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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
JUNE, 29, 2018
EPA APPROVES REVISIONS TO ARKANSAS’S MINOR SOURCE PERMITTING PLAN
NORTH LITTLE ROCK—The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved Arkansas’s minor source permitting threshold requirements included in two state implementation plan (SIP) revisions: the 2010 Threshold SIP and the 2017 National Ambient Air Quality SIP. The Federal Register notice can be found at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-06-29/pdf/2018-13942.pdf.
“I’m pleased that EPA continues to engage with ADEQ on state-based solutions,” said Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh. “This latest approval is another example of EPA’s rededicated focus on cooperative federalism. This collaborative approach allows Arkansas flexibility to meet federal requirements while ensuring protection of one of our state’s greatest resources, our clean air.”
With this approval, EPA has again recognized that the states are best suited to determine their air permitting needs. EPA acknowledged the volumes of evidence provided by ADEQ to demonstrate that the minor source permitting thresholds revised in 2009 by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APC&EC), as well as the new fine particulate matter thresholds added in 2016, are protective of national ambient air quality standards.
This evidence included monitoring trends documenting improvements in air quality in Arkansas between 2007 and 2014 as well as modeling that demonstrated that emissions increases less than the minor source permitting thresholds are not anticipated to negatively impact air quality anywhere in the state.
Today’s action marks the conclusion of eight years of efforts by ADEQ and EPA to incorporate minor source permitting threshold changes into the federally enforceable SIP.
CONTACT: Nate Olson (nate.olson@adeq.state.ar.us) or 501-682-0916
JUNE, 29, 2018
EPA APPROVES REVISIONS TO ARKANSAS’S MINOR SOURCE PERMITTING PLAN
NORTH LITTLE ROCK—The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has approved Arkansas’s minor source permitting threshold requirements included in two state implementation plan (SIP) revisions: the 2010 Threshold SIP and the 2017 National Ambient Air Quality SIP. The Federal Register notice can be found at https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2018-06-29/pdf/2018-13942.pdf.
“I’m pleased that EPA continues to engage with ADEQ on state-based solutions,” said Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality Director Becky Keogh. “This latest approval is another example of EPA’s rededicated focus on cooperative federalism. This collaborative approach allows Arkansas flexibility to meet federal requirements while ensuring protection of one of our state’s greatest resources, our clean air.”
With this approval, EPA has again recognized that the states are best suited to determine their air permitting needs. EPA acknowledged the volumes of evidence provided by ADEQ to demonstrate that the minor source permitting thresholds revised in 2009 by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission (APC&EC), as well as the new fine particulate matter thresholds added in 2016, are protective of national ambient air quality standards.
This evidence included monitoring trends documenting improvements in air quality in Arkansas between 2007 and 2014 as well as modeling that demonstrated that emissions increases less than the minor source permitting thresholds are not anticipated to negatively impact air quality anywhere in the state.
Today’s action marks the conclusion of eight years of efforts by ADEQ and EPA to incorporate minor source permitting threshold changes into the federally enforceable SIP.
CONTACT: Nate Olson (nate.olson@adeq.state.ar.us) or 501-682-0916