Here’s a link to their Fact Sheet. There are many words in it about wildfire and prescribed fire.
Here are my questions for someone who is involved in this:
(1) What new things do wildfire folks have to do (if anything)?
(2) What new things do prescribed fire folks have to do (if anything)?
(3) Does EPA think “hey since we have wildfires (this year? over time? future using computer models?) and prescribed fire, and then we have to ratchet all other activities further down (e.g. industry, cars, etc.)?
Perhaps if we can find an expert, they can also answer your questions.
What does it mean in practice to deal with Exceptional Events? What is a demonstration?
Prescribed Fire Demonstration Example. EPA is committed to ensuring that air agencies have a clear pathway for needed exceptional events demonstrations for prescribed fires ignited to mitigate the effects of high-severity wildfires. EPA recognizes the importance of significantly increasing the application of prescribed fires to wildlands. To that end, EPA is working closely with the State of California, the United States Forest Service, and other collaborators to develop an exceptional events demonstration for a prescribed fire in Northern California. A public review opportunity on this document was offered in December 2023. This actual prescribed fire demonstration will go through the entire exceptional events process as an example of a successfully developed demonstration and will identify opportunities for land management and air agencies to efficiently collaborate on prescribed fire exceptional events demonstrations.
It means the USDA Forest Service needs to stop the concept of “beneficial fire” and put out unplanned wildfires immediately. Simply put, strive to limit smoke. Pretty basic stuff!
Perhaps that’s the case, Michael, but that’s not what I think they’re saying… except it’s hard to figure out what they are saying (to me, who has not Air Quality regulation background).
Quite the opposite. EPA says …
“At the same time, increasing the application of prescribed fire in a strategic and coordinated manner is needed to mitigate the risk and adverse effects of high severity wildfire and future smoke exposure.”
The MOU with USDA “is designed to enhance coordination and communication while aligning air quality and land management goals for wildfire risk mitigation, including strategic increase in prescribed fires.”
“EPA recognizes the importance of significantly increasing the application of prescribed fires to wildlands.”
I’m interpreting their use of the term “prescribed fire” to include unplanned ones, but even if not, they clearly accept the need for more planned fire, precisely because it “limits smoke.”
Jon, what you’ve pointed out are words. Sometimes agency words do not match their deeds. I’m more interested in the details of any changes.
They didn’t include a link to more info on the 2016 “Exceptional Events Rule:” https://www.epa.gov/air-quality-analysis/treatment-air-quality-monitoring-data-influenced-exceptional-events#:~:text=The%20Exceptional%20Events%20Rule&text=Ensures%20that%20air%20quality%20measurements,by%20these%20types%20of%20events.
I don’t do air quality either, but here is what I think this means for wildland fires, which are “exceptional events” (both wildfires and prescribed fires). This is creating a process for NOT holding it against communities (and other contributors to air pollution) when there is a wildland fire.
When they refer to “designating areas,” I believe they are referring to “nonattainment areas,” where the new limits on ozone or soot are exceeded. Such designated areas would then have to do more work to try to bring them within attainment. If air quality monitoring can be shown to have been influenced by a recognized exceptional event, the area would not to be designated as a nonattainment area.
This is all about how to make that case, and the documentation that would be necessary to do so. When they refer to “exceptional events demonstrations,” I see them as kind of testing the system of approving these exceptions to the normal nonattainment area provisions. Here are some completed example demonstrations: https://www.epa.gov/air-quality-analysis/example-demonstrations-and-epa-responses-prepared-under-2016-exceptional. The northern California demonstration mentioned would be another.
It sounds like possibly more paperwork back and forth, that’s what I was curious about.
Hi all – I’m an environmental attorney and work with a number of prescribed fire and cultural burning advocates on these issues. Here are the brief answers to Sharon’s questions:
(1) What new things do wildfire folks have to do (if anything)? The Clean Air Act puts the onus on state air pollution control agencies, not wildfire folks. With a stricter standard, more air basin will fall into “nonattainment” for PM2.5 (from both wildfire and other pollution) – these new designations will be made by February 2026. For those areas in nonattainment, the air agencies/states will have to come up with “state implementation plans” to demonstrate to EPA how they’ll come back into compliance. Those “SIPs” will be due in August 2027.
The wrinkle is that wildfire smoke can also be “excluded” from consideration using a process called the Exceptional Events Rule. It’s still the air agencies that are responsible for preparing Exceptional Events “demonstrations”, but they may look to wildfire folks for help with data, etc. Once “excluded,” then the wildfire smoke doesn’t count for regulatory purposes.
(2) What new things do prescribed fire folks have to do (if anything)? It depends whether your state falls out of attainment, and if so, how your state chooses to come back into attainment through the SIP. Some states may choose to make permitting for prescribed fire more difficult in response, or may require prescribed fire practitioners help with exceptional events demonstrations if they get permits. For now, prescribed fire practitioners should be paying attention to how their states are going to respond, and work to make sure that smoke from prescribed fire isn’t the source that’s targeted for curtailment.
(3) Does EPA think “hey since we have wildfires (this year? over time? future using computer models?) and prescribed fire, and then we have to ratchet all other activities further down (e.g. industry, cars, etc.)? Under the Clean Air Act, EPA leaves the targeting of specific sources to the states. Some states may want to use it as a reason to ratchet down other activities, some states may chose to ratchet down prescribed fire instead. There are some unique incentives though, given that wildland fire and prescribed fire can be excluded via an exceptional events demonstration, and traditional sources of pollution cannot.
(4) What does it mean in practice to deal with Exceptional Events? What is a demonstration? The Exceptional Events Rule is the part of the clean air act that allows states to exclude certain emissions. Generally speaking, the CAA regulates the “ambient” air quality — no matter the source, states can be on the hook exceedances of the standards. But the CAA recognizes that states sometimes have no control over a particular source, and therefore shouldn’t be penalized for it – the prototypical examples are dust storms and wildfire. In 2016, the EPA revised the regulations for exceptional events to make clear that prescribed fires might also qualify, but until the demonstration above, this path had never been used. The main reason is that exceptional events demonstrations — i.e., the name for the pathway to get EPA to agree to exclude the data — are technically complicated and resource intensive. The one referenced above took experienced EPA staffers 3 months. So instead of agreeing to let a prescribed fire happen and then preparing to file a difficult and uncertain exceptional events demonstration, air regulatory simply deny or condition prescribed fire permits so no exceedance is likely.
Thanks, Sara! This is very helpful!
Here is what I received today. Not sure this is much help, but trying to get more information on this as we speak.