In a presentation to the Citizens Advisory Council Tuesday, DEP said the new 70 ppm federal ozone pollution standard will cause violations at 8 air monitors in 6 counties: Allegheny, Armstrong, Bucks, Lebanon, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties, based on 2015 monitoring data.

Based on this and other information, DEP must submit its recommendations on nonattainment area designations to EPA by October 2016 and the final designations will take effect in December 2017.

DEP is then required to develop a plan to make further cuts in volatile organic compound and nitrogen oxide emissions needed to achieve the new ozone standard.

Nonattainment designations are required to be made by metropolitan standard statistical areas, so the areas affected by any new controls is expected to be larger than the counties showing monitoring results not meeting the standard.

Pennsylvania has made steady progress in reducing ozone-causing pollution over the last 15 years to the point where in 2015 ozone season the state was in compliance with the old ozone standard-- 75 ppm.

Click Here to view the presentation made by Sean Nolan, of DEP’s Air Quality Monitoring Division.  Questions should be direct to Nolan by calling 717-772-3377 or send email to: senolan@pa.gov.

Other Presentations

The CAC heard presentations on other timely topics Tuesday, including--

-- EPA Clean Power Climate Plan, Mike Gordon, EPA Region 3

-- DEP Approach To EPA Clean Power Climate Plan, Jessica Shirley, DEP Policy Specialist

-- EPA’s Proposed Methane Emission Limits For Oil & Gas Operations, Krishnan Ramamurthy, Bureau of Air Quality

-- Final Chapter 78 & 78A Drilling Regulations, Scott Perry, DEP Deputy for Oil and Gas Management.

For more information, visit DEP’s Citizens Advisory Council webpage or contact Katie Hetherington Cunfer, Acting CAC Executive Director and Director of External Affairs at DEP, by calling 717-705-2693 or send email to: khethering@pa.gov.

NewsClips:

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11/23/2015