Home » News
Filter by category:

EPA Final Rule Establishes Criteria for Designating Ozone Non-Attainment Areas

 

Recently, the EPA issued final requirements establishing criteria for state and local air agencies to implement the 2015 National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone. These requirements apply to states with non-attainment areas. Ozone is formed from NOX and VOC in the presence of sunlight. Cars, trucks, buses, engines, industries, power plants and products, such as solvents and paints, are among the major man-made sources of ozone-forming emissions. Ozone standards and attainment criteria are important to petroleum marketers because they could lead to the introduction of RVP and RFG requirements in non-attainment areas depending on the severity of the ozone pollution they establish.

In October 2015, the EPA strengthened the ozone NAAQS from 75 parts per billion (ppb) to 70 ppb, a significant change that will make it more likely that RFG and RVP could be mandated in many of newly designated nonattainment areas. After the EPA establishes or revises an air quality standard as it did in 2015, the agency, with input from the states, establishes area designations (i.e., as nonattainment, attainment, or unclassifiable) to the EPA. The EPA then evaluates air quality data and other factors prior to making its proposed and final determinations regarding area designations. The EPA also classifies non-attainment areas by the severity of their air quality problem based on air quality monitoring data with five classification categories ranging from “Marginal” to “Extreme.” In the recent final rule, EPA established the air quality thresholds that define each of the five classification categories and attainment deadline associated with each classification.

The final air quality thresholds and attainment dates for the 2015 ozone NAAQS for each classification are:

  • Marginal – from 71 ppb up to 81 ppb with 3 years from nonattainment designation to comply.
  • Moderate – from 81 ppb up to 93 ppb with 6 years from nonattainment designation to comply.
  • Serious – from 93 ppb up to 105 ppb with 9 years from nonattainment designation to comply.
  • Severe – from 105 ppb up to 163 ppb with 15 or 17 years from nonattainment designation to comply.
  • Extreme – from 163 ppb and above with 20 years from nonattainment designation to comply.

In addition to setting these thresholds, the agency also set forth deadlines by which states that do not meet the 2015 ozone standard must come into compliance. The rule is effective May 8, 2018.

In addition, on Monday, Federal judge Haywood Gilliam, Jr. of the U.S. District Court for Northern California ruled that the EPA broke the law when it did not meet the October 1, 2017 deadline to announce which areas of the country are not in compliance with the ozone standards set in 2015. Consequently, the Court ordered the EPA to comply by April 30 instead of the August 10, 2018 date that the agency had said it required.

PMAA will continue to monitor and report on ozone nonattainment area designation and compliance measures as they become available.

Fuel Federal







RINAlliance HEALTHAlliance EMC Insurance Seneca Companies Unified Contracting Services AssuredPartners Renewable Energy Group Altria Cylinder Express PMMIC Insurance Westmor Industries Midwest Petroleum Equipment Philip Morris International Sinclair MAST ATM Molo Petroleum Rainbo Oil Company Otter Creek Country Stores, Inc HTP Energy GROWMARK Energy Seneca Tank Jet Gas Flint Hills Atlas McDermott Oil Co Elliott Oil Company McGowen, Hurst, Clark & Smith PC Phillips 66 Delta Dental Federated Insurance Core-Mark Reif Oil Valero Community Oil Company Central Bank WorldPay Cenex Wellmark Mulgrew Oil Olsen Fuel Supply BP
PMCI Facebook PMCI Twitter PMCI LinkedIn
Home   |    About FUELIowa   |    Site Map   |    Privacy   |    Contact Us   |    ©2019 FUELIowa, All Rights Reserved
10430 New York Ave., Suite F, Urbandale, IA 50322-3773   |    P. 515.224.7545   |    F. 515.224.0502
Home
About FUELIowa
Site Map
Privacy
Contact Us
10430 New York Ave., Suite F, Urbandale, IA 50322-3773
P. 515.224.7545
F. 515.224.0502
©2019 FUELIowa, All Rights Reserved