Technical Support Document
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Technical Support Document: Chapter 36 Proposed Round 3 Area Designations for the 2010 1-Hour SO2 Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Puerto Rico 1. Summary Pursuant to section 107(d) of the Clean Air Act (CAA), the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA, we, or us) must designate areas as either “nonattainment,” “attainment,” or “unclassifiable” for the 2010 1-hour sulfur dioxide (SO2) primary national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) (2010 SO2 NAAQS). The CAA defines a nonattainment area as an area that does not meet the NAAQS or that contributes to a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS. An attainment area is defined by the CAA as any area that meets the NAAQS and does not contribute to a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS. Unclassifiable areas are defined by the CAA as those that cannot be classified on the basis of available information as meeting or not meeting the NAAQS. In this action, EPA has defined a nonattainment area as an area that the EPA has determined violates the 2010 SO2 NAAQS or contributes to a violation in a nearby area, based on the most recent 3 years of air quality monitoring data, appropriate dispersion modeling analysis, and any other relevant information. An unclassifiable/attainment area is defined by EPA as an area that either: (1) based on available information including (but not limited to) appropriate modeling analyses and/or monitoring data, EPA has determined (i) meets the 2010 SO2 NAAQS, and (ii) does not contribute to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS; or (2) was not required to be characterized under 40 CFR 51.1203(c) or (d) and EPA does not have available information including (but not limited to) appropriate modeling analyses and/or monitoring data that suggests that the area may (i) not be meeting the NAAQS, or (ii) contribute to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS1. An unclassifiable area is defined by EPA as an area that either: (1) was required to be characterized by the state under 40 CFR 51.1203(c) or (d), has not been previously designated, and on the basis of available information cannot be classified as either: (i) meeting or not meeting the 2010 SO2 NAAQS, or (ii) contributing or not contributing to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS; or (2) was not required to be characterized under 40 CFR 51.1203(c) or (d) and EPA does have available information including (but not limited to) appropriate modeling analyses and/or monitoring data that suggests that the area may (i) not be meeting the NAAQS, or (ii) contribute to ambient air quality in a nearby area that does not meet the NAAQS. This technical support document (TSD) addresses designations for nearly all remaining undesignated areas in the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico for the 2010 SO2 NAAQS. Section 1 The term “attainment area” is not used in this document because the EPA uses that term only to refer to a previous nonattainment area that has been redesignated to attainment as a result of the EPA’s approval of a state-submitted maintenance plan. 1 302(d) of the CAA includes the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico in the definition of the term “State” and herein throughout this document is regarded as a state and interchangeably referred to as “the Commonwealth” or “the State.” In previous final actions, the EPA has issued 2 designations for the 2010 SO2 NAAQS for selected areas of the country. The EPA is under a December 31, 2017, deadline to designate the areas addressed in this TSD as required by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.3 We are referring to the set of designations being finalized by the December 31, 2017 deadline as “Round 3” of the designations process for the 2010 SO2 NAAQS. After the Round 3 designations are completed, the only remaining undesignated areas will be those where a state has installed and begun timely operating a new SO2 monitoring network meeting EPA specifications referenced in EPA’s SO2 Data Requirements Rule (DRR) (80 FR 51052). The EPA is required to designate those remaining undesignated areas by December 31, 2020. Puerto Rico submitted its first recommendation regarding designations for the 2010 1-hour SO2 NAAQS on June 3, 2011. The state submitted updated recommendations on March 26, 20124. The state submitted further updates on December 19, 20165, March 36, 2017 March 28, 20177, and May 30, 20178. In our intended designations, we have considered all the submissions from the state, except where a recommendation in a later submission regarding a particular area indicates that it replaces an earlier recommendation for that area we have considered the recommendation in the later submission. For the areas in Puerto Rico that are part of the Round 3 designations process, Table 1 identifies EPA’s intended designations and the counties or portions of counties to which they would apply. It also lists Puerto Rico’s current recommendations. The EPA’s final designation for these areas will be based on an assessment and characterization of air quality through ambient air quality data, air dispersion modeling, other evidence and supporting information, or a combination of the above. 