2024-19599. Determination of Attainment by the Attainment Date for the 2010 1-Hour Primary Sulfur Dioxide National Ambient Air Quality Standard; Texas; Freestone-Anderson and Titus Counties

Table 1—Freestone and Anderson Counties Combined SO ₂ Point Source Emissions From Texas *

Facility	Description	SO 2 emissions (tpy)
		2012	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Big Brown Steam Electric Station	Boilers 10 and 11	60,681	47,632	6,659	0	0	0	0
Freestone Energy Center	Turbines 1 to 4	11.5	11.7	14	16	14.6	12.3	13.6
Mosbacher Energy Company	Flare 3	130	62.4	73	45.2	28	86	67
Teague Gas Plant	Incinerator 5 and unclassified unit 4	243.8	0	0	0	0	0	0
Other	Various (1 tpy or less each) **	3.4	3.1	2.5	2.5	2.5	2	1.8
Total		61,070	47,709	6,748	63.7	45.1	100.7	82.4
* Point source data obtained from the State of Texas Air Reporting System (STARS) reported on January 16, 2024.
** The Bethel Gas Plant Incinerator unit 32 was the only unit to exceed 1 tpy with 1.6 tpy in 2012.

In Table 2, EPA provided categorized County-wide emissions, including point, non-point and mobile source emissions from 2017 and 2020 National Emission Inventory (NEI) ^[15] data to compare Big Brown's impact against the rest of the emissions inventory in Freestone and Anderson Counties. The total SO₂ emissions in Freestone and Anderson Counties were significantly lower in 2020 after Big Brown's retirement, with 171 tpy total. The non-point source category made up the majority of these County-wide emissions at 122 tpy (71 percent) with fires (prescribed/agricultural burning, and wildfires) contributing the most at 108.5 tpy. Oil and gas, waste disposal, and combustion made up the remaining non-point emissions but were small at 5.4, 4.1, and 3.5 tpy, respectively. On-road sources also contributed lightly with 3.6 tpy. These categorized County-wide emissions show that other source categories in and outside of the Freestone-Anderson NAA are very low. The NAA makes up a very small portion of the total areas in Freestone and Anderson Counties, so these County-wide non-point and mobile emissions, which are few, would make up an even smaller piece of the overall emissions in or near the Freestone-Anderson NAA. The retirement of the Big Brown Steam Electric Station in 2018 reduced the emissions in the Freestone-Anderson NAA by nearly 100 percent from 2012 to 2020 and there are no other significant emission sources present. Therefore, this information supports a determination that the Freestone-Anderson NAA has attained the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS by the statutory attainment date.

Table 2—Freestone and Anderson Counties Combined 2017 and 2020 Categorized NEI SO ₂ Total Emissions

Category	SO 2 emissions (tpy)
	2017	2020
Point	47,710	45.1
Non-Point	179	122
Fires (prescribed/agricultural burning, and wildfires)	171.1	108.5
Oil and gas production	3.03	5.4
Waste Disposal	2.9	4.1
Combustion (residential and industrial)	2.4	3.5
On-Road Mobile	12.2	3.6
Non-Road Mobile	1.5	0.1
( print page 71234)
Total	47,903	171

Table 3 shows the SO₂ total point source emissions within Titus County in 2012, and from 2017 to 2022. In 2018, after Monticello Steam Electric Station retired, the Welsh Power Plant emitted nearly 100 percent of the remaining SO₂ emissions within Titus County. These results show that up until 2017 the Monticello and Welsh plants were the only primary SO₂ point sources emitting in Titus County. During designations, EPA's nonattainment boundary did not include the Welsh Power Plant and was limited to the immediate area surrounding Monticello Steam Electric Station as the Welsh Power Plant was not identified as a contributing source to the modeled SO₂ NAAQS violation. Therefore, since the Welsh Power Plant did not contribute to the NAAQS violation in the Titus NAA, and since there are no other point sources within Titus County, these County-wide emission results show that Monticello is the only point source that could contribute to nonattainment within the Titus NAA.

Table 3—Titus County SO ₂ Point Source Emissions From Texas *

Facility	Description	SO 2 emissions (tpy)
		2012	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022
Monticello Steam Electric Station	Boilers 7, 9, 10, 11, 66	31,450	29,412	0	0	0	0	0
Welsh Power Plant	Boilers 10, 11, and 12	23,212	14,075	14,226	11,177	8,168.8	9,880	10,916
Other	Flares and Fugitive Emissions	0	0.02	0.3	0.4	0.4	0.4	0.4
Total		54,662	43,487	14,226.3	11,177.4	8,169.2	9,880.4	10,916.4
* Point source data obtained from the State of Texas Air Reporting System (STARS) reported on January 16, 2024.

