The Mobile Source Committee met Friday, June 25, 1999. Following is a summary of that
meeting. The next meeting will be July 16, 1999, at 9:30 a.m. in Conference Room CC-8.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive and file.
Cynthia Coad, Chair
Mobile Source Committee
Attendance
The meeting started at 9:35 a.m. Present: Committee Chairwoman Cynthia Coad, Committee
Member Norma Glover, and Committee Member Jon Mikels. Absent: Committee Vice Chair Roy
Wilson, and Committee Members Mee Hae Lee and Ron Loveridge. The attachment is an
attendance roster.
INFORMATION ITEMS:
AB2766 Subvention Fund Program Bookkeeping and Reporting System
As requested by the Committee, the Chief Financial Officer provided the Committee with an
overview of the financial administration of the AB2766 Subvention Fund. He provided some
background information on the program, and reported on the performance requirements
relative to AQMD and the counties/cities under the Program. An audit of the
participants’ financial statements and program reports is performed every two years,
and findings are presented to the AQMD Board. Public hearings are held to resolve the
audit findings and the AQMD Board has the authority to withhold funds and redisburse them.
To date, audit reports have been issued on78% of the cities/counties. The focus of the
audit is on the propriety of expenditures, not their degree of efficacy in reducing air
pollution. Based on experience from prior audits, most common negative findings were: 1)
interest revenue was not allocated; 2) special trust funds were not established; 3)
expenditures were not documented; 4) the 5% administrative cap was exceeded; and 5)
reports and financial statements were not submitted on time.
To provide guidance to the cities, audit guidelines were developed in 1992. Audit guidance
was mailed out to cities, regional workshops were held, and recently special workshops
were held on the new disk-based State Program reports. In addition, a Resource Guide was
developed to provide technical assistance in selecting appropriate projects and assistance
in the financial administration of the funds. Staff also reported on their current efforts
to help improve the administration of the fund: 1) staff is working with the State to
modify the program to make the submittal report more user-friendly for the cities within
the South Coast Basin; and 2) staff is revising the program form that is sent to the AQMD
to include sign-off by the city manager or the finance/program director verifying that the
financial information reported is consistent with their audited financial statements.
Rule 2202 Emission Reduction Shortfall – AQMD Purchasing of Market ERCs to Make
Up Shortfall
Staff reported to the Committee their findings on the possibility of purchasing emission
reduction credits (ERCs) from the market. There are two sources of funding: the Mobile
Source Reduction Credit (MSRC) funds and the Air Quality Investment Program (AQIP) funds.
The MSRC funds are not under the direct control of the AQMD, leaving the AQIP fund as the
other option. This latter option was approved by the Board for the first time last month.
To use the AQIP funds to purchase ERCs, staff must go through a bid process. At the last
round of the AQIP bidding process, staff had specifically called for ERC proposals. Staff
believes that concerns regarding the potential discounting of ERCs is a possible reason
for the lack of response. U.S. EPA has not taken a stand on this issue yet.
The Committee commented that perhaps by simplifying the proposal process greater interest
may be generated. Staff was directed to develop a simple application form and insert it
into the RFP.
Report on Method to Quantify FY 96/97 and FY 97/98 AB2766
Subvention Projects
Staff presented the following reports to the Committee: 1) Projects Funded by Category for
FY 97/98; 2) Local Government Administrative Costs for FY 96/97; and 3) Local Government
Administrative Costs for FY 97/98.
Staff reported that the FY 96/97 reports were examined and it was noted that one
discrepancy was in the area of the 5% cap administrative costs in the financial
statements. In normal cases, staff time is considered overhead and not program cost.
However, under the AB2766 program some staff time has been reported as program cost. Staff
will work with the cities on this issue and provide assistance to them. Staff recognizes
the importance of educating the cities, and efforts in this respect are being made on an
ongoing basis.
Referring to Committee Member Jon Mikels’ suggestion to have staff re-examine the
records of FY 96/97 to capture potential emission credits, the Executive Officer commented
that staff’s recommendation is that, with limited staff available, the District focus
its attention on surveying the ongoing previously-funded projects and future projects to
capture the emission reductions generated by these projects so as to take SIP credits for
future years in terms of attainment year and reasonable rate of progress, as well as for
Rule 2202 equivalency. The previous year’s credits have been balanced and staff is
not confident the old reductions can be readily quantified or re-captured. In addition,
staff believes it is most important that the District identify projects that have a long
lifetime and ensure that reductions can be well documented.
Update on U.S. EPA’s Public Consultative Process
Per the 1994 SIP litigation settlement agreement, the U.S. EPA proposes to close the
Public Consultative Process (PCP) by July 1, 1999. Staff gave an update on this proposal.
The proposal was published in the Federal Register on June 7, 1999, and the Notice
provided the following information:
- Progress on Federal Measures in the 1994 Ozone SIP
- Shortfall from 3 Measures
- Additional reductions from other regulatory activities
- Ongoing work with State and other stakeholders
Staff provided a detailed report on the status of the federal measures. Particular
reference was made to the fact that there is a shortfall of 23 tons out of the measures
under U.S. EPA’s assignment, and that there is serious reservation about the credits
U.S. EPA is claiming for the Heavy-Duty Diesel Off-Cycle settlement.
Staff went on to report that comment letters had been received by U.S. EPA from the
following four agencies: AQMD, City of Los Angeles, Los Angeles County Sanitation
District, and U.S. Department of Navy. AQMD’s comment letter covered the following
topics, which were reviewed in detail by staff:
- Fair Share Reductions of Federal Sources
- Toxic Benefit of Diesel Emission Reductions
- Heavy-Duty Diesel Off-Cycle Settlement
- Public Process
- Enforceability of Credited SIP Reductions
- Potential Shortfalls
- Compliance with Consent Decree
- Inconsistencies in U.S. EPA’s Standards for Approving SIP Revisions
There was a discussion on pollution caused by diesel engines. Committee Chair Cynthia Coad
asked if there is a summary available of the health risks resulting from diesel emissions.
