Below you will find other news as it relates to the Division for Air Quality.

National Air Quality Awareness Week, April 28-May 2 creates an opportunity for Kentuckians to “Be Air Aware.”

There are many kinds of air pollution, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calculates the Air Quality Index (AQI) for five major air pollutants regulated by the Clean Air Act. They are ground-level ozone, particle pollution, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide. Ozone and particle pollution are the two most commonly found pollutants in Kentucky.  Being air aware is a key to protecting the health of sensitive populations - including children, the elderly, and those who work, exercise or play outdoors.

• Check the AQI in your region
• Check the national AQI forecast
• AQI for kids
• AQI for 6th-12th grade
• AQI for teachers

 Dollars available for Clean Diesel - EPA Announces $49.1 million in funding for FY 2008.

Kentucky was required by U.S. EPA to propose designations of areas in response to the 24-hour fine particulate standard (PM2.5) by Dec. 18, 2007.  No counties in Kentucky were recommended to be designated nonattainment for this standard.  Below is the information that Kentucky submitted to U.S. EPA.

• Signed letter from Governor Ernie Fletcher to James Palmer for the PM 2.5 24-hour boundary recommendations.
• Introduction
• Table of Contents
• 24-hour PM 2.5 Attainment Designation map
• Christian and Trigg County Narrative
• Bullitt and Oldham County Narrative
• Northern Kentucky area Narrative

Below is the final revision to Kentucky’s State Implementation Plan:  Kentucky’s Attainment Demonstration for the northern Kentucky counties of Boone, Campbell and Kenton that are part of the Cincinnati-Hamilton, Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana 8-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area. The attainment demonstration, based on modeling performed by the Visibility Improvement State and Tribal Association of the Southeast and the Association of Southeastern Integrated Planning (VISTAS/ASIP) provides documentation that the entire Cincinnati-Hamilton area will attain the 8-hour ozone standard by the required deadline.  Both Ohio and Indiana are making separate attainment demonstrations for their respective portions of the metropolitan area and have submitted those demonstrations to U.S. EPA, Region 5.  A public hearing on this attainment demonstration was held on July 24, 2007, at 1:30 p.m. at the Northern Kentucky Area Development District in Florence, Ky.  A copy of the public hearing notice and the statement of consideration for this submittal is included in Appendix L.

• Final revision to Kentucky’s State Implementation Plan
• Appendix A - Guidance Documents
• Appendix B - Air Quality Data
• Appendix C - Modeling Protocol
• Appendix D - Emissions Inventory Summary
• Appendix F - Meteorological Model Performance
• Appendix G - Model Performance Evaluation
• Appendix H - Modeling Results
• Appendix I - Attainment Test
• Appendix J - Federal Register
• Appendix K - Contingency Measures
• Appendix L - Public Hearing Notice and Statement of Consideration

On Nov. 19, 2007 U.S. EPA developed two tools that let computer users "see" air quality information on a virtual globe. Both tools are available to the public. 

The first tool is part of the new "Air Emission Sources" Web site, which is designed to make emissions data for six common pollutants easy to find and understand. Based on the latest National Emissions Inventory, the site uses charts and Google Earth files to answer a user’s questions. Users can look at overall emissions, emissions by type of industry, or emissions by largest polluter.

• Air Emissions Sources: www.epa.gov/air/emissions

Want to know what industry emits the most sulfur dioxide in your state? Select your state from a map, pick a pollutant, and the site creates a chart showing you emissions by industry. Want to "see" which refineries in your state emit the most sulfur dioxide? Use the "tilt" feature in Google Earth to quickly find the largest emitter. Then click on the balloon to get more details about emissions from that facility.

• View information in Google Earth format about which facilities emit any of six common pollutants: www.epa.gov/air/emissions/where.htm

U.S. EPA also is providing Air Quality Index (AQI) information in the Google Earth format. Use the AQI tool to quickly see air quality across the country, then click on a specific location to see that city’s AQI forecast and current levels of ozone or particle pollution.

• AQI forecasts and current conditions: www.airnow.gov/
   

The AQI is U.S. EPA’s color-coded tool to inform the public about daily air pollution levels in their communities. U.S. EPA, in collaboration with state and local governments, provides AQI forecasts and conditions for more than 300 cities across the United States.

• Air quality information in Google Earth format: www.airnow.gov/index.cfm?action=google_earth.main
  
  
• Use Google Earth to display Acid Rain Program data: www.epa.gov/airmarkets/progress/interactivemapping.html

This document contains Kentucky's modeling demonstration proposing that the Cincinnati-Hamilton OH-KY-IN 8-hour Ozone nonattainment area will attain the National Ambient Air Quality Standard for 8-hour ozone by June 15, 2009.  This area includes the counties of Boone, Campbell and Kenton in Kentucky; Butler, Clermont, Clinton, Hamilton and Warren in Ohio; and a portion of Dearborn County in Indiana.

• Signed letter by Secretary Hill for the Northern Kentucky 8-hour Ozone SIP Revision
  
  
• Northern Kentucky 8-hour SIP Revision Narrative

See the following appendices for the Northern Kentucky 8-hour SIP revision:

• Appendix A -- Guidance Documents and Correspondence 
• Appendix B -- Historic Air Quality Data
• Appendix C -- Modeling Protocol
• Appendix D -- Emissions Inventory Summary
• Appendix E -- Emissions Inventories for VISTAS
• Appendix F -- MM5 2002 Modeling in Support of VISTAS
• Appendix G -- Model Performance Evaluation
• Appendix H -- Modeling Results
• Appendix I -- Attainment Test
• Appendix J -- Federal Register
• Appendix K -- Table of Contents
• Appendix L -- Public Notice
• Appendix N -- 8-hour Ozone Attainment Demonstration and Technical Support Document

Storm Debris Disposal

Following severe storms, flooding or other natural disasters, residents, local governments or municipalities are not always sure what environmental regulations and/or procedures they must comply with to dispose of storm debris.  To assist them, the Department for Environmental Protection has established the following Web links that explain those procedures:

• Storage and Disposal Recommendations
• Guidelines for Proper Disposal of Storm Debris

Interested parties are encouraged to contact the local Department for Environmental Protection regional offices that cover their particular cities or counties.  A list of both Division for Air Quality or Division of Waste Management regional offices are available.  You may also contact Kevin Flowers at the number below.

Below you will find the proposed administrative amendments to 401 KAR 51:001, Definitions for 401 KAR Chapter 51; 401 KAR 51:017, Prevention of significant deterioration of air quality; and 401 KAR 51:052, Review of new sources in or impacting upon nonattainment areas.  These amendments were filed with the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) on March 13, 2004. 

• The cabinet proposes to amend 401 KAR 51:001 to add the definitions of terms used in the amendments to the federal regulations, 40 C.F.R. 51.165 and 51.166 as amended at 67 Fed. Reg 80186 (Dec. 31, 2002).
  
• The cabinet also proposes to amend 401 KAR 51:017 and 401 KAR 51:052 to include the Dec. 31, 2002, amendments to the federal PSD and NSR rules.  The proposed amendments include changes in applicability requirements for modifications to allow sources more flexibility to respond to rapidly changing markets and to plan for future investments in pollution control and prevention technologies.  These revisions address baseline actual emissions, actual-to-projected actual applicability test, Clean Unit test, plant wide applicability limitations (PALs) and pollution control projects (PCP). 

In addition to updating the existing provisions to agree with the current federal PSD and NSR rules, the language of the proposed administrative regulations has also been revised to conform with KRS Chapter 13A drafting requirements.