BOARD MEETING DATE: December 7, 2007
AGENDA NO. 28

REPORT:

California Air Resources Board Monthly Meeting

SYNOPSIS:

The California Air Resources Board met on November 15, 2007. The following is a summary of that meeting.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file.

Ronald O. Loveridge, Member
SCAQMD Governing Board

The Air Resources Board’s (ARB or Board) November meeting was held in Sacramento. Key items presented are summarized below.

1. Health Update: Environmental Justice, Air Pollution, and Health

The health update summarized the results of three recent studies examining the relationship between air pollution exposures and health outcomes in relation to environmental justice, and discussed current and future ARB studies in this area. Two of the published studies were conducted in the Los Angeles County area. These studies concluded that low socioeconomic status neighborhoods near high traffic areas showed a 30% increased likelihood of preterm births compared to low traffic neighborhoods, and that there is a decrease in the performance of schools located in census tracts with the highest respiratory risk. The latter study also found that schools with the highest proportions of Latino and African American students had the highest respiratory risks. The third published study investigated the association between maternal exposure to air pollutants and birth weight in Connecticut and Massachusetts, and concluded that low birth weights were correlated with PM_2.5 exposures, especially for infants of African American mothers.

Staff also reported on ARB health effects studies that are underway in environmental justice communities in California. Health risk assessments and monitoring studies are being conducted in areas adjacent to ports and railyards. In West Oakland, volunteers are using handheld GPS units to locate emission sources and places frequented by children and the elderly in their neighborhood as part of an intensive risk modeling effort. Several studies of children with asthma, including some from areas of lower socioeconomic status, are being conducted in northern and southern California, and in the central valley. Finally, ARB is working with researchers to estimate the impacts of global climate change on environmental justice communities in the state.

This item was a continuation of the October 27, 2007, hearing on proposed regulations to reduce emissions from diesel-powered commercial harbor craft operating within California and within California coastal waters. After hearing the staff presentation at the November meeting, the Board adopted the regulation with two revisions to the original proposal.

This new regulation requires diesel engines in existing tugboats, towboats, ferries, and excursion vessels to meet U.S. EPA Tier 2 or Tier 3 emission standards by deadlines that are specific to engine model year and power rating. The compliance deadlines extend from 2009 through 2020 in the South Coast Air Basin, and from 2009 through 2022 in the remainder of the state. The original proposal was revised to accelerate the replacement deadline of pre-1999 Tier 0 engines in ferries with Tier 2 engines to 2014 from 2016 for fleets outside the South Coast Air Basin. The regulation also allows the owners of fleets with multiple vessels requiring repowering in the first two program years (2009-2010) to stage these engine replacements over the period of 2009 through 2014 provided that a majority of replacements are not delayed until the end of this term.

ARB staff reported on three community listening sessions and a series of meetings with a task force made up of business, public health, and government leaders held in the San Joaquin Valley. The meetings were part of ARB staff’s evaluation of the strengthening of near-term stationary and area source emission reduction commitments made in the locally adopted air quality plan. Staff noted that the San Joaquin Valley rules are generally on par with South Coast’s. Staff reported that the strengthened State Strategy the ARB adopted in September and accelerated implementation of off-road construction equipment controls, together with better inventory and control effectiveness estimates, had reduced the 2024 “black box” by half since the June hearing.

The Board supported the staff’s report and expressed support for local actions to further accelerate reductions, including reconsideration of the District’s rulemaking (best available control technology) cost-effectiveness ceilings, and increased District advocacy for the air quality mitigation in land use decision. The Board also requested that the staff report back every six months on the progress being made in meeting San Joaquin Valley emission reduction goals and identifying new opportunities for progress.

The Board approved modified transportation conformity budgets for the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachella Valley. The modifications reflected and resulted from the adoption of control measures added to the 2007 SCAQMD AQMP and State Strategy fpr the PM _2.5 and 8-hour ozone SIP at the September 27, 2007, Board meeting.

The Board approved an Alternative Fuels Plan as required by AB 1007 (Pavley, 2005). The Plan was developed by the California Energy Commission (CEC) in partnership with the ARB, in consultation with numerous other State agencies, and with significant research contributions by the University of California.

AB 1007 requires the CEC to set alternative transportation fuel use targets for California for 2012, 2017, and 2022; to evaluate life-cycle environmental impacts, including criteria pollutants, air toxics, greenhouse gases emissions and water pollutants, of alternative fuels. AB 1007 also specifies that the Alternative Fuels Plan must minimize economic impacts on the state, maximize the economic benefits of producing alternative fuels within the state, and recommend policies to achieve these goals. The requirement to reduce the carbon content of transportation fuel by 10% by 2020 under the Governor’s executive order on low carbon fuel standards was also folded into the plan’s analyses.

The plan concludes that alternative fuels can replace 9%, 11%, and 26% of gasoline and diesel in transportation sources by 2012, 2017, and 2022, respectively. To achieve these goals, the plan forecasts that an annual investment of $100M to $200M would be needed, much of which could derive from Public Interest Research, Development, and Demonstration Fund established by AB 118 (Nunez, 2007).

Due to delays in the completion of all supporting research, the deadline for submittal of the plan was extended by the Legislature to December 31, 2007. The CEC adopted the plan on October 31, 2007, but inadvertently failed to include several ARB staff recommendations relating to an enhanced air quality focus and a more meaningful characterization of hydrogen fuel and fuel cell technology. The CEC has committed to conduct a subsequent hearing to incorporate the missing portions of the report.

The Board adopted the plan as proposed by ARB staff. The Board also approved proposed suggested amendments to Alternative Fuels Plan previously adopted by the CEC that would conform the CEC and ARB plans.

Attachment
CARB November 15, 2007 Meeting Agenda