Clean Air and Energy: Reform of the PSD Provisions of the Clean Air Act

Air pollution regulation in the United States has come under repeated attack over the years for a number of reasons. Early in the past decade, prevention of significant deterioration (PSD) legislation, which protects currently clean areas, came into conflict with domestic energy production goals. This paper presents an applied analysis of present and alternative regulations for achievement of PSD air quality goals. A model of the Four Corners region of the Southwest is developed, and several policy alternatives tested in terms of economic efficiency and ability to achieve air quality goals. Alternatives examined include emission fees, marketable emission permits, and technological standards.     

experience of the forest products industry in obtaining air quality permits for new and modified sources

A detailed study of the air quality permitting process for 65 different forest products industry projects requiring preconstruction permit approvals from EPA, state, and local air pollution control agencies was conducted. The projects included a wide array of sources including kraft recovery furnaces, lime kilns, fossil fuel and wood residue fired boilers, solid wood products manufacturing facilities, paper coaters, and printing presses. Information concerning the time involved in the permitting process, costs associated with obtaining the permits, use of air quality models and ambient monitoring data, emission control technology determinations, problem areas encountered during the permitting process, perceived benefits and drawbacks of the permitting process, and the effect of permitting requirements on project planning was obtained.

The results indicate that certain permitting requirements such as Best Available Control Technology (BACT) determinations, dispersion modeling results, and use of ambient air quality monitoring data seldom influence the emission limitations ultimately imposed in the final approved permit, with 87% of the final emission limits equivalent to the applicable New Source Performance Standard (NSPS). The 65 permitting case histories also show that obtaining permits for projects subject to Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) requirements takes approximately twice as long and costs twice as much as obtaining permits for projects not subject to PSD requirements.     

Improving urban air quality in China: Beijing case study

China is undergoing rapid urbanization because of unprecedented economic growth. As a result, many cities suffer from air pollution. Two-thirds of China's cities have not attained the ambient air quality standards applicable to urban residential areas (Grade II). Particulate matter (PM), rather than sulfur dioxide (SO2), is the major pollutant reflecting the shift from coal burning to mixed source pollution. In 2002, 63.2 and 22.4% of the monitored cities have PM and SO2 concentrations exceeding the Grade II standard, respectively. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) concentration kept a relatively stable level near the Grade II standard in the last decade and had an increasing potential in recent years because of the rapid motorization. In general, the air pollutants emission did not increase as quickly as the economic growth and energy consumption, and air quality in Chinese cities has improved to some extent. Beijing, a typical representative of rapidly developing cities, is an example to illustrate the possible options for urban air pollution control. Beijing's case provides hope that the challenges associated with improving air quality can be met during a period of explosive development and motorization.     

A Dynamic Air Resource Management Program,City of Chicago

A review of air pollution control activities since 1881, and the current needs to change from a smoke abatement to an air resource management program are presented. The rapid and dynamic transition made by the City of Chicago since 1962 in its air pollution control activities are explored in terms of organizational changes, training of professional and nonprofessional personnel, ambient air quality measurements, emission inventory of commercial and industrial operations directed toward issuance of certificates of operation, evaluation of health effects and materials damage, modifications to the municipal code, and the interrelationship of air pollution control activities with urban planning and the regional complex. The multidiscipline Public Health Service, Division of Air Pollution, Technical Assistance program initiated in October 1962, and planned for a period of five years, is discussed. The achievements, particularly since 1962, in the many faceted Chicago air resource management program together with some of its longrange plans are delineated.     

Improving Urban Air Quality in China: Beijing Case Study

Abstract

China is undergoing rapid urbanization because of unprecedented economic growth. As a result, many cities suffer from air pollution. Two-thirds of China’s cities have not attained the ambient air quality standards applicable to urban residential areas (Grade II). Particulate matter (PM), rather than sulfur dioxide (SO₂), is the major pollutant reflecting the shift from coal burning to mixed source pollution. In 2002, 63.2 and 22.4% of the monitored cities have PM and SO₂ concentrations exceeding the Grade II standard, respectively. Nitrogen oxides (NO_x) concentration kept a relatively stable level near the Grade II standard in the last decade and had an increasing potential in recent years because of the rapid motorization. In general, the air pollutants emission did not increase as quickly as the economic growth and energy consumption, and air quality in Chinese cities has improved to some extent. Beijing, a typical representative of rapidly developing cities, is an example to illustrate the possible options for urban air pollution control. Beijing’s case provides hope that the challenges associated with improving air quality can be met during a period of explosive development and motorization.     

