South Coast Air Quality Management District

Recognize and Appropriate Funds for PAMS, National Air Toxics Pilot, and PM2.5 Monitoring Programs

SYNPOSIS: 

EPA has allocated funding for three separate programs: (1) $1,248,085 from Section 105 Grant funds for the ninth year of the PAMS program; (2) $39,342 for local air toxics analyses as part of the second year of the National Air Toxics Pilot Program; and (3) $141,050 as an augmentation to the PM2.5 monitoring program. This action is to recognize $1,248,085 for the ninth year PAMS program, $39,342 for air toxic analyses, and $141,050 for PM2.5 monitoring augmentation upon receipt and appropriate these funds to the FY 2001-02 Budget.

COMMITTEE: 

Administrative, June 8, 2001, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

1. Recognize $1,248,085 in revenue from EPA Section 105 Grant funds for the PAMS program.
   
   
2. Recognize $39,342 in revenue from EPA Section 103 Grant funds for local air toxics analyses.
   
   
3. Recognize $141,050 in revenue from EPA Section 103 Grant funds to augment the PM2.5 monitoring program.
   
   
4. Upon receipt of these grants, appropriate $1,248,085 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2001-02 Budget, as set forth in Attachment A, $39,342 as set forth in Attachment B, and $141,050 as set forth in Attachment C.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

PAMS
In February 1993, the EPA promulgated the PAMS regulations for areas classified as serious, severe or extreme non-attainment. Those regulations required AQMD to conduct monitoring for ozone precursors with enhanced monitoring equipment initially at one site, increasing to a total of seven sites. All seven sites are now operational. The PAMS program is also funding the meteorological upper air profilers sited at LAX, Ontario Airport and Moreno Valley, and the new upper air site being installed at John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Since the onset of the PAMS program, EPA has annually allocated Section 103 or Section 105 supplemental grant funds in support of this requirement.

For the ninth year of the PAMS program, EPA has allocated $1,248,085 to continue to operate and maintain the PAMS network, including the upper air profilers; to analyze the PAMS VOC samples in the laboratory; and to report the PAMS data to EPA.

National Air Toxics Pilot Program
Last year, as part of a special Congressional appropriation earmarked toward the development of a national air toxics monitoring network, AQMD was awarded $143,000 to conduct one year of air toxics monitoring in San Jacinto as part of a rural air toxics component to a national pilot monitoring program. To improve the quality of the data, EPA is augmenting this amount by $9,342 to allow for co-located sampling at one of the two San Jacinto monitoring locations.

Also, under the current year national allocation to this program, a competitive process was established under the auspices of the National Air Toxics Monitoring Steering Committee. As part of that competition, AQMD was selected to conduct a data analysis project integrating data collected over the past two years as part of its Environmental Justice Initiatives and Children’s Air Quality Agenda. The EPA funding, in an amount of $30,000, will allow for this effort.

The combined amount of the grant, under Section 103 Grant Funds, is $39,342.

PM2.5 Monitoring
Since 1998, EPA has been providing funding for the comprehensive PM2.5 air monitoring program as a Section 103 Grant. Most recently, at its February meeting, the Board recognized $767,075 to continue the program through calendar year 2001. Due to current opportunities to gain additional information, EPA is making available additional funds under the federal FY 2000-01 Budget to augment the current program with additional monitoring. In particular, in conjunction with the ARB’s Children’s Health Study and the PM2.5 Los Angeles Supersite program, an opportunity exists to collect continuous particle size information, including ultrafine particles, at several sites within the South Coast Air Basin. This information will help researchers better understand the nature of particle matter to which school-age children are exposed. Specifically, $120,000 of these funds will be used to support the operation of two scanning mobility particle sizers (SMPS) on a rotating basis among several communities over a three-year period.

The remaining funds will be used to purchase and operate an additional speciated PM2.5 sampler at the downtown Los Angeles air monitoring station. The operation of this sampler will allow for a comparison of speciated samples between the AQMD laboratory and the designated national laboratory.

Both aspects of this augmentation will add substantially to the fine particulate data which will help in the characterization of air quality conditions and health impacts.

Resource Impacts

EPA funding will support the ninth year operation of PAMS program and will further provide for equipment, temporary services, supplies and services, necessary to meet the objectives of the program. For the National Air Toxics Pilot Program, funds will be used for supplies and services to meet the national objectives. For the PM2.5 monitoring augmentation, funds will be used for site preparation, parts and supplies, salaries and benefits, and professional services.

Attachments

Attachment A - PAMS 9th Year Allocation
Attachment B - National Air Toxics Pilot Program Allocation
Attachment C - PM2.5 Monitoring Allocation

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