BOARD MEETING DATE: November 5, 2004
AGENDA NO. 24
Legislative Committee
SYNOPSIS:
The Legislative Committee held its regular meeting on Friday, October 8, 2004. The next Legislative Committee meeting is scheduled for Friday, November 12, 2004, at 8:00 a.m. in Conference Room CC8.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Receive and file.
Michael Antonovich, Acting Chair
Legislative Committee
Attendance [Attachment 1]
The Legislative Committee met on October 8, 2004. Present via videoconference were Acting Committee Chair Michael Antonovich, and Committee Members Jan Perry, Bill Postmus and Roy Wilson. Committee Chair Bea LaPisto-Kirtly and Committee Vice Chair Jane Carney were absent.
Washington Report [Attachment 2]
Jim Clouet, Senior Public Information Specialist, reported that the last activity being watched closely is the reauthorization of the Transportation Equity Act. Last week, the act was extended for eight months to keep highway transportation safety program operations at their current level through the next Memorial Day. Sessions will be expected to end by the weekend and will reconvene after the election.
Sacramento Report/Update [Attachment 3]
Allan Lind, AQMD State Legislative Consultant, reported that Governor Schwarzenegger concluded all of his signing of legislation on time, as of September 30. All but one of the twelve bills that the District had support positions on were signed by the Governor. AB 2042 by Assemblymember Lowenthal was vetoed and would have provided for no net increase in air pollution at the Los Angeles Port area. In the Governor’s veto message he directed CalEPA and the CARB to work with the ports, railroads, and local air districts to develop a program for pollution reduction.
Barry Wallerstein and Peter Greenwald recently participated in a task force meeting, convened by the Mayor of Los Angeles, concerning emissions from the Port of Los Angeles. The Mayor and the harbor commissioners have set a goal of no-net-increase of emissions from a 2001 baseline. This is a more aggressive control proposal than was contained in AB 2042, which was vetoed by the Governor. Further, the Mayor and the harbor commissioners are defining the emissions boundary to be the boundary of the South Coast Air Quality Management District. This plan will encompass all of the cargo that comes into the port that travels by truck or rail. Their goal is to identify measures that can be implemented to offset all of the related emissions, no matter where they occur in the air basin.
Allan Lind commented that the November elections could potentially close the gaps between the respective caucuses.
2005 Session Year: Sacramento Legislative Proposals [Attachments 4a-4d]
Barry Wallerstein, Executive Officer, presented four proposals. Dr. Wallerstein further commented to the committee members that this was a conceptual briefing, and that this item would be on the agenda next month for formal action. Staff will be using that window of time to reach out to stakeholders to gather some additional input and to work with the legislative staff in both houses of the legislature and the Governor’s office.
Retrofit Requirement for Rail Yard Equipment [Attachment 4a]
The first proposal is actually part of SB 1397 that was brought forth this year. This proposal is to require mobile compression ignition (CI) diesel engines operating at rail yards to be retrofitted or capable of using alternative fuel. This would include yard-goats, hostlers, cranes, fork lifts and other mobile source equipment primarily fueled with diesel fuel.
Remote Sensing [Attachment 4b]
The second concept is a state-wide measure. This measure would allow CARB to establish a fee to recoup costs to establish a remote sensing program that could detect high emitting locomotives and then notify the locomotive operators about the engines that need a tune up or repair on a voluntary basis.
This would promote the clean-up of locomotive engines and provide a better handle on locomotive emissions within the South Coast Air Basin, and also track adherence to the existing CARB MOU.
Locomotive Emissions Mitigation Bill [Attachment 4c]
The third proposal is very similar to SB 1397 that the AQMD sponsored this past
year, and would establish a locomotive emission mitigation program. This would
be used as a means to fund Moyer-type projects or to do other things such as
improving traffic flow by constructing grade separations. However, the approach
being contemplated this year is to make determinations based on the number of
miles traveled by locomotives within the basin, or the hours of operation, as
opposed to the previous qualification technique.
Joint Resolution Proposal [Attachment 4d]
The last proposal is a joint resolution of the legislature requesting the U.S. EPA to adopt the most stringent cost effective controls available for locomotive engines and to implement those controls in a timely manner. The U.S. EPA has initiated rulemaking at this time. Staff has commented, asking for U.S. EPA to move forward consistent with South Coast air quality plan needs. CARB has done the same as has the California Air Pollution Control Officers Association. However, AQMD staff believes that a Legislative Resolution would further encourage the U.S. EPA to meet this air basin’s needs. As staff takes the next thirty days to refine the proposal, consideration will be made to broaden the item to include ship-related emissions. The U.S. EPA has also initiated two rulemakings relative to ships that will occur over the next two to three year period. Staff thinks that a joint resolution would be a positive step in this direction.
Other Business: None
Public Comments: None
- Attendance Roster
- Federal Legislative Status Report
- Sacramento Update
- 2005 Session Year: Sacramento Legislative Proposals
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