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Western U.S. regional analysis - emissions inventories for Regional Haze planning

Overview

For western U.S. regional analysis using photochemical modeling for Regional Haze, WESTAR-WRAP is assisting state air agencies in their review of the 2014v2 NEI. The process will allow participants to review and provide updates to these inventories. Feedback and revisions to the inventories may be incorporated into air quality modeling by the WRAP for regional photochemical modeling.

Summary

The Regional Haze Planning Work Group for Emission Inventories and Modeling Protocol (RHPWG EI & MP) Subcommittee held four conference calls from July - September, 2018. The Subcommittee solicited comments from state and local air agencies in the WRAP region on EPA's 2014 NEIv2. The Work Group focused on pollutants and emissions sectors that had the potential to influence photochemical modeling for Regional Haze Planning, such as large PM sources and major point sources. Outcomes from the WG are listed below. WG meeting notes, an outline of the review process, and comments from participating agencies follow the WG summary.

Outcomes

  1. Unpaved road dust
    1. Updates for Oregon
    2. 2011 vs 2014 NEI PM10 Spreadsheet; 2014 NEIv2 PM10 Map; 2014 NEIv2 PM10 with Oregon revisions Map
  2. Construction dust
    1. Washington: updates to correct over-generalized EPA methodology
  3. Minor source submissions
    1. Agencies that submit minor source inventories to EPA Table
  4. Stack parameter review
    1. Default stack parameter lookups for WRAP states Spreadsheet
    2. California stack parameter updates
    3. Montana updates for Oldcastle facility
    4. North Dakota updates for a couple coal powered facilities
  5. Residential Wood Combustion
    1. Idaho: filled in missing pollutants (VOCs) in EPA's RWC estimates. WRAP modeling should check EPA estimates in other states.
    2. Washington: updates to fireplace emissions
  6. Facility updates
    1. California: Correction data for 13 facilities
    2. Wyoming: Updates for missing facilities; recommendations for representative point source emissions
  7. Nonpoint
    1. California updates for dust from solid waste, other sectors (see comments)
  8. Mobile sources
    1. Comments on California's use of EMFAC vs EPA's MOVES modeling
    2. Comments from Colorado on EPA methodology for determining vehicle age distributions
    3. Washoe County, NV indicated that their MOVES data, although submitted to EPA, was not included in NEI
    4. MOVES input submissions: Map showing states and counties that submitted CDBs for MOVES inputs. Figure 6-1 (2014 NEIv2TSD) Agencies that submitted local data for at least 1 CDB table are shown in dark blue. Note, California did their own MOVES runs and have their own MOVES output data file.
  9. Updates from local agencies (generally not submitted to NEI)
    1. Pima County, Arizona ozone study
    2. LRAPA, Oregon provided updates for major point sources (pending confirmation that correct data are in NEI)
  10. Summary of updates received RHPWR EI & MP Subcommittee to the 2014 NEIv2
    1. Update Table compares the magnitude of emissions in the NEI vs updates for key pollutants
    2. The WG recommends that the contractor for WRAP AQ modeling process updates received through this process and provide a comparison to similar data in the 2014 NEIv2
  11. Comments submitted by state and local agencies
    1. Table 1 in Section 4 (below)
  12. 2014 NEIv2 datasets
    1. EPA's summary data for WRAP states Spreadsheet
    2. EPA's summary data at US State/County/Tribal levels: Web based map tool
    3. EPA's 2014 modeling platform, point inventories and facility data spreadsheets for WRAP states and tribes (see Option 3, below)

Pending Issues

  • Complete Minor Source Submission Table (response pending from OR, UT)
  • Add Maricopa County point source updates to emissions update summary table, OR updates
  • Add UT SOx discrepancy to summary table (looks like a minor correction)
  • Request representative point source values from WY
  • Draft summary document

