BOARD MEETING STATE OF CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD JOE SERNA JR. BUILDING CALEPA HEADQUARTERS BUILDING 1001 I STREET BYRON SHER AUDITORIUM SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA THURSDAY, JANUARY 20, 2005 9:00 A.M. JAMES F. PETERS, CSR, RPR CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER LICENSE NUMBER 10063 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 ii APPEARANCES BOARD MEMBERS Mrs. Barbara Riordan, Acting Chairperson Ms. Dorene D'Adamo Ms. Sandra Berg Supervisor Mark DeSaulnier Dr. Henry Gong Mayor Ronald Loveridge Supervisor Barbara Patrick Ms. Patricia Salas Pineda Supervisor Ron Roberts STAFF Ms. Catherine Witherspoon, Executive Officer Mr. Tom Cackette, Chief Deputy Executive Officer Mr. Michael Scheible, Deputy Executive Officer Ms. Lynn Terry, Deputy Executive Officer Ms. Diane Johnston, General Counsel Ms. Kathleen Tschogl, Ombudsman Mr. Richard Bode, Chief, Health and Exposure Assessment Branch Mr. Richard Corey, Chief, Research and Economics Branch Mr. Bart Croes, Chief, Research Division PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 iii APPEARANCES CONTINUED STAFF Ms. Vicky Davis, Staff Counsel Mr. John DaMassa, Chief, Modeling and Meteorology Branch Mr. Bob Effa, Chief, Air Quality Data Branch Mr. Bob Fletcher, Chief, Planning and Technical Support Division Ms. Peggy Jenkins, Manager, Indoor Exposure Assessment Section Mr. Kurt Karperos, Manager, Transportation Strategies Group Mr. Charles Kersey, Air Pollution Specialist Mr. Jack Kitowski, Chief, On-Road Controls Branch Ms. Diane Kiyota, Staff Counsel Ms. Leslie Krinsk, Senior Staff Counsel Ms. Karen Magliano, Manager, PM Assessment Section Ms. Cynthia Marvin, Chief, Air Quality and Transportation Planning Branch Ms. Annmarie Mora, Air Pollution Specialist Ms. Lucina Negrete, Manager, Alternative Strategies Section Ms. Marcella Nystrom, Air Pollution Control Specialist Ms. Sylvia Oey, Planning and Technical Support Division Mr. Kirk Oliver, Senior Staff Counsel Mr. Andy Panson, Planning and Technical Support Division Mr. Tom Phillips, Research Division Mr. George Poppic, Senior Staff Counsel PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 iv APPEARANCES CONTINUED STAFF Ms. Gayle Sweigert, Manager, Air Quality Analylsis Section Mr. Bruce Tuter, Air Pollution Specialist ALSO PRESENT Mr. Steve Douglas, Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers Mr. Tom Faust, Redwood Rubber Ms. Yolanda Hwang Mr. Fred Minassian, South Coast Air Quality Management District PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 v INDEX PAGE Pledge of Allegiance 1 Opening remarks by Acting Chairperson Riordan 1 Tribute to CalEPA Secretary Lloyd 2 Roll Call 31 Item 05-1-1 32 Acting Chairperson Riordan 32 Executive Officer Witherspoon 33 Staff Presentation 34 Discussion and Q&A 44 Item 05-1-2 66 Acting Chairpeson Riordan 66 Discussion and Q&A 66 Motion 77 Vote 77 Item 05-1-3 78 Acting Chairperson Riordan 78 Executive Officer Witherspoon 78 Discussion and Q&A 94 Afternoon Session 107 Item 05-1-4 107 Acting Chairperson Riordan 107 Executive Officer Witherspoon 108 Staff Presentation 109 Fred Minassian 123 Tom Faust 125 Steven Douglas 131 Discussion and Q&A 137 Motion 140 Vote 140 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 vi INDEX CONTINUED PAGE Item 05-1-5 141 Acting Chairperson Riordan 141 Executive Officer Witherspoon 141 Staff Presenation 142 Motion 150 Vote 152 Item 05-1-6 153 Acting Chairperson Riordan 153 Executive Officer Witherspoon 153 Staff Presentation 154 Public Comment 166 Yolanda Hwang 166 Adjournment 173 Reporter's Certificate 174 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 1 1 PROCEEDINGS 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Let me call the 3 meeting of the Air Resources Board for January 20th to 4 order. And as we customarily do, we begin with our pledge 5 to our flag. And let me ask Supervisor Patrick if she 6 would lead us in the salute to our flag. 7 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: Thank you. 8 Please join us. 9 (Thereupon the Pledge of Allegiance was 10 Recited in unison.) 11 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, 12 Supervisor Patrick. 13 And let me begin by wishing all of you a very 14 happy new year, and to say that this last month has been 15 very eventful. Since we convened in December we've had 16 some changes. Our esteemed Chairman, Dr. Alan Lloyd, was 17 appointed by Governor Schwarzenegger to the post of 18 Secretary for the California Environmental Protection 19 Agency. And this is a cabinet-level position. And I was 20 asked to step in as interim Chair until such time as a 21 permanent Chair is selected. 22 Because his appointment came after our last 23 meeting we haven't really been able to say a farewell in 24 an appropriate way. And so we're going to take a little 25 private time this morning and do that, because we need to PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 2 1 give him a good send off. While he's not leaving the 2 building, we do feel we've lost a very good friend. 3 So I would like to invite and turn the microphone 4 over to my colleague, Supervisor DeSaulnier, to lead our 5 tribute to Dr. Lloyd, and then to begin with the 6 introduction of a brief video that's been prepared by the 7 staff. And I don't know, Dr. Lloyd. I'd be prepared for 8 anything so hold tight. 9 Supervisor DeSaulnier. 10 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Thank you, Barbara. 11 I don't know to what I owe this great honor, 12 other than I'm the team clown as you pointed out. But 13 I'll take that as a compliment. That's as close to 14 something that's not a pejorative that's been said about 15 me since I got elected to office. 16 Alan, it's my pleasure really to have served with 17 you. And before myself and my colleagues and a few other 18 guests bestow some gifts upon you, we'd like to take a 19 minute and look at this film that staff has presented. 20 I'll start with a log cabin, I guess. 21 (Laughter.) 22 (Thereupon a video was played.) 23 (Applause.) 24 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: And I can't help but 25 ask how much tax dollars that cost. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 3 1 (Laughter.) 2 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: You can see what esteem 3 you're held in, what a serious organization this is. 4 I was told last night that I was supposed to get 5 you some appropriate awards. And I'm usually -- I never 6 do gag gifts, so I've got something on behalf of the Board 7 that I went out and got at Walgreen's last night. So I'm 8 going to come down and give this to you and then I'm going 9 to ask my colleagues to make some appropriate comments 10 starting from this end and working down so. 11 Alan asked me last night, "What are you going to 12 do to me tomorrow?" 13 (Laughter.) 14 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: You get to go to the 15 podium. 16 Come here. 17 Look at his body language. 18 (Laughter.) 19 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Well, Alan, for those 20 of us in retail politics, those of us who are electeds, 21 Ron and the two Barbara's, will certainly understand this. 22 Having this -- and this is the appropriate place to give 23 this award to you. Ron, we've sat there and listened to 24 people go on and on at this podium, as opposed to what we 25 do in our local jurisdictions. And we've learned so much. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 4 1 Stephanie of course has been one of the most entertaining. 2 But all those slide shows and those presentations, for 3 those of us who don't understand what we're doing in the 4 first place, and then for you to allow these people to go 5 on for 20 or 30 minutes has been truly enlightening for 6 all of us. 7 So on behalf of the Board I went out looking for 8 a timer. 9 (Laughter.) 10 (Applause.) 11 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: And I looked all over 12 Sacramento for a 3-minute timer because that's what we 13 always wanted, right? Could you hold him to 3 to 5 14 minutes? And it's appropriate for both you and the City 15 of Sacramento, the best I could find was an hour timer. 16 So -- 17 (Laughter.) 18 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: -- that's yours. 19 And then -- is Matt here? Matt couldn't make it. 20 But this is from Dede, Matt and I, for those new comers. 21 We used to sit -- the gang of three used to sit together. 22 And then we were separated. First Matt left and then Dede 23 went one seat over and then she went two seats over. And 24 I'm surprised you're as close to me as you are today, I 25 thought they were going to move you further, because we PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 5 1 kept getting in trouble. 2 But on the ZEV ruling, when it came back to us, 3 three of us were quite sure that somewhere in this country 4 or in Japan there was a battery for a car that cost about 5 $25 and it could go about a thousand miles without being 6 recharged. So, lo and behold, at Walgreen's last night 7 while I was looking for this I found for $4.95 a battery 8 electric Hummer. 9 (Laughter.) 10 (Applause.) 11 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: So on behalf of all of 12 us, but particularly the three holdouts who still think 13 there's a cheap battery out there, I want you to have 14 this. And perhaps you can give it to the Governor at an 15 appropriate time. 16 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 17 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: You're welcome. 18 And, Sandra, maybe just start with a few 19 comments. 20 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Dr. Lloyd, it's just been my 21 pleasure for a short period of time to be able to serve 22 with you. I just want to wish you all the best. I thank 23 you for welcoming me to the Board and assimilating me as 24 quickly. It's just been a testament to all of the 25 long-time Board members how quickly this Board has come up PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 6 1 to speed. But you're leadership has been dynamic. It's 2 been a privilege. And I look forward to still interacting 3 with you. Wish you all the best. The Governor couldn't 4 have made a better choice. 5 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 6 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Ditto. And just on a 7 personal and even professional note, I treasure the time 8 I've been serving on the Board, particularly with you as 9 our leader. I've learned from you, not to go over too 10 long, I hope. But I'll try to keep this under five. But 11 really I do wish you much success and happiness in your 12 new position. And you'll be able to look back and down on 13 us and see how we're doing too. And I really, again, 14 appreciate your leadership and your advice and just you. 15 Thank you. 16 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 17 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Mr. Secretary, I watched 18 with interest that video. And the music reminded me of 19 being in church. And really it has been a religious 20 experience to serve on this Board with you. 21 (Laughter.) 22 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: And I say that tongue and 23 cheek because it -- I have to echo Mark's comments about 24 the timer. We need to get it modified though. It needs 25 to have a yellow light and then a red light. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 7 1 But even when the time would go on and on with 2 witnesses, I have to confess that there were many, many 3 times when I still didn't quite understand what we were 4 voting on. And it has been just a tremendous -- a 5 security blanket to have you here leading us on the Board, 6 because when I was confused, we'd here from one witness on 7 one side and one witness 180 degrees on the other side, 8 and then staff would be quite technical with us, many 9 times I'd be able to pull you aside and say, "Alan, I'm 10 confused," and you would give a straight answer, one that 11 I could rely on and this entire Board. 12 So I am really going to miss your leadership, 13 your friendship, your humor. But know that there are 14 many, many good places ahead where you'll be leading this 15 entire agency. 16 Thank you so much and God speed. 17 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 18 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Dr. Lloyd, I've had a 19 great amount of respect and admiration for your work, 20 first as I know you when I was part of a big polluter, and 21 you were very sensitive to our issues at the airport 22 system. And I wish you all the best of luck. I'm sorry 23 we haven't had a chance to work as directly as we might 24 have been had you stayed in this chair. But I'm glad that 25 you're now in a higher seat. And good luck to you. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 8 1 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you very much. 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Mr. Secretary -- 3 oops, I better turn on my microphone -- you'll always be 4 Mr. Chairman for me. 5 We are so fortunate in California to have you. 6 And we know you're going to do some incredible work. Not 7 all of it's going to be technical. A lot of it's going to 8 be political. And my heart goes out to you when you have 9 to deal with some of those things as a politician. We'll 10 be here to support you. 11 What I really want to say is how often -- those 12 of you who are seated in our audience can attest -- he has 13 given so much time to hearing and working with so many 14 stakeholders throughout California. And that's a real 15 tribute to you. This is not an easy job. There's much to 16 be done obviously in cleaning up the air of California. 17 But to have everybody feel a part of it, that I think was 18 your wonderful, wonderful quality. And we thank you for 19 that. And hopefully the person who then assumes this 20 chair will have that same wonderful quality of reaching 21 out to everybody. 22 And so we wish you the best. We look forward to 23 working with you in these next years to come. And on 24 behalf of my former constituent, Charlie Peters, both of 25 us say thank you very much. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 9 1 (Laughter.) 2 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 3 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: Secretary Lloyd, first of 4 all let me congratulate you on a much deserved 5 appointment. I don't think that there is really anyone 6 better for this position than you. So I'm very, very 7 pleased with the Governor's appointment. And I look 8 forward to working with you in your new capacity. 9 Prior to joining CARB, I knew of Dr. Lloyd's 10 wonderful reputation as a very knowledgeable and 11 thoughtful person. And I have to say that since joining 12 the Board, that has certainly been reconfirmed. And it 13 has been a real honor and pleasure for me to work with 14 you. 15 And I want to just say that I have especially 16 admired you for your work in an area that many times is 17 very controversial and difficult. And there are many 18 interests involved. And I have to say that as you leave, 19 I have great respect for your passion for and commitment 20 to clean air. And I want to thank you for your great 21 leadership. I think that this state and the environment 22 is significantly better off because of your leadership. 23 So thank you very much and God speed. 24 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you. 25 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: The Air Resources Board PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 10 1 has gotten high marks in terms of what it does. It seems 2 to me the marker of the history of the Air Resources Board 3 has been its Chair, and we sort of identify the CARB 4 history in terms of the Chairs. As was mentioned here, I 5 mean when one things of language to describe Alan Lloyd, 6 one thinks of the words of being fair, the kind of 7 knowledge that he brings. But there's also this notion of 8 respect, which has been tested again and again in a very 9 public -- very public way. So to sustain the kind of 10 respect over time and making very difficult choices is an 11 extraordinary ability. 12 My last comment is that in terms of -- we're in 13 an extraordinary time in the State of California. I'm not 14 sure what boxes you're going to blow up or what boxes 15 you're going to find or -- but I don't know if -- at least 16 in thinking where we are as a state, I don't know a more 17 interesting time than what we now find in Sacramento and 18 opportunities to make a difference for this state in the 19 future. And so I wish you well. 20 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you very much. 21 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: Dr. Lloyd, I have enjoyed 22 working with you so much. And I particularly enjoy how 23 you have really heightened the awareness of our air 24 quality problems in the San Joaquin Valley. And you and 25 the staff have really made that a top priority. And I PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 11 1 sure do appreciate all of your good work in that arena. 2 I'm a little worried though about all the white 3 wine that I saw in your pictures. Did anybody else notice 4 that -- like every third picture was with a glass of white 5 wine. So I'm not too -- 6 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Well, I have to support 7 California industry. 8 (Laughter.) 9 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: Absolutely. As long as 10 it's California wine, hey, that's okay. I appreciate that 11 you're looking out for our economy. So I think it's 12 great. 13 I'm very delighted that the Governor has chosen 14 you to be the head of our Cal EPA. The work that all of 15 the various agencies do under that is so very, very 16 important. And so it's a tremendous honor for you. And I 17 personally think it's terrific that such a nice 18 nonpolitical person has been put into that position. 19 Because I think that you will be able to maneuver yourself 20 well through all that because you will keep your eye on 21 the goal, which is a healthier California. So I just want 22 to say congratulations on behalf everybody in the valley. 23 You are just an extraordinary individual. I've learned a 24 lot from you. But I'm looking forward to shorter 25 meetings. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 12 1 (Laughter.) 2 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you, Barbara. 3 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Mr. Secretary, Mr. 4 Chairman, Dr. Lloyd, and, most affectionately, Alan, I 5 guess being one of the few veterans that have been here 6 longer than you, I find it sort of ironic that we actually 7 have a full board here today. 8 (Laughter.) 9 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: I first thought that 10 perhaps everybody was here because of the significance of 11 your promotion. And then realized, as I listened to these 12 comments, it's anticipation of the short meeting. 13 (Laughter.) 14 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: And I suspect there are 15 more than a few others that are here at great sacrifice. 16 When I left San Diego yesterday it was 83 degrees and the 17 Buick Open Golf Tournament is beginning today and I'm not 18 there. And I think it's probably a measure of my feelings 19 of the significance of today and your promotion. 20 We have sometimes disagreed, but more often than 21 not agreed on certainly the significant -- and most 22 significant issues. And the one thing that has been clear 23 to me from day one is your commitment to cleaning up the 24 air of California and bringing such a positive cheerful 25 attitude towards it no matter what the stresses and PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 13 1 strains were and no matter what the competing interests 2 that had to be balanced. And having been here for some 3 several years, for longer than I had ever imagined I would 4 be here, I want to thank you for your service and I look 5 forward to what you're going to accomplish in your new 6 role. 7 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Thank you very much. 8 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: It seems to be a common 9 theme here, Alan. 10 As we tried to think of thoughtful, sincere 11 gifts, last night I turned and saw Stephanie Williams 12 and -- thoughtful and sincere -- and how engaged she could 13 be with our Board and with the Chairman is something that 14 came immediately to mind. So Stephanie went out and out 15 of her budget -- and I don't if Jed contributed to any of 16 this, but hopefully it won't forestall you all coming in 17 compliance -- she has a few gifts she wants to present to 18 you, on behalf of our Californians, not just truckers. 19 MS. WILLIAMS: First the ring for his new 20 position. 21 Catherine. 22 (Laughter.) 23 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: It's not big enough, 24 but we'll try. 25 (Laughter.) PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 14 1 MS. WILLIAMS: The dice for luck. 2 And the sideburns. 3 (Laughter.) 4 MS. WILLIAMS: You don't have to put them on. 5 And just a quick poem. 6 "There once was a scientist from Wales who about 7 we have many tales. 8 "Plucked from his lab, it was so sad, he ventured 9 to the land of the mad. 10 "Often he did opine, never did he whine, except 11 for those Cabernet, old Zin vines. 12 Zero omissions, he cried, the economy will 13 thrive, every method he tried and, yes, trucks will have 14 electric drive. 15 "Greenhouse gases he did pass, sent auto 16 lobbyists to mass, Chair of CARB was his fate, special 17 interest he did hate. 18 "He forced trucks and railroads to debate, 19 environmentalists and oil companies to date. Oh my, what 20 was his fate? 21 "Let's face it. His weather was fair, it 22 appeared there clean air. Pollution was gone, it appeared 23 a new dawn. 24 "But water, waste, pesticides, not so, the 25 Governor did call him to go. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 15 1 "So farewell, scientist from Wales, may you 2 further your tales. Your journey continues on untraveled 3 trails." 4 (Applause.) 5 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Thanks, Stephanie. 6 We have a resolution for you, and I'm going to 7 read it in part. And then ask Catherine if she has any 8 comments on behalf of the staff. 9 And then allow you three minutes -- exactly three 10 minutes. I'm going to want that timer. 11 And then I'd ask my colleagues to come down and 12 join me and actually give the presentation to you. 13 But the resolution reads in part -- and 14 there's -- as appropriate to the timing issue, there's 15 probably about 45 minutes worth of you "whereases," so 16 I'll cut down on them. But it reads, in part: 17 "Whereas Alan C. Lloyd, Ph.D, has 18 served with distinction as Chairman of 19 the California Air Resources Board for 20 the past six years, having first been 21 appointed to that post in February of 22 1999 by Governor Gray Davis and 23 subsequently reappointed in 2004 by 24 Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. 25 "Whereas Dr. Lloyd brought his PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 16 1 extensive technical knowledge and 2 administrative acumen to the job of 3 Chairman, providing significant 4 expertise to the Board's deliberations 5 and unparalleled leadership to the 6 Board's staff of 1,000 employees. 7 "He's been a tireless advocate for 8 air quality programs and policies. And 9 as we saw by the video, traveling all 10 over the globe to educate, drink 11 wine" -- that's not in there -- "and 12 inform groups as diverse as the 13 automobile manufacturing industry, 14 petroleum producers, environmentalists, 15 technology research companies, and 16 hydrogen experts. 17 "Dr. Lloyd has been a guiding light 18 in many areas, including the California 19 Fuel Cell Partnership, he's co-founder 20 of the California Stationary Fuel Cell 21 Collaborative, and is past Chairman of 22 the U.S. Department of Energy Hydrogen 23 Technical Advisory Panel. 24 "He's also been a very strong voice 25 for advanced technology with renewable PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 17 1 fuels, special attention to the urban 2 air quality. Your initiatives around 3 zero, the goal standard, and zero 4 emission vehicles as well as 5 environmental justice in your outreach 6 to that community has as been very much 7 appreciated. 8 "During Dr. Lloyd's term, as much as 9 130,000 tons per year will be 10 accomplished by 2010 reduction in 11 harmful emissions to Californians. 12 "Whereas Dr. Lloyd's tenure has also 13 been marked by the adoption of a 14 landmark regulation that is the nation's 15 only requirement to limit the impact of 16 motor vehicles on a global climate 17 change. 18 "Whereas Dr. Lloyd has authored many 19 articles on alternative fuels and air 20 pollution control technology, including 21 Fuel Cells and Air Quality" -- these all 22 sound fascinating -- "a California 23 perspective, Electric Vehicles and the 24 Future Air Quality in Los Angeles, Air 25 Quality Management in Los Angeles, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 18 1 Perspectives on Past and Future Emission 2 Controls, Accelerating Mobile Source 3 Emissions Reductions, California's 4 Experience and Recommendations to 5 Developing Countries on Environmental 6 Control. 7 "Now, therefore, be it resolved that 8 this Board expresses its heartfelt 9 appreciation to Dr. Lloyd for his six 10 years of leadership on this Board and 11 his substantial contribution to 12 improving air quality for all 13 Californians as their principal advocate 14 for clean and healthful air. 15 "Be if further resolved that the 16 Board wishes Dr. Lloyd congratulations 17 and the very best during the next phase 18 of his service to the people of 19 California as the Secretary of the 20 California Environmental Protection 21 Agency." 22 So I would move adoption of the resolution at 23 this time. 24 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: Second. 25 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Motion and a second. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 19 1 All those in favor say aye. 2 (Ayes.) 3 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: The adoption of the 4 resolution is so ordered. 5 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Catherine, do you... 6 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: I think it's 7 obvious from the video how much the staff loves you. And 8 I also hold Alan's reputation as the principal reason that 9 this Board was not proposed for elimination in the 10 Governor's reorganization plan. And the aura he brings to 11 the entire agency and to the staff has served us all in 12 good stead. 13 And Alan turns around and credits the staff with 14 everything. As many accomplishments as he has, he holds 15 them out to the staff. 16 And we tease him that the sign of excellence at 17 the Air Resources Board if you make the chairman cry at 18 the Board meeting. But what that really is about is that 19 he feels so profoundly the importance of teamwork, of 20 excellence, of dedication to the cause. And it just comes 21 out in his pores and in his body when he experiences it in 22 the Board meetings and in any other session. And, you 23 know, he gives you one of those brisk Welsh hugs, which is 24 sort of a stiffed -- he's not like a really close huggy 25 person, but he'll clap you hard on the shoulder, "What a PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 20 1 good job you just did." And he does that for everybody on 2 the staff. 3 And we're going to miss him. But Secretary 4 Tamminen spent about half of his time on air quality 5 issues. So we expect to see Alan quite a bit in his new 6 role. 7 (Laughter.) 8 (Applause.) 9 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Okay. You have 10 precisely three minutes. 11 (Laughter.) 12 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: And what's the penalty 13 if I don't comply? 14 (Laughter.) 15 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Oh, we will impose some 16 regulation on you. 17 (Laughter.) 18 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: But it won't be due 19 until four minutes and a half. 20 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Well, first of all, I'm 21 really humbled by the whole experience. The video, staff 22 did just a tremendous job. And whoever helped you with 23 that or guided coming up with those in Wales, you know, 24 church music -- it's strange in Wales, you would sing 25 hymns on Sundays, but you would also sing hymns at Rugby PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 21 1 matches, you would sing hymns when you were sober, you 2 would sing hymns when you were drunk. 3 (Laughter.) 