Puerto Rico dawns today sanctioned by the federal government for failing to deliver the compliance plan with the air quality standards for sulfur dioxideand with the warning that the penalties will intensify if the document is not submitted and approved on or before December 3.
The administration of Pedro Pierluisi had to obtain, on or before June 3, the endorsement of the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to the State Implementation Plan (SIP), whose original delivery date was October 9, 2019.
In interview with The new daythe administrator of Region 2 and the director of the Division of Environmental Protection of the Caribbean of the EPA, Lisa Garcia y Carmen Guerrerorespectively, confirmed – on Wednesday – that the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources (DNER), as the agency with primary jurisdiction, had not submitted the final plan. They recognized that, even with the hypothetical delivery between yesterday and today, the sanctions would come into force, since the review and approval of the document take time.
“We do not know when it will be received, we are not sure, and it will take a few days to review and ensure that the plan is complete. Once it is received, the EPA would be evaluating it to ensure that it is approvable and we would be issuing a determination,” said Guerrero.
“The rule is very strict and we have to impose the first penalties, but we continue to work with the Department (of Natural and Environmental Resources) because the most important date is in December.”, added García, after highlighting that the penalties are dictated by the Congress under the federal Clean Air Act and, therefore, are not discretionary or extendable.
Thus, as of today, any air permit, new or renewed, that the DNER has to issue for some parts of the metropolitan area and the southern zone will be more restrictive and, therefore, more expensive. Specifically, the agency must require a reduction, from 2 to 1, in emissions of sulfur dioxide, a colorless gas whose long-term exposure can affect lung function and, at very high levels, can be lethal.
In December 2017, the EPA modeled sulfur dioxide emissions on the island and designated the San Juan (consisting of Cataño in its entirety and segments of Toa Baja, San Juan, Guaynabo, and Bayamón) and Guayama-Salinas ( constituted by parts of Salinas) as zones of “no achievement” or non-compliance. The San Juan, Palo Seco and Aguirre plants, of the Electric Power Authority (AEE), were identified as the main sources of emission of the pollutant.
The “non-achievement” designations became effective in April 2018 and, since then, the Environmental Quality Board – now attached to the DNER – had 18 months to prepare the SIP and submit it to the EPA for final approval. PREPA was to assist in drafting the plan, which would include the strategies of the state government to reduce sulfur dioxide emissionsone of six “criterion pollutants” that the EPA regulates through the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS).
García and Guerrero agreed that, in the short term, there are no new projects or expansions in sight that require an air permit in the “no achievement” zones, so the impact of the recently imposed sanction would be minimal.
They warned, however, that the impact would be significant if the SIP is not delivered in December, since the sanction that would be triggered would be the freezing of federal funds for highway improvements in “non-achievement” zones. EPA estimates suggest that up to $30 million could be lost.
“What the government of Puerto Rico has told us is that they are going to submit the plan as soon as possible to avoid the second sanction in December,” Guerrero said.
Along these lines, García highlighted the meeting the day before yesterday between Governor Pierluisi and the EPA administrator, Michael Regan, in Washington, to “talk about the fact that the most important thing is to have an adequate plan, which protects health in these areas of no compliance”.
Objections of the Board and the Bureau
Last January, The new day reported on non-compliance with the delivery of the SIP and the imposition of sanctions. The then secretary of the DNER, Rafael Machargo, assured that they were working on the final draft of the plan, with the idea of submitting it to public comments, delivering it and obtaining the endorsement of the EPA on or before today. Machargo resigned on March 31.
García and Guerrero said that the draft was publicly discussed in April, and multiple comments were received to amend it. According to Guerrero, “two of the main comments” made by the Fiscal Oversight Board (JSF) and the Puerto Rico Energy Bureauestablished that the SIP did not comply with the Integrated Resource Plan, which seeks the orderly development of the electricity network.
“Certain modeling and analysis had to be modified, and Natural Resources told us that they were about to submit the revised plan,” Guerrero said.
In writing, the interim secretary of the DNER, Anaís Rodríguez, stated yesterday that the agency is “developing and presenting” an “adequate” SIP. “At this time, we have submitted a revised draft for EPA comment and input. We are working vigorously and we are also including all the highly technical provisions necessary for the approval of the plan”, he indicated.
For EPA to consider the SIP final, it must include an emissions inventory, regulations for air permits in the “no-attainment” zones, a demonstration of the modeling being done to determine compliance expectations, and enforcement measures. permanent control, among other elements.
PREPA asks for more time
Regardless of state government actions, April 9, 2023 remains the national NAAQS compliance deadline. In December and in the absence of an approved SIP, EPA would make a Federal Implementation Plan (FIP) with the compliance provisions for sulfur dioxide.
In a separate interview, the executive director of PREPA, Josué Colón, admitted –as in January– that the execution of the actions on the agenda to comply with the NAAQS will exceed the expiration of 2023. Such actions include increasing generation with renewable sources and, in the case of the fossil fuel units that remain on the grid, operating them with natural gas, instead of oil or coal.
With renewables, the goal is to add 3,750 megawatts in production and another 1,500 in storage through batteries, with a view to reaching 40% of generation with these sources in 2025, as ordered by Law 17-2019. Meanwhile, the plan with gasification is to start with units #7, #8, #9 and #10 of the San Juan power plant, taking advantage of the terminal that already exists to supply units #5 and #6. If necessary, PREPA would lead, in the long term, the gasification of Palo Seco and Aguirre.
“Neither the integration of renewables nor the conversions to natural gas will be within the term of the plan. Therefore, we asked the EPA to authorize additional time to carry out these projects. We ask for eight years to be able to comply, but I don’t think the EPA will grant it,” accepted Colón, who believes that Machargo’s resignation “affected the entire process that (the DNER) was carrying out.”
Finally, he mentioned that the SIP draft contemplates the installation of 12 air quality monitoring stations in the “non-achievement” zones, for which PREPA allocated $4.6 million. It also provides that PREPA will change the diesel it burns at its plants to one with an “ultra-low” sulfur content, from .5% to .0015%.