She also asked if there is additional information on rubber particles in the air. Staff
said they would provide existing data.
Committee Member Normal Glover requested that a copy of the comment letter be sent to the
U.S. EPA office in Washington D.C.
In addition, Committee Member Norma Glover moved to send a copy of the comment letter to
all the Members of the Congress in the Air Basin. Committee Chair Cynthia Coad seconded,
and the motion passed unanimously.
Report on Research Efforts on Weekday/Weekend Effect
Staff gave an overview of the research efforts regarding the weekday/weekend ozone
phenomena. Historically, there are more hourly exceedances of ozone on weekends when
compared to weekdays and there is a need to gather additional technical data to adequately
analyze the effect.
Staff showed the trend in ozone exceedances over the last eighteen years, indicating that
on the average there has been a higher rate of exceedance on weekends than on weekdays. In
more recent years the weekday ozone trend is going down faster compared to weekends, due
to control programs that came into effect beginning in 1990.
Staff reported on prior studies conducted by the AQMD and on an industry-sponsored study
in 1998 which said that the ARB LEV II regulation could be a detriment to the ozone
control program. However, staff indicated that the 1997 AQMP would provide for attainment
by 2010 when emission reductions from the LEV program are implemented.
Staff then presented a study on the number of station-hours above the federal ozone air
quality standard. The study was broken down into two periods: 1992-94 and 1996-98 to
reflect the period in which the reformulated gasoline program became effective in 1995.
This study shows that the ozone levels still dropped for both weekdays and weekends, and
at much the same ratio. However the ozone levels were still higher on weekends than on
weekdays.
There are several hypotheses for the weekday/weekend difference:
- "Less NOx Scavenging" – due to less truck traffic and industrial
activities on weekends
- "NOx Limited" – due to equal VMT on weekdays and weekends but with
different distribution of travel times, and more ozone production from NOx
- More emissions on weekends, in particular VOC emissions due to Friday and Saturday night
traffic, and weekend recreational and maintenance activities
AQMD staff have commented on these hypotheses:
- that these hypotheses/studies are made without consideration of fine particulates
- NOx emission reductions are needed to attain PM10 standards
- the 1997 AQMP weekend sensitivity analysis indicates that the Basin
would still attain all standards by 2010
Staff reported on the 1995 PM10 Technical Enhancement Program data that analyzes the
contribution of NOx to PM2.5; the study showed the trend that nitrates generally dominate
the NOx emission contribution to PM2.5.
Staff reported on recent ARB research efforts. These include: conducting studies on trends
in ozone, diurnal variations and VOC reactivity; and gathering emissions information by:
studying the 1997 SCOS Day-Specific data, starting an instrumented heavy-duty vehicles
program, and conducting studies on statewide truck activity and statewide passenger
vehicle activity.
There are also joint AQMD/ARB efforts: for the 2000 AQMP revision – development of an
episode for the modeling of weekend ozone; and design of programs to reduce mobile source
emissions on weekends. Staff is also working with SCAG on developing a weekend inventory
of passenger car activity.
Future research efforts are:
- NREL/DOE Research Proposal to characterize weekend phenomena
- CRC Proposal to do some sensitivity analysis of air quality modeling of weekend emission
scenarios
- ARB Proposal to collect vehicle activity information
On the ARB proposal, ARB has asked for AQMD co-sponsorship of the project. Staff is
looking into this project and will keep the Committee informed.
Committee Member Jon Mikels asked for charts to show impacts of diesel emissions on
various emissions categories and this was noted by staff.
Update on Technology Advancement Office Projects
An overview of recent projects was given. The projects include:
- Evaluation of Methanol Fuel Quality Specifications for PEM Fuel Cells
- Development & Demonstration of a 250kW Hybrid Pressurized SOFC / Micro-Turbine
- Development and Demonstration of a Mack E7G 400 hp Natural Gas Engine
Staff gave a briefing on the project overview, technical objectives, project benefits and
project co-funding.
Staff then gave a brief summary of the Carl Moyer Program. This statewide program will
bring the South Coast over 12 million dollars to fund voluntary third-party projects
administered by the AQMD. The Moyer program targets truck fleets and other heavy-duty
vehicle categories to accelerate the transition from diesel to less polluting fuels and
systems. Extensive outreach efforts by staff were made to invite proposal applications.
The proposal period opened on May 7, 1999 and ends on July 1, 1999. Seven proposals
totaling over 10 million dollars were received on the first morning. To date, nearly 20
million dollars worth of proposal applications have been received, which far exceeds the
funds available under this program. This heavy response, however, does signal that there
is a tremendous latent demand and receptivity in the trucking and transit sectors to
commercial applications of clean fuel engines. A brief description of the proposal review
process was also given.
Finally, staff reported that the AQMD’s Clean Fuels Program had been reauthorized by
signature of the Governor. Annual funding of 9.5 million dollars will be provided by this
program and the new sunset date is January 1, 2005.
Rule 2202 Activity Report:
Rule 2202 Summary Status Report submitted, no comments.
a. CEQA Document Commenting Update: Written report submitted, no comments.
b. CEQA Handbook Revision: No report submitted – no meeting in June.
Monthly Report on Environmental Justice Initiatives:
Item #2 – Ambient Monitoring of Air Toxics: Written report submitted, no
comments. Item #7 – Cleanup Incentives for Diesel: Written report submitted, no
comments.
