Notice having been duly given, the regular meeting of the South Coast Air Quality Management District Board was held at District Headquarters, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, California. Members present:
Supervisor Jon D. Mikels, Chairman
County of San BernardinoSupervisor Michael D. Antonovich (arrived at 10:05 a.m.)
County of Los AngelesCouncilman Marvin Braude
Cities of Los Angeles County - Western RegionMayor Candace Haggard
Cities of Orange CountyMs. Mee H. Lee
Senate Rules Committee AppointeeMayor Ronald O. Loveridge
Cities of Riverside CountyCouncilman Leonard Paulitz
Cities of San Bernardino CountySupervisor James W. Silva
County of OrangeCouncilwoman Nell Soto
Cities of Los Angeles County - Eastern RegionSupervisor S. Roy Wilson, Ed.D.
County of Riverside
Members Absent:
Dr. William Burke, Vice Chairman
Speaker of the Assembly Appointee
Vacant:
Governor's Appointee
The meeting was called to order at 9:40 a.m. by Chairman Mikels.
Mr. Braude: Referring to August 9 newspaper articles regarding the resignation of nine Advisory Council members, expressed his concern and called for Board discussion on the matter. Chairman Mikels indicated his intent to make a motion later in the meeting to add an item to the agenda concerning a presentation by staff on the 1997 AQMP, and he believed it would be appropriate at that time to also add discussion of the Advisory Council resignations.
CONSENT CALENDAR
Agenda Items Nos. 3 and 6 were held for discussion.
ON MOTION OF MS. LEE, SECONDED BY DR. WILSON, A UNANIMOUS VOTE WAS CAST BY THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Antonovich and Burke), APPROVING AGENDA ITEMS 1, 2, 4, 5 and 7 THROUGH 9 AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.
John Billheimer, Consultant, submitted a request to address the Board; but agreed to reserve his comments, which were not related to setting of the hearing date, until the actual public hearing on September 13, 1996. (Submitted Written Comments)
6. Public Advisor’s Report
Ms. Soto complimented staff on improvements made to the report that make it more useful and helpful to Board members.
ON MOTION OF MS. LEE, SECONDED BY MR. SILVA, A UNANIMOUS VOTE WAS CAST BY THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Antonovich and Burke), APPROVING AGENDA ITEMS 3 AND 6 AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF.
BOARD CALENDAR
Ms. Soto expressed her surprise that an announcement was made at the IAIC’s June 27, 1996 meeting that the Second Annual Leadership Summit would be held in January 1997, while she and other summit members did not make that decision until their meeting on July 11, 1996.
ON MOTION OF DR. WILSON, SECONDED BY MR. PAULITZ, A UNANIMOUS VOTE WAS CAST BY THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Antonovich and Burke), APPROVING RECEIPT AND FILE OF AGENDA ITEMS 11 THROUGH 16 AS RECOMMENDED.
OTHER BUSINESS
Chairman Mikels commented that because of the controversy in the press in regard to the 1997 AQMP, he thought it would be appropriate for the Executive Officer to give a brief presentation on the AQMP.
CHAIRMAN MIKELS MOVED THAT THERE IS A NEED FOR THE BOARD TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO RECEIVE A PUBLIC SUMMARY OF THE 1997 REVISION TO THE AQMP, AND THAT THE NEED FOR ACTION CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE BOARD SUBSEQUENT TO THE POSTING OF THE AGENDA. THE MOTION WAS SECONDED BY MR. BRAUDE AND PASSED BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Antonovich and Braude).
Barry Wallerstein, DEO of Planning, Transportation & Information Management and
Pat Leyden, DEO of Stationary Source Compliance, acknowledged staff members who worked on developing the 1997 AQMP. James M. Lents, Ph.D., Executive Officer, summarized the process for developing the Plan and highlighted the key components of the Plan, including additions to the Plan, measures removed from the Plan, and further evaluation measures.
Part of the controversy expressed following public release of the 1997 Draft AQMP on August 2, 1996 involves staff's finding that the Basin can carry more emissions than what was believed in 1994, and still meet present ozone and PM10 standards. Two valid questions have been raised by the public: (i) Should more measures be removed from the 182(e)(5) section of the Plan and be specifically committed to in the AQMP?; and (ii) Should AQMD consider potential new federal standards for ozone and fine particulates? State law does not allow submittal of a Plan which includes measures to meet standards which have not yet been adopted. However, staff has included a chapter in the Plan referring to the potential new standards and indicating that when the new standards are adopted, it will force a tightening of the Plan.
Public workshops and hearings on the 1997 AQMP will be held throughout the South Coast region from September 4 through October 3, 1996, with the formal adoption hearing by the Board tentatively scheduled for October 25, 1996.
