This spring, EPA released updates to three online tools that provide information about nonattainment and maintenance areas for the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The tool updates were developed by the E-Enterprise State Planning Electronic Collaboration System (SPeCS) team, co-led by officials with the EPA Office of Air Quality Planning & Standards and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. They provide required State Implementation Plan (SIP) element and area status information previously offered through EPA’s SIP Status Reports, and serve as a public dashboard.
The updated tools are:
- Nonattainment and Maintenance Area Population Tool, an interactive map that displays the counties in nonattainment and maintenance areas, and the number of people living in those areas for current and revoked NAAQS, based on the 2019 population.
- The Nonattainment and Maintenance Area Dashboard, which provides information about nonattainment and maintenance areas for current and revoked NAAQS. Information in the dashboard can be filtered by state, NAAQS, area name, area status, area classification, and other fields. When viewing information about a specific area, the history of EPA actions on the area is displayed at the bottom of the page.
- The Required SIP Elements Dashboard provides details about individual states’ Clean Air Act and regulatory planning requirements associated with implementing, attaining, and maintaining the NAAQS through SIPs. Information in the dashboard can be filtered by state, plan category, NAAQS, area, and specific SIP element.
All 50 states now submit SIPs through SPeCS. To date, state submissions include more than 1,350 SIPs and more than 95 Exceptional Events demonstrations. The SPeCS and Exceptional Events Submission and Tracking System enable states to view applicable EPA guidance as well as previous submissions to EPA.
Leveraging the work each state conducts to create and submit an Exceptional Event demonstration, ECOS is working with member states to enable the sharing of information around specific events such as the 2020 wildfire season. To join these discussions, please contact Kelly Poole of ECOS.
For more information, see the EPA website and E-Enterprise website. For general questions regarding SIP and exceptional events demonstration submittals, contact your SPeCS Regional Manager.
|
