Ozone Transport Commission


The Ozone Transport Commission is a multi-state organization founded in 1991 and created under the Clean Air Act. It is responsible for advising EPA on air pollution transport issues and for developing and implementing regional solutions to the ground-level ozone problem in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions, collectively called the Ozone Transport Region. 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 MANEVU, 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 Initiatives

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 considered the precursor to the modern emissions trading program which reduced interstate ozone pollution in the Eastern United States

OTC Early National Low Emissions Vehicle Program

The state of California updated its Low Emissions Vehicle Program to require stricter motor vehicle emissions standards beginning in 1999, which was called LEV II. Starting in 1994, the OTC recommended to EPA under Clean Air Act section 184 that it require jurisdictions in the OTR to adopt California's LEV program, which was allowed under Clean Air Act section 177. EPA approved the recommendation but it was ultimately vacated by the U.S. Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, in a challenge brought by Virginia and three automobile trade associations. An agreement, however, was reached between EPA, the OTC jurisdictions, and the auto manufacturers to
introduce new motor vehicle emission standards in the OTC states beginning with the 1999 model year, two years earlier than national, so called Tier 2, standards were to take effect.

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/Institutional Boilers, and Regional Fuels to be implemented in conjunction with upwind regions.

Member jurisdictions

List of past chairs

  1. Robert Perciasepe, Maryland
  2. Dean Marriott, Maine
  3. Scott Weiner, New Jersey
  4. Arthur Davis, Pennsylvania
  5. Timothy Keeney, Connecticut & Rhode Island
  6. Robert Shinn, New Jersey
  7. Christophe Tulou, Delaware
  8. Trudy Coxe, Massachusetts
  9. John P. Cahill, New York
  10. Arthur Rocque, Jr., Connecticut
  11. Nick DiPasquale, Delaware
  12. Jan Reitsma, Rhode Island
  13. Bradley M. Campbell, New Jersey
  14. Robert Golledge, Massachusetts
  15. David K. Paylor, Virginia
  16. Lisa Jackson, New Jersey
  17. Jared Snyder, New York
  18. Shari Wilson, Maryland
  19. Laurie Burt, Massachusetts
  20. Colin O’Mara, Delaware
  21. Daniel C. Esty – Connecticut
  22. Robert Summers – Maryland
  23. Jane Herndon – New Jersey
  24. Patricia Aho – Maine
  25. Jared Snyder – New York
  26. Ben Grumbles - Maryland
  27. Shawn Garvin - Delaware
  28. Terry Gray - Rhode Island
  29. Paul Baldauf - New Jersey
  30. Tommy Wells - District of Columbia
  31. Melanie Loyzim - Maine
  32. Christine Kirby - Massachusetts
  33. Emma Cimino - Connecticut