National Monitoring Steering Committee Report

1. National Monitoring Steering Committee Report Gordon Pierce WESTAR Fall Business Meeting Salt Lake City, UT October 29, 2012

2. When was the last meeting? • National Monitoring Steering Committee meeting held at EPA in RTP, NC on July 19-20, 2012 • After the National Air Quality Conference

3. NO2 Update • Proposal on monitoring rule revisions going to OMB late July 2012 • Proposal now published for 30-day comment period • Revise deadlines to a phased implementation, commencing 1/1/2014 thru 1/1/2017 • Near road • ORD study in Las Vegas and Detroit • Highest NO2 and BC nearest to road, decreasing with distance • No significant gradient with PM

4. SO2 Update • Stakeholder meetings held on implementation • Discussions on monitoring vs. modeling • Favorable opinions on a threshold • 2000 tpy ≅ 480 sources nationwide • Monitoring • How many sites needed? Who pays? How long? • Modeling • Cheaper, but does not always reflect reality • Need rulemaking • Internal EPA discussions occurring

5. Secondary NOx/SOx Update • 3 areas proposed for pilot studies • NE / Adirondacks • SE / Appalachians • Rockies / possibly Colorado • Pilot studies to use existing infrastructure and take place between 2013 and 2018 • Pilot studies to include NOy and trace SO2 • Eutrofication and acidification a concern in Rockies and west • Higher acidification in the eastern US

6. PM Update • New PM proposal • Retain 24-hr PM10 at 150 ug/m3 • Retain 24-hr PM2.5 at 35 ug/m3 • Reduce annual PM2.5 to 12 or 13 ug/m3 • Add secondary visibility-based • Revise monitoring requirements • Discussions focused on secondary NAAQS • Applicability • Equipment • Area covered • Lot of comments submitted to EPA

7. National Air Toxics Trends Stations • First multi-year assessment performed • 2005-2007 vs. 2008-2010 • Next one in 2013 • 2nd draft of report just released • Overall, a decreasing trend for a number of air toxics • Data very useful for NATA modeling validation, trends and health risk benchmarks • Need to: • Look at redundant sites and eliminate • Look at CR+6 possibly for sources/special studies • Look at DQO’s • Ensure that required MDL’s are being met

8. Current PAMS Re-Engineering • Reduce number of sites • Add PAMS in ozone non-attainment areas • 26 “Required” sites • O3, NOx, VOC’s • Upper air met? • Some “flexible” sites • O3, NOx • Good data tools • Auto-GC shootout Proposed

9. Analyzer developments • PM • Fixes for Thermo 1405 • BAM susceptible to dewpoint changes • NOx/NOy • Photolytic, CRDS, CAPS • Lead • New sampler being tested to replace hi-vol + ICP-MS • BC/EC • 7 different analyzer types being tested • Satellite • ORD ACE Task 145 to investigate

10. Use of Non-State Monitoring • Concerns on how to deal with non-state monitoring • Reference • NPS, USFS, BLM, EPA, Tribal, Other • Non-reference • USFS, NOAA, DRI, GO3 Project, Private, Municipal, Other • Issues: • How to handle exceptional event data and flagging? • How to handle violations with non-state reference analyzers? • How to handle violations with non-reference analyzers? • Inclusion in monitoring plans?

11. Community/Citizen Monitoring • Lot of new technologies upcoming • Smaller • Easier to use • Some good, some questionable • Data readily available via internet • Question: How much citizen involvement is desired for monitoring? • Need to focus efforts on what are really the issues, not just the perceptions • Need better coordination on sensor apps • Need better communication with communities • EPA holding stakeholder meetings

12. Funding • Near-road NO2 • Phase 1 awarded by end of July 2012 • Working on securing $5 million for Phase 2 in 2013 • PM2.5 transition from 103 to 105 • Start in FY 2013 (…assuming not under a CR) • 10% per year over 4 years • PAMS transition • Link to 2014 O3 NAAQS • FY 2015 or 2016 earliest for network change • $2.2 million available • IMPROVE • Static or decreasing budget • Some site to be cut or sample frequency decrease

13. Next MSC meeting January 9-10, 2013 in San Diego Questions?