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The California Air Resources Board (ARB/Board) and the California
Air Pollution Control Officer’s Association (CAPCOA) announce the
release of the proposed “Risk Management Guidance for Stationary
Sources of Air Toxics”. The proposed document is a revision of
the May 27, 2015, discussion draft “Risk Management Guidance for
Stationary Sources of Air Toxics”.  The proposed document
provides guidance that California’s 35 local Air Pollution
Control Districts and Air Quality Management Districts
(Districts) may elect to use for incorporating the Office of
Environmental Health Hazard Assessment’s (OEHHA) new health risk
assessment methodology into their stationary source permitting
and Assembly Bill (AB) 2588 Air Toxics Hot Spots programs.  This
document is now available at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/toxics/rma/rmaguideline.htm. 

The proposed document will be considered for approval by the ARB
at a public hearing on July 23, 2015.  More information on the
public hearing will be listed at:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/board/meetings.htm#2015.

Interested members of the public may present comments orally or
in writing at the meeting and may provide comments by postal mail
or by electronic submittal before the meeting.  To be considered
by the Board, written comments not physically submitted at the
meeting, must be received no later than 5:00 pm, July 20, 2015.
To provide your comments before the Board meeting and to view the
Notice, please go to:
http://www.arb.ca.gov/lispub/comm/bclist.php 

If you have questions regarding the proposed document, please
contact Mr. Gregory Harris, Staff Air Pollution Specialist, at
(916) 327-5980 or via email at gregory.harris@arb.ca.gov. 


Background

On March 6, 2015, OEHHA released the Air Toxics Hot Spots Program
Risk Assessment Guidelines: Guidance Manual for the Preparation
of Health Risk Assessments.  This document contains the new risk
assessment methodology that addresses the latest scientific
information on childhood sensitivities and the most recent data
on childhood and adult exposure to air toxics.  It represents an
accumulation of data since the passage of the Children’s Health
Protection Act of 1999 (SB 25, Stats. 1999) which required OEHHA
to ensure infants and children are explicitly addressed in
assessing risk.  The use of the new risk assessment methodology
may result in higher estimated cancer risk than what would have
been calculated using the previous 2003 OEHHA risk assessment
methodology for the same level of emissions and conditions.  More
information on the new OEHHA methodology can be found at:
http://oehha.ca.gov/air/hot_spots/hotspots2015.html.  

In general, the higher estimated risks mean that new or modified
sources of toxics may need additional emissions control.  For
existing sources, even though they meet existing rules and
regulations, additional emissions control may be needed since the
higher estimated risk might now exceed the District’s risk
reduction levels for Hot Spots requirements.  ARB and Districts
are reevaluating their programs to determine if adjustments need
to be made to permitting, source specific regulations, or Hot
Spot programs.  The “Risk Management Guidance for Stationary
Sources of Air Toxics” is intended to help Districts with their
reevaluation process and to communicate ARB and Districts’ plans,
priorities, and policies regarding implementation of the new
OEHHA risk assessment methodology.  When approved, this document
will supersede ARB’s Risk Management Guidelines for New and
Modified Sources of Toxic Air Pollutants (1993).  In addition,
this document conveys ARB’s work plan for evaluating the Board’s
Air Toxics Program and provides the updated Risk Management
Policy for Inhalation Risk Assessments which replaces the ARB’s
Interim Risk Management Policy for Inhalation based Residential
Cancer Risk (2003).



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