The 8-Hour Ozone and Early Action Compact (EAC)

In 1997, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced new national ambient air quality standards (NAAQS) for ground-level ozone, the primary constituent of smog. The new standard, known as the 8-hour Ozone Standard, was challenged in the federal courts. The standard was upheld by the courts in March 2002.

On November 1, 2002 the Northeast Texas Air Care (NETAC) Policy Committee voted to develop an Early Action Compact (EAC) Agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) that would allow our area to avoid a nonattainment designation under EPA’s new 8-hour ozone standard. The EAC allows the five county NETAC region (Gregg, Harrison, Rusk, Smith, and Upshur counties) to proceed with the development of a State Implementation Plan (SIP) to attain the new 8-hour ozone standard. The EAC is similar to the Flexible Attainment Region (FAR) Agreement our area used to avoid nonattainment designation under EPA’s 1-hour ozone standard from 1996 to 2001.

EPA Region 6 endorsed the TCEQ Protocol for Early Action Compacts (EAC Protocol) on June 19, 2002. It established a two-step process that offers a more expeditious time line for achieving clean air than expected under EPA’s 8-hour implementation rulemaking. The EAC Protocol allows a region to enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) by December 31, 2002, committing to develop and implement a detailed technical plan to reach attainment by 2007. The principles of the EAC Protocol to be executed by Local, State, and EPA officials are:

Early planning, implementation, and emission reductions leading to expeditious attainment and maintenance of the 8-hour ozone standard
Local control of the measures to be employed, with broad-based public input
State support to ensure technical integrity of the early action plan
Formal incorporation of the early action plan into the SIP
Deferral of the effective date of nonattainment designation and related requirements so long as all terms and milestones are met
Safeguards to return areas to traditional SIP requirements should terms and/or milestones be unfulfilled, with appropriate credit given for emission reduction measures implemented

A major advantage of the region’s participation in the EAC Protocol is the flexibility afforded to the signatories in selecting emission reduction measures and programs that are best suited to local needs and circumstances. Recognizing the varied socioeconomic and emissions characteristics within the region, not all measures can or should be implemented by every entity.

The primary differences between the process outlined in the EAC Protocol and the traditional nonattainment area process are:

EAC Protocol is designed to achieve clean air sooner than expected under the traditional nonattainment process.
EAC Protocol allows for more local control in selecting emission-reduction measures.
EAC Protocol ensures deferral of the effective date of nonattainment designation and related requirements, as long as EAC terms and milestones are met. This would alleviate any stigma associated with nonattainment designation. Should any milestone be missed in designing or implementing the Clean Air Action Plan (CAAP) the region would automatically revert to the traditional nonattainment requirements, with appropriate credit given for emission reduction strategies already implemented.