BOARD MEETING DATE: May 7, 2004
AGENDA NO. 8

Approve Renewal of Grant Agreements under the State Emissions Mitigation Program

SYNOPSIS:

On September 13, 2002, the Board approved grants to public agencies to install particulate traps on vehicles for up to $6,000 per trap to reduce particulate emissions. Due to increased costs of materials and de-verification of two particulate traps by CARB, the current pricing cap is not valid. This action is to amend the grant agreements to increase the allowable expenditure of grant funds to up to $8,500 per trap, while maintaining the Board approved grant amount for each public agency. If certain vehicles cannot be retrofitted with a trap at $8,500, staff recommends retrofitting those vehicles with traps that reduce particulate and NOx at a cost not to exceed $18,000 per trap. Staff also proposes to allow the use of grant funds to purchase up to 20 filter cleaning systems, and to extend the deadline of the grants to September 30, 2004 or any later date as approved by CARB.

COMMITTEE:

Technology, April 23, 2004, Recommended for Approval

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Authorize the Executive Officer to renew grant agreements issued to local and regional public agencies for particulate trap retrofit projects that expired on December 31, 2003 with the following changes:

1. Increase the allowable expenditure of grant funds to up to $8,500 per trap, and for those vehicles that cannot be retrofitted with a trap at $8,500, up to $18,000 for a trap that reduces both PM and NOx emissions as verified by CARB, while maintaining the previous Board approved grant amount for each public agency identified in Table 1, under the State Emissions Mitigation Program.
    
2. Authorize the Executive Officer to allow the use of grant funds to purchase filter cleaning systems for those grant agreements with at least 13 eligible vehicles, not exceeding 20 filter cleaning systems for the entire PM Trap Retrofit Program.
    
3. Authorize Executive Officer to increase grant awards by at least $2,700 per filter cleaning system to subsidize the cost of purchasing the filter cleaning systems using $54,000 of turn back monies from agencies that opted out of the program, and increasing this subsidy if additional monies become available.
    
4. Extend the deadline for installation of the particulate traps to September 30, 2004 or any later date as approved by CARB under the State Emissions Mitigation Program.

Barry R. Wallerstein, D.Env.
Executive Officer

Background

At its September 13, 2002 meeting, the Board approved PM trap retrofit projects with local and regional public agencies in an amount not to exceed $4,203,300 under the State Emissions Mitigation Program. Fifteen grant agreements were issued to public agencies to retrofit approximately 708 vehicles under the PM Trap Retrofit Program.

Table 1 identifies the Board-approved PM trap grant awards, which expired on December 31, 2003. Following issuance of the grant agreements, three public agencies, the City of Laguna Beach, Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District and Rancho California Water District, opted out of the program. The reasons cited were budgetary concerns, the inability of vehicles to achieve the minimum exhaust temperatures, delays in implementation of the program, and the inability of a vendor to confirm if the vehicles are suitable for retrofit. The PM trap project award with Elsinore Valley Municipal Water District in the amount of $48,000 was reallocated by the Board on March 7, 2003 to the Los Angeles County, Department of Public Works.

Approximately 180 traps have been installed under the PM Trap Retrofit Program. Due to delays associated with additional testing required on the vehicles, many of the PM trap retrofit projects have not yet been completed. Given the variety of vehicle models and engine sizes, a significant number of vehicles were required to be data logged by the manufacturer. The de-verification of two trap manufacturers by CARB also caused delays in implementation of the PM trap retrofit projects. Effective January 1, 2004, the Engelhard DPX and Johnson Matthey CRT filters were de-verified by CARB, because the manufacturers chose not to meet the additional warranty requirements specified in the revised verification procedure, effective June 2003. Other Level 3 CARB verified particulate traps are currently available for the PM Trap Retrofit Program. These include: 1) the PuriFilter, manufactured by Engine Control Systems, 2) the Donaldson DPM Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF) Muffler System, and 3) Cleaire’s Longview System. These particulate trap technologies consist of a catalyzed diesel particulate filter and involve passive regeneration at specific minimum exhaust temperatures, varying with the particulate trap technology. All of the above systems are Level 3 verified technologies, expected to reduce PM emissions by at least 85%. Cleaire’s Longview System is equipped with a lean NOx catalyst which provides an additional benefit of reducing NOx emissions by 25%. All three particulate trap technologies require the use of ultra low sulfur diesel fuel (diesel fuel with a sulfur content of less than 15 parts per million by weight).

