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Pacific Southwest, Region 9
Serving: Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, Pacific Islands, Tribal Nations
Air Actions, Nevada
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Fact Sheet: Reno, Nevada Particulate Matter (PM-10) Reclassification Proposal
November 22, 2000
The original Clean air Act (CAA) deadline for Reno (Washoe County), Nevada to attain the national standard for particulate matter, or dust, was 1994. They failed to meet this deadline. In 1999, violations were again recorded. Therefore, we are issuing a Federal Register (FR) proposal which finds that the Reno PM-10 (particulate matter of 10 microns or less) nonattainment area has failed to attain the PM-10 standard and thus should be reclassified as a serious area. Since the attainment date for moderate areas like Reno was 1994, this proposal is based on 1992-1994 monitoring data for the Reno nonattainment area, but also recognizes more recent monitoring data.
The FR proposal has more information on how violations of the PM-10 National Ambient air Quality Standards (NAAQS) are calculated, but Reno basically failed to meet the PM-10 NAAQS in 1994 for both the 24-hour (150 ug/m3) and annual standards (50 ug/m3). Furthermore, in 1999, violations were recorded at the Galletti Way-Reno monitor (both PM-10 standards exceeded) and the N Lake St-Reno monitor (24-hour standard exceeded).
EPA has been sued by EarthJustice to make this finding of failure to attain and to reclassify Reno to a serious area. We are trying to finalize this finding and reclassification as expeditiously are possible. This is why the comment period is only 15 days.
EPA has also discussed the serious area reclassification with the Washoe County air Pollution Control District (APCD). The Washoe County APCD is prepared to address the serious area requirements. They have determined that the cause of the monitoring violations in 1999 was de-icing/street sweeping operations and have been working with the cities and Nevada Department of Transportation to look for ways to reduce the dust from these operations. Once reclassified, they plan to submit a serious area State Implementation Plan (SIP) to EPA which will include measures to address the de-icing operations. They believe that their other sources are sufficiently controlled.