BOARD MEETING DATE: April 4, 2008
AGENDA NO. 27

REPORT:

Stationary Source Committee

SYNOPSIS:

The Stationary Source Committee met Friday, March 21, 2008. Following is a summary of that meeting. The next meeting will be April 25, at 10:30 a.m., in Conference Room CC8.

RECOMMENDED ACTION:

Receive and file.
 

Ronald O. Loveridge, Acting Chair
Stationary Source Committee

Attendance

The meeting began at 10:35 a.m. Present were Acting Chair Ronald Loveridge and Committee Member Jane Carney. Absent were Committee Members Dr. Joseph Lyou, Gary Ovitt and Dennis Yates.
 

ACTION ITEM

Execute Contract to Conduct a Research Study and Demonstrate the Feasibility of Control Technologies to Reduce PM2.5 and Ultrafine Emissions from Natural Gas-Fired Power Plants
There being no quorum, Ronald Loveridge directed staff to carry this item over to the April meeting.
 

INFORMATIONAL ITEMS

Reg. III - Fees

Larry Bowen, Planning and Rules Manager, presented this item. This is the third and final year for the 10 percent increase of the permit evaluation, annual renewal and emission fees previously approved by the Board. In addition, staff proposes to amend all other fees in Reg. III by the 2007 California CPI of 4.1 percent. In addition, staff is proposing to change AER filings from a fiscal to calendar year basis, align the portable equipment fees with those recently amended by CARB, authorize a special operating fee for refineries to fund a RECLAIM SOx reduction feasibility study, reduce the amount of the Rule 461 Phase II EVR plan evaluation fee to be submitted at the time of filing, adjust the solar energy credit on annual permit renewals, clarify the Hearing Board fees charged to non-business entities, exempt Rule 2249 fleet plans from fees and other corrections and clarifications to rule language. The proposal will be further discussed at the upcoming Budget workshops and will be proposed for adoption along with the budget at the May 2 Board meeting.

Board Member Carney requested staff present examples of what the impact of the 10 percent fee increase would be for various companies at the future Budget meetings and wanted additional information on the special operating fee for refineries when it became available.

Board Member Loveridge expressed some concern about the limited number of companies that have taken advantage of the solar energy credit and wanted to make sure the AQMD was doing all it could to make the public aware of the program. It was mentioned the credit was small in comparison to the required investment for a solar project.

Bill Lamar expressed concern about the change from fiscal to calendar year for AER filings and does not want it to result in additional administrative costs to businesses, particularly small businesses to implement.

Michael Wang of WSPA acknowledged his member companies were supportive of a third party conducting the special SOx reduction feasibility study and was interested in more detail about the scope of the study that ultimately will be discussed at the future study working group meetings.

Miles Heller of BP ARCO expressed his company’s support of the comments of WSPA and told the committee that when BP ARCO looked into the solar credit for a small project of theirs it was a credit of about a hundred dollars on a few hundred thousand dollar project and the credit would not cover their cost of preparing and filing the paperwork.
 

Rule 1149 – Storage Tank Cleaning and Degassing

Larry Bowen, presented this item. Staff is proposing changing the rule to an emission limit based on VOC concentration in the tank from a work practice standard. The proposal will also apply to more tanks and the degassing of pipelines and achieve a 1.25 ton per day VOC emission reduction at a cost effectiveness of $12,055 per ton of VOC reduced. The proposal is also the first to include protocols for the SoCal Climate Solutions Exchange. Most of the issues with the proposal have been resolved although the staff is continuing to work with the industry on the resolution of a few minor issues. The hearing is scheduled for May 2.

Board Member Carney expressed her concern about including the greenhouse gas reduction provisions in this proposal and suggested either the rule adoption be postponed or those provisions removed from the proposal until the Board has had the opportunity to fully discuss the greenhouse gas and climate change policies and give staff appropriate guidance on the SoCal Climate Solutions Exchange program.
 

Annual Status Report on Rule 1118 Flaring Events and Update of HHV and SOx Monitor Installations

Larry Bowen presented this item. All refineries met their annual SO2 targets for 2007 and several met the future target levels that become applicable through 2012. Staff also wanted to update the Committee on the status of the pilot programs for the HHV and SOx CEMS. The HHV CEMS for Chevron has been certified and the SOx CEMS for BP ARCO is expected to complete certification in late March or early April 2008 when the last few details are worked out. Both projects were successful and the process to install CEMS on all refinery flares has begun.

Carol Coy expressed to the Committee that the adoption and implementation of Rule 1118 has been a huge success and a great benefit to the environment.

Michael Wang of WSPA said that something is being done right by his member companies when it results in the reductions of SOx emissions that we have seen thus far.

Progress Report on Compliance with Rule 1171 – Solvent Cleaning Operations
Lee Lockie, Director of Area Sources presented the first of several progress reports to be given to this Committee in 2008. Recent amendments to Rule 1171 extended the compliance date, by one year, for developing lower VOC cleaning materials for two industry sectors: screen and UV/EB printing. The Printing Industries of California and the Screen Graphic Imaging Association have submitted updates to staff indicating that they have identified additional compliant formulations and expect to begin on-press testing in May of this year. She expects that the June progress report will include actual results of the field testing.

During public comment on this item, Rita Loof representing RadTech, requested that the District make available a listing of compliant materials. Ms. Lockie responded that the PIA has assumed responsibility for identifying and testing new materials and is in the process of making this information available to participants.
 

Status Report on Results of South Bay Flare Event Notification Survey

This item was carried over to the April meeting.
 

WRITTEN REPORTS

All written reports were acknowledged by the Committee.
 

OTHER BUSINESS

Carol Coy, Deputy Executive Officer of Engineering & Compliance announced that due to the Board Retreat, the next Stationary Source Committee meeting will be held on April 25, 2008.

The meeting was adjourned at 11:30 a.m.
 

Attachment (doc 104KB)

March 21, 2008 Committee Agenda (without its attachments)