The article “Regional Reports: Region 3” by Gale R. Lea first appeared in the Air Quality Committee Newsletter, Vol. 8, No. 2, January 2005, Section of
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REGIONAL REPORTS:
Region 3
and $225,000 to Pennsylvania for a total penalty
of $900,000. In addition, the proposed consent
decree requires Weyerhaeuser to use SO2
scrubbers that were installed in 2003 “in
accordance with standards designed” to reduce
SO2 emissions by up to 95 percent. The notice
of violation and complaint that gave rise to the
proposed consent decree were filed during the
Clinton administration when the mill was owned
by Willamette Industries. The complaint alleged
that the company violated the NSR provisions of
the Clean Air Act (CAA) by modifying two coalfired power boilers at its kraft pulp and paper
mill in Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania, without
installing pollution controls. The complaint also
alleged that the company failed to obtain
Pennsylvania-issued SO2 permits. The
comment period expired Sept. 5, 2004. See 69
Fed. Reg. 47462 (Aug. 5, 2004).
Gale R. Lea
Jackson Kelly PLLC
Charleston, West Virginia
galelea@jacksonkelly.com
I.
EPA Region 3 Developments
Air Toxics: EPA has conducted the first test
case of the local scale of BenMAP, an
economic analysis software for PM2.5. The
software matches changes in particulate matter
(PM) with known health impacts and the cost of
those impacts. The test case was part of the
Philadelphia Air Toxics Project and evaluated
the economic impact of diesel PM in the fivecounty Philadelphia metropolitan area. The
study investigated the diesel on-road and nonroad contribution to PM. The costs of diesel PM
were calculated by subtracting the diesel PM
from the overall PM concentration – the diesel
difference. Health impacts were based on
peer-reviewed epidemiological studies. Costs
were calculated using willingness to pay, cost of
illness and lost wages in year 2000. The
evaluation estimates that in 1999 diesel PM
caused 260 deaths at a cost of $1.4 billion, 450
non-fatal heart attacks at a cost of $37 million,
32,000 missed days of work at a cost of
$11 million in wages and 3,700 asthma attacks
at a cost of $160,000.
On Sept. 23, 2004, EPA announced a
settlement with Torrance State Hospital in
Torrance, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania,
concerning alleged particulate emissions from
the hospital’s three coal-fired boilers in excess
of the facility’s state-issued CAA permit. Under
the consent decree, Torrance State Hospital
agrees to pay a penalty of $28,940. After EPA
issued the notice of violation, the hospital
installed a replacement boiler and permanently
shut down its highest emitting boiler.
On Sept. 27, 2004, EPA lodged a proposed
consent decree with Mirant Mid-Atlantic (Mirant)
in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District
of Virginia concerning alleged violations by
Mirant of the NOx emissions limitations set forth
in the company’s operating permit for its
Potomac River Generating Station in
Alexandria, Virginia. Under the proposed
consent decree, Mirant must cap its annual
emissions of NOx in the Washington, D.C.,
Enforcement: On July 22, 2004, EPA lodged a
proposed consent decree with Weyerhaeuser
Co. in the U.S. District Court for the Western
District of Pennsylvania concerning the
company’s kraft pulp and paper mill in
Johnsonburg, Pennsylvania. Under the
proposed consent decree, Weyerhaeuser
agrees to pay $675,000 to the United States
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metropolitan area and install pollution control on
four coal-fired units. The four coal-fired power
plants consist of 12 units with approximately
3,000 megawatts of generating capacity in
Maryland and Virginia. The four coal-fired
power plants covered by the proposed consent
decree include the Potomac River Generating
Station and, in addition, the Morgantown
Generating Plant in Charles County, Maryland;
the Chalk Point Generating Plant in Prince
George’s County, Maryland; and the Dickerson
Generating Plant in Montgomery County,
Maryland. Under the proposed consent decree,
Mirant also agrees to pay a $500,000 penalty to
be divided evenly between the Commonwealth
of Virginia and the United States. In addition,
Mirant will spend at least $1 million to finance
environmental projects that are designed to
reduce particulate matter and fugitive dust
emissions from the Potomac River plant. The
proposed consent decree is subject to a 30-day
public comment period.
Office of Inspector General that the agency
needs to increase its oversight of the Title V
program.
Miscellaneous: On July 27, 2004, Philadelphia’s
Channel 6 news aired an energy audit by EPA
Region 3 Administrator, Donald S. Welsh, of a
home in Bala Cynwyd. The show explains how
consumers can protect the environment and
save money during the summer months,
providing energy-saving tips for air conditioning,
ceiling fans, programmable thermostats and
ductwork. The show is part of the ENERGY
STAR Program’s “Cool Change” Campaign.
For more information on the ENERGY STAR
Program’s “Cool Change” Campaign, see the
Web site at www.energystar.gov.
Mobile Sources: EPA Region 3 has launched a
compliance assistance effort to all gas stations
in Philadelphia and its five surrounding counties,
and Delaware. More than 1,500 Stage I and II
Self Inspection Handbooks were mailed to all
gas stations in the area.
On Oct. 5, 2004, EPA announced a settlement
with Gerome Manufacturing concerning alleged
CAA violations at the company’s Uniontown
plant in Fayette County, Pennsylvania. The
company manufactures custom sheet metal
products, such as enclosures, vehicle panels
and magnetic shields, and the Uniontown facility
uses chlorine or bromine-based degreasers to
clean machines and metal parts. EPA alleges
that the company’s Uniontown facility operated
its vapor degreaser in violation of CAA
regulations, including design, operational and
work practice requirements designed to limit air
emissions of the trichloroethylene (TCE) solvent.
Under the proposed consent decree, Gerome
Manufacturing will pay a $19,250 penalty to
settle the alleged violations of regulations
limiting air emissions of degreasers or
halogenated cleaning solvents.
In August 2004, EPA Region 3 added its first
new hybrid vehicle, a 2004 Honda Civic, to its
fleet. Three additional hybrid vehicles are to be
delivered during the month of August, and the
Environmental Science Center at Fort Meade,
Maryland, will also receive a hybrid vehicle.
II. State Developments
A. Delaware
1. Enforcement: During the third quarter of
2004, the Enforcement Section and the Division
of Air and Waste Management of the Delaware
Department of Natural Resources and
Environmental Control (DE DNREC) handled
1,383 complaints, took 150 enforcement
actions and performed 331 proactive patrol
checks.
Title V: EPA Region 3 has announced that over
the next four years the agency will evaluate all
state operating permits programs as part of
EPA’s program oversight responsibilities. In
addition, EPA will respond to the findings of the
On Sept. 28, 2004, DE DNREC announced that
DE DNREC Secretary John S. Hughes issued a
Notice of Administrative Penalty Assessment
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and Secretary’s Order to Laidlaw Corporation
for alleged violations of Delaware’s air
regulations and its operating permit for applying
coatings that exceeded allowable VOC content
at its New Castle facility, which manufactures
coated wire clothes hangers. The Order
includes a cash penalty of $31,500 and a
$1,782.50 as cost recovery reimbursement to
DE DNREC for expenses associated with its
investigation. Laidlaw Corporation has 30 days
to request a public hearing.
scrubbers at their Newark, Delaware, facility.
These scrubbers are designed to reduce the
incidence of a pluggage of nozzles into the
combustor and to protect the combustor from
hydrochloric acid in the exhaust steam. The
scrubbers are expected to reduce hydrochloric
acid emissions to the atmosphere, although no
change in the permit limit is proposed. The
company has also requested a change in their
tow coater emission limits to convert the
existing ultimate pound-per-hour limits for
hydrochloric acid, hydrogen and chlorine to
batch average limits. No emissions increases
from current operations are expected to result
from these changes. The comment period
expires Nov. 2, 2004.
2. Legislation: The Delaware Senate has
passed an Act to amend Title 29 of the
Delaware Code to require state agencies to
purchase ENERGY STAR products whenever
feasible. Delaware officials and facility
managers will be trained on all aspects of the
ENERGY STAR program, and will receive
training on the ENERGY STAR benchmarking
tools. Delaware formally signed with the
ENERGY STAR Program in February, and EPA
is participating in the Delaware Energy Task
Force. For more information on the ENERGY
STAR Program, see the web site at
www.energystar.gov.
ICI Americas, Inc., (d.b.a. Uniqema) has
submitted a synthetic minor permit application,
pursuant to Delaware Air Regulation No. 2, for
construction of a multi-purpose surfactant
manufacturing plant within its facility at New
Castle, Delaware. The comment period expires
Nov. 2, 2004.
Pennsy Supply, Inc. (d.b.a. Tilcon Delaware) has
submitted a Title V synthetic minor permit
application, pursuant to Delaware Air
Regulation No. 2 for an amendment to their
operating permit at their facility in Dover,
Delaware. The company seeks an amendment
to its permit to add an in-line, electric powered
Recycled Asphalt Paving crusher. The comment
period expires Oct. 26, 2004.
3. NAAQS:
8-Hour Ozone: Delaware’s 8-hour ozone State
Implementation Plan (SIP) is due April 15, 2007.
PM2.5: Delaware’s PM2.5 SIP is due in
February 2008.
