The Ozone Transport Commission is a multi-state organization founded in 1991 and created under the Clean Air Act. They are responsible for advising EPAon air pollution transport issues and for developing and implementing regional solutions to the ground-level ozone problem in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. OTC has no regulatory authority, but assists its members in developing model regulations for implementation at the state level. OTC also manages a regional planning organization MANE-VU, which is charged with regional multi-pollutant air quality planning. In January 2020, operations of OTC were placed under new management by the Northeast States for Coordinated Air Use Management and Washington, DC operations were closed.
Policy Iniatives
OTC NOX Budget Program
In 1994, the OTC adopted a Memorandum of Understanding to adopt a regional emissions trading program for the purpose of reducing emissions of oxides of Nitrogen. This program dubbed the “OTC NOX Budget Program” set a cap for NOX emissions from nine states and the District of Columbia, which was ratcheted down in three phases, starting in 1995, 1999, and 2003, respectively. During this process a larger group of states in the Eastern United States and Environmental Protection Agency began meeting as the Ozone Transport Assessment Group. Their work wound up being adopted by EPA as a trading program NOX trading program that covered a larger geography called the "NOX SIP Call" and the third phase of the OTC NOX Budget Program was incorporated into that larger trading program. This early work by the OTC is consider the precursor to the modern emissions trading program which reduced interstate ozone pollution in the Eastern United States
The state of California updated its Low Emissions Vehicle Program to require stricter emissions standards beginning in 1999, which was called LEV II. Starting in 1994, the OTC petitioned EPA under Clean Air Act section 184 to require that jurisdictions in the OTR adopt California's LEV program, which was allowed under Clean Air Act section 177. While the petition, was not accepted, an agreement was reached between EPA, Ozone Transport Commission states, and the auto manufacturers to introduce new emission standards in the OTC states beginning with the 1999 model year, two years earlier than national, so called Tier 2, standards in alignment California's LEV program.
OTC Model Rules
Another area that OTC has adopted policies to reduce ozone precursors is through model rule development. The OTC has initiated three phases of model rules, each of which culminated signing of a MOU between the member jurisdictions to adopt the model rules as state regulations. The 2001 generation of model rules called for the regulation of Consumer Products, Portable Fueling Containers, Architectural and Maintenance Coatings, Solvent Cleaning, Mobile Equipment Repair and Refinishing, and Additional NOX Controls for Industrial Boilers, Cement Kilns, Stationary Reciprocating Engines, and Stationary Combustion Engines. The 2006 generation of model rules called for the regulation of Diesel Chip Reflash and Adhesive and Sealants and updates to the regulations of Consumer Products and Portable Fueling Container. At the same time the OTC adopted emission limits for Asphalt Paving, Asphalt Production, Cement Kilns, Glass Furnaces, Industrial/Commercial/Insitutional Boilers, and Regional Fuels to be implemented in conjunction with upwind regions.
