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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 08/21/2017MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD Date: Monday, August 21, 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 Harry Edwards Chris Wood Jim Dennison Arsineh Hecobian Vara Vissa, Vice-Chair Tom Griggs Gregory Miller Greg Clark Mark Houdashelt, Chair Staff Present Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison Guests None Call to order: 5:32 pm Public Comments None Approval of Minutes Tom moved and Harry seconded a motion to approve the June minutes as presented. Motion passed, 8-0-0. Harry moved and Greg Clark seconded a motion to approve the July minutes as presented. Motion passed, 8-0-0. AGENDA ITEM 1: Board Member Introductions Instructions were provided for AQAB’s newest board members, Arsineh Hecobian and Greg Clark. • Harry Edwards is a retired CSU professor and taught classes in air pollution control and thermodynamics; he also worked on quantitative chemical analysis projects. He came to the Air Quality Advisory Board from the Natural Resources Advisory Board. • Greg Clark has lived in Fort Collins for two and a half years now. He spent 25 years working in technical sales for a semiconductor business where he performed data analysis and capture. More recently, he’s worked in the emissions monitoring and solutions industry and is excited to be a part of the AQAB. • Greg Miller has been a member of the AQAB for quite a while; his term will be up at end of this year. • Tom Griggs is a professor of Education at UNC. He grew up in LA during the 1950’s and 1960’s with poor air quality, which has fostered an interest in improving Fort Collins’ air quality. He performs quite a bit of editing for the Board and has learned a lot since joining. • Mark Houdashelt has been on the Board for three years. He has a PhD in Astronomy and worked for a company involved with climate change policy for many years. His main interest is in greenhouse gases. • Vara Vissa has a background in infectious diseases and has worked quite a bit with CSU in the past. Her primary interest is in sustainability issues. She admires the City’s proactive involvement in maintaining air quality and sustainability standards and looks forward to the AQAB’s further contribution to the Climate Action Plan. • Arsineh Hecobian moved to Fort Collins about five years ago and is a research scientist at CSU in the Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Her work includes the development of instrumentation to perform air pollution measurements via aircraft and, more recently, the measurement of emission rates from oil and gas completion processes along the Front Range and Western Slope. • Jim Dennison has been a member of the AQAB for seven years; this is his last year in his current term. He performs environmental testing of (primarily) indoor air quality for a broad range of pollutants. AGENDA ITEM 2: Ozone Summary Cassie Archuleta, Air Quality Program Manager, provided an overview regarding ozone, including Federal nonattainment status, the State Implementation Plan (SIP) development process, and the City’s role in reducing ozone-causing pollution. Feedback was requested from the Board regarding community metrics for ozone (and particulate) pollution. Overview Summary of Ozone Measurements • Ozone is not emitted directly from sources, but is formed through photochemical reactions (ex. fossil fuel combustion, biogenic/petroleum based evaporative emissions). • The City of Fort Collins monitors ozone at two sites: one located downtown, and one located just northwest of town near the foothills. The west site violates the 2008 EPA ozone standard, and both sites violate the 2015 EPA standard. • The EPA requires states to develop State Implementation Plans (SIPs) to attain and maintain air quality standards. The Regional Air Quality Council (RAQC) leads Colorado’s SIP development process locally. The AQAB can advise the RAQC on air quality matters affecting Fort Collins and the Front Range ozone control area, which is in nonattainment for the current standard. • Oil and gas are one of the largest contributors to ozone formation in this region. The current SIP process requires the adoption of reasonably available control technology (RACT). • On-road sources (vehicles) are another large contributor to ozone formation in the Front Range. The implementation of federal, state and regional vehicle fuel standards, as well as improved interstate and regional planning, has greatly decreased ozone formation from on-road sources in recent years. • Fort Collins can influence on-road sources through local land use policies and transportation planning. The AQAB can provide input to the City Plan update regarding such matters. • Non-road engine sources are the third largest contributor and include sources such as lawn and garden equipment, boats, two-stroke engines, etc. The City currently offers rebates/incentives for the exchange/purchase of electric lawn and garden equipment. Fort Collins can affect significant change by purchasing/utilizing electric lawn and garden equipment for municipal operations. • Fort Collins is using education and outreach as a strategy to help decrease ozone levels in and around the City through promotion of: Community awareness of health impacts (AQ alerts, EPA AQI, Ozone Garden, Community Dashboard http://fortcollins.clearpointstrategy.com/) Discussion • There was a discussion of the data presented for each of Fort Collins’ two air quality monitoring sites. In particular, board members inquired why the site located northwest of the City shows consistently higher ozone values despite the fact that the wind typically blows from west to east. — The air mass at the northwest monitoring site is located just downwind of an urban source (Fort Collins). In addition, the oil and gas fields to the east are significant sources of ozone precursors. Because ozone is not a direct emission, and due to the complexities of air mass movement throughout the Front Range, ozone can form downwind of sources. — The northwest and downtown monitoring sites trend together, but the northwest site shows consistently higher ozone levels. Both sites are used in conjunction with other sites throughout the region to determine ozone attainment status. • The Board expressed further concern that the northwest monitoring site is not truly representative of ozone levels in this area and inquired about the methodology used to choose the site. — The northwest site was chosen in response to modeling assessments which showed potentially high concentrations, which were confirmed when