4 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: And it still continues. 5 So it was very appropriate and very moving and just a 6 wonderful job. And looking back at those, there were some 7 very fond memories. So thank you so much whoever's 8 involved. That was just a great job, and that will be 9 with me obviously forever. And -- 10 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We have copies 11 for you to take too. 12 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: Oh, wonderful. And I 13 know I and my family and -- Diana, my wife, will really 14 treasure those, as I send also some to my family over in 15 the U.K. 16 I'm most overwhelmed by the gesture of the Board. 17 And I continue to be impressed by the caliber of my 18 colleagues -- all my colleagues on the Board. As I look 19 here and I look at each of you, I'm tremendously impressed 20 by the caliber or your dedication. And of course having 21 Chairman Riordan, who was a great help to me when I first 22 came on the Board, with her mentorship there. But all of 23 you individually making tremendous contributions in 24 various areas. 25 And also the former colleagues that I served PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 22 1 with: Mr. Joe Calhoun, Dr. Bill Friedman, Professor Hugh 2 Friedman, Mr. Matt McKinnon, and Dr. Bill Burke. All of 3 those brought a tremendous asset to the Board. And I 4 think California's so well served by the caliber of their 5 appointment, both from Governor Davis and Governor 6 Schwarzenegger. 7 So while it was tough to see some Board members 8 go, it was wonderful to see the caliber of other peoples 9 coming in and to see the diversity that is on the Board. 10 So tremendous inspiration to me. 11 And the ARB regulatory process to me is a 12 wonderful example of public participation at its best. 13 And I think this is one which, as Catherine said, led to 14 the fact that CPR didn't recommend elimination of the 15 Board. As my comment would be, if you want to eliminate 16 this Board, then there's no other boards that should 17 remain. 18 And so I was fortunate enough to continue the 19 long tradition of working with the Board and with the 20 staff. And I think the Board has just got -- just done a 21 wonderful job. And I think the people of California are 22 so well served by the caliber of the Board. And the fact 23 is that I think we got the respect of people throughout 24 the world. We don't always agree, but I think they 25 respect that. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 23 1 I'm also humbled by the opportunity to serve two 2 governors, I think -- but energized in fact everyday. And 3 I say the Chairman of the Air Board was the best job I've 4 ever had. And it's true. But on the other hand, 5 reflection: There wasn't a day when I got up in the 6 morning and felt it was work. It was a privilege. 7 Energized by working together on truly also bipartisan 8 issues. And when I listened to people, whether they were 9 high-priced lawyers from Washington or people coming from 10 the community, whether I went out on tours to the rich 11 communities, to the less fortunate communities, I always 12 learned a tremendous lot. And that also made me dedicated 13 to fight for the people who were less fortunate than us, 14 and I think that's very important. 15 And that was also put in context most recently I 16 think when we look at the people in Indonesia. And I was 17 particularly moved by someone who was asked, listening to 18 NPR, "Are you going to start your business again given the 19 tsunami coming in?" And this person replied, "Start my 20 business? I have no boat. I have no family. What is 21 there to start?" 22 So with that background, we have such wonderful 23 opportunities in California. Working together, 24 differences should come together, no matter where we are 25 in life, no matter where we come from. I think this Board PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 24 1 is a wonderful example of what we can do. This Governor 2 is inspirational and Secretary Tamminen's inspirational in 3 setting some of the goals that we need to achieve in his 4 environmental action plan. Particularly inspirational to 5 me to work with this group, work with a wonderful staff of 6 the Air Resources Board, great team at Cal EPA in this 7 building. 8 And for those people who criticize government 9 workers or don't know exactly what they do, I say come to 10 this building, look at the commitment, look at the hard 11 work. It's truly a pleasure. I say, I have the 12 opportunity and the honor to serve the people of 13 California for a period of time, and it's truly an honor. 14 I thank again Diana, my wife. As Catherine said, 15 I get emotional. I've learned -- I'm old enough now, I 16 don't feel I have to apologize because that's my true 17 emotion. And the good thing about being around for a long 18 time, people know what you do, what you can't do. 19 But I say I want to thank Diana for her great 20 support. And whenever I go home at the weekends where I 21 do see her and I'm feeling all buoyant about taking on a 22 big challenge and winning battles, then she's a great 23 sounding board to keep me on a level keel, and that's 24 very, very important. 25 Also I would like to again specifically thank all PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 25 1 the staff at the Air Resources Board, the Executive 2 Office, my staff at the Chair's office. And I'd like to 3 thank Mike Kinney when he was here, and then Catherine 4 Witherspoon, current Executive Officer. And Catherine was 5 a great help to me going through the various stages. And 6 we have -- we have fought together, we have laughed 7 together, we have cried together, a great experience. And 8 we'll continue to do that. And that's one of the things 9 that I will be able -- to bring my experience at the Air 10 Resources Board will help me as I move forward in the 11 tough challenges ahead for Cal EPA and looking at the CPR. 12 I'd like to thank also all the mentors that I've 13 had, continue to use those both here and in DC and other 14 parts, all the stakeholders that's come before our Board. 15 I think the -- all wonderful experiences, learning 16 experiences, all commitments. 17 And, lastly, I'd like to say that I'm honored to 18 follow in the footsteps again of the previous Secretaries 19 of Cal EPA, having served under Secretary Hickox, most 20 recently Secretary Terry Tamminen. 21 And, again, so delighted that Secretary Tamminen 22 now is cabinet secretary. And the boost that he gave Cal 23 EPA and the support he's given the Governor in the 24 environmental area, his leadership, and the Governor's 25 leadership I think makes it for us all worthwhile, that at PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 26 1 this time with us working together and with this Governor 2 and with the needs of the world, the needs of California, 3 we really can and will make a difference. 4 Thank you all so much. Thank you. 5 (Applause.) 6 (Standing Applause.) 7 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Well, I think it was 8 definitely worth letting you go over three minutes. 9 (Laughter.) 10 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: I just lastly want to 11 for myself personally thank Alan as a friend, as a mentor 12 as well. I did want to mention, Alan once gave me the 13 honor of being co-chair of the World Fuel Cell Conference 14 a few years ago, and it was in Switzerland. And I thought 15 this is wonderful, what a way to travel. And then two 16 days before I was to go, after everything had been printed 17 up, because of the budget crisis Governor Davis imposed a 18 freeze on international flight. 19 Fortunately I had enough contributions in my 20 candidates fund that I could go ahead and go anyways. But 21 it was an -- I just -- but that's an example of the kind 22 of respect we all get around the world because of the 23 people in this room and this building and because of the 24 leadership of people like Alan Lloyd. 25 And the amazing thing to me, when Alan called me PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 27 1 and told me -- and I'm sure my colleagues felt this way, 2 particularly those who have been in elected office -- 3 was -- and I think Barbara alluded to this in her 4 comments -- was that someone who is just such a good human 5 being could continue to do so well in an environment that 6 is so -- I'm choosing my words here -- full of the 7 everyday aspects of politics. And it's really a positive 8 reflection on this administration and on Terry and on the 9 Governor that they chose you to go into your position. 10 So it's with great honor, Alan, that I give this 11 to you. And I think of a quote, while you were speaking, 12 from Henry David Thoreau who said, "The greatest thing 13 that a human being can do in their life is to" -- "The 14 greatest art form a human being could do in their life is 15 to elevate the quality of every day in their life." And 16 certainly you have done that in your career, and just the 17 way you carry yourself. 18 So God speed, good luck. And I guess part of 19 this is good bye, but another part of it is 20 congratulations. So on behalf of all of my colleagues, 21 I'm really pleased to present this to you. 22 (Applause.) 23 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Mr. Secretary says now 24 we can go on to our work. 25 (Laughter.) PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 28 1 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: However, we have to 2 honor the really important person who's going with you. 3 CAL EPA SECRETARY LLOYD: That's right. But for 4 this phase, thank you so much indeed. And clearly as I 5 think Chairman Riordan said -- Chairperson Riordan -- that 6 clearly I'll be keeping an eye and -- but I know that this 7 Board is in great hands. 8 (Applause.) 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Our Chief Executive 10 Officer just reminded me we didn't take roll. But we'll 11 do that in a moment. We need to do one more thing. We 12 have another resolution. 13 We have I think so well said our admiration for 14 our former chair, now Mr. Secretary. And he was such a 15 wise man that he took from us an individual who really is 16 key to a good organization. The Board wants to say to 17 Charlyn Frazier how much we appreciate your help in 18 keeping this diverse board organized. 19 And for those members who are new, let me just 20 share with you. You would have found that Charlyn is key 21 to our well being, because she somehow got us all to 22 Sacramento at the right time, at the right place and then 23 home again after a meeting. Or if we were on the road, 24 she somehow organized us to be at another location for a 25 board meeting and got us there on time and, again, got us PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 29 1 back to our home address. And that is no easy trick with 2 this diverse board. 3 And so to Charlyn, who our wise Secretary has 4 decided to take with him, we want to say thank you. We 5 have a resolution. I'm going to paraphrase some of this 6 very quickly, to say: 7 You've served with distinction, Charlyn Frazier, 8 since July of 1999, in anticipating our needs, ensuring 9 those needs were satisfied, and somehow winning our 10 confidence and appreciation. 11 You certainly have helped our Chairman and we've 12 noted that, as his personal assistant, giving him the 13 ability to travel efficiently, to be effective as a 14 speaker on his global trips, that is so important. And we 15 also just appreciate so much what you have done for us and 16 for making this such a pleasurable place to be. She 17 provides that we are fed. She provides coffee. She 18 provides all those things that make us at least half of 19 what we are as we sit here for hours and hours during the 20 testimony, because it is a long, long day. And we do need 21 sustenance. 22 And so, therefore, be it resolved that the Air 23 Resources Board members recognize and sincerely thank 24 Charlyn Frazier for her outstanding service on their 25 behalf. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 30 1 And be it further resolved that the Air Resources 2 Board wishes Charlyn the very best in her new position and 3 hopes that she will come back to visit us often. 4 And we've all signed this. And we'd like to 5 invite you forward. And I'll meet you right down here and 6 present you your resolution, which we will frame. 7 And I want to bring Supervisor DeSaulnier with me 8 for another presentation. 9 You go ahead an then I'll -- 10 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Well, I added some 11 excitement this morning because I decided to stop at the 12 florist and get you some flowers. And then on the way 13 over here I couldn't help notice that the men passed me by 14 and looked at me like "Uh-oh, he's in trouble," and the 15 women passed me by and said, "Oh, isn't that sweet." 16 (Laughter.) 17 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: And actually I said, 18 "No, this is for Charlyn Frazier." 19 Charlyn, thank you for all your help on behalf of 20 all of my colleagues. A small token. 21 (Applause.) 22 MS. FRAZIER: Well, this is a very pleasant 23 surprise. Thank you all. And I'll just take a moment to 24 express what an enriching and rewarding experience it's 25 been working with this Board for the past six years. It PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 31 1 has truly been my pleasure to form the friendships that I 2 have formed in the last six years and I hope that they 3 continue. 4 But as sad as it is for me to leave this 5 position, you know what a lucky individual I am to 6 continue to get to work with Dr. Lloyd on a one-on-one 7 basis. He certainly is a joy to work with. 8 And thank you. And I will come back to see you. 9 It will be hard to stay away on Board day. 10 Thank you very much. 11 (Applause.) 12 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Charlyn. 13 Thank you, again, everyone who attended. 14 I'm just going to take a bit of a break just for 15 the staff to move forward. And for those of you who need 16 to go back to your offices, feel free to go back at any 17 time. 18 And we'll move on to the next agenda item after 19 roll call. But let's have the staff move forward for Item 20 No. 5-1-1. 21 Madam Clerk, let me ask that you take roll now. 22 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Thank you. 23 Ms. Berg? 24 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Present. 25 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Ms. D'Adamo? PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 32 1 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Here. 2 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Supervisor DeSaulnier? 3 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Here. 4 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Dr. Gong? 5 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Here. 6 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Ms. Kennard? 7 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Here. 8 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Mayor Loveridge? 9 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: Here. 10 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Supervisor Patrick? 11 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: Here. 12 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Ms. Pineda? 13 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: Here. 14 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: Supervisor Roberts? 15 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Here. 16 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: And Madam Chairman 17 Riordan? 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Here. 19 Thank you. 20 This is Item 5-1-1. 21 And let me remind anyone in the audience who 22 wishes to testify on today's agenda items to please sign 23 up with the Clerk to the Board. Also, if you have any 24 written statement, please give 30 copies to the clerk. 25 Thank you very much. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 33 1 This is our monthly informational health update. 2 And let me just remind you that the Board has 3 over the years greatly reduced the outside ozone levels in 4 California. However, our first item indicates that some 5 so-called air cleaners result in harmful levels of ozone 6 indoors. 7 And so let me call on Ms. Witherspoon to 8 introduce this first item. 9 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Madam 10 Chairman, and good morning. 11 For several years staff have been tracking the 12 problem of air cleaners that intentionally generate ozone 13 in homes and other indoor places. Studies show that these 14 devices can produce indoor ozone levels that exceed 15 ambient air quality standards. ARB, the Department of 16 Health Services, U.S. EPA and other groups have warned the 17 public to avoid using these devices in buildings. 18 However, a growing number of companies are aggressively 19 marketing these devices and targeting the most susceptible 20 individuals such as those with asthma and other 21 respiratory diseases. Neither state nor federal agencies 22 have a clear mandate to address this growing problem. 23 In the following item staff will summarize a 24 recent study that measured indoor levels of ozone when an 25 ozone-generating air cleaner was used inside a home. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 34 1 Staff will also discuss our concerns about these devices 2 and actions that ARB and others have taken so far to try 3 and address the problem. Tom Phillips from the Research 4 Division's indoor air quality group has worked on this 5 problem for many years and will make the staff 6 presentation. 7 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was 8 Presented as follows.) 9 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Thank you, 10 Ms. Witherspoon. 11 And good morning, Madam Chairman and members of 12 the Board. 13 Ozone-generating air purifiers are portable 14 appliances that purportedly remove indoor air pollutants 15 by using an electronic technology. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: There are two 18 types of ozone-generating air purifiers or air cleaners. 19 First, some are designed to purposely emit ozone. 20 The ozone is produced by electrical discharges or 21 sparking. The amount of ozone produced varies by the size 22 of the unit and the output settings on the unit. These 23 devices typically do nothing more than generate ozone. 24 They do not collect or trap particles or gases. 25 Some other types of electronic air cleaners PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 35 1 generate ozone as a byproduct of the technology they use 2 to remove particles from the air. For example, ionizers 3 produce negative ions that attach to particles in the 4 room, causing them to deposit on the floor, walls and 5 other surfaces in the room. 6 Electrostatic precipitators electrically charge 7 particles and then trap them with oppositely charged 8 plates insight the device. 9 Although few studies have shown that some models 10 of ionizers and electrostatic precipitators can sometimes 11 emit ozone levels that are elevated, our focus is on ozone 12 generators or those that emit ozone purposely because they 13 appear to propose the greatest health risk. 14 So for the rest of this presentation I will use 15 the term "ozone generators" to refer to those devices that 16 purposely emit ozone. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: The public 19 health community is concerned because research studies 20 have shown that the use of ozone generators can result in 21 harmful levels of indoor ozone; that is, levels at or 22 above our state standard of 90 parts per billion or 90 23 ppb. For example, ozone generators have produced over 300 24 parts per billion in a test house within an hour or two of 25 operation over 400 parts per billion in a chamber PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 36 1 experiment. 2 Personal air purifiers, which are typically small 3 ozone-generating devices carried on a strap around the 4 user's neck, can produce 100 parts per billion of ozone 5 near the user's face. 6 We have an example of one of these personal air 7 purifiers that I'll ask the Board secretary to pass to 8 you. It is an earlier model that we tested in 1998. As 9 you will notice, the ozone odor can be detected at the 10 opening of the device within a minute or two after it is 11 turned on. There's a little switch on the side. 12 These types of electronic air cleaners have been 13 marketed aggressively for years, mostly by door-to-door, 14 mail-order, and Internet sales methods. Newspaper, radio 15 and TV ads for some models have boomed in the last few 16 years. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Here's an 19 example -- or a sample of the current ads for ozone 20 generators that are used in marketing these devices. The 21 ads often include claims that the devices can remove many 22 types of indoor air pollutants. And they're often 23 targeted at those people most susceptible to the ill 24 effects of ozone, such as the elderly and those with 25 asthma, who purchase these devices in hopes of improving PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 37 1 their health. 2 The ads often use misleading terms such as 3 super-oxygenated, activated oxygen, or trivalent oxygen 4 when referring to the ozone that is emitted. 5 These ads and increasing concerns about indoor 6 air quality have heightened consumer interest in indoor 7 air cleaners in recent years. This interest is reflected 8 in the large number of website hits for our fact sheet on 9 residential air cleaners. That website received about 10 10,000 hits in 2002, 11,000 hits in 2003, and nearly 11 20,000 hits in 2004, nearly double the number of hits for 12 each of the two previous years. 13 Additionally, this website has been among the 14 most popular of our health-related websites over the last 15 few years. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Despite the 18 claims of manufacturers and distributors, ozone generators 19 are ineffective at cleaning indoor air. Independent 20 studies have shown that they do not remove particles, and 21 only a few VOC's react and are removed. In contrast to 22 ozone's effectiveness in purifying water for some 23 applications, ozone cannot eliminate airborne bacteria, 24 mold or viruses in occupied spaces because very high 25 levels of ozone, 5,000 parts per billion or more, are PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 38 1 needed to kill them. 2 Even if ozone generators are used in unoccupied 3 spaces to generate high levels of ozone, the deadened cell 4 parts remain and can trigger asthma and allergy symptoms 5 in sensitive individuals. 6 In addition, ozone emitted indoors can lead to 7 significant increases in the indoor levels of formaldehyde 8 and other aldehydes, other VOC's and ultrafine particulate 9 matter through reaction with other chemicals present in 10 the indoor air. 11 Some of these reaction products are listed as 12 toxic air contaminants and can irritate the mucous 13 membranes and respiratory tract or cause other health 14 impacts. 15 Ozone deadens the sense of smell, giving the 16 occupants a false sense of security because they cannot 17 detect any indoor odors including elevated ozone levels. 18 Although the ozone generators can produce harmful levels 19 of ozone, no state or federal agency has clear regulatory 20 authority to limit indoor ozone emissions from air 21 cleaners. 22 --o0o-- 23 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Most 24 published information on emissions from ozone generators 25 has been obtained from tests conducted in research PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 39 1 chambers. However, in the study I will discuss today Dr. 2 Mason and other researchers at U.S. EPA tested ozone 3 generators in a test house in addition to conducting 4 chamber tests. This study important because it confirmed 5 that the conclusions drawn from earlier chamber studies 6 hold true in real world settings. 7 First, the EPA investigators tested four models 8 of ozone generators in the test chamber. Then they 9 extensively tested the highest emitting model in the test 10 house. The ozone generator was located in either the 11 kitchen or den and the ozone levels were measured in the 12 den and bedroom. 13 The ozone generator was tested under different 14 conditions. First the ozone output was set at either 15 maximum or medium. Next the home's central air system was 16 set to either on or off. 17 Finally, this unit had an ozone sensor designed 18 to automatically shut the unit off when ozone levels of 50 19 parts per billion were detected. And this sensor was set 20 to either on or off. 21 --o0o-- 22 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: This graph 23 summarizes the key test home results for the highest 24 emitting ozone generator. Indoor levels of ozone after 25 they reached a steady level are shown on the left axis in PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 40 1 parts per billion. The test conditions are shown on the 2 bottom. The ozone sensor was turned off in the test shown 3 in this graph. 4 The two sets of bars on the left show the results 5 when the unit was at the maximum ozone setting and located 6 in the kitchen. The resulting indoor ozone levels in both 7 the den and bedroom reached about 170 parts per billion, 8 nearly twice the California ambient air quality standard 9 of 90 parts per billion for one hour. 10 When the central air was turned off, as seen in 11 the middle set of bars, levels in the den reached 310 12 parts per billion, over three times the state standard, 13 and 225 parts per billion in the bedroom. 14 The third set of bars on the far right show the 15 results when the unit was located in the den and operated 16 at medium ozone setting with the central air on. 17 As it shows, even at the medium setting with 18 higher circulation and dilution, the den ozone levels were 19 still nearly double the state standard level. 20 --o0o-- 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Dr. Mason's 22 team concluded that the ozone generators they tested can 23 generate steady state in-home levels of ozone that exceed 24 standard levels that protect public health. 25 In other tests they found that the ozone sensor PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 41 1 on one model limited the indoor ozone levels to less than 2 550 parts per billion. However, very few models have such 3 a sensor. Also, we remain concerned because their 4 lifetime and long-term effectiveness have not been tested. 5 And, more importantly, on some models the sensors can be 6 turned off by the user. 7 Finally, the Mason team found that the ozone 8 levels measured in the test home agreed reasonable well 9 with the model estimates developed from the results from 10 the chamber tests, particularly at the higher ozone 11 levels. 12 The results of this study and other studies of 13 ozone generators have serious implications for public 14 health. Vulnerable populations such as persons with 15 asthma or respiratory diseases and the elderly are often 16 targeted in the marketing of these devices. 17 Traditionally the use of ozone generators appears 18 to be -- I'm sorry. Additionally, the use of ozone 19 generators appears to be widespread and growing in 20 California. Reliable sales data on ozone generators are 21 not available. However, national market data indicate 22 that the sale of all other types of portable air cleaners 23 has grown by 34 percent in the past five years and is 24 expected to continue at this rate. This, plus the 25 increasing advertising noted earlier and inquiries we PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 42 1 received from the public, raise our concern that these 2 devices are negating the public health gains achieved in 3 reducing outdoor ozone. 4 --o0o-- 5 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Several 6 groups have taken actions to address ozone generators, but 7 have not had any notable success. Starting in the 1990's 8 ARB staff sent letters to two manufacturers of ozone 9 generators asking them to halt the sale of their products 10 in California. 11 From 1996 to 1998, staff participated on a 12 national task force initiated by Underwriters Laboratory 13 to develop performance standards for portable air 14 cleaners. But this effort failed in part due to lack of 15 industry cooperation. 16 In 1998 we tested ozone concentrations produced 17 by a popular personal air purifier and published a journal 18 article on our results. 19 In 2000 we published a fact sheet on residential 20 air cleaners in which we advised against using ozone 21 generators and recommend other alternatives. 