8-Hour Ozone Designations

INFORMATION ON THE DESIGNATION OF NONATTAINMENT AREA BOUNDARIES IN NEW JERSEY FOR THE 2008 8-HOUR OZONE NATIONAL AMBIENT AIR QUALITY STANDARD

The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is soliciting comments regarding the extent of New Jersey’s nonattainment areas for the 2008 8-hour ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards. The United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) proposed these ozone standards on March 12, 2008.  New Jersey submitted its recommendation to the USEPA on April 1, 2009.  If significant comments are received, New Jersey will consider revisions of the recommendations and forward the comments to the USEPA. 

New Jersey recommends that the USEPA consider a large regional nonattainment area, including the states of Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.

If ultimately the USEPA chooses not to embrace this regional approach, the State recommends that the current 8-hour ozone nonattainment areas remain the same as adopted by the USEPA on June 14, 2004:

• Designate the New Jersey portion of the New York-Northern New Jersey-Long Island (NY-NJ-CT) nonattainment area the same as that for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard, which includes: Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Hunterdon, Middlesex, Monmouth, Morris, Passaic, Somerset, Sussex, Union, and Warren counties in New Jersey;
  
  
• Designate the New Jersey portion of the Philadelphia-Wilmington-Atlantic City (PA-NJ-DE-MD) nonattainment area the same as that for the current 1997 8-hour ozone standard, which includes: Atlantic, Burlington, Camden, Cape May, Cumberland, Gloucester, Mercer, Ocean, and Salem counties in New Jersey.
  

The NJDEP will consider all written comments received by close of business, Monday, May 4, 2009. Please submit comments to Willa Williams, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protections, P.O. Box 418, Trenton, NJ 08625; FAX (609) 633-6198 or email willa.williams@dep.state.nj.us.

For further information about submitting comments, please contact Willa Williams at (609) 292-6722.

• New Jersey’s Recommendations for Ozone Nonattainment Area Designations for the 2008 8-Hour Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS)