The Department of Environmental Protection is proposing 14 counties be designated as nonattainment areas for the new federal ozone standard of 70 parts per billion and has scheduled 3 public meetings to solicit public input on the designations.  (formal notice)

The counties include: Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Butler, Washington, Fayette and Westmoreland in a multicounty area in the Southwest; Indiana County, Lebanon County and Bucks, Chester, Delaware, Montgomery and Philadelphia counties as a multicounty area in the Southeast.

DEP is proposing to recommend the remainder of the Commonwealth be designated as unclassifiable/attainment.

The public meetings will be held--

-- August 24: DEP Southcentral Regional Office, 909 Elmerton Avenue, Harrisburg  11:00 a.m.

-- August 25: DEP Southwest Regional Office, 500 Waterfront Drive, Pittsburgh. 11:00 a.m.

-- August 26: DEP Southeast Regional Office, 2 East Main Street, Norristown. 11:00 a.m.

For more information on the public meetings, contact Roma Monteiro at 717-787-9702 or  send email to: rmonteiro@pa.gov.

If designated nonattainment areas, DEP is required by the federal Clean Air Act to develop and adopt additional pollution control measures needed to bring the areas into attainment and to maintain attainment.

The deadline for comments is September 2.

Electronic comments should be submitted using the Department's eComment webpage. Written comments can be submitted by e-mail to: ecomment@pa.gov or by mail to the Policy Office, Department of Environmental Protection, Rachel Carson State Office Building, P.O. Box 2063, Harrisburg, PA 17105-2063.

Background documents on the proposed designations are available at DEP’s eLibrary webpage.

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8/22/2016