In this Issue:
WRAP Technical Conference Set for
July 9-10 in Denver
All interested parties are invited to attend a WRAP technical
conference at the Adam’s Mark Hotel in downtown Denver,
July 9-10. The purpose of the conference is to present a comprehensive
overview of the technical work that has been completed over the
last two years to support state and tribal plans to implement
Section 309 of the Regional Haze Rule (for the Grand Canyon Transport
Region). This work also lays the foundation for future state
and tribal plans under Section 308 of the rule (the national
Regional Haze program).
WRAP forum members, contractors, and other technical experts
will review emissions inventories, modeling results, monitored
data and other technical inputs needed for state and tribal responses
to the Regional Haze Rule. The conference will address point
and area sources, mobile sources, fire and dust emissions, and
tribal data.
Those encouraged to attend include: state and tribal air managers,
policy makers, federal officials, business and environmental
stakeholders, representatives of other regional planning organizations,
and anyone interested in gaining a better understanding of the
development of technical data needed for submitting state and
tribal regional haze plans under Section 309 or 308. More details
about the conference are available on the WRAP
Web site.
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Workshop on WRAP’s Sulfur Dioxide Annex to be in Salt Lake City, May 21-22
The WRAP’s Market Trading Forum is sponsoring a May 21-22
workshop in Salt Lake City to present a wide variety of information
that has been developed to help states and tribes decide whether
to participate in the Sulfur Dioxide Annex to the Grand Canyon
Report. The workshop will cover:
- Visibility modeling for all Class I areas in the 9-state
transport region,
- Allocations for non-utility sources of sulfur dioxide,
- An economic study of Annex benefits if not all states and
tribes participate,
- Draft recommendations for addressing localized problems (RA
BART – Reasonably Attributable Best Available Retrofit
Technology), and
- Drafts of both a model rule and a memorandum of understanding
between participating states and tribes.
Also, participants will hear an update on EPA’s proposal
to incorporate the Annex into Section 309 of the Regional Haze
Rule.
All air managers and other interested parties are encouraged
to attend. Advance materials and additional information on the
workshop are available on the WRAP
Web site.
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EPA Taking Comments on Tribal Air Rules for Pacific NW Tribes
On March 15 the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region
10 office began a 90-day comment period by posting its proposed
Tribal Air Rules for Indian Reservations in Idaho, Oregon and
Washington in the Federal Register. Tribes from all parts of
the country may comment on the proposed rules and on the desirability
of similar rules in their region.
Under the Clean Air Act, the Tribal Authority Rule states that
EPA will promulgate implementation plans as necessary or appropriate
to protect air quality where a Tribe does not submit a Tribal
Implementation Plan (TIP). The Region 10 Tribal Air Rules are
based on this “gap filling” authority.
The Tribal Air Rules package contains components that address
source identification, industrial source standards, and open
burning restrictions. The rules, which are similar in stringency
to typical State Implementation Plans, would remain in effect
at each tribe until the tribe develops its own TIP. Tribes may
also receive a delegation of authority to enforce the Federal
rules.
The EPA Region 10 office addressed the Tribal Air Rules at a
four-day January meeting attended by approximately 100 tribes
from Washington, Oregon and Idaho. The Quinault Indian Nation
hosted the workshops, which also addressed Direct Implementation
Tribal Cooperative Agreements and tribal case laws. Additional
sessions featured quality assurance training and a presentation
on the Tribal Air Network and the Northwest Collaborative Air
Priorities Project.
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Tribal Air Quality Modeling Courses Under
Development
The WRAP’s Regional Modeling Center at U.C. Riverside
and the Institute for Tribal Environmental Professionals (ITEP)
at Northern Arizona University are developing three courses related
to tribal use of air quality modeling tools.