(Mr. Antonovich arrived at 10:05 a.m.)
Mr. Loveridge and Mr. Braude questioned staff about the differences in the emissions estimates made in 1994 and those for the 1997 AQMP. Dr. Wallerstein and Program Supervisor Mel Zeldin responded that staff has gathered new data, primarily on fugitive dust and ammonia emissions. Staff has also used newer, more technologically advanced models and has much greater confidence in the results yielded by the new modeling.
In response to a question by Mr. Paulitz concerning the federal sources, Dr. Wallerstein indicated that the draft 1997 Plan contains the same set of measures submitted by the State Air Resources Board as part of the 1994 Ozone SIP. The EPA has released for public comment draft standards relative to on-road and heavy-duty diesel engines. In addition, it is working on a statement of policy and principles on off-road engines which staff believes will yield another set of standards called for under the SIP. In addition to that, the USEPA recently embarked upon a public consultation process to receive broad input on its portion of the Plan, and staff expects there to be refinements required to the Plan once EPA has completed that process some time in 1997.
Bill Quinn, California Council for Environmental and Economic Balance (CCEEB), addressed the Board to express support for staff's efforts in developing the 1997 AQMP. CCEEB believes that AQMD is among the top--if not the top--air district in the state, as far as staff’s technical ability to look at these issues. The process for developing the AQMP and AQMD rules has been very public, and staff tends to be very conservative in their recommendations to the Board.
CHAIRMAN MIKELS MOVED THAT THERE IS A NEED FOR THE BOARD TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION TO CONSIDER THE MATTER OF THE ADVISORY COUNCIL RESIGNATIONS, AND THAT THE NEED FOR ACTION CAME TO THE ATTENTION OF THE BOARD SUBSEQUENT TO THE POSTING OF THE AGENDA. THE MOTION WAS SECONDED BY MR. PAULITZ AND PASSED BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Burke).
The Board discussed the resignation letter dated August 8, 1996 to Chairman Mikels signed by eight Advisory Council members; and the letter dated August 8, 1996 from
Dr. R. Nichols Hazelwood, Advisory Council Chairman. Although Dr. Hazelwood had planned to resign from the Advisory Council this summer, he stated he would be willing, in light of the resignations of eight of the Council members, to delay his resignation for a few months to provide for an orderly transition.
In response to a question by Mr. Braude, Dr. Lents stated that while there has been long standing concerns by the Advisory Council members as to whether or not they are being used adequately, he had no indications of their concerns relative to the 1997 AQMP.
Mr. Antonovich expressed his belief that the Council members’ resignations bring a reality check upon the policies that the Board has recently developed which have worked to move the economy forward, and he welcomed the change as an opportunity to have an advisory council which understands that clean air is only achievable through an expanding economy.
Emphasizing the need for members of the Advisory Council to understand that it is an advisory board, and does not make policy decisions, Mr. Silva expressed his belief that there are many people in the Basin who would like to serve in that capacity and would have a fair and balanced approach to clean air and the economy. Further, he believed the Board is obligated to respect the decision of the Advisory Council members to resign; and the Board should now move forward with replacing those members who resigned.
Mr. Paulitz, Ms. Soto and Mr. Loveridge commented in support of inviting the Advisory Council members to meet with the Board and give their rationale for resigning. Because of the presumption that their resignations were relative to concerns about the 1997 AQMP, they felt it was necessary for the Board to understand their rationale before adopting the 1997 AQMP.
Dr. Wilson questioned whether anything was done differently in the process of developing the 1997 AQMP than in development of previous Plans with respect to involvement of the Advisory Council. Dr. Wallerstein responded that the Advisory Council has had as much involvement this time as it has had in the past; and in fact, it has had an opportunity to get better information as staff developed the 1997 Plan, particularly through the PM10 Task Force.
Dr. Russ Sherwin was the official Advisory Council delegate to the PM10 Task Force, which has been meeting once to twice a month for nearly the last year and a half. In addition to that, Advisory Council members Dr. Arthur Winer and Dr. Jane Hall have served on the Modeling Working Group for the AQMP and the Socio-Economic Task Force, respectively. There were also a number of Advisory Council members that, while not formally appointed to the PM10 Task Force, were present at many of the task force meetings in the audience and had an opportunity to participate in that manner.
Commenting that this matter should be formally placed on next month’s Board meeting agenda so that any Advisory Council member, or any member of the public, can address the Board on this matter,
MR. BRAUDE MOVED TO PLACE ON THE SEPTEMBER 13, 1996 BOARD MEETING AGENDA AN ITEM REGARDING THE ADVISORY COUNCIL. THE MOTION WAS DULY SECONDED, AND PASSED BY THE FOLLOWING VOTE:
AYES: Antonovich, Braude, Haggard, Lee, Loveridge, Mikels, Paulitz, Soto and Wilson.