In Table 4, EPA provided categorized County-wide emissions from 2017 and 2020 NEI data to further compare Monticello's impact against the rest of the emission inventory in Titus County. The 2017 and 2020 NEI data showed that the SO₂ emissions from other categories in Titus County were small when compared to the point source emissions showing 44 tpy (0.1 percent) in 2017 and 51.7 tpy (0.6 percent) in 2020. The non-point source category made up the majority of these low emissions with 38 tpy in 2017 and 50 tpy in 2020 coming mostly from fires (19 and 16.3 tpy, respectively, in 2017 and 2020) and combustion (18 and 29.6 tpy, respectively, in 2017 and 2020). Oil and gas and waste disposal made up the remaining of these low emissions with oil and gas showing 2.6 tpy or less and waste disposal 1.5 tpy or less for both years. On-road mobile sources also contributed very lightly as well (5.5 and 1.9 tpy for both years). These categorized County-wide emissions show that other source categories in and outside of the Titus NAA are very low. The Titus NAA makes up a very small portion of the total area in Titus County, so these County-wide non-point and mobile emissions, which are few, would make up an even smaller piece of those overall emissions in or near the Titus NAA. The retirement of Monticello Steam Electric Station reduced the emissions in the Titus NAA by nearly 100 percent from 2012 to 2020, and no other sources are contributing to that area from Titus County. This information supports a determination that the Titus NAA attained the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS by the statutory attainment date.

Table 4—Titus County 2017 and 2020 Categorized NEI SO ₂ Total Emissions

Category	SO 2 emissions (tpy)
	2017	2020
Point (including the Welsh Power Plant)	43,487	8,169.3
Non-Point	38	50
Fires (prescribed/agricultural burning, and wildfires)	19	16.3
Oil and gas production	0.01	2.6
Waste Disposal	1.3	1.5
Combustion (residential and industrial)	18	29.6
On-Road Mobile	5.5	1.9
Non-Road Mobile	0.8	0.09
Total	43,531	8,221

( print page 71235)

E. Conclusion

We propose to determine that the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAAs attained the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS by the statutory attainment date of January 12, 2022. The supporting justification for our proposed determination of attainment by the attainment date includes the following: EPA's previous CDD; the permanent and enforceable shutdowns of the primary sources of SO₂ emissions in these areas; the available modeling analysis demonstrating that the Big Brown Steam Electric Station in Freestone County and the Monticello Steam Electric Station in Titus County were responsible for almost 100 percent of the SO₂ impacts on the maximum modeled concentrations in each respective area; review of emissions data showing emissions within the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAA's have been reduced by nearly 100 percent with the retirements of Big Brown and Monticello Steam Electric Stations in 2018 and that no other sources remain that are contributing to a violation of the SO₂ NAAQS in those NAAs; and the Freestone County and Welsh monitors' reported 2019-2021 design values of 5 ppb (7 percent of the standard) and 19 ppb (25 percent of the standard) providing additional evidence that these areas are in attainment. The EPA's proposed determination that the area attained the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS by the attainment date is supported by all of the available aforementioned evidence.

III. Proposed Action

Based on the EPA's review of all available evidence described in this notice, the EPA is proposing to determine that the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAA's attained the 2010 1-hour primary SO₂ NAAQS by the statutory attainment date of January 12, 2022.

Finalizing this action would not constitute a redesignation of the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAA's to attainment of the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS under section 107(d)(3) of the CAA. If this action is finalized, the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAA's will remain designated nonattainment for the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS until EPA revises the area's designation under CAA section 107(d)(3).

If finalized, this action will address the EPA's obligation under CAA section 179(c) to determine if the Freestone-Anderson and Titus NAAs attained the 2010 1-hour SO₂ NAAQS by the statutory attainment date of January 12, 2022.

The EPA is soliciting public comments on this notice. These comments will be considered before taking final action.

IV. Environmental Justice Considerations

Information on Executive Order 12898 (Federal Actions to Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-Income Populations, 59 FR 7629, February 16, 1994) and how EPA defines environmental justice (EJ) can be found in the section, below, titled “V. Statutory and Executive Order Reviews.” EPA is providing additional analysis of environmental justice associated with this action. We are doing so for the purpose of providing information to the public, not as a basis of our action.