TABLE 1

BOARD-APPROVED PARTICULATE TRAP RETROFIT AWARDS
(EXPIRED ON DECEMBER 31, 2003)
 

Proposal

PM Traps

Staff is proposing to increase the funding expenditure of grant funds for each PM trap in the PM Trap Retrofit Program in order to allow installation of the current Level 3 verified particulate trap technologies. CARB has approved staff’s proposal to increase the funding expenditure of grant funds for the particulate traps. Based on invoices received by the AQMD (as of April 15, 2003), 180 retrofits have been completed. Some of the remaining vehicles may not be suitable for retrofit due to the vehicle’s duty cycle and the minimum exhaust temperature requirement. The vehicles that can be retrofitted will be subject to the increased funding allowance for each particulate trap, which will vary with the trap technology, engine size, duty cycle and other conditions. Staff estimates that approximately 10% to 33% fewer vehicles would be retrofitted under this proposal. This estimate assumes all remaining vehicles can be retrofitted based on a price range of $6,300 to $8,500. Vehicles that cannot be retrofitted with a trap at $8,500 will be considered for a more costly retrofit, not exceeding $18,000, involving a Level 3-verified trap technology that provides an additional benefit of reducing NOx emissions.

Staff also proposed to extend the deadline for installation of the particulate filters to September 30, 2004 or any later date as deemed appropriate by CARB and the AQMD.

Filter Cleaning Systems

In addition, staff proposes to allow the use of grant funds to purchase filter cleaning systems, and allocate $54,000 of turn back monies to subsidize the cost of purchasing the filter cleaning systems. Upon implementation of the PM Trap Retrofit Program, staff became aware of some concerns relating to cleaning of the particulate filters within the traps. In order to ensure that the particulate filters operate efficiently on a continuing basis, the periodic use of filter cleaning systems to regenerate the traps is necessary. Based on discussions with the manufacturer of a filter cleaning system, one system is needed for approximately 25 installed traps, with a minimum threshold of one cleaning system for 13 retrofitted vehicles. Based on the number of eligible vehicles approved under the original grant agreements, staff estimates that up to 20 filter cleaning systems would be needed for the entire PM Trap Retrofit Program. This estimate assumes that one filter cleaning system would be purchased by those grantees that meet the minimum threshold of 13 vehicles, and additional filter cleaning systems would be purchased with every 25 vehicles thereafter. Staff is aware the City of Los Angeles has manufactured their own filter cleaning systems to service traps installed on refuse and other vehicles. With input from the manufacturer of the filter cleaning system, staff estimates the City of Los Angeles would need to purchase up to 12 filter cleaning systems to service the remaining traps under the City of Los Angeles grant agreements. For those grant agreements with less than 13 vehicles, the manufacturer of the filter cleaning system indicated they could service, through a local distributor, up to 13 vehicles for each customer once a year.

The estimated cost of the 20 filter cleaning systems for this program is approximately $140,000. The filter cleaning systems would be funded with existing funds under the renewed grant agreements subsidized by turn back monies from two agencies that opted out of the program. The turn back monies, totaling $54,000, are a result of the City of Laguna Beach and Rancho California Water District opting out of the PM Trap Retrofit Program. Should a grantee choose not to use grant funds to purchase a filter cleaning system, staff proposes to increase the subsidy proportionately for other grantees that will be purchasing filter cleaning systems.

Benefits to AQMD

The successful implementation of the State Emissions Mitigation Program will offset excess emissions produced by peaking power plant units. These projects will produce PM and toxic compounds emission reductions. Finally, administration of this PM Trap Retrofit Program at the local level will provide greater certainty and confidence for achieving the emission reductions since the AQMD has acquired experience and expertise in identifying emission sources and available control or prevention technologies.

Resource Impacts

The total amount of funding previously approved by the Board for the particulate trap retrofit projects, as identified in Table 1, remains unchanged. Sufficient funds are currently available from the State Emissions Mitigation Fund.

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