Air Quality

101: Clean
Air Act
Overview/
Update
Origins of the Clean Air Act

• Historic air pollution

• Donora, Pennsylvania, 1948
• 1970
• 1977 – PSD, tribes included
• 1990
• 2000 – 2006 updates

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Titles of the Clean Air Act
• Title I—PSD, NAAQS
• Title II—Mobile Sources
• Title III—HAPs
• Title IV—Acid Deposition
• Title V—Permits
• Title VI—Stratospheric Ozone

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Title I
NAAQS
• Attainment areas
• Non-attainment areas
• National Ambient Air Quality
Standards (NAAQS)

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Criteria Pollutants
• Particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5)
• Lead
• NOx
• SO2
• CO
• VOCs (ozone precursors)

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Prevention of Significant
Deterioration
• How the PSD rule was developed
• Class I– Pristine
• Class II– Moderate emissions
growth
• Class III– Maximum emissions
growth

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 New Non-
Source Attainment
Review
(NSR) NAAQS

Prevention of ( III )
Significant
Deterioration Attainment
(PSD) ( II )

Existing/Baseline
(I)
(concentration)

Airshed Designations (Classes) Under the PSD Program

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PSD Redesignations
1977–2009
• Northern Cheyenne
• Fort Peck
• Confederated Salish & Kootenai
• Spokane Tribe
• Forest County Potawatomi
• Yavapai Apache (not finalized)

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National Ambient
Air Quality Standards
• EPA required to review every 5
years
• Recent changes
– Ozone
– PM
– Lead

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NAAQS for Ozone (1997)
• 8-hour standard is 0.075 ppm
• 4th highest annual average value
• Average of 3 most recent years
– e.g., (2004 + 2005 + 2006) / 3<0.075
ppm
• If >0.075 ppm, nonattainment
• 1-hour standard is 0.12 ppm

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NAAQS for PM10

• PM10 @ 150 µ/m3 (24-hour average)

99th % averaged over 3 years
• Will be vacated within 24 months

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NAAQS for PM2.5

• PM2.5 @ 15 µ/m3 (annual average)

• PM2.5 @ 35 µ/m3 (24-hour average)
98th % averaged over 3 years
(can be multiple locations)

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NAAQS for Lead

• Final rule signed Oct. 15, 2008

• 0.15 µ/m3 (rolling 90-day average)
• 1.5 µ/m3 (quarterly average)

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Section 112
Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPS)
• 189 HAPS identified by Congress
– Caprolactam removed in 1996
– Glycol Ethers and MEK removed in 2003 and
2005
• “Technology-Based Standards”
– MACT/BACT
• Program can be delegated to states
and tribes that seek authority
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National Visibility Goal

Prevention of future, & remedying of

existing, visibility impairment in
mandatory Class I federal areas resulting
from human-made air pollution

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Regional Haze Rule
• Promulgated July 1999
• Mandatory federal Class I areas
• One “deciview” improvement each 10
years
• Regional planning organizations
• SIP planning to attain background by 2064

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Title II
Mobile Source Provisions
• Reserved for EPA (few exceptions)
• New vehicle standards
– On-road
– Off-road
– Diesel
– Locomotives
– Gasoline formulations
– Recently worked to include Administrations “10
in 20” GHG rules for mobile sources and fuels
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Title 3: General Provisions
• We generally call Section 112 “Title 3”
• Contains
– Tribal Authority (301)
– Disadvantages business
– Emergency powers
– Citizen suits
– Administrative provisions and judicial review
– Air quality monitoring and modeling

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Title IV
Acid Deposition Program
• Establishes cap and trade allowances
for
– Sulfur dioxide
– Nitrogen oxides
• Program is working better than
expected

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Title V
Operating Permits
• Major sources
• HAP sources and criteria pollutants
• Delegated to states and tribes
• Significant fees/revenues

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Title VI

Stratospheric Ozone Protection

• CFC production ban of 1996
• Bans on other substances to follow
(e.g., CCl4 now banned)

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CAA Amendments
of 1990: Summary
Six titles address major pollutants
• Act still being tweaked, no major
rewrites since 1990
• New actions likely to address
climate change
• Evolving role of non-federal
regulators
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State (and Tribal)
Implementation Plans
• CAA §110 requires each state to submit a plan
• Addresses NAAQS (CAA §109 & 40CFR 50.4 through
50.12)
• Contains: control measures and strategies
– To “attain and maintain”
• Developed through a public process
• Formally adopted by the state (legislation) and
submitted by the Governor’s designee
• EPA reviews and approves if consistent with CAA

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State (and Tribal)
Implementation Plans (cont.)
• CAA §110 specifies requirements applicable to all
areas
• Part D of Title 1 specifies additional requirements
applicable to nonattainment areas
• SIP elements include:
– Emission inventories
– Monitoring network
– Air quality analysis
– Modeling
– Attainment demonstration
– Enforcement mechanisms
– Regulations adopted to maintain or attain NAAQS
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State (and Tribal)
Implementation Plans (cont.)
• Contents of a typical SIP include
1. Adopted control measures
• Rules/regulations or source specific requirements (orders
and consent decrees)
2. Submitted comprehensive air quality plans
• Attainment plans, maintenance plans, rate of progress
plans, transportation control plans
• That demonstrate how these plans will bring about or
keep air quality in compliance with the NAAQS
3. Submitted “non-regulatory” programs
• Emission inventories, compliance assistance programs,
demonstrations of legal authority, monitoring networks
4. Additional requirements promulgated by
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EPA
State (and Tribal)
Implementation Plans (cont.)
• Relationship to NAAQS
– Plans provide for implementation, maintenance and
enforcement of the NAAQS
– Areas designated non-attainment are subject to additional
planning and control requirements
• Federal Enforceability
– Once approved, EPA is authorized to take enforcement
action against violators

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Summary
• Reviewed 1990 CAA Amendments
• Reviewed SIP/TIP requirements
• How SIP/TIP fits into CAA and AQM

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Any questions?

Darrel Harmon
Senior Indian Program Manager
US EPA Headquarters
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington DC 20460
202-564-7416
Harmon.darrel@epa.gov

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