monitoring commenced. — The NCAR presentation in October may target additional monitoring locations which were identified through the FRAPPÉ study, particularly on the southeast side of Fort Collins. The nonattainment region is quite large though, and additional sites aren’t likely to have a significant effect on regional ozone levels. • The Board discussed whether or not it’s possible to adjust regional attainment areas to isolate localities that have the highest ozone levels (primarily those areas west of I-25). — Cassie and Arsineh explained that it is very difficult to make a nonattainment region smaller due to the way it is defined in relation to the contributing emission sources. • Mark inquired about the extent of influence that Fort Collins can have on the development of the SIP. — Cassie explained that the SIP is federally enforceable and addresses the nonattainment issue on a statewide level. The Board can advise the RAQC on matters relevant to Fort Collins and the greater ozone control area. • The board discussed local outreach efforts with regards to non-road ozone sources. Vara inquired whether there is a push for fewer lawns in Fort Collins, for synergistic outcomes. Greg Clark noted that he lives in an area not serviced by water facilities and is not eligible for a rebate for xeriscaping. — Cassie stated that the City doesn’t currently have formal goals to reduce lawn areas in Fort Collins, but they are working to cross-promote xeriscaping. — The RAQC sponsors events to provide consumer access to low-cost electric and solar mowers. In addition, Fort Collins works with Home Depot here in town toward the same cause. — Vara mentioned an example of using digital signs to help with outreach, such as using signs to warn of train delays to help reduce idling. There could be many applications. • The board analyzed a graphic used on Fort Collins’ Community Dashboard that displays the outdoor Air Quality Index for ozone for each quarter with regards to the health of sensitive groups. In general, the Board though that the graph translated well to the broader public by speaking to the health of the community. It was noted that the quarterly time-frame was not ideal, and an annual summary might be more appropriate. — Cassie explained that the graph was to be utilized more as a tool for executive leadership to direct policy, and their direction is to provide quarterly metrics. She will add some edits as proposed by the Board and propose implementing the changes. AGENDA ITEM 3: 2018 AQAB Work Plan Mark Houdashelt, Chair, lead a discussion regarding a draft of the 2018 Air Quality Advisory Board work plan. The final plan is due by September 30, 2017. Discussion • Mark made minor changes to the 2018 work plan to better reflect Board and Council priorities, particularly in the Major Focus section. In addition, a statement was added to address the need to perform a quadrennial periodic review of the Board in 2018. • While the Board agreed on most minor changes presented, they debated on how much detail to include. Members were concerned with leaving specific issues such as lawn and garden equipment, and oil and gas policies out of the work plan, but were uncertain whether the exclusion of such topics would limit the issues that the AQAB can address next year. • The Board will review the work plan again prior to the next meeting and make any final suggestions at that time. Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will resend the revised version out for members to review again. • The Board voted on the work plan with the stipulation that it will be submitted as it stands, as long as no changes are suggested prior to the next meeting. Harry moved and Greg Miller seconded a motion to approve the 2018 AQAB Work Plan as presented at this meeting. Motion passed, 8-0-0. Board Updates • Results to a recent survey focused on rebranding the Climate Action Plan suggests that citizens of Fort Collins are comfortable with its current name and image. Cost savings, social and environmental benefits were identified as top priorities for those who participated in the survey. • Innovate Fort Collins held a public pitch night on August 3rd, during which 5 organizations were awarded funding for their projects: — Spring Back Colorado - A project based on box spring mattress recycling — Colorado State University - A project for an online transportation and safety module — Front Range Community College – A learning project in which students will install solar PV with an EV charging station at the Harmony Library — Insecticycle, LLC - An insect driven recycling process that converts organic waste into animal feed and fertilizer. — Poudre School District – A project to implement food composting in schools • Fort Collins was recently ranked the 5th mid-sized city in the U.S. for its number of Energy Star Certified buildings. • Mark mentioned that the Board will need to vote on changes to bylaws in the near future to align them more closely with the Boards and Commissions manual. Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will speak to Christine Macrina regarding how to proceed with bylaw changes. • Mark had a meeting with Gerry Horak, who mentioned that his main priority was ozone reduction through the use of more efficient lawn and garden equipment. They also discussed the formation of a Greenhouse Gas Board, but Gerry stated that Council probably would not be open to the idea. • Mark attended a Transportation Board meeting and informed them of AQAB’s desire to coordinate/ collaborate with them on future BFOs and issues such as ozone precursors and greenhouse gas emissions. • 8/30/17 - Walk and Wheels Skills Hub Grand Opening - to educate bicyclists and pedestrians on how to deal with certain traffic situations in a safe environment. • Compact of Colorado Communities - Communities are banding together to help one another reach climate change goals; the Council is considering signing on. Mark requested more information and a asked if a recommendation from the Board would be helpful. Staff Follow-up: Cassie will reach out to Lindsay Ex to see if a recommendation would be of use to the Climate Program. Staff Updates • Cassie provided an update on the BFO regarding radon mitigation; $40,000 was requested to support radon research as it is a priority for staff and City Council. The offer was fairly generic for maximum flexibility. Future Actions and Agenda Items • Fugitive Dust Implementation • Climate Economic Action Plan Discussion • Possible HomeWise Presentation/Discussion Meeting Adjourned: 8:10 pm Next Meeting: September 18, 2017 ______________________________ Signed by Chair