Meetings

September 26, 2018 (3PM MDT) - Workgroup call 4

Agenda:
  1. Welcome, Roll Call, Agenda Review – Farren
  2. Notes from July and August calls – no comments. Who is our note taker for this call!? Volunteer please! - Farren
  3. Completing the 2014 NEIv2 data review - Farren
    1. States still need to provide updates for minor-source inclusion table (starting table in last meeting notes).
    2. States need to check with local agencies for any remaining emissions updates needed
    3. MOVES input file submittal for 2014 – each state to check and send as needed (and county air districts as applicable)
      (data displayed at these links is in a different format than when it was submitted to EPA NEI)
      ftp://newftp.epa.gov/Air/emismod/2014/v2/2014fd/emissions/
      ftp://newftp.epa.gov/Air/emismod/2014/v2/2014fd/emissions/2014fd_inputs_onroad.zip
      Map shows in dark blue which counties submitted to 2014 NEI v2
    4. Last call for base-case RH Modeling emissions updates (relative to 2014 NEI). Final Due Date is Oct. 5.
  4. Re-organization format for wiki page – Rodger
  5. Upcoming: checklist for what states need to review (base and future) - Farren
  6. Upcoming: document that summarizes the subcommittee recommendations and emissions updates - Farren
  7. Next Call 11 am Pacific; Oct. 25 (Thursday) - all

Materials

August 30, 2018 (12PM MDT)- Workgroup Call 3

Agenda
  1. Welcome, Roll Call, Note Taking – Farren
  2. Who submits minor source data to EPA? How does this vary by state in the NEI? Is this an issue for Regional Haze planning? When and to what degree to address? - Farren
  3. Next steps for Unpaved Road Dust analysis - Farren
  4. Oil & Gas Notice of Intent sources to be included in modeling for future scenario (NM has 3500 NOIs) – Farren and Roslyn Higgin
  5. Summary of emissions updates provided to the RHPWG EI & MP Subcommittee – is more review needed? – Rodger Ames and Farren
  6. Next steps on Regional Modeling Platform – seeking volunteers to review draft RFP and evaluate bidder responses – Tom
  7. Next call and agenda items – Farren and all


Materials

July 26, 2018 - Workgroup Call 2

Agenda
  1. Recent updates from state NEI review
  2. Road Dust review needed (2011 vs 2014; border discontinuities)
  3. Point source stack parameter review (in progress)
  4. Minor-source inclusion needs (with nonpoint subtraction?)
  5. Recommendations for source-apportionment categories?

Materials

  • Meeting notes
  • Default parameter IMPACT database
  • Stack parameter lookups for WRAP states
  • Area to point file Used to allocate airport ground support equipment in the nonpoint portion of the EI to specific known airport locations. It comes from the 2014 EPA Modeling Platform.
  • http://vista.cira.colostate.edu/TSS/Results/SA.aspx Link to WRAP Technical Support System (v1). See link to "PSAT Analysis" under "Source Apportionment Methods" at the bottom of the page for descriptions of different source apportionment methods used in Round 1 Regional Haze photochemical modeling, or used files directly from the modeling. Please see pages 4 and 5 in the PSAT Analysis method (TSS PSAT Methods June 2011.doc) for info about how Source Regions and Emissions Source Groups were defined – these are the default high-level categories that Frank mentioned on the call today, would be used again in Round 2 modeling.
  • Comparison of 2011 to 2014 NEI v2 PM10 for unpaved road dust: Map of 2014 NEI v2 PM10 unpaved road dust
    • Summary of Differences Going from 2011 to 2014 NEI:
      • Hawaii has an increase of 1136%
      • Oregon has an increase of 149%
      • Arizona has an increase of 60%
      • California, Washington and Utah have little to no change
      • Alaska, Colorado, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota, and Nevada have a decrease between 22% and 31%
      • New Mexico, South Dakota, and Wyoming have a decrease between 52% and 68%
    • Other Notes:
      • New Mexico and Oregon are clear outliers in the 2014 NEI v2, with 3 times the road dust of any other states.
      • Several counties in Colorado had 100% decreases. For instance, Denver county has 0 tons in the 2014 NEI v2.
      • California, Washington, Washoe County (Nevada), and Maricopa County (Arizona) all submitted their own unpaved road dust data to the 2014v2 NEI. All other states/counties values were estimated using the EPA tool.