Managing emissions from highly industrialized areas: Regulatory compliance under uncertainty

The use of regulatory and compliance-based modeling for air quality impact assessment is invariably relied upon to predict future air quality under various management scenarios particularly where air quality monitoring data are limited. This paper examines the dispersion from a multi-stack cement manufacturing complex with associated quarries and transport activities for regulatory compliance under uncertain emission and meteorological conditions. The concentrations of CO, NO_x, SO₂ and PM at sensitive receptor locations were used as indicators in comparison to World Health Organization (WHO) interim guidelines. Exceedance exposure areas were delineated under bounded uncertainties in input emission factors and meteorological parameters. Planning and management initiatives were tested to control/minimize potential exposure. Compared to the case of low emissions and actual meteorological conditions, the consideration of worst emissions coupled to worst meteorological conditions enlarged the boundaries of the exceedance exposure areas considerably. The implementation of best available technologies and enforcement of emission standards improved air quality in the region significantly and lowered the exposure at many population centers to below health standards. Uncertainty in the output of atmospheric dispersion models continues to play a significant role to be considered at the point where science is translated into political decision making.     

Air pollution modeling at road sides using the operational street pollution model--a case study in Hanoi, Vietnam

In many metropolitan areas, traffic is the main source of air pollution. The high concentrations of pollutants in streets have the potential to affect human health. Therefore, estimation of air pollution at the street level is required for health impact assessment. This task has been carried out in many developed countries by a combination of air quality measurements and modeling. This study focuses on how to apply a dispersion model to cities in the developing world, where model input data and data from air quality monitoring stations are limited or of varying quality. This research uses the operational street pollution model (OSPM) developed by the National Environmental Research Institute in Denmark for a case study in Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. OSPM predictions from five streets were evaluated against air pollution measurements of nitrogen oxides (NO(x)), sulfur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), and benzene (BNZ) that were available from previous studies. Hourly measurements and passive sample measurements collected over 3-week periods were compared with model outputs, applying emission factors from previous studies. In addition, so-called "backward calculations" were performed to adapt the emission factors for Hanoi conditions. The average fleet emission factors estimated can be used for emission calculations at other streets in Hanoi and in other locations in Southeast Asia with similar vehicle types. This study also emphasizes the need to further eliminate uncertainties in input data for the street-scale air pollution modeling in Vietnam, namely by providing reliable emission factors and hourly air pollution measurements of high quality.     

Assessment of the emissions and air quality impacts of biomass and biogas use in California

It is estimated that there is sufficient in-state “technically” recoverable biomass to support nearly 4000 MW of bioelectricity generation capacity. This study assesses the emissions of greenhouse gases and air pollutants and resulting air quality impacts of new and existing bioenergy capacity throughout the state of California, focusing on feedstocks and advanced technologies utilizing biomass resources predominant in each region. The options for bioresources include the production of bioelectricity and renewable natural gas (NG). Emissions of criteria pollutants and greenhouse gases are quantified for a set of scenarios that span the emission factors for power generation and the use of renewable natural gas for vehicle fueling. Emissions are input to the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to predict regional and statewide temporal air quality impacts from the biopower scenarios. With current technology and at the emission levels of current installations, maximum bioelectricity production could increase nitrogen oxide (NO_x) emissions by 10% in 2020, which would cause increases in ozone and particulate matter concentrations in large areas of California. Technology upgrades would achieve the lowest criteria pollutant emissions. Conversion of biomass to compressed NG (CNG) for vehicles would achieve comparable emission reductions of criteria pollutants and minimize emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG). Air quality modeling of biomass scenarios suggest that applying technological changes and emission controls would minimize the air quality impacts of bioelectricity generation. And a shift from bioelectricity production to CNG production for vehicles would reduce air quality impacts further. From a co-benefits standpoint, CNG production for vehicles appears to provide the best benefits in terms of GHG emissions and air quality.

Implications:?This investigation provides a consistent analysis of air quality impacts and greenhouse gas emissions for scenarios examining increased biomass use. Further work involving economic assessment, seasonal or annual emissions and air quality modeling, and potential exposure analysis would help inform policy makers and industry with respect to further development and direction of biomass policy and bioenergy technology alternatives needed to meet energy and environmental goals in California.     

