[Federal Register: August 22, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 161)]
[Notices]
[Page 48949-48950]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr22au05-66]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[AD-FRL-7957-3; Docket No. OAR-2005-0157]
Conference on Air Quality Modeling
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of conference.
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SUMMARY: We announce the Eighth Conference on Air Quality Modeling.
Such a conference is required by section three hundred twenty of the
Clean Air Act (CAA) to be held every three years. The purposes of the
Eighth Conference are to provide an overview of the latest features of
the new air quality models and to provide a forum for public review and
comment on potential revisions to the way the Agency determines and
applies the appropriate air quality models in the future.
DATES: The eighth conference will be held on September 22, 2005 from 9
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and on September 23, 2005 from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Requests to speak at the conference should be submitted to the
individual listed below by September 9, 2005. All written comments must
be submitted by close of business October 24, 2005.
ADDRESSES: Conference: The conference will be held in the EPA
Auditorium, Room C111, 109 T.W. Alexander Drive, Research Triangle
Park, NC.
Comments: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. OAR-
2005-0157 by one of the following methods: Federal eRulemaking Portal:
http://www.regulations.gov Follow the on-line instructions for submitting comments. Agency Web site: http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
EDOCKET, EPA's electronic public docket and comment system, is EPA's
preferred method for receiving comments. Follow the on-line
instructions for submitting comments. E-mail: http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Fax: 202-566-1741. Mail: OAR Docket, Environmental Protection
Agency, Mailcode: B102, 1200 Pennsylvania Ave., NW., Washington, DC
20460. Please include a total of 2 copies. Hand Delivery: EPA/DC, EPA
West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW., Washington, DC. Such
deliveries are only accepted during the Docket's normal hours of
operation, and special arrangements should be made for deliveries of
boxed information. Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No.
OAR-2005-0157. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be
included in the public docket without change and may be made available
online at http://www.epa.gov/edocket, including any personal
information provided, unless the comment includes information claimed
to be Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information
that you consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through EDOCKET,
regulations.gov, or e-mail. The EPA EDOCKET and the Federal
regulations.gov Web sites are ``anonymous access'' systems, which means
EPA will not know your identity or contact information unless you
provide it in the body of your comment. If you send an e-mail comment
directly to EPA without going through EDOCKET or regulations.gov, your
e-mail address will be automatically captured and included as part of
the comment that is placed in the public docket and made available on
the Internet. If you submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that
you include your name and other contact information in the body of your
comment and with any disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your
comment due to technical difficulties and cannot contact you for
clarification, EPA may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic
files should avoid the use of special characters, any form of
encryption, and be free of any defects or viruses. For additional
information about EPA's public docket visit EDOCKET on-line or see the
Federal Register of May 31, 2002 (67 FR 38102). For additional
instructions on submitting comments, go to unit II of the SUPPLEMENTARY
INFORMATION section of this document. Docket: All documents in the
docket are listed in the EDOCKET index at http://www.epa.gov/edocket.
Although listed in the index, some information is not publicly
available, i.e., CBI or other information whose disclosure is
restricted by statute. Certain other material, such as copyrighted
material, is not placed on the Internet and will be publicly available
only in hard copy form. Publicly available docket materials are
available either electronically in EDOCKET or in hard copy at the OAR
Docket, EPA/DC, EPA West, Room B102, 1301 Constitution Ave., NW.,
Washington, DC. The Public Reading Room is open from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30
p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The telephone
number for the Public Reading Room is (202) 566-1744, and the telephone
number for the OAR Docket is (202) 566-1742.
Background information: Additional information and a more detailed
agenda are electronically available at http://www.epa.gov/scram001/8thmodconf.htm
.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Warren Peters, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Mail Drop D243-01, T.W. Alexander Drive, Research
Triangle Park, NC 27709; telephone: (919) 541-5337; e-mail address:
peters.warren@epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Background
The Guideline on Air Quality Models (hereafter, called the
Guideline, which is found in Appendix W to 40 CFR part 51), is used by
EPA, States, and industry to prepare and review new source permits and
State Implementation Plan revisions. The Guideline serves as a means by
which consistency is maintained in air quality analyses. We originally
published the Guideline in April 1978 and it was incorporated by
reference in the regulations for the Prevention of Significant
Deterioration (PSD) of Air Quality in June 1978. We revised the
Guideline in 1986, and updated it with supplement A in 1987, supplement
B in July 1993, and supplement C in August 1995. We published the
Guideline as appendix W to 40 CFR part 51 when we issued supplement B.
