HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 03/20/2017Page 1
MINUTES
CITY OF FORT COLLINS
AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD
Date: Monday, March 20, 2017
Location: Colorado River Room, 222 Laporte Ave.
Time: 5:30–8:00pm
For Reference
Mark Houdashelt, Chair
Ross Cunniff, Council Liaison 970-420-7398
Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison 970-416-2648
Board Members Present Board Members Absent
Mark Houdashelt, Chair Chris Wood
Gregory Miller Robert Kirkpatrick
Harry Edwards
Jim Dennison
Vara Vissa, Vice-Chair
Tom Griggs
Staff Present
Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison
Lucinda Smith, Environmental Services Department Head
Mary Pat Aardrup, Environmental Planner
Guests
Loren Speer, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Eric Brown, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Stephanie Kuhn, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
Call to order: 5:33 pm
Public Comments
None
Review and Approval of December and January Meeting Minutes
Harry moved and Vara seconded a motion to approve the February minutes as amended.
Motion passed unanimously, 6-0-0.
AGENDA ITEM 1: Board Administration Updates
Christine Macrina, Boards and Commissions Coordinator, was scheduled to present an overview regarding
the new volunteer time tracking database.
Christine was unable to attend this meeting due to illness.
Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will contact Christine about rescheduling her presentation to a later date.
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AGENDA ITEM 2: Radon and Health Presentation
Eric Brown, with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment, presented an overview regarding
radon and health data tracking, and examples of radon policies and programs in Colorado.
Mark provided an introduction about the Board’s interest in the subject of radon. 60-75 percent of Fort
Collins homes testing above 4 pCi/L of radon, and the AQAB is looking for a health risk assessment in terms
of how the number of cancer cases relate to high radon levels. The Board is in the process of recommending
a budget offer for a working group that would further investigate radon in Fort Collins.
CDPHE is working with the CDC and EPA to make sure radon measurement and tracking programs run
smoothly. The Colorado Environmental Public Health Tracking (Tracking) Project is a CDC grant-supported
project that conducts data analyses that could be used to create products and inform approaches, actions, and
interventions at the local level. Because of data sharing agreements, multiple labs are now submitting radon
test results directly to the CDPHE at the street address level. According to a radon map, all counties in
Colorado have average radon levels over 4 pCi/L. The average radon value in Colorado is 6 pCi/L. The
average radon level tested for Larimer County is 7.35 pCi/L (0 pCi/L-250.7 pCi/L).
The Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) is a CDC funded annual phone survey that has
been conducted for about 20 years. Questions about radon were added into the survey in 2009, 2011, and
2016. The questions include: Do you know what radon is? Have you tested your home? Did your home test
over 4 pCi/L? If so, what did you do about it? Results show about 72% of people know what radon is, and
only 16% of people who tested their homes said the result was over 4 pCi/L, which does not line up with the
data. According to BRFSS results, Larimer County and Boulder County are more likely to mitigate than
other Colorado counties. In Larimer County, Eric cited an estimate that 1,542 mitigations equals 1 saved life.
Eric stated there is a relationship between radon awareness and socioeconomic status.
Visit www.colorado.gov/coepht for more information about radon data tracking programs.
Comments/Q&A
Are the results only about mortality, or do they include morbidity?
o Only mortality. Considering morbidity would take a different formula.
The latest EPA risk assessment stated that 4piC/L would result in an additional 3% of individuals
with cancer. The form of cancer had about a 50% 5-year survival rate. This doesn’t line up with other
data sources. Which numbers are correct?
o Eric said he would like to cross reference this data he cited presentation with the EPA source.
Do you have any data specific to Fort Collins?
o Not in this presentation, but it can be accessed.
What do you think about the idea of sending the AQAB’s recommendation to council?
o Fort Collins is on the frontier of progressive action on radon. CDPHE is trying to figure out
how to extract Fort Collins data from the BRFSS, which the AQAB could take to Council.
Rentals aren’t required to test for radon. Are tenants being put at risk?
o Students rent short term. Low income families rent for years.
o A priority should be getting information to residents on the garden-level of buildings.
Is there a particular lab that shares the data?
o CDPHE gets data from 7 labs annually. These are the biggest radon testing labs in the
country.
Do you have any data on public buildings?
o Some datasets have a field for “building type”, but that is not consistent across the data.
Colorado law requires schools to test for radon but not to mitigate or make the test results public.
o This is true. Denver just received a grant for mitigation in childcare facilities.
Will the city get the test results of schools, even though the results are not public?
o Only results from the BRFSS. Child care facilities are required to report findings to the city.
Is there any information about best practices nationwide that could inform next steps in Fort Collins?
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o There is one town in Massachusetts that may have policy standards for rentals. CDPHE could
look into that.