22 Others have taken some actions as well. In 1997, 23 with input from ARB, the Department of Health Services 24 issued a public health warning and press release that 25 recommended against using ozone generators. U.S. EPA, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 43 1 Health Canada and some other states have issued similar 2 warnings. 3 In 2000 the Federal Trade Commission successfully 4 sued Alpine Air, a major manufacturer of ozone generators, 5 about making false claims about the health benefits of 6 their products. 7 --o0o-- 8 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Based on the 9 available data, we conclude that ozone generators pose an 10 unnecessary risk to Californians' health. Use of these 11 devices can result in indoor ozone levels equal to a Stage 12 1 smog alert, thus negating the health gains California 13 has made by reducing outdoor ozone levels. 14 Additionally, alternative technologies for 15 cleaning indoor air are available that are safe and 16 effective. High efficiency particle attenuation or `HEPA 17 filters are especially effective in removing particles 18 from air. 19 Most importantly, we believe that ozone emissions 20 from air cleaners should be regulated to protect public 21 health. However, clear regulatory authority is needed to 22 achieve this goal. 23 --o0o-- 24 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: In this final 25 slide, we have listed the names of some of the ozone PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 44 1 generator brands and models that are currently on the 2 market. Most of the brands listed have several ozone 3 generator models available, including smaller models for 4 use in boats, vehicles, bathrooms or other special 5 situations or as personal air purifiers. 6 We have not conducted an exhaustive search, but 7 are aware of other brands and models that are currently 8 marketed as well. We encourage consumers to use the 9 information available on our website and that of others 10 such U.S. EPA to help them select an effective and safe 11 air cleaner. 12 That concludes my presentation. I will be happy 13 to answer any questions you have. 14 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you very much. 15 And I know that following this report, I believe we're 16 going to do a press release, am I correct, Ms. 17 Witherspoon, that would again alert the public to this. 18 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: That's correct. 19 Public education is the biggest tool we have at the moment 20 until the Legislature chooses to take this up and 21 authorize someone to regulate or ban these devices. 22 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Board members, 23 questions, comments? 24 Ms. D'Adamo and then Dr. Gong. 25 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: I'd like to follow up on PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 45 1 the FTC suit. Who was it filed -- which company was it 2 filed against, or was it multiple? 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: It was Alpine 4 Air, which also markets products under the name of Living 5 Air, I believe and Ecoquest. And then they may have also 6 listed the name of the president of the company, Mr. 7 Converse. We have a link in our fact sheet on the 8 decision, a website for that decision so consumers can see 9 that as well. 10 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Well, it seems to me that 11 FTC could go far beyond, you know, just the one company. 12 And then also what about the Attorney General's 13 Office? There's a Consumer Fraud Division unit within the 14 Attorney General's Office. And it seems to me that 15 they're not just making false claims about the health. 16 But the studies that ARB has done indicates that actually 17 they're false claims regarding it's the unit's ability to 18 purify the air regarding the microbes and other items. 19 Have we been coordinating with the Attorney 20 General's Office or can we? 21 SENIOR STAFF COUNSEL OLIVER: Yes, Ms. D'Adamo, 22 we have referred that case to the Attorney General's 23 Office. And we just didn't get very fare with them on 24 prosecuting it under those claims. 25 And with the FTC and their action, the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 46 1 manufacturers are very clever at altering the claims they 2 make about these products to get around any kind of relief 3 that the regulatory agencies have been able to obtain 4 against them for these kind of trade claims. And as 5 evidence of that they can point to all those additional 6 companies that have gotten into this market and all the 7 additional units that we've seen out on the field despite 8 the fact that there are these existing trade claim 9 successes that have been obtained against these companies. 10 So we feel realistically that if we're going to 11 be able to do anything about them, that we need some 12 authority to go in and control actually the products 13 themselves, not just the claims that are made about their 14 efficiency or their health benefits. 15 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Does Legal staff concur? 16 I mean wouldn't it be worth it to try again with the 17 Attorney General's Office? 18 GENERAL COUNSEL JOHNSTON: We have raised -- 19 we've reviewed our request to -- the A.G.'s Office to look 20 at these products. And we will continue to follow up with 21 them to see what their position is currently, and also 22 advise them of the new research that we've done. 23 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: I think that I can 24 safely say that the Board has renewed interest and new 25 information that might cause them to rethink their PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 47 1 position. 2 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Yeah. And then I have a 3 couple more questions, Madam Chair. 4 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Go right ahead. 5 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: I think I've seen some ads 6 for these purifiers that market it as -- market them as 7 generating no ozone. Is that something that you're seeing 8 out there with -- the staff is seeing with some of these 9 companies? And if so, is that an accurate claim? Can 10 these machines work without the generation of ozone? 11 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: Well, we're 12 seeing kind of a real confusion in the marketing or the 13 types of devices out there and the way they're presented. 14 It's not clear to the consumers and even to us when we try 15 to get specifics on some of the devices. I think the 16 majority of the marketing that we're running across, say, 17 on TV and radio, a lot of it anyway is for ionizers, which 18 do produce a fairly low amount of ozone compared to these 19 ozone generators. Some of them can produce a significant 20 amount over time, but there's not -- we don't have much 21 data on those. We are gathering information on those. 22 There are also some units that have, say, 23 multiple technologies. They may have an ionizer 24 technology plus an ozone generating function plus some 25 kind of filter or activated carbon and so on. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 48 1 So the consumer is probably not -- cannot easily 2 find out what the ozone risks are for many of these 3 devices. 4 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Okay. And then last 5 question. U.S. EPA are, there they sort of in a similar 6 position that we're in as far as authority? Or is there 7 perhaps greater leeway that they may have? 8 INDOOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SECTION MANAGER 9 JENKINS: Yes. Peggy Jenkins. 10 They, like us, don't really have direct 11 authority. They have an additional, I guess, constraint 12 in that several years ago there was a bill passed by 13 Congress that essentially prohibited them from taking 14 regulatory action. So they actually have a little 15 stronger mandate against taking action than we do. 16 Although they've pursued some of the similar, you know, 17 efforts that we have in terms of their public information 18 and research to identify what the factual information is. 19 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Dr. Gong. 20 BOARD MEMBER GONG: I'd like to thank staff for 21 an excellent report. It's very informative. 22 The Mason article is actually probably one of 23 your key references, I assume. And it does, again, show 24 the correlation -- good correlation between chamber and 25 house -- I'll put it that way -- environments. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 49 1 The little portable or personal ozone generator 2 that was passed amongst the Board members, that really is 3 ozone coming out. And the reason I know that is that we 4 use ozone in our research studies. And that's ozone. And 5 it's very interesting that it's just coming out right 6 there. 7 I was thinking facetiously, boy, we could use 8 this in our research studies. It's probably less 9 expensive than buying these humungous little expensive 10 devices to make ozone. But the problem is, scientifically 11 we want good ozone or pure ozone. And as you pointed out, 12 these types of generators are bringing in room air filled 13 with this contaminants, and it actually changes that air 14 and it produces contaminants on the other side, like the 15 ultrafine particles, like the aldehydes. We don't want 16 that obviously for our research projects. And I kind of 17 wondered do you want that if you're a personal user of it? 18 That's something to consider. And we -- I remember in the 19 good old days the researchers who were using ozone and 20 room air to generate it were criticized because they were 21 producing some contaminants inside the chambers where they 22 were doing their studies. That's one quick comment. 23 The other more medically-related comments. 24 You're right, there is confusion. If you look at all the 25 ads -- and I get these ads, not just from my personal PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 50 1 looking at the journals and magazines, but the patients 2 bring them in. And I look at the ads and I can't tell 3 whether these machines make ozone. And I assume it's not 4 a requirement for manufacturers to state in black and 5 white is ozone produced and how much. And you'd think 6 that would be -- well, maybe they don't want to say that. 7 Some do obviously, because they think that turns some 8 people on the super-oxygen business. So it's a selling 9 point. 10 But be that as it may, the literature or the 11 advertisements are confusing. And that's one point. I 12 just -- you can't tell. The consumer can't tell. The 13 doctor's can't tell. 14 In fact, some of these air purifiers, whether 15 they're pure ozone generators or mixed or whatever, also 16 have some actually stamp of approval from medical 17 societies, such as the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of 18 America and the British Allergy Foundation. This also is 19 confusing, because it looks like it has a medical stamp of 20 approval, which I'm not sure exactly how -- what the 21 process was, to be honest with you. 22 And I'm not trying to criticize my allergist 23 colleagues. But I'm just saying there should be full 24 disclosure as to how come you guys are actually saying 25 okay and letting the manufacturers use their symbols, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 51 1 their logos. So there must be some type of relationship. 2 But what type is it? I think that's fair to ask. 3 There's a lot of other things I could say. But I 4 think even the allergy literature is very uncertain about 5 the efficacy of ozone generators and even room air 6 purifiers. I keep seeing editorials in the medical 7 journals, allergy journals saying that essentially 8 there's -- the effectiveness of many of these products 9 really has not been adequately shown. Doesn't mean that 10 it doesn't exist, but it's been very difficult to prove in 11 terms of causing a health improvement. Most manufacturers 12 do not document the efficacy, cost effectiveness, and 13 time-related limitations of their products. 14 So, again, I think more disclosure, full 15 disclosure by the manufacturers, even by ARB in terms of 16 its educational outreach, are very important. 17 And I think I should stop at that point. 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Dr. Gong. 19 I think for staff -- Dr. Gong raises some 20 interesting issues, and it would be I think wise for us to 21 sort of look at some of those and maybe bring back to the 22 Board some even further recommendations for maybe some 23 sort of action plan. 24 Member Kennard had a question. 25 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Thank you. I have three PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 52 1 related questions. 2 First is if you could restate what you think the 3 numbers of these units are out there in the universe. 4 And, second, have you seen a decrease in the rate 5 of growth of sales as a result of the DHS warnings or any 6 other kind of public warnings on this issue? 7 And if the sales are in fact decreasing or the 8 rate of sales is decreasing, what do you believe to be 9 kind of the useful life of these units, so that over time 10 these units will basically be retired, the equipment will 11 be out of usage? 12 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: I would 13 generally plead lack of data on answering these questions. 14 We mentioned there's just a lack of reliable sales data. 15 We've tried over the last month or two to track that down. 16 These types of manufacturers aren't in the mainstream of 17 commerce, if you will. And many of them are privately 18 held, so you can't go and get stockholders information and 19 so on. 20 In terms of the number of units, we know there's 21 many thousands. We just don't know how many. 22 In terms of the effect of the DHS press release, 23 we did not track that. We did not really see much change 24 in the advertising practices at that time. And, as we've 25 mentioned, it's boomed since then. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 53 1 In terms of the useful life of these devices, we 2 haven't seen any information on that. Except I think in 3 maybe one FTC submittal they were using numbers on the 4 order of five to ten years, but we don't really know. 5 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Let me -- 6 HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF BODE: 7 This is just to interject. This is Richard Bode. 8 One thing I wanted to say is I think the sales of 9 these cleaners are probably booming right now rather than 10 declining. There's so much interest right now from the 11 public about indoor air quality. And I don't know if you 12 noticed it at Christmas time. At that time I mean I heard 13 radio ads and TV ads. 14 What we don't have, and what Tom Phillips brought 15 up, is we don't have accurate data on which models are 16 selling and, you know, what's the product base. But just 17 seeing -- I think there's been what, a 34 percent increase 18 in air cleaner sales over the last five years. And we 19 know it's still going up. So I would expect these models 20 are going up with everything else. 21 The DHS press release actually came out what, 22 about seven years ago? So I think the impact of that's 23 probably been kind of worn off quite a while. So it's 24 probably about time we alert the public actually how these 25 things operate. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 54 1 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Let me just submit a 2 follow-up question to your answers; and, that is, that I 3 think it really does matter whether there's a thousand 4 units out there or a million or two million units, and 5 because there's going to be a significant difference 6 between the impact of a thousand units versus two million 7 units. 8 And it has an impact on your analysis. It also 9 has an impact on staff resources. And so I think it's 10 really important to understand the magnitude of the 11 problem. I don't want to diminish this issue at all and I 12 think it's significant. But I think it's very important 13 to understand the magnitude of the problem. 14 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We agree with 16 that completely. We're searching for those answers. 17 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Member Pineda and 18 then Mayor Loveridge. 19 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: First of all, I applaud the 20 effort to address this issue and to go out with a press 21 release. 22 I guess -- I'd like to find out, and perhaps you 23 can follow it up with just a summary of, sort of the 24 various means of educating the public. You know, I 25 presume that one mean would be the website. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 55 1 But, you know, as I'm sitting here, having 2 purchased two air purifies from Sharper Image late last 3 year, you know, I'm sitting here feeling confused as a 4 consumer. And is there any way that through our education 5 we can -- it almost seems like you can't really say that 6 there is a product that we know is a safe product. You've 7 either -- you've researched some and others you've not 8 researched. I wasn't clear about that. 9 But is there -- if there are products that we do 10 feel are safe -- well, you did actually allude to some 11 that you would recommend -- that we actually list those in 12 our website, and those that we think aren't safe, list 13 those, so that we can actually guide consumers to the 14 products that are safe for their purchase. 15 Secondly -- and perhaps I'll appear somewhat 16 naive. But on an issue where we don't have clear 17 authority, what has been, if there has been, a process to 18 try and raise the issue to the Legislature so that either 19 on a state basis or a federal basis somebody addresses the 20 issue of authority? You know, if we recognize that there 21 is a problem, then how do we go about authorizing an 22 agency to regulate the problem? 23 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Well, let me take 24 the second question first. 25 There's number of things going on in the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 56 1 Legislature. AS you might recall, a couple of years ago 2 the Legislature passed a bill requiring this Board to do a 3 comprehensive analysis of indoor air pollutants, their 4 sources, and the options for reducing them. And that 5 report will be before you in March. And so this is just 6 one subset of that. 7 Sometimes what happens is as we publish health 8 results, other organizations rush forward with them, like 9 the Lung Association, the National Resources Defense 10 Council, and they take that as part of their legislative 11 agenda for the year, and they move into the process 12 quickly. 13 Other times we ourselves take it to the 14 administration. There's an annual cycle for proposing 15 bills to the Governor. And then the Governor decides on 16 behalf of the entire administration what he wants his 17 agenda for the year to be. I can't tell you at this 18 moment in time because it's confidential what's before the 19 Governor for consideration. But this might be in the 20 package, and we'll see. 21 So you'll have both a comprehensive report that 22 sort of lays out indoor air quality as a large problem and 23 then there's individual pieces of it. 24 There's also times that the Air Resources Board 25 tests the limits of its authority. We've been working on PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 57 1 a measure for formaldehyde, which is present in both the 2 outdoor and indoor environment, as an air toxic control 3 measure. And it has been alleged to us we don't have the 4 authority to count the percent of that that is present 5 indoors and the risk that comes from the indoor exposures. 6 We believe that the statutes allow us to regulate because 7 of both the outdoor and indoor exposure, because outdoor 8 is present as well. And that regulation also will be 9 coming before you later this year, and we'll see how that 10 goes. 11 I think the public consciousness and political 12 conscious of indoor air has been gradually rising over the 13 last several years. 14 For a few years it was all focused on mold and 15 what to do about mold. But now there is a growing 16 appreciation. One -- prior to mold it was sick building 17 syndrome and baking out, building product gases and things 18 of that nature and having better ventilation. 19 Now people are beginning to see that it's a 20 multi-faceted situation with different parts to it and 21 different responses needed. 22 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Very good. Thank 23 you. 24 Mayor Loveridge. 25 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: Sort of related PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 58 1 comments. The question of demand. There clearly seems to 2 be a consumer interest preference, and if we're talking in 3 California terms, of not thousands but maybe millions of 4 potential customers of this stuff. 5 Just for my own curiosity maybe I should ask: 6 What is the -- if I wanted to buy one of these things, 7 what would it cost me? Or what range we talking about? 8 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: They cost -- 9 for the, say, room-size units they're on the order of, 10 say, low 100's to $200. The unit size for the whole 11 house, say, you know, up to 3, 4,000 square feet, those 12 will cost more like 3 or $400 or more, depending on, you 13 know, where you get it and any additional features. 14 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: So it's not a casual 15 choice; it's a -- 16 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: It's a big 17 market. 18 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: Yeah, it's one you have 19 to think about. 20 You have another -- again, sort of this customer 21 demand. You had alternatives are available, but you 22 didn't expand that. I guess maybe we don't want to go and 23 advertise alternatives. But what does that mean? I want 24 to have my house have good air? 25 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST PHILLIPS: There are a PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 59 1 lot of other air cleaners out there that have been shown, 2 say, in tests done by Consumer Reports. And those are 3 readily available for most people, you know, at their 4 local library and so on. And they -- some of them get 5 news coverage that show the different effectiveness of 6 some of these models in reducing things like tobacco 7 smoke. 8 And the industry actually -- for home appliances 9 the industry group does have a standard test that tests 10 for things like pet dander, allergens, and environmental 11 tobacco smoke. And they rate the effectiveness of many of 12 these types of air cleaners that are on the market. 13 But many of the electronic air cleaners like the 14 ionizers and ozone generators don't belong to that group 15 and don't use that kind of a test. So there is a basic 16 question of getting consistent reliable measurements of 17 effectiveness that consumers and researchers and everybody 18 can use. 19 At this point, we've looked at research studies 20 and Consumer Reports studies and have some idea of some of 21 the technologies that appear to be effective in removing 22 indoor air pollutants, at least -- mostly particles. A 23 few of them might remove gases. And we've covered that in 24 our fact sheet. However, the bottom line there is that 25 it's still more important to get rid of major indoor PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 60 1 pollutant sources and provide good ventilation, because 2 it's much more effective than trying to get the horse back 3 once it's out of the barn essentially. 4 INDOOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SECTION MANAGER 5 JENKINS: If I could just add something very quickly. The 6 web is actually a very interesting tool nowadays of 7 course. And something we only recently became aware of is 8 the great expansion in the number of models of all types 9 of air cleaners available. Literally there were hundreds 10 of models that we found on the web, you know, very 11 recently of ozone generators. Probably thousands of 12 alternative air cleaners. 13 These are the HEPA filters, the ionizers, 14 electrostatic precipitators. There's a very large number 15 of models; and they're increasing in the sense that a few 16 years ago we saw maybe, you know, two or three models from 17 a given company. Now there's a little bit of a bandwagon 18 approach. You see a range of models for boats. Now they 19 have small ones to go in your cars. Many more personal 20 air purifiers. 21 Back in late nineties when we studied one model, 22 there were just I think two available. Now I easily found 23 about eight or nine in a ten-minute stint last night. 24 Now, the sales. There's a recent study that was 25 published, or it's available at cost, by a company, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 61 1 Fredonia, that does this type of research. However, they 2 obtain data not from the pure ozone generator companies, 3 just from makers of other models that includes ionizers, 4 ESP's. Some of them also make ozone generator models. 5 But we don't have pure ozone generator data. But they did 6 find that the national I guess sales equaled in the 7 billions. 8 I believe the California estimate was about 50 9 million per year. And they did state from their research 10 that they saw no reason to believe that the current rate 11 of increase, the 34 percent over the last five years -- 12 they felt that that would continue at least for the next 13 four to five years. They did a projection and did confirm 14 they felt that would increase. 15 Now, again, that isn't specific to ozone 16 generators, but to all the other companies and also 17 other -- some of which to include ozone generators in 18 their suite of models available. I think the -- it is 19 just very difficult to obtain that information, your sales 20 data, from ozone generators. The one company we mentioned 21 earlier, Alpine Air, that went through the FDC lawsuit, 22 actually, you know, at the time of the lawsuit they put 23 out numbers about their sales that frankly we questioned. 24 We thought they were overstating at the time what their 25 sales were. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 62 1 But we also receive a lot of calls from the 2 public. We get some from medical doctors and others. And 3 I would say the rate of calls and interest, it tells me -- 4 I think people are buying things, but we're hoping not as 5 much as it appears, frankly. 6 So it is a substantial market. Certainly -- I 7 don't believe this many models would be put on the market 8 if there wasn't really some sales. But, you know, it 9 could be in the next few years we see a big decrease. 10 Maybe people aren't buying them at that rate. But I kind 11 of -- from what we've seen, we tend to think it's truly an 12 increasing problem. 13 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: One political side, it's 14 been an observation that voters are like an echo chamber, 15 no better, no worse than what they hear. 16 Can I go on to a web -- I mean if I -- Consumer 17 report, can I -- with a little work or a modest amount of 18 work can I find out information on what is a good product? 19 Is that -- can I do that? Can my wife go on Consumer 20 Reports and find -- 21 INDOOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SECTION MANAGER 22 JENKINS: We usually refer people to Consumer Reports 23 Because that's a group whose tests we trust. And they're 24 probably the major group that does routine or regular 25 testing -- PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 63 1 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: So there are places I 2 could go to -- if I wanted to get an air purifier that 3 would give some objective -- 4 INDOOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SECTION MANAGER 5 JENKINS: -- rating, right. 6 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Well, Mayor 7 Loveridge, what you find is where the most effective 8 devices at reducing particulate and dander and thing of 9 that nature. And you would not find the information we 10 brought you today of the harmful effects of ozone from 11 other types of devices. 12 So the HEPA filters are the safest thing to buy 13 at the moment. But as Dr. Gong indicated, there have been 14 contradictory medical findings about whether even they are 15 efficacious in terms of improving your health, but they do 16 take particles out of the air. 17 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Member Berg. 18 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Just a couple of comments on 19 labeling them. Can we notify Consumer Reports of the fact 20 that there is ozone being produced out of these types of 21 air cleaners? And would they do a study and label -- put 22 that information out to the public? 