Pennsylvania Code
Pennsylvania Code & Bulletin
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA

• No statutes or acts will be found at this website.

The Pennsylvania Bulletin website includes the following: Rulemakings by State agencies; Proposed Rulemakings by State agencies; State agency notices; the Governor’s Proclamations and Executive Orders; Actions by the General Assembly; and Statewide and local court rules.

PA Bulletin, Doc. No. 10-233

NOTICES

Proposed Revisions to the State Implementation Plan for the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE Fine Particulate and Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Areas; Public Hearing

[40 Pa.B. 756]
[Saturday, February 6, 2010]

 Particulate matter (PM) includes both solid and liquid particles suspended in the air. Fine particle pollution describes particulate matter that is less than or equal to 2.5 micrometers in diameter (PM2.5). PM2.5 concentrations above the Federal health-based standard pose a serious human health threat. Health studies have shown a significant association between exposure to fine particles and premature death from heart or lung disease. In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) established an annual primary (health-based) and secondary (welfare-based) PM2.5 standard of 15.0 micrograms per cubic meter (µg/m3), based on the 3-year average of annual mean PM2.5 concentrations. The EPA also established a primary and secondary 24-hour standard of 65 µg/m3 determined by the 3-year average of the 98th percentile of 24-hour concentrations. Implementation of the standard was delayed due to legal challenges. In the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, EPA designated eight areas comprised of all or parts of 21 counties as PM2.5 nonattainment areas for the annual standard. For each nonattainment area, the Commonwealth is required to develop a State Implementation Plan (SIP) revision that demonstrates how the area will attain the standard by the prescribed attainment date, April 5, 2010.

 The Department of Environmental Protection (Department) is seeking public comment on the SIP revision for the Philadelphia-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE PM2.5 Nonattainment Area (Philadelphia PM2.5 Area.) The proposed SIP revision contains information on PM2.5 trends and emissions to demonstrate that the Philadelphia PM2.5 Area meets all requirements necessary for an approvable SIP revision. The proposed SIP revision demonstrates how the area will attain the PM2.5 standard by April 5, 2010, by presenting evidence from air quality modeling, emission trends, regional pollutant transport impacts and emission reductions through State and Federal control measures. In addition, the proposed revision to the SIP contains the base-year 2002 emissions inventory, mobile source emission budgets for purposes of transportation conformity and a contingency plan to bring the area back into attainment should future violations of the standard occur. After consideration of comments received, the SIP revision will be finalized and submitted to the EPA for approval.

 In addition, the Department is seeking public comment on a proposed SIP revision to correct the Stationary Point Source Annual Emissions included in the 2002 Base-Year Inventory submitted to EPA on August 29, 2007 for the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area.

 The proposed PM2.5 SIP revision for the Philadelphia PM2.5 Area and the proposed ozone SIP revision for the Pennsylvania portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City, PA-NJ-DE 8-hour Ozone Nonattainment Area are available on the Department's web site at www.depweb.state.pa.us or through the contact persons listed. Notice of the proposed SIP revisions will also be published in newspapers of general circulation in the affected area.

 The Department will hold a public hearing to receive comments on the proposals on March 11, 2010, at 1 p.m. at the Department's Southeast Regional Office, 2 East Main Street, Norristown, PA. Persons wishing to present testimony at the hearing should contact Shaniqua Smith, P. O. Box 8468, Harrisburg, PA 17105, (717) 787-9702 or shanismith@state.pa.us to reserve a time. Persons who do not reserve a time will be able to testify as time allows. Witnesses should keep testimony to 10 minutes and should provide two written copies of their statement at the hearing.

 Persons with a disability who wish to attend the hearing and require an auxiliary aid, service or other accommodation to participate in the proceeding should contact Shaniqua Smith at (717) 787-9702 or shanismith@state.pa.us. TDD users may contact the Pennsylvania AT&T Relay Service at (800) 654-5984 to discuss how the Department can best accommodate their needs.

 The Department must receive comments no later than March 12, 2010. Written comments should be sent to the attention of Arleen Shulman, Division of Air Resource Management, Bureau of Air Quality, P. O. Box 8468, Harrisburg, PA 17105-8468, ashulman@state.pa.us. Use ''Philadelphia Area PM2.5 SIP'' or ''Philadelphia Area Ozone SIP'' in the subject line.

JOHN HANGER, 
Secretary

[Pa.B. Doc. No. 10-233. Filed for public inspection February 5, 2010, 9:00 a.m.]


No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.

This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Bulletin full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.