Transportation Conformity Highlights June 2007
Prepared by the Office of Natural and Human Environment Federal Highway AdministrationTo view PDF files, you need the Acrobat® Reader®.
Announcements
U.S. Court of Appeals Rules in 8-hour Ozone Implementation Case.On June 8, 2007 the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit responded to the five petitions for rehearing filed by the U.S. EPA and other Intervenors relating to the EPA's final rule on implementing the eight-hour national ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) for ozone. The Court denied all five petitions; however, granted the joint request of EPA and the Environmental Petitioners to clarify the description of the required conformity determinations and to modify the scope of the vacatur of the 2004 Rule. The Court made explicit its reference to conformity determinations in that it speaks only to the use of one-hour motor vehicle emissions budgets as part of eight-hour conformity determinations until eight-hour motor vehicle emissions budgets are available. On June 15, 2007 EPA issued a memorandum summarizing that decision and related information. For more information, see: (Court's finding PDF 29 KB) and (EPA's Memo).
EPA Proposes More Stringent 8-Hour Ozone Standards. On June 20, 2007, EPA released a proposal to revise the 8-hour ozone standards from the current 0.08 parts per million (ppm) to within a range of 0.070 to 0.075 ppm. EPA also is taking comments on alternative standards within a range from 0.060 ppm up to the level of the current 8-hour ozone standard.
EPA also is proposing to revise the "secondary" standard for ozone to improve protection for plants, trees and crops during the growing season. EPA is proposing two alternatives for this standard: a standard that would be identical to the "primary" standard to protect public health; and a cumulative standard aimed at protecting vegetation during the growing season.
EPA will take public comment for 90 days following publication of the proposal in the Federal Register and will hold four public hearings: in Los Angeles and Philadelphia on Aug. 30, and in Chicago and Houston on Sept. 5. For more information, see: http://epa.gov/groundlevelozone/actions.html.
EPA Releases Guidance: "SmartWay SIP and Transportation Conformity: Accounting for NOx Reductions from Trailer Aerodynamic Kits and Low Rolling resistance Tires". This guidance document describes how to quantify and use reductions in nitrogen oxides (NOx) that result when trucks are outfitted with two specific SmartWay fuel efficient technologies. The guidance is intended to facilitate the adoption of SmartWay projects as a cost-effective way to achieve needed NOx emission reductions while ensuring that these projects meet SIP and conformity requirements. The guidance and a factsheet have been posted on the transportation conformity website at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/stateresources/transconf/policy.htm#420b07004.
EPA Releases Information on Cost Effectiveness of Heavy-Duty Diesel Retrofits and Other Mobile Source Emission Reduction Projects and Program. This document provides estimates of emission reductions and cost effectiveness of retrofit technologies and other mobile source measures. The document focuses on CMAQ-eligible projects and encourages agencies to consider cost effectiveness, air quality and health effects when deciding how to invest air quality resources. The report can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/publications.htm.
EPA Releases "Diesel Retrofit Technology: An Analysis of the Cost Effectiveness of Reducing Particulate Matter and Nitrogen Oxides Emissions from Heavy-Duty Nonroad Diesel Engines Through Retrofits".This report demonstrates how nonroad diesel retrofits can be a cost effective strategy for reducing air pollutants. This report expands the previous analysis by EPA on retrofit cost effectiveness by analyzing more nonroad applications and estimating the cost effectiveness of various NOx strategies. The report can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/cleandiesel/publications.htm.
EPA Announces Bug in NMIM NONROAD Fleet Function.On June 5 EPA issued a notice on a NMIM nonroad fleet function bug and a work-around to this problem. This bug occurs only if a numeric activity (hours/year) is specified in the Fleet Information File (FIF). The work-around for this problem is to ignore all monthly emissions which have an allocation of zero in the FIF. Alternatively, do not select any months in the NMIM "Time" panel for which monthly allocations in the FIF are zero. Questions or comments regarding NMIM should be emailed to: mobile@epa.gov.
