Air Pollution Control; Nonroad Vehicle and Equipment Emission Inventories

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

[AMS-FRL-6106-2]

Air Pollution Control; Nonroad Vehicle and Equipment Emission

Inventories

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Public Workshop.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency is in the process of

developing a nonroad mobile source emissions inventory model (the

NONROAD model). This notice announces a public workshop for the purpose

of discussing the various issues involved in creating a model for this

diverse collection of vehicles and equipment that comprise the nonroad

mobile source sector, and provides a formal opportunity for comment and

reaction to the release of the draft NONROAD model and its associated

technical documentation. This notice also announces a hands-on

demonstration of the model immediately following the public workshop.

DATES: The workshop will be held Thursday, June 25, 1997. The times are

from 8:30 am to 4 pm. A demonstration of the NONROAD model will be held

on the same day from approximately 4:30 pm to 5:30 pm. All times are

Central Daylight Time.

ADDRESSES: The workshop will be held in the Metcalf Federal Building,

17 West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL, Lake Michigan and Lake Ontario

Rooms--12th Floor, Great Lakes Conference and Training Center. The

Metcalf building is located in the heart of the downtown area. The

model demonstration will be held at the same location. Directions to

the workshop and model demonstration can be obtained through the EPA

OMS World Wide Web (WWW) site, or otherwise requested from the EPA

contact person. Information on how to electronically access the web

site or on the EPA contact person appears immediately below.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Gertrude Venlet, U. S. EPA, Office

of Mobile Sources, Assessment and Modeling Division, Scientific

Assessment Group, 2000 Traverwood Drive, Ann Arbor MI 48105. Telephone:

(734) 214-4892; fax (734) 214-4939. Email: [email protected].

This notice, as well as related information concerning the

workshop, may be found at the EPA OMS web site. The electronic address

for this site is: http://www.epa.gov/omswww/nonrdmdl.htm.

Workshop-related files, including a copy of this notice, additional

information on the location of the workshop and model demonstration,

hotels, technical reports, the draft NONROAD model, and later

additional information that may become available as described in the

body of this announcement, will be found at the web site location or

may otherwise be obtained from the EPA contact person.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

Nonroad mobile sources are a significant source of air pollutants

in many areas of the United States. This broad category is comprised of

a diverse collection of vehicles and equipment, including vehicles and

equipment in the following nine categories:

--Recreational vehicles, such as all-terrain vehicles and off-road

motorcycles;

--Logging equipment, such as chain saws;

--Agricultural equipment, such as tractors;

--Construction equipment, such as graders and back hoes;

--Industrial equipment, such as fork lifts and sweepers;

--Residential and commercial lawn and garden equipment, such as leaf

and snow blowers;

--Recreational and commercial marine vessels, such as power boats and

oil tankers;

--Locomotive equipment, such as train engines; and

--Aircraft, such as jets and prop planes.

Current nonroad inventory development practices are based on EPA's

Nonroad Engine and Vehicle Emissions Study (NEVES), done under the 1990

Clean Air Act Amendment requirements, and ``Procedures for Emission

Inventory Preparation, Volume IV: Mobile Sources'' (EPA-450/4-81-026d

(revised), 1992). In consideration of the increased recognition of the

importance of emissions from nonroad sources in terms of overall

emissions and air quality, and the considerable practical difficulty of

implementing the current guidance, EPA is developing a nonroad

emissions inventory model (NONROAD) to meet the needs of the modeling

audience.

NONROAD Emission Inventory Model

EPA has completed a draft version of NONROAD, an accompanying

detailed user's guide, and a number of technical reports describing the

model's data inputs and assumptions. This version of the model covers

all nonroad vehicle and equipment types, except aircraft, locomotives,

and commercial marine. The Agency will develop modeling modules for

aircraft and locomotives sometime in the future. As for commercial

marine, a module for this source category is under construction and

will be released for public review later this year.

The draft model is intended to easily create and project accurate,

reproducible inventories of nonroad emissions. It has a number of uses,

but should be especially important to state and local pollution control

agencies in satisfying the State Implementation Plan (SIP) requirements

of the Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990.

Structurally, the model is made up of three specific components: a

graphical user interface (GUI) which allows the user to easily input

model parameters,

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the core model which contains all computational algorithms, and a

reporting utility for viewing and summarizing modeled emissions

estimates. The model has been designed to allow the user a high degree

of flexibility. As such, the model will:

--Calculate and report emissions in total for the United States, and

for individual states and counties;

--Calculate emissions for a variety of time periods (e.g., an entire

year, any particular month, any combination of months, or daily weekday

or weekend day);

--Report emissions of six pollutants: hydrocarbons (HC), carbon

monoxide (CO), NOX, sulfur oxides (SOX ), and PM.

The model will report both exhaust and non-exhaust HC emissions, the

latter of which includes crankcase, diurnal, refueling, etc;

--Estimate current and future year emissions in a specified geographic

area. In estimating future year emissions, the model includes growth

and scrappage and can accommodate a variety of control program options;

and

--View model results in different formats such as an Emission Pre-

Processor System 2 (EPS-2) input file, spreadsheet, and preformatted

reports.

The public workshop being announced today provides a valuable

opportunity for EPA to receive assistance in developing the final

NONROAD model through review and comment by all interested users. The

workshop will focus on all aspects of the model including user

convenience, data inputs and modeling assumptions, computational

structure, and reporting options and formats. Presentations on each

subject will be followed by a short discussion/question and answer

period, and there should be some time left at the end of the day for

more general open discussion of the material that has been presented. A

detailed draft agenda for the workshop will be posted on the EPA OMS

web site or may be obtained from the EPA contact person (see FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT).

Availability of Technical Reports and NONROAD

EPA anticipates the workshop will be highly interactive. To

facilitate this goal, all participants are encouraged to review the

draft technical reports on data inputs and assumptions, as well as the

draft NONROAD model and accompanying user's guide. These documents and

the model are posted on the EPA OMS web site or are otherwise available

on CD ROM from the EPA contact person (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT). Please visit this site often to check for additional

information or model documentation which may be posted between now and

the workshop date.

Comment Period

The Agency is providing a 60-day public comment period on the draft

model and associated documents. This period should be adequate for

interested parties to thoroughly review the available information, and

is consistent with the guidelines for public review of EPA emission

models the Mobile Sources Technical Review Subcommittee of the Clean

Air Act Advisory Committee established under the Federal Advisory

Committee Act. The comment period will be initiated at the time the

draft NONROAD model is posted on the EPA OMS web site, which EPA

projects to be on or around June 15, 1998.

Model Demonstration

The Agency will hold a hands-on demonstration of the model on the

same day, at the same location immediately after the public workshop.

The facility is capable of seating approximately 20 people at

individual personal computers. This demonstration will be held on a

first come, first serve basis. Please contact EPA via the NONROAD E-

mail box or the EPA contact person (see FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

CONTACT).

Additional Information

To the extent possible, EPA will post material at the EPA OMS web

site, as described under FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT, in advance of

the workshop. Those planning to attend, and those interested in

following the progress of workshop planning more closely, should

periodically visit the EPA OMS web site.

Dated: May 28, 1998.

Donald E. Zinger,

Acting Director, Office of Mobile Sources.

[FR Doc. 98-14725 Filed 6-2-98; 8:45 am]

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