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Question of the Month -February 2004
Question:
As of January 2004, and in
response to states' July 2003 recommendations and the most current 3-year air
quality monitoring data, what Southern state areas/counties does EPA intend to
designate as nonattainment under the upcoming 8-hour ozone standard?
Answer:
Southern State 8-hour
Ozone NAAQS Nonattainment Areas
EPA Intended
Designations, December 2003
|
State |
Area |
Cities/Counties/Parishes |
|
Alabama |
Birmingham |
Jefferson and Shelby
counties |
|
Arkansas |
Memphis (TN) |
Crittenden County |
|
Florida |
None |
|
Georgia |
Atlanta |
Barrow, Bartow,
Carroll, Cherokee, Clayton, Cobb, Coweta, DeKalb, Douglas, Fayette, Forsyth,
Fulton, Gwinnett, Hall, Henry, Newton, Paulding, Rockdale, Spalding and
Walton counties |
|
|
Chattanooga (TN) |
Catoosa and Walker
counties |
|
|
Macon |
Bibb, Houston and
Monroe counties |
|
|
Murray County |
Mountain peaks within
the Chattahoochee National Forest area of Murray County that have an
elevation of 2,400 feet or higher and that are enclosed by closing contour
lines |
|
Kentucky |
Cincinnati (OH) |
Boon, Campbell and
Kenton counties |
|
|
Clarkesville
(TN)/Hopkinsville |
Christian County |
|
|
Huntington (WV)/Ashland |
Boyd County |
|
|
Louisville |
Bullitt, Jefferson
and Oldham counties |
|
Louisiana |
Baton Rouge |
Ascension, East Baton
Rouge, Iberville, Livingston and West Baton Rouge parishes |
|
Maryland |
Baltimore |
Baltimore city; Anne
Arundel, Baltimore, Carroll, Harford,
Kent, Howard and Queen Anne’s
counties |
|
|
Hagerstown (WV) |
Washington County |
|
|
Philadelphia
(PA)/Wilmington (DE)/Trenton (NJ) |
Ceil County |
|
|
Washington, D.C. |
Calvert, Charles,
Frederick, Montgomery and Prince George’s counties |
|
Mississippi |
Memphis (TN) |
DeSoto County |
|
Missouri |
St. Louis |
City of St. Louis;
Franklin, Jefferson, St. Charles, St. Genevieve, and St. Louis counties |
|
North Carolina |
Plott Balsam Mountains |
Area above 4,000 feet
in Haywood County |
|
|
Great Smoky Mountains
National Park |
Park area in Haywood
and Swain counties |
|
|
Charlotte/Gastonia/Rock
Hill (SC) |
Gaston, Mecklenburg,
Cabarrus, Lincoln, Rowan, Union
and Iredell counties |
|
|
Fayetteville |
Cumberland County |
|
|
Greensboro/Winston-Salem/High Point |
Alamance, Davidson,
Forsyth, Guilford, Davie, Randolph, Stokes, Yadkin, Caswell and Rockingham
counties |
|
|
Hickory/Morganton/Lenoir |
Burke, Caldwell,
Catawba, and Alexander counties |
|
|
Raleigh/Durham/Chapel
Hill |
Durham, Orange, Wake,
Chatham, Franklin, Johnston, Granville and Person counties |
|
|
Rocky Mount |
Edgecomb and Nash
counties |
|
Oklahoma |
None |
|
State |
Area |
Cities/Counties |
|
South Carolina |
Charlotte (NC)/Gastonia
(NC)/Rock Hill |
York County |
|
|
Columbia |
Richland and Lexington |
|
|
Greeneville/Spartanburg/Anderson |
Anderson, Pickens,
Greenville, Spartanburg and Cherokee Counties |
|
Tennessee |
Chattanooga |
Hamilton, Marion and
Meigs counties |
|
|
Clarkesville/Hopkinsville (KY) |
Montgomery |
|
|
Johnson
City/Kingsport/Bristol |
Carter, Hawkins,
Sullivan, Unicoi and Washington counties |
|
|
Knoxville |
Anderson, Blount, Knox,
Loudon, Jefferson, Sevier and
Union counties |
|
|
Memphis |
Fayette, Shelby and
Tipton counties |
|
|
Nashville |
Cheatham, Davidson,
Dickson, Robertson, Rutherford, Sumner, Williamson and Wilson counties |
|
Texas |
Beaumont/Port Arthur |
Hardin, Jefferson and
Orange counties |
|
|
Dallas/Fort Worth |
Collin, Dallas, Denton,