Summary of NMIM Issues since December 2005 Release.Since EPA released NONROAD2005 and NMIM2005 in December 2005, several issues and bugs have been identified. Attached is a consolidated summary of EPA's notices on NMIM issues that have been announced since December 2005.
Reminders
Transportation and Air Quality Committee Summer Meeting - July 9-11. 2007.The Transportation Land-Use, Development and Air Quality Conference will be held in Orlando, Florida in July 2007. This conference is co-chaired by several organizations and will be held in conjunction with the summer meeting of the Transportation and Air Quality Committee. The conference price is tentatively set at $250. For more information, see: http://www.ctre.iastate.edu/educweb/transaq/transaq2007.htm.
STAQS Conference Scheduled. The Southern Transportation and Air Quality Summit 2007 is an event sponsored by the FHWA and EPA Regions 3, 4, and 6. It will be held August 28-30, 2007 in Savannah, Georgia, at the Hilton Savannah DeSoto Hotel. The purpose of the summit is to bring together stakeholders from both the transportation and air quality communities to discuss current and coming regulatory environment, technologies and current practices vital to the field of air quality and transportation. The summit is geared to practitioners involved with public agencies at all levels. A host of speakers from within the southern and eastern regions will present a number of key topics, best practices and latest information vital to transportation, planning, and air quality professionals. Contact: Mike Roberts, 404-562-3928, Michael.Roberts@dot.gov.
Training Opportunities
FHWA Resource Center Training Activities. FHWA's Resource Center Air Quality Technical Services Team is available to offer air quality-related training opportunities and information is available at: http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/airquality/courses.cfm. For further information, contact: Mike Roberts at 404-562-3928 or at Michael.Roberts@dot.gov.
If you have any suggestions for future monthly conformity highlights, please email: ssiwek@aol.com.
FHWA HQ Transportation Conformity Team Contacts:
- Cecilia.Ho@dot.gov [202-366-9862]
- Gary.Jensen@dot.gov [202-366-2048]
- Emily.Biondi@dot.gov [202-366-9482]
FHWA Resource Center Air Quality Team Contacts:
http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/resourcecenter/teams/airquality/index.cfm.
Attachment
Summary of NMIM Issues and Bugs
January 2006 - June 2007
Below is a summary of NMIM issues, bugs, and suggested approaches to addressing these problems which have been identified by EPA since NMIM was released in December 2005.
Jan/Feb 2006
EPA Announces Potential Problems Running NMIM2005 and NONROAD2005. EPA released NONROAD2005 and NMIM2005 on December 7, 2005. On December 19, December 20, December 21, 2005 and January 6, January 31 and February 9, 2006 EPA issued a number of corrections to running these models. The NMIM2005 installation instructions were updated on December 19 and 20, NONROAD2005 Reporting Utility Problems and Corrections were announced on December 21, on January 6 several problems with NMIM2005 instructions were identified, and on January 31 and February 9 additional minor corrections to NONROAD2005 and NMIM2005 were announced. All updates are available for download from the NONROAD model web site at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/nonrdmdl.htm. For more information, contact "Dave Brzezinski" at mobile@epamail.gov. To join in the list serve see: http://www.epa.gov/oms/models/mobillst.txt.
June 2006
EPA Announces Two New NMIM Problems. On June 13, 2006 EPA announced two problems with the NMIM2005 that users may encounter which have not been previously described. The first is a code error affecting NMIM's Nonroad User-Specified Fleet function. The second is an error in the SCC Table of the NMIM County Database (NCD) affecting PM2.5 from nonroad diesel engines. As soon as possible, EPA will post full descriptions and workarounds as well as EPA's plans to provide fixes on its website at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/nmim.htm.
