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newsrel -- Reducing 76 Tons per Day of NOx

Posted: 21 Sep 2007 10:44:47
Please consider the following joint Air Resources Board and South
Coast AQMD press release announcing new measures to reduce PM 2,5
in the South Coast area.  You can review the release online at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/newsrel/nr092107.pdf .

Thank You
Dimitri Stanich
ARB/PIO
_______________________________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
Sept. 21, 2007  

AQMD CONTACT:  
Sam Atwood (909) 396-3456  Cell:  (909) 720-9056

ARB Contact:
Karen Caesar  (626) 575-6728


Measures to Reduce 76 Tons per Day of Oxides of Nitrogen

AIR QUALITY OFFICIALS REACH AGREEMENT ON EMISSION REDUCTION
MEASURES NEEDED TO MEET PM2.5 STANDARD IN 2015

State and Southland air quality officials have announced an
historic agreement to reduce pollution from diesel trucks,
commuter trains, construction equipment and the ports to meet a
federal health-based clean air deadline in 2015.
“This agreement signals the dawn of a new day in cooperation
between state and local air quality agencies that will result in
cleaner air,” said Mary Nichols, chairman of the state Air
Resources Board.
“Two of the most innovative air quality agencies in the world
have joined forces to mount some of the most aggressive measures
ever proposed in order to address the Southland’s air quality
needs,” said Roy Wilson, Governing Board Vice Chairman of the
South Coast Air Quality Management District (AQMD).
The two agencies, along with leaders of the Southern California
Association of Governments (SCAG), have reached agreement on
measures to reduce 76 tons per day of oxides of nitrogen (NOx),
a building block to fine particulate pollution.  The reductions
are essential to meet the federal government’s 2015 deadline for
achieving the health-based standard for fine particulates, known
as PM2.5.  
“This will provide a rapid response to the many adverse health
impacts caused by today’s level of air pollution,” said Gary
Ovitt, president of SCAG’s Regional Council and an AQMD
Governing Board Member.
The pollution cuts will be achieved by stringent mandatory
regulations as well as incentive programs.  The agreement calls
upon federal, state and local governments to do their part in
cleaning the Southland’s air.
The programs will include:
•	ARB strengthening its control measures by requiring a
comprehensive modernization of private and port heavy-duty truck
fleets in the region.  The measures will reduce 27 tons per day
of NOx by 2014, equivalent to replacing all pre-2006 trucks with
those meeting stringent 2007 standards;
•	The region asking the federal government to reduce locomotive
emissions prior to 2014 or provide funding for California air
quality officials to achieve equivalent reductions.  This item
calls for NOx emission reductions by 10 tons per day;
•	An AQMD measure to control pollution from commercial
charbroilers and wood burning to reduce particulate pollution by
an amount equivalent to 11 tons per day of NOx;
•	The region requesting local governments to dedicate about 40
percent of vehicle registration fees they receive for air
pollution-related programs – about $10 million per year –
specifically to reduce pollution from heavy-duty trucks and
other equipment.  It would reduce NOx emissions by about 4 tons
per day;
•	ARB and AQMD seeking $50 million in additional incentive funds
to retrofit Metrolink commuter locomotives with pollution control
devices and to further reduce emissions from port-related and
other mobile sources.  It would reduce NOx emissions by 6 tons
per day;
•	AQMD achieving an additional 12 tons per day of NOx reductions
by opting in to a more stringent version of a statewide ARB rule
reducing pollution from construction and other off-road
equipment; 
•	ARB achieving 3 tons per day of NOx reductions from measures
principally designed to reduce greenhouse gases under AB 32;
and
•	AQMD recognizing an additional 3 tons per day of NOx
reductions from funded Carl Moyer projects.
ARB’s Board will meet on September 27 at AQMD headquarters in
Diamond Bar to consider approving the new measures as part of
AQMD’s 2007 Air Quality Management Plan and ARB’s State
Implementation Plan.
The Southland has the worst PM2.5 air pollution in the country. 
The pollution is comprised of microscopic particles at least 30
times smaller than the width of a human hair – some so small
they pass from lung tissue directly into the human bloodstream
and circulate throughout organs in the body.  ARB estimates that
PM2.5 pollution in the Southland is responsible for as many as
5,000 premature deaths per year.
The measures agreed on this month by the agencies’ staffs
provide the missing piece of the puzzle in an overall plan to
meet the federal PM2.5 standard by 2015.  The federal government
requires that reductions be in place by 2014.
Regulations already adopted will reduce NOx emissions from about
1,000 tons per day today to 654 tons per day in 2014.  AQMD’s
2007 Air Quality Management Plan calls for a further 200
ton-per-day reduction to a final level of 454 tons per day in
2014.  Until this month, air quality officials could only
identify about 137 of the 200 tons of needed emission
reductions.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and
major portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside
counties.
The Air Resources Board is part 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. 
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