Section 309 of the RHR includes a provision that recognizes the work of the Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission, which addresses regional haze impacts within 16 western Class I areas on the Colorado Plateau. This section of the rule offers an early “opt-in” for regional haze planning by the States and Tribes in the GCVTC region. Compliance with the reasonable progress requirements of the rule is achieved by including the recommendations already developed by the GCVTC, In addition, “Best Available Retrofit Technology” (BART) must be included on specific categories of major stationary sources of haze-producing pollutants, primarily existing electrical generating units (EGUs) that emit large quantities of SO2 and NOx. The States of Arizona, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming opted into this provision and submitted complete §309 regional haze plans to their respective EPA regional offices by the deadline of December 2003. Oregon has since decided to address regional haze planning through §308 of the RHR. Bernalillo County (Albuquerque) has air quality planning responsibilities in that portion of New Mexico and has submitted its §309 regional haze plan independently.
Since the 2003 submittals the §309 states have been successfully implementing the GCVTC recommendations along with other measures contained in the plans. These include documented SO2 reductions far in excess of those anticipated in the submitted plans, BART determinations, active smoke management programs for prescribed burning, dust controls, energy efficiencies and other control measures.
The Western Regional Air Partnership has been working closely through its various committees and forums to provide background data and support for preparation of Section 309 state implementation plans. A complete list of those documents is provided listed below. Other states and tribes have participated in developing these materials and may choose to use elements of the Section 309 plans to template in developing their own plans due in the next few years.
Regional Haze Rule – Part 51.300-309, and Guidance, Appendix Y
Regional Haze Rule – Part 51.300-309, and Guidance, Appendix Y “Each section of the Regional Haze Rule, 40CFR 51 300-309, is presented here, along with Appendix Y. The rule was first promulgated July 1, 1999, and was amended in Federal Register notices on July 6, 2005 (to modify BART provisions and provide guidelines as Appendix Y) and on October 13, 2006 (to add alternatives-to-BART provisions, replacing the 309 SO2 Annex). These revisions are indicated by highlights in the text of sections 302, 308 and 309 – grey for the July 6, 2005 revisions, yellow for the October 13, 2006 revisions.”
Final Documents
2008 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (03/31/10) PDF or DOC
This report compares the 2006-2008 sulfur dioxide emissions with the 2008 milestone for the four §309 states participating in the Western Emissions Backstop Trading Program. This is a transitional report comparing emissions against the revised 2008 milestone as presented in current State Implementation Plans (SIP’s). Utah & Wyoming have submitted revised SIP’s for review by EPA, while Arizona and New Mexico are in the process of completing their revisions. Only stationary sources emitting greater than 100 tons per year are included in the program. Results indicate that the 2006-2008 average emissions were about 30% below the revised 2008 milestone for the four §309 states.
2007 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (03/31/09) PDF or DOC
This report compares the 2005-2007 sulfur dioxide emissions with the 2007 milestone for the four §309 states participating in the Western Emissions Backstop Trading Program. This is a transitional report comparing emissions against the 2007 milestone as calculated under the original 2003 State Implementation Plans (SIP’s), as well as against the revised 2007 milestone as calculated under the current plans (Utah & Wyoming have submitted revised SIP’s, while Arizona and New Mexico are in the process of completing their revisions). Only stationary sources emitting greater than 100 tons per year are included in the program. Results indicate that the 2005-2007 average emissions were about 33% below the revised 2007 milestone for the four §309 states.
§309 Program Materials (April ‘08 Final Revisions)
Four western states (AZ, NM, UT & WY) are planning on re-submitting State Implementation Plans under Section §309 of the federal regional haze rule. These states (along with OR) originally submitted SIP’s in 2003, but due to legal challenges, these initial submittals were never approved by the EPA. The four remaining §309 states began working on redesigning the SO2 Milestones required for the §309 Regional Haze option in early 2007, and have now developed a proposal for revised Milestones, along with a variety of supporting materials for implementing the Backstop SO2 Trading Program. The milestones and the supporting materials have been revised in response to Stakeholder comments received during multiple Stakeholder calls over the Winter of 2007-2008. Available below for download and stakeholder review are the Final key materials supporting the new §309 SO2 Milestones and Backstop Trading Program.