4. Permitting: Allen’s Milling Division – Allen’s
Hatcher, Inc. has applied for a Delaware Air
Regulation No. 2 permit to install two
hammermills with an associated baghouse to
replace three existing hammermills at its
Delmar, Delaware, facility. The comment period
ends Oct. 25, 2004.
5. Title V: On June 30, 2004, DE DNREC
issued an Administrative Order for the Title V
permit to Dow Reichhold Specialty Latex LLC
for its Cheswold facility. The Cheswold facility
produces latex. On July 24, 2003, a public
hearing was held for the amendment to
Delaware Air Regulation No. 2 permits and
proposed Title V permit amendment. The
amendments were for testing, completed by
May 8, 2004, using the emergency generator
when the universal power supply failed,
changing the type of fuel oil stored in one
storage tank and adding a permit shield to the
Power Systems Composites, LLC has
submitted a Title V synthetic minor permit
application, pursuant to Delaware Air
Regulation No. 2, requesting a permit
amendment to allow operation of two water
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Title V permit. The order approved issuance of
the proposed Title V Operating Permit that
contains these amendments. EPA has up to
45 days to review the proposed permit. DE
DNREC’s Air Quality Management Section will
issue a final permit if EPA approves the
proposed Title V Permit.
upgrade project and Phase I of the air
application was held on Oct. 7, 2004. A public
hearing on the Coastal Zone Act Permit
application was held on Oct. 14, 2004, and a
public hearing on Phase I of the DE DNREC’s
review of Premcor’s air permit application for
the pollution control upgrades and Phase I
permits will be held on Oct. 19, 2004.
6. Miscellaneous: On Aug. 3, 2004,
DE DNREC announced that it would begin to
inform developers and local government of the
impact of proposed development on
Delaware’s air quality. DE DNREC first offered
these comments at the July 28, 2004
Preliminary Land Use Service meeting.
DE DNREC plans to comment on potential
increases of air pollutants including VOCs,
NOX, SO2, PM2.5 and CO2. In a letter to the
three counties in Delaware and the Delaware
League of Local Government and the three
Delaware counties, DE DNREC Secretary John
A. Hughes stated that “local government should
be anticipating air (quality) impacts (from
development) and planning for (its) mitigation.”
Examples of mitigation include limiting large
new developments to pre-approve growth
areas, concentrating development in areas
capable of providing mass transit services,
requiring more efficient homes that would
lessen air quality impacts, and promoting
walking and biking within and between
developments and town centers.
On Aug. 16, 2004, DE DNREC issued an
Administrative Order for the Title V (air) permit
renewal for the Wilmington Waste Water
Treatment Plant owned by the City of
Wilmington. On July 22, 2003, a public hearing
was held. As a result of the comments received,
the draft permit was modified and incorporated
enhanced conditions for odor and visible
emission monitoring. The Administrative Order
approved issuance of the Proposed Title V
operating permit renewal. EPA has up to
45 days to review the proposed permit. DE
DNREC’s Air Quality Management Section will
issue a final permit if EPA approves the permit
as proposed.
On Aug. 18, 2004, the Air Quality Management
Section of DE DNREC held a public hearing on
the Title V (part 3) application of Premcor
Refining Group for its refinery in Delaware City,
Delaware. Part 3 of Premcor’s Title V
application addresses the company’s power
plant and repowering project which includes the
gasifiers, combustion turbines, the flare, and
other components. The comment period on the
Response Document to Premcor’s Title V
permit application began Oct. 1, 2004 and
closed Oct. 22, 2004.
B. District of Columbia
1. Litigation: On July 15, 2004, Sierra Club
moved the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia in Sierra Club v. EPA, No. 02-2235
(JR) (D.D.C.), for an order, directing EPA to
disapprove the ozone plan for the Metropolitan
Washington, DC-MD-VA Ozone Nonattainment
Area (NAA). Sierra Club asked the district
court to establish a 45-day deadline for final
action by EPA on the 1-hour ozone attainment
state implementation plan (SIP) for the
Metropolitan Washington, DC-MD-VA Ozone
NAA. In February 2002, the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit held
On Sept. 22, 2004, DE DNREC announced the
schedule for a public workshop and two
separate hearings on the permit applications of
The Premcor Refining Group, Inc. for pollution
control upgrades to reduce air emissions at its
Delaware City refinery required under federal
and state consent decrees. The project will
result in a reduction of approximately 30,000
tons annually of SO2 emissions. A workshop for
public review of Premcor’s Coastal Zone Act
Permit Application for the entire pollution control
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that EPA’s conditional approval of the 1-hour
ozone attainment SIP for the Metropolitan
Washington, DC-MD-VA Ozone NAA was
improper. Sierra Club v. EPA, No. 03-1084
(D.C. Cir. Feb. 3, 2004).
On Aug. 6, 2004, EPA published a “final rule;
notice of administrative change” (69 Fed. Reg.
4773) updating the materials submitted by the
District of Columbia that are incorporated by
reference in the SIP. The action was effective
Aug. 6, 2004.
Thereafter, Sierra Club moved the U.S. Court of
Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit to
enforce a preliminary injunction to have EPA
disapprove the attainment demonstration and
rate-of-progress plans for the Washington, D.C.
ozone NAA. On Sept. 7, 2004, the District of
Columbia Circuit denied Sierra Club’s motion.
In denying Sierra Club’s motion, the District of
Columbia Circuit found that EPA had complied
with the court’s Dec. 18, 2002, order to take
final action to approve/disapprove those plans
when EPA took final action on the plans, even
though that action was vacated by the D.C.
Circuit and remanded to EPA. EPA is currently
reviewing and will take final action on the
revised plans submitted by Virginia, Maryland
and the District of Columbia.
On Sept. 30, 2004, EPA published a notice of
withdrawal (69 Fed. Reg. 58433) of its June 22,
2000, adequacy finding on the 2015 and 2020
motor vehicle emission budgets (MVEBs) for
the metropolitan Washington, D.C. area. EPA
withdrew the June 22, 2000 adequacy finding
because the District of Columbia, state of
Maryland and the Commonwealth of Virginia,
withdrew their SIP submissions containing
those MVEBs. EPA’s withdrawal of its June 22,
2000 adequacy finding was made in letters
dated Aug. 26, 2004 from EPA Region 3 to the
District of Columbia and the other two
jurisdictions. As a result of EPA’s withdrawal of
the June 22, 2000 adequacy finding, the 2015
and 2020 MVEBs are no longer available for
transportation conformity purposes. However,
the withdrawal of the June 22, 2000 adequacy
finding has no effect whatsoever on EPA’s more
recent adequacy finding of Dec. 9, 2003, that
the MVEBs of the three jurisdictions’ 2005 ROP
Plan and 2005 revised Attainment
Demonstration Plan submissions are adequate
for conformity purposes. The Dec. 9, 2003
adequacy finding stands, and the MVEBs of the
2005 ROP Plan and 2005 revised Attainment
Demonstration Plan remain available for
transportation conformity determinations. The
Aug. 26, 2004 withdrawal of the June 22, 2000
adequacy finding was effective on Oct. 15,
2004.
2. NAAQS:
SIP Revisions: On July 21, 2004, EPA
published in the Federal Register a “final rule;
technical amendment” (69 Fed. Reg. 43520)
vacating a Jan. 3, 2001 final rule (66 Fed. Reg.
586) and an April 17, 2004 final rule (68 Fed.
Reg. 19106) by amending 40 CFR part 52 to
remove codification of SIP approvals of the
1-hour ozone attainment demonstration and the
1996-1999 Rate of Progress (ROP) plans for
the Metro Washington, DC-MD-VA Ozone NAA
and vacating an indefinite stay of the underlying
SIP approvals (69 Fed. Reg. 19937; Apr.15,
2004). The underlying SIP approvals were
vacated by the United States Court of Appeals
for the District of Columbia Circuit in Sierra
Club v. EPA, 294 F.3d 155, 163 (D.C. Cir.
2002), and Sierra Club v. EPA, 356 F.3d 302304 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 3, 2004), as modified, (D.C.
Cir. Apr. 16, 2004). The final rule and vacatur of
the stay are effective Aug. 20, 2004.
8-Hour Ozone: The District of Columbia’s
8-hour ozone SIP is due April 15, 2007.
PM2.5: The District of Columbia’s PM2.5 SIP
is due in February 2008.
3. New Source Review: The District of
Columbia is implementing the new federal
5
attainment Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (PSD) rules.
Nov. 1, 2004, unless EPA received adverse
written comment by Sept. 30, 2004.
4. Miscellaneous: The District of Columbia
Department of Health has received Fiscal Year
2004 air funding in the amount of $322,678 to
monitor PM.
On Sept. 16, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 55791) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 55759) to approve a request
from the Maryland Department of the
Environment for authority to implement and
enforce state permit terms and conditions in
place of those of the National Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants
(NESHAPs) for Chemical Recovery
Combustion Sources at Kraft, Soda, Sulfite, and
Stand-Alone Semichemical Pulp Mills, with
respect to the operations of MeadWestvaco
Company’s Luke Mill, located in Luke,
Maryland. Unless EPA received adverse written
comment by Oct. 7, 2004, the rule is
automatically effective on Nov. 15, 2004.
