BOARD MEETING DATE: July 11, 2003
AGENDA NO. 11

Recognize and Appropriate Unexpended U.S. EPA Section 105 Grant Funds to the FY 2003-04 Budget

SYNOPSIS:

EPA has approved the redirection of $89,623 in unspent Section 105 funding for three new projects. The projects include the development of a micro-scale inventory for the Alameda Corridor, hiring a facilitator for cumulative impact work, and a sampling and testing program for perchloroethylene dry cleaning. This action is to recognize and appropriate $59,623 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2003-04 Budget to carry out the remainder of these projects.

COMMITTEE:

Administrative, June 13, 2003, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Recognize $59,623 in revenue from prior year’s unspent U.S. EPA Section 105 Grant funds. Appropriate a total of $59,623 from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2003-04 Planning, Rule Development and Area Sources Budget in the following accounts: $6,573 to Salary and Employee Benefits; and $53,050 to Professional and Special Services Account, $40,000 toward the development of a micro scale emission inventory and $13,050 for lab analysis of dry cleaning samples.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

U.S. EPA awarded Section 105 Grants for the following projects: Permit Program (FFY 1992-93), FIP Modeling (FFY 1992-93), Remote Sensing (FFY 1992-93), Enhanced Monitoring and Compliance Regulation Development (FFY 1992-93) and Market Incentives/Enforcement Strategies (FFY 1996-97). As of FY 2002-03, $89,623 of funding was not expended from these programs and can now be directed to other priority activities. U.S. EPA approved the request for the following projects:

Alameda Corridor Air Quality Study
On September 13, 2002, the Board approved 23 Environmental Justice (EJ) program enhancements. One of the EJ enhancements calls for conducting sub-regional analyses in area of the South Coast Air Basin which may be specifically impacted by air toxics and/or fine particulate matter in a manner that poses an EJ concern. The products of this effort will include refined emissions inventories, improved and more detailed air quality modeling estimates of pollutant levels, and proposed mitigation measures, if needed. The staff’s goal is to conduct and complete one sub-regional analysis per year. The area chosen for study is the Alameda Corridor. This area contains residential, commercial, and industrial land-use, often in close proximity. In addition, the area includes the 110 and 710 freeways running the length of the study area and the 405, 105, 5 and 60 freeways transecting the area.

The air quality study of the Alameda Corridor area includes establishing a working group and developing cumulative impact/risk assessments methodologies for evaluating neighborhood-scale air pollution impacts from all nearby sources, including mobile sources. Additional anticipated results of this study include the following:

• Development of a comprehensive regional and sub-regional toxic emissions inventory of point, area, on-road, and off-road sources for analysis and use in air quality dispersion models;
• Development of meteorological input files for the point source and regional modeling tools;
• Performance of air quality modeling at the neighborhood and regional scales for all toxic air contaminants (TACs) considered in the study;
• Development and analysis of the effects of various control strategies on local risks; and
• Preparation of a report summarizing all findings.

The $40,000 requested is to contribute to hiring a contractor to develop micro-scale emissions inventory for selected geographic areas with a focus on non-permitted sources.

Facilitator for the Cumulative Impacts Working Group
On September 13, 2002, the Board approved enhancements to the EJ program for Fiscal Year 2002-2003. Addressing cumulative emission impacts is a key element of the EJ program enhancements. An outgrowth of these enhancements was a Board directive to staff to report back on the feasibility of rulemaking to address cumulative impacts of air toxics beyond current AQMD requirements. On January 10, 2003, staff reported to the Board on the initial investigation into the development of a cumulative impacts program. The Board approved a proposal to develop a White Paper on regulatory options for addressing cumulative impacts from air pollution emissions, including a work plan that entailed creation of a Working Group to provide input to staff, development of a White Paper, and an update to the second Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study (MATES II).

The Working Group process is an effort to receive input from various stakeholders and is utilized for developing options for regulatory programs and policies to address cumulative impacts from air toxics and other pollutants. The Working Group consists of industry representatives, environmental and community groups, and representatives of the California Air Resources Board and U.S. EPA, Region IX. Since January, the Working Group has had several meetings. Each of these meetings has had dynamic discussions relative to how cumulative impacts from air toxic emissions should be addressed. There are widely divergent interests among the Working Group members relative to the approach and options for further developing a cumulative impacts program. In order to help facilitate productive meetings, explore the different interests, which should result in a better set of recommendations to the Board, the AQMD has hired an impartial facilitator specializing in negotiating and conflict resolution.

The $25,000 in grant funding will offset the cost of the services of the facilitator for the Cumulative Impacts Working Group. The facilitator guides discussions among the participants, who together operate as a committee open to public observation and comment following agreed-upon protocols. The facilitator also serves as moderator for community meetings to receive input from the public.

Dry Cleaning Sampling and Testing Program
A sampling program is being developed to obtain a representative sample of perchloroethylene (perc) usage and sludge samples that will be used in the derivation of a perc emission factor. The sampling results will be used to complement data that was collected last year as part of the Rule 1421 rulemaking effort. Staff is proposing a 12-month sampling program that will include collection of sludge from perchloroethylene (perc) dry cleaning equipment, measuring perc usage, and collecting records from shop owners and suppliers. An experienced statistician will be contracted to provide guidance to AQMD staff on conducting a statistically sound sampling program. The samples will be analyzed using AQMD’s laboratory methodologies. Perc samples will be collected by AQMD inspectors.

The costs associated with this program include: laboratory analysis, inspector over time pay, and the fees for the statistician. The fee for the statistician is approximately $5,000 and lab analysis is estimated at $13,050. The total cost of this program is not expected to exceed $24,623.

Proposal

In FY 2002-03, a total of $89,623 has been approved by U.S. EPA for redirection to the projects described above. From this total, $30,000 has already been committed in FY 2002-03: $5,000 for the services of a statistician (Dry Cleaning Sampling); and $25,000 for the services of a facilitator (Cumulative Impacts Working Group). This action is to carry over the remaining funding of $59,623 to the FY 2003-04 Budget to complete these projects.

Resource Impacts

Revenue in the amount of $59,623 will be appropriated from the Undesignated Fund Balance to the FY 2003-04 Budget.

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