Description

The purpose of the WRAP Regional Haze Planning Work Group (RHPWG) is to prepare the framework to support regional planning for the 15 western states, so that needed elements will be available for RH SIP submissions in a timely fashion, to meet the July 2021 deadline for implementation plans to be submitted each of the 15 states and the City of Albuquerque within the WESTAR and WRAP region, for the second planning period of the federal Regional Haze Rule for visibility protection at 118 Class I areas. This includes a training element for new Regional Haze State Implementation Plan (RHSIP) writers, as evidenced by the webinars and resource links found on this webpage.

The RHPWG formed several topical subcommittees from among its members to coordinate and track work by other WRAP Work Groups and contractors, to address elements needed for State Implementation Plan preparation such as:

• Inventories: current and future (growth projections methodologies by source categories)
• Develop a transparent and complete monitoring data metric for planning and model projection purposes
• Database management (including the TSS database)
• 4-factor analysis for control measures
• Regional photochemical modeling
• Assessment of “unknowns” and uncertain categories (natural conditions, international emissions, fire and dust emission, et cetera)
• Development of Regional Haze SIP package content and progress report template
• Develop control strategies menu for major western state sources

Links to RHPWG Subcommittees

• Monitoring Data and Glide Path
• Emissions Inventory and Modeling Protocol
• Control Measures
• Shared Database
• Consultation and Coordination

TSC-WGs-Subcommittee Membership (XLS, May 16, 2018)

Activities

Regional Haze Planning Work Group

2018 Calls and Meetings

April 4, 2018 RHPWG call minutes (DOCX format)

April 13, 2018 Regional Haze Monitoring vs. Modeling results comparison Audio Recording (MP4 format) Powerpoint (PPTX format)

June 5, 2018 RHPWG call notes (PDF format)

August 7, 2018 RHPWG call notes (PDF format)

2017 Calls and Meetings

June 29th

IMPROVE data and interpretation for Regional Haze planning

• IMPROVE – what is it, how does it work, how does it communicate with/support Regional Haze planners? – Scott Copeland (USFS rep, IMPROVE Steering Committee Chair) - Overview of the IMPROVE sampling program, network, QA, planned technical updates/responsibilities/timeline toward the July 2021 Regional Haze SIP due date and planning effort, current dataset availability
• Tracking Visibility Changes with Chemical Species and Regional Haze Planning - Comparison of 1985-present Worst Days’ and other metrics to 2016-proposed Most Impaired Days metric – Pat Brewer (NPS ARD) and Tom Moore (WESTAR and WRAP)
• Assessing Data provided by IMPROVE and EPA as the starting point for Regional Haze planning - Ryan Templeton (Arizona DEQ)

July 27th

Glide Path and Natural Conditions Teach-In #2 recording (MP4 format)

• Understanding the Uniform Rate of Progress / Glide Path – applications of this conceptual planning approach – Tina Suarez-Murias, (California ARB) and Tom Moore (WESTAR and WRAP) – baseline period for current Worst Days’ metric and changing to the Most Impaired Days’ average; what are the uncertainties and related effects on setting the 2028 planning milestone?
• Understanding Natural Conditions for Regional Haze Planning – Marc Pitchford, (Desert Research Institute) and Tom Moore (WESTAR and WRAP) – are these “regulatory” goals; are they realistic, what are the assumptions, and related issues such as accuracy, representativeness, limitations, and effects on setting Reasonable Progress Goals for the 10-year planning milestones?
• Data sources and ownership of monitoring data for Regional Haze planning analyses – Tom Moore, (WESTAR and WRAP) and Pat Brewer, (NPS ARD) – review pedigree of data from existing and planned data sources, explore transparency and consistency/comparability topics

August 31st

Emissions (categories and forecasting) Teach-In #3 recording (MP4 format)

• Emission inventories for regional modeling to support Regional Haze planning – where do we get the data, how is it collected and processed, how good and complete/representative are the data, et cetera? – Zac Adelman (Univ. of North Carolina / Intermountain West Data Warehouse) and Tom Moore (WESTAR and WRAP)
• Projecting base year emissions data to represent the 2028 milestone year and using those data in regional modeling for Regional Haze planning – process to project and priorities to consider - identifying sources for additional future controls, retaining information that states need for Regional Haze SIPs, what does the Regional Haze Rule require? – Zac Adelman (Univ. of North Carolina / Intermountain West Data Warehouse) and Tom Moore (WESTAR and WRAP)
• Case Study – Emissions Projections for the Round 1 Colorado Regional Haze SIP – Curt Taipale and Dale Wells, Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment – Air Pollution Control Division

October 19th

Modeling Teach-In #4 recording (MP4 format)

• How does regional-scale modeling work for Regional Haze analysis and planning? – Ralph Morris, Ramboll Environ – structure and sequence of regional modeling, emissions, meteorology, global model inputs, using projected emission changes in future year modeling, Relative Response Factors (RRFs), use of IMPROVE data to evaluate the base year modeling, interstate and international transport, strengths / weaknesses of modeling results
• Projecting future visibility conditions with modeling – techniques and uncertainties – Mike Barna, National Park Service – methodologies to project the future with emissions and modeling, Rules on the Books and on the Way, assessment of uncontrollable and natural sources, associated uncertainties and methods to test and bound them, effect of changing some emissions in the future year while holding other emissions constant and keeping the same base year meteorology on future-year regional modeling results for the Regional Haze metric
• Dynamic model evaluation for Regional Haze “Round 1” implementation progress and “Round 2” analysis and planning - Gail Tonnesen, EPA Region 8 – modeling to evaluate progress in reducing anthropogenic impairment through review of results from the 2002/2000-04 baseline period to the “Round 2” modeling base year (2014 or 2016) to the “Round 2” 2028 milestone year

November 16th

Source Apportionment & Source Control Evaluation (4-factor) Teach-In #5 recording (MP4 format)

• Identifying sources and species contributing to visibility impairment using regional modeling tools – Ralph Morris, Ramboll Environ
• Screening and Control Measure Analysis for the Second Regional Haze Planning Period - Frank Forsgren, Nevada DEP-BAQP
• Sources, Source Categories, Control Measures: California Case Study – Tina Suarez-Murias, California ARB
• Identification of significant sources and categories contributing to Regional Haze in Colorado – Curt Taipale, Colorado APCD
• FLM thoughts and expectations for Reasonable Progress and 4 factor analysis – Pat Brewer, NPS

December 5-7, 2017

Western and National Regional Haze Planning Workshop, Denver (final interactive agenda)

• December 5 recording (MP4)
• December 6 recording (MP4)
• December 7 recording (MP4)

Reference Material

• 2018-19 WRAP Workplan
• WESTAR 2021 Regional Haze SIP Planning Update (RHPWGv2) draft of December 2017
• WRAP and WESTAR Regional Haze Planning Workgroup 2017 state survey results
• January 2017 revisions to Regional Haze Rule
• EPA 2016 Draft regional haze guidance, technical support documents, and data sets

Links to other Resources

• For Regional Haze Planning Data:
  
  
• For Information from the First Regional Haze Planning Period: