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The Ozone Transport Assessment Group (OTAG) was an ad hoc committee formed
by the Environmental Council of States (ECOS) when many states ascertained
that they would not be able to demonstrate attainment with the 1-hour
ozone standard by November 1994, the deadline set forth in the Clean Air
Act. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the states’
dilemma and agreed to an extension of the attainment demonstration deadline
for states agreeing to participate in an assessment of ozone transport,
providing such states agreed to implement measures for reducing transport
that may be identified as a result of the assessment. EPA expressed its
commitment and expectations in a policy memo dated March 2, 1995.
OTAG was organized in May 1995, and participants met regularly for the
next 25 months. OTAG ultimately included more than 700 individuals representing
state and federal government, industry, and environmental groups. The
OTAG modeling domain included 37 states and the District of Columbia,
and all 38 state entities participated in OTAG’s technical analyses
and policy debates. OTAG came to represent a new way of developing environmental
policy. The states led the assessment with strong technical and financial
support from EPA. This state-led process, with significant input and support
from industry and environmental groups, has tremendously influenced EPA’s
ozone implementation policies and the way in which policies are developed.
This document consists of the technical support developed by OTAG’s
six workgroups during the 2 years that OTAG performed its assessment.
It supplements the Executive Report and completes OTAG’s final
report to EPA and to the public. The Technical Support Document
includes detailed discussions of the photochemical modeling performed
by OTAG, including several "movies"—animations of the modeling
that demonstrate ozone movement or transport—and the development
of the inputs to the modeling, both technical and policy, that led to
the recommendations to EPA, which are included in the Executive Report.
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