C. Maryland
1. Mobile Sources: At the annual meeting of
truckers in Region 3, members of the Maryland
Motor Trucking Association heard about the
benefits of joining the SmartWay Transport
Partnership, a collaborative, voluntary program
between EPA and the freight industry. The
partnership establishes market-based
incentives for companies to improve the
environmental performance of their freight
operations, including the reduction of
greenhouse gas emissions and improvement in
air quality. For more information on the
partnership, see http://www.epa.gov/smartway/.
SIP Revisions: On Aug. 2, 2004, EPA published
a proposed rule (69 Fed. Reg. 46124)
proposing to approve redesignation of the Kent
and Queen Anne’s Counties Ozone NAA to
attainment and the one-hour ozone maintenance
plan for Kent and Queen Anne’s Counties. The
one-hour ozone maintenance plan for Kent and
Queen Anne’s Counties provides requirements
for continued attainment of the one-hour ozone
National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS)
for the next 10 years. The comment period on
the proposed rule expired on Sept. 1, 2004.
On Sept. 20, 2004, EPA published a final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 56170) approving a Maryland
SIP revision pertaining to changes in Maryland’s
regulations for new source permitting for major
sources of VOC and NOx emissions and
regulations requiring RACT on major stationary
sources of NOx in the Washington, D.C. ozone
NAA. The revision changes the currently
approved SIP for the Maryland portion of the
Washington, D.C. ozone NAA by: (1) modifying
the emissions offset ratio, (2) lowering the
applicability threshold of the new source review
(NSR) permit program, and (3) lowering the
applicability threshold of the NOx RACT rule.
The changes were made by Maryland in
response to the reclassification of the
Washington, D.C. ozone NAA from serious to
severe. The rule took effect Oct. 20, 2004.
On Aug. 31, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 53026) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 53002) to approve a Maryland
SIP revision pertaining to a Consent Decree
establishing VOC reasonably available control
technology (RACT) for Kaydon Ring and Seal,
Incorporated, located in Baltimore, Maryland.
The direct final rule is automatically effective on
8-Hour Ozone: On Sept. 22, 2004, EPA
published a final rule (69 Fed. Reg. 56697)
reclassifying the Kent/Queen Anne Counties,
Maryland “moderate” 8-hour ozone NAA as
“marginal” for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA
re-classified the area pursuant to CAA
§ 181(a)(4), which provides that an ozone nonattainment area may be reclassified “if the
2. NAAQS:
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design value in the area were 5 percent greater
or 5 percent less than the level on which such
classification was based.” The reclassification
of the Kent/Queen Anne Counties, Maryland
ozone NAA means that the area must attain the
new 8-hour NAAQS by 2007 instead of 2010. In
addition, the area will have greater flexibility in
attaining the 8-hour ozone standard. The final
rule takes effect on Nov. 22, 2004. Maryland’s
8-hour ozone SIP is due April 15, 2007.
as a backup to ensure that sulfur dioxide limits
are not exceeded.
Synergics Wind Energy LLC is planning a wind
farm in western Maryland. Synergics filed an
application with the MPSC in June 2004 for
permission to place 24 windmills atop
Backbone Mountain south of U.S. 50 near
Tablerock in Garret County. The 262-foot
turbines would collectively generate about 40
megawatts of electricity for sale. Synergics’
planned wind farm would be the third wind farm
in the area. Synergics’ site is about 10 miles
south of a 67-turbine wind farm that Clipper
Windpower Inc. plans to build along the same
ridge, and about 10 miles north of the 44-turbine
Mountaineer Wind Energy Center already
operating on Backbone Mountain near Thomas,
West Virginia.
PM2.5: Maryland’s PM2.5 SIP is due in
February 2008.
3. Trading: At the annual meeting of the
National Conference of State Legislatures
(NCSL) in July 2004, Maryland offered a
resolution opposing cap-and-trade as an
approach to reducing mercury or any other toxin
as the official position of the NCSL. The
resolution failed. A three-quarters majority vote
was required for the resolution to be adopted.
The resolution received only 10 out of 24
possible votes.
D. Pennsylvania
1. Air Toxics: On Aug. 26, 2004, the Clean Air
Council released a report entitled “Beyond
Mercury: Why the Bush Administration Plan
Means More Arsenic, Lead, Dioxin, and Other
Toxic Air Pollution.” The report concludes that
Pennsylvania’s power plants are the worst in the
nation for arsenic emissions and third worst for
lead and chromium emissions. The report also
criticizes EPA’s proposed mercury rule as
having “weak limits on mercury emissions” and
as failing to “require emission limits for more
than 60 other power plant air toxics that threaten
public health.”
4. Miscellaneous: A decision from the
Maryland Public Service Commission (MPSC)
on Mirant’s 2001 application to expand its
850 MW Dickerson plant to 1,580 MW is
expected by October 2004. A group
coordinating the work of seven state agencies
relating to construction of power plants known
as the Maryland Power Plant Research
Program recommended in a letter dated July
16, 2004 that the PSC approve the project,
provided certain pollution controls are installed.
The list of controls includes an NSR permit. In
addition, Mirant has agreed to convert two
147 MW gas-fired simple cycle combustion
turbines to a combined cycle unit and to install
selective catalytic reduction (SCR) units on the
converted combined cycle unit and on a new
combined cycle unit that is to be built. The two
new units will have oxidation catalyst systems to
control carbon monoxide and VOC emissions.
The two new units are to have limits on
operating hours when they burn low sulfur fuel oil
2. Citizen Suits: On Oct. 5, 2004, a
Pennsylvania public interest group, known as
Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future or
PennFuture, announced plans to file a citizen
suit against Allegheny Energy for emitting
excess particulate matter (PM) from its Hatfields
Ferry plant in Greene County, Pennsylvania.
PennFuture sent a 60-day notice of intent to sue
to Allegheny Energy with a copy to EPA and the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection (PA DEP). According to the notice of
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intent to sue, Allegheny Energy’s Hatfields Ferry
plant failed to meet opacity and PM standards
set out in the Clean Air Act (CAA) and
Pennsylvania air quality rules. Hatfields Ferry
has wet electrostatic precipitators to reduce PM
and low-NOx burners to control NOx and is in
the process of installing selective non-catalytic
reduction units, but has no scrubbers to capture
SO2 emissions, which can also reduce opacity.
3. Climate Change: The Pennsylvania
Roundtable has announced that seventy percent
of its member companies, which represent
every sector of the United States economy, are
participating in its Climate RESOLVE program.
The Pennsylvania Roundtable Climate
RESOLVE program is designed to address
greenhouse gas emissions and is voluntary.
5. Legislation: S.B. 1211, which was
introduced by Pennsylvania State Sen. Stewart
Greenleaf, would allow the operation of low
speed, neighborhood electric cars on certain
roadways in Pennsylvania. The electric vehicles
would not be subject to vehicle emissions
testing under Pennsylvania’s Inspection and
Maintenance Program.
The Senate and House Environmental
Resources and Energy Committee are
considering three Portfolio Standards bills. The
three bills are: H.B. 2250 (Ross, R-Chester),
S.B. 962 (Ferlo, D-Allegheny), and S.B. 1030
(Erickson, R-Chester). All three bills would
advance renewable energy and clean energy
technology in Pennsylvania. The bills vary on roll
out periods for implementation and categories
of eligibility. Copies of the bills are available at:
http://www.legis.state.pa.us/index.cfm.
4. Enforcement: PA DEP has reached an
agreement with Eureka Stone Quarry Inc., the
owner of stone crushing plants, asphalt plants
and one batch asphalt plant in Bucks County,
Pennsylvania, for alleged air quality violations.
Pursuant to the agreement, Eureka Stone
Quarry Inc. has paid a $41,000 civil penalty for
fugitive emission and record-keeping violations
noted at its Rush Valley Quarry in Wrightstown
Township and Chalfont Quarry in Warrington
Township during inspections from October 2000
through September 2003.
On Sept. 30, 2004, the Philadelphia City
Council passed a resolution urging the
Pennsylvania General Assembly and Gov.
Rendell to set energy efficiency standards for
common appliances bought and sold in
Pennsylvania. Two days earlier, the Pittsburgh
City Council passed a similar resolution. The
Pennsylvania Senate is currently considering
legislation that would establish energy efficiency
standards for a set of eight common appliances
in Pennsylvania, including exit signs, traffic
signals and industrial air conditioners. The
legislation is projected to reduce demand on
coal-fired power plants.
PA DEP has cited Waste Management Inc. for
replacing turbines at the company’s Pottstown
Landfill in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania,
without notifying PA DEP. Waste Management
Inc.’s permit requires the company to notify PA
DEP when the company replaces turbines so
that PA DEP can ensure the company installs
turbines with the best available technology to
mitigate emissions. The violations were
discovered during an inspection of the facility’s
turbine maintenance records. PA DEP also
cited Waste Management Inc. in July 2004 for
exceeding allowable emissions under its
Pottstown permit. The violations will result in a
financial penalty.
On Oct. 6, 2004, the Pennsylvania Legislative
Budget Committee met to discuss and release
a report on the examination of costs and test
prices in the “Drive Clean Pennsylvania”
emission inspection program.
