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Home My WebLink AboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 12/16/2019 AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR December 16, 2019 5:30 – 8:00 pm Colorado River Room, 222 Laporte Ave. 1 2/16/19 – MINUTES Page 1 1. CALL TO ORDER 5:36 pm 2. ROLL CALL • List of Board Members Present − Karen Artell − Jim Dennison − Harry Edwards − Jakob Lindaas, Chair − Jason Miller − Matt Tribby, Vice Chair • List of Board Members Absent – Excused or Unexcused; if no contact with Chair has been made − Greg Clark • List of Staff Members Present − Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison • List of Guests − Dan Welsh, prospective Board member − Savannah Podilla, CSU student − Cindy Chura, CSU student − Wayne Chuang, CSU researcher 3. AGENDA REVIEW • No changes 4. PUBLIC PARTICIPATION • N/A 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES • Harry moved and Matt seconded a motion to approve the September 16, 2019 minutes. Motion passed, 6-0-0. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1 2 /16 /19 – MINUTES Page 2 • Karen moved and Matt seconded a motion to approve the November 18, 2019 minutes. Motion passed, 5-0-1. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS • N/A 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Air Quality Data Update, 5:45 – 6:45 Cassie Archuleta, Air Quality Program Manager, provided an update regarding air quality data and trends in Fort Collins through 2019. Fort Collins monitors criteria pollutants, including CO, OR3R, PMR10R and PMR2.5R, as well as visibility. Data for all monitoring stations can be found at 32TUfcgov.com/airquality/aqdataU32T. Ozone • A brief overview of this high-priority pollutant, its sources, monitoring locations, and historical data/ trends measured within the City was provided. Fort Collins lies within a nonattainment area for ozone – a designation that was just elevated from moderate to serious. Cassie presented examples of exceedances, defined attainment standards, and provided historical AQI data for the City. • The Board discussed the shortcomings of the current State-approved monitoring sites within the City and discussed ways to better characterize air quality in Fort Collins, including the use of monitors already in place. The City has made such comments to the State, in addition to requesting NORXR and VOC monitoring, in an enhanced monitoring plan. The Board requested more information regarding EPA guidelines for the placement of monitors so that they can draft a memo to Council to appeal to the State for more monitoring within Fort Collins. Staff Follow Up: Cassie will share CDPHE’s response to the City’s comments regarding the State’s annual updates to the monitoring plan. • The Board briefly discussed the State’s strategy for regulating ozone, which will likely involve curtailing emissions from transportation and oil and gas sources. There are still conflicting interests that will likely make this difficult. Furthermore, NCAR modeling suggests while very strict regulations on these sources could help bring Fort Collins into attainment, most ozone still comes from outside of the state; such strict regulation will likely impose high economic consequences. • The Board discussed tracking the Serious SIP process, which will be submitted in 2021 as part of their 2020 work plan. Particle Matter AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1 2 /16 /19 – MINUTES Page 3 • A brief overview of this pollutant, its sources, monitoring location, and historical data/trends measured within the City was provided. Fort Collins does not currently exceed PMR2.5 Rstandards, but staff is exploring implementation of a more robust monitoring network using low-cost monitors and citizen science to increase spatial representativeness of PM pollution and improve public awareness. • Cassie reminded the Board that the City Air Quality Plan has been released for public comment. She urged members to submit comments and pass the Plan along to interested parties. • The Board discussed new monitoring technology (e.g., remote sensing) and adding a section to the Air Quality Plan to capture emerging ideas to specify what action the City might take to utilize such new technology. • Members discussed Fort Collins’ alignment with other Front Range communities regarding air quality planning; they expressed a desire to share information and work collaboratively with other communities. • The Board discussed the need to quantify electric vehicle emission reductions to strengthen the case for implementation. A review of the FRAPPE Study and inquiring with the NFRMPO may be helpful in making such quantifications. b. Board/Council Priorities, 6:45 – 7:30 Jakob Lindaas, Chair, led a discussion regarding the development of a Council memo summarizing Board priorities and alignment with Council priorities. The Board discussed three priorities but decided that their recommendations needed more refinement prior to submitting to Council. Jakob will send a summary of the discussion to Board Members so that they can workshop via email, and make the final decisions during the December meeting. • The Board identified three potential items to include in the memo: 1. Enhanced air quality monitoring – The Board noted that this statement alone is too broad, and several questions were raised including: • Are we concerned that monitors are undershooting or overshooting [concentration values]? • Do we want to monitor different parameters (e.g., NORXR, VOCs)? • Do we know how the population is being exposed to pollutants? Do our two ozone monitors spatially represent the whole city? It is beneficial from a public health standpoint to know where the highest and lowest concentrations are. 2. Identifying the gap in youth-related climate education – The Board discussed the involvement of the Youth Advisory Board, sponsoring a science fair, developing a downloadable information packet, the utilization of programs already in place (Parks and Recreation programs, etc.) and looking to other progressive communities for ideas. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1 2 /16 /19 – MINUTES Page 4 − Cassie noted that the City has discussed the development of education modules and using educational resources such as the ozone bench to help bridge the gap. 3. Indoor air quality, including the Healthy Homes Program and radon mitigation – The Board agrees that radon mitigation has not been sufficiently addressed by the City. While the City has been working on more outreach and education related to radon and its mitigation, there are no discussions to explore new policies or code updates. The Board will remind Council of their previous recommendations regarding radon. • The Board briefly touched on transportation (creating more of a link between air quality and transportation planning), oil and gas impacts, climate planning, wasteshed and air quality impacts, and energy emissions. 8. BOARD MEMBER AND STAFF REPORTS STAFF • Council will vote on reopening Board appointments for one-year terms. Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will disclose the outcome of the vote to Board Members. • Staff are working on 2020 workplans; this will be a BFO year. Cassie will present developments to the Board as they occur. • The Board’s Annual report is due in January. Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will compile a draft of the report and distribute it via email for Board approval in January. BOARD • Jason attended the most recent Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting during which the e-bike pilot program was discussed. Feedback was generally positive and the pilot will continue through April. • Karen attended the most recent Natural Resource Advisory Board meeting at which oil and gas updates were discussed. In addition she attended the Northern Water Symposium, where a presentation about water-reliability and climate change was given, and a superboard meeting to discuss the 2020 Strategic Plan and the Parks and Recreation Master Plan. • Board members expressed interest in seeing follow-up/action items on meeting agendas. Staff Follow-Up: Cassie will move Staff Updates up on the agenda and frame her updates around follow-up/action items. AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD TYPE OF MEETING – REGULAR 1 2 /16 /19 – MINUTES Page 5 9. OTHER BUSINESS a. Agenda planning • During the January meeting, the Board will address the Annual Report and finish the memo to Council on priorities. Cassie will reach out to the NFRMPO, the radon group and climate education coordinators for updates at future meetings. 10. ADJOURNMENT 8:02 pm