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Northern Wasatch Front Moderate Ozone SIP TechnicalSupport Documentation
Utah Division of Air Quality (UDAQ) developed and submitted to EPA for review the Northern Wasatch Front (NWF) Moderate State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2015 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard. The following tabs contain the technical support documentation (TSD) pertaining to the development of the SIP and associated administrative rules. These are…
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Northern Wasatch Front Ozone Emissions Inventory
This page contains information about summertime ozone and an interactive inventory of ozone precursor emissions for the Northern Wasatch Front ozone nonattainment area. Use the Interactive Inventory to explore and learn about different emission sectors and sources (SCCs) within the Northern Wasatch Front. What is summertime ozone? You’re probably familiar with the Wasatch Front’s wintertime…
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Moderate Area Ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP) Development
The development of an Ozone SIP is very much an iterative process. The technical foundation of any SIP involves numerous emissions inventories, air quality modeling assumptions, potential emission controls, and ever-fluctuating design values recorded throughout the air monitoring network. The rules for developing an ozone SIP provided by the EPA, known as the Ozone Implementation…
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Ozone Overview and Standard Ozone SIP
Ozone Overview Ozone is a colorless gas comprised of three oxygen atoms. It is not emitted directly into the air as a gas but is formed through a chemical reaction between nitrogen oxides (NOx) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in the presence of sunlight. While the ozone protects the earth from harmful ultraviolet radiation in…
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Ozone State Implementation Plan (SIP) Process Ozone SIP
Overview Within two years after setting or revising NAAQS for criteria pollutants, the EPA must designate areas as meeting (attainment) or not meeting (nonattainment) the air-quality standard. The EPA’s final designations are based on the most recent three years of air-quality monitoring data, recommendations from the state, and additional technical information. State recommendations are made…
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Reasonably Available Control Technology (RACT) Process Ozone SIP
RACT Overview Under the Clean Air Act, all areas designated as a moderate or more severe nonattainment area for the 2015 8-hour ozone standard are required to implement RACT for all existing major sources of VOCs or NOx as well as all VOC sources subject to an EPA Control Technique Guideline (CTG). For ozone nonattainment…
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Reasonably Available Control Measures (RACM) Process Ozone SIP
RACM Overview Under the Clean Air Act, all areas designated Moderate or more severe nonattainment areas for the 2015 8-hour ozone standard are required to implement RACM for point, area, off-road, and on-road source categories. RACM applies only to those point sources not already addressed as part of a RACT analysis. RACM implementation is required…
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Uinta Basin
The Uinta Basin lies in the northeast corner of Utah and is bounded on the north by the Uinta Mountains, on the south by the Tavaputs Plateau, on the west by the Wasatch Range, and on the east by elevated terrain that separates it from Piceance Basin in Colorado. Duchesne and Uintah Counties occupy most…
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Ozone in the Uinta Basin
The Uinta Basin lies in the northeast corner of Utah and is bounded on the north by the Uinta Mountains, on the south by the Tavaputs Plateau, on the west by the Wasatch Range, and on the east by elevated terrain that separates it from Piceance Basin in Colorado. Duchesne and Uintah Counties occupy most…
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2014 Emission Inventories: Uinta Basin
Emission inventories—databases that list, by source, the amount of air pollutants released in a specific geographical area—help determine significant sources of pollutants, track emission trends over time, direct regulatory actions and control strategies, and provide data for computer modeling. In 2006, Environ and the Western Regional Air Partnership (WRAP) conducted a study to compile baseline…
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Federal and State Permitting Standards, Rules, and Compliance: Uinta Basin
Air quality permits issued by the Division of Air Quality (DAQ) for oil and gas operations contain requirements that reduce emissions that lead to the formation of ozone. Oil and gas production accounts for 97 percent of the manmade volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in the Uinta Basin, but new federal standards, state rules, and…
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Voluntary Seasonal Ozone Controls: Uinta Basin
These voluntary practices include a menu of measures oil and gas operators can use to reduce emissions. These voluntary practices enhance but do not replace existing rules and regulations. Recommended Controls Enhanced Inspection and Maintenance Program Additional Voluntary Seasonal Ozone Controls The following voluntary seasonal controls offer potential additional control measures that operators can individually…
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Uinta Basin Ozone Studies (UBOS)
High wintertime ozone concentrations are relatively new phenomena in rural areas of the West. First observed in 2005 in the oil and gas production areas in the Upper Green River Basin (UGRB) of Wyoming, preliminary studies showed that wintertime ozone levels would spike when snow cover, sunny skies, and strong temperature inversions trapped ozone and…
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2012 Uinta Basin Ozone Studies (UBOS) Study
Starting in the winter of 2012, the Uinta Basin Ozone Study (UBOS) (2 MB) launched a wide-ranging research effort into the ways atmospheric chemistry and precursor gases interact to create high levels of wintertime ozone. The study was by far the largest and most complex air quality study ever conducted in Utah. This effort was…
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2013 Uinta Basin Ozone Studies (UBOS) Study
Teams of scientists continued their work in the Uinta Basin in 2013 to identify the sources and conditions that create ozone during winter inversions. The Division of Air Quality (DAQ) and its partners collected additional data to improve their understanding of the atmospheric chemistry that leads to the formation of wintertime ozone in the Basin.…
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2014 Uinta Basin Ozone Studies (UBOS) Study
The 2014 Study focused on the ways snow chemistry and aerosol chemistry contribute to the formation of ozone. The study looked at quantifying the contribution of nitrous acid (HONO) and formaldehyde (HCHO) to the chemical reactions responsible for ozone formation. Prior studies in the Basin showed that the radical chemistry that drives ozone production is…