NOES: Silva.
ABSENT: Burke.
Tim Carmichael, Coalition for Clean Air, addressed the Board and commented that the Coalition shares the Advisory Council’s skepticism, frustration and concerns regarding the direction it believes AQMD has been heading in over the past two years to "ease the burden on polluters", rather than acting in the interest of the AQMD’s primary mission--protecting public health.
PUBLIC HEARINGS
Jack Broadbent, Assistant DEO/Stationary Source Compliance, gave the staff report. The public hearing was opened, and the Board heard testimony from the following individuals:
*MADELYN HARDING, The Sherwin-Williams Company
*ROBERT WENDOLL, Environmental Legislative and Regulatory Advocacy Program of the Southern California Paint and Coatings Association
JIM MATTESICH, The Thompson-MinWax Company
*DAVID LLOYD, National Paint & Coatings Association
*Submitted Written Comments
1) Expressed support for the proposed amendment to re-instate the small container exemption; but opposed the detailed reporting requirements included in the proposal. In addition, by tying the exemption to the reporting, if a manufacturer failed to provide the report within three months of the end of a year, then everyone with a container of that material would be held liable. 2) Recommended that the reporting requirement either be deleted from the exemption or simplified.
Staff distributed to Board members an Addendum containing the following recommended modification to Subparagraph (f)(1) of PAR 1113:
"(f) ExemptionsThe provisions of this rule shall not apply to:(1) architectural coatings in containers having capacities of one quart or less, provided that the manufacturer shall submit
san annual report to the Executive Officer within three months of the end of each calendar year. The report shall contain information as required by the Executive Officer to monitor the use of the small container exemption.include for each exempt coating, the coating name, coating category, the actual VOC content (grams per liter of coating less water and exempt compounds and grams per liter of material), the applicable VOC limit without the exemption, gallons sold in the District, and excess emissions without the exemption for each category."
With respect to the liability issue raised, General Counsel Peter Greenwald responded that it is not the intent of the AQMD to prosecute actions where there is no fault on the part of an individual. He suggested adding the following sentence at the end of Subparagraph (f)(1) of
PAR 1113:
"The loss of exemption due to failure of the manufacturer to submit an annual report shall only apply to the manufacturer."
There being no further testimony, the public hearing was closed.
MS. LEE MOVED TO ADOPT RESOLUTION NO. 96-15, AMENDING RULE 1113 AND CERTIFYING THE FINAL ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT AS RECOMMENDED BY STAFF, INCLUDING THE FOLLOWING MODIFICATIONS:"(f) Exemptions
The provisions of this rule shall not apply to:(1) architectural coatings in containers having capacities of one quart or less, provided that the manufacturer shall submit
san annual report to the Executive Officer within three months of the end of each calendar year. The report shall contain information as required by the Executive Officer to monitor the use of the small container exemption.include for each exempt coating, the coating name, coating category, the actual VOC content (grams per liter of coating less water and exempt compounds and grams per liter of material), the applicable VOC limit without the exemption, gallons sold in the District, and excess emissions without the exemption for each category. The loss of exemption due to failure of the manufacturer to submit an annual report shall only apply to the manufacturer."
THE MOTION WAS SECONDED BY MS. SOTO AND PASSED BY A UNANIMOUS VOTE OF THE BOARD MEMBERS PRESENT (Absent: Burke).
CLOSED SESSION
The Board did not recess to closed session
There was no public comment on non-agenda items.
The meeting was adjourned by Chairman Mikels at 11:15 a.m.
The foregoing is a true statement of the proceedings held by the South Coast Air Quality Management District Board on August 9, 1996.
Respectfully Submitted,
SAUNDRA McDANIEL
Senior Deputy Clerk
Date Minutes Approved: ________________________
____________________________________________
Jon D. Mikels, Chairman
ACRONYMS
AQMD = (South Coast) Air Quality Management District
AQMP = Air Quality Management Plan
ARB/CARB = California Air Resources Board
Cal-EPA/U.S. EPA = California/United States Environmental Protection Agency
DEO = Deputy Executive Officer
FY = Fiscal Year
IAIC = Interagency AQMP Implementation Committee
NOx = Oxides of Nitrogen
PAR = Proposed Amended Rule
PM10 = Particulate Matters x 10 microns
RECLAIM = REgional CLean Air Incentives Market
SIP = State Implementation Plan
SOx = Oxides of Sulfur
VOC = Volatile Organic Compound