23 INDOOR EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SECTION MANAGER 24 JENKINS: They did issue a report in 1992, one of their 25 articles on air cleaners. They did list those that PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 64 1 produced ozone and they did recommend against them. They 2 recommended people don't buy them. And in their more 3 recent article in air cleaners they did not address ozone 4 emissions, and I don't really know why. They -- well, I 5 can't venture a guess. I can think of many reasons that 6 they -- 7 BOARD MEMBER BERG: What concerns me is that it's 8 2005 and that, you know, we're 13 years down the road. 9 The industry is obviously growing considerably. Also, the 10 number of products that are on the market that are 11 producing ozone is growing, I would venture to say, 12 considerably. And consumers are concerned about their 13 personal health and want to bring a product into the home. 14 And they might be bringing a product in that is 15 actually -- they would have been better off -- is this 16 correct, they would be better off without having that 17 product in their home?" And that really gravely concerns 18 me. 19 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We can renew our 20 contacts with Consumer Reports. And whether they write 21 about it again, it will be up to them. 22 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Of course. But at least if 23 we keep feeding them the data, I mean they do feel a 24 responsibility at least to the consumer. And I do -- you 25 know, me of all people, you know that I'm not a very good PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 65 1 alarmist. But I really find this disturbing. 2 Thank you. 3 HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF BODE: 4 I'd have to agree with you too, that there's a 5 great deal of confusion out to the public today. And so 6 what they really need is more information on the 7 effectiveness of these air cleaners and any side issues or 8 harmful effects as well. 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Ms. D'Adamo -- oh, 10 excuse me. Dr. Gong. 11 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Just along those lines. Even 12 inquiries to some of these medical societies to disclose 13 how come they're endorsing these products. Are they aware 14 of the health literature as well as the side effects 15 possibly? Tell me more about it, in other words. 16 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Ms. D'Adamo. 17 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: That's exactly what I was 18 going to say. 19 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. Perfect. 20 And now that the staff has opened up this 21 challenging question, I think truly if we could refer this 22 to you for some further study, and then sort of a road map 23 of a plan on how to protect the consumer and the breather. 24 I think this is very interesting and we need to decide how 25 to approach this the most effective way. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 66 1 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We'll tag that on 2 to our broader report about indoor air quality when we 3 come back in March. 4 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. I appreciate 5 that. 6 Any further questions, discussion? 7 Thank you, staff, very much. This is not a 8 regulatory item, so we don't have to officially close the 9 record. And, besides, we're going to hear more about this 10 later. 11 So if we might, staff, let's make our changes and 12 we'll go and move on to the next item, 5-1-2. 13 These are our research proposals. And if I 14 might, Dr. Cross, I'd like to pick up a little bit of time 15 here. So may I -- and I know someone's worked very hard 16 to do all of your work with the presentation. And yet I 17 think each Board member's had an opportunity to look at 18 the research proposals to have an opportunity to formulate 19 any questions they might have. 20 So may I, with your permission, leap forward and 21 say to the Board -- after I ask Dr. Gong, who has a 22 statement in just a moment -- I'm going to ask them to 23 make inquiries on the research proposals that are before 24 us and eliminate the presentation. 25 So, Dr. Gong, would you like before we begin that PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 67 1 to make your statement please. 2 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Thank you, Madam Chairman. 3 I'd like to make two statements actually. 4 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: All right. You may 5 make two statements. 6 (Laughter.) 7 BOARD MEMBER GONG: The first statement is, for 8 the other Board members, I'm a new grandfather. 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: That's right. 10 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Our granddaughter is in 11 Paris, France, so that complicates matters a little. But 12 we're going to enjoy seeing her shortly. 13 On to business, I would like to advise the Board 14 that I will recuse myself from the discussion and 15 consideration of and the vote on research proposal 16 2574-246, cardiovascular health effects of fine and 17 ultrafine particles during freeway travel. I do so 18 because of my affiliation with the Los Amigos Research and 19 Education Institute, which will be a subcontractor on this 20 project if the proposal is approved by the Board in 21 Resolution 05-2. 22 Thank you. 23 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Dr. Gong. 24 And congratulations, grandfather. 25 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Thank you. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 68 1 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: We will note that. 2 And we will take the items so that we can have that one 3 item separate from the rest of the items so that you can 4 recuse yourself appropriately. 5 So let me ask at this moment, Board members, do 6 you have any questions or comments on the items that are 7 before us at this time under research proposals? 8 Yes, member Kennard. 9 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: As to the first three, I'm 10 very happy to see that you are undertaking these three 11 very important studies relative to the traffic in southern 12 California and the impact of travel on people that live 13 adjacent to freeways. 14 And I'm particularly interested of course in the 15 LAX study, one that I was very involved in the process 16 when I was there. And just to give you some historical 17 background, it was -- the genesis of it was a lot of 18 anecdotal commentary that we received from residents in 19 and around the airport about black dust and soot on their 20 cars and in their lawn furniture and in their homes as a 21 result of the airport. 22 And it was very important I think for us to 23 finally get a study undertaken that gets to the origin of 24 this, because no doubt LAX is a big source of that 25 pollution; however, that is an area that's also at the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 69 1 intersection of two major freeways, oil refineries and a 2 highly urbanized area. And I think it's very important to 3 understand the contribution of the airport to all of that 4 urban air pollution. 5 So I hope that you take that into account as you 6 undertake this study, that it is not just -- in defense of 7 the airport, it is not just the airport that's a major 8 polluter around the airport. 9 Thank you. 10 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Member 11 Kennard. Wonderful points that you make. 12 Any other questions or comments for this? 13 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Just a quick comment. 14 Ms. D'Adamo. 15 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Ms. D'Adamo. 16 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: I'd like to compliment the 17 Research Division and Lynn Terry for working closely with 18 the agricultural stakeholders on the two items that are 19 before us today. And I understand from a number of 20 individuals that work within the agricultural community 21 that they're working with the Research Division regarding 22 future proposals that may come before us. So it's 23 important to have their input, and just want to thank you 24 for that. 25 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Dr. Gong, did you PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 70 1 have a comment or question on other than the 2574? 2 BOARD MEMBER GONG: Yes. I think that this is a 3 nice collection of different research projects. And I 4 noted as I was going through them with staff and on my own 5 that -- I was struck by the fact that there seemed to be 6 very interesting and informative studies looking at 7 sources of air pollution and also the exposure monitoring 8 of these exposure -- sources. 9 So I think -- obviously this is part of the 10 bigger picture of the research program at ARB, and I think 11 these were excellent proposals that are before the Board. 12 I also noted that in one or two of the proposals 13 there was a leveraging of monies from other ongoing 14 projects. And I think that was an excellent, outstanding 15 way of trying to get the most bang for your buck. And I 16 appreciate that from staff moving with that. 17 That's all. 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Dr. Gong. 19 Member Pineda and then Supervisor Roberts. 20 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: I just wanted to echo Dr. 21 Gong's comment, that I think this is a terrific collection 22 of research proposals. 23 And I just wanted to ask a question on the 24 funding of research. If you could sort of just maybe 25 summarize for me how we typically approach the research, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 71 1 to what extent is it underwritten by the state, so that 2 over time to what extent do we engage in joint research 3 with other facilities that also contribute dollars to the 4 research? 5 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The Air Resources 6 Board is one of the few agencies in state government that 7 is given a budget for pure scientific research. And 8 although that has shrunk over time, we still have I 9 believe it's five million in our base budget for this kind 10 of research. Because that's not as much money as we used 11 to have, we are especially attentive to opportunities to 12 work with other agencies at the state and local and 13 national level. 14 We often partner with the South Coast AQMD, with 15 the Department of Energy, with the U.S. EPA, with other 16 health researchers so the dollars can go farther; either 17 as a contributor to studies that other people have under 18 way or we initiate and bring to us cofunders for projects 19 that we think are important but don't have enough money to 20 pull off on our own. 21 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: Do you seek to work with 22 think tanks on joint projects? 23 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It depends on 24 what you mean by a think tank. I mean we do have a 25 research screening committee, for example, that draws PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 72 1 specialists from all over the spectrum of social and 2 medical research, including like transportation experts as 3 well as medical experts. And so we have some 4 cross-fertilization there. 5 There are also industrial associations that 6 conduct studies. For example, the Auto Oil Group; the 7 Coordinating Research Council, which has a large industry 8 base, and we're part of those studies as well. 9 We haven't gone in with folks like the Reason 10 Foundation or RAND or things of that nature. It doesn't 11 mean that we wouldn't. It's just that there hasn't been a 12 study they've been conducting that has been closely 13 aligned to answers we're looking for. 14 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. Supervisor 15 Roberts. 16 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Yeah. If I could have 17 staff just maybe make some brief comments just to help me. 18 There are a couple of these that seem to touch on 19 some kind of a theory or concept that I'm not familiar 20 with, and I thought staff might be able to help. 21 One deals with the chemistry of the weekend 22 effect. And I'm sure everybody understands what the 23 weekend effect is, but I don't know what that is. And the 24 other talks about the nighttime chemistry of certain 25 chemicals. And I wonder if staff would help us to PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 73 1 understand what -- a little bit better what they're 2 referring to, because I don't remember routinely dealing 3 with the weekend effect or the nighttime chemistry. If 4 you could help with that. 5 RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF CROES: This is Bart 6 Croes, Chief of the Research Division. 7 The weekend effect is this recently observed 8 phenomena that the rate of progress on reducing ozone on 9 weekends has been less than the rate of progress on 10 weekdays; such that at least half the ozone episodes 11 currently in a place like southern California occur on 12 Saturday or Sunday and the other half occur Monday through 13 Friday. 14 So the study will help us explore why there isn't 15 the same rate of progress on weekends as the rest of the 16 days of the week. We did a major report on this -- this 17 was an issue that emerged during the LEV II hearings. We 18 issued a major report about a year and a half ago. So 19 this follows up on some of the research recommendations in 20 that report to further explore the causes of this. 21 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: It's the rate of reduction 22 of -- 23 RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF CROES: Right. 24 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: The comparative problem 25 that you're dealing with, on Monday through Friday versus PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 74 1 the weekend, is it -- can you quantify? I mean are we 2 talking -- I would have thought the weekend would have 3 been proportionately a lot less and -- he's shaking his 4 head yes and Catherine's shaking her head no. We're not 5 in synch here. 6 RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF CROES: Twenty years ago 7 the ozone episodes were fairly equally distributed by day 8 of the week. A little bit more on weekdays, which you'd 9 expect because you expect the emissions to be higher on 10 weekdays. 11 Currently the rate of reduction has been less on 12 the weekends, such that now half the ozone episodes occur 13 on the weekends, which seems -- which is very puzzling. 14 There's six theories that we came up with, and we really 15 couldn't exclude any of them. And this study will help 16 elucidate that. 17 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. Well, I feel good, 18 because I was puzzled too. 19 (Laughter.) 20 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: And tell me about the 21 nighttime chemistry. 22 RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF CROES: Ozone is formed 23 during daylight hours because you need the energy of the 24 sun. But there's recent observations that there's a 25 contribution from what occurs at nighttime, that even when PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 75 1 the sun goes down some of this chemistry still occurs. 2 And so this explores some of that and will help inform our 3 ozone models that are used for state implementation plans. 4 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Good questions. 5 Let me just share with you, Supervisor Roberts. 6 Living in the South Coast Air District, and over 25 years 7 of every other weekend traveling to Los Angeles, in fact 8 the west part of Los Angeles, I can tell you there has 9 been a dramatic increase in traffic over those 25 years on 10 a weekend day. So I don't know if that is related, but I 11 can tell you from just personal experience that that is 12 what is occurring on those freeways that I drive. 13 So it's -- and former member Calhoun used to 14 bring up the weekend effect. He was the one who -- I 15 first heard him say that. And I thought, "What is he 16 talking about?" So I remember that clearly. 17 RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF CROES: Yeah, that's a 18 good point. This increased weekend traffic is one of the 19 six theories we're looking at. 20 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. Any other -- 21 yes, Member Berg. 22 BOARD MEMBER BERG: On Item No. 5, the 23 development of an improved VOC analysis for architectural 24 coatings. Have we defined what architectural coatings 25 are? PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 76 1 RESEARCH AND ECONOMICS STUDIES BRANCH CHIEF 2 COREY: It's intended to support regulatory activity at 3 the local district, and it's better characterizing the VOC 4 content of those products. So it is defined per the local 5 rules, and it has participation both with the local 6 districts as well as those of the industry. 7 BOARD MEMBER BERG: So, for example, at South 8 Coast Rule 1113, that this study will follow the same type 9 of -- because there -- between the various air districts 10 there is definitional differences. And so it would be 11 interesting to make sure that we have a very clear 12 understanding of what coatings we're talking about. 13 RESEARCH AND ECONOMICS STUDIES BRANCH CHIEF 14 COREY: That's a very good point. One of the primary 15 drivers -- and there are multiple districts interested in 16 this -- was the fact that the architectural coating VOC 17 level's being driven down to less than 5 percent, even 3 18 percent in the historical methods for detecting those 19 levels -- service well. And multiple districts were 20 supportive of the approach laid out. 21 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Well, Cal Poly San Luis 22 Obispo's an outstanding facility to do this research at. 23 So I think the program will be very interesting. 24 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. Any further 25 questions or comments? PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 77 1 Now, because of the recusal I will entertain a 2 motion and a second to adopt the proposals with the 3 exception of the proposal on Resolution 5-2. 4 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: So moved. 5 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Second. 6 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Moved and seconded. 7 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 8 (Ayes.) 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Opposed, no. 10 Motion carries. 11 And then with the noted exception and recusal of 12 Dr. Gong, do I have a motion and a second for -- 13 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Move approval. 14 BOARD MEMBER PATRICK: Second. 15 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Moved and seconded. 16 Good luck on finding out which one did it. But I 17 know the clerk will figure that out. 18 All those in favor of the motion signify by 19 saying aye. 20 (Ayes.) 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Opposed, no. 22 Motion carries. 23 Thank you. 24 I'd like to take just a bit of a break, one, for 25 our court reporter, and for us. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 78 1 So it's 5 minutes to 11 by that clock. And let's 2 be back at 11 please. 3 (Thereupon a recess was taken.) 4 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Let me invite 5 everyone to come back to the dais since we want to go on 6 with the meeting. 7 The next agenda item is 5-1-3, the California Air 8 Resources Board Action Plan for 2005. 9 And as everyone knows, 2004 was a very busy year 10 and productive for this Board from the first meeting to 11 the last. And I'm reminded by staff we went from transit 12 bus fleet rules to global warming regulations and to 13 enforcing heavy-duty truck emissions requirements. 14 We made significant progress, thanks to our 15 excellent staff. And it is now time to look forward. And 16 since this is the first meeting of the new year, our 17 Executive Officer, Catherine Witherspoon, will give us a 18 preview of our action items for 2005 and the policy 19 context for those activities that we're going to 20 undertake. 21 Ms. Witherspoon. 22 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Madam 23 Chairman. 24 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was 25 Presented as follows.) PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 79 1 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: I'm going to 2 cover five areas, both our own direct activities but also 3 the Governor's initiatives and Cal EPA initiatives 4 affecting us and federal rule-makings that we play a 5 prominent role in. 6 --o0o-- 7 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: These are the 8 categories I'll discuss about the Governor's initiatives. 9 Of course he has others. And although it's not on the 10 slide, I'm going to touch on CEQA reform, which is a new 11 issue that's come up in just the last little while at the 12 cabinet level. 13 --o0o-- 14 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Amazing as it may 15 seem, this budget year the Air Resources Board is in 16 terrific shape in the Governor's proposed budget, where we 17 have the expansion of the Carl Moyer program that was 18 authorized by legislation last year in budget language. 19 And that legislation carried with it 2 percent 20 administrative overhead for the Air Resources Board. And 21 so that's reflected in a portion of the positions that you 22 see there. 23 The Governor has also requested an expansion for 24 our particulate matter programs. We have invested 25 approximately five to six million dollars every year for PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 80 1 the last three years in particulate matter infrastructure. 2 This year we're adding 20 positions along with that 3 continuing investment for the big push for the particulate 4 matter plans due at the beginning of 2008. 5 And then also there is 3.7 million, which also 6 includes positions -- 15 positions for increasing our 7 inspections of border crossings and the destination points 8 of the Port of L.A. and Long Beach. This is responsive to 9 the NAFTA decisions that are going to open California 10 borders to higher emitting Mexican trucks. We have 11 inspectors at the borders and we'll be expanding the 12 number of border crossings that we have personnel at and 13 the amount of inspections we conduct. 14 --o0o-- 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The California 16 Performance Review we alluded to earlier, it retains the 17 Air Resources Board's governing board, which is terrific 18 news. We're happy to have you here. 19 There is, however, partial consolidation going on 20 within Cal EPA of truly common functions. We share 21 shipping and receiving. We share transportation 22 coordinators. We share databases and things of that 23 nature, some of them. 24 There is a separate process underway for 25 information technology. We're awaiting instructions from PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 81 1 the Governor's Office on how that part will proceed. 2 Of course the Little Hoover Commission and the 3 State Legislature have yet to act. And that will 4 influence the final shape of the California Performance 5 Review. 6 --o0o-- 7 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Just to remind 8 you of some of the features of the Governor's 9 Environmental Action Plan that he came to office with and 10 that are still affecting our activities: We have the goal 11 of reducing air pollution 50 percent by 2010. There's a 12 desire to reduce our petroleum dependency to get gross 13 polluting vehicles off the road. That's a feature of the 14 Carl Moyer funding. Both we, local districts, and the 15 Bureau of Automotive Repair have been authorized and 16 instructed to do more vehicle scrappage programs. The 17 Governor intended and is following through on his 18 commitment to address climate change. And there's a large 19 focus on children's health environmental justice in the 20 action plan. 21 --o0o-- 22 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The hydrogen 23 highway network blueprint plan will be coming out within 24 the next month or so. Of course the main focus is 25 expanding fueling stations throughout the state, starting PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 82 1 in concentric circles around the urban areas where fueling 2 stations already exist. And then to continue with the 3 process of fuel cell vehicle demonstrations. And this 4 Board, you know, as we come to review ZEV mandates and 5 vehicle penetration, in about the '06-'07 timeframe you'll 6 be involved in those discussions as well. 7 --o0o-- 8 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: On climate change 9 the Governor has committed to defend our greenhouse gas 10 regulations. We have closed session later this morning to 11 discuss with you the lawsuits that have been filed against 12 the Board. 13 We also have a three-state initiative with 14 Washington and Oregon on climate change activities that 15 covers a wide range of activities from energy efficiency 16 to truck-stop electrification to port pollution controls 17 and things of that nature. 18 And then later this year the Governor is expected 19 to announce climate change targets for California, sort of 20 akin to what other states and nations have adopted for 21 themselves. 22 --o0o-- 23 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Oh, before I go 24 on to Cal EPA. I said I was going to spend a moment on 25 CEQA reform. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 83 1 There is a cabinet level committee co-chaired by 2 Resources and the Business and Transportation and Housing 3 Agency to examine possible reforms to CEQA. And the 4 concept is to ease CEQA review in such a way that 5 affordable housing, in particular in-fill developments, 6 can proceed more expeditiously and to strengthen CEQA 7 review to discourage expansion into open spaces. So it's 8 really kind of overlaying land-use objectives into the 9 CEQA process. 10 CEQA reform is a sticky wicket, so these 11 conversations will go on for quite a while. it's not 12 clear yet whether they expect them to result in statutory 13 change for this session or if that will happen next year. 14 It does affect this Board however. We will be commenting 15 along the way on how the CEQA reforms affect air quality 16 mitigation and things of that nature. 17 We also have been working on environmental 18 justice land-use guidance, which gets into the issue of 19 setbacks from polluting sources. And so there is a 20 potential conflict and issues we'll to resolve about the 21 in-fill development policies and whether or not that puts 22 people in harm's way. And we're talking about that 23 already here at Cal EPA. 24 --o0o-- 25 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: With respect to PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 84 1 the Agency's initiatives, this is just the partial list 2 I'll touch on. 3 --o0o-- 4 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Environmental 5 justice has been a -- it was part of Secretary Tamminen's 6 commitment. And of course you know how Alan feels about 7 environmental justice. And so he's brought that sense of 8 urgency to Cal EPA. There's a kick-off meeting in early 9 February to get going on the next phase of strategic 10 development and also on near-term action plans, which are 11 focused on immediate risk reductions across different 12 environmental media and throughout California. 13 --o0o-- 14 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The Air Resources 15 Board has proposed three projects for this activity: In 16 the City of Commerce where it will focus on the rail yard 17 principally; and Mira Loma/Riverside where warehousing and 18 truck traffic in and out of the new land-use forms that 19 have emerged there is an issue; and in Wilmington, which 20 has everything -- ports, refineries, fly-by-night chrome 21 platers, all kinds of things. So we'll be mapping those 22 communities, much the same that we did our Barrio Logan 23 work and some of the work in Fresno last year. 24 --o0o-- 25 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: There is a Cal PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 85 1 EPA enforcement initiative and a commitment from the 2 Governor on down to expand and improve environmental 3 enforcement. And several strategies are being considered. 4 There might be both legislation and budget augmentations 5 to accomplish this. And I think we'll see those around 6 the time of the May revise, the specificity of them. 7 At the moment the only piece for the Air 8 Resources Board other than general strengthening of our 9 tools is we house the training unit for the rest of Cal 10 EPA and conduct environmental symposiums -- excuse me -- 11 enforcement symposia. And so that function will be 12 slightly expanded. 