WRAP Attribution of Haze Workgroup

Final Meeting Minutes

March 29-30, 2004 @ San Diego, California

The WRAP Attribution of Haze Workgroup Meeting convened at the Westin Hotel in San Diego, California at 1:00 PM March 29th and met through 3:00 PM on March 30th, 2004. Attendees included:

Name Affiliation

Lee Gribovicz, TOC Co-Chair Wyoming DEQ, Air Quality Division

Dolly Potter, TOC Member Solvay Minerals

Wayne Leipold, TOC Member Phelps Dodge Copper Company

Steve Arnold, TOC Member Colorado Health Dept, Air Quality Division

Bob Palzer, TOC Member Sierra Club

Ernie Wessman, IOC Member Pacificorp

Lori Campbell, State Caucus Representative Nevada DEQ, Air Quality Division

Bob Habeck, State Caucus Representative Montana DEQ, Air Quality Division

Cara Casten, State Caucus Representative Wyoming DEQ, Air Quality Division

Cathy Messerschmitt, Tribal Caucus Representative National Tribal Environmental Council

Bob Gruenig, Tribal Caucus Representative National Tribal Environmental Council

Marc Pitchford, Monitoring Forum Representative National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration

Jeffrey Stocum, Emission Forum Representative Oregon DEQ, Air Quality Division

Mark Fitch, Fire Forum Representative Arizona DEQ, Air Quality Division

Bob Kotchenruther, Modeling Forum Representative EPA Region X

Rory MacArthur, Modeling Forum Representative Chevron-Texaco

Jason Walker, Tribal Data Workgroup Representative NW Band-Shoshone Nation

Tom Moore, WRAP Technical Support Staff. Western Governor's Association

Don Arkell, WRAP Stakeholder WESTAR

Mark Green, WRAP COHA Contractor Desert Research Institute

Terry Ross, WRAP Stakeholder CEED

And the following participants joined by telephone:

Tina Suarez-Murias, State Caucus Representative California Air Resources Board

Lee Alter, WRAP Policy Support Staff Western Governor's Association

Meeting Summary

This was the initial face-to-face meeting of the Attribution of Haze (AoH) Workgroup. One purpose of the session was to familiarize participants with the goal of the AoH project; that being to produce a report describing the emissions source categories and geographic source regions presently contributing to visibility impairment at each mandatory federal and tribal Class I area in the WRAP region.

To accomplish this task, the AoH Workgroup will be evaluating analytical results and data from IMPROVE and other Ambient Monitoring, from Regional Haze Impact Modeling, and from Emission Inventory compilations, to synthesize that information into a coherent determination of the Causes of Regional Haze in the West.

The meeting began with a request for each participant to describe their perspective on what they expected out of the AoH effort. Then Tom Moore provided an Overview of the March 28th Project Plan and Schedule. This was followed by reports from the main WRAP Technical Forums on the status of their activities and anticipated products.

The Regional Modeling Center is turning to model preparation for the §308 SIP impact demonstrations, and of particular interest to this group was the development of a Source Apportionment capability called the Tagged Species Source Apportionment (TSSA) tool.

Another major WRAP product is the "Causes of Haze" project being undertaken by Desert Research Institute (DRI) under the auspices of the Ambient Monitoring & Reporting Forum. This effort seeks to answer questions such as:

-what aerosol components are responsible for haze?

-what is meteorology’s role in the causes of haze?

-what are the emission sources responsible for haze?

-& are there detectable and/or statistically significant multi-year trends?

Representatives of the WRAP Emission Forum and the Fire Forum gave details of the type of emission inventory information they are compiling, details about how the data is produced, and schedules for completing these emission inventory products.

Then Policy Oriented personnel gave their perspective as to what type of information Planners and SIP Writers will need out of the Attribution studies in order to effectively design Control Strategies under §308 of the Regional Haze Rule.

A draft Scope of Work for contractor assistance was discussed and the participants developed a Framework of the Report that they would like to see addressed by any consultant contract. A Workgroup Subcommittee was identified and was charged with drafting the contract Scope of Work by April 9th. That Draft will be circulated to the Workgroup for comments and a conference call will be held April 12th to allow the full AoH WG to act on the Subcommittee’s recommendation. It was targeted for the SOW to be published by April 13th, 2004.

To steer this project to completion Steve Arnold and Bob Kotchenruther volunteered and were accepted as the Co-Chairs for the Attribution of Haze Workgroup.

All presentations made at this AoH Workgroup meeting can be found on the WRAP website, on the Attribution of Haze Workgroup page under the "Prior Meetings & Calls" link.

Meeting Details

 Membership 

According to the AoH Project Plan, all the WRAP Technical Forums and Workgroups were to supply one member to participate in this Attribution of Haze effort. In addition to this pool of Technical personnel, the WRAP State and Tribal Caucuses were to be represented by personnel involved in Planning and SIP writing, and the IOC was to provide a representative for Policy perspective. And since the project is designed for the TOC to oversee the progress of the AoH Workgroup, all TOC members were automatically included as Workgroup members. Thus the Attribution Work Group is composed of:

Emission Forum Jeff Stocum (Oregon DEQ)

Ambient Monitoring Forum Marc Pitchford (NOAA)

Dust Emissions Joint Forum Duane Ono (Great Basin Air District)

Fire Emissions Joint Forum Mark Fitch (Arizona DEQ)

Stationary Sources Joint Forum (not yet assigned)

Tribal Data Development WG Jason Walker (NW Band-Shoshone Nation)

Modeling Forum Bob Kotchenruther (EPA)

State Caucus Representatives Bob Habeck (Montana DEQ)

Jean-Paul Huys (Nevada DEQ)

Cara Casten (Wyoming DEQ)

TOC Members; Lee Gribovicz, Steve Arnold &

Steve Peplau

Tribal Caucus Representatives TOC Members; Lewis McLeod, Ben Wear &

Jiri Doskocil

IOC Ernie Wessman (Pacificorp)

Environmental Representatives TOC Members; Bob Palzer & John Veranth

Federal Government Representatives TOC Members; Rich Fisher & Mark Komp

Industrial Representatives TOC Members; Wayne Leipold & Dolly Potter

 WG Member Perspective 

To begin this meeting, participants were asked to describe their perspective and what they expect out of this AoH effort.

Lee Gribovicz began by explaining that we need a clear conclusion of what the monitoring data, modeling results and emission inventories tell us about the geographic area and source types that affect each Class I area in the west. He noted that the States/Tribes will have to use this information to determine the proportion of control requirements that they will have to apply to their jurisdictions under §308 SIP’s & TIP’s.

Cathy Messerschmitt was new to the RH effort, but she wanted to assure that the tribes are considered in the outcomes of any determinations.

Tom Moore noted that he will serve as staff to support this investigation with whatever information and expertise that the WRAP can provide.

Wayne Leipold explained that his expectation of this venture is to figure out who impacts whom, and clarify what source categories are responsible for RH.

Bob Kotchenruther noted that he is participating to get a better handle on what the WRAP is doing, and to aid in the group’s understanding of modeling limitations.

Cara Casten is also new to RH work, but as a Wyoming State representative, she wanted to assure that the §309 control plans are carried through to the §308 planning process.

Terry Ross noted that CEED has watched the GCVTC work and the §309 Annex Trading Program development. He noted that these efforts focused on stationary sources, and the power industry in particular. He wants to assure that other source categories are considered fully considered in developing control strategies for RH.

As a Tribal Representative, Bob Gruenig wanted to make sure that we get a "snapshot" of where tribal lands stand in the RH picture.

Jason Walker, drafted as the Tribal Data Development Workgroup Representative, noted he too was relatively new to RH issues, but he expressed similar sentiments to Mr. Gruenig about looking at sources of RH impact on tribal lands.

Bob Habeck is a SIP writer for Montana, and he wants to know how the data is compiled to come to conclusions regarding RH impact. And he emphasized that he wants to make the conclusions clear, in plain English (so that Bob’s Mom can understand it), such that states can readily utilize the information in compiling their SIP’s.

As an Environmental Representative on many WRAP forums, Bob Palzer noted that the WRAP is sometimes fragmented, and he sees this WG as a real opportunity to link the elements of the WRAP structure towards a common goal.

Dolly Potter wants a good solid and defensible tool to base emission control requirements on.

Don Arkell noted that policy conclusions will come as the next step in the §308 process, but he wanted to assure that this group maintained a technical focus to the activity.

As Nevada’s representative, Lori Campbell noted that she just has the Jarbidge Wilderness area to manage in state, but she knows that Nevada affects other areas outside the state. She wanted to assure that we have good scientific knowledge before that impact is quantified.

