CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD

 

NOTICE OF PUBLIC MEETING TO CONSIDER
AREA DESIGNATION RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR THE NEW FEDERAL EIGHT-HOUR OZONE STANDARD

 

The Air Resources Board (ARB or "Board") will conduct a public meeting at the time and place noted below to consider area designation recommendations for the eight-hour national ambient air quality standard for ozone.

 

  DATE:   March 23, 2000
  TIME:   9:30 a.m.
  PLACE:   Board Hearing Room, Lower Level
2020 L Street
Sacramento, California 95814

 
This item will be considered at a two-day meeting of the Board, which will commence at 9:30 a.m., March 23, 2000 and may continue at 8:30 a.m., March 24, 2000 if necessary. This item may not be considered until March 24, 2000. Please consult the agenda for the meeting, which will be available at least 10 days before March 23, 2000, to determine the day on which this item will be considered. 

This facility is accessible to persons with disabilities. If accommodation is needed, please contact ARB's Clerk of the Board at (916) 322-5594, or TDD (916) 324-9531, or (800) 700-8326 for TDD calls from outside the Sacramento area by March 9, 2000.


Proposed Action: ARB staff recommends that the Board approve the proposed recommendations for eight-hour ozone area designations and boundaries for transmittal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). 


Background: Area designations refer to the formal identification of regions that violate an air quality standard (nonattainment areas), regions that meet the standard (attainment areas), and regions that cannot be classified as meeting or not meeting the standard on the basis of available information, i.e., monitoring data (unclassifiable areas). U.S. EPA established a new eight-hour ozone standard in July 1997. Although a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals later returned the standard to U.S. EPA for additional justification, the Court left the new standard in place. Under the Clean Air Act, the Governor or his designee must submit the State’s recommendations for area designations and U.S. EPA must finalize these designations for the eight-hour ozone standard by July 2000. 

In consultation with local air districts, transportation agencies, and the public, ARB staff has developed proposed recommendations for eight-hour ozone designations and boundaries based on the most recent available air quality data for 1997 through 1999.

ARB staff will make an oral presentation describing the proposed recommendations to the Board at the meeting. Interested members of the public may also present comments orally or in writing. Written comments must be received by the Clerk of the Board, Air Resources Board, P.O. Box 2815, Sacramento, California 95812, no later than 12:00 noon, March 22, 2000 or received by the Clerk of the Board at the hearing. ARB requests, but does not require, that twenty copies of any written statements be submitted. 

Copies of the written staff report will be available on February 28, 2000. The staff report may be obtained from the Board's Public Information Office, 2020 L Street, Sacramento, California 95814, or by calling (916) 322-2990, or downloaded from the ARB’s website at www.arb.ca.gov/desig/8-houroz/8-houroz.htm. Further inquiries should be directed to Patricia Velasco, Ph.D., at (916) 323-7560.

 

Date: February 22, 2000