Notice of action: The Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is announcing an opportunity for public comment on a proposed plan to attain and maintain the national ambient air quality standard for particulate matter in the Northeastern Virginia Intrastate Air Quality Control Region. If adopted, the Commonwealth intends to submit the plan as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia State Implementation Plan (SIP) in accordance with the requirements of § 110(a) of the federal Clean Air Act. The SIP is the plan developed by the Commonwealth in order to fulfill its responsibilities under the federal Clean Air Act to attain and maintain the ambient air quality standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the Act.
Purpose of notice: DEQ is seeking comments on the overall plan.
Public comment period: January 12 to February 12, 2009.
Public hearing: A public hearing will be conducted if a request is made in writing to the contact listed below. In order to be considered, the request must include the full name, address and telephone number of the person requesting the hearing and be received by DEQ by 5:00 pm on the last day of the comment period. Notice of the date, time, and location of any requested public hearing will be announced in a separate notice, and another 30-day comment period will be conducted.
Background: On September 30, 2002, the State Air Pollution Control Board adopted an opacity variance (9 VAC 5 Chapter 220) for the rocket motor test operations at Atlantic Research Corporation’s Orange County facility located at 7499 Pine Stake Road, Culpeper VA 22701 (Registration No. 4074) from the standard for visible emissions in 9 VAC 5-50-80. In lieu of compliance with this standard, the variance required the facility to limit total particulate matter emissions from its rocket motor test operations to 714 pounds per hour. Subsequently, the facility was purchased by Aerojet Corporation. This variance was submitted to EPA as a revision to the Virginia SIP on January 26, 2004.
Description of proposal: The January 2004 SIP submittal contained a technical support document (TSD) that provided a basis for proposed hourly limit for particulate matter emissions from the rocket motor testing operations. In conducting its administrative and technical review of the submittal, EPA determined that the technical support document did not provide adequate air dispersion modeling information. On April 20, 2005, the company provided a more comprehensive TSD, “Technical Support Documentation for Opacity Variance for Rocket Test Facility.”
This TSD was reviewed by EPA, which provided a number of questions and comments. One of the comments was that the OB/OD Model software program used to estimate the PM emissions from the rocket motor testing operations was is not an EPA-approved model. On May 5, 2008, DEQ requested EPA approval of an alternative air quality model for analyzing air quality in support of the variance. EPA approved this request on July 24, 2008. On August 29, 2008, the company provided responses to the remaining EPA comments. These documents make up the proposed revision to the SIP. The documents have been reviewed by DEQ, and DEQ agrees with the company’s modeling procedures and results.
The TSD includes references to the PM10 annual NAAQS. All references to the annual PM10 NAAQS should be disregarded due to the fact that EPA revoked this standard on December 18, 2006.
Federal information: This notice is being given to satisfy the public participation requirements of federal regulations (40 CFR 51.102). The proposal will be submitted as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia SIP under § 110(a) of the federal Clean Air Act in accordance with 40 CFR 51.104. It is planned to submit all provisions of the proposal as a revision to the Commonwealth of Virginia SIP.
How to comment: DEQ accepts written comments by email, fax, and postal mail. IN ORDER TO BE CONSIDERED, COMMENTS MUST INCLUDE THE FULL NAME, ADDRESS AND TELEPHONE NUMBER OF THE PERSON COMMENTING AND BE RECEIVED BY DEQ BY 5:00 PM ON THE LAST DAY OF THE COMMENT PERIOD. All testimony, exhibits and documents received are part of the public record. Please note this proposed plan is being concurrently reviewed by the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency.
To review proposal: The proposal and any supporting documents are available on the DEQ Air Public Notices for Plans web site (
http://www.deq.virginia.gov/air/permitting/planotes.html). The documents may also be obtained by contacting the DEQ representative named below. The public may review the documents between 8:30 am and 4:30 pm of each business day until the close of the public comment period at the following DEQ locations: 1) Main Street Office, 8th Floor, 629 E. Main St, Richmond VA, 804-698-4070 and 2) Charlottesville Office, 900 Natural Resources Dr, Suite 600, Charlottesville VA, 434-293-1020. Note that the modeling data in support of this plan is extensive, and available only in electronic format. An electronic copy of the modeling data is available on request.
