EI FundamentalsModule 4-Importing NEI Data

SLIDE 1: This module discusses the NEI and covers how to import NEI data into TEISS, including a demonstration. Learning objectives for this session:

Know what the NEI is.

Know the differences between NEI state data files and NEI GPR data files.

Know how to import NEI data into TEISS.

SLIDE 2: Homework Discussion: Are there any questions on TEISS?

EIF-4-Video_1-PPTs Defining Terms and Overview of Importing NEI GPR Point Data

SLIDE 3: What is the NEI?

The NEI is a national emissions data set compiled and maintained by the U.S. EPA Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards (OAQPS). The NEI covers all areas of the U.S. It is a national database of air emissions information with input from state, local, and tribal air pollution control agencies. EPA also contributes to the data. NEI data are used for air dispersion modeling, regional strategy development, setting regulations, air toxics risk assessment, and tracking trends in emissions over time. The NEI is THE source for emissions data in the U.S. If someone wants to know how much of a certain kind of air pollutant is coming from what kind of sources, the NEI is their first stop for that information.

SLIDE 4: Differences Between EIS and NEI

The Emission Inventory System (EIS) is the actual database which holds the State/Local/Tribal (S/L/T) and EPA-submitted emission data used to create the National Emission Inventory. EIS can contain annual, monthly, or daily emissions data for sources. You must register for an EIS Gateway account to access the data from the password-protected website: https://eis.epa.gov/eis-system-web/welcome.html. (For your level 4 EI, Angelique has obtained the data you need, as we will discuss.)

The National Emission Inventory (NEI) is a specific-year snapshot in time of the emissions data received. shared with the public. On an annual reporting cycle for large (above a certain emission threshold) point sources On a 3-year reporting cycle for all sources, and the most current tri-annual inventory is 2011.

SLIDE 5: How is the NEI created?

S/L/T data that the agencies submit has priority in EPA selection of what emissions data to include in the NEI. In most cases, EPA estimates are only used in the NEI if data are missing from the S/L/T data file. In these cases, EPA augments the data for the NEI General Purpose Release (GPR). For example, if for a source, a state data file includes PM10 emissions, but not PM2.5 emissions, EPA estimates the PM2.5 emissions based on the PM10 emissions and adds those emissions to the NEI GPR data. Another example is that if a state data file does not contain certain nonpoint sources, for example, residential

heating emissions, EPA estimates emissions for those sources based on default activity data and adds those emissions to the NEI GPR data.

SLIDE 6: Who has access to EIS and the NEI?

S/L/T users of the EIS Gateway have access to their data and any national public releases, such as the GPR data. States may authorize tribes that have an EIS Gateway account read access to their data. This allows you to download State data files for direct import into TEISS. Tribes can also authorize states to access their data. The general public does not have access to the NEI data until the data are released on a public website. (More on how to get access to state data in the next slide.)

SLIDE 7: Different Types of NEI Data

We are going to discuss two types of NEI data that we have already touched on. These are two types of data sets you can import into TEISS to see the county-level emissions. Importing the county-level emissions into your TEISS project is a big step to completing a Level 4 EI.

The first are State data files. These are the data files submitted to the NEI by the state agency. To access these data files, you need to first register for an EIS Gateway account. Then you need to work with Sally Dombrowski, Dombrowski.Sally@epa.gov, at EPA to establish an agreement with the state agency to access their data. Sally is enthusiastic about making this agreement happen and most state agencies are willing to provide the tribes with access to their data. Some state agencies ask that the tribe be willing to share their data with the state agency before this agreement is established. The data are already in the EIS XML format, the format that can be imported into TEISS.

The second are the General Purpose Release (GPR) data files. These files consist of a compilation of data submitted to the NEI by state agencies, local agencies, and EPA developed data. If you have an EIS Gateway account, you can access the GPR data, however it is not in a format that can be imported into TEISS. ITEP has reformatted the data for import into TEISS (using a set of macros that Angelique wrote—thanks Angelique!) and has provided you with the data in this format.

The next slides will discuss the difference between these data sets, and give you an idea of when you would use which one.

SLIDE 8: State Data from EIS

There are advantages and disadvantages to using State data files in your EI.

One advantage to the State data is that once you have established the sharing agreement with the state agency, the data are accessible any time. This means that when the data are updated, you have easy access to the updated data. Another advantage is that if the state agency filled in any of the optional fields, such as the Emission Unit Description, those data are included in the State data file. Having this additional information imported into TEISS might give you more insight about the emissions data.