Projection of Visibility tables and explanation (12/11/07) PDF or DOC
Better than BART document - typographical correction (07/23/09) PDF or DOC
Example Trading Rule (Note: each §309 State will have its own Version of this Rule) PDF
2006 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (03/20/08) PDF or DOC
This report compares the 2004-2006 sulfur dioxide emissions with the 2006 milestone for the four-state region participating in the Western Emissions Backstop Trading Program. Only stationary sources emitting greater than 100 tons per year are included in the program. The 2004-2006 average emissions were about 30% below the milestone for the four remaining §309 states.
FINAL REPORT: WRAP SO2 MILESTONE TRACKING PROCESS AUDIT (10/02/07) PDF
Five western states (AZ, NM, OR, UT & WY) submitted State Implementation Plans under Section §309 of the federal regional haze rule [40 CFR 51.309] to establish a sulfur dioxide (SO2) milestones and a backstop trading program. This program requires major industrial sources of SO2 emissions to submit an annual emissions inventory to their respective state air quality offices. These inventories, in turn, are compiled by the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) and analyzed to determine compliance with the regional SO2 milestones.
The backstop trading program also calls for an independent audit to ensure that the state inventories and regional analyses are accurate and efficient. The program guideline states that the first audit shall occur during the 2006 calendar year, and shall review data collected during the first two years of the program. The primary focus of the audit is on the process that is used to compute the regional inventory from the data provided by each state, and the tracking of accumulated changes during the period between SIP revisions. The audit shall also review the accuracy and integrity of the regional reports that are used by the §309 states to determine compliance with the milestones.
This document represents the FINAL Report, describing the results of the milestone tracking program audit that was conducted by E.H. Pechan & Associates during the Fall of 2006. The participating §309 States completed Public Notice of this report during the Spring/Summer of 2007 to provide an opportunity for public review and comment on the draft audit report. The audit report then goes to the EPA under each states’ Administrative process.
2005 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (04/02/07) PDF or DOC
This report compares the 2003-2005 sulfur dioxide emissions with the 2005 milestone for the five-state region participating in the Western Emissions Backstop Trading Program. Only stationary sources emitting greater than 100 tons per year are included in the program. The 2003-2005 average emissions were about 27% below the milestone for the five states.
2004 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (03/31/06) PDF or DOC
This report compares the 2003-2004 sulfur dioxide emissions with the 2004 milestone for the five-state region participating in the Western Emissions Backstop Trading Program. Only stationary sources emitting greater than 100 tons per year are included in the program. The 2003-2004 average emissions were about 25% below the milestone for the five states.
2003 Regional SO2 Emissions and Milestone Report (04/21/05) PDF or DOC
This report compiles the 2003 emissions from sources subject to the western backstop SO2 trading program
and compares them to the 5-state regional milestone. Emissions were found to be 25 percent below the
milestone.