6. Mercury: On Aug. 13, 2004, environmental,
labor, sporting and women’s rights groups filed
a petition requesting that Pennsylvania regulate
toxic emissions from power plants located in
Pennsylvania. The groups requesting relief are
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Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future,
Pennsylvania State Building and Construction
Trades Council, Pennsylvania Federation of
Sportsmen’s Clubs, Pennsylvania Trout,
Pennsylvania National Organization for Women,
Planned Parenthood Pennsylvania Advocates,
Women’s Law Project, WomenVote PA,
PennEnvironment, and Sierra Club
Pennsylvania Chapter. PA DEP found the
petition to be complete and appropriate for
consideration by the Pennsylvania
Environmental Quality Board (PA EQB).
PA DEP has no position on the merits of the
petition. PA EQB will consider the petition at its
meeting on Oct. 19. The petition and
attachments are available on the PA EQB Web
site at http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/subject/
eqb/eqb2004.htm. PA EQB is not expected to
render its decision until the fall of 2004.
standards simply by switching fuels or burning
sub-bituminous coal.” The press release states
that “these MACT floors are inequitable
because they require little or no reductions from
units using sub-bituminous coal.” According to
the press release, the rule essentially
establishes sub-bituminous coal as a
compliance coal. The press release states that:
“Bituminous coal-fired units contribute virtually
all of the mercury reductions contemplated
under the rule. That encourages fuel switching
and a shift away from the Pennsylvania coal
industry in favor of western states.”
7. Mobile Sources: In August 2004, PA DEP
filed comments with EPA in support of the
agency’s efforts to reduce pollution from new
locomotives and marine diesel engines.
PA DEP supports after treatment-based engine
standards that reduce emissions of PM2.5 and
NOx by at least 90 percent and that take effect
in 2011. PA DEP favors application of the
standards and schedules to both new diesel
locomotives and marine engines and rebuilt/
remanufactured engines. In addition to imposing
rigorous new engine standards, PA DEP wants
EPA to ensure continued clean operation of
these engines. For new and in-use locomotives
and marine engines, PA DEP favors mandatory
idling reduction technologies, not-to-exceed
standards, and an in-use testing regime.
PA DEP also urges EPA to characterize
emissions from these sources to help guide
policies in the future.
On Oct. 1, 2004, PA DEP announced that
PA DEP Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty and
representatives from the Pennsylvania coal
industry have requested a meeting with EPA
Administrator Michael O. Leavitt to discuss
EPA’s proposed mercury reduction rule. In a
letter to EPA Administrator Leavitt, Secretary
McGinty, Pennsylvania Coal Association
President George Ellis and United Mine
Workers of America District 2 President
Edward Yankovich contended that EPA’s
proposed mercury reduction rule is “bad for
public health and bad for Pennsylvania.” The
PA DEP’s press release complains that EPA’s
proposed mercury reduction rule would
establish emission standards “based on the
type of coal instead of the class, type, or size of
the source of emissions.” The press release
explains that EPA’s proposed mercury reduction
rule “singles out the cleaner-burning coal mined
in Pennsylvania and other Eastern states by
putting up unfair market barriers to promote the
use of dirtier coal mined in the West.” The
press release further explains that “owners of
coal-fired units that generally burn bituminous
coal could comply with the proposed [maximum
achievable control technology] MACT emissions
On Oct. 7, 2004, EPA Region 3 announced that
the Upper Darby School District in Pennsylvania
would receive a grant in the amount of $485,000
to begin work on its Clean School Bus program.
The funds will be used by the school district to
retrofit 61 of its diesel-powered school buses
with emission reduction equipment and to fuel
the entire fleet of 115 buses with cleaner diesel
fuel. The equipment, in combination with
cleaner fuel, will reduce pollutant emissions from
the diesel buses by 60 to 90 percent.
9
EPA has awarded $1 million in grants to
decrease truck idling. PA DEP announced
Oct. 15, 2004 that Pennsylvania was one of nine
states to share in the $1 million in grants. The
grant funds will be used to study the
effectiveness of using technologies, such as
truck stop electrification and shore power, to
decrease engine idling.
enforceable state operating permit (FESOP)
program submitted by PA DEP on behalf of the
Allegheny County Health Department. The
FESOP program will be implemented by the
Allegheny County Health Department for
sources located in Allegheny County,
Pennsylvania. The final rule was effective
Sept. 29, 2004.
8. NAAQS
Carbon Monoxide: On Aug.16, 2004, PA DEP
held a hearing to receive comments on a
proposed revision to the Pennsylvania State
Implementation Plan (SIP) for maintaining the
carbon monoxide NAAQS for the years 20072017 in Philadelphia County.
SIP Revisions: On July 21, 2004, EPA
published a final rule in the Federal Register
(69 Fed. Reg. 43522) approving state
implementation plan (SIP) revisions submitted
by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on
behalf of the Allegheny County Health
Department. The SIP revisions include:
(1) a regulation change to the allowable sulfur
oxide emission limits for fuel burning equipment;
(2) a modeled demonstration of attainment of
the national ambient air quality standards
(NAAQS) for sulfur dioxide (SO2) in the
Hazelwood nonattainment area (NAA) and the
Monongahela River Valley unclassifiable area,
located in the Allegheny Air Basin in Allegheny
County, Pennsylvania; and (3) a combined
maintenance plan for both areas. In addition,
EPA is redesignating the Hazelwood NAA and
the Monongahela River Valley unclassifiable
area to attainment for the SO2 NAAQS. The
final rule took effect Aug. 20, 2004.
On Aug. 5, 2004, EPA published a withdrawal
(69 Fed. Reg. 47366) of a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 39854) that was published on
July 1, 2004, to amend Pennsylvania’s 10-year
maintenance plan for the 1-hour ozone NAAQS
in the Pittsburgh-Beaver Valley Ozone NAA.
EPA withdrew the direct final rule because the
agency received adverse comments. EPA will
address the comments received in a final action
based upon the proposed rule that was also
published on July 1, 2004.
On Aug. 30, 2004, EPA published a final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 52831) to approve a federally
8-Hour Ozone: On July 9, 2004, PA DEP
requested in a letter that EPA upgrade
Lancaster County’s air quality designation from
“moderate” non-attainment to “marginal” nonattainment for the newly designated 8-hour
ozone air quality standard, pursuant to CAA
§ 181(a)(4), which allows the EPA administrator
to adjust the classification of an area if it has an
8-hour ozone design value within 5 percent of
another category (marginal, moderate, serious,
severe or extreme). Moderate areas must
attain the 8-hour standard no later than June
2010, whereas marginal areas must attain the
8-hour standard no later than June 2007. EPA
granted the request by letter dated July 22,
2004, and published a final rule (69 Fed. Reg.
56697) reclassifying the “moderate” Lancaster
County ozone non-attainment area on Sept. 22,
2004. The final rule takes effect Nov. 22, 2004.
The reclassification gives PA DEP greater
flexibility in the design of a control program to
bring the county into attainment with the 8-hour
standard.
On Aug. 5, 2004, PA DEP Secretary Kathleen
A. McGinty, on behalf of Gov. Edward G.
Rendell, awarded $242,740 to Pennsylvania’s
four air quality partnerships. The purpose of the
grant is to help residents understand the danger
of ground-level ozone and recognize the steps
they can take to clean the air, improve the
10
environment and enhance public health. The
four grant recipients are: (1) Southwest
Pennsylvania Air Quality Partnership Inc. –
$59,700 to fund air quality activities in
Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Fayette,
Washington and Westmoreland counties;
(2) American Lung Association of Pennsylvania
– $55,200 to fund the Lehigh Valley/Berks Air
Quality Partnership for Berks, Lehigh and
Northampton counties; (3) Tri-County Regional
Planning Commission – $62,840 to support the
Susquehanna Air Quality Partnership for
Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon and
York counties; and (4) Delaware Valley Regional
Planning Commission – $65,000 to fund the
Southeast Air Quality Partnership in
Philadelphia and Bucks, Chester, Delaware and
Montgomery counties.
During August 2004, the Susquehanna and
Lehigh Valley Air Quality Partnerships
sponsored television spots that featured
environmental tips to help reduce ozone
concentrations. The tips advised people to
save energy by using electricity wisely, to avoid
topping off the car’s gas tank, to replace old
gas cans with the new environmentally friendly
gas cans and to avoid letting the car idle. The
television spots were aired on WFMZ-TV
(Lehigh Valley) and WGAL (Susquehanna
Valley) and featured the TV weather
personalities.
On Aug. 14, 2004, the Susquehanna Air Quality
Partnership and Coach Ozone participated in
the 2004 Lancaster Fest in Southcentral,
Pennsylvania. Representatives of the
Susquehanna Air Quality Partnership explained
the effects of ground-level ozone on the
environment and people’s health and explained
how people could help reduce ozone
concentration.
On Aug. 16, 2004, the Lehigh Valley/Berks
County Air Quality Partnership sponsored
Ozone Action Night at First Energy Stadium in
Reading, Pennsylvania. Coach Ozone and
representatives of the Lehigh Valley/Berks
County Air Quality Partnership distributed air
quality and ozone educational information to
fans of the Double A Philadelphia Phillies minor
league affiliate.
