post eqc web update

DETP/19/16058

''Wednesday, July 17, 2019 at 4:27:03 PM (GMT+07:00) Goldstein, Meyer:'' Rule Caption: Amendments to Oregon Smoke Management Plan and the Oregon State Implementation Plan for Air Quality Adm. Order No.: DEQ 7-2014 Filed with Sec. of State: 6-26-2014 Certified to be Effective: 6-26-14 Notice Publication Date: 2-1-2014 Rules Amended: 340-200-0040 Subject: Short summary The Oregon Environmental Quality Commission adopted amendments to the Oregon Smoke Management Plan, operated by the Oregon Department of Forestry, under the authority provided to DEQ under ORS 477.013. DEQ will submit these amendments to EPA as a revision to DEQ’s State Implementation Plan. ODF and DEQ recently reviewed the Oregon Smoke Management Plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the smoke management program. As a result, ODF and DEQ proposed changes to the plan under their respective authorities: - ODF proposed amendments to its smoke management rules under OAR 629-048 and Operational Guidance for the Oregon Smoke Management Program, directive 1-4-1-601, which together comprise the plan. - To incorporate ODF’s amendments into the federally-approved Oregon Clean Air Act State Implementation Plan, DEQ proposed amending OAR 340-200-0040. ODF and DEQ review the Oregon Smoke Management Plan about every five years. For the most recent review, ODF convened the Smoke Management Review Committee that met eight times during 2012 and 2013. Committee recommendations are the basis for ODF’s amendments to the Oregon Smoke Management Plan: 1. Adopt additional voluntary provisions to provide greater visibility protection when burning near Crater Lake National Park and the Kalmiopsis Wilderness, both Oregon Class I areas. These provisions will help meet the federal Regional Haze Rule implemented under DEQ’s 2010 Oregon Regional Haze Plan. 2. Adopt additional voluntary provisions to encourage greater use of alternatives to burning and emission reduction techniques. 3. For Special Protection Zone requirements adopted in 1992 to provide extra smoke management protection during the winter months for communities that exceeded federal air quality health standards: a. Eliminate the La Grande Special Protection Zone. DEQ determined there is no longer a need for the La Grande Special Protection Zone. b. Reduce the of the Special Protection Zone boundary for the Medford area, based on local topography and meteorology, to reflect the Medford airshed. Inside the boundary, prescribed burning will continue to follow the daily green, yellow, and red woodstove restrictions. Outside the boundary, prescribed burning will be prioritized to reduce burning on “red” woodstove days by only allowing smaller burn units that are farther away from Medford. Both communities receive year-round smoke management protection under the plan. The Special Protection Zones ensure that any wintertime prescribed burning within 10 to 20 miles complies with local residential woodstove curtailment programs. In both communities, air quality levels have improved significantly and the communities now meet air standards. Around La Grande there is very little wintertime prescribed burning. In the Medford area, there is considerably more burning in the winter, which justifies keeping the Special Protection Zone but changing to the boundary , given the air quality improvements and burning prioritization noted above. 4. Allow ODF, rather than DEQ, to regulate a very small amount of prescribed burning on forestlands currently outside forest protection districts. The ODF rule amendment will manage this burning under an interagency agreement between ODF and DEQ subject to the same requirements for all prescribed burning under the plan. 5. Require smoke monitoring for prescribed burns over 2000 tons in following existing language in ODF guidance. This will allow the landowner the ability to cease lighting or burn a smaller amount if air quality conditions change. 