The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finalized regulatory action on the State of Alaska’s current plan to reduce winter-time fine particulate matter (PM2.5)levels in the Fairbanks-North Star Borough which remain double the national, health-based standard.
Today’s announcement, which concludes the agency’s requirement to formally approve and/or disapprove elements of the plan, now serves as a blueprint for the state and borough as they develop a new plan to submit to the EPA in summer 2024.
EPA staff are working with the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation and the borough to strengthen the disapproved elements of the current plan. For instance, while the EPA has formally disapproved the plan’s failure to require controls on stationary sources of sulfur dioxide – such as power plants -- the agency’s Office of Research & Development has developed a new model which is being used by ADEC that could demonstrate that the SO2 from those sources do not contribute significantly to the region’s PM2.5 problem.
In January of this year, the EPA sought public comment on its proposal to approve and disapprove parts of the state’s current plan. After reviewing 160 comments, including new information from the state, the EPA re-evaluated several elements of the state’s plan it had proposed disapproving. For instance, after initially proposing to disapprove the state’s determination that requiring the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel in boilers and home heating was neither practical nor affordable, the EPA further analyzed the state’s determination and is now satisfied with the state’s analysis -- and thus will not require the state to mandate the use of ULSD in the borough.
“Air quality in Fairbanks is as complicated a public health issue as we deal with at EPA,” said EPA Regional Administrator Casey Sixkiller. “Getting the plan right requires understanding evolving science, and we think we’re much closer to a solution than we’ve ever been.
“What’s clear to me is that everyone in the borough has a role to play in reducing particulate emissions, and the EPA can lend a hand by providing technical and financial support to reduce the cost of residents’ efforts to help. I’m confident the partnerships among my agency, ADEC, and the Fairbanks North Star Borough will deliver an air quality plan that will significantly reduce PM levels and provide the public health improvements that borough residents deserve.”
The EPA’s disapproval of part of the state’s plan freezes funding of the state’s transportation plan for the borough at current levels. However, the agency anticipates receiving an approvable air quality plan in July, and formal approval of that plan would eliminate any practical impact of a freeze.
$10 million in new Targeted Airshed Grants for FNSB
Recognizing that wood smoke remains the largest source of fine particle pollution in the borough, last month the EPA awarded $10 million in Targeted Airshed Grant funding to ADEC to help the borough reduce direct fine particulate matter emissions by removing and replacing solid-fueled heating devices, replacing oil heating appliances with natural gas or propane, and expanding the availability of natural gas to underserved communities via mainline extensions.
ADEC is partnering with the Interior Gas Utility to extend its natural gas distribution lines to more areas within the nonattainment area with a priority focus on communities with environmental justice concerns. This is the first time Targeted Airshed Grant funding has been awarded to expand access to natural gas, which will broaden the depth of eligible applicants for solid fuel burning appliances and oil to gas conversion and further assist in the reductions of PM2.5 and SO2.
Since Alaska’s first Targeted Airshed Grant in 2017, the EPA has provided nearly $42 million to help the state and borough improve air quality.
The borough’s existing woodstove conversion program has removed or converted 3,576 woodstove or other solid fuel-fired heating devices in the non-attainment area. This grant is estimated to remove or convert an additional approximately 335 solid-fueled heating devices and oil heating appliances to natural gas or propane.
For more information about the EPA’s role in improving air quality in the borough go to https://www.epa.gov/ak/fairbanks-air-quality-plan.
from EPA News Releases https://ift.tt/KjCfFyG