Beaumont-Port Arthur: Ozone History

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2015 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard (2015 to Present)

On October 1, 2015, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revised the primary and secondary eight-hour ozone standards to 0.070 parts per million (ppm). The 2015 eight-hour ozone NAAQS became effective on December 28, 2015 ( 80 FR 65291 ). On November 16, 2017, the EPA designated the majority of Texas, including Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange Counties, as attainment/unclassifiable for the 2015 eight-hour ozone NAAQS with an effective date of January 16, 2018 ( 82 FR 54232 ).

2008 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard (2008 to Present)

On March 27, 2008, the EPA revised the primary and secondary eight-hour ozone standards to 0.075 ppm ( 73 FR 16436 ). On March 10, 2009, the governor recommended to the EPA that Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange counties be designated nonattainment for the 2008 ozone standard (see the governor's letter to EPA region 6 ).

In September 2009, the EPA announced that it intended to reconsider the 2008 NAAQS. On January 19, 2010, the EPA proposed revisions in the Federal Register to strengthen the primary eight-hour ozone standard in the range of 0.060 to 0.070 ppm ( 75 FR 2938 ). On September 2, 2011, the President announced a request that the EPA withdraw the proposed, reconsidered ozone standard.

In a September 22, 2011, memo , the EPA announced that it would proceed with initial area designations under the 2008 eight-hour ozone standard, starting with the recommendations states made in 2009 and updating them with the most current, certified air quality data (2008 through 2010). The governor submitted a revised designation recommendation in October 2011 that excluded Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange Counties from being designated as nonattainment under the 2008 eight-hour ozone standard.

On May 21, 2012, the EPA published final designations for the 2008 eight-hour ozone standard ( 77 FR 30088 ) along with a final rulemaking to revoke transportation conformity under the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard. Hardin, Jefferson, and Orange Counties were designated unclassifiable/attainment under the 2008 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, effective July 20, 2012.

On February 16, 2018, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued an opinion in the case South Coast Air Quality Management District vs. EPA, 882 F.3d 1138 (D.C. Cir. 2018) . The court’s decision vacated parts of the EPA’s final 2008 eight-hour ozone standard SIP requirements rule, including the redesignation substitute, removal of anti-backsliding requirements for areas designated nonattainment under the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, waiving requirements for transportation conformity for maintenance areas under the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS, and elimination of the requirement to submit a second 10-year maintenance plan. In response to the ruling, the commission adopted the BPA Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the One-Hour Ozone NAAQS and Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for the 1997 Eight-Hour Ozone NAAQS SIP Revision on January 30, 2019. The SIP revision was submitted to the EPA on February 6, 2019. See the 1997 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard and One-Hour Ozone Standard sections below for more information. 

1997 Eight-Hour Ozone Standard (1997 to 2015)

Note: Effective April 6, 2015, the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard has been revoked in all areas, although some former 1997 eight-hour ozone nonattainment areas have continuing obligations to comply with the anti-backsliding requirements described in 40 CFR §51.1100(o).

On April 30, 2004, the EPA published final designations and classifications for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard, effective July 15, 2005. The BPA nonattainment area was classified as marginal under the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard, with an attainment date of June 15, 2007. On October 27, 2004, the commission adopted a BPA SIP revision that included an attainment demonstration for the one-hour standard as well as one for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard.

On September 28, 2005, the commission adopted another BPA SIP revision, which included another attainment demonstration for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard and addressed the requirements for the one-hour standard that were not included in the October 2004 submission.

The BPA nonattainment area did not monitor attainment of the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard by the June 15, 2007, deadline (based on data from 2004 through 2006). As a result, the EPA reclassified the area to moderate with a new attainment date of June 15, 2010 ( 73 FR 1431 ).

As a result of monitoring data (2005 through 2007) showing that the BPA nonattainment area was attaining the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard, the commission adopted a BPA SIP revision that included a request to redesignate the area to attainment and a demonstration of continued maintenance of the ozone standard. The BPA redesignation request and maintenance plan SIP revision was adopted on December 10, 2008, and approved by the EPA effective November 19, 2010 ( 75 FR 64675 ). On February 6, 2019, the TCEQ submitted the BPA area’s second 10-year maintenance plan for the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS to the EPA as part of the BPA Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the One-Hour Ozone NAAQS and Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for the 1997 Eight-Hour Ozone NAAQS SIP Revision. On June 8, 2020, the EPA proposed to approve the second 10-year maintenance plan for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard portion of the submittal, while choosing to not act on the remainder of the submittal ( 85 FR 35041 ). On September 2, 2020 the EPA published final approval of the second 10-year maintenance plan for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard portion of the submittal ( 85 FR 54504 ).