First, ITEP will present the first course, Fundamentals of Modeling,
June 17-21, in Flagstaff. This course is designed as a “bridge” to
prepare beginning modelers for the Regional Modeling Center session
to be held October 7-11 in Riverside, California. That training
on Applied Monitoring is the fifth such course at the Modeling
Center this year; however, it is the first course to focus on
tribal issues. The Regional Modeling Center in consultation with
ITEP is designing a course on use and interpretation of model
results for tribes, including but not limited to use for TIP
development. This course has not yet been scheduled.
Tribal environmental staff who want to give input on the curriculum
of these courses should contact Sarah Kelly at ITEP or Nick Nikkila at
U.C. Riverside.
In addition, tribal staff are encouraged to be part of the training
team at the October 7-11 Modeling Center class. Anyone who is
interested in being a trainer is asked to attend a June 10-14
Applied Modeling class at the Modeling Center before the ITEP
Fundamental’s course. See the RMC Web site.
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Fire Forum Moving Forward with Smoke Management Programs
Final deliberations are expected at the May 15-17 meeting
of the Fire Emissions Joint Forum (FEJF) in Coeur d’Alene,
Idaho, before the Forum opens for comment its Enhanced Smoke
Management Program (ESMP) recommendations. The WRAP’s Initiative
Oversight Committee has reviewed the concepts, clearing the way
for final steps.
The Enhanced Smoke Management Program, which is a required component
of Section 309 submittals under the Regional Haze Rule, is being
drafted as a WRAP policy so that all states and tribes in the
WRAP region can tap into the recommendations to address impacts
from smoke from all fire sources in their areas, regardless of
which regulatory path they follow. The ESMP proposals draw heavily
on the current smoke management policy and recommendations of
the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department
of Agriculture’s Air Quality Task Force. The recommendations
also follow the Regional Haze Rule requirements to address the
effects of smoke on visibility.
A key item in the ESMP is the regional coordination of burning
operations and smoke management programs. Other required elements
of Section 309 include: a method for tracking and establishing
annual emission goals for accountable fire sources and a minimum
tracking system for emissions from all fire sources to allow
Class I visibility impacts to be assessed.
FEJF has submitted questions to the EPA to further clarify the
Section 309 requirements. The Forum is using the same approach
with the ESMP in addressing the Regional Haze Rule as it did
with the Policy for Categorizing Fire Emissions, which
was approved by the WRAP in November. The ESMP is complementary
to that policy.
Another FEJF Task Team is addressing recommendations for alternatives
to wildland prescribed burning. The draft report should be posted
on the FEJF’s Non -Burning Alternatives on Wildlands Task
Team Web page in late May or early June with a comment period
following.
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Responses to Alternative Burning Proposals Surpass 200
The six-week comment period on the FEJF’s draft report “Non-Burning
Management Alternatives on Agricultural Lands in the Western
United States,” ended March 25 with more than 200 responses.
In preparing the final report and in response to some of the
questions, the contractor, ERG, expects to include new data and
revise other data.
Questions focused on data and data gathering for the crop-by-crop,
county-by-county analysis across the WRAP region. Other comments
addressed impacts of the non-burning alternatives, which range
from mulching to hauling crop residue to ethanol plants. The
contractor noted that most of those who commented were pleased
with this first-ever effort to compile a data base of agricultural
burning practices across Western states.
Pete Lahm, FEFJ co-chair, said the report should increase involvement
of agricultural interests beyond current levels and lay a pathway
for future refinement and revisions. The final report is due
out after the FEJF meeting in May.
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Economic Analysis Forum Outlines Work Plan
The WRAP’s Economic Analysis Forum is moving forward
with a work plan and request for proposals centering on four
primary tasks: 1) developing a better definition of what
states, tribes and stakeholders expect from the economic analyses
provided with WRAP products; 2) developing a common economic
framework, which will include incorporating existing studies’ economic
analyses 3) assisting states and tribes as they prepare their
implementation plans, and 4) providing overall analytical support
and analysis as states and tribes craft the economic components
of their regional haze plans.
