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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 09/28/1999MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING 281 N. COLLEGE AVE. September 28, 1999 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair - 229-5225 Scott Mason, Council Liaison - 226-4824 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board Members Present Eric Levine, Mandar Sunthankar, Raymond Sons, Nancy York, Harry Edwards, and John Schroeer Board Members Absent Chris Kavanaugh, Jim Dennison Staff Present Natural Resources Department: Brian Woodruff, Terry Klahn, and Margit Hentschel Guests Judy Dorsey, The Brendle Company The meeting was called to order at 7:00 p.m. Minutes The August 24, 1999 minutes were approved as written. Review and Update Action List 1. Pending. 2. Done. 3. Pending. 4. No information available at this time Review Council six-month planning calendar • October 5 — Clean up Ordinance - Eric Levine questioned this item. It's an accounting clean- up, not related to air quality • October 19 — Truck Route Resolutions • October 26 — Mason Street Corridor • November 16 — Cities for Climate Protection to be adopted • November 23 - Boards and Commissions Discussion Agenda Planning • October— Greenhouse Gases Local Action Plan TDM status report • November — Air quality criteria for development review • December— TDM work plan revision Air Quality Advisory Board* • September 28, 1999 Page 2 Brian Woodruff suggested moving the Pollution Prevention item up on the agenda. NEW BUSINESS Pollution Prevention status report. Marlit Hentschel and Judy Dorsey Hentschel explained that in 1996 the City conducted an internal environmental audit. In working through the legal department it was believed that, if anything was discovered, the City would have two years to correct the problem. There were quite a few things found that were not in compliance. Most of them were paperwork issues; none presented imminent health risks. The EPA stepped in and overrode Colorado's voluntary -audit protection act. The City was fined about $200,000 for items that were not corrected in a ten-day time frame. To offset the fine, they let the City do supplemental environmental projects (SEP). SEP Project II is the Pollution Prevention Assessment of City facilities. Hentschel said pollution prevention (P2) is multi -media. The idea is to reduce or eliminate all pollutants (hazardous or non -hazardous) to land, air, and water. P2 is the Colorado environmental management tool of first choice. The key is to try to educate the public so that waste isn't created in the first place. There are three serious considerations when talking about P2: 1) availability of options, 2) manufacturer's claims, and 3) willingness to change. Three Citywide waste reduction projects are in place: • Fleet maintenance equipment parts washers substitution, • Vegetable oil substitution for motor oil, and • Mercury -containing fluorescent light bulb recycling P2 assessments of five City departments were conducted: Facilities (117 N. Mason), Streets (625 Ninth St.), Parks (413 N. Bryan), Fleets (835 Wood St.), and TransFort (6570 Portner Road).' Judy Dorsey explained the project objectives and outlined the approach used in the assessment. She said many departments are already practicing P2. The number of P2 practices observed was 74 with the average per department being 15. The most notable were 1) Facilities — green design criteria, 2) Streets — asphalt recycling, 3) Parks — composting operation, and 4) Fleets/TransFort — canola oil pilot. Twenty recommendations came out of the assessment, with an average of six per department. Of those, 70% have little or no cost impact and 30% would collectively save over $15,000/year. Recommendations that would have an air quality impact are: • Emissions — weed whips and 2 stroke push mowers waste oil heater Climate Protection - solid waste reduction (e.g., shop rags) solid waste recycling (8 recommendations total) energy conservation (e.g., bus wash) Indoor Air Quality — bathroom cleaner substitute Air Quality Advisory Boar • September 28, 1999 Page 3 Harry Edwards asked to what extent the City is participating in the wind energy program and suggested the City should "walk the walk." Brian Woodruff said the issues are deliverability and cost. This issue is addressed in the Local Action Plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and will be discussed further at next month's meeting. Short Discussion Items Election of Chair and vice Chair Eric Levine was elected as AQAB chair, Harry Edwards as AQAB vice -chair. Plan for participation in staff/Board VMT growth review lroject Brian Woodruff told the board that in response, in part, to this Board's insistence that the City do something about VMT growth, staff is re-creating the LUTRAQ team. The team's mission is to establish a comprehensive plan to reduce the annual rate of growth of total daily vehicle miles traveled, so that it does not exceed the rate of growth in population and employment. There will be an annual report to Council on the comprehensive program. The Service Area directors who started this decided not to tell the team how to do the job, but listed possible approaches. Tom Shoemaker is the team's leader. The AQAB needs to think about how they would like to be involved in the project. Harry Edwards said he is encouraged that P&Z is included because P&Z has a pivotal role in terms of new neighborhood development. AQAB vacancy Brian Woodruff stated that we all have an opportunity to encourage good people to apply for membership on the Board. Web -cam Brian Woodruff said the City is going to implement a web -cam that will have a view of the City on one our web pages. It will be updated every few minutes and looks across Fort Collins, picking up the layered hazes of the brown cloud. Nancy York has noticed that more and more people sit and let their cars idle when waiting on trains, and even will leave their vehicles running then they go into shops. John Schroeer said the catalytic converter works better when it's off than when idling. Woodruff suggested the possibility of a "breathing lesson" regarding turning engines off. John Schroeer spoke about the Clean Screen program. It is happening, but he's not totally comfortable with the contract. His understanding is they have selected ESP, and they are working out the details of the contract. They expect to see a vehicle on the street by December 1 in a practice mode and a real start in January. Nancy York mentioned she is concerned about Chris Kavanaugh and Jim Dennison not being in attendance at the meeting. OLD BUSINESS ` Air Quality Advisory Board* September 28, 1999 Page 4 CO Redesignation, Brian Woodruff Brian provided a handout entitled `Briefing on CO Redesignation Issues." There have been three meetings of the SIP/Redesignation Committee so far; the next meeting will be Thursday, October 7, 1999. The state expects to complete modeling results by January 2000, with AQCC adoption expected in summer 2000. Submission to the USEPA is expected in spring 2001. The USEPA requires that the entire non -attainment area must be included in the inventory, or provide justification. Therefore, it may be a good time to change the definition of the non - attainment area to make it consistent with the mobile source inventory. The EPA questioned why emissions are projected to rise in Fort Collins and are projected to fall elsewhere. Our emissions estimates are too high, because our transportation model is based on "peak hours" only. The emissions inventory must be actual daily emission. We're switching to a newer modeling system. The Air Pollution Control Division is exploring whether our inventory can be adjusted based on the ratio of peak hour to total daily emissions in other cities. If so, we should be able to get a usable inventory in a short period of time. The USEPA requires intersection modeling to prove there will be no hot -spot violation in the future. At least six intersections must be modeled, including the three most congested and the three with highest traffic volume. The USEPA does not require a CO monitor location to be justified, but it's supposed to be located where it will get the dirtiest air. There is an annual network review. Select representative to Citizen Committee on the Smoking Ordinance Delayed - the committee has not yet been formed Announcements A tour of the monitoring sites is being arranged in the next six weeks or so. Adiournment The meeting adjourned at 9:30 p.m. ACTION LIST — from September 28 meetine ACTION ITEM WHO BY... DONE 1. Research other communities' use of air Brian Open quality criteria in development review 2. Give AQAB a cost estimate for additional CO Clean Air September monitoring at, e.g., Campus West Sub -Area Team or Walmart PUD 3. Put info in packet regarding content of the 9 Terry When November study session on Boards and available Commissions.