One-Hour Ozone Standard

Note: In 1997, the one-hour ozone standard was replaced by the more protective eight-hour ozone standard. The one-hour standard has been revoked in all areas, though some former one-hour ozone nonattainment areas have continuing obligations to comply with the anti-backsliding requirements described in 40 CFR 51.905(a).

The 1990 federal Clean Air Act (CAA) amendments authorized the EPA to designate areas that fail to meet the ozone standard as nonattainment and to classify them according to severity. The BPA area was originally classified as a serious ozone nonattainment area in 1991 and was required to meet the one-hour ozone standard by November 1999. Based on subsequent review of ozone monitoring data for the BPA nonattainment area, the EPA reclassified the BPA area to moderate, a less severe classification. The TCEQ adopted a series of SIP revisions, culminating in the "Super SIP" submitted in July 1996. The attainment deadline for the BPA moderate nonattainment area was November 1996, but the area failed to meet that deadline.

The TCEQ submitted a BPA attainment demonstration SIP revision in April 2000, which took into account the importance of local nitrogen oxides reductions as well as ozone transport from the Houston-Galveston-Brazoria (HGB) ozone nonattainment area. Based on photochemical modeling that demonstrated ozone transport, the TCEQ requested an extension for attainment of the one-hour ozone standard in the BPA nonattainment area. The extended attainment date was November 15, 2007, which was the same attainment date as the HGB one-hour ozone nonattainment area. The EPA approved the BPA one-hour ozone attainment demonstration, along with this deadline extension, on May 14, 2001.

Environmental groups sued the EPA over extending attainment dates based on ozone transport. The BPA area was one of three areas in the nation affected by the lawsuits. On December 11, 2002, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the EPA is not authorized by the federal CAA to extend an area's attainment date based on transport. On June 19, 2003, the EPA proposed to reclassify the BPA area to either serious or severe, with a November 2005 attainment date for either classification.

On March 30, 2004, the EPA published its final withdrawal of approval of the BPA one-hour ozone attainment demonstration and attainment date extension. The EPA determined that the BPA area failed to attain the one-hour ozone standard by both the November 15, 1996, deadline for moderate areas and the November 15, 1999, deadline for serious areas. The BPA one-hour ozone nonattainment area was reclassified to serious on April 29, 2004, with a new attainment deadline of November 15, 2005.

On June 15, 2005, the EPA revoked the one-hour ozone standard. However, certain requirements for the one-hour standard remained in place after revocation to prevent air quality from degrading in former one-hour ozone standard nonattainment areas. The EPA finalized a determination of attainment for the BPA area for the one-hour ozone standard on October 20, 2010 and determined that the redesignation of the area to attainment for the 1997 eight-hour ozone NAAQS removes the requirement for the continued application of one-hour anti-backsliding measures ( 75 FR 64675 ).

On February 6, 2019, the TCEQ submitted the  BPA Redesignation Request and Maintenance Plan for the One-Hour Ozone NAAQS and Second 10-Year Maintenance Plan for the 1997 Eight-Hour Ozone NAAQS SIP Revision to the EPA that includes a request that the BPA area be formally redesignated to attainment for the one-hour ozone standard and that the EPA also consider the SIP revision as a second 10-year maintenance plan for the one-hour ozone standard. On June 8, 2020, the EPA proposed to approve the second 10-year maintenance plan for the 1997 eight-hour ozone standard portion of the submittal, while choosing to not act on the portion of the submittal regarding the one-hour ozone NAAQS ( 85 FR 35041 ). The EPA has taken the position that it lacks the authority to redesignate areas to attainment under revoked standards. Therefore, on September 25, 2020 the commission approved to withdraw from EPA consideration the portion of the previously submitted SIP revision regarding the one-hour ozone redesignation request and maintenance plan ( Non-Rule Project No. 2020-039-SIP-NR ).

Comprehensive History of the Texas SIP

This SIP History gives a broad overview of the SIP revisions that have been submitted to the EPA by the State of Texas. Some sections may be obsolete or superseded by new revisions, but have been retained for the sake of historical completeness.