Website notes “Free radon test kit for Colorado residents” is that program still going on?
o Yes, in the CDPHE program, and completely free.
How will the proposed budget cuts to the EPA affect what you are doing?
o Wouldn’t affect CDC funded programs. The low-income mitigation program is secure
because its funding is separate from EPA. State funded programs might be in jeopardy.
Loren invited the AQAB to contact the CDPHE directly about monitoring radon and for help with
analysis.
Board Follow-Up: Jim will send the EPA risk assessment document to Eric for data comparison.
Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will send a copy of Eric’s presentation to the Board.
AGENDA ITEM 3: Board Discussion
The Board discussed options regarding the preparation of a recommendation to Council regarding a request
for mid-cycle BFO related to providing staff resources to research and recommend additional radon
mitigation policies or programs.
Mark reminded the Board that the Council retreat is on the 12th and 13th of May. The AQAB can either
finalize their recommendation tonight, or work on it and finalize at a later time. Ross thinks more can be
done about radon, but he is the most supportive Councilmember about this issue. Mark showed a draft of a
proposed recommendation.
Discussion
Draft states “70% of homes have radon levels over 4 pCi/L,” while Eric’s presentation reported 65%.
o The City’s most recent data summary indicates 65%.
If the grant goes through, Council might want to work with the grant funding rather than a separate
project.
o Cassie indicated that the grant, if awarded, would focus on strategies to increase the number
of mitigations using communication and outreach rather than policy options.
Mark suggested the possibility of limiting the recommendation to exclude looking at the health
impacts.
Jim wondered if researchers could collect data from randomly selected homes, figure out who has
lung cancer, test homes for radon, and do some sort of cross-sectional assessment in order to
determine a relationship. He said radon is the second highest cause of cancer in the US, and that he
believes someone would fund data studies to address the gap.
Can you tell when someone dies of lung cancer that it is caused by radon?
o No.
Jim referenced a lecture he attended, where he learned that some cancers require a certain amount of
exposure before the individual sees health effect. Certain molecules are good for you in small doses.
If that is applied to radon, could the limit be adjusted to 5 pCi/L instead of 4? Jim said this is just a
theory/hypothesis.
Greg asked Cassie and Lucinda if City staff thinks the recommendation for a mid-cycle offer is an
effective movement forward.
o Cassie said that there is definitely interest in increasing mitigation rates, but new policy on
radon doesn’t seem to be a very high priority right now. It might be better to wait until the
regular cycle offers to propose new policy work on radon.
o Lucinda said it would be great to find ways to increase mitigation in Fort Collins, and it
would be interesting to hear what Council thinks. She suggested that there might be interest
in taking approaches that aren’t mandatory policy, such as focused outreach or an expansion
of previous studies.
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Is there a way we can encourage awareness and sampling without getting into the epidemiology?
Could tell landlords that if they know what their radon levels are, it must be put in the lease. If they
don’t know their levels, there needs to be an informational line in the lease that lists the buyer’s
percent risk of cancer based on average radon values in Fort Collins.
Mark mentioned there are three options right now: finalize a recommendation for Council tonight,
table it to the April meeting, or drop the issue until a later date. The Board also needs to decide
whether to have Council initially consider any recommendation at a regular Council session or at its
May retreat.
o Mark indicated that feedback from Ross was that taking it to the retreat would be the most
productive way to go. It would better guarantee that council requests a mid-cycle budget
offer.
What is the barrier to mitigation? Is it cost, lack of interest, practicality, or something else? Maybe
we need research on the barriers.
Mark will discuss recommendation further with Ross Cunniff, and Board will make final decisions
about recommendation at its April meeting.
Board Updates
Mark attended the Feb 28th Council work session
o Climate Action Plan presentation had commentary about how the term “climate” should
remain in the branding. Staff will continue to develop the terminology. Some council
members said the rebranding went too far.
Mark attended the Mar 9th Energy Board meeting
o Time of Use Study presentation showed reduced energy consumption about 2.5% overall,
with a 7% reduced peak. The impacts are likely very dependent on pricing structure.
Commercial demand impacts the peak usage most, but the peak rates are only applied to
residential.
Staff Updates
The AQAB is still looking to fill one vacancy.
Air Quality Plan
o Draft of Air Quality Plan is expected by the end of the year, and will be informed in part by
the air quality survey, an ozone data assessment, and an evaluation of the healthy homes
program.
Future Actions and Agenda Items
April meeting
o Elections of new AQAB Chair and Vice Chair
o Time of Use update
o Radon Recommendation
Composting and Organics- Mark expressed interest in hearing the presentation before it goes to
Council on May 23rd.
Vara will be absent for the April meeting.
Meeting Adjourned: 8:09 pm
Next Meeting: April 17, 2017
______________________________
Signed by Chair