Mark Fitch noted that this group’s function was to review the data from technical forums & synthesize that information into a good single Technical Support Document for defining source impacts.

Steve Arnold explained that Colorado’s perspective is that they have to put together a legal and technically defensible RH SIP, and he wants to assure that the information is coordinated with the other states so that contradictory messages are not presented to the public.

Jeff Stocum felt that the products out of the Emission Forum will be key to identifying RH impacts, and he wanted to assure that the information is properly used in definition of the proposed control strategies.

Marc Pitchford explained that he has gone through the similar efforts like the National Acid Precipitation Assessment Program (NAPAP), the Grand Canyon Commission, the Mojave Project and etc. He knows the limitations of the data and warned that it is difficult to pin down RH causes. He felt that some of the other efforts were undertaken too late to produce a good technical product and he was glad that the WRAP is getting started on obtaining this knowledge reasonably in advance of decision making.

Mark Green is the monitoring contractor for WRAP Causes of Haze Analysis (COHA), and he wanted to assure that monitoring data was fully explored in the search for source attribution.

Ernie Wessman noted that when the IOC discussed this project, they felt the effort certainly needs to be done to clarify individual impacts on each Class I area. He felt that deliverable report needs to provide understanding of RH to a level of credibility so that the problem will be realistically addressed. Having gone through the §309 Annex development he wants to assure that the WRAP looks at all the contributors to haze impacts this time, rather than just stationary sources.

Rory MacArthur noted that he is an oil representative and he has concerns dealing with fuels and mobile sources. He felt that his primary responsibility is to promote sound science, and he felt that his expertise in such areas as modeling sensitivity and source apportionment techniques can provide a solid base for this effort.

Tina Suarez-Murias noted that California is so immersed in ozone and PM2.5 issues, that they feel they will satisfy RH requirements through control strategies for these NAAQS.

Lee Alter sees clarity as being a major objective. He felt that the report from this group ought to be readily understood by lawyers, engineers, scientists, planners and etc. He felt that the Workgroup needs to identify a specific list of the Class I areas that each state will have to address in their SIP’s. He agreed with Terry Ross that we need to look closely at other pollutants such as organics and nitrates.

 AoH Project Overview 

Tom Moore then provided a Project Overview with a "conceptual model" of perception of Regional Haze causes. This model runs from the Darkness of pure Idle Speculation; through apportionment using EI’s, modeling & monitoring tools; up through the facts of the Attribution of Haze Project; and finally reaching the Light of Day as Reality.

The presentation listed the sources of data to be used (modeling, monitoring, EI’s, special purpose studies, EPA guidance & contemporary publications/ research), and listed the Project Deliverables (identify the geographic source areas of emissions, mass and species of pollutants and the natural vs. anthropogenic split of pollutants). The AoH WG must also provide clean documentation of all assumptions, methods & uncertainties in the analysis; and must produce a "succinct, clear summary report" for policy makers.

The Schedule leads from organization and developing a contractor support Scope of Work in the first quarter of ‘04, to reviewing data and attribution studies in the middle of the year, to providing a Draft AoH Report by the end of 2004. It is expected that the WG will publish the final AoH Report by January 2005.

 Regional Modeling Center Report 

One of the objectives of this meeting was to bring all WG Members up-to-date with the status of WRAP Technical Products. We began with a report on the modeling activities of the UC-Riverside Regional Modeling Center (RMC). Bob Kotchenruther is a member of the Modeling Forum and he gave the presentation on this subject. He covered 1) the work completed by the RMC in 2003, 2) the performance results of the CMAQ air quality and the MM5 meteorological models, 3) the 2004 RMC workplan and 4) the RMC recommendations for additional technical work.

In 2003 the RMC began shifting focus away from §309 work and towards evaluating modeling performance and science in preparation for §308 modeling requirements. They did complete CMAQ §309 modeling for 1996 Base and 2018 Control Scenarios in 2003. And of particular interest to this group was the development of a Source Apportionment capability called the Tagged Species Source Apportionment (TSSA) tool.

Other improvements in 2003 included work on NH3 inventories, atmospheric chemistry mechanisms, and model evaluation software. For §308 the RMC began development of a 2002 Base Year inventory with emission files at a 12 (WRAP Region) & 36 KM (majority of the North American continent) grid resolution.