clean annual meeting may 22, 2012 thomas w. easterly, p.e., bcee, qep commissioner in department of...
TRANSCRIPT
CLEAN Annual MeetingMay 22, 2012
Thomas W. Easterly, P.E., BCEE, QEP CommissionerIN Department of Environmental Management
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IDEM’s MissionWe Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment
IDEM’s mission is to implement federal and state regulations to protect human health and the environment while allowing the environmentally sound operations of industrial, agricultural, commercial and government activities vital to a prosperous economy.
How Does IDEM Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment?
• Develop regulations and issue permits to restrict discharges to the environment to safe levels.
• Inspect and monitor permitted facilities to ensure compliance with the permits.
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How Does IDEM Protect Hoosiers and Our Environment?
• Use compliance assistance and/or enforcement when people exceed their permit levels or violate regulations.
• Educate people on their environmental responsibilities.
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Why is CLEAN Important?
• Encourages and recognizes environmental improvements that are not otherwise required.
• Improves communication between IDEM and participants.
• Helps communities identify and address their most important environmental issues.
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“New” IDEM Programs• (Water) Antidegradation—Applies to new or
increased loadings of regulated pollutants due to deliberate actions.
• There are exemptions for:– Short term temporary discharges.– De minimis discharges (<10% of available capacity).– Changes in loadings covered by an existing permit.
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Water Antidegradation• Three basic tests:
– Is the new loading necessary?– Is the proposed treatment (discharge) level
appropriate?– Do the social and economic benefits of the activity
outweigh the environmental degradation?
• Additional protection requirements for OSRWs.
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“New” IDEM Programs• Pesticide General Permit—authorizes the
application of pesticides and herbicides that result in a discharge to waters. Thresholds:– 6,400 cumulative acres of land per year.– 80 acres of water per year.– 20 linear miles of ditch or waters edge per year.
• Existing dischargers must submit their Notice of Intent (NOI) by November 1, 2012.
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“New” IDEM Programs• Open Burning Amendments—exemption added
for prescribed burning by municipalities and county governments for:– Wildlife habitat maintenance, forestry purposes,
natural area management, and firefighting and fire prevention.
• Exemption for respectful retirement of U.S. flags.• Allows municipal fire departments to burn two
single family dwellings per year for training9
“New” IDEM Programs• (Petroleum) Under Ground Storage Tank
Operating Training:– Free on-line training accessible from IDEM website
www.idem.gov .– Training must be completed by August 8, 2012.– Further information at
http://www.in.gov/idem/4999.htm
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25 Years of Progress
http://www.in.gov/idem/files/state_of_environment_2011.pdf
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Backlogs Eliminated• On January 10, 2005 there were 263
administratively extended NPDES permits and 289 unissued Title V permits. All of those have been issued and IDEM now issues permits using less than 85% of the statutorily allowed days.
• On January 10, 2005 there were 250 unresolved enforcement cases over 2 years old. Now the oldest referral on our tracking list is July 8, 2010.
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Permits--Percent of Statutory Days
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State Air Quality Status 2008 to 2010
Attains
Does Not Meet the PM Standards
Does Not Meet the Ozone standard
Does Not Meet the Ozone and PM
Location of the State Capitals
State Boundaries 15
25 Years of Progress
• Water Quality: Combined Sewer Overflows – All 98 State lead CSO Communities and 7 of the 10
Federal lead Communities have entered legal agreements to address their CSO issues.
– We are working with U.S. EPA to speed the progress on the remaining 3 Federal lead CSO communities.
– At least 31 of the CSO communities have completed their projects to address the release of untreated sewage during rain events.
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Fish Tissue Mercury • Mercury emissions in Indiana have
decreased by approximately 20% over the past 14 years.
• Measured mercury deposition has decreased by 7% during this time.
• In spite of these reductions, there is no apparent change in mercury fish concentrations in Indiana.
Protection of Human Health• U.S. EPA’s “acceptable” fish mercury levels
are 0.3 mg/kg which is 300 ppb. • While the average fish tissue mercury levels
in Indiana have not changed, they are less than one half of this level.
• Indiana has historically called a stream impaired for mercury if a single analytical result (average of 3 fish) exceeded 300 ppb.
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Protection of Human Health• At the end of 2010, U.S. EPA issued new
guidance on the proper interpretation of the fish tissue data.