June 28, 2018 - Workgroup Call 1

Agenda
  1. Roll call
  2. Overview of charged tasks for Subcommittee (from WRAP workplan)
    1. Process and evaluate 2014 NEI and refinements (see wiki and evaluation memo suggesting criteria at: Initial review step for EPA's 2014v2 NEI is described in this May 22, 2018 memo.)
    2. Evaluate use of 2016 EPA modeling platform
    3. Develop and refine 2028 emission inventories
    4. Prepare modeling plan
    5. Prepare and evaluate meteorological data
    6. Perform dynamic model evaluations
    7. Conduct sensitivity testing
    8. Conduct/Evaluate AQ Modeling for BY and 2028 inventories
  3. Which states have reviewed the NEI summary and provided comment?
  4. Processing these revisions into a model-ready inventory
    1. Who, what when ?
    2. Example - do states have interest in updating construction dust to use county-specific PE-Index values (instead of single state value)
  5. Can someone describe how Oil & Gas was estimated for states that didn’t submit their own data for 2014 NEI? For intermountain states: http://views.cira.colostate.edu/wiki/wiki/9170/2014-oil-and-gas-emissions-inventories
  6. What is the status of the modeling contractor? See attached file.

Process

The initial review step for EPA's 2014v2 NEI following a three phase process is described in this May 22, 2018 memo. The initial review aspects listed in the memo can be evaluated using 3 data review options below. Option 1 is a high level review will look at tabular state and county inventories for key pollutants. Option 2 will enable a more detailed review to examine additional inventory parameters, such as individual point sources. Option 3 will allow review of a map-based emissions inventory review tool provided by the IWDW. Additional description and materials for the review process are provided below. Subsequent memoranda for additional review of 2014NEIv2 and other base and projection inventories will be added over time.

Option 1

Sector summary spreadsheet and charting tool. State and county level emissions totals for pollutants CO, NH3, NOx, PM10, PM2.5 and SO2.

2014v2_allsector_summary_WRAP_crosstab.xlsx (provided by Farren Herron-Thorpe, Washington State Dept. of Ecology)

Modified version of the above spreadsheet that includes state/tribal summaries and calculations of anthropogenic totals and 80% threshold. (see the "Readme" tab)

FHT2014NEIv2_summary.xlsx (provided by Roslyn Higgin, NMENV)

Facility emissions summaries from 2014 NEI v2. Excel spreadsheet with a list of all the facilities in each state, broken down by EI Sector, so that comparisons can be made to the sector summary if desired. There is also a sheet that lists all the facilities with a “Q” greater than 1 Ton.

WRAP_Facility_CAPs_Summary.xlsx (provided by Farren Herron-Thorpe)

Option 2

Data for individual point sources for 16 pollutants from EPA's 2014v2 modeling platform. The point data are for non-fire inputs, e.g. pt_oilgas, ptegu, ptnonipm (and cmv_c3 for California, Oregon and Washington). The Excel spreadsheets contain parameters such as annual emissions, facility name and ID, and stack parameters where applicable.

Option 3

Emissions review tool for EPA's 2014 NEIv2 (data originate from EPA's "allsector" county and tribal level inventories). Note: these are the same data as were used in the spreadsheets in Option 1, above, although they include the entire US rather than just WRAP states. The NEI data are shown as tabular data, state and county maps, and pollutant and emissions sector pie charts.

2014 NEIv2 map tool: http://vibe.cira.colostate.edu/iwdwx/Emissions/2014NEIv2

Comment Memos from Reviewing Agencies

Comment memos from reviewing agencies are posted below by inventory reviewed. States may need to coordinate with tribes and local air agencies for review completeness. There may be multiple comment memos from an agency for the same inventory. These comments will be addressed in the processing of the inventories for regional haze modeling.