One disadvantage of the State data is that it might not be as robust (complete) as the GPR data. The State data files do not have any EPA estimated data. An example of this is airport emissions. EPA estimates emissions for airports and most agencies accept these emissions rather than calculating their own airport emissions. If there are airports in your area, it is likely that the airport emissions are not in the State data files. This also goes for any nonpoint sources that the state elected to use the EPA estimates for instead of calculating their own emissions. Another disadvantage is that multiple data files might need to be imported for each source category. For example, if in your area there are county agencies responsible for submitting NEI data to the EPA, the State data files might be lacking data for certain counties. If you wanted to include data for that county in your EI, you would have to work with EPA to

establish a sharing relationship with that county to obtain that data. Then you would also need to import that data into TEISS. ITEP can help you with obtaining the data you need.

SLIDE 9: General Purpose Release Data available from ITEP, because Angelique has formatted it into xml

There are advantages and disadvantages to using GPR data files in your EI.

One advantage to the GPR data is the robustness of the data. The GPR data set is a compilation of data from various agencies and EPA. It is a one stop shop. It does not require importing multiple files into TEISS for each source category.

One disadvantage to the GPR data is it does not include data in some optional fields. This means that any data that the state agency might have entered into these optional fields is not available for viewing in input view of TEISS.

SLIDE 10: Instructions for Importing NEI GPR Data

Today I am going to demonstrate importing point, nonpoint, nonroad and onroad NEI GPR data. The data that ITEP supplied you with for this training and to begin your Level 4 EI is also the GPR data. If you want to use the State-submitted data only in your EI, first you need to establish an EIS Gateway account. Then work with Sally Dombrowski at EPA to establish a sharing relationship with the state agency. Does anyone have questions on the data sets?

SLIDE 11: Initial Steps for Importing NEI Data

The NEI data files that ITEP provides or you download from EIS are zipped files. First save the files into a folder. Note everything in your EI notebook, including file names and folders! Then extract (unzip) the files into the same folder.

Then open your TEISS project that you started in Module 3. To do this, FIRST open TEISS, then click on File, and (similar to MS Word or Excel) you will see the most recent projects listed in a pick list. CONSULT YOUR TEISS NOTEBOOK for the name you chose for your project in Module 3, if you are unsure. If you are new to TEISS, this will be the only project you have started. It might be named YourTribe because this is what we suggested.

After you have opened this project, from the TEISS menu, select NEI and then select Import from EIS XML.

SLIDE 12: Import EIS XML Files Window

The Import EIS XML Files window opens. The different tabs of this window allow you to import the data for the different categories, such as Point, Nonpoint, etc. We are going to start with Point data.

SLIDE 13: Importing Point Data

If you were importing State data files that you obtained from the EIS Gateway, for point sources, you would need to import two different data files. The first would be the facility inventory file. It has “Inventory_Snapshot” in its name. This file contains the facility, release point, emission unit, and emission process information. It does not contain the actual emissions data. The second file that you would need to import is the point emissions file. The name of that file starts with “Point_Emissions”. This file has the reporting period information and the emissions data. You must import the facility inventory file before the point emissions file. Also, you need to make sure you import data for the same counties for each file. We

1. Check Import Point Sources box2. Use button with folder icon to navigate to where you saved the unzipped point data file

3. Check Selected Locations button

4. Select one or several counties you want to import

5. Click on Import button

are telling you this because you may want to import state data sometime in the future, so remember that you will need to import 2 files for State data.

However, since we are importing GPR data, there is only one point source file to import. This file contains the facility, release point, emission unit, emission process, and the reporting period information. It also contains the actual emissions data.

SLIDE 14: The Five Steps of Importing GPR Point Data

There are five basic steps of importing GPR point data with the Import EIS XML Files window of TEISS.

I am going to demonstrate this process when we complete this slideshow. The extracted (unzipped) point data file is Point_AZ_2011NEIv1.xml.

SLIDE 15: Waiting

Importing NEI data might take ten or more minutes, depending on how many sources are in the inventory and how many counties you imported. We recommend not importing more than three counties at a time unless you have time to let your computer work. Generally, while TEISS is importing data, other functions on your computer seem to take longer, so if you try to work on something else on your computer while TEISS is importing data, you might get frustrated. Make sure you do not select All Locations under Import Options in the Import EIS XML Files screen. This imports data for every county in the file. It could take hours to import data for every county, depending on the number of counties in the state and the number of sources in the inventory.

SLIDE 16: Success

When TEISS is done importing the data, you get the Import Successfully Completed message box. Click on the OK button.

SLIDE 17: Importing Other Data

Nonpoint, Nonroad, Onroad, and Event/Fire NEI data can be imported with the other tabs in the Import EIS XML Files screen. The process is similar for each tab. You can even import data from different categories concurrently, for example, point and nonpoint data can be imported by completing the five basic steps in each respective tab. However, you might want to import the data separately if you do not have time to let your computer work on the import.

