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Senate committee approves DEQ docket adopting updated federal air-quality rules including new PM2.5 standard
Summary
The committee approved DEQ's rule docket incorporating federal air-quality changes through July 1, 2024, including adoption of the revised annual PM2.5 standard and several clarifying definition adjustments in Idaho rules.
Tiffany Floyd, Air Quality Division Administrator at the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), presented rule docket 58-0101-2401, the department's annual incorporation-by-reference of federal air-quality regulations through July 1, 2024. The committee approved the docket on a voice vote.
Floyd told the committee the docket aligns state rules with federal changes that include EPA action approving Idaho's removal of the vehicle inspection and maintenance program from the Northern Ada County carbon monoxide nonattainment plan, removal of a federal "emergency defense" provision in Title V permitting, and the EPA's lowering of the annual PM2.5 (fine particulate matter) standard from 12 micrograms per cubic meter to 9, effective May 6, 2024.
"I think it's worth mentioning that currently, we anticipate air quality levels, statewide to meet this new standard," Floyd said, while noting several communities hover near the standard—Pinehurst, Saint Mary's and Salmon—and that DEQ is conducting outreach on wood-smoke sources, wood-stove practices and community measures. The presentation also noted updates affecting a single Idaho lead-smelter facility (revisions to particulate-matter emission limits and new electronic reporting) and revisions to acceptable refrigerants intended to reduce ozone-depleting emissions.
Sen. Van Orden moved to approve docket 58-0101-2401; Sen. Harris seconded. The committee approved the docket on a voice vote. Floyd said DEQ received one public comment (from the Idaho Conservation League) about the timing of restoring definitions that had been inadvertently moved in prior rulemaking; DEQ did not change the proposal, saying the definitions were not new but restored to improve clarity.