Note from Farren Herron-Thorpe regarding interpretation of the summary data spreadsheets under Option 1, above:

I wanted to give some clarification regarding the NEI Sector Summary data that was sent out previously. The way that EPA separates this information is not immediately intuitive. This is because the sector summary is aggregated by SCC, not NAICS code. The SCC table that EPA provides has each SCC matched to an EI sector which is the basis for the sector summary.


For example, if you look at the emissions totals for “Industrial Processes – Petroleum Refineries”, it will be less than the total facility emissions for all petroleum refineries. All boiler emissions are added into the “Fuel Combustion – Industrial Boilers, xxxxx” category, even if they are at a refinery facility.


If you would like to see how your facilities have been split up amongst the sector summary categories, I can send you out a table for your state.


Table 1

StateReviewing Agency2014NEIv2 InventoryCommentsAttachmentsDate
AlaskaDAQAirport, marine, dust, wildfires, O&GSee attachmentAlaska comments7/25/2018
 DAQMinor sourcesList of minor sources reported for 2014 NEIAlaska memo10/3/2018
ArizonaAZDEQAll sectorsNo substitutions neededArizona comments6/27/2018
 AZDEQPoint source stack parametersList of descriptors for non-airport SCCs with missing stack parametersComments on point source SCCs, AZSCCDescriptors8/3/2018
 AZDEQPoint source stack parameters missing valuesNo updatesReview of missing stack parameters9/14/2018
 Maricopa County AQDnonpoint; point source; onroadnonpoint data are accurate; there are more accurate point source data that did not make it into the NEI due to a formmating error; onroad looks OKMaricopa County comments, Maricopa County point source updates9/25/2018, 10/2/2018
 Pima County DEQ Attached data were not submitted to EPA for inclusion into the 2014 NEIv2 dataset. These are Pima DEQ’s best estimates for 2014. Inventories include annual NOx and VOCs, along with OSD, estimates. Note that inventories represent the eastern portion of Pima County.Pima County comments, Pima_County.zip7/30/2018
 Pinal CountyAll sectors, including unpaved road dustEI person is reviewing; will respond with commentsPinal County comments9/24/2018
 AlbuquerqueAll sectorsNo need for any changesAlbuquerque comments5/17/2018
CaliforniaCARBMobile SourcesEmail thread regarding use of CA's EMFAC vs. EPA's MOVES model for mobile source emissionsCARB Comments5/1/2018
 CARBFacility point sourcesCorrection data file for point source emissions from 13 facilitiesFacilities correction data file, Facilities correction memo7/18/2018
 CARBFacility point sourcesStack parameter updates for point source emissionsStack Parameters of CARB Point Sources Correction Data 8-14-2018, Stack Reference to Facility-Unit-Emissionsprocess 8-14-2018,Stack parameters update memo7/18/2018
 CARBNonpoint, Nonroadsee attachmentCARB Comments Huth7/20/2018
 CARBnonpoint updates in FF10 formatZip file containing one file to remove cattle husbandry dust from solid waste categories; three files with "hard zeros" for various pollutants and counties in sectors relating to industrial boilers, oil and gas, and poultry husbandry.California FF10 updates; Memo Huth10/05/2018
ColoradoCDPHEAll sectorsSectors appear consistent with [Colorado] dataColorado Comments5/16/2018
 CDPHEOnroad MobileIssue with how EPA treated vehicle age distributions in 2014 NEIColorado comments on MOVES vehicle age distribution10/3/2018
HawaiiHDoHSee comments and data attachmentsSee attached commentsHawaii comments; Hawaii Comparison of Phase 1 spreadsheet to HI SLEIS; HI Data Pt Src review6/13/2018
IdahoIDEQResidential wood combustionUpdates to 2014v2 RWC inventories for IdahoIdaho Comments; 2014 NEIv2 RWC Corrected5/30/2018
MontanaMTDEQAll sectorsNo changes to 2014 NEI; potential issues with O&G inventories in Big Horn Basin (review pending)Montana Comments6/14/2018