On Aug. 21, 2004, the Lehigh Valley/Berks
County Air Quality Partnership distributed 500
free California Air Resource Board (CARB)
compliant gasoline cans in exchange for old gas
cans. The CARB-compliant gasoline cans are
evaporation and spill-proof. Also in Lehigh
Valley, PA DEP, the Lehigh Valley/Berks County
Air Quality Partnership and the Lehigh/North
Hampton Transportation Authority (LANTA)
sponsored Ride Free on Ozone Action Days, a
program that offers residents free bus rides on
any weekday designated as an Ozone Action
Day.
On Oct. 1, 2004, PA DEP announced that ozone
levels in 2004 averaged a record low. The PA
DEP’s press release reports that PA DEP
monitors registered 13 days that exceeded the
8-hour ozone standard, the lowest number in the
last 10 years, and that no state monitors
exceeded the 1-hour ozone standard.
Pennsylvania’s 8-hour ozone SIP is due
April 15, 2007.
PM2.5: By letter dated Aug. 30, 2004, PA DEP
Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty urged EPA to
reconsider its proposed PM2.5 designations.
PA DEP Secretary McGinty objected to EPA’s
proposal to include the following Pennsylvania
counties: Mercer County in the Youngstown
area; Lawrence, Butler, Armstrong, and Greene
counties in the Pittsburgh area; Indiana County
in the Johnstown area; Lebanon County in the
Harrisburg area; and Bucks and Montgomery
counties in the Philadelphia area. In her letter,
PA DEP’s Secretary McGinty opposes EPA’s
“recently developed ‘weighted emissions’
approach [that] expands non-attainment areas
to include counties monitoring attainment solely
because of the emissions from certain major
sources, including coal-fired power plants,
11
located in those counties.” Pennsylvania takes
the position that “emissions from large point
sources, including power plants, must be
addressed by national or regional legislation or
regulation.” The letter also cites EPA’s failure to
propose an implementation rule for the PM2.5
standard. In addition, in her Aug. 30, 2004
letter, PA DEP’s Secretary McGinty
recommends a designation of two additional
non-attainment areas within the Pittsburgh nonattainment area. The letter explains that these
areas have unique, local PM2.5 problems and
should not be included within the Pittsburgh nonattainment area. The problems are in the
vicinities of the Liberty Burrow, Clairtown and
North Braddock monitors. Pennsylvania’s
PM2.5 SIP is due in February 2008.
branch will evaluate Pennsylvania’s Title V state
operating permits program. EPA will interview
Pennsylvania permit managers and staff writers
regarding all aspects of Pennsylvania’s
program.
9. New Source Review: Pennsylvania is
implementing the new federal attainment PSD
rules. Pennsylvania has initiated a stakeholder
group to look at the new federal nonattainment
NSR rules.
PA DEP has submitted a request to EPA that its
grants be consolidated into a performance
partnership grant (PPG) for FY2005. The
programs that would be included are: air
pollution control, state indoor radon, water
pollution control, non-point source, public water
system supervision, hazardous waste
management and underground storage tanks.
The primary purpose of such an agreement is to
simplify fiscal administration of EPA grants.
10. Permits: On Oct. 2, 2004, PA DEP issued
the proposed following general plan approvals
and/or general operating permits (GPs) which
contain pre-determined Best Available
Technology (BAT) and other regulatory
requirements: (1) BAQ-GPA/GP-9 (Diesel or
No. 2 Fuel-fired Internal Combustion Engines),
(b) BAQ-GPA/GP-11 (Non-road Engines), and
(c) BAQ-GPA/GP 12 (Fugitive Dust Sources
and Diesel-fired Internal Combustion Engines at
Coal and Coal Refuse Mining Sites). The GPs
will apply to the construction, operation and
modification of the above-mentioned sources
unless the source is subject to the requirements
of the Pennsylvania PSD or NSR rules. The
proposed GPs set forth applicable emission
limits as well as compliance demonstration,
monitoring, record-keeping, and reporting
requirements. The comment period ends
Nov. 16, 2004.
11. Title V: EPA’s Region 3 Air Protection
Division’s permits and technical assessment
12. Miscellaneous: From July 20 through Aug.
15, 2004, scientists from three U.S. Department
of Energy (DOE) national laboratories sampled
the skies over Western Pennsylvania. The
scientists conducted regional air-sampling
flights from Latrobe Airport, which is located
about 25 miles east of Pittsburgh, in
Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. The
scientists sampled the air for aerosol pollutants
and evaluated their effects on the Earth’s
climate.
On Aug. 24, 2004, PA DEP issued a plan
approval to Aconcagua Timber Corp. for the
installation of a new scrubber at its medium
density fiberboard plant in Paint Township,
Clarion County, Pennsylvania. This means that
the facility can reactivate other sources at the
facility and begin production. Under the plan
approval, the facility must demonstrate
compliance with existing emission limits and
incorporate maintenance and record keeping
and other conditions to ensure compliance with
the CAA.
At the 2004 Renewable Energy Conference:
Enhancing our Economy and Environment, on
Aug. 31 and Sept. 1, 2004, in Champion,
Somerset County, Pennsylvania, PA DEP
Secretary Kathleen A. McGinty spoke about
12
how Pennsylvania’s indigenous resources could
be used to boost Pennsylvania’s economy while
helping to fight the rising prices of imported fuel.
Opportunities cited by PA DEP Secretary
McGinty included: deployment of coal-mine
methane, wind energy deployment; fuel and
solar cell manufacturing, solar water-pumping
deployment, biomass co-firing, and small-scale
wind and anaerobic digesters.
In response to requests from residents of
Shippingport, Beaver County, Pennsylvania, the
PA DEP’s mobile analytical unit, or MAU, also
known as the sniffer bus, began testing air
quality in Shippingport the end of August 2004.
The residents claim that emissions from First
Energy’s Bruce Mansfield power station are
impacting their community. PA DEP is
expected to report to the residents in October
2004 after all of the samples are tabulated.
At a hearing before the Pennsylvania Senate
Environmental Resources and Energy
Committee, PA DEP Secretary Kathleen A.
McGinty testified that PA DEP intends to
encourage the use of waste coal and is
considering waste coal as a potential part of
Pennsylvania’s renewable energy portfolio.
Environmental groups oppose the inclusion of
waste coal as part of Pennsylvania’s renewable
energy portfolio.
On Sept. 8, 2004, the Union of Concerned
Scientists released a study, concluding that a
national renewable electricity standard of
20 percent by 2020 would produce more than
5,800 jobs in Pennsylvania and would also save
Pennsylvania consumers $1.8 billion on their
energy bills through 2020.
On Sept. 10, 2004, PA DEP Secretary Kathleen
A. McGinty announced the approval and transfer
of NOx emission reduction credits from Hershey
Foods Corp. to the Chesapeake Bay
Foundation. Hershey Foods Corp. created the
credits by shutting down a boiler and by
reducing actual emissions from boilers at their
Dauphin County plant. The Chesapeake Bay
Foundation will permanently retire all of the
transferred credits for the restoration and
protection of the Chesapeake Bay and its
watershed.
On Sept. 15, 2004, PA DEP Northwest
Regional Director Kelly Burch, Presque Isle
Partnership, and Presque Isle State Park
representatives activated a new wind turbine at
Presque State Park. The new wind turbine will
provide power to the Stull Interpretive Center
and excess energy will be fed back into the grid.
The Presque Isle wind energy project uses a
Bergey Excel-S 10-kilowatt wind turbine on a
120-foot tower at Barracks Beach across from
the Stull Interpretive Center. The wind turbine
will provide 17,000-kilowatt hours per year. The
wind energy project was financed in part with a
grant in the amount of $42,106.00 from the
Energy Harvest Grant Program.
On Sept. 16, 2004, PA DEP Secretary Kathleen
A. McGinty, legislators, dignitaries and
Dominion Energy officials and employees
celebrated the completion of Fairless Energy
Works. Fairless Energy Works is a gas-fired
power plant with two natural gas-fired, steamdriven turbine units that can each generate
590 megawatts. The gas-fired power plant cost
$800 million and took two years to build. The
plant is located along the Delaware River on a
portion of the former USX Steel site in Fairless
Hills, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
Also on Sept. 16, 2004, PA DEP Secretary
Kathleen A. McGinty activated a new
4.8-kilowatt solar panel installed on the roof of
the Media Armory Building in Media, Delaware
County, Pennsylvania. The solar panel will
generate nearly 5,000 kilowatt hours per year.
This will result in a twenty percent savings in
Media Borough’s electric bill for the Armory. In
addition, the solar panel will help to reduce
CO2, NOx and SO2 emissions. The solar panel
project was funded in part with a grant in the
amount of $15,925.00 from the Energy Harvest
Grant Program.
13
On Sept. 30, 2004, Pennsylvania Gov. Edward
G. Rendell dedicated Reliant Energy’s new
waste coal power station in East Wheatfield
Township, Indiana County, Pennsylvania. The
new power station will use coal refuse piles,
known as culm, from the Conemaugh Valley and
areas near the Allegheny River and the West
Branch of the Susquehanna River.
