Air Pollution Control Programs

For this blog I used all of my information from the Ohio EPA’s State website at www.epa.state.oh.us . This blog discusses air pollution and quality programs in Ohio. State Implementation Plans, or SIP are plans that a state makes to make the quality of air better in their state. This can take many different forms, such as: plans for certain cities to improve their air quality to meet the NAAQS quality standards that are currently in place if they are not meeting them, or if a city has achieved this air quality standard then it makes plans for how they will continue to comply with these standards for the future or even to reduce them further.

There are 6 criteria pollutants under the NAAQS, there are: carbon monoxide, lead, nitrogen dioxide, particulate matter, ozone, and sulfur dioxide. The standard for carbon monoxide is 9 ppm for an eight hour time period and 35 ppm for a one hour time period. For lead it is 0.15 micrograms per cubic meters over three months. For nitrogen dioxide the standard is 0.053 ppm per year. For particulate matter of size PM10 the standard is 150 micrograms per cubic meters over 24 hours. For particulate matter of size PM2.5 the standard is 12 micrograms per cubic meters over a year. For ozone the standard is 0.075 ppm per eight hours. For sulfur dioxide the standard is 75 ppb for one hour.

Attainment means that the certain area has met the NAAQ’s for the certain pollutants specified. Nonattainment means that the certain area has not met the air quality standards that have been set by SIP and NAAQ. Ohio is in full attainment for the following pollutants: carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and certain levels of lead, particulate matter PM2.5, and ozone. Ohio is not in attainment for levels of certain pollutants. Being in an area of nonattainment affects businesses that want to locate or expand an air pollution source in that area. Once an area has three years of data showing that it meets the standard, the State must petition U.S. EPA to reclassify it as being in attainment.

I could not find specifically on how the rules are enforced from the EPA’s website but I found who is in charge of enforcing the rules and how new rules are created. I am assuming that if a company breaks their allowable permit for emissions or does not meet the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS), that they will have to pay a fee of some kind.  Companies in Ohio must report their emissions to make sure it is below the allowable limits that are specified in the permit. In Ohio the Division of Air Pollution Control (DAPC) develops and enforces rules in the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC). The agency is required to attain and maintain the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) contained in the Clean Air Act, fulfill the requirements set forth by the Ohio General Assembly in Ohio Revised Code (ORC) Section 3704. During the Ohio rule-making process, rules pass through the following four phases: early stakeholder outreach; draft review; proposal to the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review (JCARR); and final adoption.