 MTDEQStack parametersUpdates for Oldcastle facilityOldcastle update file, Montana memo10/5/2018
NevadaNDEPAll sectors, emphasis on major point sourcesNo changes at this time; Washoe County indicated their MOVES inputs were not includedNevada comments6/20/2018
 Clark CountyAll sectorsData are OK to use as isClark County comments9/26/2018
 Washoe Countyall sectorsNEI data are correct for Washoe CountyWashoe County comments9/25/2018
 NDEPdefault stack parametersClarification on fields in default stack parameter fileNDEP Memo Harpring10/9/2018
New MexicoNMENVAll sectorsEPA’s change in methodology from 2011 to 2014 reduced road dust emissions by 50%. In 2014, VMT was obtained from a MOVES run instead of an NMIM run, and separated into paved and unpaved values based on census-region level ratios.New Mexico Comments 1, New Mexico Comments 27/19/2018,7/23/2018
North DakotaDoHPoint source stack parametersStack parameter replacements for a couple of their coal power facilities, noted in red (columns S thru W)2014NEIv2_stack_revisions_ND10/8/2018
 DoHPoint sources and other sectorsInventories look reasonableNorth Dakota Comments5/30/2018
OregonODEQnonpoint nonroad onroadEPA data is accurate for Oregon nonpoint, nonroad and onroad sources. See comments.Oregon Comments7/25/2018
 ODEQPoint sourcesEPA data are accurate for Oregon point sourcesOregon Comments Swab, Oregon Comments Stocum, Point source review materials8/6/2018
 ODEQUnpaved Road DustReview by the RHPWG EI & MP Subcommittee indicates abnormally high values for OREmail correspondence indicating WA may provide updates for OR unpaved road dust emissions9/5/2018
 LRAPAMajor point sourcesUpdates provided to EPA. Pending confirmation that correct data is in NEIOregon LRAPA comments9/25/2018
 ODEQUnpaved roadsAdjustments made by WA-ECYUnpaved road adjustments, map showing revisions, Memo10/3/2018
South DakotaDENRAll sectorsNo changesSouth Dadota Comments6/28/2018
UtahUDEQnon-point SOx, non-road mobile diesel locomotive SO2Updates provided, other sectors look OK for RH modelingUtah Comments, SOxDiscrepancyOpenBurningLandClearing_Utah, On- and Non-road Mobile Sources Comparison8/9/2018
WashingtonEYCConstruction DustEPA's emissions calculation methodology for construction dust is over-generalized for Washington stateWashington Comments, WA_2014_ConstructionDust_EI_Revisions.xlsx4/24/2018
 EYCFireplace emissionsUpdated fireplace emissions for four counties in the Puget Sound areaWA_2014_Fireplace_EI_Revisions.xlsx WA_2014_Fireplace_EI_Revisions.docx6/27/2018
WyomingWDEQUnpaved road; point sourcesRaised concerns for Unpaved Road Emission; recommendations for representativeness of point source emissionsWyoming Comments6/14/2018
 WDEQFacilities emissions not in NEISee attached50 Buttes and House Creek Emissions7/6/2014

Resources

  • Now available! *2014 National Emissions Inventory (NEI) Report* This new highly visual and interactive Report shows graphs, tables, and maps that summarize national and state emission trends and emission profiles for states and counties based on the 2014 NEI v2 data. With this tool, users can explore the emissions data and answer basic questions they have about the NEI and emission trends by looking at what the data shows for national, state, and local areas. The Report distills a considerable amount of data detail inherent to the NEI and provides emission summaries for the criteria pollutants, black carbon, and 5 select HAPs. It is not a query tool for accessing all details of the entire 2014 NEI data. NEI data access query tools and detailed data files remain available on the EPA NEI program website. Please explore the 2014 NEI Report and bookmark it on https://gispub.epa.gov/neireport/2014/. The Report is also posted on the NEI program website https://www.epa.gov/air-emissions-inventories.

  • The 2014v2 NEI Technical Support Document is posted on the 2014. NEI website

Future 2016 Modeling Platform Review