Specifications include, but are not limited to: Task 1. Project administration and Workplan The contractor shall develop a draft project workplan that describes the data sources, tools, and analyses that will be used to investigate the impacts of smoke on PM2.5 and surface ozone concentrations in the LMSA region. The workplan shall describe the development of EE demonstration documents that LMAPCD can use for submitting to the U.S. EPA. The workplan shall describe in detail how each of the tasks in this project will be completed and include a timeframe and list of deliverables for each task. The contractor shall share the draft workplan with LMAPCD for comment and produce a final protocol that addresses the comments from LMAPCD. During the project, the contractor shall have regularly (at least monthly) scheduled calls with LMAPCD to discuss the progress of the work. The contractor shall take and circulate notes and action items from these calls with LMAPCD. Task 1 Deliverables: 1. Draft workplan 2. Final workplan 3. Monthly conference calls, notes, and action items LMAPCD requests that the draft workplan be completed within one week of executing a contract. Task 2. LMSA Exceptional Events Feasibility Analysis In this task, the contractor shall analyze the 2023 PM2.5 and ozone values that affect design values for PM2.5 and ozone NAAQS for monitors listed in Table 1. The analysis will determine if there are dates in 2023 for the monitors in Table 1 that present a clear and causal relationship between smoke and elevated PM2.5 and/or ozone concentrations. These monitors include the Air Quality System (AQS) ozone measurement sites in the LMSA with 2021-2023 design values that are in violation of the 2020 ozone NAAQS, and the PM2.5 monitors with 2021-2023 design values that are in potential violation of the proposed 2024 PM2.5 NAAQS. The contractor shall identify the dates and monitors in the LMSA with regulatory significance for either or both of the two NAAQS and focus the analysis on those dates and locations. The contractor shall present to LMAPCD the results of the analysis and recommendations on how to proceed with an EE demonstration. The recommendation shall include the contractor’s perspective on the demonstration tier that would be needed to establish a clear and causal relationship between smoke and PM2.5 and smoke and ozone episodes in each of the Table 1 monitors during the 2023 monitoring record. The contractor shall base the recommendation on its own analysis of the air quality data, and other relevant modeling or analyses completed by U.S. EPA or others that address smoke impacts on PM2.5 and/or ozone in the Table 1 monitors. LMAPCD will work with the contractor to identify the outside modeling and analysis data to consider in its recommendations. The contractor shall provide an opinion on the approach it thinks offers the best chance for approval of the EE demonstration by U.S. EPA. LMAPCD is particularly interested in the contractor identifying particularly challenging event days based on the contractor’s experience with EPA requirements from past EE demonstration submittals. Task 2 Deliverables: 1. Report to LMAPCD describing the smoke episodes affecting the PM2.5 and/or ozone concentrations in 2023 for the monitors listed in Task 1; evaluation of the approvability of EE demonstrations for the applicable NAAQS.
