WRAP Board Meeting Highlights
The Board of the Western Regional Air Partnership met May 16 – 17 in Phoenix. Following are highlights of the discussions and action items.

• Update on CEED v EPA – EPA’s Lydia Wegman cited EPA’s commitment to finalize revisions to the regional haze rules in response to the decision in CEED v EPA by November 8. Draft revisions will be proposed in mid-July. The five WRAP states (AZ, UT, WY, OR, and NM) and the city of Albuquerque, which developed a joint plan for reducing regional haze under section 309 of EPA’s regional haze rule, are working with EPA to determine what additional analysis is needed for their sulfur dioxide emissions program to be approved in light of the court decision. 
• Climate Change Discussion – Board members heard a panel of scientists discuss the impact of climate change on the West. In addition, Hazel Apok, Alaskan native and board member, told of how climate change has disrupted the subsistence lifeways of her village and others. During the discussion, Jim Norton of the New Mexico Environment Department offered to host an ad hoc group of state and tribal board members to continue discussion of climate change issues. The meeting of this ad hoc group will be held August 25-26 in Santa Fe.
• Budget – The board discussed the potential impact of the Environmental Protection Agency’s proposed 50 percent budget reduction for the WRAP and other Regional Planning Organizations in 2006. The board will seek restoration of that funding, working with EPA and appropriate congressional committees. For planning purposes, WRAP’s proposed work plan for the period through 2006 makes no assumption that funding will be restored, and that most, if not all, of the WRAP work to support states and tribes for the next round of plans will be completed by 2006.
• New Tribe Seated as Board Member - The Zuni Tribe, represented by three tribal council members at this meeting, was seated and welcomed as an official board member. Zuni Gov. Arlen P. Quetawki Sr. has appointed Head Councilman Carlton Albert Sr. as the tribe’s representative to the WRAP.

Final 2003 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report
The first SO2 emissions tracking report required under the section 309 state implementation plan has been completed. The report compiles 2003 emissions from sources greater than 100 tons per year in the five participating states, summarizes quality control measures, and compares the net emissions to the annual milestone to determine if the 2003 SO2 emission reduction milestones for these sources were met. The results show that emissions for 2003 were 25 percent below the milestones established by the five participating states, placing them in a good position to achieve future milestones. The document is available at: http://www.wrapair.org/forums/309/documents/2003_Final_WRAP_SO2_Milestone_Report.pdf )

Analysis of Combustion Controls for Reducing NOx Emissions from Coal-Fired Power Plants
The Stationary Sources Joint Forum has released a draft report for comment that evaluates NOx emission control technology for electric generating units (EGUs) and presents a range of possible controls for these units. This report covers all coal-fired EGU’s in the WRAP region regardless of whether they are BART-eligible sources. The report also shows estimates of costs and emission reductions of NOx associated with these controls.

EPA Issues Final BART Rule - Additional Rulemaking to Follow
This rule was issued June 15, pursuant to a consent decree between EPA and Environmental Defense. It addressed the American Corngrowers decision that invalidated EPA’s approach to deciding which sources are reasonably anticipated to contribute to regional haze. The Corngrowers ruling rejected EPA’s “group BART” methodology for assessing visibility impacts. The court also declared that the rule failed to allow adequate state discretion in making BART determinations, as well as failed to create a process by which states could exempt individual sources from the BART analysis. The court affirmed the states’ option to adopt alternative strategies in lieu of BART, if they can be demonstrated to be more effective than BART in meeting the reasonable progress goal.

See the Federal Register version at:
http://westar.org/Docs/Regional%20Haze-WRAP/final%20rule%20-%202005.pdf

Fact Sheet:
http://www.wrapair.org/forums/ssjf/documents/bart/BART_Fact_Sheet.pdf

EPA Summary/Briefing:
http://www.wrapair.org/forums/ssjf/documents/bart/EPA_Briefing.pdf

Phase II 2002 Fire Emissions Inventories Report
The Phase II fire emissions inventory for the base year 2002 is now available, based on extensive review of fire records and oversight by the Fire Emissions Joint Forum (FEJF). The FEJF and Air Quality Modeling Forums will use these data in regional models to help analyze haze impacts from fire. The types of fire activity and emissions included in the report are wildfires, prescribed fires, wildland fire use, agricultural burning, and non-federal prescribed rangeland burning during 2002.

2002 and Projected 2018 Fire Emissions Inventories Underway
A contract was recently awarded to Air Sciences to complete the fire emissions inventory work, including 2018 projections. The general approach to estimate future fire activity will use several reasonable scenarios to give high, medium, and low levels. Projected effects of climate change may also inform the process. The project is scheduled for completion in September 2005. See the status report at:
http://wrapair.org/forums/fejf/meetings/050607den/20050607_1015_Ph3and4.pdf

Attribution of Haze Joint Phase II/Technical Support System (TSS)
The Attribution of Haze Workgroup is planning over the next 15 months to jointly complete the Phase II AoH analysis project and develop a “Technical Support System.” The TSS will be designed to display the regional analytical “weight-of-evidence” products and supporting information on a website. The idea is that the TSS will be the basis of the Technical Support Document for SIP and TIP submittals. The Implementation Workgroup will be evaluating this concept, and will be reviewing it for usefulness throughout its development. This project should be completed in third quarter of 2006.

Western Governor’s Association Adopts Air Quality Resolutions
At its June meeting, the WGA adopted a number of policy resolutions, including one entitled, Western Air Quality, which can be found at: http://www.westgov.org/wga/policy/05/aq.pdf

WRAP Letter to EPA Encourages Locomotive and Marine Vessel Standards
A WRAP letter was sent recently to EPA Administrator Johnson urging final action on locomotive and marine vessel emission standards. The letter is available here.

Upcoming Meetings

July 19-20, 2005	more...
Attribution of Haze WG Technical Support System Kickoff Meeting Fort Collins, CO

August 17-18, 2005	more...
Tribal Data Development Workgroup Meeting Polson, MT

August 25-26, 2005	more...
WRAP Ad Hoc Climate Change Work Group Meeting Santa Fe, NM

August 29-30, 2005	more...
Implementation Work Group Meeting Portland, Oregon

August 31- September 1, 2005	more...
WESTAR Technical Conference-BART Portland, Oregon

September 14-15, 2005	more...
Attribution of Haze Workgroup Meeting San Francisco, CA

September 27-28, 2005	more...
Emissions Forum Meeting Missoula, MT

September 27-28, 2005	more...
Communications Committee Meeting Missoula, MT

September 28-29, 2005	more...
Fire Emissions Joint Forum Meeting Missoula, MT

November 16-17, 2005	more...
Atttribution of Haze WG Meeting Tempe, AZ

November 30- December 1, 2005	more...
Fire Emissions Joint Forum Meeting Seattle, WA

The WRAP Sheet is a monthly e-mail newsletter providing timely updates on the work of the Western Regional Air Partnership's committees and forums. You may unsubscribe at any time by sending a return e-mail with "unsubscribe WRAP Sheet" in the subject line.