6. Other miscellaneous revisions to ODF rules including clarification to Special Protection Zone language, and flexibility to the five year time period for plan review to allow an earlier or later time, but not to exceed 10 years if ODF and DEQ mutually agree. Brief history ODF conducts prescribed forest burning in Oregon to eliminate unwanted forest debris, restore forest health and reduce the potential for major wildfires. Each year ODF burns approximately 150,000 acres of Oregon forests through the practice of prescribed burning. Smoke from this burning can occasionally pose a risk to public health and result in air quality levels exceeding the federal air quality standard for fine particulate matter, also called PM2.5. Even brief exposures to smoke can cause health problems for persons with asthma, emphysema, congestive heart disease and other existing medical conditions. The elderly, pregnant women and young children are especially high-risk groups. Smoke from forest burning also affects visibility in national parks and wilderness areas, as well as general outdoor recreation activities. State law ORS 477.013 directs ODF to develop a smoke management plan for prescribed forestry burning in Oregon and to promulgate rules to carry out this plan. Consistent with the law, ODF developed the Oregon Smoke Management Plan, which consists of rules under OAR 629-048 and the Operational Guidance for the Oregon Smoke Management Program in directive 1-4-1-601. ODF implements the plan through a smoke management program for prescribed burning on federal, state and private forestland. Adopted as a regulatory program in 1972, the objective of the smoke management program is to maximize burning opportunities, reduce the risk of wildfire and minimize smoke impacts on the public. Most of the larger cities and heavily populated areas in Oregon are designated as Smoke Sensitive Receptor Areas by ODF, and have greater restrictions on prescribed burning to prevent smoke intrusions. ODF’s smoke management office in Salem conducts daily weather forecasts to determine areas in the state suitable for forestry burning, then issues daily burning instructions for those areas, that include limits in tons, how far apart to space the burning and distance from Smoke Sensitive Receptor Areas. The forest district staff make the actual decision on which units to burn based on the burning instructions. Each burn unit has a burn plan and pays burn fees. After burning, the district reports back to State Forestry in Salem on the burning accomplished. As directed under state law, ODF adopts all rules associated with the plan through its Board of Forestry. State law ORS 477.013 does provide DEQ with joint approval authority of the plan and cites the need to “meet the air quality objectives of the federal Clean Air Act.” To ensure prescribed burning meets the federal Clean Air Act, DEQ previously adopted the plan into the Oregon Clean Air Act State Implementation Plan as provided in DEQ rule OAR 340-200-0040, and any changes to the Oregon Smoke Management Plan require DEQ approval as a State of Oregon Clean Air Act Implementation Plan revision. ORS 477.552 states the need to “improve the management of prescribed burning as a forest management and protection practice” and to “minimize emissions from prescribed burning consistent with the air quality objectives of the federal Clean Air Act and the State of Oregon State Implementation Plan.” In order to improve the management of prescribed burning, every five years DEQ and ODF conduct a review of the plan to evaluate the effectiveness of the smoke management program. The last plan review was in 2007. Improvements included increasing the number of Smoke Sensitive Receptor Areas in the state. There are currently 23 Smoke Sensitive Receptor Areas that include both individual communities and larger urbanized areas, such as the entire Willamette Valley and Columbia River Gorge National Scenic Area. In addition to Smoke Sensitive Receptor Areas protection, there is also additional wintertime smoke management protection called Special Protection Zones. There is typically limited prescribed burning during the winter months. Winter is also when many communities experience high smoke levels typically from woodstoves. Currently, Special Protection Zone requirements apply to five communities: Klamath Falls, Lakeview, Oakridge, Medford and La Grande, which have a history of exceeding the federal health standard for particulate matter and rely heavily on wintertime residential woodstove curtailment programs to improve air quality. The Special Protection Zone requirements restrict prescribed burning within 10 to 20 miles on the “green”, “yellow” and “red” woodstove curtailment days. A red day means there can be no woodstove burning and no prescribed burning within the Special Protection Zone. As noted above, the plan amendments eliminate the La Grande Special Protection Zone and reduce the of the Medford Special Protection Zone. DEQ supports these changes. Regulated parties ODF’s rulemaking primarily affects private forest landowners, and state and federal land managers who conduct prescribed burning under the Oregon Smoke Management Plan. DEQ’s amendment to OAR 340-200-0040 incorporates ODF changes into State of Oregon Clean Air Act Implementation Plan, and does not change the regulated parties.