BOARD MEETING DATE: April 2, 2010
AGENDA NO. 21
REPORT:
Stationary Source Committee
SYNOPSIS:
The Stationary Source Committee met Friday, March 19, 2010. Following is a summary of that meeting. The next meeting will be April 19 at 10:30 a.m., in Conference Room CC8.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive and file.
Bill Campbell, Acting Chair
Stationary Source Committee
Attendance
The meeting began at 10:35 a.m. Present were Bill Campbell (acting chair, attended by videoconference), Josie Gonzales, Jane Carney, Ronald Loveridge (left at 11:20 a.m.), and Judith Mitchell. Absent was Dennis Yates.
Committee Member Jane Carney left after item #4, and Committee Member Ronald Loveridge left after item #2.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
As per Jane Carney’s request and chair concurrence, item #4 was discussed out of order. Committee Member Jane Carney indicated that for agenda items #2 and #3, she had possible conflicts of interest. Ms. Carney indicated she would not participate in agenda item #2 due to a potential conflict as Loma Linda University Medical Center is a source of income for her, and item #3 due to a conflict as Modular Metals Inc. is a source of income for her. Agenda Item #4 was then taken after item #1 and Ms. Carney left the meeting after item#4.
Reg. III – Fees
Dr. Laki Tisopulos, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer with Planning Rule Development and Area Sources (PRD&AS) gave the staff presentation. The proposed amendments to Regulation III seek to adjust the fee rates in Regulation III by CPI, which was 2.1% for the prior year. The proposed amendments also incorporate several clarifications and minor cost recovery proposals with negligible to no revenue impacts. The most notable element of the proposal is the one that will allow fees payable pursuant to Rule 317 to be credited towards a facility’s current and future year annual emissions and permit renewal fees. Supervisor Campbell requested that the CPI calculation procedure be forwarded to him. There were no public comments.
Annual Status Report for AB2588
Naveen Berry, Planning & Rules Manager with PRD&AS, gave the presentation explaining the 2009 accomplishments and future implementation plans for core facilities and industry-wide categories. Board member Josie Gonzales provided a comment regarding development of a checklist in conjunction with the USEPA & ARB to streamline the review process for National-Scale Air Toxic Assessment (NATA) and the Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) future data. In addition, Board member Jane Carney expressed concern regarding AB2588 facilities with cancer risks above 10 in one million and their location with respect to environmental justice issues. Staff’s recommendation was to provide a map of the AQMD air basin highlighting the locations of these facilities to ensure no “Hot Spots” are identified. The public did not have any comments.
Rule 317 – Clean Air Act Non-Attainment Fees
Dr. Laki Tisopulos, Assistant Deputy Executive Officer with PRD&AS gave the staff presentation. He reminded the committee that the Board had continued this item from January to April. Staff is working on a revised proposal that incorporates flexibilities afforded by the recently released U.S. EPA guidance. The revised proposal will address non-attainment with the one-hour ozone standard and relies primarily on elements approvable under Section 185 of the Clean Air Act (CAA) but also seeks to incorporate elements approvable under Section 172(e) of the CAA. As stated in Section 185 of the CAA, the staff proposal utilizes attainment year emissions (2010 for the South Coast Basin) as the baseline. The staff proposal avoids the use of the alternative baseline procedure included in the March 2008 U.S.EPA guidance due to its administrative complexity and, instead, proposes to establish industry sector-specific factors to adjust the 2010 facility baseline to account for the recessionary impact. The factors to be adopted into the rule will be based on the REMI model that the District utilizes for its socioeconomic analyses. The proposal also incorporates flexibilities afforded under Section 185, such as allowing a baseline that relies on Potential to Emit for post-2010 sources and allowing facilities to aggregate their NOx /VOC baselines as well as aggregation of baselines for facilities under common ownership that meet the federal definition of Major facility. The proposal also incorporates a Section 172(e) element which would allow State programs such as AB 118 funds utilized to reduce emissions from mobile sources to be credited towards reducing the fee burden of facilities subject to Rule 317, provided such programs are not included in the State Implementation Plan and the proposed approach is approvable by CARB and U.S.EPA. Further, as part of the Regulation III amendments, staff is proposing any balance due remitted to the District by facilities subject to Rule 317 be deposited in facility-specific AQMD accounts and be credited towards each facility’s annual emission and permit renewal fee obligations pursuant to Regulation III. A facility may also access the funds accrued in its AQMD account for pollution reduction projects that are surplus to the SIP. Crediting Rule 317 fees toward Regulation III fees is projected to reduce the overall fee burden pursuant to Rule 317 by more than 75 percent. The proposed baseline adjustments and any potential crediting of State funds under the proposed Section 172(e) construct will further minimize and perhaps eliminate any remaining burden. Staff will hold a public consultation meeting on March 23rd and will be prepared to present its proposal to the Board on April 2nd. Dr. Tisopulos reminded the Board that because some elements of the staff proposal relative to the CAA non-attainment fees are embedded in the proposed amendments to Regulation III, which will be heard in May, it may be desirable to continue this item to May and hear both items (Rule 317 and Regulation III) together. Several members of the public commented about the lack of public participation on the most recent staff proposal and recommended that the item be continued to a later date. Dr. Tisopulos responded that staff is working very hard on incorporating suggestions received by the public and Board members and seeking the support of sister agencies on the concepts presented. Relative to the question as to whether the item should be continued, Dr. Tisopulos suggested that staff formulate a recommendation following the consultation meeting on March 23rd. Bill LaMarr, representing Small Business Alliance, suggested that staff prepare a list of any recommendations received at the previous public meeting and the upcoming consultation meeting on March 23rd. Supervisor Campbell commented that there was no need to alter the already established staff procedures for summarizing comments received during rulemaking proceedings.
Proposed Amended Rule 1144 – Vanishing Oil and Rust Preventatives Status Report
Naveen Berry, Planning & Rules Manager, presented a summary on Proposed Amended Rule 1144 – Vanishing Oils and Rust Inhibitors. The changes to the proposed requirements and terminology of the rule were discussed as well as industry’s concerns with the laboratory test method. Mr. Berry indicated that staff is working closely with industry stakeholders to finalize a laboratory test method and expects to resolve this issue early next week. Bill Pearce of Boeing commented that while he appreciated staff’s work to include a military specified preservatives category, he would not be sure he could support the 340 g/l limit until the products they use are tested under an approved laboratory method. Mike Pearce of W.S. Dodge Oil commented that industry would prefer that the proposal not be heard until after the test method was approved by ASTM but will review the District’s proposed method.
WRITTEN REPORTS
All written reports were acknowledged by the Committee.
PUBLIC COMMENTS
Bill Campbell announced that the next Stationary Source Committee meeting will be on April 19, 2010.
The meeting was adjourned at 12:08 p.m.
Attachment (DOC, 44k)
Attendance Roster