Model Rule for the Western Backstop SO2 Trading Program
Western Backstop SO2 Trading Program Model Rule (08/13/03) PDF
Western Backstop SO2 Trading Program Model Rule Supplement (08/13/03) PDF
State Implementation Plan Template
Model SIP/TIP for the Western Backstop SO2 Trading Program (08/13/03) DOC
Final Draft 309 SIP Template, not including the Western Backstop SO2 Trading Program (07/10/03) DOC
Redline/strikeout version showing changes from prior version (07/10/03) DOC
Referenced Documents After the first 3, the following documents are organized to match the order of Section 309:
Technical Support Document (12/15/03 see separate section below)
Grand Canyon Visibility Transport Commission Final Report (June 1996) PDF
Regional Haze Rule and Preamble (64 Federal Register 35714 - 07/01/99) PDF
Clean Air Corridors
WRAP Policy on Clean Air Corridors (11/13/02) PDF or DOC
Stationary Sources
See above for the Western backstop SO2 Trading Program Model Rule and Model SIP/TIP
Western Backstop SO2 Emissions and Allowance Tracking System Analysis (07/31/03) PDF or WPD (Zip Archive)
Stationary Source NOx and PM Emissions in the WRAP Region: An Initial Assessment of Emissions, Controls, and Air Quality Impacts (10/01/03) HTML
Recommendations for Making Attribution Determinations in the Context of Reasonably Attributable BART (05/22/03) PDF
Draft Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) Between Federal Land Managers andStates to Address the RAVI Certification Process (01/13/03) DOC
Western Revision to Section 309 Incorporating the Annex (68 Federal Register 33764 - 06/05/03) PDF
Mobile Sources
Development of WRAP Mobile Source Emissions Inventories (02/09/04) PDF
EPA Proposal to Revise Section 309 Mobile Source Provisions (68 Federal Register 39842 - 07/03/03) PDF
Fire Sources
WRAP Policy on Enhanced Smoke Management Programs for Visibility (11/12/02) PDF
WRAP Policy on Annual Emission Goals for Fire (04/02/03) PDF
WRAP Policy on Fire Tracking Systems (04/02/03) PDF
Non-Burning Alternatives for Vegetation and Fuel Management on Wildlands (11/02) PDF
Non-Burning Management Alternatives on Agricultural Lands in the Western United States (05/15/02) ZIP
Assessing Status of Incorporating Smoke Effects into Fire Planning and Operations (08/29/02) PDF
Rd. Dust (emissions inventory information is found in the WRAP Mobile Source Emissions Inventories report, above)
Methodology for Estimating Fugitive Windblown and Mechanical Rd. Dust Emissions Applicable for Regional Scale Air Quality Modeling (04/01) DOC or PDF
Pollution Prevention
WRAP Policy on Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency As Pollution Prevention Strategies For Regional Haze (04/03) DOC
Recommendations of the Air Pollution Prevention Forum to Increase the Generation of Electricity from Renewable Resources (06/30/00) HTML
Economic Assessment of Implementing the 10/20 Goals and Energy Efficiency Recommendations (10/02) DOC
Determining a State's Contribution to the GCVTC Regional Renewable Energy Goals HTML
Minutes from the Pollution Prevention Workshop for the Preparation of Section 309 SIPs and TIPs, Portland, OR (05/20/03) DOC
Tribal Implementation Plan
EPA-Tribal Protocol, Regional Haze TIP Development and Rulemaking Action (FINAL)
The EPA-Tribal Protocol is intended to facilitate a collaborative process of developing, reviewing and implementing Section 309 Tribal Implementation Plans (TIPs) under the Regional Haze Rule. The protocol contains the commitments and expectations for both the EPA and tribes involved in the TIP process. Deadline for submission of comments was March 11, 2005. PDF or DOC
Section 309 Tribal Guidance Document The Section 309 Tribal Guidance Document has been developed to assist tribes within a nine-state region (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, Wyoming) to develop regional haze implementation plans. The guidance document is meant to offer information relevant to making a commitment to a visibility-based Tribal Implementation Plan (TIP), as well as giving options to a tribe regarding a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP). (09/17/04) PDF or DOC
Model Tribal Implementation Plan (TIP) Template for Section 309 of the Regional Haze Rule (FINAL) The 309 Regional Haze TIP template may be used by those federally recognized tribes located in any of the following states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, New Mexico, Oregon, Utah, and Wyoming. The template contains general language and other elements that are necessary in obtaining U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) approval of regional haze implementation plans. Adoption of a regional haze TIP is optional for tribes. (02/15/05) PDF or DOC
Technical Support Document (TSD)
The final version of the regional Section 309 TSD, originally published December 15, 2003, has been updated as of May 7, 2008. The only portion of the TSD revised in the May 7 update is the Cover Page and Table of Contents. The update to the Table of Contents provides annotations describing the sections of the TSD still applicable to the 2008 Section 309 Regional Haze Plans, and where the 309 Haze Plans are based on newer and more complete data, directing the reader to the WRAP Technical Support System (TSS) for current regional haze technical support data and information.
County-level emissions inputs to the regional air quality modeling simulations are available at WRAP TSS, under the Haze Planning button, then select Emissions Review Tool.
Please contact Tom Moore with questions about the TSD.