13 --o0o-- 14 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Cal EPA is 15 initiating new outreach to the tribes in California, who 16 are both undergoing additional land development beyond 17 casinos -- some of them are looking at powerplants, some 18 of them are looking at waste management facilities and 19 things of that nature, have air monitoring and planning 20 programs underway. Air districts are typically more in 21 the lead than the Air Resources Board, but we'll be part 22 of the broader Cal EPA effort working with tribes. 23 --o0o-- 24 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: And Dr. Lloyd 25 wants to hold townhall meetings around the state to hear PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 86 1 from citizens about their multi-media concerns. And we'll 2 be asked to participate. And some of you may be asked to 3 participate in those too if it fits on your schedule. 4 --o0o-- 5 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Okay. Air 6 Resources Board rule-makings -- and this is always subject 7 to some change as we go through the rule-making process. 8 But I have a number of control measures that I'll talk to 9 you about. Just a short list and then some more detailed. 10 --o0o-- 11 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We have transit 12 bus fleet rule revisions both in February and in June. 13 In February we'll be adding categories of transit 14 buses that aren't currently in the regulation. And in 15 June we'll be revisiting the stringency of the transit bus 16 engine standards for 2007 and beyond. 17 We have new diesel risk reduction measures for 18 public fleets and utility fleets. We'll be bringing you a 19 measure for on-board diagnostics on heavy-duty trucks such 20 as exist on cars. 21 We're continuing the idling measure the Board 22 looked at last year where you adopted five-minute idling 23 limit. And carried over how to handle supercabs and what 24 technologies exist. And then we have stationary 25 agricultural engines which state law requires us now to PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 87 1 include within the diesel risk reduction plan. 2 --o0o-- 3 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: As far as our 4 combustion controls for NOx and then also for VOC, we're 5 looking at the possibility of requiring replacement of 6 catalysts that come on the vehicles, oxygen sensors and 7 other equipment for vehicles in service. We have forklift 8 standards and other utility equipment coming before you. 9 And then we're in a constant updating revision mode on 10 consumer products standards. I'm not sure what the 11 content of this year's regulation is, but it will be 12 before you in December. 13 --o0o-- 14 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The ports in 15 California are a major issue and receiving a lot of our 16 attention. We have four regulations coming to you in 17 November for various parts of marine port operations. 18 --o0o-- 19 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Agricultural 20 sources are now treated the same as other categories in 21 California in terms of the requirement to have permits and 22 emission controls. And one of the unique categories that 23 has been brought into our regulatory purview is confined 24 animal operations. And the Board must define what a large 25 CAFO is by July of this year, which sets into motion other PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 88 1 regulatory requirements at the local level. And that will 2 be a fun board hearing. 3 (Laughter.) 4 --o0o-- 5 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: On the air toxics 6 side. Many years ago we began a process of looking at 7 environmental tobacco smoke -- this is secondhand smoke -- 8 and whether it should be listed as a toxic air 9 contaminant. That process is winding itself to 10 conclusion. And so that item will be before you in about 11 July. 12 We also based on the work we conducted in Barrio 13 Logan realized that our existing chrome-plating rules are 14 not stringent enough. And so we're bringing back to you 15 enhancements to our regulations for chrome platers. And 16 that will be in September. 17 --o0o-- 18 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We are required 19 to revisit existing ambient air quality standards 20 periodically to make sure they're still stringent enough 21 to protect public health and, in particular, to review the 22 protectiveness to children and other vulnerable 23 populations. And so California's ozone standard will be 24 before you, and staff will be recommending a new 8-hour 25 standard. We just have a 1-hour standard on the books. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 89 1 That'll be in March, I think. We're still going over the 2 comments of the Air Quality Advisory Committee and 3 responding to them. And as soon as that's finished we'll 4 know if we make the March deadline. 5 --o0o-- 6 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: I mentioned 7 Mexican trucks. In addition to the Governor's expansion 8 of our budget, there also was legislation last year that 9 attempts to impose federal standards at California borders 10 such that higher emitting vehicles would not enter the 11 state. There's some question about whether or not this is 12 legally permissible. But the Air Resources Board is 13 instructed to adopt implementing regulations. By the end 14 of this year we'll go through the process and see what 15 ensues in terms of challenges and what we would be testing 16 for, looking for labels that indicated the vehicles coming 17 from Mexico were certified to meet national emission 18 standards. 19 Now, there was a point of time where vehicles in 20 Mexico did meet national standards, but that has since 21 lapsed. And so this will be a interesting and difficult 22 Board item. 23 --o0o-- 24 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The Carl Moyer 25 program is not just a grants program. It also has a PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 90 1 regulatory aspect where the Air Resources Board is 2 required to define the protocols and eligibility under 3 which funds may be granted; and, in particular, to define 4 the difference between what's already required by 5 regulation and what is surplus and voluntary, because only 6 the latter can be funded. 7 Also with the size of this program, we're 8 innovating new audit mechanisms and data tracking systems 9 so that we're able to keep on top of all the flow of 10 dollars and avoid any misuse of funds as we go forward, 11 and we're collaborating with the districts on that effort. 12 Everybody has a different system at the moment for 13 tracking their expenditures, and we need to unify them. 14 --o0o-- 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It is possible, 16 this is yet to be decided, whether we will have the South 17 Coast Fleet Rules before this Board for consideration. 18 The district in 2000 and 2001 adopted a series of seven 19 rules for different fleets, requiring that they use 20 alternative fuels. And there was litigation over those 21 regulations. And the U.S. Supreme Court ruled last May 22 that those regulations in fact were motor vehicle 23 standards and could not be enforced without a waiver from 24 the federal government. This Board, this agency is the 25 only entity which may seek a federal waiver. And we've PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 91 1 been examining this issue for the last six months and have 2 received word from U.S. EPA that they believe only state 3 regulations are waivable. And so in order to seek a 4 waiver, the Air Resources Board would need to readopt the 5 South Coast regulations in some form before it pursued 6 that waiver request. And so this is what is under 7 consideration at the moment. 8 We did conduct a public comment period on the 9 waiver requests. We got more than 10,000 comments. We've 10 been going through those as well. And so if this is to 11 happen, it would be towards the end of this year that we 12 would bring that rule-making before you. 13 --o0o-- 14 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Other major 15 non-regulatory activities. I've talked about ports and 16 locomotives. Next week they'll be kicking off a BT&H/Cal 17 EPA joint activity to examine infrastructure environmental 18 issues related to goods movement in California. And we'll 19 be major participants in that conference and then 20 follow-up work. 21 The Haagen-Smit Conference for 2005 is also 22 focused on goods movement. We have an assignment to 23 complete a cold ironing feasibility study. This was a 24 part of the 2003 South Coast SIP process and commitments. 25 We have a memorandum of understanding with rail PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 92 1 companies and we are looking at possible augmentations to 2 those MOU's. We are also initiating discussions with the 3 marine shipping organizations about the extent to which an 4 MOU might help us accomplish things outside our regulatory 5 authority. 6 And, finally, we're going to do a risk assessment 7 of a southern California rail yard. We did one in 8 northern California last year, and we want to do one in a 9 southern California context. 10 --o0o-- 11 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We have our own 12 environmental justice activities along with the Cal EPA 13 effort. And the principal among those is the land-use 14 guidance document we've been working on for the last year 15 and a half, which we hope to bring to you later this 16 spring. And we are also cofunding with the Energy 17 Commission a study on disproportionate impacts in 18 communities around California. 19 --o0o-- 20 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We already talked 21 about indoor air quality in the report due to the 22 Legislature that will be before you in March. 23 --o0o-- 24 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We are getting 25 ready for the SIPs due in 2007 and 2008. Massive amount PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 93 1 of technical work underway. 2 --o0o-- 3 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: And we're 4 expecting there to be quite a bit of state and federal 5 legislation on air quality. Here in California the focus 6 does appear so far to be about goods movements, large 7 mobile sources that are under-regulated. 8 Also alternative fuels are getting a lot of 9 attention right now. But the bills aren't in yet. 10 Tomorrow's the deadline for filing them with the Ledge 11 Council. So we don't know yet what the slate is. 12 Likewise, there's a lot of activity at the 13 federal level and discussions about possible Clean Air Act 14 amendments, whether they happen as trailers to other 15 legislation or a big attack on the Act itself. 16 We have legislation we are seeking to authorize 17 California to allow hybrids into diamond lanes. Darrell 18 Issa and Senator Feinstein are collaborating on that. We 19 expect hybrid incentives to be part of whatever happens 20 with the energy bill. 21 And then although it's not legislation, the 22 National Academy of Science's Natural Resources Council in 23 response to a legislative directive is preparing a report 24 on California's mobile source standards and whether states 25 should be authorized to have motor vehicle standards of PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 94 1 their own. 2 Mr. Cackette was just in Detroit yesterday at the 3 most recent hearing of that committee. And that report 4 will hit the street, we imagine, later this year and may 5 itself generate a legislative response. 6 --o0o-- 7 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: These are the 8 major federal rule-makings underway at U.S. EPA. We are 9 commenters on all of them, urging them of course to adopt 10 the most stringent standards possible. 11 --o0o-- 12 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: And that's the 13 year as we know it today. 14 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Having heard you, 15 all I can say is collectively our plate is full. What a 16 workload we have before us in this coming year. 17 Board members, comments or questions of Ms. 18 Witherspoon or staff? 19 Oh, Mayor Loveridge and then Supervisor Roberts. 20 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: Just two. One is that 21 in southern California I think this is really the year of 22 the goods movement. And it's -- air quality is one focus, 23 but there is -- it's an effort really to try to deal with 24 the whole question of 40 percent of the goods that come 25 into country come in through the two major ports. It has PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 95 1 implications for the economy, implications for the quality 2 of life of everybody in this southern California. And so 3 I -- it is going to be a very big deal this year. I think 4 you're going to see a lot of kind of collective 5 discussions. I think we know what the problems are. Now 6 we're going to try to figure out the answers to them. 7 The other is just a -- help me again to 8 understand, speaking from the point of view of the South 9 Coast District, your discussion about the Board's 10 potential participation in this and the timetable that you 11 offered. This is the South Coast Fleet Rules question. 12 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: On the South 13 Coast Fleet Rules, were we to undertake a rule-making to 14 readopt the district's regulation, it would still be 15 applicable within that geographical jurisdiction, but it 16 would be an ARB regulation in our codes and enforceable by 17 this Board. 18 We believe that that needs to be a full blown 19 rule-making under the Administrative Procedures Act and 20 filed with the Office of Administrative Law. And, as 21 such, that would require us to conduct our normal workshop 22 process, to issue a staff report with 45-day notice, to 23 conduct a public hearing, to do the changes subsequent to 24 the hearing, and then file. 25 Just given the workload I've already described to PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 96 1 you of what's already underway, staff believes the 2 quickest that could be accomplished would be later this 3 year. And we would be rolling the data forward from the 4 time the district adopted the rules to what is currently 5 true today about the relative emissions difference, the 6 model availability, the cost of them, et cetera. 7 Now, Dr. Wallerstein has been talking to me 8 about, if in fact this rule-making needs to occur, how 9 might it be accelerated? Is there an opportunity to hire 10 outside help to move some of the pieces more quickly? And 11 so we've been discussing that. But he also has not had an 12 opportunity to consult with his board about their desire 13 for the Air Resources Board to undertake this rule-making. 14 And he has some apprehensions of his own about whether 15 that's a good idea for the district. 16 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: As they're related to 17 this -- these decisions, what's the timetable for making 18 these choices? 19 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Well, there's not 20 a fixed timetable. The district asked us in June of last 21 year to seek a waiver on their behalf. And we've spent 22 six months sorting through the issues and interacting with 23 U.S. EPA. We reached what we believe is a final decision 24 from EPA that it must be a state regulation. That was 25 communicated in a conference call from EPA and ourselves PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 97 1 with the district on Friday of last week. And so Dr. 2 Wallerstein is still processing that information. 3 I think that at least one option he'd like to 4 consider and talk to his board about is whether to 5 litigate over that decision by U.S. EPA, which would of 6 course take a separate decision from us if we wish to be 7 party to any kind of litigation or rather to abide by the 8 instructions we were receiving from EPA. And that affects 9 what choices we have. 10 But what we said so far is the staff would be 11 willing to do the work if the district would have us do 12 it. There's a separate issue that once we've readopted 13 the regulation, EPA has also said that they believe the 14 requirement for four years lead time and three years 15 stability between regulatory change would apply to this 16 rule-making, and so that it could not be legally enforced 17 until 2009 or 2010. And that is a separate thing to weigh 18 in considering whether it's worth doing and whether that 19 determination can be overcome either. 20 Now, just to tell you there is one reason to 21 consider it. Many people are concerned about this 22 schedule for compliance with the 2010 heavy-duty engine 23 standards and whether diesel engines will come in on time. 24 And one could certainly say that to have an alt fuel 25 requirement or the equivalent expressed as a numerical PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 98 1 standard in '09-2010 might be sort of extra insurance that 2 that schedule is adhered to. Or if it is not, if they 3 slow down in their compliance, that there is still a clean 4 alternative on the street. So it's not a complete folly. 5 There is a reason to think seriously about these issues. 6 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Supervisor Roberts. 7 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Yeah. There's a couple 8 points which make reference, not just to ports, but maybe 9 to cruise ships and what we might be doing. And it's not 10 clear to me what the program might be. And specifically 11 under "Port Measures" you referred to cruise ships and 12 on-board incineration. And then later, under the general 13 heading "Ports and Locomotives" you made reference to 14 Haagen-Smit conference. And I was wondering what the 15 subject matter of that is. 16 And it also talks about other things like 17 possible railing ship MOU's. 18 To the extent that any of these are dealing with 19 cruise ships, I was wondering if you could just share a 20 little more information. And specifically what are we 21 looking at? One of the issues, I know -- we're looking at 22 sometimes several of these being tied up in port. And 23 they're I think largely just using their own power sources 24 to take care of the daily activities while they're there. 25 And I'm wondering what type of effort you see us as PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 99 1 having, what changes we might anticipate this year. 2 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: With respect to 3 the incineration item, we were directed by legislation to 4 establish standards and requirements for that activity. 5 There was also legislation that prohibited the dumping of 6 gray water in California waters, and so there is an 7 attempt to clean up these ships' operations. 8 And previously the Air Resources Board has done 9 incineration studies and looked at management of 10 combustion in the marine environment and the extent to 11 which it's transported on shore. This would be our first 12 regulatory act for that incineration process for cruise 13 ships. 14 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: What about the power 15 generation itself? 16 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: For power 17 generation, there is an open question whether we have the 18 authority the compel ships to use electrical hookups. We 19 do believe we have the authority and the districts have 20 the authority to require them to operate cleanly while in 21 port if they are able to do so. 22 So we have a two parter here. We're looking at 23 the feasibility of electrification, how quickly that can 24 happen, and what portions of the shipping industry cruise 25 versus commercial, and where that's already happening PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 100 1 because of litigation, because of voluntary agreements, et 2 cetera. And we're looking at the rate expansion and ship 3 turnover. 4 We're also going to bring to you a measure that 5 would require ships to burn cleaner diesel fuel in their 6 auxiliary engines, which would have the effect of 7 requiring them if they don't already have a separate tank 8 on the ship to install one, which begins to verge on 9 moving up the machinery of a ship's construction and do we 10 have any authority to compel that. But we think we can 11 tell them to shut it off once it's in port. And so this 12 is an option that would allow them to keep the electrical 13 systems operating. 14 So it's really kind of there on that boundary, 15 that we're trying to do whatever we can do to have the 16 cleanest possible result and we'll use every tool at our 17 disposal. 18 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Are we surveying the 19 various facilities to see when they could have electrical 20 service available or some connection available so that 21 they wouldn't have to use either their auxiliaries or, you 22 know, any other diesel-burning powerplants? 23 DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER SCHEIBLE: Yes, we're 24 doing an evaluation study now of the costs and feasibility 25 and timeframe for switching to shore power. The two top PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 101 1 candidates are container ships, because of the growth in 2 that category, and then cruise ships, because they use a 3 lot of power when they are hooked up. And there are 4 examples in the Pacific northwest and Alaska where cruise 5 ships today are using shore power rather than their 6 on-board engines. So they will not -- they will be a 7 prime candidate for emission reductions. And the 8 technologies exist. 9 They're also frequent repeaters. They're 10 frequently in the same port time after time. So they're a 11 good economic candidate for the type of modifications it 12 takes to get shore power. 13 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Maybe we can have a more 14 private conversation, but I'd like to get up to speed on 15 the things that are going on there. 16 The Haagen-Smit conference, does that deal 17 with -- 18 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: -- goods movement 19 generally. 20 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Pardon? 21 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It deals with 22 goods movement generally, principally ports and 23 locomotives. I don't think we're going to do much on 24 airports. 25 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 102 1 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: And that'll be in 2 April. 3 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: In the possible rail and 4 ship MOU's, would that be covering any of this same 5 ground? 6 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Yes. We have 7 been talking with the railroad industry for the last 8 eight, nine months about an augmentation to the existing 9 MOU which only covers the South Coast Air Basin and the 10 turnover of engines for lower NOx emissions. We've been 11 talking to them about augmentations that would address 12 toxic risk to nearby residents, principally having to do 13 with idling, maintenance practices, where they sit the 14 engines, how close they are to nearby housing, and things 15 of that nature, if they have a choice about how 16 logistically to manage the yard. 17 They're also installing anti-idling devices on 18 engines that are compatible. And California is trying to 19 get more than its share of the national funds dedicated to 20 that purpose within the rail industries. And then we're 21 exploring with them, once we tie down that short-term 22 toxic risk reduction MOU, a longer term accelerated 23 turnover plan for more of California, which they're 24 balking at quite a lot. They're interested in the first 25 one. And we'll see after we close the deal on that if we PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 103 1 can get the second. 2 With the ships, we've told them that we do not 3 intend to set aside our regulatory authority in favor of 4 an MOU, but we would be interested in the MOU on things 5 where authority is questionable, such as the operation of 6 main ship engines and the fuels that they arrive with in 7 port. They can purchase them anywhere in the world. And 8 so we would like them to use lower sulfur fuels than 9 prevail and stop using bunker fuels and very, very dirty 10 fuels in marine vessels at the moment. 11 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: There's no federal rules 12 that stand in the way of doing these things? 13 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: No, there are 14 not. This would be voluntary agreements. And they 15 approached us and asked us to consider an MOU with them. 16 They really preferred that to the process currently going 17 on in southern California. But we're really not a safe 18 harbor for them. The Port of Los Angeles, for example, 19 has the authority to compel whatever it wishes to compel. 20 And Mayor Hahn has been very active in leading that 21 effort. So I think multiple activities will be going on. 22 But we're certainly -- our door is open and we're happy to 23 engage in these discussions at how we can go faster and 24 accomplish more. 25 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: Okay. Thank you. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 104 1 Thank you. 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Yes, Supervisor 3 DeSaulnier. 4 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Thank you, Madam Chair. 5 On the initiative in the administration look at 6 CEQA, I hope that, knowing Secretary McPeak's interest in 7 this -- it's the potential for multiple third-rail issues 8 in politics, local land-use control, and looking at 9 opening up CEQA from an environmental perspective. 10 So I hope that we would be aggressive, number 11 one, in defending the integrity of CEQA so it wouldn't be 12 weakened in any way, but at the same time provide real 13 technical information on what the benefits might be in 14 reducing VMT in the State of California. 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: We will certainly 16 do what we can. 17 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: That's what I'm 18 concerned about. 19 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Member Berg. 20 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: On the latter. Not on 21 the former, on the latter. 22 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Well, the 23 Legislature will do more. I mean CEQA form is very 24 difficult to move in this Legislature, so I think it will 25 be a long and arduous process. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 105 1 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Member Berg. 2 BOARD MEMBER BERG: On the South Air Quality 3 Fleet Rule you have a comment that 10,000 comments were 4 received. How many of those came on the solicited 5 postcard that South Coast sent out? 6 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It wasn't clear, 7 but many thousand were form letter type. But there were 8 also several hundred that were city and county 9 resolutions. I would say two-thirds were in favor of 10 seeking the South Coast waiver and, you know, a quarter to 11 a third against. Though the content of the comments of 12 course matters as much as the weight of them. 13 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Yeah, that's what I was 14 trying to get a feel -- 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: The Issues are 16 very difficult. And were just in a box with respect to 17 federal law, that gives us limited choices about how we 18 may proceed. 19 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Thank you for that 20 clarification. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: With the Board's 22 indulgence, because we have a closed session, I'm going to 23 move this item along and -- because it is something we can 24 discuss for a long, long time and will over a period of 25 months. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 106 1 There's no reason to close this in a formal way 2 because it is not a regulatory item. 3 I would announce that the Board now will adjourn 4 and go into a closed session to meet with our legal 5 counsel regarding a particular case which was noticed in 6 our agenda: Fresno Dodge, Incorporated, et al., versus 7 California Air Resources Board. 8 And so let me ask either our counsel or Ms. 9 Witherspoon, in the corner room here? Is that where you 10 want us to be in closed session? 11 GENERAL COUNSEL JOHNSTON: Yes. 12 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: And what we are 13 going to do is we will have the closed session, we will 14 also have lunch at the same time. We will reconvene here 15 at a approximately -- as all attorneys say, on or about 1 16 p.m. 17 (Thereupon a lunch break was taken.) 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 107 1 AFTERNOON SESSION 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Let's call the 3 meeting to order. 4 I'm going call on Ms. Johnston to read into the 5 record anything that we need to do as a result of our 6 closed session. 7 GENERAL COUNSEL JOHNSTON: Thank you, Madam 8 Chairman. 9 I just want to summarize what we discussed during 10 closed session: Were two lawsuits, the federal suit, 11 Central Valley Chrysler Jeep, et al., versus Catherine 12 Witherspoon, which is a federal case in the U.S. District 13 Court in Fresno. And we also discussed Fresno Dodge, et 14 al., versus Catherine -- the Air Resources Board and 15 Catherine Witherspoon, which is a state -- in State 16 Superior Court in Fresno Central District. 17 And in addition to discussing these two cases 18 with the Board, we also discussed related cases, in 19 particular Commonwealth of Massachusetts versus U.S. EPA. 20 And that summarizes our discussion. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. I 22 appreciate that. 23 The next item on the agenda is 5-1-4. It's an 24 update on the Carl Moyer program. And as many of you 25 know, last year Governor Schwarzenegger and the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 108 1 Legislature confirmed their support of the Carl Moyer 2 program by providing sustained funding of up to $140 3 million a year through 2015. 4 The then Cal EPA Secretary, Terry Tamminen, led a 5 coalition of business, environmental, agricultural, and 6 regulatory stakeholders to secure the increased funding 7 for what is really a very successful program. And that's 8 so important to us. And the fact that it's actually 9 expanding is really a testament I think to it's success, 10 and at the local level as well as the overall success as 11 viewed by our staff. 12 I'm thinking that, Ms. Witherspoon, this is one 13 of those positive things that you can report on. And I'm 14 going to turn it over to you at this time. 15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Madam 16 Chairman. 17 The Carl Moyer program has a proven track record 18 of providing real significant emission reductions. And 19 that factor was key to our legislative success last year. 20 Everyone supports this program from all ends of the 21 spectrum. It was just a matter of putting the fiscal 22 mechanisms together. 23 We're already off and running with the new 24 funding. This fiscal year we received an advance of 30.5 25 million to get started. And as of January 1st, 90 percent PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 109 1 of those funds were distributed to local air districts. 2 We've also begun work on the regulatory changes that you 3 will be hearing later this year to implement the programs 4 expansion. 5 Beginning this year, staff is reserving 10 6 percent of the Carl Moyer program funds for multi-district 7 projects, as authorized by state law. We've only done 8 this once before in the past. But with the substantial 9 and continued expansion in Carl Moyer program funding, we 10 believe ARB needs to take an active and continuing role in 11 defining statewide priorities. 12 In the presentation staff will provide additional 13 information about how we propose to focus the 14 multi-district funds for this year to meet the 15 administration's objectives of reducing emissions 16 associated with goods movement. 17 I'd now like to turn the presentation over to Mr. 18 Charles Kersey. 19 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was 20 Presented as follows.) 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Thank you, Ms. 22 Witherspoon. 23 Good afternoon Madam Chairman and members of the 24 board. 25 Today I'll present an update on the Carl Moyer PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 110 1 program. I'll start with a short history and then move to 2 a review of the 2004 legislation that brings a major 3 expansion of the program. 4 Finally, I'll tell you what ARB staff has done 5 and plans to do to implement this expansion. 6 --o0o-- 7 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Since 1998, the 8 Carl Moyer program has provided incentive grants to reduce 9 nitrogen oxide emissions from heavy-duty diesel vehicles 10 and equipment. To explain the need for the program, I'd 11 like to start by giving you some background on heavy-duty 12 diesel engines. 13 Diesel engines are durable and fuel efficient. 14 Because of this they're the primary choice for 15 transporting goods and materials, whether by truck, train 16 or ship. These engines also power most heavy-duty 17 off-road construction and agricultural equipment. 18 While diesel engines are vital to California's 19 economy, they're also a big contributor to our air 20 pollution problem. And compared to passenger cars, they 21 produce a disproportionately large amount of air 22 pollution. 23 --o0o-- 24 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: In California, 25 heavy-duty diesel-powered on- and off-road vehicles and PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 111 1 equipment produce over half of the smog-forming nitrogen 2 oxide emissions. 3 --o0o, 4 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: These 5 emissions, diesel NOx and reactive organic gas emissions, 6 contribute to ozone and particulate matter formation. But 7 most significantly, diesel particulate has been identified 8 by ARB as a toxic air contaminant. Research shows diesel 9 PM increases premature deaths, hospital admissions, and 10 respiratory diseases as well as causing cancer. 11 --o0o-- 12 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: The estimated 13 annual health impacts of diesel PM are significant, even 14 when compared with deaths from auto accidents and 15 homicides. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: California's 18 approach to reducing diesel emissions includes setting 19 standards for new engines, establishing in-use fleet 20 average requirements, and offering incentives to fill the 21 regulatory gaps. While both the U.S. EPA and the ARB have 22 set increasingly stringent emission standards for new 23 heavy-duty diesel engines, there are still a significant 24 number of the older high-polluting engines operating 25 today. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 112 1 Because these engines last many years, a second 2 approach is to set fleet average requirements for in-use 3 vehicles. For instance, the ARB has adopted rules for 4 urban transit buses and solid waste collection vehicles. 5 And this year the Board will be considering rules for 6 public fleets and non-urban bus fleets. Finally, the 7 staff will be developing rules for private fleets. 8 And although most emission reductions will 9 eventually be achieved through standards or in-use 10 regulation, programs such as the Carl Moyer program can 11 accelerate these reductions by offering incentives for the 12 introduction of cleaner heavy-duty engines and emission 13 control systems before they're legally required. 14 Incentives can bring early or extra emission 15 reductions, reductions before they're required or 16 reductions over and above regulatory requirements. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Since its start 19 in 1998 the Carl Moyer program has been based on a strong 20 set of core principles. First, the program is a 21 partnership between ARB and local air districts. The ARB 22 sets the guidelines for administering the program. The 23 guidelines include criteria for project eligibility and 24 reporting. And the districts solicit select fund and 25 monitor projects, and they report annually to the ARB. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 113 1 Districts that receive more than the minimum 2 grant of $200,000 supply matching funds of $1 for every $2 3 received. This leverages the state's funding as well as 4 providing a buy-in for the districts. 5 All projects must meet minimum requirements 6 established in the program guidelines. This ensures the 7 emission reductions are real quantifiable surplus and 8 enforceable. 9 Among the requirements is that all controlled 10 technology funded through the program must be certified or 11 verified. 12 Finally, the program requires the districts over 13 one million in population commit at least 50 percent of 14 their funding to projects in environmental justice areas. 15 Incentive programs are a great opportunity to target 16 funding and emission reductions in the areas where they're 17 needed the most. 18 These principles have ensured the integrity and 19 success of the program. 20 --o0o-- 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: The ARB started 22 the Carl Moyer program to provide these incentives to 23 reduce NOx emissions. And this fulfilled commitments in 24 the 1994 ozone state implementation program. 25 During its first six years, the program has PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 114 1 funded projects to clean up a wide variety of heavy-duty 2 vehicles and equipment. This includes trucks, buses, 3 marine vessels, locomotives, and other equipment such as 4 forklifts, irrigation pumps and off-road construction 5 equipment. 6 --o0o-- 7 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: You can see 8 this in this chart what the estimated percentage of 9 funding for each category breaks down to. And we see that 10 on-road vehicles, irrigation pumps, and marine vessels 11 have received much of the funding. 12 --o0o-- 13 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: In the year 14 2000 the Legislature created an advisory board that 15 evaluated the program and its need for continued funding. 16 That board found that the program was a success, receiving 17 more grant requests than could be funded. It recommended 18 ongoing and increased funding, suggesting a $100 million a 19 year for five years. It also recommended that the program 20 target PM emissions in addition to NOx and establish a 25 21 percent reduction goal. 22 The ARB incorporated a PM requirement into the 23 program. And while the program didn't receive ongoing 24 funds at that time, the program's success and popularity 25 led the Governor and the Legislature to continue PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 115 1 year-to-year funding. Through the sixth year of the 2 program this totaled $154 million. Staff estimates that 3 this will fund approximately 7,000 projects through the 4 end of the sixth year. 5 --o0o-- 6 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: The program has 7 achieved significant cost-effective emission reductions 8 when all six-year funded projects are operating, the Carl 9 Moyer program will be reducing NOx reductions -- the NOx 10 emissions by about 18 tons per day and PM emissions by 11 about one ton per day. 12 The projects are cost effective, averaging about 13 $3,000 per ton of NOx emissions reduced. 14 --o0o-- 15 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Last year the 16 Governor and Legislature gave the program a significant 17 boost. Supported by a broad coalition, three key pieces 18 of legislation passed in 2004. 19 These expanded the program and brought an 20 increased continued source of annual funding through 2015. 21 As we start the seventh year of the program, we see the 22 beginning of a new era for the Carl Moyer program. 23 --o0o-- 24 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Now, let's Look 25 at the impact of the recent legislation. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 116 1 SB 1107 establishes a continuing source of 2 funding by extending the smog check exemption for newer 3 cars and adjusting the fees. This reduces the cost and 4 hassle of smog check while securing about $61 million in 5 annual funding from Moyer projects. 6 AB 923 provides up to $80 million in additional 7 annual funding from tire fees and an increase in motor 8 vehicle fees. 9 This Legislation also introduces significant 10 revisions in program requirements. It extends funding 11 eligibility to projects that reduce particulate matter or 12 reactive organic gases. And it directs the ARB to 13 determine how these pollutants should be treated in the 14 cost effectiveness calculations. 15 AB 923 also allows light-duty projects such as 16 voluntary car scrapping and emission control parts 17 replacement. 18 And it brings new agricultural sources into the 19 program. These include non-engine sources, such as 20 confined animal feeding operations. 21 AB 923 also contained a new funding formula 22 developed by the California Air Pollution Control 23 Officers' Association that demonstrates how the funding is 24 allocated -- or that determines how the funding is 25 allocated among the air districts. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 117 1 Finally, AB 1394 adds heavy-duty fleet 2 modernization as an eligible project category. 3 --o0o-- 4 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: In a typical 5 fleet modernization project an older, higher polluting 6 truck would be scrapped and replaced with a cleaner, newer 7 truck. 8 --o0o-- 9 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: The recent 10 increase in funding makes the Carl Moyer program the 11 nation's largest air pollution reduction incentive 12 program. With up to $140 million in funding per year, the 13 Governor and the Legislature reaffirmed their commitment 14 to cleaner air through reduced emissions. 15 Practically speaking, the increase begins this 16 year, with a partial funding of 30.5 million from smog 17 check fees. 18 Next year this increase is -- the increases will 19 be fully implemented. About $86 million will be available 20 from the state, 61 million in smog check fees and 25 21 million in tire fees. The tire fee will be reduced to 16 22 million in the next year. Up to 55 million will be 23 available through a $2 increase in motor vehicle fees. 24 Local boards must approve this increase. And so far 11 25 districts have adopted the increase, including most of the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 118 1 larger districts. The $2 motor vehicle fee may be used on 2 Moyer projects as well as low emission school buses, 3 light-duty scrap, and what we call the Agricultural 4 Assistance Program. 5 --o0o-- 6 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Staff has begun 7 to implement AB 923. To allow air districts and project 8 applicants to take advantage of some of new flexibility, 9 staff has developed a series of program advisories. These 10 advisories establish interim methods for calculating cost 11 effectiveness for projects that reduce more than one of 12 the covered pollutants. They also extend existing 13 Board-adopted policies and allow districts to fund 14 projects that are similar to those funded in the past. 15 However, funding for new sources will require the 16 development of project criteria. For these sources grant 17 eligibility will be deferred until the Board adopts 18 revised guidelines. 19 --o0o-- 20 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: How does the 21 new legislation impact agricultural sources? 22 The program already funds projects to reduce 23 emissions from agricultural equipment such as irrigation 24 pumps and tractors. However, AB 923 expands the program 25 to include new kinds of ag projects. For some of these PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 119 1 sources, such as confined animal feeding, there's no 2 established funding protocols in the Moyer guidelines. 3 And in some cases we don't completely understand the 4 emissions or effectiveness of controls. 5 We will work with ARB staff and with stakeholders 6 to develop a better understanding of these sources. Our 7 goal is to develop project criteria that maintain the 8 integrity of the program, ensuring that emission 9 reductions from all projects continue to be real, 10 quantifiable and enforceable. 11 --o0o-- 12 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: A major change 13 that AB 923 allows is the use of the new $2 motor vehicle 14 fee to help farmers meet legally required emission 15 reductions. This contrasts with Moyer projects where 16 emission reductions must always be surplus to any legal 17 requirement. 18 To distinguish these projects from Moyer projects 19 we're calling them Agricultural Assistance Program 20 Projects. Funding for these will be available for three 21 years after a rule is adopted or until the compliance 22 date, whichever is later. Funding will only be available 23 for previously unregulated sources. 24 For instance, if a new regulation were adopted 25 today for an agricultural source with a compliance date of PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 120 1 January 1st, 2006, the source would be eligible for 2 funding for three years from today, or through January 3 2008. If the compliance date were 2010, eligibility would 4 extend to that compliance date. 5 Cost effectiveness for these projects will be 6 capped at thirteen six as in other Moyer projects, and 7 will be calculated using the Moyer method. However, the 8 calculation will include all emission reductions, not just 9 those that are surplus to a regulatory requirement. 10 --o0o-- 11 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: The Health and 12 Safety Code encourages funding of multi-district projects 13 and allows the ARB to reserve 10 percent of the funding 14 for that purpose. This gives the Board resources to 15 target projects that are of statewide priority. Staff is 16 currently working with local districts to develop a broad 17 definition of the term "multi-district" to allow 18 flexibility -- the flexibility needed to reach the highest 19 prior projects. 20 This year we propose to focus on three 21 categories: Goods movement projects involving ports and 22 locomotives; truck retrofits; and large off-road 23 equipment. 24 Because ports and rail yards are often located 25 near residential areas, projects at these facilities PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 121 1 usually meet district and environmental justice criteria. 2 Goods movement projects involving ports or locomotives can 3 both improve regional air quality and reduce local 4 exposure to air pollution. 5 While many diesel emission controls on on-road 6 trucks only reduce PM, ARB wants to encourage heavy-duty 7 truck retrofit projects that achieve NOx reductions as 8 well. Grants could be for the cost of NOx reduction if 9 the PM is already recovered or could cover the full cost 10 if neither is required. 11 And, finally, we'll request proposals for 12 projects to clean up large off-road equipment that moved 13 from district to district. Local districts and equipment 14 owners would submit proposals for this funding in the 15 first half of the year. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: With a new 18 increased funding, changes in program requirements, and 19 expanded categories for funding, many new opportunities 20 are present and there's some challenges as well for 21 implementing the program. I'm pleased to report that we 22 already have made some progress and have established a 23 plan to fully implement the new legislation this year. 24 We've held workshops in Sacramento El Monte and 25 Fresno -- that was late last year -- to begin discussing PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 122 1 program changes with stakeholders. The workshops were 2 well attended by industry, government reps, and the 3 interested public. 4 On January 1st this year, year 7 funds, the 30.5 5 million, were available to air districts. And we 6 published the interim advisories that I described earlier. 7 In March we plan to release a request for 8 proposal for multi-district projects. And in March and 9 June we plan additional workshops to present and discuss 10 draft revisions for the program guidelines. 11 And, finally, we plan to bring proposed guideline 12 revisions to the Board in November 2005. 13 --o0o-- 14 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST KERSEY: Finally, you 15 have a resolution before you today asking for approval of 16 staff's proposed use of the 10 percent of funds for 17 multi-district projects and for approval of the Moyer 18 action plan to implement new legislative requirements and 19 developed revised Carl Moyer program guidelines. 20 This concludes my presentation. And thank you. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you very much. 22 Excellent report. 23 Board members, are there any questions for the 24 staff at this time on this item before our public 25 participation? PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 123 1 Seeing none, then I'm going to move -- we have 2 two who have asked to speak today: Fred Minassian from 3 South Coast Air Quality District and Tom Faust from 4 Redwood Rubber. 5 Gentlemen, know that you're limited to five 6 minutes. And we eagerly await your presentation. 7 MR. MINASSIAN: Thank you, Madam Chair, members 8 of the Board. Good afternoon. I'm Fred Minassian, 9 Manager of the Carl Moyer and other incentive programs at 10 the South Coast AQMD. 11 Today I'm here to express our support for the 12 implementation of the expanded Carl Moyer program due to 13 availability of significant amount of continued funding 14 with establishment of SB 1107 and AB 923. 15 Air quality improvement in the South Coast Air 16 Basin is of critical importance. And we believe the 17 availability of new funding can help us reduce emissions 18 expeditiously with the implementation of the expanded Carl 19 Moyer program. 20 In this regard we would like to address two areas 21 where we would like to work closely with your staff in the 22 development of the new program guidelines. They are the 23 light-duty vehicle program and the multi-district Carl 24 Moyer program. 25 South Coast AQMD's planning to implement the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 124 1 remote sensing program for light-duty vehicles with repair 2 and scrapping components by July of this year. We believe 3 this is a cost-effective way to reduce emissions from the 4 light-duty fleet, and we intend to release an RFP for 5 implementation of this program early this year. 6 The current advisory issued by ARB only addresses 7 vehicle scrapping. We would like to work closely with 8 your staff in developing an interim remote sensing program 9 by July 2005 to cover a high -- identification program, 10 including vehicle repair and scrapping components for this 11 year's funding. 12 As for the multi-district Carl Moyer program, 13 while the proposed holding of 10 percent of the Moyer 14 monies for multi-district programs of statewide 15 significance came as a surprise to us and others close to 16 last year's Moyer negotiations, we are prepared to support 17 your staff's recommendations provided that the ARB works 18 closely with CAPCOA on the first-year selection of 19 projects. 20 Thank you very much. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. And I'm 22 sure staff will work closely with you. I'm assured of 23 that. 24 MR. MINASSIAN: Thank you. 25 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you very much. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 125 1 Mr. Faust. 2 MR. FAUST: Good afternoon, Madam Chair and Board 3 members. My name is Tom Faust. I am CEO of Redwood 4 Rubber. 5 I believe that the ARB is probably the leading 6 environmental agency in the whole country. And the reason 7 they are is they followed Fran Pavley's legislative bill, 8 implemented it and followed the legislative intent. And 9 right now they have -- you have ten states following your 10 lead. And the Los Angeles Times today they said that the 11 Government of Canada is now going to follow it. So now 12 you have -- you have a huge crescendo of people that are 13 now following, and you guys are the leaders. And you're 14 the leaders because you followed the legislative intent. 15 In August of this year Assemblyman Firebaugh and 16 his staff passed a law that was -- it was kind of a 17 gut-and-rut bill in the last two weeks of the Assembly. 18 And that bill is 38 pages. 19 What I want to address is the last three pages of 20 that bill. And it says commencing January 1 there's a 75 21 percent -- 75 cent tire tax fee. And if you do the math, 22 you get 25, $26 million a year, and it's all being -- 23 every single month beginning this month you have $2 24 million in your account at the Air Pollution Control 25 Fund -- at the equalization award. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 126 1 The first sentence on page 37 at the top it says 2 the State board shall -- it doesn't use "May" -- he says 3 shall expend those monies or allocate those funds -- and 4 it goes -- let me cut some words out -- to fund programs 5 and projects that mitigate or remediate air pollution 6 caused by tires in the state. 7 And then on page 38, also attached in the same 8 bill, it says to assist in developing markets and new 9 technologies for used tires and waste tires. 10 Now, you may question the exact wording of the 11 Legislature. But, anyway, it did pass, and those are the 12 words that the Legislature all voted on. And you have 13 previously become famous by following the Legislature. 14 And what I urge you to do is continue. 15 On January 10th, I attended a global warming 16 conference sponsored by MIT Alumni Association and 17 Stanford. And one of the speakers was Dr. Lynn Orr, head 18 of the global warming project down at Stanford. And what 19 he said was really scary. 20 First, he had one of the slides that shows 400 21 million years of greenhouse gases that all their 22 geologists have done. I'm sure you've seen that. And 23 then he shows where we are now and -- against that whole 24 thing. And then he shows, you know, in 20 short years 25 we're going to be way up here. And he says the situation PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 127 1 is out of control. He says, if we have everyone in 2 California with a hydrogen car, the hydrogen highway and 3 every in the United States with a hydrogen car, that's not 4 going to be enough. We have to have other -- we have to 5 cut down greenhouse gases from every single aspect. And 6 that's what this law has. It mentions other aspects. 7 Now, yesterday I had a telephone conference with 8 six of your staff members: Leslie Krinsk, Jack Kitowski, 9 Charles Kersey, Richard Corey, Diane Johnston and Alberto 10 Ayala. And essentially I came away from that conference 11 with -- everyone was waiting for direction from the air -- 12 from the Board. And that's why I decided to come here, 13 was because they said, "Well, we've never dealt with tires 14 before. And we need the Board to tell us what to do, 15 because we only do what the Board tells us to do." 16 And so that -- that's the reason I came here, was 17 to bring it up to -- to bring it to your attention. 18 Now, you may say, "What is this project?" I have 19 a little handout here. Oh, I see you have -- is it 20 controls from here? 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Mr. Faust -- 22 MR. FAUST: Could you switch to the last slide 23 please? 24 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Yeah, switch to the 25 last slide -- PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 128 1 Switch to the last slide. 2 -- because you've got one minute. 3 MR. FAUST: One minute. Okay, could you -- maybe 4 you give me 30 seconds additional on that please, because 5 I asked for two. 6 What this is, development of commercial scale 7 demonstration devulcanization unit to reduce tire 8 emissions. And on the title page it says the objective is 9 to engineer a working 4,000 pound unit. Now, through 10 grants and Angel Investors we have developed something 11 that's 400 pounds -- the last slide please -- that will do 12 400 pounds. 13 Last slide please. 14 There we go. 15 --o0o-- 16 MR. FAUST: This project has been reviewed by 17 even the State of California. Let's look at the last 18 slide. It says $100,000 Cal EPA-funded study done by a 19 third party came up with a conclusion. And let me just 20 read that one sentence. It says, "In terms of the 21 potential for producing high quality devulcanized rubbers 22 the best technology appears to be ultrasonic based on the 23 current state of the art." 24 Now, I also have a letter here from University of 25 Southern California. And I just want to read one sentence PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 129 1 or two in here. 2 "Devulcanization makes great sense because it 3 retains the structures, the characteristics and, hence, 4 the values of the original rubber." 5 In summary, I believe that Californians have a 6 promising technology and the desire to solve the waste 7 tire problem. It is time for a leader from the Government 8 to move us forward. As a technical person familiar with 9 the nature of challenges and a concerned citizen in 10 California, I strongly urge you to take a serious 11 consideration of this proposed project. 12 And Sierra Club on January 11th endorsed this 13 project. 14 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Mr. Faust, let me 15 just tell you, you're right at your 30 seconds. So 16 whatever you want to leave us with, this is your final 17 sentence. 18 (Laughter.) 19 MR. FAUST: Well, the Sierra Club says, "Tire 20 incineration reduces greenhouse gases by three to four 21 times greater than the status quo. And please contact me 22 if I can be of any assistance." 23 And we end with University of California at Davis 24 saying, "I consider this technology to be promising and 25 believe that those efforts to move it to commercial scale PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 130 1 should be supported." 2 Okay. So what we have is -- 3 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: No. Now, Mr. Faust, 4 got to stop there because I do have other speakers waiting 5 behind you. 6 Let me tell you what we're going to do. We have 7 all of your documentation here and your request. I'm 8 going to refer this to the staff, and we are going to 9 respond to you. And I appreciate your comments and your 10 interest, and we will be in touch with you. 11 MR. FAUST: Okay. Let me respond to that. In 12 yesterday's conversation the staff said, "We're not used 13 to moving too fast on this and it may take until next 14 November." And I -- 15 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: No, Mr. Faust, it 16 won't take till next November. We will be back to you in 17 the next month with a response. Okay? 18 MR. FAUST: Okay. What we are prepared to do is 19 match and -- we don't need all the money all at once. It 20 could be on a monthly basis and we will put up a match. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. And I'm sure 22 that's included. And I appreciate your comments. Thank 23 you very much. 24 MR. FAUST: Okay. Thank you. 25 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: And let me call on PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 131 1 Steve Douglas. 2 Steven, you know you have five minutes. 3 MR. DOUGLAS: I'll keep it brief. 4 I am Steven Douglas with the Alliance of 5 Automobile Manufacturers. And, Madam Chair, members of 6 the Board, I certainly appreciate the opportunity to talk 7 here today on this issue. 8 As you probably know, the Alliance has been 9 involved in the large emission reduction program, or LERP, 10 for lack of a better acronym, since its start. 11 And our work was really based on three facts, 12 which I think are fairly indisputable: 13 First, today's cars are extraordinarily clean, 14 and they tend to stay that way, beyond anything that we 15 could have imagined in the past. 16 The second is, the dirtiest vehicles on the road 17 make up a disproportionate share of the motor vehicle 18 emissions. Some say that the dirtiest 5 percent account 19 for 50 percent of vehicle emissions. Others says that the 20 dirtiest is 10 percent. No one disputes that the dirtiest 21 vehicles cause the majority of pollution. 22 And then, finally, the third fact is, remote 23 sensing, while not perfect, can detect high polluting 24 vehicles. 25 Given these facts we looked at a program and we PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 132 1 tried to devise a program that would provide a benefit to 2 the environment as well as the benefit to consumers. And 3 with the help of the ARB staff, then Chairman Lloyd, the 4 administration, legislation, we developed a program that 5 would, first, recognize the low emission vehicles today 6 and their durability and, for a small fee, exempt new 7 vehicles or those vehicles less than six years old from 8 the smog check program. 9 We take that money from the exemption fee and use 10 it to identify many of the repair, retrofit, or retire the 11 gross polluting vehicles on the road. 12 And the smog check exemption fee was approved as 13 part of last year's budget. And That provides $60 14 million. And AB 923, Assemblyman Firebaugh's bill, 15 expanded Carl Moyer to include light-duty vehicles so that 16 we could do this program similar to this. 17 So we're halfway they. We have the money, but we 18 don't have a program. And there's still not a concrete 19 plan for getting to that program. Currently, as South 20 Coast just testified to, there's only a consideration of a 21 scrappage program. And there hasn't been a lot of 22 discussion about remote sensing, although there've been 23 endless pilot studies. 24 And just to be sure, so you know, the gross 25 polluter problem goes away if you just wait long enough. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 133 1 The programs that are in place today getting new vehicles 2 out there, they're more durable, and the gross polluter 3 problem will go away. But in the meantime that will take 4 a decade or more. And in the meantime we forgo the 5 benefits of retiring high polluting vehicles. 6 And the people who are opposed to remote sensing 7 have looked for problems. And there are problems. And 8 there's technical problems and implementation. But I 9 think it's time that we looked beyond that and we start 10 looking for solutions. 11 We do support the South Coast's recommendation 12 regarding the remote sensing, the high polluter program. 13 And we'd recommend that -- or request that the Board 14 direct the staff to develop an implementation plan and 15 bring it back to this Board by the March hearing. And of 16 course we'd be more than happy to work with ARB staff on 17 this. 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you, Mr. 19 Douglas. 20 Ms. Witherspoon, do you want to respond? 21 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Well, this is the 22 first I've heard of it. I would have appreciated prior 23 conversation with the district's staff about their 24 thinking on remote sensing. 25 Of course the Carl Moyer program is authorizing PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 134 1 vehicle scrappage. And there are operational programs in 2 the Bay Area at the Bureau of Automotive Repair and in any 3 other district that wants to initiate scrappage. 4 I think that the augmentation the district is 5 looking for is a screening devise to help find the highest 6 emitting vehicles. Because the assumption we make is a 7 typical gross emitter and not the grossest of the gross. 8 And so you would get more returns for your dollar if you 9 could find the absolutely worst vehicles. And I think 10 they're hoping that a remote sensor could help them do 11 that. 12 I was just chatting with Mr. Cackette as Fred 13 Minassian was up here earlier about: Does the district 14 have the authority to put a remote sensor on the road? 15 And would it be purely voluntary? And how do you 16 calculate the cost of the remote sensor against the 17 benefits you're obtaining? So there's a lot of things we 18 have to sort out. 19 But it's certainly true that we've talked, if not 20 about this proposal, we've talked about remote sensing 21 with the district for years. It was a huge part of the 22 2003 SIP debate. So I'm not totally surprised. I'm just 23 not ready to respond to: Could we do this by March, until 24 we've had a chance to go over it at the staff level, find 25 out more what the concept is, and then see how quickly we PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 135 1 could move it back to you. 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: All right. 3 Okay. We'll wait then for a response. 4 Mr. Cackette? 5 CHIEF DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER CACKETTE: I just 6 wanted to add a couple things. 7 One is, for scrapping in general the Bureau of 8 Automotive repair is increasing its effort by many, many 9 times going from practically no program to something 10 that's in the many millions of dollars this year. So 11 there will be quite a bit of scrappage going on in the 12 context of when you get your smog check, that there's 13 option scrap awe vehicle rather than fix it. And they've 14 got additional monies to do that in the budget. 15 The comment though about remote sensing and there 16 have been an unlimited number of studies, and so let's get 17 on with it: There's been an unlimited number of studies, 18 but none of them addressed the real issues. An so BAR and 19 ourselves have funded a study which is -- the report is 20 due this summer at the tune of nearly $2 million. It will 21 be the world's largest study of remote sensing, to exactly 22 identify how can we use it best, what are its limitations, 23 what are its strengths, and to craft a program around 24 that. 25 I think to suggest that we should throw the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 136 1 program together in two months, or by this summer even, is 2 not recognizing the fact that there are real issues that 3 have to be scientifically addressed. And when we get the 4 data we could craft the best program. But the idea of 5 that program is to do in general what they're saying, but 6 we'd like to make sure that we make -- we get the 7 information and know how to design it in the best way. 8 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. Mr. Douglas. 9 MR. DOUGLAS: Just a couple of responses to that. 10 First, this is -- I don't believe the first 11 remote sensing study that ARB has done. And, second, I 12 wouldn't suggest, nor would I believe it possible, to put 13 together a program within two months. What I'd like to 14 see is just a road map on how we get there, how we address 15 the gross polluter problem, not the actual details of the 16 program. I appreciate the difficulties. 17 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Okay. I appreciate 18 that. And we'll work with you to give you that road map 19 of information. And I'll just ask staff to, when it's 20 available, to work with Mr. Douglas, because we have 21 worked with you very successfully on other issues, and so 22 we can certainly do it here. 23 Thank you very much. 24 MR. DOUGLAS: Thank you. 25 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: That concludes our PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 137 1 list of public speakers. This is not a regulatory item, 2 so it's not necessary to close it in a formal way. 3 We do have a resolution that is in front of us. 4 It's Resolution 5-14? 5 Board members, is their a motion? 6 Yes. 7 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Actually before making a 8 motion, I just want to make one comment for the record. 9 And, that is, that Mr. Faust met with me a couple of days 10 ago regarding his project. And I actually asked staff to 11 meet with him prior to today's hearing. So I do sense a 12 little bit of frustration on his part that, you know, 13 maybe there needs to be some direction from Board members. 14 And just wanted to reassure him that we are also working 15 closely with staff on this. And I think that a lot of 16 these discussions will actually help Mr. Faust to become 17 aware of perhaps other programs in addition to the Carl 18 Moyer program. And maybe if staff could also help 19 navigate him through the workshop process so that we can 20 continue to be involved. 21 Thank you. 22 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Yes, Mr. Berg. 23 BOARD MEMBER BERG: I do think we need to be 24 clear that we don't set people up for profit businesses. 25 And it seems to be a little -- I'm confused anyway, that PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 138 1 there's seems to be a business plan that is going along 2 with this. And so I think we do have to try to sort out 3 what is the goal here. And if the goal is for them to set 4 up a business, then there are ways to raise capital and 5 ways to do things. And I don't believe that is the 6 Board's purpose, to set companies up, even if they have 7 good environmental intentions, to be in business. And I'm 8 a little confused about that. So if I'm totally off base 9 on that, I accept that a hundred percent. 10 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: No, you're 11 absolutely correct. The Carl Moyer program does not 12 authorize expenditures for research and development. 13 There must be an actual realtime emission reduction from 14 the expenditures of state funds. If at the same time 15 profit is made while that's going on, we don't care. 16 That's fine. 17 And some of these projects save people money by 18 getting them into more efficient equipment and reducing 19 their utility bills and their fuel bills. So there is a 20 return to the participants in some direction. But you're 21 right, we're not incentivizing businesses. 22 BOARD MEMBER BERG: But my understanding, that 23 those would be made to people across the Board, that they 24 wouldn't be proprietary in nature, only benefiting one 25 company. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 139 1 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It could benefit 2 one company. If they responded to an RFP and said, "We 3 will reduce particulate matter emissions," and, you know, 4 concurrent with that they achieved profits, that would be 5 fine. They just would have to be competitive with other 6 people bidding for the same dollars. 7 BOARD MEMBER BERG: Okay. Thank you for that 8 explanation. 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Supervisor 10 DeSaulnier. 11 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: I just want to 12 congratulate the Chair on moving the meeting along. I was 13 only kidding during -- or partially kidding during Alan's 14 gifts. 15 Just a comment. I think staff's done a great 16 job. And I appreciate what CAPCOA's done. If my 17 colleagues who were on the Board at that time -- when we 18 first came back and the formula was changed, there was an 19 issue particularly from the Bay Area, and we got our 20 delegation all up in arms, and I know there was an issue 21 in regards to San Diego as well. So I'm trusting that we 22 will continue to work in good faith, particularly with our 23 downwind neighbors, to look at these kind of projects, the 24 multi-jurisdictional ones particularly around goods 25 movement. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 140 1 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: I think by the 2 fact that a number of districts aren't here today 3 testifying should tell you that we have worked out a 4 harmonious solution with the air districts. And provided 5 we abide by it, everyone should be happy. 6 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Yes, I'm looking 7 forward to the Koom Ba Ya of all the APCO's involved. And 8 we'll see how Barry does on harmony. 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: I'm also very 10 appreciative of the staff's report. 11 I though recall when we worked out this formula, 12 I think my district gave up a bit of money in this. But 13 I've never known where the thank you's were for that 14 effort. So I'm going -- I still have it marked that I 15 should get some credit in the future for something. But 16 you do have -- unless there are some questions, I'd like 17 to move forward. 18 Are there any questions? 19 BOARD MEMBER D'ADAMO: Madam Chairman, I move 20 Resolution 05-14. 21 BOARD MEMBER ROBERTS: I need to say thank you, I 22 suppose. 23 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: Thank you. 24 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: All those in favor 25 of the motion signify by saying aye. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 141 1 (Ayes.) 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Opposed, no. 3 Motion is carried. And we so order that. 4 Thank you very much. 5 And we'll have a staff change and move on to our 6 next item. 7 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was 8 Presented as follows.) 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: The next agenda item 10 is 5-1-5, the annual update to the area designations for 11 state standards. 12 One purpose of the designation process is to 13 inform the public about air quality in their communities. 14 Also, under the California Clean Air Act, a nonattainment 15 designation triggers air quality planning requirements. 16 Areas that comply with the state standard are designated 17 as attainment with no plans required. So there's a great 18 incentive to reach that attainment designation. 19 And I'm pleased to see that we're beginning this 20 new year on a very positive note by identifying three new 21 attainment areas. 22 Ms. Witherspoon, would you please introduce this 23 item and the staff presentation. 24 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Madam 25 Chair. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 142 1 This is an almost ministerial item. But for the 2 value of new Board members, we're going to just spend a 3 moment on the legal process and how it is we treat air 4 quality data, and sort it out to decide who is or isn't in 5 violation of the standards and who has regulatory 6 consequences. 7 So with your indulgence, we'll have the staff go 8 through the presentation. 9 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. 10 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: Thank you, Ms. 11 Witherspoon. 12 Good afternoon, Madam Chairman and members of the 13 Board. 14 As you heard, today I'll be talking about our 15 proposed amendments to the area designations for state 16 ambient air quality standards. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: My 19 presentation focuses on two main areas. First, the area 20 designation process and the criteria we use; and, second, 21 our proposed changes to the area designations for state 22 standards. 23 The criteria and the designations represent two 24 separate regulations, and both are required by state law. 25 I'll end my presentation with a very brief PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 143 1 summary of the staff recommendation. 2 --o0o-- 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The 4 designation criteria specify the requirements for making 5 the state area designations. It's important to note that 6 the criteria I'll be describing apply only to the state 7 standards. There's a separate process in place for the 8 federal standards. 9 --o0o-- 10 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: As you know, 11 the ARB set state ambient air quality standards at levels 12 to protect public health. In addition to adopting state 13 standards, the ARB also adopts designation criteria. 14 These criteria provide the basis for designating areas 15 with respect to the state standards. The area 16 designations themselves provide an indication of whether 17 the health-based standards are being met. We update the 18 area designations each year based on the most recent air 19 quality data. 20 --o0o-- 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The ARB 22 originally adopted the designation criteria in 1989. We 23 review these criteria periodically to assure their 24 continued relevance and propose revisions as needed. The 25 Board approved several revisions last year and we're not PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 144 1 proposing any additional changes this year. 2 --o0o-- 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: After a state 4 standards is adopted, state law requires the Board to 5 designate areas with respect to each standards. The Board 6 makes area designations for the ten pollutants listed 7 here. While we've been making area designations for nine 8 of these pollutants since 1989, last year was the first 9 time we designated areas with the new state PM2.5 10 standard. 11 Of the ten pollutants listed on this slide, our 12 focus in terms of planning is on three: Ozone, PM10 and 13 PM2.5. Virtually all of the state attains the standards 14 for the other pollutants with the exception of visibility 15 reducing particles. However, this pollutant is addressed 16 through the PM standards. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The criteria 19 specified four possible designation categories, and each 20 of them have specific requirements. 21 The first category, nonattainment, indicates the 22 state standard is violated within the designated region. 23 The second category, nonattainment transitional, 24 is actually a sub-category of nonattainment. It's given 25 to those areas that still have a few exceedances but are PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 145 1 making progress and are close to attainment. 2 In contrast to these two, an attainment 3 designation is given to areas with air quality that meets 4 the standards. 5 And, finally, we designate areas that do not have 6 sufficient data as unclassified. However, in general, 7 unclassified areas have relatively few emission sources 8 and are not likely to violate the state standards. 9 --o0o-- 10 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The size of 11 the area designated for each pollutant is based on the 12 characteristics of that pollutant. For pollutants with a 13 regional impact such as ozone and PM, we use an air basin 14 as a starting point. For other pollutants which tend to 15 have a more localized impact, we start with a county. 16 In both cases the Board may justify a smaller 17 area if air quality emissions and other relevant data 18 indicate the smaller area's unique in terms of air 19 quality. 20 --o0o-- 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The data we 22 use for making area designations come from a statewide 23 network of air monitors. We generally refer to these data 24 as data for record. The time period we look at is the 25 most recent three calendar years with complete and valid PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 146 1 data. Because of the time required to validate the 2 measured data, all the data collected during 2004 are not 3 yet available. Therefore, we base this year's review on 4 data from 2001, 2002, and 2003. 5 In addition to the three-year requirement, the 6 data we use must meet established quality assurance 7 procedures. Generally these data are collected by the ARB 8 or local districts. However, we can use data from other 9 sources as long as they meet the same requirements. 10 In addition to being of high quality, the data we 11 use must also represent the averaging time of the state 12 standard and reflect the location and time of expected 13 highest concentrations. 14 --o0o-- 15 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: Some of the 16 data we collect are identified under the criteria as 17 highly irregular or infrequent events. These are the high 18 concentrations that are not reasonable to control through 19 the regulatory process. 20 The requirements are strictly defined within the 21 designation criteria and identified values are not 22 considered in the designation process. However, these 23 values do remain in our database for other types of 24 analyses because they do represent values to which people 25 were exposed. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 147 1 --o0o-- 2 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: This year all 3 of our proposed designation changes reflect good news. 4 The identified areas are moving either to attainment or 5 nonattainment transitional. Before showing you the 6 proposed changes I'd like to talk just a little bit about 7 these two categories. 8 To be designated as attainment, an area must have 9 air quality data showing no violations of the state 10 standard during the past three years. As I explained 11 earlier, some high values may be excluded from the 12 designation process and are not considered violations. 13 However, we can exclude values only if they qualify under 14 the definitions contained in the criteria. 15 Because some high values may be excluded, an 16 attainment area may still have occasional values above the 17 standard. 18 --o0o-- 19 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The 20 nonattainment transitional designation is given to areas 21 that still have a few exceedances or to making progress 22 and getting close to attaining the state standard. 23 There are two separate sets of requirements for 24 nonattainment transitional. The requirements for ozone 25 are specified in state law. For ozone there must have PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 148 1 been three or fewer exceedances during the last complete 2 calendar year. 3 In this case we look at all the measurements and 4 don't exclude any of them. Because ozone nonattainment 5 transitional occurs automatically by operation of law, it 6 does not require any formal action by the Board. 7 In contrast to ozone, the nonattainment 8 transitional requirements for the other pollutants are 9 specified in the ARB-adopted designation criteria. Unlike 10 ozone, the Board does adopt these designation changes. 11 --o0o-- 12 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: Now that I 13 have explained the requirements for our proposed area 14 designations, I'd like be briefly summarize our proposed 15 changes. 16 As I mentioned earlier, this year's changes are 17 based on data collected during 2001 through 2003. 18 However, our review of preliminary 2004 data does not 19 indicate anything different than what we're proposing. 20 --o0o-- 21 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: We're 22 proposing three changes for particulate matter, or PM. 23 Two areas, the Lake Tahoe Air Basin and the North Central 24 Coast Air Basin, which comprises Monterey, Santa Cruz, and 25 San Benito Counties, now have sufficient data to show PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 149 1 attainment for PM2.5. These areas are currently 2 designated as unclassified. 3 For PM10 we're proposing to separate Siskiyou 4 County from the rest of the Northeast Plateau Air Basin 5 and designate it as attainment. Siskiyou County is unique 6 in terms of PM10 air quality and therefore can be split 7 from the other counties in the air basin. 8 In addition to the proposed PM changes, the Los 9 Angeles County portion of the South Coast Air Basin now 10 qualifies as attainment for the state carbon monoxide 11 standard. This area has made steady progress over the 12 last several years. 13 With this change there's only one small area of 14 California that still violates the State CO standard. And 15 that's the small localized region around Calexico. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: The last area 18 qualifies as nonattainment transitional for ozone. These 19 three counties comprise the North Central Coast Air Basin. 20 As I described earlier, this designation category is a 21 little different from the other categories. The 22 requirements are specified in state law rather than in the 23 designation criteria. 24 This designation change has already occurred by 25 operation of law. Your action today will simply formalize PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 150 1 this change in the regulations. 2 --o0o-- 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST NYSTROM: In conclusion, 4 I'd like to briefly reiterate the staff's recommendation. 5 The staff recommends the Board adopt the proposed 6 changes to the area designations for state standards. 7 These proposed changes include two changes for PM2.5, one 8 change for PM10, one change for carbon monoxide, and one 9 change for ozone. 10 This concludes my presentation. And now we can 11 answer any questions you have. 12 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you very much. 13 Any questions for staff -- 14 BOARD MEMBER LOVERIDGE: So moved. 15 BOARD MEMBER PINEDA: Second. 16 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: You're going to 17 move -- Mayor Loveridge is going to move. 18 Let me ask just that one thing be included. And 19 I'll hold the motion and second on the table for just a 20 moment. 21 Madam Ombudsman has -- I need to call on her to 22 find out what the public participation was on this 23 particular item. 24 OMBUDSMAN TSCHOGL: I can be pretty brief on 25 this. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 151 1 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Good, I'm glad. 2 OMBUDSMAN TSCHOGL: Madam Chairman and members of 3 the Board. 4 When the staff initiated the rule they contacted 5 each local air pollution control and air quality 6 management district for which a designation was proposed. 7 In August 2004 they began a review of the air quality 8 data, and on October 21st held a public workshop in 9 Sacramento. Notifications were sent to a variety of list 10 serves and -- I won't list them all -- but a total 988 11 subscribers were notified. There were no attendees at the 12 workshop. 13 (Laughter.) 14 OMBUDSMAN TSCHOGL: The staff report was released 15 and it was announced also and sent to all of the 988 16 subscribers that I just mentioned. 17 They also provided electronic links to the public 18 hearing notice and the staff report and the area 19 designation web page, and hard copies were made available. 20 And that's it. 21 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. And you 22 must have done a wonderful job because we have no speakers 23 either. 24 So, now, the motion is on the floor. There's a 25 motion and a second. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 152 1 Discussion, question? 2 Yes. 3 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: I apologize, Madam 4 Chairman and Mayor Loveridge. 5 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: No problem. 6 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: I have one quick question. 7 Could you give us just a few examples of what an 8 irregular event is. What would qualify? 9 AIR QUALITY DATA BRANCH CHIEF EFFA: An irregular 10 event would be, for example, a wild fire or a volcano, 11 where you have a situation -- 12 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Highly unusual. 13 AIR QUALITY DATA BRANCH CHIEF EFFA: -- and it's 14 beyond control. 15 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: Thank you very much. 16 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Any other questions? 17 All right. Motion's on the table. 18 All those in favor signify by saying aye. 19 (Ayes.) 20 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Opposed, no. 21 Motion carries. We have adopted the Resolution 22 5-1. 23 I'll give staff a moment to change, and we'll 24 move on to 5-1-6. 25 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 153 1 Presented as follows.) 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Next item on the 3 agenda today is 5-1-6, a public meeting to update the 4 Board on pollution transport assessment. 5 Transport is a complex and challenging issue on 6 many levels. And I know that Board Members D'Adamo and 7 Patrick and our esteemed Supervisor DeSaulnier know 8 firsthand what transport is all about and the issues that 9 it will engender. 10 I look forward to hearing about the latest 11 efforts to understand the impacts of transport on 12 California and the ways that information will be used in 13 the next round of clean air plans to meet the federal 14 8-hour ozone standard. 15 Ms. Witherspoon, do you want to introduce this 16 item please. 17 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: Thank you, Madam 18 Chairman. 19 We've been doing transport assessments since 20 1989. Currently we're preparing comprehensive assessments 21 for the state implementation plans due in June of 2007. 22 And those plans have to show how each nonattainment area 23 will reach the federal standard accounting for transport 24 and the downwind areas will be relying upon a combination 25 of statewide upwind and local controls to show attainment. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 154 1 Mr. Bruce Tuter is going to give the staff 2 presentation. 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: Thank you, Ms. 4 Witherspoon. 5 Good afternoon, Madam Chairman and members of the 6 Board. 7 For you today we will provide an update on 8 current efforts to further assess the impacts of transport 9 pollutants in northern California. These efforts are 10 designed to support the 8-hour SIP development. 11 The work I will describe focuses on northern 12 California. However, the knowledge gained and the tools 13 and techniques developed in this effort can be applied to 14 the south state as well. 15 --o0o-- 16 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: State law 17 charges the Air Resources Board with the responsibility to 18 ensure that California attains both the state and federal 19 air quality standards. ARB also ensures that air 20 districts comply with the California Clean Air Act. 21 Regarding transport in particular state law 22 directs ARB to assess the relative impact of transported 23 pollution and to establish commensurate mitigation 24 requirements. In response, air districts are required to 25 mitigate transported pollution from emissions sources PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 155 1 under their authority to regulate. 2 --o0o-- 3 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: What exactly is 4 transport? The definition is simple: Pollution carried 5 by winds from one area to another. 6 The reality is much more complex. Transport is a 7 highly variable phenomenon, as variable literally as the 8 weather. And California's complex weather patterns and 9 geography result in many transport relationships. They're 10 reflected here in this map. 11 Upwind areas contribute to transported pollution. 12 Downward areas receive transported pollution. An area 13 like Sacramento and the San Joaquin Valley can be both. 14 Together we refer to each of these upwind/downwind 15 relationships as a transport couple. 16 The physical processes are many. Surface winds 17 could carry ozone or its precursor gases, ROG and NOx, at 18 ground level. Or ozone and precursor gases trapped in 19 winds aloft can travel long distances before returning to 20 ground level. 21 Transporter pollution from the previous day can 22 linger and contribute to high ozone levels the next day. 23 Winds change direction, changing the areas impacted. Low 24 winds can mean that very little pollution has moved 25 downwind at all. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 156 1 --o0o-- 2 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: Because the 3 physical processes are so variable and complex, assessing 4 transport impacts presents a significant technical 5 challenge. We need to understand how often transport 6 conditions occur on days with high ozone. And we need to 7 know the relative impact of upwind and local emission 8 reductions. In short, no single number can quantify 9 transport and no single analytical tool gives the whole 10 story. 11 Our goal is air quality strategies that achieve 12 clean air everywhere. We need to look also at the 13 interplay among upwind and downwind control strategies -- 14 I'm sorry -- control options, not just the magnitude of 15 transport. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: ARB began 18 analyzing transport couples and characterizing associated 19 impacts in 1990. Staff has published the results of its 20 analyses and reported to the Board in 1990, 1993, 1996 and 21 2001. 22 Along with the first transport assessment in 23 1990, ARB established air district transport mitigation 24 requirements. The Board most recently strengthened those 25 requirements in 2003. To strengthen the regulation PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 157 1 requires upwind districts to adopt all feasible measures 2 and offset emission increases from new businesses to the 3 same level as their downwind neighbors. 4 Previously the upwind offset level was determined 5 solely by the severity of the pollution problem in that 6 upwind area. 7 Board Members D'Adamo, DeSaulnier and Patrick 8 have been working with members of the local boards in 9 northern California to develop a coordinated mechanism for 10 addressing the interregional transport issue. 11 This effort, under the title of Northern 12 California Air Quality Coordination Group, is ongoing. In 13 fact, the next meeting is scheduled for the 28th of this 14 month. Flowing out of this effort has been a number of 15 staff level initiatives including a successful effort to 16 compare rule stringency among Bay Area and Central Valley 17 air districts as well as the analytical work we were 18 talking about today. 19 --o0o-- 20 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: The California 21 Clean Air Act directs ARB to review and update its 22 technical analyses every three years. Today the 23 fundamental transport relationships are well understood. 24 Since 2001, the Board has considered multiple transport 25 items, including the mitigation regulation in 2003 and PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 158 1 technical status report last year. 2 The mitigation structures in place in air 3 districts are implementing the consultation process 4 outlined in our mitigation regulation. Staff is now 5 directing its effort towards more refined analysis to 6 support development of 8-hour ozone plans. 7 --o0o-- 8 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: As we focus on 9 8-hour plans staff believes that the fundamental transport 10 relationships are the same as characterized previously for 11 the 1-hour standard. If a region was upwind -- was an 12 upwind contributor to a downwind region under the 1-hour 13 standard, it will still be under the 8-hour standard. 14 Having said that, the 8-hour standard is a more stringent 15 standard, so a smaller contribution may still have a very 16 significant impact. 17 Also, areas that meet the 1-hour standard now 18 find themselves in violation of the 8-hour standard. 19 Those areas, Butte, western Nevada Counties, Amador, 20 Calaveras, Tuolumne, Mariposa, and eastern Kern Counties 21 have relatively few local emissions compared to the 22 urbanized upwind neighbors. Most of their air quality 23 problems is caused by transport and most of the solution 24 will be provided by statewide and upwind reductions. 25 Fortunately, the need to look at more specific PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 159 1 analysis to support 8-hour ozone plans is matched by the 2 availability of new analytical tools and data. 3 --o0o-- 4 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: This slide shows 5 the areas we were looking at. The yellow areas are those 6 areas in northern California that are nonattainment for 7 the 8-hour standard. The blue areas are the southern 8 California nonattainment areas. 9 The two red boxes show the ozone study domains 10 that we are providing -- that are providing the 11 photochemical models for the two areas. 12 These studies were undertaken to gather real 13 world realtime data during ozone exceedance episodes. The 14 southern California, or SCOS, study was performed in 1997. 15 The Northern California, or CCOS, study occurred 16 in 2000. 17 --o0o-- 18 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: There are 14 air 19 districts north of the Tehachapi Mountains that violate 20 the federal 8-hour ozone standard. The primary upwind 21 urbanized areas are the Bay Area, the San Joaquin Valley, 22 and the Sacramento region. The remaining areas are the 23 more rural: Butte, mountain and eastern Kern counties. 24 We are coordinating closely with all of these air 25 districts on SIP development. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 160 1 A separate effort is also underway with the six 2 southern California nonattainment districts. 3 ARB staff is leading the technical work on 4 photochemical modeling and data analysis with significant 5 participation by staff from the Bay Area, Sacramento, and 6 San Joaquin air districts. Together we are developing 7 techniques to analyze meteorological data to understand 8 how frequently atmospheric conditions favor transport, 9 what is the geographic extent of transport, and how often 10 do high ozone and transport conditions coincide? 11 We've also begun a joint public outreach process 12 with the districts, having recently held community 13 meetings for the Sacramento area, the mountain counties, 14 the San Joaquin Valley, and eastern Kern County. A 15 meeting in the Bay Area is upcoming. 16 --o0o-- 17 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: The analytical 18 work underway is following two parallel tracks: 19 Photochemical modeling and analysis of ambient 20 meteorological and air quality data. Photochemical models 21 provide detailed insight into specific ozone episodes. We 22 are currently looking at two episodes covering seven days 23 in July 1999, and four days in late July, early August of 24 2000. 25 For these episodes we will examine how ozone PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 161 1 levels build and dissipate over time, including how air 2 flows within and between regions. We will start by 3 looking at how our existing air quality program will 4 reduce ozone levels in the future. Then we use the models 5 to measure how further remissions reductions in one region 6 would impact ozone levels both locally and in downwind 7 regions. 8 For example, we will look at the effect of 9 additional Bay Area reductions on both Sacramento and San 10 Joaquin Valley ozone levels, then Sacramento-only 11 reductions on Sacramento ozone levels and the same for San 12 Joaquin Valley. Later in the process we will simulate 13 various combinations of simultaneous Bay Area, Sacramento 14 and San Joaquin reductions. 15 What we expect to learn from these types of 16 modeling analysis is the relative impacts of local and 17 transported pollution plus how ozone responds to both 18 local and upwind controls. 19 --o0o-- 20 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: Because 21 photochemical models simulate the real world weather 22 patterns and wind flows seen during an actual ozone 23 episode, they inherently reflect transport as it occurred 24 during that episode. To illustrate this, I would like to 25 show you a model wind trajectory simulation of an actual PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 162 1 ozone episode. What you'll be looking at are wind flow 2 patterns, not ozone levels, over a three-year period -- 3 I'm sorry -- over a three-day period. The wind flows show 4 as colored ribbons that grow in length over time. 5 Ultimately these wind patterns along with emissions and 6 other data feed into the photochemical model to simulate 7 ozone formation and movement. 8 --o0o-- 9 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: In this example 10 you will see wind starting in northwestern California, 11 blowing through the Bay Area, and then into and through 12 Central Valley, and finally up into the foothills. At the 13 end you'll see the picture tilt up to give you a view of 14 how the air flows vertically. 15 --o0o-- 16 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: We're completing 17 the preparation of emission and -- I'm sorry -- of 18 emissions data and other model inputs now, and are set to 19 begin photochemical modeling this month. 20 Our first task is to get a general sense of how 21 many reductions beyond those from the existing control 22 program will be needed. This will be a first course 23 estimate across the entire region. 24 Following that, we will look at the impacts of 25 new statewide mobile source controls, since reductions PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 163 1 from cars and trucks under ARB authority are a critical 2 part of transport mitigation. 3 We will also look at the reductions from federal 4 sources, like ports, that have significant regional 5 impacts. 6 Next we will investigate how reductions in one 7 area impact ozone in other downwind areas. We will 8 concentrate our resources on the urbanized regions where 9 further reductions are most critical. 10 These types of modeling analyses are a 11 fundamental part of SIPs. They ultimately form the SIP 12 attainment demonstration, which is the analysis showing 13 that the control strategy will bring the region into 14 attainment. 15 --o0o-- 16 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: To understand 17 how well these episodes represent the high ozone 18 conditions that are the focus of SIPs, we use data 19 analysis. First, we are applying a number of statistical 20 tools to determine the representativeness of the ozone 21 episodes. In other words, how typical of high-ozone days 22 are the episodes? 23 We are also analyzing how well the episodes 24 represent transport conditions. For example, we have 25 recently analyzed the Bay Area to Sacramento transport PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 164 1 potential of the July 1999 episode. We have determined 2 that four of the seven days in that episode had 3 transport-type meteorological conditions. This is 4 encouraging since it tells us that we have an episode with 5 both transport and local ozone conditions. 6 Finally, we are developing a technique to 7 estimate how frequently weather conditions for transport 8 occur during the entire ozone season. This effort is 9 looking at every day in the summer and ozone seasons 10 between 1999 and 2002. 11 --o0o-- 12 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: When completed, 13 application of the photochemical modeling and data 14 analysis tools I have described will give us insight into 15 the three basic areas: 16 The relative upwind and downwind contribution to 17 ozone levels on the episode days. 18 The relative impact of additional upwind and 19 local emission reductions on the same ozone days. 20 And, finally, how do the modeling episodes 21 reflect transport weather conditions and how often do 22 those weather conditions occur? 23 As I said at the outset, there is no single 24 assessment method that can quantify transport under a 25 variety of conditions or weather. So it's important that PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 165 1 we look at all these results together, and not in 2 isolation, to draw as full a picture as possible of 3 transport impacts. 4 --o0o-- 5 AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST TUTER: Let me finish 6 with our schedule. 7 We will have preliminary information from the 8 modeling priorities by the middle of this year. We plan 9 to complete the modeling and data analysis by the middle 10 of 2006. We plan to report to you on the results of the 11 work in the second half of 2006. This will set the stage 12 for the SIPs and fulfill our obligation for the next 13 triennial transport assessment. Air districts will 14 release and adopt the local SIPs in late 2006 and early 15 2007. We will bring those SIPs to you for consideration 16 before the June 2007 due date. 17 Thank you. And that concludes my presentation. 18 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you very much, 19 staff. 20 Any questions by board members? 21 It was an excellent background and we thank you 22 for that. 23 We do not have any persons wishing to speak on 24 this item. And because it's simply a matter of 25 information, it's not necessary to close this item PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 166 1 officially. 2 And so I will move on to the public speaking 3 portion of our agenda. 4 And we have one person wishing to speak under 5 public comment, Yolanda Hwang. If you would come forward 6 please. 7 And, Yolanda, as you know, we have five minutes. 8 And you make your presentation. 9 I know I have a folder with some of your 10 questions and comments. And I'm going to ask the clerk to 11 the Board, do other members have that? 12 BOARD CLERK ANDREONI: They have it. 13 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Fine. Thank you 14 very much. 15 So we welcome you to the Air Resources Board 16 meeting. 17 MS. HWANG: Good afternoon. And thank you for 18 letting me speak before you today. 19 I am here from the Bay Area. And as my outline 20 stated, we have recently formed a consortium of four 21 different entities to deal with some issues that we have 22 joint interest in. And one of the interests that we all 23 have in the group is improving air quality and also 24 reducing greenhouse gas emissions. 25 Now, many of you may know that Berkeley in the PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 167 1 last four years made the commitment to reducing greenhouse 2 gases and is an active participant in the Climate Change 3 Consortium, of which many Bay Area cities including San 4 Jose, San Francisco, and every city and the County of 5 Sonoma have signed on to. 6 And Berkeley has also made the commitment to 7 reduce greenhouse gas emissions within the city by 15 8 percent following the Kyoto protocol standards. Along 9 those lines four years ago the recycling hauler, which is 10 an independent contractor -- and that's Ecology Center -- 11 made the unilateral decision to go and change from 12 petroleum diesel to 100 percent biodiesel in terms of a 13 means to reduce greenhouse gases. Two years later the 14 entire Public Works Department in the City of Berkeley and 15 the school buses made that change. So except for fire 16 engines, which are not always on a hundred percent 17 biodiesel, and I think search and rescue vehicles, the 18 entire public works and all of the solid waste fleet in 19 Berkeley is 100 percent biodiesel. 20 Now, this is prior to the adoption of the solid 21 waste collection vehicle rules, which the Air Resource 22 Board has adopted. 23 From our understanding of the Air Resources 24 Board -- and we support your efforts a thousand percent in 25 terms of aiming for zero emissions -- there seems to be a PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 168 1 little bit of a disconnect between those of us in the Bay 2 Area who would like to and are actively using biodiesel 3 and some of the goals that you have espoused mainly 4 focusing on technology to reduce emissions. 5 The assumption is that everyone out there 6 including the solid waste fleets are using petroleum 7 diesel. I understand that there's a list of what is 8 certified technology for petroleum diesel. But none of 9 that technology is certified for biodiesel. 10 So from discussing this with the fleet manager 11 and discussing among ourselves, we see ourselves between a 12 rock and a hard place. We are required by your regs to 13 adopt these emission technologies, and we have; we are in 14 compliance as of this moment. However, none of these 15 technologies have been tested to see their compatibility 16 with biodiesel. So we have the choice of either 17 shouldering the entire cost of that test ourselves by 18 investing in very expensive technology, see what the 19 compatibility is, and doing it sort of running blind; or 20 giving up the biodiesel, moving back to petroleum diesel 21 and using these after-treatments or buying these new 22 engines. 23 Now, what we would like to see is some dialogue 24 in which we can work with the staff here to look at some 25 of the questions. There's 1 to 9, which we've identified. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 169 1 They're not comprehensive. They're not every question 2 that's out there, but some of the ones that we feel need 3 to be looked at in order for us to be able to maintain our 4 commitment to reducing greenhouse gases. I won't go over 5 them because you have them. 6 The other commitment that we have made as a 7 consortium is to actively go after funding and to work 8 together as a unit. Although it's only Berkeley and 9 Oakland at this moment, there are many other cities who 10 have recently contacted us, who have also made the 11 commitment, if not to 100 percent biodiesel, to a portion 12 of biodiesel, who feel like they're in the same bind, is 13 what should they do? Do they give up biodiesel and buy 14 these after-treatments when they don't know if it's 15 compatible with biodiesel? Or do they go with biodiesel 16 and see what additional costs are? 17 And many of you are aware that cities are under a 18 very heavy budget crunch at this moment. Having heard 19 from the city manager, they do not want to take on the 20 research and the expense of the research to see which of 21 these after-treatments in engines are compatible with 22 biodiesel and what the additional cost of the maintenance 23 would be. 24 In terms of testing this material, we know that 25 there are as of this moment two potential funding sources, PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 170 1 one from the Environmental Protection Agency and the other 2 from the Department of Energy, which is -- the preliminary 3 pre-application, both of them, on February 15th. 4 And we would like to ask the Air Resources Board 5 to assign staff to work with us on a cooperative basis to 6 seek funding, to examine the proposals that we have made 7 on testing, to see what can be done to assess the 8 compatibility of biodiesel with the goals of the Air 9 Resources Board. And I think that we have the same goals. 10 We would just like to include greenhouse gas emissions as 11 part of the mix in terms of overall emissions. 12 And we would also like for there to be a planned 13 development rather than all these little cities doing our 14 own thing in terms of the research. 15 And one of the concepts that we would like to ask 16 that the Air Resources Board consider is whether or not 17 it's possible to give cities such as Berkeley, a Windsor, 18 Gualala, these other cities that have gone on to 100 19 percent biodiesel, an extension of time to comply with 20 some of the Air Resources Board regs, especially in terms 21 of solid waste vehicles, until we can come up with what 22 type of after-treatments will work with biodiesel so that 23 we can maintain our commitment to reducing greenhouse 24 gases, at the same time maintain our commitment to 25 improving air quality. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 171 1 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. Your 2 time is -- so if you'd like a concluding sentence, go 3 right ahead. 4 MS. HWANG: So I just wanted to say that we would 5 like to be able to apply for some of these grants. They 6 are due on the 15th. And if we could even begin a 7 dialogue before then, that would be much appreciated. 8 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Before I call on 9 staff, Supervisor DeSaulnier. 10 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: I just wanted to 11 suggest -- I represent the Bay Area Air District on this 12 Board. So my suggestion would be I'll come down and give 13 you my business card. And then maybe our staff and the 14 Air District staff can develop some kind of dialogue. And 15 we can include Mayor Bates when we go ahead and -- 16 MS. HWANG: That would be wonderful. Thank you. 17 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Because I think we 18 have, as you say, similar goals. 19 Ms. Witherspoon, any comment? 20 EXECUTIVE OFFICER WITHERSPOON: It's definitely a 21 problem, and we do need to figure out how to reconcile 22 these objectives. 23 Biodiesel is cleaner in some respects and dirtier 24 in others, depending on which pollutant we're talking 25 about. And the CO2 emissions were not part of our diesel PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 172 1 risk reduction program. And so we really haven't 2 integrated across all those policy lines. We're hoping we 3 can avoid stark trade-offs and bring things in alignment. 4 This has been discussed for months in our fuels working 5 group. And there's some hope that industries will step 6 forward and figure out how to certify combinations of 7 biodiesel and after-treatment devices and mesh them with 8 our diesel retrofit program. But if that does not emerge, 9 then the choices get more difficult for what kind of 10 regulatory adjustments we ought to make. 11 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: One of the things 12 that I would suggest is that -- I don't know if we have 13 your contact address, E-mail address, or something. So 14 before you leave, besides gathering Supervisor 15 DeSaulnier's card, we need to be sure that we have the 16 ability to reach you. And so I would ask staff to get 17 that. And then we'll work together. 18 MS. HWANG: Thank you so much. 19 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Thank you. 20 Board members, I think that concludes our agenda 21 for today. That was our only public speaker. 22 And so, unless there's an objection, I'm going to 23 adjourn this meeting. 24 BOARD MEMBER DeSAULNIER: I have an objection. 25 This is way too early. PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 173 1 (Laughter.) 2 ACTING CHAIRPERSON RIORDAN: Supervisor 3 DeSaulnier, I tried very hard. And I want to thank 4 everybody for working with me. I appreciate it. 5 And have a safe trip back to your areas. 6 Thank you. 7 (Thereupon the California Air Resources 8 Board meeting adjourned at 2:30 p.m.) 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345 174 1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 2 I, JAMES F. PETERS, a Certified Shorthand 3 Reporter of the State of California, and Registered 4 Professional Reporter, do hereby certify: 5 That I am a disinterested person herein; that the 6 foregoing California Air Resources Board meeting was 7 reported in shorthand by me, James F. Peters, a Certified 8 Shorthand Reporter of the State of California, and 9 thereafter transcribed into typewriting. 10 I further certify that I am not of counsel or 11 attorney for any of the parties to said meeting nor in any 12 way interested in the outcome of said meeting. 13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand 14 this 27th day of January, 2005. 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 JAMES F. PETERS, CSR, RPR 23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 24 License No. 10063 25 PETERS SHORTHAND REPORTING CORPORATION (916) 362-2345