December 21, 2015
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (“ADEQ”) Associate Director for the Office of Air, Stuart Spencer, forwarded comments on the December 18th post http://www.mitchellwilliamslaw.com/air-monitoring-us-epa-office-of-inspector-general-addresses-region-6-network regarding a United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) report on EPA Region 6 air monitoring activities.
The OIG report had assessed various EPA Region 6 Clean Air Act PM2.5 monitoring activities.
Mr. Spencer outlined ADEQ’s air monitoring activities noting:
- The State of Arkansas continues to work to ensure
- ADEQ monitors are in areas with highly susceptible individuals as stated in the 5-Year Network Assessment. ADEQ operates seven monitoring sites in or near the area of Benton County, Pulaski County, and Washington County, which have the highest number of asthmatics according to the 2010 county-level Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) that was conducted by the Arkansas Center for Health Statistics.
- ADEQ monitors meet its current objectives through analysis conducted in the 5-Year Network Assessment. These analyses include meteorological analysis, probability analysis, correlation analysis, and historical trends. In addition, technical systems audits are conducted by EPA to ensure sites meet requirements and that data are properly validated.
- ADEQ continues to operate the federally required number of monitors for each criteria pollutant, taking into account the growing Arkansas population and current design values for each monitor. This can be seen in both the Annual Network Review and 5-Year Network Assessment. ADEQ continues to look at potential new monitors that may be needed in the future and also discontinuing monitors that no longer meets its current objectives. ADEQ only requests to discontinue monitors after careful analysis of historical trends, population shifts, federal guidelines, and to ensure that there are no negative effects on data users.
The more recent Arkansas Clean Air Act air monitoring activities are best illustrated by ADEQ/EPA correspondence and associated reports from the latter half of 2015. They include:
- Arkansas Ambient Air Monitoring Network Annual Network Plan 2015-2016 (July 16, 2015)
- Letter from EPA Region 6 to ADEQ dated September 4, 2105 approving modifications to Arkansas’ Ambient Air Monitoring system
- Letter from ADEQ to EPA Region 6 dated October 13, 2015 submitting the required assessment of the air quality surveillance system for the State of Arkansas
- Letter from EPA to ADEQ dated November 16, 2015 substantially approving the 2015 Ambient Air Monitoring Network Plan
- Letter from EPA to ADEQ dated December 1, 2015 approving a requested change in sampling frequency for PM2.5 and PM10 at a certain monitoring site
Click here to download a copy of the referenced documents.
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