June 30, 2017
By:
Walter G. Wright
Category:
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
Arkansas Environmental, Energy, and Water Law
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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) issued a June 5th Project Notification titled:
Evaluation of EPA’s Approval process for Air quality Dispersion Models (“Notification”)
OIG states that it plans to:
. . . begin preliminary research to assess the effectiveness of EPA’s process for reviewing and approving air quality dispersion models it recommends for use by state, local and tribal air pollution control agencies.
The Notification originates from James L. Hatfield, Director, Air Evaluations and is routed to Sarah Dunham, Acting Assistant Administrator, Office of Air and Radiation.
OIG states it will focus its work on the Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards at Research Triangle Park, North Carolina. It further notes OIG plans to review “applicable laws, regulations, policies, procedures and guidance related to the uses and evaluations of air quality dispersion models.” The primary focus is stated to be the “review and approval process for the American Meteorological Society/EPA Regulatory Model (AERMOD)” during the preliminary research.
OIG requests that prior to or during the “kickoff meeting” that it be provided copies of (or links to) the following materials:
- All model evaluations of AERMOD (original or revised versions)
- All peer reviews of AERMOD (original or revised versions)
- All consequence analyses of AERMOD (original or revised versions)
A copy of the
Notification can be downloaded
here.
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