Regional Technical Center Progress
Report
October 10, 2001
The Region III Air Directors pooled their Regional
Technical Center grant funds at MARAMA and directed MARAMA to form
a committee to recommend how best to use the funds. The Regional
Technical Center Committee developed FY 1999 Priorities, which were
approved by the Region III Air Directors on January 14, 1999. This
report summarizes work done with respect to those priorities. The
priorities are not listed in any particular order of importance.
- Establish agreement on how we will work
together-an organizational structure, division of responsibilities,
and decision-making procedures.
The Committee elected Wick Havens (Pennsylvania)
as its chair and proposed Working Principles, which were approved
by the Region III Air Directors at the January 1999 MARAMA meeting.
The Principles are posted on MARAMA's web site. Important features
include that Technical Center work will be accomplished both
through collaborative efforts by participating agencies and
through contracts. The Center will focus on development of technical
SIP elements, such as emissions inventories, modeling protocols,
modeling demonstrations, and weight of evidence demonstrations.
In addressing FY 1999 Priorities, the Committee will work closely
with Region II states, NESCAUM, and EPA; support the OTC Modeling
Committee as needed; and actively promote coordination with
other regional modeling efforts in the eastern US.
The Committee worked with New Jersey to help
identify major tasks involved in regional coordination for modeling
and analysis of the 8-hour ozone standard. The Committee helped
the OTC Modeling Committee to identify lead agencies for these
tasks, determine what work states/locals or EPA will do, and
where there was a need for contractor support. OTC estimated
funding needs.
- Develop a multi-layer work plan including
increasing levels of detail. (Something generic that each state
could adapt, possibly with options for various levels of coordination.)
In preparing for MARAMA's January 1999
Workshop and Annual Meeting, MARAMA hired Len Bruckman to help
develop a draft work plan for the ozone and fine particle modeling
work. The Committee reviewed and revised that draft work plan,
and on-going revisions are expected as part of the OTC effort
to develop a regional work plan.
- Organize an improved regional inventory
for precursors of ozone, PM, and haze.
On behalf of the Committee, MARAMA and
NESCAUM conducted a survey of the status of state/local 1996
periodic inventories. This survey was tabulated and distributed
to the Committee and the Air Directors.
The Committee obtained information from EPA regarding
the status of two national inventories that may be useful in
the modeling and analysis efforts: the National Emissions Trends
(NETS) inventory, and the NOx SIP Call inventory.
Representatives of the Committee are participating
in an ad hoc emissions modeling committee that is supporting
inter-regional coordination on modeling inventories. Mark Janssen
of LADCO organized the ad hoc committee.
Pennsylvania agreed to take the lead in developing
a modeling inventory to be used by New York, Maryland, possibly
Virginia, and other Committee members. The Committee concluded
that contractor or other outside support will be needed to complete
preprocessing and produce modeling inventories. An RFP for contractor
support was developed. The committee is reviewing area soutce
VOC estimation methods to increase regional consistency for
future inventories. MARAMA signed a contract with PES, Inc.
and XENECA in October 2000 for preparation of an improved inventory.
The Committee is actively promoting coordination
of inventories by EPA on a multi-regional scale. Link
to Project Page
- Conduct a scoping study regarding an ammonia
inventory-what's available, what can be done to improve the data,
and what would it cost?
The Committee reviewed information on ammonia
inventories in January 1999. The Committee recommended, and
the Directors approved, establishing a contract with Carnegie
Mellon to develop an improved ammonia inventory for the region.
NESCAUM also contributes to this contract. The contract was
signed in July 1999. Carnegie Mellon submitted progress reports
in November 1999, March
2000, and October 2000.
A literature review has been completed, and the inventory has
been updated. The final inventory is due December 31, 2000.
MARAMA is planning a training workshop for March 2001. Link
to Project Page
- Look at potential regional and sub-regional
episodes and recommend which could be used to get some consistency
within the region.
Eric Leubehusen of Maryland coordinated
episode selection in cooperation with Bill Ryan of the University
of Maryland and Gopal Sistla of New York. Their recommendation
was to model several weeks centered around July 1997.
At the June 1999 Committee meeting, Gopal
Sistla asked each agency to review air quality data and recommend
specific periods they would like included in the analysis. In
concert with OTC Modeling Committee June-July 1997 was selected
as the modeling period.
- Set up a common domain and modeling platform
to the maximum degree possible.
Gopal Sistla and the OTC Modeling Committee
are in the lead on this effort, but several Mid-Atlantic agencies
plan to be active participants in modeling, including Virginia,
Maryland, Delaware, and New Jersey.
Modeling domain and platform issues have been
explored at several RTC Committee meetings and conference calls,
in addition to discussions at OTC-sponsored meetings. EPA-OAQPS
worked with Gopal Sistla and others to determine a common domain
for as much of the ozone/PM modeling work as possible. All regions
plan to use an outer grid roughly the size of the OTAG domain,
since the models will be run with a fine grid nested inside
a large outer domain.
It is expected that the same grid will
be used for meteorological modeling, inventory modeling, and
photochemical modeling. Gopal Sistla has recommended using the
model CAMx, which can use the same grid projection as the meteorological
model MM5, but no final decisions have been made. External
Link to OTC Internet Site
- Have a contractor prepare meteorological
data inputs for selected episodes.
Maryland has contracted with the University
of Maryland to perform MM5 meteorological modeling, and Gopal
Sistla and Tad Aburn worked closely with the UM to develop a
protocol for this effort, and as the project develops the RTC
Committee will consider additional technical support for this
effort (e.g., an external peer review group or a contractor
evaluation). External
Link to OTC Internet Site
- Work with EPA to facilitate modeling training.
EPA held a national modeling workshop June
8-10, 1999, in Arlington, VA, and several members of the RTC
Committee were speakers at this meeting. Final guidance was
not available due to the recent court decision that stayed implementation
of the 8-hour ozone standard and the PM2.5 standard.
MARAMA hosted a follow-up workshop on modeling
inventories in January 2000. LADCO helped coordinate agenda
development for that workshop.
EPA hosted a workshop on the use of Models3 in
June 2000, and expects to present training later in 2000. Region
III EPA expects to serve as a training center and is able to
run the current version of the Models3 framework. The NT version
of the Models3 framework was released in July 2000.
Connecticut attended a small EMS-95 training
session at LADCO in May. Virginia proposed that additional EMS-95
or 2000 training be held in the MARAMA region. MARAMA organized
a training session on June 21-23 in Richmond, Virginia. MARAMA
also provided support for several member agency staff to attend
SMOKE training offered by NCSC in April-June, 2000.
MARAMA hosted a PM2.5 Emissions Inventory Workshop
in cooperation with SESARM in June 2000. MARAMA also hosted
a Regional Haze Meeting in August 2000 with NESCAUM, and OTC,
and organized a Science of Visibility Workshop in October with
the National Park Service and the Fish and Wildlife Service.
MARAMA is working on a Data Analysis Class with the University
of Chicago for December 2000, and a Regional Haze Workshop for
January 2001. MARAMA is planning a training seminar in March
on Ammonia Emissions Inventory with Carnegie Mellon University.
The Committee will continue to evaluate training needs.
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