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EPA Recommends Nonattainment Area Designations for the 8-hr Ozone Standard

For more information, contact Lou Corio at 410.312.7912.

Under the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA is required to promulgate air quality designations (i.e., attainment or nonattainment) for regions of the country when new ambient air quality standards are issued or existing standards are revised. Earlier this year, after several public interest groups filed a lawsuit claiming EPA had not met the statutory deadline for designating areas for the 8-hr ozone standard, EPA entered into a Consent Decree that requires them to promulgate such designations by April 15, 2004.

To that end, EPA asked the States for their recommendations on the designations for areas within their boundaries not attaining the 8-hour ozone standard. In mid-July 2003, the States submitted recommendations to their respective EPA Regional Offices regarding designations and boundaries for their ozone nonattainment areas. Based on the information submitted by the States, EPA outlined its intentions for nonattainment area designations and boundaries in letters sent to the States' Governors in early-December 2003. Note that the designations are only in terms of nonattainment vs. attainment, with no severity classification (e.g., severe, serious, etc.).

As part of the regulatory process for nonattainment designation, EPA entered into special agreements or "compacts" with 33 communities around the nation in 2003 (68 FR 70108). For these communities, or Early Action Compact (EAC) areas, the States agreed to early, voluntary action to reduce ozone levels earlier than the CAA requires, qualifying the areas for deferral of the effective date of 8-hr ozone nonattainment designation until September 30, 2005.

EPA's nonattainment designation recommendations for Maryland and Texas, as presented to the states in early-December 2003, are summarized below.

Maryland
EPA largely approved Maryland's recommendations for ozone nonattainment area designations. Maryland, along with Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C., recommended that the Washington-Baltimore, DC-MD-VA-WV Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) be divided into six separate nonattainments areas.

EPA agreed to this division, as long as each area has the same classification (to ensure that the necessary emission reductions are consistently applied throughout the Washington-Baltimore CMSA). EPA also commented on two "fringe" areas within the ozone nonattainment corridor running from Washington, D.C., through Baltimore, up to Cecil County. Maryland had originally recommended that the Kent and Queen Anne's (Counties) area and the Hagerstown (Washington County) area, located on the east and west sides of the ozone nonattainment corridor, respectively, be designated as EAC areas.

EPA did not agree with Maryland with regard to the Kent and Queen Anne's area; therefore, this area is to be designated nonattainment for the 8-hr standard along with the rest of the Washington-Baltimore CMSA. However, this area will be designated as a separate nonattainment area if EPA receives a SIP revision from Maryland acknowledging that Kent and Queen Anne's Counties will have the same ozone classification as the Baltimore nonattainment area for air quality planning purposes. The separate designation recognizes the different make-up of emission sources in that area, and allows Maryland more flexibility in selecting (what it believes are) the most appropriate, effective controls. Should EPA not receive the SIP revision from Maryland by April 15, 2004, Kent and Queen Anne's Counties would be included as part of the Baltimore nonattainment area.

EPA agreed with Maryland's recommendation that the Hagerstown area be designated as an EAC area. If EAC milestones or requirements are not met and the nonattainment designation implemented, EPA would require Washington County to be classified the same as the Washington, D.C. nonattainment area.

Texas
EPA did not completely agree with Texas' recommendations for ozone nonattainment area designations. EPA did agree with Texas' recommendations for the spatial extent of two nonattainment areas: the Beaumont-Port Arthur area and the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria area. However, EPA is recommending that two other nonattainment areas - the Dallas-Forth Worth area and the San Antonio area - include additional counties. For the Dallas-Forth Worth area, EPA recommended that Texas include five additional counties (Henderson, Hood, Hunt, Kaufman, and Rockwall), for a total of 12 counties. For the San Antonio area, EPA recommended that Texas include three additional counties (Comal, Guadalupe, and Wilson), for a total of four counties. Note that the San Antonio area is classified by EPA as an EAC area (68 FR 70108).

In October 2003, Texas submitted additional information to EPA to support its original recommendations for the Dallas-Forth Worth and San Antonio nonattainment areas. This documentation is currently under review by EPA.

As discussed by EPA in the December 3, 2003 letter, it appeared likely that Texas would be able to demonstrate attainment of the 8-hour ozone standard in two areas that were in violation of the standard during the 2000-2002 period. Both the Austin-San Marcos Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) and the Longview-Marshall MSA appear to meet the ozone standard, based on EPA's preliminary review of data for the 2001-2003 period (through November 2003).

Note that, similar to the San Antonio area, the Austin-San Marcos and Longview-Marshall areas are classified by EPA as EAC areas (68 FR 70108). Therefore, if these areas couldn't demonstrate attainment of the 8-hr ozone standard based on the 2001-2003 data, the effective date of designation would be deferred until September 30, 2005.