State of California
AIR RESOURCES BOARD

Summary of Board Meeting
January 29, 1998

Air Resources Board
Board Hearing Room, Lower Level
2020 "L" Street
Sacramento, California

MEMBERS PRESENT: Hons. John D. Dunlap, III, Chairman
Joseph C. Calhoun, P.E.
Mark DeSaulnier
Lynne T. Edgerton, Esq.
William F. Friedman, M.D.
Jack C. Parnell
Barbara Patrick
Sally Rakow
Barbara Riordan
Ron Roberts

AGENDA ITEM #

98-1-1 Public Hearing to Consider Amendments to the California Clean Air Act Nonvehicular Source Fee Regulations

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEM:

The California Clean Air Act (Act) requires the Air Resources Board (ARB) to develop new programs and to expand existing programs to address the problem of air pollution in California. To defray the additional costs to ARB of implementing programs and activities related to nonvehicular sources pursuant to the Act, section 39612 of the Health and Safety Code authorizes ARB to require districts to collect fees from the holders of permits for sources which are located in nonattainment areas and which emit 500 tons or more per year of any nonattainment pollutant or precursor.

The Board adopted regulations to implement section 39612 by requiring districts to collect fees up to $3 million per year as authorized by the Act and to transmit the fees to ARB for deposit into the Air Pollution Control Fund. Districts are required to assess each qualifying facility a fee per ton of emissions of nonattainment pollutants and precursors.

The fees will be assessed during fiscal years 1997-98 and 1998-99, and in future years if the authority to assess the fees is extended. Assembly Bill 1583 reinstated and extended the authority to assess fees originally granted to the ARB by the Act through June 30, 1999. This authority had become inoperative on July 1, 1997.

ORAL TESTIMONY:

None.

FORMAL BOARD ACTION:

Approved resolution 98-1 by a unanimous vote.

RESPONSIBLE DIVISION: TSD

STAFF REPORT: Yes (50 pages)

98-1-2 Public Meeting to Consider Funding Criteria for the Rice Straw Demonstration Project Fund

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEM:

Recently enacted Senate Bill 318 created the Rice Straw Demonstration Project Fund (the Rice Fund) to provide incentives for the development of commercial uses for rice straw. The Rice Fund will provide cost-sharing grants totaling about $2 million this fiscal year. Senate Bill 318 directed the Board to develop the funding criteria in consultation with the Trade and Commerce Agency, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the University of California, and to adopt these criteria at a noticed, public hearing.

The staff presented for the Board's consideration The Rice Straw Demonstration Project Fund Revised Program Description and Draft Proposed Invitation for Grant Requests, which includes the funding criteria mandated by the law. Representatives of the three collaborating state agencies testified that they participated in developing the funding criteria and believed that the program was designed to meet the goals of the Rice Fund. Testimony was also given by two rice industry representatives, who also affirmed their support of the program and the funding criteria. The Board unanimously voted to accept the proposed criteria, adopted the Rice Straw Demonstration Project Fund Revised Program Description and Proposed Invitation for Grant Requests, and directed the staff to issue Invitations for Grant Requests.

ORAL TESTIMONY:

Dr. Charles Soderquist
University of California Regent

Pamela Dana
Trade and Commerce Agency

Steve Shaffer
Department of Food and Agriculture

Joe A. Carrancho
Rice Producers of California

J.P. Cativiela
California Rice Industry Association

FORMAL BOARD ACTION:

Approved Resolution 98-2 by a unanimous vote.

RESPONSIBLE DIVISION: TSD

STAFF REPORT: Yes (43 pages)

98-1-3 Public Meeting to Consider the Approval of the South Coast Air Quality Management District's 1997 Air Quality Management Plan as a Triennial Plan Update under the California Clean Air Act

SUMMARY OF AGENDA ITEM:

Under the California Clean Air Act (CCAA), air districts are to develop plans to attain the state ambient air quality standards by the earliest practicable date. Districts are to revisit these plans every three years, beginning in 1994. The South Coast Air Quality Management District (District) adopted its first Air Quality Management Plan (AQMP) under the CCAA in 1991, revising it again in 1994. In 1996, the District again modified its AQMP. This plan update is the 1997 AQMP.

In January 1997, the Board approved the 1997 AQMP as a revision to the District's portion of the State Implementation Plan (SIP) for PM10, ozone, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen dioxide. The Board did not address the 1997 AQMP with regard to the CCAA planning requirements at that time. The primary reason was the need to expedite the submittal of the AQMP in order to meet a February 1997 federal deadline for the PM10 component of the SIP. In the interim, ARB staff evaluated the 1997 AQMP in the context of the planning requirements of the CCAA.

The purpose of this Board meeting was to consider the approval of the 1997 AQMP under the requirements of the CCAA. ARB staff reviewed existing District rules and new measures in the 1997 AQMP and focused on whether the District's plan continues to include all feasible measures. The ARB staff found that the 1997 AQMP substantially meets the CCAA planning requirements, including all feasible measures, provided the District take the following actions:

o Add improvements to Rules 1102, 1103, 1104, 1130, and 1146 to the District's rulemaking calendar;

o Meet the District's rulemaking commitments according to the schedule established in the 1997 AQMP;

o Take actions, by July 1998, to ensure that the District's permitting program meets the requirements of the CCAA;
o Submit to the ARB, by July 1998, the expected and revised emission reductions for each measure scheduled for adoption in 1994 through 1996, and include in the District's 2000 AQMP the expected and revised emission reductions for each measure scheduled for adoption in 1997 through 1999; and

o Beginning in 1998, submit annual reports containing the proposed and actual dates for the adoption and implementation of each measure scheduled for that year.

The District representative indicated that the District will take the actions recommended by ARB staff and urged the Board to approve the plan. The environmental groups' representative requested that the Board not approve the 1997 AQMP, because they believe that the 1997 AQMP does not contain all feasible measures, and that the 1997 AQMP's control strategy is not as effective as the 1994 AQMP. The environmental groups also suggested that since ARB staff have found several areas of the District's plan and current control program that need to be improved, that the Board should disapprove the plan, rather than conditionally approve it. However, ARB legal staff believe that the Board is authorized to conditionally approve district plans, as was done in the 1992-93 plan approval process. Consistant with staff's recommendation, the Board conditionally approved the 1997 AQMD for CCAA purposes.

The Southern California Paint & Coatings Association commented that the Board should not approve the architectural coatings measures contained in the 1997 AQMP, because they are technically infeasible and would bring economic hardship onto the paint industry. Rather than take that action, the Board directed staff to work with the Association as the ARB staff revisit the ARB's architectural coatings Suggested Control Measure and pursue legislative authority over architectural coatings this year.

ORAL TESTIMONY:

Elaine Chang
SCAQMD

Tim Carmichael
Coalition for Clean Air/NRDC

Bob Houston
Southern California Paint & Coatings Association

FORMAL BOARD ACTION:

Approved Resolution 98-3 by a unanimous vote.

RESPONSIBLE DIVISION: EO/OAQTP

STAFF REPORT: Yes (25 pages plus appendices)


98-1-4 Consideration of Research Proposals

Approved Resolutions 98-4, 98-5, 98-6, 98-7, 98-8, 98-9, 98-10 by a unanimous vote.