We republished the Guideline in August 1996 (61 FR 41838) to adopt the
CFR system for labeling paragraphs.
To support the process of developing and revising the Guideline
during the period 1977-1988, we held the First, Second and Third
Conferences on Air Quality Modeling as required by Section 320 of the
Clean Air Act to help standardize modeling procedures. These modeling
conferences provided us with comments on the Guideline and associated
revisions, thereby helping us introduce improved modeling techniques
into the regulatory process.
[[Page 48950]]
In October 1988, we held the Fourth Conference on Air Quality
Modeling. Its purpose was to advise the public on new modeling
techniques and to solicit comments to guide our consideration of any
rulemaking needed to further revise the Guideline. We held the Fifth
Conference on Air Quality Modeling in March 1991, which served as a
public hearing for the proposed revisions to the Guideline. In August
1995, we held the sixth conference as a forum to update our available
modeling tools with state-of-the-science techniques for airing these
issues and for the public to offer new ideas.
The last conference held was the Seventh Conference on Air Quality
Modeling in June 28 and 29, 2000, which served as a public hearing for
the proposed changes to the recommended air quality models in Appendix
W. Several presentations were made, including the development of an
enhanced Gaussian dispersion model with boundary layer parameterization
(AERMOD \1\); the development of the CALPUFF modeling system by Earth
Tech, Inc. through the Interagency Workgroup on Air Quality Modeling
(IWAQM \2\); the development and testing of ISC-PRIME by the Electric
Power Research Institute's building downwash program; and on revisions
to the Emissions and Dispersion Modeling System (EDMS) by the Federal
Aviation Administration. In addition, several presentations on models
for consideration as ``alternative models'' were made and a panel of
experts discussed meteorological data assimilation for the next
generation of dispersion models. The proceedings are found in Docket
No. A-99-05.
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\1\ AMS/EPA Regulatory MODel; AERMOD is being developed by
AERMIC: AMS/EPA Regulatory Model Improvement Committee.
\2\ IWAQM was formed in 1991 to provide a focus for development
of technically sound regional air quality models for regulatory
assessments of pollutant source impacts on federal Class I areas.
IWAQM is an interagency collaboration that includes efforts by EPA,
U.S. Forest Service, National Park Service, and Fish and Wildlife
Service.
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Public Participation
The Eighth Conference on Air Quality Modeling will be open to the
public; no admission fee is charged and there is no formal
registration. The conference will begin the first morning with
introductory remarks by the presiding EPA official. The following
topics will be presented:
I. AERMOD implementation issues;
II. CALPUFF implementation issues;
III. Assimilated meteorological data for air dispersion models;
IV. New approach for updating (revising) models;
V. Alternative approaches for selection of approved dispersion models;
and,
VI. Other presentations by the public.
Those wishing to speak at the conference, whether to volunteer a
presentation on a special topic or to offer general comment on any of
the modeling techniques scheduled for presentation, should contact us
at the address given in the FURTHER INFORMATION section (note the
cutoff date). Such persons should identify the organization (if any) on
whose behalf they are speaking and the length of presentation. If a
presentation of general comments is projected to be longer than 10
minutes, the presenter should also state why a longer period is needed.
Persons failing to submit a written notice but desiring to speak at the
conference should notify the presiding officer immediately before the
conference and they will be scheduled on a time-available basis.
The conference will be conducted informally and chaired by an EPA
official. There will be no sworn testimony or cross examination. A
verbatim transcript of the conference proceedings will be produced and
placed in the docket. Speakers should bring extra copies of their
presentation for inclusion in the docket and for the convenience of the
reporter. Speakers will be permitted to enter into the record any
additional written comments that are not presented orally. Additional
written statements or comments should be sent to the OAR Regulatory
Docket (see ADDRESSES section). A transcript of the proceedings and a
copy of all written comments will be maintained in Docket OAR-2005-0157
which will remain open until October 24, 2005 for the purpose of
receiving additional comments.
Dated: August 17, 2005.
Mary E. Henigin,
Acting Director, Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, Office
of Air and Radiation.
[FR Doc. 05-16682 Filed 8-19-05; 8:45 am]
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