EPA Approves State SIP Changes

People want to talk about sexy environmental issues that are easy to understand and discuss in general terms - things like global warming, coal ash spills, ocean acidification and the like. The real nuts and bolts of environmental law, though, is done at the state and federal regulatory level, where standards and restrictions are put in place and enforced. For air pollution, the State Implementation Plan, or SIP, is the means by which each state shows how it is going to meet the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act. The West Virginia SIP consists of multiple state rules that set the air emission limits, monitoring requirements, and other restrictions necessary to comply with the Clean Air Act.



My colleague Anne Blankenship reports that EPA recently approved changes to West Virginia's SIP by establishing new ambient air quality standards in 45CSR8, updating and incorporating all six criteria pollutants to be equivalent to the national ambient air quality standards. The revision repeals rules 45CSR9--Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide and Ozone and 45CSR12--Ambient Air Quality Standard for Nitrogen Dioxide, and moves these ambient air quality standards into Rule 45CSR8. This final rule is effective on March 12, 2009.

EPA's summary of the rule is as follows:


On April 25, 2008, the State of West Virginia submitted as a SIP revision Rule 45CSR8--Ambient Air Quality Standards, which updates and incorporates all six criteria pollutants to be equivalent to the national ambient air quality standards. The revision repeals rules 45CSR9--Ambient Air Quality Standards for Carbon Monoxide and Ozone and 45CSR12--Ambient Air Quality Standard for Nitrogen Dioxide, and moves these ambient air quality standards into Rule 45CSR8. The revision includes a correction of the sulfur dioxide annual primary standard from 0.003 to 0.030 parts per million (ppm), removes the annual PM₁₀ standard, and incorporates the annual PM_2.5 standard, the 24-hour PM_2.5 standard of 35 μg/ m3, the primary and secondary standards for lead, and the primary and secondary 1-hour and 8-hour ozone standards. The SIP revision includes the revocation of the 1-hour ozone standard except for Berkeley and Jefferson Counties and it identifies the 1-hour ozone maintenance areas. The SIP revision also adds new reference conditions for PM_2.5 and measurement methods for PM_2.5 and lead. Other specific requirements of West Virginia's ambient air quality standards and the rationale for EPA's proposed action are explained in the NPR and will not be restated here. No public comments were received on the NPR.