fire behavior and smoke dispersion from the BlueSky framework developed by the USFS with the Geographical Information System (GIS) and sequential database technology of the Rapid Access Information System (RAINS) developed by EPA R10
Blue Sky RAINS (cont.)
• EPA Region 10 and the USDA Forest Service have successfully operated BSR in the Pacific Northwestern US since March 2003– Leavitt Initiative - expand the BSR nationwide
within the next 1 to 2 years– Currently, a beta version of the BSR that covers
all or part of 11 western states is being tested
Animal Feeding Operations (AFO)
• NAS Commissioned:– EPA and USDA asked NAS to perform CAFO air
emissions study• NAS Study Conclusions:
– No reliable emissions factors for AFO exist – Additional data needed to develop estimating
methodologies– Current methods for estimating emissions not
appropriate – Use process-based approach
Industry: - Pay a civil penalty (per facility) - Contribute to nationwide emissions monitoring
program ($2,500) - Make facilities available for monitoring - At conclusion of study, apply emissions-estimating
methodologies to identify applicable CAA, CERCLA and EPCRA requirements
- Certify compliance with CAA permitting and CERCLA and EPCRA notification provisions
- EPA grants limited covenant not to sue
Key Features of the Proposed Agreement