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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD - MINUTES - 10/21/20241 10/21/2024 - Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, October 21, 2024 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:30 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Dan Welsh (Chair) • Mark Houdashelt (Vice Chair) • Michael Cheeseman • Jeremiah Gorske • Adam Schmidt • Matt Ayres • Maria Moore b. Board Members Absent – • Michael Johnson • Kaori Keyser c. Staff Members Present – • Selina Lujan de Albers, Staff Liaison • Cassie Archuleta, Lead Air Quality Specialist d. Guest(s) – • Ed Behan • Rick Casey • Tim Dye • Helena Pliszka • Tom Moore • Naomi Chang • Sonia Koetting • Annareli Morales • Lea Schneider 3. AGENDA REVIEW No changes. 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION Ed Behan, Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, and Environment, expressed interest in the Air Monitoring Assessment presentation and encouraged the Board to consider the need for more 2 10/21/2024 - Minutes comprehensive air quality monitoring than is currently taking place, and to consider the Platte River Power Authority’s integrated resource plan that is seeking to incorporate a gas-fired turbine for backup usage. Behan expressed skepticism the turbine would only be used for backup and stated it does not fit the carbon free energy generation that is supposedly the City’s goal. Behan stated his group is calling for an independent third-party review of the integrated resource plan and suggested the Board may also want to provide a similar statement to Council. Rick Casey, Larimer Alliance for Health, Safety, and Environment, concurred with Behan’s comments. Tom Moore, Regional Air Quality Council, discussed the poor air quality in the region over the summer, discussed air quality exceedance trends, and provided a high-level overview of regional air quality efforts. Chair Welsh noted he will be suggesting including a more in-depth review of the Regional Air Quality Council’s work in the Board’s 2025 Work Plan. A Board Member asked Moore if the plot showing the trends of the number of exceedance days had tier one and two smoky days removed from the data set. Moore replied in the negative stating that is a decision the Air Pollution Control Division has to decide to take on. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES – SEPTEMBER 2024 Chair Welsh suggested starting with the minutes of the joint meeting with the Natural Resources Advisory Board. Lujan de Albers noted the Natural Resources Advisory Board met last week and approved the joint minutes; therefore, if changes are made, they will need to go back before each Board again. Vice Chair Houdashelt made a motion, seconded by Moore, to approve the joint meeting minutes as presented. The motion was adopted unanimously. Lujan de Albers commented on the shared Google Drive the Board will be using moving forward to track changes to the minutes for a certain period of time prior to them being posted, with the changes, as part of the next agenda packet. Chair Welsh made one change to the minutes for the regular meeting. Schmidt made a motion, seconded by Cheeseman, to approve the minutes of the regular September meeting as amended. The motion was adopted unanimously. Lujan de Albers noted the August minutes are still being compiled as that joint meeting with NRAB was not recorded. 6. PREVIOUS BUSINESS Chair Welsh stated the memos regarding the Urban Forestry Plan and budget were submitted to Council, and a response was received from the Mayor. He asked when the final budget will be released. Lujan de Albers replied first reading before Council will be November 4th with adoption on November 19th. 7. NEW BUSINESS 3 10/21/2024 - Minutes a. Air Monitoring Assessment Presentation – Helena Pliszka and Tim Dye, TD Enviro Cassie Archuleta, Lead Air Quality Specialist, stated TD Enviro was the consultant brought in to look at the best way to move forward in air quality monitoring efforts given the variety of options and scales available. Tim Dye, TD Enviro, provided a brief introduction of himself and career work. Helena Pliszka, TD Enviro, provided a brief introduction of herself and noted she lives in Boulder and therefore experiences many of the same air quality issues as does Fort Collins. Dye discussed TD Enviro’s work throughout the country and internationally, and noted the company is independent and does not promote any equipment. Dye outlined the needs assessment and goal for the City to undertake a planning process to define the role of air monitoring and to be more responsive to prioritize the needs of all stakeholders, while not duplicating efforts. Dye stated the focus was on air monitoring and air monitoring operations, webpage data displays, and web-based communication, with an approach to interview 10 City-identified individuals across local community- based organizations, academia, planning agencies, and government. Pliszka detailed the interview structure and questions, and stated the findings and recommendations are grouped across four categories: monitoring and data, website, communication, and collaboration. In terms of monitoring and data, some findings included: the City should spend time developing its local air quality communication strategies and the partnerships that will bolster those rather than always investing in new or complex monitoring projects, questions as to why the City is not monitoring in certain areas or for specific pollutants, and a desire to know how the City’s monitoring is actually going to be used for interventions and regulations and policy. In terms of website, Pliszka stated findings included: the City website is not as easily navigable as it should be and may not contain all desired information, and the website