The EPA conducted screening analyses utilizing EJSCREEN, an environmental justice mapping and screening tool that combines various environmental and demographic indicators within the area.^[16] The EJSCREEN tool presents these indicators at a Census block group (CBG) level or a larger user-specified “buffer” area that covers multiple CBGs.^[17] An individual CBG is a cluster of contiguous blocks within the same census tract and generally contains between 600 and 3,000 people. EJSCREEN is not a tool for performing in-depth risk analysis, but is instead a screening tool that provides an initial representation of indicators related to environmental justice and is subject to uncertainty in some underlying data ( e.g., some environmental indicators are based on monitoring data which are not uniformly available; others are based on self-reported data).^[18] We present EJSCREEN environmental indicators to help screen for locations where residents may experience a higher overall pollution burden than would be expected for a block group with the same total population. These indicators of overall pollution burden include estimates of ambient PM_2.5 and O₃ concentration, air toxics cancer risk, air toxics respiratory health index, a score for traffic proximity and volume, percentage of pre-1960 housing units (lead paint indicator), and scores for proximity to Superfund sites, risk management plan (RMP) sites, and hazardous waste facilities.^[19] We note that the cancer risk and respiratory health indexes are based on 2017 emissions data, when the sources in these areas were still operating. The EPA's EJSCREEN tool also provides information on demographic indicators for vulnerable populations in the area, including communities of color, percent low-income, linguistic isolation, and less than high school-level education. This action proposes a determination of NAAQS attainment by the attainment date for the Freestone-Anderson Counties and Titus County, Texas NAAs. The EPA prepared EJSCREEN reports covering buffer areas containing the designated boundaries for each nonattainment area. We selected a 15 km radius around the Big Brown Steam Electric Station in Freestone-Anderson Counties and a 10 km radius around the Monticello Steam Electric Station in Titus County. These sources were responsible for almost 100 percent of the SO₂ impacts on the maximum modeled concentrations in each respective area. Table 6 presents a summary of results from the EPA's screening-level analysis for the areas surrounding each nonattainment area compared to the U.S. as a whole (the detailed EJSCREEN reports are provided in the docket for this rulemaking).

This action is proposing our determination of attainment by the attainment date for the 2010 1-hour primary SO₂ NAAQS for the Freestone-Anderson and Titus County NAAs by January 12, 2022. Information on SO₂ and its relationship to negative health impacts can be found at final Federal Register notice titled “Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standard for Sulfur Dioxide” (75 FR 35520, June 22, 2010). We expect that this particular action will not have a detrimental effect on the populations in the NAAs, including people of color and low-income populations in the NAAs, as this action identifies that the areas attained the NAAQS by the attainment date. ( print page 71236)

Table 6—EJSCREEN Analysis Summary for Freestone-Anderson and Titus SO ₂ NAAs

Selected variables	Values for buffer areas for each NAA and the U.S. (percentile within U.S. where indicated)
	Big Brown Plant in Freestone-Anderson SO 2 NAA (15 km radius)	Monticello Plant in Titus SO 2 NAA (10 km radius)	U.S. (avg)
Pollution Burden Indicators
Particulate matter (PM 2.5 ), annual average (µg/m3 )	9.12 (64th %ile)	9.34 (70th %ile)	8.74 (-)
Cancer Risk (lifetime risk per million) **	30 (80-90th %ile)	38 (95-100th %tile)	29 (-)
Respiratory Health Index **	0.31 (<50th %tile)	0.4 (80-90th %tile)	0.36 (-)
Ozone (O 3 ), summer seasonal average of daily 8-hour max (ppb)	40.7 (36th %ile)	40.7 (36th %ile)	42.6 (-)
Traffic proximity and volume score *	11 (8th %ile)	190 (46th %ile)	710 (-)
Lead paint (percent pre-1960 housing)	0.11 (41st %ile)	0.14 (45th %ile)	0.28 (-)
Superfund proximity score *	0.009 (3rd %ile)	0.013 (9th %ile)	0.13 (-)
RMP proximity score *	0.065 (7th %ile)	2.8 (95th %ile)	0.75 (-)
Hazardous waste proximity score *	0.022 (1st %ile)	0.028 (3rd %ile)	2.2 (-)
Demographic Indicators
People of color population	43% (60th %ile)	61% (72nd %ile)	40% (-)
Low-income population	30% (53rd %ile)	51% (81st %ile)	31% (-)
Linguistically isolated population	1% (50th %ile)	8% (80th %ile)	5% (-)
Population with less than high school education	23% (84th %ile)	22% (82nd %ile)	12% (-)
Population under 5 years of age	3% (23rd %ile)	7% (64th %ile)	6% (-)
Population over 64 years of age	12% (38th %ile)	14% (48th %ile)	16% (-)
* The traffic proximity and volume indicator is a score calculated by daily traffic count divided by distance in meters to the road. The Superfund proximity, RMP proximity, and hazardous waste proximity indicators are all scores calculated by site or facility counts divided by distance in kilometers.
** Air toxics cancer risk, and air toxics respiratory hazard index are from the EPA's 2017 Air Toxics Data Update, which is the Agency's ongoing, comprehensive evaluation of air toxics in the United States.