BOARD MEETING DATE: February 6, 2009
AGENDA NO. 25

REPORT:

Stationary Source Committee

SYNOPSIS:

The Stationary Source Committee met Friday, January 23, 2009. Following is a summary of that meeting. The next meeting will be February 20, at 10:30 a.m., in Conference Room CC8.

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

Receive and file.
 

Dennis Yates, Chair
Stationary Source Committee

Attendance

The meeting began at 10:30 a.m. Present were Dennis Yates, Dr. Joseph Lyou and Ronald Loveridge (left following Agenda Item #6). Absent were Jane Carney, Gary Ovitt and Michael Cacciotti.
 

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

1. Proposed Rule 1156 – Further Reductions of Particulate Emissions from Cement Manufacturing Facilities

Dr. Laki Tisopulos, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer, gave the staff presentation and updated the Committee regarding staff efforts to amend Rule 1156.  Staff has revised the proposal in response to comments received.  Staff has had technical meetings with industry representatives, in particular California Portland Cement Company (CPCC).  Progress has been made and most technical issues have been resolved.  Mayor Yates inquired of an attending CPCC representative as to resolution of the issue regarding wind fencing of their clinker barn opening.  Gary Thornberry, plant Environmental Manager, stated that the structural issues have been addressed and they have worked out a means to operate and move vehicles in and out of the structure.  Mayor Yates asked if the material must be handled dry; to which Mr. Thornberry responded yes since water would react and create concrete.  Dr. Tisopulos stated that the remaining issue dealt with what to do in the event of a shutdown at the facility, and a monitoring sunset.  In addition he stated that staff agrees in concept to addressing the issue either in the rule or in the resolution and that staff was continuing to work with CPCC.  Mayor Yates asked if there were currently any exceedances of the proposed rule level.  Dr. Philip Fine, Atmospheric Measurements Manager, responded that there had been spikes recorded recently above the level, but that the 30-day average may not have been exceeded.  Dr. Joseph Lyou asked how this relates to Rule 1402 and any risk assessment in the future.  Dr. Tisopulos stated that TXI was required to resubmit their facility-wide risk assessment and that staff recently gave comments on their submittal.  Mayor Yates then inquired if U.S. EPA had an established standard for hexavalent chromium and Mohsen Nazemi, Deputy Executive Officer of Engineering and Compliance, responded that unlike lead, U.S. EPA has not established an ambient standard for chromium. However chromium is a carcinogen and under the Clean Air Act it is regulated by requiring Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT) and residual risk and under AQMD rules it is regulated through the use of Health Risk Assessment (HRA) under Rules 1401 & 1402.  Under the public comment period, Howard Berman, consultant for CPCC, stated that his client looks forward to continue working with staff.
 

2. Progress Report on Compliance with Rule 1171 – Solvent Cleaning Operations

Dr. Tisopulos presented a status report on Rule 1171 – Solvent Cleaning & Rule 1122 – Solvent Degreasers. He informed the committee that the printing industry’s study to evaluate compliant low-VOC clean-up solvents for UV/EB inks, on-press screens, and stereolithography equipment did not yield products that met the industry performance standards for the January 1, 2009 compliance date.  Dr. Tisopulos also stated the need to get approval for exercising enforcement discretion until staff returns with proposed amendments to Rules 1171 and 1122 to extend the compliance date for an additional year.  A representative of the Printing Industries Association of Southern California, Gerry Bonetto, acknowledged the need to continue studying this issue and expressed that the industry will reach compliance by the end of 2009.
 

3. Proposed Rule 1143 – Consumer Paint Thinners and Multi-Purpose Solvents

Naveen Berry, Planning & Rules Manager, presented a status report for Proposed Rule 1143 – Consumer Paint Thinners and Multi-Purpose Solvents to the Stationary Source Committee.  Dr. Joseph Lyou made comments concerning toxicity of exempt solvents, possible non-compliance with District Rule 1171, reactivity of aqueous and bio-based products, and the use of PCBTF and methyl acetate as paint thinners.  Mr. Berry addressed all the comments presented.  The public did not have any comments.
 

4. Proposed Rule 1144 – Lubricants, Metal Working Fluids, and Rust Inhibitors

Naveen Berry provided a status report to the committee on proposed changes to the rule.  In response to the issues, staff bifurcated the proposal and included Method 24 for testing VOC content, as requested by industry.  Staff and industry plan to jointly evaluate appropriate VOC content test methods and applicable VOC limits for metal working fluids and direct-contact lubricants and report their findings to the committee by July 2009.  Additionally, staff plans to evaluate an industry request to exempt very high water content fluids due to difficulties in measuring VOC content.  Neither the committee members nor the public had any comments.
 