content is missing fundamental air quality supporting information and local context. Regarding communication, Pliszka stated findings included: concerns that the City’s communication during local wildfire smoke events was more reactive and lacked in widespread messaging, and that the City’s role in air quality is not clearly described or transparent despite City staff being attentive and knowledgeable. In terms of collaboration, Pliszka stated findings included: the City holds substantial air quality expertise that the state and county agencies would like to use to support work across the Front Range, and that the state wants to garner more trust with residents and is interested in being included in more local conversations to develop stronger community ties. Pliszka went on to outline recommendations for each of the four categories. Beginning with monitoring and data, recommendations included creating a plan for air monitoring within the City that clearly describes what is being measured and why, creating a resource that discusses how the City can support other organizations that want to conduct monitoring programs in the city, leveraging other monitoring programs, and 4 10/21/2024 - Minutes reviewing and revising the City’s 2019 Air Quality Plan. Dye stated website recommendations included redesigning the website to emphasize the user experience, describing local air quality data in context, connecting air quality to other important intersectional issues such as climate change, and making other minor website changes related to data visuals. In terms of communication, Dye stated recommendations included creating a wildfire smoke communication plan that provides local messaging and supports a timely response during wildfires, creating or augmenting a public information campaign to share the City’s previous and ongoing air quality efforts, and creating a resource that describes the City’s role in air quality. Regarding collaboration, Dye stated recommendations included maintaining alignment with the State on important air quality decisions and actions, including the State in trust- building conversations, and exploring ways the City can work with the County to be more vocal together on important issues. Tom Moore requested more detail about the Air Pollution Control Division wanting to build trust and whether that is within the scope of the City air quality program. Dye replied that is seen more as a collaboration and the State expressed an interest in building trust with residents and understanding their perspective more. A Board Member requested more specific information as to how wildfire communication could be conveyed in Fort Collins. He stated it seems people do not understand how behaviors should change depending on the AQI level. Dye replied the interviewees indicated wildfire communication was reactive, and it is important that general public awareness about air quality is disseminated and that a plan is developed that leverages the other communications that are happening as well. Dye noted a recommendation was to strengthen and increase the public awareness campaign. A Board Member stated the Board is investigating getting approval to participate in public outreach and asked if there are data points or other information that could be used to bolster that argument. Dye replied that could be a useful opportunity for the Board as the City is a trusted source of information. Additionally, Dye suggested collaborating with the City’s public outreach department to help spread messaging. Chair Welsh asked how these recommendations will be conveyed to the City. Archuleta replied the deliverable on the project is a report summarizing the findings which she will take to department leads and managers for evaluation. Archuleta noted the City would like to collaborate with County and perhaps State partners in terms of forming a data website. Additionally, the report will provide ideas to leverage as grants and partnerships are being sought. A Board Member asked how the regulatory weight that can be given to low-cost air sensors versus regulatory monitors is communicated to the public. Dye replied the fire and smoke map used by the EPA which incorporates PurpleAir data is quite successful and widely used, though it is for an application which is awareness as to where the smoke exists and it is not used in a regulatory manner. 5 10/21/2024 - Minutes Chair Welsh stated he frequently receives questions about the faith that can be put into assessments made from the low-cost sensors and noted the State points out that they are not regulatory monitors and they do not have the reliability or maintenance that regulatory monitors have; therefore, regulatory and action-based decisions are based on those regulatory monitors. However, he noted the State also encourages people to dig deeper for themselves. He also noted the EPA and PurpleAir, whose monitors only address fine particulates, both do a good job of acknowledging shortcomings on their websites. Dye stated basic air quality awareness and communications could include addressing what air quality is and what are the sources of pollution, as well as information about what is being sought with air quality monitoring. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated the formation of a plan for air monitoring within the City is important as there is a large gap between what citizens expect of the City and what the City is doing or expecting of itself. He noted one of the recommendations was to collaborate more with the State and asked what was used as the definition of the State. Dye replied the State was considered to be the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE). Chair Welsh noted the Education and Community Outreach group within CDPHE is fairly newly formed, though it could be a good initial touch point. b. 2025 Annual Work Plan Chair Welsh asked members to review the 2024 Work Plan for items that should be removed or edited. Moore suggested being more specific with the reducing ozone levels item. Chair Welsh made some wording suggestions and asked members to consider how specific they would like the Work Plan to be. Vice Chair Houdashelt commented on how the 2024 Work Plan was formed and stated it is important for the Work Plan to allow for flexibility. Lujan de Albers noted the City no longer has an air quality program and suggested the Work Plan could include language related to the presentation the Board just heard. Members discussed other potential wording changes and additions related to air quality monitoring, the City’s 2019 Air Quality Plan, ozone levels, the community wildfire preparedness plan, and other topics. Members also discussed items that they opted to leave in the Work Plan for 2025. Chair Welsh discussed the recent Air Quality Monitoring Advisory Committee (AQMAC) meeting, which was a review of an open house showcasing monitoring equipment from CSU, and stated a website has been created. Members discussed whether they wanted to remain on the Committee or if there would be a benefit to changing them out. Additionally, many members supported moving forward with some type of action, particularly given that many people do not know what types of air quality issues exist. Chair Welsh stated one of the goals of the AQMAC is outreach and education. 6 10/21/2024 - Minutes c. Public Outreach Update to Code Moore noted the Board discussed adding public outreach to its bylaws last year, and this year started having discussions with staff and had a meeting with Ted Hewitt from the City Attorney’s Office who drafted a Code update that would allow the Board to promote citizen participation and public education on city-wide air quality issues. Moore stated Lujan de Albers then followed up with information that the language must have approval from the Chief Sustainability Officer and Environmental Services Director, who had some questions about the goals of the Board’s desire to include public outreach. Those questions were: would the AQAB have public outreach initiatives in line with current Council priorities, what are the expected outcomes if the Code is changed, and could the AQAB leverage with current City public outreach initiatives without changing the Code. Lujan de Albers noted bylaws are no longer in place and were shifted over to be included in the Code. Additionally, there is a perspective that Boards are not expected to lead outreach and educational efforts, and their main function is to offer support to Council and staff by providing their unique perspectives and input. Lujan de Albers noted the Communications and Public Involvement Office (CPIO) has strict guidelines around how the City and Boards do communications. Lujan de Albers commented on the importance of having initial direction from Council before going through the next steps and stated Councilmember Ohlson is interested in having a meeting to check in, which may provide an opportunity to have a conversation around this topic with him. Schmidt noted the goal is better public outreach, regardless of the source, and stated that while the City has outreach measures in place, they are not adequate or successful. He stated he believes it is worth pursuing the Code change even if it may be doomed to fail. Schmidt stated he and Moore had discussions about the Board or the City having a presence in the numerous city festivals that go on throughout the year. Moore stated she and Schmidt also discussed the extent to which the Board could leverage with existing City initiatives and stated it is unclear as to what the Board can do. Chair Welsh stated he is unaware of any targeted outreach and education opportunities regarding air quality aside from the Healthy Homes program. Lujan de Albers stated an education specialist was recently hired to help coordinate public outreach efforts, including air quality efforts. She suggested he could be invited to a future meeting to have some discussions around education and outreach. Chair Welsh suggested that should occur sooner rather than later. Gorske agreed taking action sooner rather than later makes the most sense which will at least make Council aware that the Board wants to be involved and push these efforts forward. Vice Chair Houdashelt stated this is an important issue but not a particular interest of his and stated education and outreach has not historically been a role of the Board. He stated he was unsure what the Board is attempting to accomplish by getting into that space and questioned how it would improve air quality. 7 10/21/2024 - Minutes Schmidt disagreed and stated education is important because it provides people the information they need to make different choices to help improve air quality, regardless of the source of the information. A Board Member commented on how the general population thinks about environmental policy and questioned whether additional educational efforts could assist in changing behaviors. Gorske commented on the importance of people having the information they need to make a decision. Lujan de Albers outlined two tangible next steps: Chair Welsh having a meeting with Councilmember Ohlson to explore whether there might be Council support for any Code change, and inviting the new education specialist to an upcoming meeting to discuss how the Board could be involved in existing or planned education and outreach. Chair Welsh suggested incorporating those two items into the Work Plan and stated he and Lujan de Albers will work to get the final edits on the Work Plan completed prior to the next meeting. 8. OTHER BUSINESS / UPDATES None. 9. ADJOURNMENT ● 8:04 pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board on 11/18/2024