BOARD MEETING DATE: September 10, 2010
AGENDA NO. 39

PROPOSAL:

Amend Rule 1401 – New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants; and Preliminary Impact Assessment for Facilities Subject to Rule 1402 – Control of Toxic Air Contaminants from Existing Sources

SYNOPSIS:

The proposal would add or revise non-cancer chronic and acute risk values for acetaldehyde, acrolein, arsenic, fluorides, formaldehyde, manganese, and mercury on the list of toxic air contaminants (TACs) in Rule 1401 - New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants. In addition to impacts for new, modified, and relocated equipment subject to Rule 1401, a preliminary assessment of impacts for existing facilities subject to Rule 1402 – Control of Toxic Air Contaminants from Existing Sources, is included because Rule 1402 uses the same list of TACs.

COMMITTEE:

Stationary Source, June 18, 2010, Reviewed 

RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:

Adopt the attached resolution:

1. Certifying the Final Environmental Assessment (EA) for Proposed Amended Rule 1401 – New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants; and

2. Amending Rule 1401 – New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

In December 2008, the Office of Health Hazard Assessment approved new and revised non-cancer chronic and acute risk values for acetaldehyde, acrolein, arsenic, formaldehyde, manganese, and mercury. Also, in August 2003, new chronic risk values for fluorides, including hydrogen fluoride, were approved by the state. Health risk values for fluorides have not been added to Rule 1401 because tools did not exist to complete the required impact assessment and permit evaluations for multi-pathway exposure. The California Air Resources Board’s (CARB) air dispersion modeling program, Hotspots Analysis and Reporting Program (HARP), now provides the necessary tools to determine the multi-pathway factor for fluorides, so chronic reference exposure limits (RELs) for these compounds can now be included as part of the proposed amendments to Rule 1401.

The AQMD staff is recommending that the new and revised risk values be added to the list of toxic air contaminants (TACs) in Rule 1401 – New Source Review for Toxic Air Contaminants. Rule 1402 – Control of Toxic Air Contaminants from Existing Sources relies on the Rule 1401 list of toxic air contaminants for the calculation of facility prioritization scores under the AB2588 program. Notices of intent to amend Rule 1401, as required by the rule, were presented to the AQMD’s Governing Board on January 9, 2004 (fluorides) and April 3, 2009.

Proposed Amended Rule 1401

Proposed Amended Rule 1401 would add new and revise existing non-cancer chronic and acute risk values for acetaldehyde, acrolein, arsenic, fluorides, formaldehyde, manganese, and mercury, to Table I of Rule 1401. The effective date for using the new and revised risk values for Rule 1401 will be the date of adoption. For Rule 1402, all health risk assessments (HRAs) currently use CARB’s HARP software, which has already incorporated the new and revised risk values. Table 1 below shows the chronic and acute risk values and the corresponding screening values that will be added to the AQMD “Risk Assessment Procedures for Rules 1401 and 212” upon adoption of the proposed amended rule. The screening values are conservative estimates of the amount of TAC emissions below which no adverse chronic or acute health risk is expected.

Table 1 – Chronic and Acute RELs and Screening Values

¹ The cancer screening values for acetaldehyde, arsenic, and formaldehyde are more stringent than the chronic screening values. Therefore, the screening value based on cancer risk will be used as the screening value in AQMD’s “Risk Assessment Procedures for Rules 1401 and 212.”

² The noted risk values are less stringent than the current values in AQMD’s “Risk Assessment Procedures for Rules 1401 and 212.”

Impact Assessment

The addition of new or revised risk values for acetaldehyde, acrolein, arsenic, fluorides, formaldehyde, manganese, and mercury, to the AQMD list of toxics is not anticipated to require new or additional air pollution controls for new sources subject to Rule 1401 or existing facilities subject to Rule 1402. Combustion sources comprised the majority of the sources of the eight TACs at issue. The analysis determined that the cancer risk from these TACs would primarily drive long-term risk for combustion sources utilizing various fuel types. Thus, changing the chronic risk value would not require additional controls for new or existing sources because cancer risk values were more stringent. Evaluation of individual equipment emissions from non-combustion equipment, such as coatings equipment, metal melting equipment, chemical storage, asphalt processing, abrasive blasting, and plastics production, found that additional emission controls would not be required in order to reduce non-cancer risk because individual equipment emissions were not of sufficient quantity to trigger hazard index thresholds. Therefore, the addition/revision of the RELs in the proposed amendment is not expected to result in the addition of any new controls.

Public Process

Notification to the Governing Board was made April 3, 2009, of the state-approved chronic and acute risk values for acetaldehyde, acrolein, arsenic, formaldehyde, manganese, and mercury. Notification was also made on January 9, 2004, of the state-approved chronic risk values for fluorides. A Public Workshop was held May 11, 2010, and approximately 10 people attended the meeting. 

AQMP and Legal Mandates

Proposed Amended Rule 1401 is an air toxic rule that is not an AQMP requirement.  

California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA)

Pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines and AQMD Rule 110, AQMD staff prepared a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA), which analyzed the potential environmental impacts from proposed amended Rule 1401 and the potential impacts for facilities subject to Rule 1402.  The Draft EA was released for a 30-day public review and comment period from July 29, 2010 to August 27, 2010.  The environmental analysis in the Draft EA concluded that proposed amended Rule 1401 would not generate any significant adverse environmental impacts. No comments were received and the Draft EA has been revised such that it is now a Final EA.

Socioeconomic Assessment

The new/revised RELs for the eight compounds subject to the proposed rule amendments are not expected to require installation of additional air pollution controls. As a result, no additional costs from implementation of the proposed amendments are anticipated.

Implementation and Resources

Existing AQMD resources will be used to implement Proposed Amended Rule 1401. 

Attachments (EXE, 249k)

1. Summary of Proposal

2. Key Issues and Responses

3. Rule Development Process

4. Key Contacts List

5. Resolution

6. Proposed Amended Rule 1401 Rule Language

7. Proposed Amended Rule 1401 Staff Report

8. Final Environmental Assessment