On Oct. 1, 2004, EPA Region 3 Administrator
Donald S. Welsh presented a $248,500 check
to Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia for their
Community Asthma Prevention Program
(CAPP). CAPP increases the knowledge and
understanding of asthma and asthma
management in urban communities and works
with parents to eradicate environmental tobacco
smoke from the child’s environment. CAPP has
added environmental tobacco smoke (i.e.,
second-hand smoke) as an additional
component to its asthma prevention program.
On Oct. 8, 2004, PA DEP and Pennsylvania
Department of Community and Economic
Development sponsored an Industrial Energy
Alternatives Forum in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
The forum focused on landfill gas and coal-mine
methane as potential alternatives to natural gas
in manufacturing and large commercial
operations. The forum also reviewed
opportunities to recycle energy through
combined heat and power projects.
From Oct. 5 through Nov. 3, 2004, PA DEP will
offer statewide workshops to help small
business owners learn how to reduce energy
costs and increase profits. Brochures and
registration forms are available by contacting
the PA DEP’s Office of Energy Technology
Development at (717) 783-8411 or by visiting
the PA DEP’s Web site at www.dep.state.
pa.us, Keyword “Ombudsman”.
On Oct. 14, 2004, at PennFuture’s fifth annual
“GreenPower: Turn It On!” awards ceremony in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, PA DEP Secretary
Kathleen A. McGinty announced that the
Commonwealth has doubled its green electricity
purchase from 5 percent to 10 percent. The
Commonwealth will purchase 100,000
megawatt hours per year, or 10 percent of state
government’s electricity, from renewable
sources such as wind, waste coal and
hydroelectric energy, all at a premium rate of
only 0.34 cents per kilowatt hour, pursuant to
four-year contracts with Community Energy Inc.
and Strategic Energy LLC.
E. Virginia
1. Enforcement: Smurfit-Stone Container
Corporation and EPA have entered into a
consent decree arising out of the company’s
alleged violations of air pollution laws dating
from September 1997. The alleged violations
involved failure to limit emissions of sulfur, sulfur
dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter
at the company’s box factory in Hopewell,
Virginia. Under the consent decree, SmurfitStone Container Corporation agrees to pay
$501,000 to the federal government and
$334,000 to Virginia. The consent decree is
subject to a 30-day comment period and
approval by the U.S. District Court for the
Northern District of Virginia.
Mirant Mid-Atlantic has entered into a separate
agreement with the Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality (VA DEQ), in addition to
a proposed consent decree with EPA, the
Commonwealth of Virginia, and the state of
Maryland that was lodged on Sept. 27, 2004, in
the U.S. States District Court for the Eastern
District of Virginia, to conduct a study of the
company’s emissions from its Potomac River
Generating Station in Alexandria, Virginia. The
study will use computer modeling to determine
whether key pollutants, such as mercury and
ozone, exceed air quality standards. If they do,
Mirant will be required to reduce the pollution.
2. NAAQS:
SIP Revisions: On Aug. 9, 2004, EPA published
in the Federal Register a proposed rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 48186) and a direct final rule
14
(69 Fed. Reg. 48150) to approve a State
Implementation Plan (SIP) revision submitted by
Virginia specifying that the Northern Virginia
Ozone Nonattainment Area (NAA) is now
subject to the severe major source permitting
requirements and lowering the major stationary
source threshold for NOx from 50 tons per year
to 25 tons per year. The direct final rule
automatically took effect on Oct. 8, 2004, unless
EPA received adverse written comment by
Sept. 8, 2004.
On Aug. 25, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 52220) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 52174) to convert a conditional
approval to a full approval of a Virginia SIP
revision changing the start date of flow control in
Virginia’s NOx Budget Trading Program from
2006 to 2005. The flow control provision limits
the number of banked allowances that can be
used for compliance purposes and is triggered
when the region-wide total of banked
allowances exceeds a specified threshold.
Flow control is required to start in the second
year of the trading program, and the year 2005
will be the second year of Virginia’s NOx
Budget Trading Program. Unless EPA received
adverse written comment by Sept. 24, 2004, the
direct final rule will take effect automatically on
Oct. 25, 2004.
On Sept. 2, 2004, EPA published a correction
(69 Fed. Reg. 53778) to the table, which
pertains to EPA-approved regulations in the
Virginia SIP, in the Aug. 25, 2004 direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 52174) concerning the revision to
the flow control date in the NOx Budget Trading
Program.
On Sept. 8, 2004, EPA published a final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 54216) updating the materials
submitted by the Commonwealth of Virginia that
are incorporated by reference into the Virginia
SIP. The final rule took effect immediately on
Sept. 8, 2004.
On Sept. 9, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 54601) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 54578) to approve NOx RACT for
the Prince William County Landfill located in
Prince William County, Virginia. The rule is
automatically effective on Nov. 8, 2004, unless
EPA received adverse written comment by
Oct. 12, 2004.
On Sept. 9, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 54600) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 54574) to approve NOx RACT for
two individual sources in Fairfax County,
Virginia. The two individual sources are the
Central Intelligence Agency and the National
Reconnaissance Office. Unless EPA received
adverse written comment by Oct. 12, 2004, the
rule takes effect on Nov. 8, 2004.
On Sept. 10, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 54759) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 54753) to approve Virginia’s
hospital/medical/infectious incinerator § 111(d)/
129 plan. The plan applies to commercial and
industrial solid waste incinerator units for which
construction commenced on or before Nov. 30,
1999. The plan establishes emission limits,
monitoring, operating, and record-keeping
requirements for commercial and industrial solid
waste incinerator units. The rule takes effect on
Nov. 9, 2004, unless EPA received written
comment by Oct. 12, 2004. When the rule
becomes effective, the federal plan (65 Fed.
Reg. 49868, Aug. 15, 2000) will no longer apply.
On Oct. 6, 2004, EPA published a proposed
rule (69 Fed. Reg. 59839) and a direct final rule
(69 Fed. Reg. 59812) to approve NOx RACT
from Washington Gas Company, Ravensworth
Station, Registration No. 72277, located in
Fairfax County, Virginia. The rule takes effect
on Dec. 6, 2004, unless EPA receives adverse
written comment by Nov. 5, 2004.
On Oct. 28, 2004, VA DEQ will hold a hearing
on a proposed revision to the Virginia State
Implementation Plan (SIP) consisting of a
portion of a state operating permit for the Mirant
Mid-Atlantic, LLC (Mirant), Potomac River
Generation Station (PRGS) in the city of
15
Alexandria, Virginia. The proposed permit is
being issued to make enforceable under the
federal Clean Air Act portions of a consent
decree lodged in the U.S. District Court for the
Eastern District of Virginia on Sept. 27, 2004,
affecting PRGS. The proposed permit includes
a cap on total NOX emissions from PRGS that
becomes increasingly more stringent each year
until leveling off in 2010 at 1,475 tons per ozone
season. The permit would also include the
consent decree’s requirement for additional
environmental projects pertaining to the PRGS,
primarily for the control of ash and coal dust.
8-Hour Ozone: On Sept. 22, 2004, EPA
published a final rule (69 Fed. Reg. 56697)
reclassifying the Richmond, Virginia “moderate”
8-hour ozone non-attainment area as “marginal”
for the 8-hour ozone NAAQS. EPA re-classified
the area pursuant to CAA § 181(a)(4), which
provides that an ozone non-attainment area may
be reclassified “if the design value in the area
were 5 percent greater or 5 percent less than
the level on which such classification was
based.” The reclassification of the Richmond,
Virginia ozone non-attainment area means that
the area must attain the new 8-hour NAAQS by
2007 instead of 2010. The area also has
greater flexibility in the design of a control
program to attain the 8-hour ozone standard.
The final rule takes effect on Nov. 22, 2004.
Virginia’s 8-hour ozone SIP is due April 15,
2007.
PM2.5: Virginia is meeting the NAAQS for
PM2.5. Because there were no areas
exceeding the NAAQS for PM2.5 for the years
2001-2003, Virginia recommended in a
February 2004 letter that all areas of the
Commonwealth be designated attainment with
the PM standards. EPA, however, announced
its intention in June 2004 to include the Northern
Virginia area on the list of non-attainment areas
for PM2.5. On Sept. 1, 2004, Virginia again
recommended to the EPA that Northern Virginia
not be designated non-attainment for PM2.5.
EPA plans to make its final designations in
November 2004. Virginia’s PM2.5 SIP is due in
February 2008.
3. New Source Review: The federal New
Source Review (NSR) reforms are extremely
controversial in Virginia. On July 12, 2004,
Virginia initiated the rulemaking process by
notice of intent to adopt the federal NSR rules.
Comments were due on Sept. 8, 2004. An ad
hoc group has been established to assist
VA DEQ in developing the VA NSR regulation.
Tables comparing each section of the Virginia
Chapter 80 regulations to each section of the
EPA regulations (Article 8 to 40 CFR 51.166
and 52.21; Article 9 to 40 CFR 51.165) are
available at http://www.deg.viginia.gov/air/
regulations/nsrweb.html.
On Oct. 18, 2004, the VA DEQ advisory
committee will meet on the major NSR reform at
the VA DEQ central office in Richmond,
Virginia. For updates on the NSR reform
process in Virginia, see http://ww.deg.virginia.
gov/air/regulations/nsrweb.html.