November 2006
Errors in NMIM Files. On November 15, 2006 EPA announced errors in the NMIM County Database NCD20060201. These files specify the years that various NLEV standards apply. The errors affect NOx and VOC emissions from on-road light-duty gasoline vehicles in six states for inventories generated for calendar years 2004 or later. The states are Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The errors in these files result in over estimation of NOx and VOC emissions from light duty gasoline vehicles in 2004 and subsequent years. The over estimation is close to 2004, but becomes progressively greater in later years as the fleet turns over. Only NMIM runs for calendar years 2004 and later for the states listed above are affected by this error. EPA plans to distribute a revised database with corrected versions of these files. If you have any questions, please email EPA at mobile@epa.gov.
January 2007
NMIM Bug - Nonroad Diesel Retrofits and Gasoline Evaporative Emissions. EPA identified a problem modeling any fleet-wide nonroad diesel program in NMIM2005 in the same model run where you have nonroad gasoline-fueled equipment. EPA's work around suggestion is to always do a separate model run for nonroad spark-ignition (gasoline, LPG, CNG) equipment versus nonroad diesel equipment whenever your NMIM model run includes any nonroad diesel retrofit program without use of a nonroad fleet information file. If you have any questions, please email to: mobile@epa.gov.
April 2007
NMIM Update: Nonroad Diesel Retrofits Affect Gasoline Engine Evaporative Emissions.On April 2, 2007 EPA announced that some potentially important information is missing from the NONROAD2005 User Guide regarding the use and limitations of the Daily Temperature & RVP input data file. This relates to EPA's NMIM model because NMIM is not designed to make use of the Daily Temperature & RVP feature of the NONROAD model. NMIM inherently runs NONROAD on a monthly basis and applies the temperatures and fuel properties (such as RVP) by county from the NMIM County Database. More information can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/nonrdmdl.htm.
June 2007
Errors in NMIM Files.On November 15, 2006 EPA announced errors in the NMIM County Database NCD20060201. These files specify the years that various NLEV standards apply. The errors affect NOx and VOC emissions from on-road light-duty gasoline vehicles in six states for inventories generated for calendar years 2004 or later. The states are Connecticut, Maine, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Vermont. The errors in these files result in over estimation of NOx and VOC emissions from light duty gasoline vehicles in 2004 and subsequent years. The over estimation is close to 2004, but becomes progressively greater in later years as the fleet turns over. Only NMIM runs for calendar years 2004 and later for the states listed above are affected by this error. EPA plans to distribute a revised database with corrected versions of these files. If you have any questions, please email EPA at mobile@epa.gov.
January 2007
NMIM Bug - Nonroad Diesel Retrofits and Gasoline Evaporative Emissions. EPA identified a problem modeling any fleet-wide nonroad diesel program in NMIM2005 in the same model run where you have nonroad gasoline-fueled equipment. EPA's work around suggestion is to always do a separate model run for nonroad spark-ignition (gasoline, LPG, CNG) equipment versus nonroad diesel equipment whenever your NMIM model run includes any nonroad diesel retrofit program without use of a nonroad fleet information file. If you have any questions, please email to: mobile@epa.gov
April 2007
NMIM Update: Nonroad Diesel Retrofits Affect Gasoline Engine Evaporative Emissions.On April 2, 2007 EPA announced that some potentially important information is missing from the NONROAD2005 User Guide regarding the use and limitations of the Daily Temperature & RVP input data file. This relates to EPA's NMIM model because NMIM is not designed to make use of the Daily Temperature & RVP feature of the NONROAD model. NMIM inherently runs NONROAD on a monthly basis and applies the temperatures and fuel properties (such as RVP) by county from the NMIM County Database. More information can be found at: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/nonrdmdl.htm.
June 2007
EPA Announces Bug in NMIM NONROAD Fleet Function. On June 5 EPA issued a notice on a NMIM nonroad fleet function bug and a work-around to this problem. This bug occurs only if a numeric activity (hours/year) is specified in the Fleet Information File (FIF). The work-around for this problem is to ignore all monthly emissions which have an allocation of zero in the FIF. Alternatively, do not select any months in the NMIM "Time" panel for which monthly allocations in the FIF are zero. Questions or comments regarding NMIM should be emailed to: mobile@epa.gov.