Economic Analysis Forum chair, Fred Roach, said they will be
looking for expert assistance from an individual or firm with
some expertise with EPA programs and the availability to work
on projects in the time frames necessary for Section 309 and
308 submittals. The first task will be to elicit from tribes,
states and stakeholders what they see as most important for cost-benefit
analyses on regional haze issues.
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New Forum Focuses Work on Dust
The WRAP Oversight Committees have done some housecleaning
to focus the major dust investigations in a single, newly formed
group – the Dust Emissions Joint Forum (DEJF). Previously,
three forums had worked on dust issues: the Mobile Sources Forum,
the Research and Development Forum, and the Emissions Forum.
The new DEJF will initially concentrate on improving how dust
emissions are estimated and then handled in air quality modeling.
The forum will then begin examining strategies to effectively
reduce the impact of dust emissions on visibility in Class I
areas.
Anyone interested in participating in this new WRAP forum should
contact Mark Scruggs at the National Park Service in Denver 303-969-2077.
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New Staff Hired to Assist with Project
Management
The Western Governors’ Association is pleased to announce
that it has hired two new WRAP staff members to assist the WRAP
Co-Directors (Patrick Cummins of WGA and Bill Grantham of the
National Tribal Environmental Council) with project management.
On April 1, Tom Moore began work as the WRAP’s new Technical
Project Coordinator. Tom comes most recently from the City of
Tempe, Ariz., where he served as air quality specialist. Previously,
Tom served as a technical manager in the Arizona Air Quality
Division and in a similar position with WESTAR. Many of you may
remember Tom as the former co-chair of the WRAP’s Ambient
Monitoring and Reporting Forum. Tom can be found at the Arizona
Department of Environmental Quality, 3033 North Central Av.,
Phoenix, AZ85012; phone 602-207-2319, fax 602-207-2366.
Beginning May 20, Lee Alter will start work as the WRAP’s
new Policy Analyst. Lee is coming to the WRAP from NESCAUM (Northeast
States for Coordinated Air Use Management) in Boston where he
has served as policy analyst and air quality specialist. Lee’s
office will be at the Western Governors’ Association, 1515
Cleveland Place, Suite 200, Denver, CO 80202; phone 303-623-9378,
fax 303-534-7309, e-mail lalter@westgov.org.
Please join us in welcoming both Tom and Lee to the WRAP!
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WRAP Board Meeting Set for July
The next WRAP Board meeting will be held at the Adam’s
Mark Hotel in downtown Denver July 23-24. All stakeholders, WRAP
participants and interested parties are invited to attend. The
agenda will include:
- Recommendations from the Fire Emissions Joint Forum on strategies
and goals for Section 309 plans,
- Recommendations on renewable energy and energy efficiency
strategies from the Air Pollution Prevention Forum, and
- Follow-up from the May workshop on the Annex and the July
technical conference.
More specifics about the agenda will be available in the June
WRAP Sheet or on the WRAP
Web site.
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WRAP Presentation Available to Partners,
Stakeholders, General Public
Background information on the WRAP and the work of its committees,
forums and work groups is available in a PowerPoint presentation
on CD-ROM. If you would like to give a presentation or request
information about the availability of a WRAP representative as
a speaker, please contact either Karen Deike at the Western Governors
Association (kdeike@westgov.org) or Pat Murdo, the WRAP
Communications Assistant (pmurdo@qwest.net).
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Comments? Questions?
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contact: wrapnews@wrapair.org to
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comments, also contact wrapnews@wrapair.org. Thank you.
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For More Information about The WRAP:
The WRAP, a voluntary organization of Western states, tribes
and federal agencies, promotes, supports and monitors programs
implementing recommendations from the Grand Canyon Visibility
Transport Commission and other programs that protect visibility
throughout the West.
Check out the WRAP Web site at: http://www.wrapair.org for other information
about the WRAP or to see back copies of The WRAP Sheet.
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