Emission Inventories
Point Sources
The files below contain "Version 3" of the WRAP Point Source emissions estimates for 22 US States which are located west of the line marked by the eastern borders of the states in the line from Minnesota to Louisiana. States encompassed by the inventory domain include the 13 contiguous WRAP region states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming), and the 9 CENRAP states (Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas).
The original "Version 1" of the Point Source Database was compiled by Pacific Environmental Services in 2001 (the PES Report on this database compilation can be found listed as the "Final Report: Development of the 1996 Base Year Emissions Inventory for Regional Haze Analysis" file available on the "Documents" page under the "WRAP Base Year Emissions Inventory" section of the Emission Forum Webpage).
A Quality Assurance review of "Version 1" revealed a number of data errors, therefore the Emission Forum contracted with E.H. Pechan and Associates to revise this 1996 Point Source database file to correct those detected errors. Pechan produced "Version 2" of the database in the Fall of 2002, which underwent thorough State and Local review. This State & Local review produced significant comment, which Pechan addressed by producing the March 11, 2003 updated "Version 3" of this database (listed as the "WRAP96PointV3_022803.zip" file available below).
The changes that were made to the original 1996 Point Source database by both the "Version 2" and the "Version 3" revisions were described in a March 7, 2003 "Technical Memorandum" (listed as the "2003-03_Pechan TECHMEMO.wpd" file available on the "EI Documents" page under the "Quality Assurance Review of the Original 1996 Point Source Emission Inventory" section of the Emission Forum Webpage).
Instructions for opening source DBF files in Access 97 DOC
Emissions summary for point sources by county XLS
Includes emissions of all pollutants by County (Updated 03/11/03)
Emissions summary for point sources by state XLS
Includes emissions of all pollutants by State; # of facilities and # of emissions records by State (Updated 03/11/03)
Mobile Sources
Development of WRAP Mobile Source Emissions InventoriesPDF (02/09/04)
On behalf of the Emissions Forum, ENVIRON Corporation has developed approaches for estimated mobile source emissions across the contiguous WRAP region, used in the §309 analyses. Projecting emissions from 1996 through 2018, this report describes in detail the methods used to estimate mobile source emissions, and provides the resulting emissions estimates. Emissions in this mobile sources inventory include on-road and off-road vehicles and engines, and though typically not considered part of mobile sources, road dust emissions estimates are also described in this report.
Memo: Results of using air quality modeling to evaluate mobile source significance DOC (11/04/02)
Memo: Summary of on-road, off-road, and total mobile source emissions from 1996 through 2018 by region, state, and selected urban areas over 250,000 people DOC (11/26/02)
Area Sources
The files below contain the final 1996 base-year WRAP estimates of Area Source emissions for 22 US States which are located west of the line marked by the eastern borders of the states in the line from Minnesota to Louisiana. States encompassed by the inventory domain include the 13 contiguous WRAP region states (Arizona, California, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington and Wyoming), and the 9 CENRAP states (Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas).
These files represent State supplied area source emissions estimates from 9 states (California, Colorado, Louisiana, Missouri, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Utah and Washington), while the estimates for the remaining states are based on the 1996 NEI annual emissions inventory. These files DO NOT include estimates for highway mobile sources, off-highway mobile sources, dust from either unpaved or paved roads, or emissions from wildfire, prescribed burning and agricultural burning. The emissions estimates for geogenic wind blown dust from undisturbed natural soils has been set to zero for all states in these files.
Instructions for opening source DBF files in Access 97 DOC
Emissions summary for area sources by county XLS
Includes emissions totals for all pollutants by County (Updated 07/08/02)
Emissions summary for area sources by State XLS
Includes emissions for all pollutants by State; and # of emissions records by State (Updated 07/08/02)
Fire Sources
Wildfire, Prescribed (Rx) Wildland Fire and Agricultural Fire Emissions Inventories
The spreadsheets below contain summaries of the WRAP States "Wildfire", "Prescribed (Rx) Wildland Fire" and "Agricultural Fire" Emissions Inventories that have been compiled by the Fire Emissions Joint Forum (FEJF), for the years, 1996 and 2018.
The Emissions Inventories are compiled for seven regional haze pollutants including: VOC's, NOx, CO, SO2, PM-10, PM-2.5, and NH3.