Now I am going to demonstrate the process of importing the NEI GPR point, nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad data.

EIF-4-Video_2-Demonstration of Importing NEI GPR Point, Nonpoint, Nonroad, and Onroad Data

First, you want to save the zipped NEI GPR data file that ITEP provided to your course folder on the hard drive of your computer. Then, you need to extract (unzip) the file, using a zip utility program such as WinZip or ZipCentral. I use ZipCentral on a computer with a Windows XP operating system, so the process of extracting files that I demonstrate might be different depending on the zip utility program and operating system you have. When I extract a file, I right-click on it and select Extract Here.

If you have any issues with extracting the zipped files, please let the instructors know. The extracted files should be .xml files. Next, launch TEISS. Open the TEISS project you generated during the previous module. In my case, that is the EveryTribeArizona.tsp project. When you click on Open from the TEISS toolbar, you should see the most recent project you opened with TEISS. That should be the project you started during the previous module. Remember to select the .tsp file and not the .dat folder.

When you have your project opened, go to the NEI menu of TEISS and select Import from EIS XML.

The Import EIS XML Files window opens.

Begin by checking the Import Point Sources box. After you have checked that box, you can use the file browse button that looks like a folder to navigate to the course folder where you extracted the NEI GPR data files. Select the point XML file by clicking on it. Then click on the Open button of that screen.

NOTE: If you select the wrong data file for the source type, for example, you select a Nonpoint XML file instead of a Point XML file in the Point tab of the Import EIS XML Files window, you are going to get a warning error message stating that the file is not a Point source EIS XML file and to select another file. Make sure you select the source type relevant to the tab in the Import EIS XML Files screen.

After the file is selected for import, a list of counties appears in the Import EIS XML Files screen. In the Import Options box, click the radio button next to Selected Locations. When that radio button is filled in, you can go through the list of counties and check just the ones that surround your reservation. Remember that the more counties you select, the longer the import will take. For this demonstration, I am only going to select one county, Coconino County.

Since I am only importing one county, I am going to import the nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad data concurrently. First, I click on the Nonpoint tab. I repeat the process I did for point, but when I click on the file browse button, I click on Nonpoint file instead of the Point file. Then I click on the Open button.

For the nonpoint data, I am also only going to select Coconino County.

I then click on the Nonroad tab and repeat this process for the nonroad sources.

I then click on the Onroad tab and repeat this process for the onroad sources.

Now I can click on the Import button. I get a screen showing me the status of the import.

When the import has completed, I get this message box.

Click the OK button on this box to close it. For this mostly rural county, it took my computer about ten minutes to complete the point, nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad import. If you are importing counties that contain urban centers, it is likely going to take longer because of the many point sources.

When TEISS is done importing the NEI data, it will return to the map interface. The point sources show up as small blue squares surrounded by hatched boxes on your map. You might not see the hatched boxes around the squares until you zoom in on the map screen. Since the nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad sources are a compilation of sources throughout the county and they do not show up independently on the map, you can tell they have been imported by looking at the legend to the right of the map. Notice there is an entry for nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad sources.

Also notice that the nonroad sources and nonroad sources imported on top of the reservations on the map. Since the onroad sources and nonroad sources do not show us much on the map, we can turn off those layers on the map. In the list to the left of the map, uncheck the On-Road Mobile Sources selection and Non-Road Mobile Sources selection. This is how the map looks with these layers turned off.

Click on the x button in the top right corner of the main TEISS screen to close TEISS. This message box comes up.

Click the Yes button to close TEISS.

NOTE: Once you have imported NEI data into TEISS, it is automatically saved in your TEISS project. Next time you open this TEISS project, the imported data are going to be in it even though you did not click on any Save button.

SLIDE 18 HOMEWORK: Import the point, nonpoint, nonroad, and onroad NEI GPR data that ITEP provided into your TEISS project that you started as part of the previous module. Consult your database logbook if you forgot where you saved the project and what you named it. Note: when you open TEISS, you can click on File, and in the drop down list of recent projects you should see the most recent four projects. Import only the data for the counties you want to include in your EI. As a general rule, we recommend you include data from for those counties surrounding your reservation and from any other counties you feel are affecting the reservation air quality. Remember, we suggest not importing data from more than three counties at a time. When the data have been imported, email the instructors a screen capture of the TEISS map.

Read the mock Level 4 EI.

Clarify with your project officer what your EI should include. For example, is a Level 4 EI sufficient, what source categories should be included, etc.