Ellis, Henderson, Hood, Hunt, Johnson, Kaufman, Parker, Rockwall and Tarrant
counties |
|
|
Houston/Galveston/Brazoria |
Brazoria, Chambers,
Fort
Bend, Galveston, Harris, Liberty, Montgomery
and Waller counties |
|
|
San Antonio |
Bexar, Comal, Guadalupe
and Wilson counties |
|
Virginia |
Frederick County |
City of Winchester;
Frederick County |
|
|
Norfolk |
Cities of Chesapeake,
Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk, Poquoson, Portsmouth, Suffolk, Virginia
Beach and Williamsburg; James City, Gloucester, Isle of Wight and York
counties |
|
|
Richmond |
Cities of Colonial
Heights, Hopewell, Richmond and Petersburg; Charles City, Chesterfield,
Hanover, Henrico and Prince George counties |
|
|
Roanoke |
Cities of Roanoke and
Salem; Botetourt and Roanoke counties |
|
|
Shenandoah National
Park |
Page County (partial)
and Madison County (partial) |
|
|
Washington D.C. |
Cities of Alexandria,
Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Manassas Park; Arlington, Fairfax,
Fauquier, Loudoun and Prince William counties |
|
|
Fredericksburg |
City of Fredericksburg;
Caroline, Spotsylvania and Stafford counties |
|
West Virginia |
Charleston |
Kanawha and Putnam
counties |
|
|
Huntington/Ashland
(KY)/Ironton (OH) |
Cabell and Wayne
counties |
|
|
Parkersburg/Marietta
(OH) |
Wood County |
|
|
Steubenville
(OH)/Weirton |
Brooke and Hancock
counties |
|
|
Wheeling |
Marshall and Ohio
counties |
|
|
Berkeley & Jefferson
|
Berkeley and Jefferson
counties |
Background:
The 1990 Clean Air Act sets air quality standards for six
outdoor airborne contaminates, including ozone.
The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has determined an allowable ground level ozone limit, known as the
national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS), with that standard applying to
the concentration of ozone in outdoor air in a given area. Areas meeting
the standard are said to be in attainment. Any area/city that exceeds the
standard for a number of specified times will cause the entire metropolitan area
to be in violation, or “nonattainment,” with an estimate 90 million people
living in nonattainment areas today.
Up until now, nonattainment
has been determined by an area violating the 1-hour ozone standard (limiting
ozone concentrations in any 1-hour period to 125 parts per billion) at least
once per year or as much as four times over a three-year period.
In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
adopted a new, stricter standard for ground-level ozone. Although the new
standard, referred to as the 8-hour ozone standard, was challenged in federal
courts, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld EPA’s ability to adopt it in February
2001. In brief, the 8-hour ozone standard is
violated if an area’s fourth highest eight-hour daily maximum average in a year,
averaged over a three-year period, is 85 parts per billion or higher. In other
words, the three-year average of the forth highest values, or design values,
must be less than 85 parts per billion. The EPA proposed rules for the 8-hour
plan in the spring of 2003 and states were required to submit their
recommendations on 8-hour ozone designations by July 15, 2003. In December
2003, EPA
commented back to each state, informing them of any modifications it had made to
their recommendations and which areas/counties it intends to designate as
nonattainment. The EPA intends to make its final 8-hour ozone nonattainment
designations by April 15, 2004.
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