• U.S. EPA’s guidance indicates that a properly calculated average mercury value is the appropriate interpretation of the limit.
• IDEM will propose revised impairments after reevaluating its mercury data using the new U.S. EPA guidance.
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Mercury Air Toxics Rule (MATS)Final Rule Effective: April 16, 2012• Annual rule cost $9.9 billion.• Annual rule HAP benefit $5,000 to $6,000,000
(0.00209 IQ points per exposed person or 510.8 IQ points per year in US out of 31 billion IQ points)
• Rule cost is between $1,650 and $1,980,000 per $1 of HAP benefit.
• Estimated annual co-benefits $53 to $140 billion.
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Mercury Concentration in Indiana Fish 1983 - 2006O
ct-
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80
Au
g-1
984
Ju
l-1
98
8
Ma
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99
2
Ma
r-1
99
6
Fe
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De
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Oc
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7
Sample Date
0
10
100
1000
10000
Merc
ury
Co
ncen
trati
on
(p
pb
)
ppb=parts per billion
Protection of Downwind States• In 2005 a number of counties including three
in Indiana did not meet all ozone and PM2.5 air quality standards. U.S. EPA projected that over 100 counties would still not meet standards by 2012.
• By the end of 2010 air quality in Indiana and the rest of the country had improved to meet the ozone and PM2.5 air quality standards addressed by CSAPR (except for two areas impacted by local sources). 24
Protection of Downwind States
Ozone PM2.5 (Annual) PM2.5 (24-Hour)
EPA predicted 2012 Non Attainment counties (based upon 2005 air quality)
11 32 103
Counties attaining by 2009 9 27 83Counties still needing improvement at end of 2009 2 5 20Counties with remaining local source issues 2010 1 1 1
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CAIR/Transport Rule/CSAPR• IDEM expected to meet the Transport Rule
Statewide caps for 2012 without additional controls, CSAPR reduced those caps by 29%--not currently achievable.
• IDEM expected that we would need one current project completed and another source controlled to meet the 2014 caps. CSAPR reduced the caps by 20%.
• CSAPR annual cost estimated to be $2.4 billion.
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CAIR/Transport Rule/CSAPR• The State of Indiana has filed three actions to
respond to CSAPR:– A petition to reconsider the rule with U.S. EPA.– A petition for judicial review of the rule with the
DC Court of Appeals.– A request for a stay of the rule with the DC Court
of Appeals.
• We are also working with LA, OH, TX and WV to advocate reconsideration of the rule.
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CAIR/Transport Rule/CSAPR• U.S. EPA is implementing CSAPR through a
Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) before allowing the States to implement the rule.
• The State has no role in CSAPR unless we modify our State Implementation Plan (SIP).
• U.S. EPA is moving to approve our requests to redesignate the State of Indiana to attainment for PM2.5 now that CSAPR is in effect.
• This rule will also allow U.S. EPA to approve our BART SIP submission.
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CAIR/Transport Rule/CSAPR• Success to Date: On December 30, 2011, the
DC Circuit Court of Appeals issued a Stay of CSAPR and held a hearing on the merits of the appeals in April.
• Cost of Success: U.S. EPA placed a hold on the PM2.5 attainment designation for the Indianapolis Area which had been sent to the Federal Register, but not published.
IDEM 2011-2012 GOALS AND CHALLENGES
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2011-2012 IDEM Major Goals• Complete Antidegradation Rulemaking
Process.• Done WPCB Final Adoption March 14, 2012.
• Obtain U.S. EPA approval of attainment designations for PM2.5 for all of Indiana:
• Evansville and Cincinnati and Northwest Indiana are final and effective.
• U.S. EPA will discuss the Indianapolis and Louisville areas on May 31.
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2011-2012 IDEM Major Goals• Complete CAFO/CFO Rulemaking Process.
• Done Final Adoption November 9, 2011.
• Adopt Remediation Closure Guidance and Remediation Program Guidance as NPDs.• Done, presented to SWMB February 21, 2012.• Effective March 22, 2012.
• Start Rulemaking for Numeric Nutrient WQS.
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2011--2012 IDEM Challenges
• Administratively reissue NPDES General Permits and address antidegradation requirements.
• Develop and implement plan for seamless implementation of water program responsibilities currently assigned to: IDEM, ISDH, IDNR, IDHS, and ISDA.
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Questions?
Tom EasterlyCommissioner
Indiana Department of Environmental Management
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