HomeMy WebLinkAbout20073095 STATE OF COLORADO
Bill Ritter,Jr.,Governor
James B.Martin, Executive Director p4 coo
Dedicated to protecting and improving the health and environment of the people of Colorado %
4300 Cherry Creek Dr.S. Laboratory Services Division
Denver,Colorado 80246-1530 8100 Lowry Blvd. . •
Phone(303)692-2000 Denver,Colorado 80230-6928 ts�s /
TDD Line(303)691-7700 (303)692-3090 Colorado Department
Located in Glendale,Colorado of Public Health
http://www.cdphe.state.co.us and Environment
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
David E. Long, Chair
Weld County Board of County Commissioners
915 Tenth Street
P. O. Box 758
Greeley CO 80632
State EAC Partners, and Colorado Air Quality Control Commissioners:
This correspondence is to advise state parties to the Ozone Early Action Compact that recent events in
the Denver-metropolitan area and the North Front Range are expected to affect the region's status and
subsequent planning efforts surrounding ground-level ozone pollution.
Signatories to the Early Action Compact agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) share a vital interest in issues related to ground-level ozone. Early Action Compact signatories
also have shown a willingness to participate in regional efforts to protect public health and the
environment. Continued participation in and support for efforts to reduce ozone concentrations in the
region are important if Colorado is to achieve its goals.
The Early Action Compact agreement reached among the EPA, the state of Colorado, local and regional
planning agencies, and county governments outlined steps the region would take to bring itself into
compliance with the federal health-based standards for ozone. Pursuant to the agreement, the EPA
deferred a potential nonattainment designation for the region, and gave the region until 2007 to
demonstrate attainment of the standard.
An attainment determination is based on three years of data. The EPA considers individually each of the
more than one dozen monitors in the nine-county Central and North Front Range Region(Adams,
Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Denver, Douglas, Jefferson, Larimer and Weld counties). For each
monitor, the fourth-highest values each year for three years are averaged together and compared to the
standard. An average at any monitor that is at or above the standard constitutes a formal violation and
results in a nonattainment designation for the entire region.
The Early Action Compact set 2007 as the evaluation year, meaning that the three-year averages at each
monitor for 2005 through 2007 are to be considered this year. Preliminary data collected this summer
by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment's Air Pollution Control Division showed
a monitor located in northern Jefferson County in the Rocky Flats area likely was in violation of the
eight-hour federal health-based standard for ozone. Six days—June 30, July 2, July 9, July 20, July 31
and August 25 —had ozone values above the threshold necessary for a violation at that monitor.
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The division recently completed an intensive review of the summer ozone monitoring data and
determined that the data are valid. It is thus our conclusion that the Rocky Flats area monitor is in
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violation of the standard, and that a nonattainment determination by the EPA is appropriate. The
division will be submitting these data in an informational packet to the EPA soon for its review and
consideration.
The EPA makes the final, formal administrative determination about whether a violation has occurred,
and the attainment status of the area. The EPA is expected to make a final decision in November 2007.
With a nonattainment designation, the state of Colorado, under provisions of the Clean Air Act, must
draft and submit for EPA approval a state implementation plan (SIP) that details how the affected region
will be brought back into attainment of the standard. That will require the Colorado Air Quality Control
Commission to adopt an Ozone Attainment Plan by the end of 2008. However, this task already has
begun.
Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, in a letter to Denver's Regional Air Quality Council in July, directed the
council to spearhead a comprehensive planning effort to reduce ozone concentrations by 2008 and into
the future. Governor Ritter urged the development of both short- and long-term strategies to control
ozone and protect air quality. He also noted that the EPA is poised to lower the eight-hour ozone
standard further in Spring 2008, and that a stricter standard should be considered for planning purposes.
To that end,the council and the division hosted an interagency meeting in August to begin the SIP
development process. At that meeting, the need for a continued working partnership among
stakeholders was stressed, along with discussion of the technical details of a SIP and the development of
a timeline.
We believe the state, the Regional Air Quality Council, the North Front Range Metropolitan Planning
Organization, the counties, and other stakeholders can meet our collective goal of full attainment of the
standard in the coming years. I invite all stakeholders to continue to play an active role in this effort.
The division remains committed to providing stakeholders with relevant and timely information as the
planning process moves along, and the Regional Air Quality Council shares that commitment.
Please contact me at 303-692-3114 with any questions. My staff and I are available to address questions
and concerns. I also encourage regular visits to the division's website at http://coloradoairquality.info or
the Regional Air Quality Council's ozone website, http://ozoneaware.org for timely information.
Thanks for your interest in and support for air quality efforts in Colorado.
Sincerely,
c_-
Paul Tourangeau
Director
Colorado Air Pollution Control Division
CC: J. Martin, CDPHE
M. Rudolph, CDPHE
D. Lempke, CAQCC
C. Videtich, U.S. EPA Region 8
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