The Environmental Protection Agency is offering partial approval or disapproval of the Alaska Air Plan for the Fairbanks-North Star area.

SEATTLE (January 10, 2023) — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today announced that it is proposing to approve some parts of Alaska’s plan to combat harmful particulate pollution in the Fairbanks-North Star area and not approve others.

“Over the past 13+ years, the state and the region have achieved significant reductions in particulate levels, yet Fairbanks residents continue to experience potentially severe winter particulate pollution,” the statement said. Casey Sixkiller, Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Region 10 office in Seattle. “We look forward to working with state and local authorities to improve their plans to meet federal air quality standards designed to protect people’s health.”

Numerous scientific studies have linked exposure to polluted particles to a variety of problems, including premature death in people with heart or lung disease, non-fatal heart attacks, irregular heartbeats, worsening asthma, decreased lung function, and increased respiratory symptoms such as airway irritation. , cough or difficulty breathing.

While average PM2.5 levels in FNSB are roughly halved from 2015 levels of roughly 130 micrograms per cubic meter, winter levels during the inversion remain twice the federal 24-hour standard of 35 micrograms.

The Clean Air Act requires the Fairbanks-North Star area to meet the federal PM2.5 standard no later than October 2025, but the EPA believes plans submitted by the state will not help achieve that goal. The state had previously developed plans that did not meet the particulate matter standard by the previous two deadlines, 2015 and 2019.

The EPA believes that the approved portions of the plans are improvements to the current plan that will help achieve some of the area’s emission sources, including

  • a baseline emission inventory of all emission sources contributing to Fairbanks PM 2.5 levels;
  • demonstration of PM2.5 precursors (analysis showing that volatile organic compounds and nitric oxide do not significantly contribute to PM2.5 formation in Fairbanks); and
  • part of an emission control strategy for wood-burning appliances.

The EPA believes that a significant portion of the State’s plans will not achieve the reductions in particulate emissions required to meet public health standards and is suggesting that these plans not be approved.

  • Failure to properly support its conclusion that the requirement of “Best Available Control Techniques” for coal and oil fired power plants, which have either rudimentary or non-existent means of controlling sulfur dioxide emissions, is economically and/or technologically unfeasible;
  • Strategies for managing commercial, industrial and residential heat sources, including eliminating the use of ultra-low sulfur diesel for home heating;
  • Inadequate assessment of emission control for other commercial sources of PM2.5 emissions;
  • Failure to demonstrate achievement of the particulate standard; and
  • Failure to take adequate measures in case of unforeseen circumstances. Contingency measures are controls held in reserve in case an area fails to make sufficient progress towards achieving. These measures must be able to provide sufficient reductions in emissions so that pollution reductions continue despite the failure of the plan.

The EPA is submitting its proposal for public comment and plans to complete its activities by the end of 2023.

About electrical units
Alaska has determined that SO2 contributes to PM2.5 levels, and recent EPA studies show that a significant percentage of PM2.5 in Fairbanks and the North Pole comes from SO2.

The EPA discussed with Alaska its belief that the state should identify, adopt, and implement technologically and economically feasible control measures for SO2 emission sources, including coal-fired and oil-fired power plants that produce large amounts of SO2 and have either elemental or none Control of SO2 emissions. This includes:

  • Coal units
    • Aurora Chen Power Plant;
    • Fort Wainwright Doyon Power Station; and
    • University of Alaska Fairbanks campus power plant
  • Diesel units
    • Golden Valley Electric’s Zehnder power plant and
    • Power plant at the North Pole

What’s next
Following the publication of this proposed action, EPA will open a 60-day public comment period for comments on the proposed rulemaking and will hold public hearings during the public comment period in February in Fairbanks.

The agency will then review the public’s comments and finalize the action. If the EPA doesn’t give final approval to the state’s plan, the Clean Air Act mandates a freeze on transportation planning, imposing a permit requirement after 18 months that for every unit of emissions from a new or modified source in the area, there must be two units. reduced, as well as limiting funding for road projects after 24 months. However, a state can avoid sanctions by submitting a revised plan that corrects the deficiencies and having the revised plan approved by the EPA.

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