SACRAMENTO -- The California Air Resources Board (ARB) today completed its two-day State Implementation Plan Summit designed to identify innovative strategies needed to meet federal ozone standards in Southern California and the Central Valley.

ARB Chairman, Dr. Alan Lloyd said, "This Summit fulfills an ARB commitment to determine how we can accelerate our efforts to clean California's air. New ideas and a renewed focus on reducing emissions will help us achieve clean air."

Stakeholders from government, business and the environmental community gathered in Sacramento to exchange ideas and discuss how to develop the most effective plan to clean the state's air. Special focus was given to developing new ideas for controlling air pollution. During adoption of the statewide SIP, in October 2003, the ARB committed to a comprehensive open process for identifying additional strategies to meet the 2010 deadline. The Summit also provided stakeholders the opportunity to discuss which strategies and measures were the most successful in the current one-hour SIPs and which measures need to be eliminated or revised to improve their performance.

Presently, the ARB's statewide SIP has a list of ideas that may be developed into effective measures but most require further technical assessment, legal authority or funding mechanisms to be feasible. Some of the topics discussed at the Summit included:

• Passenger Vehicles, New Standards and Existing Vehicles
• Cleaner Gasoline and Vapor Recovery
• Diesel Engines and Alternatives - New and Existing Vehicles, Fuels
• Ports - Ships, Harborcraft, Pleasurecraft and Landside Operations
• Off-Road Gasoline and Propane Engines
• Sources of ROG: Consumer Products, Architectural Coatings and Solvents, and
• Financial Incentives, Market Strategies and Seasonal Strategies.

The ARB has the responsibility under federal law to develop a SIP that meets guidelines set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA). The state plan is composed of individual local plans developed in areas throughout the state that fail to meet federal clean air limits for ozone, the major component of photochemical smog. After local plans are approved by the ARB they are added to the SIP which is forwarded to U.S. EPA for approval. Failure to develop a SIP can result in the delay of federal transportation building funds or the development of a federal plan that is more expensive and draconian than the SIP. Currently, about 90 percent of all Californians live in areas that do not meet federal and state air pollution standards.

The Air Resources Board is a department of the California Environmental Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health, welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and maintain health based air quality standards.

The energy challenge facing California is real. Every Californian needs to take immediate action to reduce energy consumption. For a list of simple ways you can reduce demand and cut your energy cost, see our website at http://www.arb.ca.gov.