VA DEQ is expected to issue an NSR permit for
a new gas-fired 520 MW plant in Warner
County. Warner County is an ozone attainment
area. The proposed plant will be close to a
transmission line and gas pipeline but will also
be near the Shenandoah National Park. At the
suggestion of the developers, VA DEQ will
require the developers to demonstrate that the
plant will reduce 175 tons of NOx from other
stationary sources which have an impact on the
park and would not otherwise have been
controlled.
4. Permits: VA DEQ has received applications
for State Operating Permits, pursuant to
9 VAC 5 Chapter 80, Article 5 of the Virginia
Regulations for the Control and Abatement of
Air Pollution, from: Lafarge Building Materials
Incorporated – Chesapeake Terminal,
Chesapeake, Virginia, to limit the source’s
potential-to-emit levels below the 1990 Clean
Air Act Amendments’ Title V major sources
16
threshold; and from Des Champs Technologies
to operate an industrial heating, ventilation and
air conditioning manufacturing plant. Also
pending is a Phase II Acid Rain permit for
Virginia Electric and Power Company to
operate the Mecklenburg Power Station in
Clarksville, Virginia. In addition, VA DEQ has
received an application for a Prevention of
Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit from
Island Creek Coal Company for a major
modification to the VP #8 Garden coal
preparation facility. VA DEQ is also considering
an air permit application from MasterBrand
Cabinets to construct a cabinet manufacturing
and coating facility that will be a major emission
source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs).
sensing. In general, the regulation needs to be
amended to reflect new emission standards
detected to be remote sensing as well as
criteria for conducting random testing of motor
vehicle emissions, procedures to notify owners
of tests results and assessment of civil charges
for noncompliance with emissions standards in
the current regulation. Two specific changes to
the regulation as a result of changes to the state
code include the model coverage for vehicles
subject to remote sensing to include model year
1968 and newer model vehicles, and the
requirement to establish a program to subsidize
repair costs of some vehicles identified by
remote sensing. Comments were due Oct. 8,
2004.
5. Regulations: On Sept. 9, 2004, the Virginia
Air Pollution Control Board (VA APCB) held
public hearings on two proposed regulations:
(1) Regulation for the Control and Abatement of
Air Pollution (9 VAC 5 Chapter 40), Revision
G03, concerning Consumer Products; and
(2) Regulation for the Control of Motor Vehicle
Emissions in Northern Virginia (9 VAC 5
Chapter 91), Revision MJ, concerning Remote
Sensing.
On Oct. 24, 2004, VA DEQ published in the
Virginia Register a Notice of Intended
Regulatory Action (NOIRA) proposing to revise
regulations for the control and abatement of air
pollution concerning open burning. The purpose
of the proposed action is to reduce emission of
VOCs and NOX from open burning and special
incineration devices in Virginia’s emissions
control areas, i.e., Northern Virginia, Hampton
Roads, and Richmond, to attain and maintain
the federal NAAQS for ozone and NOX. A
public hearing on the amendment to the
regulation for the control and abatement of air
pollution concerning open burning was to be
held on Nov. 10, 2004 at the VA DEQ central
office in Richmond, Virginia. Comments were
due Nov. 10, 2004.
The proposed regulation concerning consumer
products will add a new rule that applies only to
sources in the Northern Virginia volatile organic
compounds (VOCs) emissions control area
designated in 9 VAC 5-20-206. The regulation
will limit VOC emissions from consumer
products such as adhesives, adhesive
removers, aerosol products (like cooking and
dusting sprays), air freshner, antiperspirants and
deodorants, facial toners and astringents,
waxes and polishes (for cars, floors, etc.), tile
cleaners, tar removers, bug sprays, rug
cleaners, charcoal lighter fluid, disinfectants,
cosmetics and soaps. Comments were due
Oct. 8, 2004.
The proposed regulation concerning remote
sensing make a number of revisions to conform
to changes in Virginia law pertaining to remote
6. Title V: VA DEQ has received an application
for a Title V or federal operating permit from
Philip Morris USA, Inc. Richmond Manufacturing
Center to operate the facility’s tobacco
processing equipment. Also pending are
applications for renewal of Title V permits for the
following sources: Royal Mouldings Limited’s
wood and plastic moulding manufacturing
facility; Valle Proteins, Inc. – Winchester
Division’s rendering facility; Valley Proteins, Inc.
– Linville’s rendering facility. In addition, VA
DEQ has received applications from Huber
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Engineered Woods, LLC, for a significant
amendment to a Modified Stationary Source
Permit and a significant modification to a Title V
Federal Operating Permit. The draft permits will
allow Huber Engineered Woods, LLC, to
operate an oriented strandboard manufacturing
facility.
7. Miscellaneous: The Virginia Department of
Environmental Quality has received Fiscal Year
2004 air funding in the amount of $750,891 to
monitor PM.
Virginia is one of seven states seeking to be the
site of American Electric Power’s (AEP)
proposed 1,000 megawatt coal gasification
plant. The plant will use integrated gasification
combined cycle (IGCC) technology. The
technology turns coal into a synthetic gas, which
is then used as a feedstock. Emissions
reductions are well below those required under
the Clean Air Act. AEP is not expected to
choose a site until 2005. In making a decision,
AEP will consider: rate recovery, availability of
redevelopment sites or room for expansion at
existing sites, access to river or rail transport,
adequate power transmission capacity and
ability for load growth, impact on wildlife and
natural lands, proximity to industrial
development and community support.
In September 2004, VA DEQ published the
Virginia Ambient Air Monitoring 2003 Data
Report. The report states that ambient
concentrations of CO, NOX, and SO2 met
EPA’s NAAQS during 2003. The report also
states that Virginia is meeting the NAAQS for
both PM10 and PM2.5. The report recognizes
that Virginia continues to experience problems
with summertime ozone pollution, particularly in
Northern Virginia, Richmond, and Hampton
Roads. In 2003, Northern Virginia had two days
when a 1-hour ozone average greater than 0.12
ppm was recorded at one or more monitoring
stations in the area. Richmond and Hampton
Roads each had one day greater than 0.12
ppm. The report is available at http://www.deq.
virginia.gov/airmon/publications.html.
VA DEQ has granted a variance to Merck and
Company, Inc.’s Stonewall Plant from some
portions of Virginia’s regulations for the control
and abatement of air pollution and has issued to
Merck and Company, Inc. a Prevention of
Significant Deterioration (PSD) permit which
will act in lieu of those regulations. The variance
and PSD Permit are part of EPA’s Project XL.
On Nov. 11, 2004, VA APCB was scheduled to
meet and hold its annual meeting with the
advisory board in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
F. West Virginia
1. Enforcement: In July 2004, the West
Virginia Division of Air Quality (WV DAQ)
issued a notice of violation (NOV) to AEP for
alleged fugitive emissions of fly ash or coarse
particulate matter at the company’s John E.
Amos plant. The leaks occurred in the duct
conveying flue gas between the Unit #3 boiler
and the electrostatic precipitator (ESP) as well
as in and around the ESP. The leaks have been
repaired. AEP’s response to the NOV was due
July 17, 2004. AEP’s John E. Amos plant is the
10th largest coal-fired plant in the United States.
2. Litigation: Coal-fired power plants in the
Midwest (including West Virginia) and the
Southeast, are targeted in a public nuisance
action filed on July 21, 2004, seeking to reduce
CO2 emissions. Eight States and New York
City filed the climate change action against five
utilities in the United States District Court for the
Southern District of New York on July 21, 2004.
The eight states filing suit are: California,
Connecticut, Iowa, New Jersey, New York,
Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin. The five
utility defendants are: American Electric Power
Co., Southern Co., Tennessee Valley Authority,
Xcel Energy Co. and Cinergy Corp.
On July 29, 2004, GenPower LLC and certain
environmental groups reached a settlement on
emission restrictions at the proposed 600 MW
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coal-fired Longview power plant in the Fort
Martin area near Morgantown in Monongalia
County, West Virginia. The settlement on
emission restrictions exceeds the requirements
of the facility’s air permit that was issued on
March 2, 2004. The March 2, 2004 permit was
the subject of an appeal by the environmental
groups pending before the West Virginia
Environmental Quality Board (WV EQB). The
environmental groups include the West Virginia
Chapter of the Sierra Club, Trout Unlimited, and
the National Parks Conservation Association.
Under the settlement agreement, GenPower
agrees to cap the plant’s SO2 emissions at
2,417 tons per year and NOx emissions at
1,739 tons per year. The permit allowed
approximately 25 percent more SO2 emissions
than the settlement and established a NOx
emission rate of 0.08 lbs/mmBtu. GenPower
also agreed to install a continuous emission
monitoring system for mercury. In addition,
GenPower agreed to pay $500,000 a year for
the first 10 years and $300,000 for the life of the
plant to fund a newly created non-profit that will
include GenPower and various environmental
groups to focus on greenhouse gas issues or
any other issue that the non-profit agrees to
consider. WV DEP must approve the
settlement agreement.
