BOARD MEETING DATE: April 6, 2007
AGENDA NO. 34

REPORT:

California Air Resources Board Monthly Meeting

SYNOPSIS:

The California Air Resources Board met on March 22, 2007. The following is a summary of that meeting.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file.

Ronald O. Loveridge, Member
SCAQMD Governing Board

The meeting was held on March 22, 2007 at the Cal/EPA Building in Sacramento. Key items presented are summarized below.

Reports to the Board

Health Update on Health Effects Associated with Traffic-Related Air Pollution

Exhaust from motor vehicles is a known source of the pollution leading to long-standing regional air quality problems.  However, new health studies have found direct effects of traffic-related air pollution on the health of children and adults. Staff presented findings from several new studies, all conducted in California, examining associations between traffic-related pollution and children’s health effects such as asthma, decreased lung function growth, and respiratory symptoms. One study was highlighted, the Southern California Children's Health Study cohort, which examined the effect of exposure to traffic on lung function development in children over an 8-year period in 12 southern California communities. 

The researchers found that children living near major roadways had significant reductions in lung function growth at ages 10 to 18. These reductions were likely permanent since lung function development ends around age 18.  Even in areas with low regional pollution, children living near major roadways still suffered from lung growth deficits.  Although these lung function reductions were not likely to cause outward health effects in healthy children, they are a greater concern as people age and their lung function naturally declines. So the real impact may be that these children, when they turn 40 years old, may have the lung function closer to that of a 50 year old. In sensitive persons, reduced lung function may increase the risk of respiratory illness and increase the severity of symptoms. Later in life, complications from decreased lung function can lead to respiratory and heart disease. 

Among the most important findings, the researchers found that children exposed to traffic in highly polluted areas experience a combination of adverse developmental health effects.  Children’s Health Study researchers also found that children living close to the freeway were far more likely to be diagnosed with asthma than those living farther away. In the South Coast Air Basin, that likelihood corresponds to a 16% asthma prevalence for children living near freeways.

Another Southern California study found that children living within 75 meters of a major road were 85% more likely to be diagnosed with asthma, 2.5 times more likely to have used prescribed asthma medication within the past year, and nearly 3 times more likely to report wheezing than those children living greater than 300 meters away from traffic.

ARB has taken many actions to mitigate the health problems associated with exposure to traffic pollution.  These actions include the Diesel Risk Reduction Plan, Goods Movement Emission Reduction Plan, and the Air Quality Handbook on Land Use.  Evaluating the health effects from traffic-related pollution is an important research priority at ARB.  ARB’s research and regulatory actions will continue to reduce exposure, pollution, and health risk to the State’s most vulnerable populations.

Report to the Board on the 2007/08 State Implementation Plan

Staff briefed the Board on the status of State Implementation Plan (SIP) development. SIPs for the federal 8-hour ozone and PM2.5 standards are due to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in June 2007 and April 2008 respectively.

The staff’s analysis indicated that the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley ozone plan proposed control strategies were aggressive, and if adopted would achieve the federal standard. In addition, the San Joaquin Valley PM2.5 plan was on track for 2015 attainment.

Staff’s PM2.5 prognosis for the South Coast was less encouraging. While air quality trends are positive, the District’s air quality modeling analysis indicates an additional 55% reduction in NOx emissions is needed to meet the standard by 2014. ARB staff’s proposed control strategy provides most, but not all, of the reductions that the modeling analysis calls for, leaving a 71  ton per day gap in 2014.  Without making up the gap, staff indicated the plan would not be federally approvable.

Staff noted recent letters sent to U.S. EPA were intended to make that agency aware of the scope and nature of the South Coast’s PM2.5 problem. Staff emphasized that the letters did not constitute a formal request for an extended attainment deadline, which could only be made as part of the formal SIP process and ultimately approved by the Board.

Staff identified NOx reductions as the key to PM2.5 and ozone attainment, primarily through the clean up of the existing fleet of older, higher polluting diesel engines (“legacy” fleet) – this includes heavy duty trucks, ships, construction equipment, and locomotives. 

Control of legacy fleets is also critical in reducing health risk associated with diesel particulate matter – an air toxic.  To achieve the twin goals of health protection from ozone and PM2.5 and reduced health risk from diesel PM, ARB is pursuing a comprehensive mobile source strategy that includes early particulate matter retrofits, accelerated introduction of NOx control technology as it becomes available, cleaner fuels, cleaner engines, and electrification where feasible.

Staff also discussed air quality trends between observed air quality in 2001 and 2006 with simulated (modeled) air quality in 2014 to demonstrate the continuing progress being made in the air basin and the extent of reductions still needed to make up the remaining shortfall.  Staff pointed to the real PM2.5 air quality progress being made in the South Coast as a result of aggressive and continuing emission reductions.  However, the current unavailability of NOx retrofits for different engine families, coupled with delays in federal marine and locomotive standards, are constraining California’s ability to achieve the PM2.5 clean air goal in a timely manner. Making up the anticipated shortfall by 2014 will be difficult without substantial new funding sources or technological breakthroughs in the next 3-5 years.

Under State law, the ARB Board adopts the federally enforceable plan and directs staff to submit it to U.S.  EPA.  To be federally approvable, the Board must demonstrate that it has the legal authority to enforce the plan. It must also make a formal determination that the SIP is feasible and that emission reductions from existing measures and future commitments are sufficient to attain clean air standards.  Regarding future commitments, the Board must approve and commit to achieve the reductions required for attainment, approve a schedule for consideration of new measures to achieve those reductions, and document that the State has both the authority and available resources to enforce those commitments. An expectation of future funding availability would not be federally approvable. 

Staff identified PM2.5 issues that will be discussed in upcoming SIP workshops in early April.  These include how to reconcile differences in observed air quality values and modeled air quality; the extent of new reductions by 2014 and the resources necessary to obtain them; whether adequate resources exist to purchase sufficient reductions by 2014; and whether the SIP can rely on future NOx retrofit technologies that are not currently available for implementation by 2014.

The public hearing on the South Coast SIP will be held on June 21, 2007.

Regulatory Item:  Amendments to California Emission Warranty Information Reporting & Recall Regulations and Emission Test Procedures

This item was continued from the December 7, 2006 hearing.  Based on public comments and discussion at the December Board hearing, staff modified the original October 2006 proposal which the Board thereupon approved without additional changes. 

The approved amendments strengthen corrective actions manufacturers must take when vehicle warranty claims exceed a four percent failure rate for emission-related parts. The corrective actions range from extending warranties, or in some cases, recalls for defective emission components.  In all cases, the replacement component would be an improved part.   In addition, the amendments streamline reporting requirements and provide for yearly reporting.

Regulatory Item:  Amendments to the Statewide Portable Equipment Registration Program (PERP) Regulation and the Airborne Toxic Control Measure (ATCM) for Diesel-Fueled Portable Engines

The Board adopted 120-day emergency amendments on December 7, 2006 that allowed the permitting or registration of portable engines that were previously ineligible. The amendments adopted by the Board at their March meeting make the emergency changes permanent. However, these changes will not become effective before the expiration of the emergency amendments. Therefore, in addition to adopting amendments to make the emergency changes permanent,   the Board adopted a second set of emergency amendments to the PERP Regulation and the Portable ATCM so there will be no loss of regulatory authority between the time the original emergency amendments expire and when the permanent amendments take effect.

Attachment
CARB March 22, 2007 Meeting Agenda