Tulane Engineering Forum

Brian E. Shannon

BS Degree from the University of Minnesota in Physics/Math and a MS Degree from the Florida Institute of Technology in Environmental Science. Has worked with ARCO for 21 years predominately focusing on offshore oil and gas exploration and production and its environmental effects. Currently serving as a Principal Environmental Scientist on a transition assignment with BP Amoco after the merger of ARCO and BP Amoco. Since 1992 has served as the Chairman of the Offshore Operators Committee's Gulf of Mexico Air Quality Subcommittee and also is the OOC's Project Manager for the Breton Aerometric Monitoring Program (BAMP) Phase II.

Presentation Topic: Meteorological and Air Quality Data Collection in Breton National Wilderness Area

By Brian E. Shannon

Summary

The Breton National Wilderness Area (BNWA) is an EPA Prevention of Significant Deterioration (PSD) Class I area managed by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). The pristine air quality of the BNWA is to be protected from the effects of anthropogenic air emissions. In recent years the FWS has become concerned with the population and industrial growth around the PSD Class I area. This growth has been both onshore and offshore. To evaluate the effects of this growth the FWS has requested a PSD Class I cumulative impact study to determine if the allowable PSD increment for SO2 and NO2 has been consumed. The study will require improved emission inventories, surface and upper air meteorological data, and an air quality model capable of representing long range transport over open ocean and coastal landforms.

The FWS has asked its Department of Interior (DOI) sister agency, the Minerals Management Service (MMS), to participate in the cumulative increment study. They inturn have required offshore operators within 100 km of the BNWA to submit monthly activity reports on offshore emission sources. These activity reports will be used to calculate emission inventories to be used in the cumulative consumption modeling. The MMS has also required each OCS leasehold within 100 km of the BNWA to collect surface and upper air meteorological data for one year. In lieu of this leaseholder meteorological data collection, the MMS will also entertain an alternate data collection effort designed by the offshore industry.

The Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) has developed the Breton Aerometric Monitoring Program (BAMP) to satisfy the needs of the MMS. BAMP Phase I consisted of an in depth study of the air emitting sources within 200 km of the BNWA, the climatology of the region for the past 35 years, and a through review of the air pollution models capable of handling the demands of a cumulative increment consumption study. The results of BAMP Phase I were used to design the aerometric (meteorologic and air quality) monitoring network deployed in BAMP Phase II. The aerometric data collection network and the resultant database will be the focus of the presentation.