BOARD MEETING DATE: April 3, 2009
AGENDA NO. 27

REPORT:

California Air Resources Board Monthly Meeting

SYNOPSIS:

The California Air Resources Board met on March 26, 2009. The following is a summary of this meeting.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and File.
 

Ronald O. Loveridge, Member
SCAQMD Governing Board

Background

The Air Resources Board’s (ARB or Board) March meeting was held in Sacramento. Key meeting items are summarized below.

1. Health Update: Air Pollution and Childhood Respiratory Allergies
   ARB staff presented the results of a recent study of the association between air pollution exposure and childhood respiratory allergies in the United States.  The study found associations between increases in ambient particulate matter and ozone levels, and parental reports of hay fever or respiratory allergies.  The study also found that hay fever and respiratory allergies are a common chronic condition among children, affecting almost one-fifth of the children studied. The study involved 72,000 children nation-wide, including 5,500 in Southern California. The results are consistent with findings made in similar studies conducted in other countries.
    
2. Reduction of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Vehicles Operating with Under-Inflated Tires
   The Board adopted a regulation to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from vehicles operating with under-inflated tires. The regulation would require automotive service providers in California to check tire pressure, and correct under-inflated tires, whenever maintenance or repair services are performed. ARB staff estimate that compliance will reduce gasoline fuel consumption by 75 million gallons per year, prolong average tire life by 4,700 miles, and reduce annual GHG emissions by 0.9 million tons of equivalent CO₂ in 2010. These benefits will save consumers $340 million per year, as compared to the estimated $100 million per year cost of implementing the program.
    
3. Report of the Development Process for State Implementation Plans and the Schedule of Upcoming Plans
   ARB staff reviewed the structure and process for development of the State Implementation Plans (SIP) required under the federal Clean Air Act, focusing on the nonattainment plans that must prepared for areas in which air quality does not meet federal air quality standards. Since 1994, California has submitted over 90 SIPs to U.S. EPA. ARB staff will be working with local air districts in the next several years to develop SIPs in response to new federal air quality standards for 8-hour ozone and fine particulates (PM2.5).
    
4. Approval of the 2009 Sacramento Metro Area 8 Hour Ozone Attainment Plan
   The Board approved the 8-hour ozone attainment plan for the Sacramento metropolitan region. The plan forecasts attainment by 2018 through a combination of measures in the 2007 State Strategy and local rule adoption commitments. The local emission reduction measures include limits for smaller combustion sources, architectural coatings, and solvent cleaning operations.
    
5. Informational Update on Truck Incentives
   ARB staff briefed the Board on incentive programs designed to replace older, more polluting trucks and construction equipment with newer, cleaner versions. There are now several incentive programs in place, and confusion created by the differing requirements among these programs can discourage truck owners from taking advantage of these grants. ARB staff discussed changes to simplify and align the financial assistance requirements among the various programs. These changes include:

• Implementing a fast grant program in which equipment dealers issue vouchers to qualified small fleets (three or less vehicles) to subsidize the purchase of new on-road trucks by up to $35,000;
• Reducing paperwork requirements to enable vouchers to be issued in 5 days instead of the current 90 days;
• Using the same vehicle weight cutoff to establish eligibility for both the Moyer and Proposition 1B funding programs;
• Allowing for a “2-for-1” approach that allows a fleet owner to trade in 2 old trucks in exchange for funding to help purchase one new truck;
• Establishing uniform grant award levels between programs; and
• Making paperwork uniform among the programs to speed processing times at the local level.

Staff also reported on the impacts to the incentive programs of state budget difficulties and new federal economic stimulus bills. The reopening of the state budget caused a halt in the sale of state bonds that funded the Proposition 1B program, and staff reported that new grants and loans would be offered again only when the state’s Pooled Money Investment Board approved use of new bond sale revenues for use in this program. The federal stimulus bills contain $156 million nationwide for competitive diesel emission reduction projects and $30 million for Smartway truck efficiency projects. Additionally, the bill earmarked $7.5 million annually each, on an ongoing basis, for Diesel Emission Reduction Act grants to the South Coast AQMD and San Joaquin Valley.
 

6. Report on 2009 Air Quality Legislation
   ARB legislative affairs staff briefed the Board on air quality legislation introduced in the current legislative session, which began in December, 2008. Major themes shaping air quality legislation this year are the reopening of the state budget, revisiting of existing environmental legislation in view of current state economic conditions, using green job programs and federal stimulus funding to respond to increasing unemployment levels, and acting upon proposals included in the ARB’s AB 32 Climate Change Scoping Plan.
    
7. Report on the Low Carbon Fuel Standard Regulation
   ARB briefed the Board on the development of a low carbon fuel standard (LCFS). In a 2007 Executive Order, Governor Schwarzenegger called on ARB to adopt a regulation, by 2010, to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from motor vehicle fuel by ten percent by 2020. Implementation of the LCFS is expected to:

• Provide market incentives for the development of advanced transportation fuels,
• Reduce petroleum dependency and increase the diversity of the transportation fuel supply,
• Provide a framework for the transition to sustainable alternative fuels,
• Result in the construction of up to 24 new biofuel production facilities in California, and
• Create pathways to much higher long-term GHG reductions.

Staff discussed a widely debated aspect of the proposed LCFS measure that illustrates the complexity of ensuring and calculating the life-cycle GHG reductions that will form the basis of GHG credits from this measure. This provision would discount GHG emission reduction credit granted for the use of ethanol derived from a food crop to reflect the effects of converting forests land to food crop production, which reduces carbon absorption (sequestration) by forests. ARB is scheduled to consider adoption of the LCFS standard at an April 23 Board hearing.
 

Attachment (DOC, 60k)

CARB March 26, 2009 Meeting Agenda