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Regional Haze, Dust, and New Mexico

Regional Haze, Dust, and New Mexico . Developing a State Implementation Plan for Dust in the Salt Creek Wilderness Area, New Mexico. Project Objectives.

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Regional Haze, Dust, and New Mexico

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  1. Regional Haze, Dust, and New Mexico Developing a State Implementation Plan for Dust in the Salt Creek Wilderness Area, New Mexico

  2. Project Objectives • Apply and integrate the tools developed by the Dust Emission Joint Forum (DEJF) for the purpose of developing a pilot regional haze state implementation plan (SIP) for dust at a Class I area. • Provide feedback to the Forum to refine the tools where necessary. • Provide a template/protocol for applying the WRAP tools which may be used at other Class I areas

  3. Tools • Definition of Dust • Fine Fraction of Fugitive Dust • Causes of Dust Analysis • Fugitive Dust Emissions from Wind Erosion • Fugitive Dust Handbook • CMAQ Air Quality Modeling • Weight of Evidence “Checklist”

  4. Supplemental Analysis • Identification of Source Areas Affecting Dust Concentrations at Salt Creek, New Mexico • Continuation of DEJF Causes of Dust Analysis • Application of WRAP's Draft Definition and Categorization of Dust to the Salt Creek Class I Area, A Case Study • Continuation of DEJF Dust Definition

  5. Salt Creek Wilderness Area

  6. Salt Creek Wilderness Area • A 9,621 acre area located within the Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern New Mexico. • Located 10 miles east of Roswell, New Mexico • The Class I Area is characterized by dry creek beds, gypsum sinkholes, and sand dunes.

  7. Salt Creek Wilderness Area • Salt Creek Wilderness Area (SACR) was chosen for the Pilot Study due to the location's marked increase in coarse material on the 20% worst days for visibility. • This region of the state has also historically had air quality issues with coarse particulate matter, particularly from high wind events.

  8. Salt Creek Wilderness Area

  9. Pilot Study: Template/Protocol • The template language used for the Pilot Study was taken from the Regional Haze SIP Template developed by Western States Air Resources (WESTAR) Council. • The information in the protocol section includes tools developed by WRAP and other resources used in the Salt Creek dust SIP template development process. • The template language developed for the Pilot Study is not intended to be the Regional Haze SIP submittal for the State of New Mexico.

  10. Pilot Study: Template/Protocol • The template is broken down into the following categories required under 40 CFR §51.308(b) through (e) of the Regional Haze Rule: • Visibility Conditions; • Reasonable Progress; • Long Term Strategies; and • Sources and Control Strategies.

  11. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • The dust tools developed by WRAP for the completion of the 2007 Regional Haze SIPs overall, provided the needed resources to fulfill the regional haze SIP requirements. The CMAQ modeling performed for fugitive and wind blown dust are the only tools that have very limited use for the 2007 SIPs.

  12. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Dust Definition • Very useful in helping states lay out potential sources and helps define if those sources are natural or anthropogenic in nature. • Can be confusing to follow and could potentially be resource intensive to fully carry out.

  13. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Fine Fraction of Fugitive Dust • Essential to developing an accurate inventory of emissions for PM2.5. • Would be useful to create a one page synopsis written in laymen's terms for states to use with the public.

  14. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Causes of Dust Regional Analysis/New Mexico Pilot Study • Quiet helpful in determining the possible dust sources for the 20% worst visibility days. • Acronyms are not always defined, making it difficult for a non-technical person to understand exactly what they were looking at and what the data, tables, or figures represent.

  15. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • CMAQ Modeling for Fugitive Emissions • The model predictions for coarse mass are about 16 times lower than the observed data. The fine soil faired much better with about a factor of 2. • Establish an alternative EPA approved approach for all WRAP states to use in lieu of the coarse mass modeling.

  16. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Fugitive Dust Emissions from Wind Erosion • As with the CMAQ modeling, there is a substantial margin of error for the wind blown dust model compared to the IMPROVE observed data for the coarse mass and less of a discrepancy for the fine soil. • Establish an alternative EPA approved approach for all WRAP states to use in lieu of the coarse mass modeling.

  17. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Fugitive Dust Handbook • The handbook provides the needed information from AP-42 and other sources, and also provides Excel spreadsheets to help calculate uncontrolled and controlled emissions. • The handbook is a nice tool, but the Excel spreadsheets were somewhat difficult to use. • Needs to more fully explain were data used is found, especially assumed parameters.

  18. Pilot Study: Review of Tools • Weight of Evidence • During the development of the Pilot Study, this tool was not available for use. The tool was partially completed at the end of the Pilot Study and was used for a small portion of the study. • From the extent that it was used, appeared to nicely encapsulate the modeling, monitoring, and emissions data available for each Class I area.

  19. Pilot Study: Recommendations • A list of all acronyms and technical terms and their definitions. • For the Pilot Study, quite a bit of effort went into just trying to figure out what exactly the information was and what it was supposed to be showing. • A list that summarizes the different databases and tools. • There was quite a bit of confusion during this study as to which database/tool should be used for certain sections; it seems the more you dug the more information resources you would find making it difficult to discern which resource you should use.

  20. Pilot Study: Recommendations • Provide all basic information in plain English. • Most of the SIP planners will be held accountable by the public and political figures for the decisions made in this Regional Haze process, so we will need to be able to understand these tools ourselves to be able to tell the public how these decisions were derived.

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