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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 02/27/20231 02/17/23 Minutes Air Quality Advisory Board REGULAR MEETING Monday, February 27, 2023 – 5:30 PM 222 Laporte Avenue, Colorado River Room 1. CALL TO ORDER: 5:32 PM 2. ROLL CALL a. Board Members Present – • Greg Boiarsky • Wayne Chuang • Greg Clark • Mark Houdashelt (Acting Chair) b. Board Members Absent – • Dan Welsh c. Staff Members Present – • Cassie Archuleta, Staff Liaison • Jason Komes, Senior Specialist, Air Quality • Heidi O’Mara, Coordinator, Air Quality • DeAngelo Bowden, Senior Specialist, Air Quality • Emily Olivo, Neighborhood Liaison • Davina Lau, Specialist, Public Engagement d. Guest(s) – • Greg Boiarsky (pending appointment to Board) • Gavin McMeeking (pending appointment to Board) • Doug Henderson 3. AGENDA REVIEW 4. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION a. Doug Henderson – Doug came to speak to the Board on behalf of the Sierra Club. Doug mentioned that Northern Colorado has some of the worst air quality in North America and it is getting worse. The driver is the oil and gas industry emissions in the Northern Front Range, and we should be doing everything we can to address this issue. The City of Fort Collins must take a much more aggressive position to address air quality locally and regionally. He stated there have been many municipalities and counties in Colorado that adopted more robust regulations than what Fort Collins is proposing. He does not believe the City’s proposed regulations are comprehensive and do not 2 02/17/23 Minutes exercise the full authority of Senate Bill 181. There is also a concern that the proposed updates do not address financial assurances. He stated it will cost billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money to close wells properly because the industry is not at this point financially liable for it. Sierra Club and many other organizations wrote to City Council and asked for more time to review the regulations and for a public forum for community discussion and collaboration regarding the regulations. They want two-way communication and asked to broaden the regulatory approach. He met with staff and was informed they are going to a 2nd reading in early April with some limited revisions. He stated that nothing the organizations or AQAB recommended was on the docket and the only public engagement they are holding is a panel which doesn’t not include two-way communication. Sierra Club wrote a second letter to City Council asking for the regulations to be revised to provide for financial assurances and assessment of cumulative impacts. They also asked for water use source documentation, recycling provisions, modeling, monitoring, inspection enforcement, penalties, and service feeds to be paid for by the oil and gas operators. He asked for AQAB to communicate with Council again to direct staff to hit the pause button and have more public engagement with two-way communication. He believes there needs to be substantive additions and edits to the regulations, as they are the weakest regulations to be adopted by a local government in Colorado that is concerned about its citizens. 5. APPROVAL OF MINUTES a. Unable to approve due to lack of quorum. Postponed until next meeting. 6. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Oil and Gas Updates • The second reading is coming up on April 4th. The Board can leave things as is, as they have already made their recommendations, they can put it on the March agenda to discuss further, or they can send the previous memo of what they recommended in December. Many Board members expressed they still have not had time to dig into the regulations. Cassie mentioned version two is on the website and they are about to replace it with version three. The main difference between version two and three is that they had to format it back to the land use code. The Board noted concern about making changes without knowing what the land use code will look like and if there should be operational standards. • For existing wells, Cassie mentioned that they have an agreement with Larimer County. If they were to adopt new regulatory requirements, the existing wells would be grandfathered in, and changes won’t make a difference for the vast majority of the proposed code.That is why they are landing where they are. The concern is what if those don’t work. Cassie will send a link for current versions. They are not expecting any major changes between the first and second reading. Cassie mentioned that for operational standards they are working closely with the State and County and have been able to address the issues that they foresee and have seen previously. Board members were concerned if something changed and wells could come to Fort Collins, there would not be enough time to regulate during the application process. Cassie explained that there is a long lead time of two to four years because resources must be 3 02/17/23 Minutes discovered and then go through acquisition of mineral rights and state requirements of assessing cumulative impacts. There is not an anticipation of discoverable resources. There are not any areas to drill right now. The Board warns against growing boundaries and recommended doing things as a backup. The Board will discuss this further. 7. NEW BUSINESS a. Board Orientation – Davina Lau, the City’s Boards and Commissions Coordinator, provided an overview regarding Board function and procedures, potential new on-boarding material (informational) • Davina reviewed different rules and regulations for the Board, such as the open meeting requirement, joint meetings, and annual report voting. She also shared the next super issues will be on May 8th that will cover affordable housing and ballots. They are reviewing and making changes to the recruitment process, boards and commissions manual, and code of conduct. They are also developing a training for chairpersons which will be implemented in 2024. The Board urged Davina to make sure the code of conduct is actionable and make sure staff and Council is better able to deal with board members becoming problematic. Davina assured that Council wants to make sure it will have teeth. She is also working on developing a complaint process regarding the code of conduct. • Davina has tried filling some gaps regarding