Sally ShaverOffice of Air Quality Planning and Standards

US Environmental Protection AgencyFall 2004 WESTAR Business Meeting

October 4-6, 2004

Agricultural Air Quality

Ag Strategy Vision Statement

Clean Air

Sustainable Agriculture

Sound Land Management

Clean Water

Key elements:

Scientific assessment

Outreach and education

Implementation/compliance

• Ozone and PM designations and implementation– Fugitive dust– Conservation management practices

• Permitting– Title V– New source review– Offsets

• Pesticide application

What are the issues?

• Agricultural equipment– Title II rule amendment - pumps

• Fire– Prescribed fire, wildfire– BlueSky/Rains

• AFO/CAFO– Particulate Matter (PM)– Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S)– Ammonia (NH3)– Odor

What are the issues? (cont)

Attainment or Unclassifiable Areas (2668 counties)

Nonattainment Areas (432 entire counties)

Nonattainment Areas (42 partial counties)

Attainment and Nonattainment Areas in the U.S.8-Hour Ozone Standard

State Recommendations for Fine ParticlesNational Ambient Air Quality Standards

Nonattainment (full county): 142Nonattainment (partial county): 9

EPA Response to State Recommendations on PM2.5 Designations – June 29, 2004

Counties Designated Nonattainment for PM10

Title V – NSR Ag Impacts

• Title V could apply to farms, resulting in:- Paperwork burden- Unnecessary public scrutiny - Little if any benefit for the additional burden- Continuous compliance assurance monitoring

and reporting- Biosecurity impacts

Title V – NSR Ag Impacts (cont)

• Change in farming practices could trigger NSR (NSR being the bigger issue), resulting in:

- Requirements to obtain offsets for emissions increases

- Applying lowest achievable emissions rate to new equipment or new practices

- Paperwork burden

Pesticide Application

• VOC• Toxics• Methyl Bromide• Spray Drift

Agricultural Equipment • Emissions from farm equipment

– PM and NOx• Irrigation pumps

– Stationary source v. mobile – State regulated– Mobile source – national rules apply– Title II

• Alternatives– Cleaner burning diesel engines– Natural gas engines– Electric engines

Fire

Fire• Pollutants:

– PM– Regional haze– Episodic ozone – Air toxics

• Impacts:– Water runoff to

streams– Air quality– Visibility– Smoke

EPA’s Fire Policies

• EPA acknowledges the use of fire as an efficient and economical land management tool in maintaining the health of fire-tolerant and fire-dependent plant and animal ecosystems– Maintain species diversity– Enhance agricultural production– Eliminate the threat of disease– Reduce catastrophic wildfires

• PM-10 Natural Events Policy (1996)• Interim Air Quality Policy on Wildland and Prescribed

Fires (1998)• Agricultural Burning Policy (on hold)

Blue Sky RAINS

• BlueSky/RAINS (BSR) is an interactive web-based tool that predicts smoke concentrations on a variety of sensitive receptors

• BSR couples the latest available science in fire behavior and smoke dispersion from the BlueSky framework developed by the USFS with the Geographical Information System (GIS) and sequential database technology of the Rapid Access Information System (RAINS) developed by EPA R10

Blue Sky RAINS (cont.)

• EPA Region 10 and the USDA Forest Service have successfully operated BSR in the Pacific Northwestern US since March 2003– Leavitt Initiative - expand the BSR nationwide

within the next 1 to 2 years– Currently, a beta version of the BSR that covers

all or part of 11 western states is being tested

Animal Feeding Operations (AFO)

• NAS Commissioned:– EPA and USDA asked NAS to perform CAFO air

emissions study• NAS Study Conclusions:

– No reliable emissions factors for AFO exist – Additional data needed to develop estimating

methodologies– Current methods for estimating emissions not

appropriate – Use process-based approach

Industry: - Pay a civil penalty (per facility) - Contribute to nationwide emissions monitoring

program ($2,500) - Make facilities available for monitoring - At conclusion of study, apply emissions-estimating

methodologies to identify applicable CAA, CERCLA and EPCRA requirements

- Certify compliance with CAA permitting and CERCLA and EPCRA notification provisions

- EPA grants limited covenant not to sue

Key Features of the Proposed Agreement