2 A total of 94 areas throughout the U.S. were previously designated in actions published on August 5, 2013 (78 FR 47191), July 12, 2016 (81 FR 45039), and December 13, 2016 (81 FR 89870). 3 Sierra Club v. McCarthy, No. 3-13-cv-3953 (SI) (N.D. Cal. Mar. 2, 2015). 4 Puerto Rico’s March 26, 2012 submittal retracted its previous recommendations in its letter dated June 3, 2011, and recommended an “unclassifiable” recommendation for all areas of Puerto Rico. The basis for Puerto Rico’s recommendation was “the emission inventory may not reflect the more recent and available information” 5 Puerto Rico’s December 19, 2016 submittal addressed designation recommendations and modeling for all areas of Puerto Rico. 6 Puerto Rico’s March 3, 2017 submittal consisted of revised modeling to address some errors found in the modeling assessment submitted on December 19, 2016. 7 Puerto Rico’s March 28, 2017 submittal consisted of updated modeling for PREPA Costa Sur in the Guayanilla area 8 Puerto Rico’s May 30, 2017 submittal substituted “Gobernador Pinero Ward” for the wards previously identified as Caparra Heights and Puerto Nuevo” in the March 2017 submittals. 2 Table 1. Summary of the EPA’s Intended Designations and the Designation Recommendations by Puerto Rico Area Puerto Rico’s Puerto Rico’s EPA’s Intended Area EPA’s Recommended Recommended Definition Intended Area Definition Designation Designation San Juan Within the Cataño Nonattainment Within Cataño Nonattainment Area Municipality: Municipality: Palmas and Palmas and Barrio Barrio Pueblo Wards Pueblo Wards Within the Toa Baja Nonattainment Within the Toa Baja Nonattainment Municipality: Palo Municipality: Palo Seco Seco Ward and and Sabana Seca Wards Sabana Seca Ward Remaining Wards in the Unclassifiable (partial)9 Tao Baja Municipality10 Within the San Juan Nonattainment Within the San Juan Nonattainment Municipality: San Municipality: San Jan Jan Antiguo, Antiguo, Santurce, Hato Santurce, Hato Rey Rey Norte, and Norte, Hato Rey Gobernador Pinero Sur, Hato Rey, El Remaining Wards in the Unclassifiable Cinco, Monacillo San Juan Municipality12 Urbano, and Gobernador Pinero11 Wards Within the Nonattainment Within the Guaynabo Nonattainment Guaynabo Municipality: Pueblo Viejo Municipality: Ward Pueblo Viejo and Remaining Wards in the Unclassifiable Frailes Wards Guaynabo Municipality13 Within the Bayamón Nonattainment Within the Bayamón Nonattainment Municipality: Juan Municipality: Juan Sánchez Ward Sánchez Ward 9 Puerto Rico recommended the northeast portion of the Sana Seca Ward, near Palo Seco, be designated as nonattainment using the intersection between 866 and 165 as a landmark. 10 The remaining Wards in the Tao Baja Municipality to be designated as unclassifiable include: Toa Baja Pueblo, Media Luna, and Candelaria. 11 Puerto Rico previously referred to the Gobernador Pinero Ward as the Caparra Heights and Puerto Nuevo Wards. In a May 30, 2017 submission to EPA, Puerto Rico updated their submission to refer to Caparra Heights and Puerto Nuevo Wards as the Gobernador Pinero Ward. 12 The remaining wards in the San Juan Municipality to be designated as unclassifiable include: Hato Rey Central, Hato Rey Sur, Oriente, Sabana Llana Norte, Sabana Lllana Sur, Rio Piedras, Universidad, El Cinco, Monacillo Urbano, Monacillo, Cupey, Caimito, Tortugo, and Quebrada Arenas. 13 The remaining wards in the Guaynabo Municipality to be designated as unclassifiable include: Frailes, Ciudad de Guaynabo, Santa Rosa, Camarones, Rio, Mamey, Guaraguao, Sonadora, and Hato Nuevo. 3 Remaining Wards in the Unclassifiable Bayamón Municipality14 Dorado Municipality Unclassifiable Toa Alta Municipality Unclassifiable Within the Carolina Unclassifiable Municipality: Cangrejo Arriba and Sabana Abajo Wards Guayama- Within the Guayama Nonattainment Guayama Municipality Unclassifiable Salinas Municipality: Area Jobos, Ponzo, and Hono Wards Within the Salinas Nonattainment Within the Salinas Nonattainment Municipality: Municipality: Aguirre and Aguirre Ward and Lapa Wards Lapa Ward Santa Isabel, Coama, Unclassifiable (partial)15 Aibonito, and Cayey Municipalities Remaining areas in Unclassifiable Salinas16 Guayanilla Guayanilla and Unclassifiable/ Guayanilla and Peñuelas Unclassifiable/ Area Peñuelas Attainment Municipalities Attainment Municipalities Rest of Not Specified Unclassifiable/ Rest of State Unclassifiable/ State* Attainment Attainment * EPA intends to designate the remaining undesignated municipalities (or portions of municipalities) in Puerto Rico as “unclassifiable/attainment” as these areas were not required to be characterized by the state and cannot be classified on the basis of available information as meeting or not meeting the NAAQS. These areas that we intend to designate as unclassifiable/attainment (those to which this row of this table is applicable) are identified more specifically in section 6 of this TSD.