NO2 and SO2 dispersion modeling and relative roles of emission sources over Map Ta Phut industrial area, Thailand

Map Ta Phut industrial area (MA) is the largest industrial complex in Thailand. There has been concern about many air pollutants over this area. Air quality management for the area is known to be difficult, due to lack of understanding of how emissions from different sources or sectors (e.g., industrial, power plant, transportation, and residential) contribute to air quality degradation in the area. In this study, a dispersion study of NO2 and SO2 was conducted using the AERMOD model. The area-specific emission inventories of NOx and SO2 were prepared, including both stack and nonstack sources, and divided into 11 emission groups. Annual simulations were performed for the year 2006. Modeled concentrations were evaluated with observations. Underestimation of both pollutants was Jbund, and stack emission estimates were scaled to improve the modeled results before quantifying relative roles of individual emission groups to ambient concentration overfour selected impacted areas (two are residential and the others are highly industrialized). Two concentration measures (i.e., annual average area-wide concentration or AC, and area-wide robust highest concentration or AR) were used to aggregately represent mean and high-end concentrations Jbfor each individual area, respectively. For AC-NO2, on-road mobile emissions were found to be the largest contributor in the two residential areas (36-38% of total AC-NO2), while petrochemical-industry emissions play the most important role in the two industrialized areas (34-51%). For AR-NO2, biomass burning has the most influence in all impacted areas (>90%) exceptJor one residential area where on-road mobile is the largest (75%). For AC-SO2, the petrochemical industry contributes most in all impacted areas (38-56%). For AR-SO2, the results vary. Since the petrochemical industry was often identified as the major contributor despite not being the largest emitter, air quality workers should pay special attention to this emission group when managing air quality for the MA.     

Characterization of in-use light-duty gasoline vehicle emissions by remote sensing in Beijing: impact of recent control measures

China's national government and Beijing city authorities have adopted additional control measures to reduce the negative impact of vehicle emissions on Beijing's air quality. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures may provide guidance for future vehicle emission control strategy development. In-use emissions from light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) were investigated at five sites in Beijing with remote sensing instrumentation. Distance-based mass emission factors were derived with fuel consumption modeled on real world data. The results show that the recently implemented aggressive control strategies are significantly reducing the emissions of on-road vehicles. Older vehicles are contributing substantially to the total fleet emissions. An earlier program to retrofit pre-Euro cars with three-way catalysts produced little emission reduction. The impact of model year and driving conditions on the average mass emission factors indicates that the durability of vehicles emission controls may be inadequate in Beijing.     

Multi-adsorbent Preconcentration and Gas Chromatographic Analysis of Air Toxics with an Automated Collection/Analytical System

Section 507 of the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) requires states to develop a small business stationary source and environmental compliance assistance program to aid small businesses impacted by applicable air quality regulations. In general, the program consists of three main components: (1) a small business assistance program (SBAP) for providing compliance and technical assistance to small businesses; (2) an ombudsman for providing direct oversight to the SBAP; and (3) a compliance advisory panel consisting of members from both the public and private sector responsible for determining the overall effectiveness of the SBAP. The key component of the program for assisting small businesses is the SBAP. Providing the necessary assistance to small businesses regarding such issues as permit applicability, rights under the CAAA and emission control options will require the SBAP to develop both proactive and reactive components. The proactive component involves providing outreach services in the form of collecting and disseminating compliance and technical information to small businesses. The reactive component includes the establishment of an information clearinghouse for handling the many inquiries from members of the small business community who have never been subject to air pollution control regulations. States without the available resources to fully implement an SBAP may need to rely on contractor assistance. This paper briefly describes the establishment of the program, provides an overview of each of the program components, discusses many of the ways in which states may implement both the proactive and reactive components of the SBAP, and lists the types of contractors most suitable for SBAP assistance.     

An environmental decision framework applied to marine engine control technologies

This paper develops a decision framework for considering emission control technologies on marine engines, informed by standard decision theory, with an open structure that may be adapted by operators with specific vessel and technology attributes different from those provided here. Attributes relate objectives important to choosing control technologies with specific alternatives that may meet several of the objectives differently. The transparent framework enables multiple stakeholders to understand how different subjective judgments and varying attribute properties may result in different technology choices. Standard scoring techniques ensure that attributes are not biased by subjective scoring and that weights are the primary quantitative input where subjective preferences are exercised. An expected value decision structure is adopted that considers probabilities (likelihood) that a given alternative can meet its claims; alternative decision criteria are discussed. Capital and annual costs are combined using a net present value approach. An iterative approach is advocated that allows for screening and disqualifying alternatives that do not meet minimum conditions for acceptance, such as engine warranty or U.S. Coast Guard requirements. This decision framework assists vessel operators in considering explicitly important attributes and in representing choices clearly to other stakeholders concerned about reducing air pollution from vessels. This general decision structure may also be applied similarly to other environmental controls in marine applications.     