orientation for new board members. She will post the Boards and Commissions manual online once it is approved by Council. Council is also leaning toward moving recruitment to the end of the year. Applications would be open from December 1 to January 30. Interviews would take place in February and the term would start in April. To fill current vacancies, Davina will be doing a recruitment in April. The Board recommended pushing elections until after recruitment and doing a big push for recruitment. Davina shared they are working on a subscription service for when recruitment opens and plans to work with the City’s communications office to do a media push. They are also working on a subscription service for board members to get all the other board agendas. b. 2022 Annual Report – The Board finalized the 2022 Annual Report (Action) • The Board approved the 2022 Annual Report and agreed to be a proactive board. Cassie will send in the annual report. c. Air Quality Program Overview – Air Quality Program staff provided an overview of the City’s air quality program focus areas in 2023 and alignment with the Board work plan. (Informational) • Cassie shared the history of the Air Quality Program, and emphasized that improved air quality comes up consistently as a Council priority. The Air Quality program is also not the only one that works on air quality in the City. Some subject areas that air quality touches on are priority pollutants and sources; ozone causing pollutants; indoor air quality; environmental compliance; air quality monitoring; climate adaptation; and lead by example. They look at what they can measure and model, what they can control, and how they can promote resilience. Cassie also touched on the EPA grant they were awarded last year but will share more about it at a future meeting. 4 02/17/23 Minutes • Cassie shared some information about oil and gas but will go into more detail next meeting. Jason shared the programs on non-road engines and the shift the City is doing to electric yard equipment. They also contribute to the RAQC's residential lawnmower rebate program. They do run out of funding quickly and last year served 200 people. Jason is working on commercial programs. He also helps with compliance for outdoor burning and fugitive dust. • Indoor air quality focuses on free home health assessments through Healthy Homes and radon testing and mitigation. They are working towards targeting underserved communities. The Board suggested working with the Climate Team as they are working on contacting disadvantaged communities as well. The Board asked if any of the programming includes gas stoves. Heidi mentioned they do speak about it during the assessments but don’t currently measure for it. They hope they can incorporate more monitoring into the program. Heidi mentioned that Healthy Homes is a entry level program that then can connect residents to more resources like Epic Homes and the CARE program. The Healthy Homes program will also help distribute CO2 and smoke detectors in homes if they are needed. The Board recommended looking at multifamily dwellings as well. Heidi stated they are working on building relationships with property managers so they can also work with them. The Board also discussed an apartment inspection program and wanted to see radon and air quality part of that. Emily stated neighborhood services is still working on that program but is not sure where they are at with it. The Board also shared the importance of right-sizing mitigation systems. Cassie mentioned that utilities is currently working on that through Epic Homes. • DeAngelo shared more about messaging and engagement and a focus on environmental justice. The Board warned against information coming from the government as a lot of disadvantaged communities will not trust the information. DeAngelo also shared about the Regional Advisory Board they are developing for the EPA grant. They are not sure who all will be included or how it will work exactly yet but hope to get it going in the next three months. They are working on making it community led and want to move away from it being an informative board to being more about collaboration and power sharing. The Board recommended looking at a group in Denver that was working on a similar framework. • Heidi shared they have a program for distributing free air cleaners, and they hosted a workshop for creating clean spaces during wildfire events and how to create your own filter. The Board urged to consider including people who already have air cleaners but cannot afford the filters. • The Board discussed the Purple Air monitors and how many indoor and outdoor ones are in Fort Collins. Cassie talked about the different groups that have been putting them in the community. 8. BOARD MEMBER REPORTS a. Greg B mentioned the City’s application for a grant for rebuilding Power Trail bike path is not going to happen, at least not yet. They are trying to find funding sources for that project. He also shared that the Spin program is doing a great job at reducing miles of transportation and have decreased carbon 5 02/17/23 Minutes emissions by 30%. He was not sure what the 30% was based on but stated that the people who use Spin use it a lot. b. Mark shared about two events. One was the Super Board meeting on the Mulberry annexation and the other was the transportation project fair at the Senior Center. He stated it was interesting to see all the projects the City was working on in transportation. 9. STAFF REPORTS 10. OTHER BUSINESS a. 6 Month Calendar Review • The Board discussed moving elections to April, depending on when they get new members. The board discussed seeing everyone’s priorities so they can be proactive. Some topics they discussed that might be of interest on the 6-month calendar were 1041 regulations and moratorium, Hughes stadium, Max line plan for North College, sustainable funding, oil and gas regulations, downtown parking, Mulberry annexation, circular economy, and the EPA grant. b. Agenda Planning • March • Elections • Oil and Gas Recommendations • Check In on Board Priorities • April • Climate Inventory and Sustainable Funding Update • Outdoor EPA Grant and Community Advisory Group Planning • May • Wildfire Season • Ozone Season Update • Indoor AQ Grant Update 11. ADJOURNMENT a. 8:06pm Minutes approved by a vote of the Board/Commission on 3/20/23