On Aug. 27, 2004, the West Virginia Public
Service Commission (WV PSC) issued a siting
permit for the Longview power plant. WV PSC
found that the project’s positive impact
outweighed its “negative aspects.” According to
GenPower LLC, Longview will employ
approximately 60 people and create up to 1,600
construction jobs. When completed, the
company says that Longview will use more than
2 million tons of coal per year. In issuing the
siting permit, WV PSC set several conditions
that Longview must meet. Specifically, the
company must provide detailed plans for the
plant and its equipment, conduct a study on the
plant’s noise impact, demonstrate financial
viability and calculate a reasonable tax
estimate. On Sept. 27, 2004, Citizens for
Alternatives to Longview Power filed an appeal
with the Supreme Court of Appeals of West
Virginia, contending that the conditions set by
WV PSC should have been met before the
application was approved. In addition, the
appeal claims that WV PSC did not set any
standards for the information that Longview is
required to submit, and did not provide an
opportunity for the public to review or challenge
it.
3. NAAQS:
8-Hour Ozone: West Virginia’s 8-hour ozone
SIP is due April 15, 2007.
PM2.5: By letter dated Aug. 31, 2004, West
Virginia Department of Environmental
Protection (WV DEP) Cabinet Secretary
Stephanie Timmermeyer responded to EPA’s
proposed modifications to the preliminary
PM2.5 designation recommendations for the
state of West Virginia. Timmermeyer objected
to EPA’s proposal to expand West Virginia’s
designation recommendations by adding four
counties to the potential PM2.5 non-attainment
areas (Harrison, Mason, Monongalia and
Pleasants). In her Aug. 31, 2004 letter,
Timmermeyer complained that: “The agency
seems poised to subject these counties to the
whole gamut of non-attainment requirements
just because they contain power plants.” The
letter points out that monitors in two of the
counties (Monongalia and Harrison) show
attainment with the PM2.5 standard. The letter
further states that the non-attainment
designations are unnecessary, explaining that
“[t]he WVDEP possesses the authority to
regulate any stationary source within the State
that may require emissions control to achieve
and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality
Standards, regardless of whether the source is
located in a non-attainment area” and promising
to “exercise this authority as needed to achieve
attainment in a timely manner.” WV DEP
Cabinet Secretary Timmermeyer’s Aug. 31,
2004 letter is available at http://www.dep.state.
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wv.us/item.cfm?ssid=8&ss1id=19. West
Virginia’s PM2.5 SIP is due in February 2008.
4. New Source Review: West Virginia is the
farthest along of all of the Region 3 States in
adopting the new federal NSR rules. A public
hearing was held on West Virginia’s proposed
NSR rules, 45 CSR 14, “Permits for
Construction and Major Modification for Major
Stationary Sources of Air Pollution for the
Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD),”
and 45 CSR 19, “Permits for Construction and
Major Modification of Major Stationary Sources
of Air Pollution Which Cause or Contribute to
Non-attainment,” on Aug. 2, 2004. Except for
the equipment replacement rule, West Virginia
is proposing to adopt the federal NSR reforms.
On Aug. 2, 2004, the West Virginia
Manufacturers Association (WVMA) submitted
comments on the proposed changes to 45 CSR
15 and 45 CSR 19. WVMA supports the
incorporation of the federal NSR revisions by
West Virginia as part of its state implementation
plan (SIP) and also supports the WV DAQ’s
proposed revisions to cure deficiencies in the
current rules where inconsistencies appear.
WVMA recommended a number of changes to
address inconsistencies in proposed definitions
in Rule 14 and Rule 19. For example, WVMA
noted that WV DAQ has modified the definition
of “actual emissions” under Rule 19, but not
Rule 14, and WVMA recommended that WV
DAQ adopt the same proposed language for
the definition of “actual emissions” for both Rule
14 and Rule 19. WVMA also recommended
that the existing definition of “allowable
emissions” be identical under both Rules 14
and 19. WVMA recommended that the WV
DAQ revise the definition of “regulated pollutant”
to “regulated NSR pollutant” in order to be
consistent with the federal regulations. In
addition to the recommendations concerning
proposed definitions, WVMA suggested that
WV DAQ include a cross reference in Rule 14
to use the provisions in 45 CSR 13, “Permits for
Construction, Modification, Relocation and
Operation of Stationary Sources of Air
Pollutants, Notification Requirements,
Administrative Updates, Temporary Permits,
General Permits, and Procedures for
Evaluation,” for administrative updates and
minor modifications for a major source permit.
WVMA urged WV DAQ to define “minor source
baseline concentration” and to clarify whether
this increase is a cap or applies on a facility
basis. WVMA opposed the WV DAQ’s
proposed revision that information included in
an application can be the subject of an
enforcement action even if the information is not
contained within the permit. WVMA also
opposed the WV DAQ’s proposal that a source
that has not operated at least 500 hours in one
12-month period within the previous 5-year
period may be considered permanently
shutdown.
On Aug. 25, 2004, WV DAQ filed with the West
Virginia Secretary of State’s Office the final
approved versions of Rule 14 and Rule 19.
WV DAQ adopted many of the WVMA’s
suggestions, including revisions to many of the
definitions in order to provide consistency
between Rules 14 and 19. WV DAQ agreed
that the procedure for an administrative update
or minor modification of a Rule 14 permit was
unclear, but instead of adding a cross-reference
to the procedure contained in Rule 13 as
recommended by WVMA, WV DAQ deleted
“and 45 CSR 19” from 45-14-21.1 and 45-1421.1.b. WV DAQ also declined to define “minor
source baseline concentration” as referenced in
the Federal Class I requirement provisions.
WV DAQ stated it believes the term is clear in
its meaning and that it is unwilling to define a
term that was coined by EPA. WV DAQ
suggested that WVMA request a definition from
EPA. In addition, WV DAQ rejected the request
to revise the provision that any owner or
operator who constructs, modifies or relocates
any stationary source not in accordance with the
application submitted to WV DAQ shall be
subject to enforcement action. WV DAQ stated
that the language was taken from the federal
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regulation, 45 CFR 52.21. Finally, WV DAQ
agreed to delete the proposed permanent
shutdown provisions. WV DAQ concluded that
other provisions in the rule would provide
consistency with Rule 13.
5. Permits: On July 15, 2004, WV DAQ issued
for comment a draft General Permit for
emergency generators, as a Class II General
Permit. Comments were due Aug. 15, 2004.
6. Quarterly DAQ Workshops: WV DAQ has
cancelled the Oct. 28, 2004 Workshop. The
next Workshop will be held early spring 2005 at
the new office of WV DEP in Charleston, West
Virginia. Suggested topics for the Spring 2005
Workshop include: non-attainment designation
impacts, NOx SIP Call, recently promulgated
Maximum Achievable Control Technology
(MACT) standards, Title V semi-annual/annual
report information, Method 22 visual
observations, concurrent Title V/Rule 13 permit
update, and 40 CFR 60 and 40 CFR 63
Subpart A general provisions. WV DEP invites
submission of topics of interest.
7. Regulations: On Aug. 2, 2004, WV DAQ
held a public hearing on proposed revisions to
the following existing legislative rules: (1) 45
CSR 14, “Permits for Construction and Major
Modification of Major Stationary Sources of Air
Pollution for the Prevention of Significant
Deterioration” (PSD); (2) 45 CSR 15, “Emission
Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants Pursuant
to 40 CSR Part 61;” (3) 45 CSR 16, “Standards
of Performance for New Stationary Sources
Pursuant to 40 CSR Part 60;” (4) 45 CSR 19,
“Permits for Construction and Major
Modification of Major Stationary Sources of Air
Pollution Which Cause or Contribute to Nonattainment;” (5) 45 CSR 25, “To Prevent and
Control Air Pollution From Hazardous Waste
Treatment, Storage, or Disposal Facilities;” and
(6) 45 CSR 34, “Emission Standards for
Hazardous Air Pollutants for Source Categories
Pursuant to 40 CSR Part 63.” Upon
authorization and promulgation to provisions to
45 CSR 15, 45 CSR 16 and 45 CSR 34, WV
DAQ will provide to EPA the updated final rules
as part of West Virginia’s program delegation
of the New Source Performance Standards and
National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air
Pollutants, which became effective Jan. 8, 2002.
Upon authorization and promulgation of
revisions to 45 CSR 14 and 45 CSR 19, WV
DAQ will submit the final rules to EPA as a
revision to the SIP pursuant to the federal Clean
Air Act (CAA). Upon authorization and
promulgation and revisions to 45 CSR 25,
WV DAQ will submit to EPA the final rule for
approval as part of the State Hazardous Waste
Management Program. The proposed
legislative rules are available on line at
www.wvdep.org by selecting “Offices – Division
of Air Quality.” Under the General Information
heading, select “Public Notice and Comment.”
8. Miscellaneous: West Virginia is one of
seven states seeking to be the site of AEP’s
proposed 1,000 megawatt coal gasification
plant. The plant will use integrated gasification
combined cycle (IGCC) technology. The
technology turns coal into a synthetic gas, which
is then used as a feedstock. Emissions
reductions are well below those required under
the CAA.
During the week of Oct. 11-15, 2004, the West
Virginia Division of Air Quality (WV DAQ) will be
relocating to a new WV DEP consolidated
“Green” building. Beginning Oct. 18, 2004, the
mailing address and phone numbers will
change. The new mailing address for the
WV DAQ will be WV DEP, Division of Air
Quality, 601 57th St. SE, Charleston, WV
25304.
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