Conjunctive Use of Models to Design Cost-Effective Ozone Control Strategies

Abstract

The management of tropospheric ozone (O₃) is particularly difficult. The formulation of emission control strategies requires considerable information including: (1) emission inventories, (2) available control technologies, (3) meteorological data for critical design episodes, and (4) computer models that simulate atmospheric transport and chemistry. The simultaneous consideration of this information during control strategy design can be exceedingly difficult for a decision-maker. Traditional management approaches do not explicitly address cost minimization. This study presents a new approach for designing air quality management strategies; a simple air quality model is used conjunctively with a complex air quality model to obtain low-cost management strategies. A simple air quality model is used to identify potentially good solutions, and two heuristic methods are used to identify cost-effective control strategies using only a small number of simple air quality model simulations. Subsequently, the resulting strategies are verified and refined using a complex air quality model. The use of this approach may greatly reduce the number of complex air quality model runs that are required. An important component of this heuristic design framework is the use of the simple air quality model as a screening and exploratory tool. To achieve similar results with the simple and complex air quality models, it may be necessary to “tweak” or calibrate the simple model. A genetic algorithm-based optimization procedure is used to automate this tweaking process. These methods are demonstrated to be computationally practical using two realistic case studies, which are based on data from a metropolitan region in the United States.     

Relation between ozone levels and NOx and VOC emissions in the Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area for an episode of August, 1998

At present, major efforts in air pollution control for urban areas are oriented to reduce ozone levels to below standards. Models are a useful tool for air quality assessment and they can help to select the best strategy plan to reduce ozone levels in a polluted area. Like other large cities in the world, Sao Paulo Metropolitan Area (SPMA) has registered high levels of ozone and particulate matter for several decades. In order to establish appropriate strategy plans, a photochemical model has been used for an episode that occurred in 1999. Simple emission control strategies have been examined.     

Characterization of In-Use Light-Duty Gasoline Vehicle Emissions by Remote Sensing in Beijing: Impact of Recent Control Measures

Abstract

China’s national government and Beijing city authorities have adopted additional control measures to reduce the negative impact of vehicle emissions on Beijing’s air quality. An evaluation of the effectiveness of these measures may provide guidance for future vehicle emission control strategy development. In-use emissions from light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) were investigated at five sites in Beijing with remote sensing instrumentation. Distance-based mass emission factors were derived with fuel consumption modeled on real world data. The results show that the recently implemented aggressive control strategies are significantly reducing the emissions of on-road vehicles. Older vehicles are contributing substantially to the total fleet emissions. An earlier program to retrofit pre-Euro cars with three-way catalysts produced little emission reduction. The impact of model year and driving conditions on the average mass emission factors indicates that the durability of vehicles emission controls may be inadequate in Beijing.     

Needed: A National R&D Effort To Develop Individual Air Pollution Monitor Instrumentation

The results from the regional air quality analysis for the Four Corners Study are discussed in this paper. This study was one of five regional studies conducted for the National Commission on Air Quality. Potential regional air quality impacts were evaluated through the year 1995 for alternative energy scenarios under current and alternative regulatory policies. The alternative regulatory policies include emission fees, technology standards, emission ceilings, and prevention of significant deterioration class elimination. The alternatives were compared in terms of their impacts on regional visibility and on the ambient concentrations of SO₂, SO₄, and primary fine particulates. The fate of the pollutants was estimated. The alternative regulatory policies were quite different with respect to their control of SO_X emissions and their impacts on regional visibility. Sources located outside of the study region were estimated to have a major impact on regional air quality within the study region.     

Simulation of the Environmental Impact of an Airport on the Surrounding Air Quality

It is the purpose of this study to demonstrate the procedure involved in simulating those average and maximum pollutant concentrations at or around an airport which fall under the control of the Clean Air Act. The information is useful, when planning new or expanding existing airports, when estimating the impact of airports on the surrounding air quality, and when assessing the effectiveness of control procedures. Simulation of airport air quality requires the accurate assessment of the temporal and spatial emission patterns. This involves the tabulation of air traffic density by type and engine, make and model of aircraft, and engine mode number; the use of fuel by different aircraft; the pollutant emission rates by engine model and operational mode; the allocation of emission rates to the respective runways, turn-off points, taxi-ways, and parking areas, and the time each aircraft spent in the different operational modes. The resulting emission pattern for the Honolulu International Airport reflects scheduled and unscheduled commercial and military jet and piston aircraft and nonaircraft operations. Using this and the appropriate meteorological information average and maximum surface concentrations were calculated and compared with local ambient air quality standards. The calculation of concentrations is based on a newly developed diffusion model incorporating harmonic mean wind speeds for every degree of wind direction as determined by a Parzen maximum likelihood interpolation technique, and the assumption of log-normal concentration distributions. It is shown that for some pollutants the air quality standards are substantially exceeded, and it is concluded that airports may have a considerable adverse impact on their surrounding air quality.     