5. Rule 317 – Clean Air Act Emissions Fees for Major Stationary Sources of VOC and NOx

Larry Bowen, Planning & Rules Manager, presented this item. Rule 317 – Clean Air Act Emissions Fess for Major Stationary Sources of VOC and NOx, implements a Clean Air Act (CAA) mandatory fee program for major stationary sources in areas that do not achieve the Federal 1-hour ozone standard. When staff proposed the rule for adoption by the Board in December, the Board adopted the rule for the Salton Sea Air Basin and continued the hearing for the South Coast Air Basin. The Board also directed staff to review the baseline and averaging issue under the limited guidance available from U.S. EPA and return with appropriate recommendations. This briefing is on the status of staff’s evaluation and the status of further U.S. EPA Guidance.

The input from U.S. EPA staff is that the guidance is under development and the timeline for release of a draft guidance document is uncertain.

The CAA establishes the emissions baseline as the attainment year emissions and authorizes the U.S. EPA administrator to provide alternatives. There is limited guidance from U.S. EPA on a baseline alternative for cyclic or irregular sources. Staff’s analysis establishes a method for determining whether sources are cyclic or not using historical emissions and the statistical t-test. Staff then analyzed the impact on potential fee revenue from several different scenarios if average year emissions were allowed as the baseline.

Staff presented the results of this analysis on January 22, 2009 in a public consultation meeting and will brief the full Board at the February Board meeting. At the meeting, industry recommended postponement of further consideration of Rule 317 until U.S. EPA issues further guidance which they expect to be in May or June of this year and commented that any rule adopted should allow the most liberal interpretation of baseline. On the other hand the environmental community urged not to further delay adoption of the rule amendment for the South Coast Air Basin and recommended 2010 emissions be the baseline per the CAA. Industry further commented that the details on disbursement of any fees collected under this program be specified as soon as possible.

Staff will brief the Board in February on the analysis, and the hearing to consider the rule amendment has been continued to the March 6, 2009 Board meeting.

Steve Schuyler from WSPA stated that WSPA’s position continues to be to not focus on a single year of emissions for baseline determination if it is not representative of normal operations and to allow the use of a year or years of emissions that are most representative of normal operations. The proposal the Board adopts should allow flexibility in the baseline determination method consistent with U.S. EPA guidance.

Bill La Marr from the Small Business Alliance stated that based on the comments from the productive workshop with staff, there are issues that need additional time to work out. The bottom line is that someone will have to incur the cost of the proposed fee program and ultimately that cost will trickle down to small businesses.

Greg Adams from L.A. County Sanitation District stated that one of the important issues not addressed in the staff analysis was the inequity of the fees applying to emissions from equipment or facilities that are at current BACT levels. Staff should continue the workshop process and periodic progress reports to the Stationary Source Committee as the U.S. EPA guidance and the regulatory process move forward.
 

6. Rule 1173 – Fugitive Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds and Releases from Components of Petroleum Facilities and Chemical Plants

Larry Bowen stated that staff is proposing an administrative amendment to correct an error in the exemptions reference in the rule.
 

WRITTEN REPORTS

All written reports were acknowledged by the Committee.
 

PUBLIC COMMENTS

During the public comment period, George Gomez expressed concerns that Gregg Industries is not in compliance with the Nov. 5, 2008 Settlement Agreement between AQMD and Gregg Industries. Mr. Gomez gave the Committee a list of questions he would like a response to. Mayor Yates directed staff to respond to Mr. Gomez. Dr. Lyou requested a copy of staff’s response.

Kelly Andrews expressed concerns about an odor complaint she made regarding Gregg Industries and the length of time it took to for an inspector to respond. Ms. Andrews also expressed concerns about e-mail communications between Gregg Industries’ attorney and the members of the Hearing Board. Mayor Yates indicated that other than appointing members to the Hearing Board, the Governing Board members do not have control over the Hearing Board members. Ms. Andrews was directed to speak to William Wong from District Prosecutor’s office after the meeting.

Mayor Yates announced that the next Stationary Source Committee meeting will be on February 20, 2009.
 

The meeting was adjourned at 11:55 a.m.
 

Attachments (DOC, 63k)

January 23, 2009 Committee Agenda (without its attachments)