Beaumont-Port Arthur Nonattainment Area Reclassification
Beveridge & Diamond, P.C. - Texas Environmental Update, March 2008
On March 18, 2008, EPA published a final rule regarding the agency’s determination that the Beaumont-Port Arthur did not attain the eight-hour ozone NAAQS by the applicable June 15, 2007 attainment deadline. Although ozone monitoring data from 2005 to 2007 shows that the area met both the eight-hour ozone NAAQS and the former one-hour standard during that time, the area narrowly missed the June 15, 2007 attainment deadline. As a result and by operation of law, EPA is reclassifying the area from “marginal” to “moderate” nonattainment status. The redesignation requires that Texas submit a state implementation plan (“SIP”) revision by June 15, 2007, and that the area comply with the associated June 15, 2010 attainment deadline.
Information regarding the Beaumont-Port Arthur area’s compliance with the eight-hour ozone NAAQS is available on EPA Region 6’s website.1 The above-referenced final rule is available on EPA’s website.2
For a printable PDF of this article, please click here.
1 http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/0/ABAC52559F1199D
7852573FD006C64C0