The Crisis in Air Pollution Manpower Development

There is a crisis in air pollution manpower development within the United States today. This is the conclusion drawn from a series of three studies recently conducted by the National Air Pollution Manpower Development Advisory Committee. These studies, designed to define the essential components of a total manpower development program and to evaluate current efforts on specific segments of such a program, showed that the existing Federal manpower program fails to address many of the problem areas needing attention, that greater effort needs to be directed to meeting the air pollution educational requirements of State highway departments and planning agencies, and that the quality of most graduate level university programs in air pollution control is on the decline because of the withdrawal of Federal financial support.     

Future Impacts of Distributed Power Generation on Ambient Ozone and Particulate Matter Concentrations in the San Joaquin Valley of California

ABSTRACT

Distributed power generation—electricity generation that is produced by many small stationary power generators distributed throughout an urban air basin—has the potential to supply a significant portion of electricity in future years. As a result, distributed generation may lead to increased pollutant emissions within an urban air basin, which could adversely affect air quality. However, the use of combined heating and power with distributed generation may reduce the energy consumption for space heating and air conditioning, resulting in a net decrease of pollutant and greenhouse gas emissions. This work used a systematic approach based on land-use geographical information system data to determine the spatial and temporal distribution of distributed generation emissions in the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin of California and simulated the potential air quality impacts using state-of-the-art three-dimensional computer models. The evaluation of the potential market penetration of distributed generation focuses on the year 2023. In general, the air quality impacts of distributed generation were found to be small due to the restrictive 2007 California Air Resources Board air emission standards applied to all distributed generation units and due to the use of combined heating and power. Results suggest that if distributed generation units were allowed to emit at the current Best Available Control Technology standards (which are less restrictive than the 2007 California Air Resources Board standards), air quality impacts of distributed generation could compromise compliance with the federal 8-hr average ozone standard in the region.

IMPLICATIONS The San Joaquin Valley is a fast growing region that demands increasing power generation to sustain the economic development, and at the same time it is one of the worst polluted areas in the United States. Hence, the region demands alternatives that minimize the air quality impacts of power generation. This paper addresses the air quality impacts of distributed generation of power, an alternative to central power generation that can potentially reduce greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions throughout the United States.     

NO2 and SO2dispersion modeling and relative roles of emission sources over Map Ta Phut industrial area,Thailand

Map Ta Phut industrial area (MA) is the largest industrial complex in Thailand. There has been concern about many air pollutants over this area. Air quality management for the area is known to be difficult, due to lack of understanding of how emissions from different sources or sectors (e.g., industrial, power plant, transportation, and residential) contribute to air quality degradation in the area. In this study, a dispersion study of NO₂ and SO₂ was conducted using the AERMOD model. The area-specific emission inventories of NO_x and SO₂ were prepared, including both stack and nonstack sources, and divided into 11 emission groups. Annual simulations were performed for the year 2006. Modeled concentrations were evaluated with observations. Underestimation of both pollutants was found, and stack emission estimates were scaled to improve the modeled results before quantifying relative roles of individual emission groups to ambient concentration over four selected impacted areas (two are residential and the others are highly industrialized). Two concentration measures (i.e., annual average area-wide concentration or AC, and area-wide robust highest concentration or AR) were used to aggregately represent mean and high-end concentrations for each individual area, respectively. For AC-NO₂, on-road mobile emissions were found to be the largest contributor in the two residential areas (36–38% of total AC-NO₂), while petrochemical-industry emissions play the most important role in the two industrialized areas (34–51%). For AR-NO₂, biomass burning has the most influence in all impacted areas (>90%) except for one residential area where on-road mobile is the largest (75%). For AC-SO₂, the petrochemical industry contributes most in all impacted areas (38–56%). For AR-SO₂, the results vary. Since the petrochemical industry was often identified as the major contributor despite not being the largest emitter, air quality workers should pay special attention to this emission group when managing air quality for the MA.

Implications: Effective air quality management in Map Ta Phut Industrial Area, Thailand requires better understanding of how emissions from various sources contribute to the degradation of ambient air quality. Based on the dispersion study here, petrochemical industry was generally identified as the major contributor to ambient NO₂ and SO₂. By accounting for all stack and non-stack sources, on-road mobile emissions were found to be important in some particular areas.