Each EXCEL spreadsheet file listed below contains two individual data sheets, followed by graphs of the distribution of the emissions throughout the WRAP region.
Sheets #1 & #2 of each spreadsheet file summarize emissions data. Sheet one summarizes the data by state, for each of the 13 contiguous WRAP States (with a separate subtotal of the emissions generated by the 9 GCVTC transport region states). Sheet two summarizes emissions by county, for each of the 533 counties in those 13 WRAP States where the FEJF determined that fire occurs (if a county is not listed, that means that the FEJF has found no fire emissions for that category in the county).
Sheets #4 through #17 of each spreadsheet file provide graphs of the emissions data. For each of the seven listed pollutants, there is both a "Bar Chart" and a "Pie Chart" showing the distribution of the emissions of that pollutant in the 13 WRAP States.
For 1996, the FEJF calculated an emission inventory for the "actual" wildfire activity that occurred that year. The FEJF also calculated an emission inventory for actual Prescribed (Rx) Wildland Fire in 1996, but they were unable to compile any data for 1996 Agricultural Fire, so there is no 1996 inventory for Agricultural Fire. The 1996 spreadsheets include:
For 2018, the FEJF calculated an emission inventory for the "average" wildfire activity that historically has occurred (as 1996 was considered an extreme wildfire year). The 2018 wildfire spreadsheet is:
Regarding 2018 projections for Prescribed (Rx) Wildland Fire and for Agricultural Fire, the FEJF calculated three scenarios for each of these two categories; a "Base Year" emission inventory, a "No Smoke Mangement" alternative, and an "Optimal Smoke Mangement" alternative alternative. The 2018 spreadsheets include:
The files below contain summaries of a complete WRAP Region Emission Inventory (13 contiguous WRAP states include: AZ, CA, CO, ID, MT, NV, NM, ND, OR, SD, UT, WA & WY).
The summaries are compiled for all Seven Visibility Impairing Pollutants (VOC, NOx, CO, SO2, PM10, PM2.5 & NH3), for the years 1996 and 2018.
The Nine Emission Source Categories include:
point sources
area sources
on-road mobile sources
non-road mobile sources
wildfire
prescribed wildlands fire (Rx)
agricultural fire
paved road dust (PM only)
unpaved road dust (PM only)
The two summary spreadsheets for 1996, and for 2018, each contain the following information:
The first page of each spreadsheet contains a "Summary" of the emissions from each of the source categories, their percentage of the WRAP region total and the year's tonnage for each pollutant. The second page contains the "State Totals" of each Source Category, for each pollutant.
Sheets #3 through #16 of each spreadsheet file provide graphs of the emissions data. For each of the seven listed pollutants, there is both a "Bar Chart" and a "Pie Chart" showing the distribution of the emissions of that pollutant in the 9 Emission Source Categories.
For 1996, the EXCEL spreadsheet "1996_Summary-Actual.xls" contains actual emissions data compiled by the WRAP. There was no "Agricultural Fire" data available for 1996 however, so that category is shown as "zero" on the spreadsheet, when in actuality there likely were emissions from this source category that year.
For 2018, the EXCEL spreadsheet "2018_Summary-Control.xls" contains maximum controlled emission data as projected from the 1996 baseline. There were four source categories where projected emission inventories were compiled for multiple scenarios. These include "point" sources and the three "fire" sources (wildfire, Rx & ag). For the point sources, the scenario represented in this spreadsheet represents the Annex SO2 Emission Milestones. For 2018 wildfire, the scenario selected is an "average" wildfire year (1996 represented a high extreme). For the other two fire sources (Rx & Ag), the selected option represents the "Optimal Smoke Management" scenario.
The third EXCEL spreadsheet is "2018-1996_Difference_Actual_to_Control.xls", and this spreadsheet summarizes the Emission Totals for 1996, and for 2018, by Emission Source Category. It also calculates the change in emissions for each of these Source Categories, and the "Total Emission Change" in the WRAP Region for each pollutant. The change is calculated as total tons reduced (-) or increased (+) during the period, and the percentage change in that total.
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