Council Comments On Changes To Air Quality Regulations  

Posted: July 3, 2012 

Ms. Laura Lund
Environmental Technologist III
Regulation Development Section
Division for Air Quality
1st Floor, 200 Fair Oaks Lane
Frankfort, Kentucky 40601

By email only Laura.Lund@ky.gov

Dear Ms. Lund:

These comments are submitted on behalf of the membership of the Kentucky Resources Council, Inc. concerning the proposed amendments to 401 KAR 51:001, 51:017, and 51:052. Specific comments follow.

401 KAR 51:001

The proposed amendment to the definition of ?baseline area” is inconsistent with the corresponding federal regulation. The federal regulation, 40 CFR 51.166(15)(i), defines baseline area to mean

“any intrastate area (and every part thereof) designated as attainment or unclassifiable under section 107(d)(1)(A)(ii) or (iii) of the Act in which the major source or major modification establishing the minor source baseline date would construct or would have an air quality impact for the pollutant for which the baseline date is established, as follows: Equal to or greater than 1 µg/m3 (annual average) for SO2,NO2, or PM10; or equal or greater than 0.3 µg/m3 (annual average) for PM2.5.”

By contrast, the proposed state revision eliminates the phrase “equal to or greater than” with respect to the PM2.5 reference, so that only where a source was emitting precisely 0.3ug/m3 of PM 2.5, would the definition be triggered. In order to maintain consistency, either a colon should be placed after “equal to or greater than” and before “one (l) ug/m3” or the phrase “equal to or greater than” should be inserted before 0.3ug/m3 for PM2.5.

Definition of “Regulated NSR Pollutant”

EPA’s regulations define what is a “regulated NSR pollutant” with respect to attainment and unclassified areas, in 40 CFR 51.166 with respect to the PSD program, and for permitting program under 40 CFR 51.165, for nonattainment areas. To the extent that the Cabinet intends to use a common definition of “regulated NSR pollutant” to cover both the permitting program for nonattainment areas and the PSD program, the definition should be revised, or a second definition be adopted that incorporates and applies the definition to those permits issued pursuant to the state counterpart of 40 CFR 51.165.

Definition of “Significant”

The revision to the definition of “significant” to incorporate the TPY limits for nitrogen oxides and sulfur dioxide is ambiguous and needs revision in order to clearly incorporate the corresponding federal provisions.

Under 40 CFR 51.165, with respect to the definition of “significant” in the context of PM2.5 emissions, significant means “PM2.5: 10 tpy of direct PM2.5emissions; 40 tpy of sulfur dioxide emissions; 40 tpy of nitrogen oxide emissions unless demonstrated not to be a PM2.5precursor under paragraph (a)(1)(xxxvii) of this section.”

The delimiting of “40 tpy of sulfur dioxide” with a semicolon makes clear that the phrase “unless demonstrated not to be a PM2.5 precursor under paragraph (a)(1)(xxxvii) of this Section” modifies only the preceding phrase “40 tpy of nitrogen oxide emissions” and does not limit those circumstances where sulfur dioxide emissions are considered significant.

The corresponding state regulation defines significant to mean, in relevant part, “40 tpy of sulfur dioxide or nitrogen oxides for precursors*”, thus creating some ambiguity as to whether the phrase “for precursors” modifies both sulfur dioxide and mitrogen oxides. A revision is appropriate to clarify that the consideration of whether the emissions are precursors is limited to nitrogen oxides and does not affect the threshold for PM2.5 when expressed as sulfur dioxide.

401 KAR 51.017 and 401 KAR 51:052

No comments.

Thanks in advance for your consideration of these comments.

Cordially,
/s/
Tom FitzGerald
Director