Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAboutAir Quality Advisory Board - Minutes - 05/27/2008AIR QUALITY ADVISORY BOARD REGULAR MEETING MINUTES DATE: Tuesday, May 27, 2008 LOCATION: 200 West Mountain — Suite A — Conference room. TIME: 5:30 -8:00 P.M. Dinner is served starting at 5:15 For Reference: Eric Levine, Chair - 493-6341 David Roy, Council Liaison - 407-7393 Brian Woodruff, Staff Liaison - 221-6604 Board members present: Eric Levine, Dennis Georg, Katrina Windborn, Jeff Engel, Nancy York, Dale Adamy, and Greg McMaster Board members absent: Dave Dietrich, Kip Carrico Eric Levine called the meeting to order at: 5:40 Guests John Schroyer— Former AQAB member who is a testing emissions expert but attended this meeting as a citizen. Public Input A member of the Boy Scouts of America and his Scoutmaster attended the meeting and asked the Board some questions about how the AQAB functions and interfaces with the community, in partial fulfillment of requirements for his Citizenship Merit Badge. Approval of April 21, 2008 minutes Eric Levine asked for the following text to be inserted to his statement on page 3, 3`d bullet: "...better pollution controls but more catastrophic failure modes." Dennis Georg moved and Nancy York seconded a motion to approve the April 21, 2008, minutes as amended. Motion approved unanimously. In answer to a question from Katrina Winborn, Brian Woodruff will submit the AQAB mobility management letter to the Transportation Board and Eric Levine will follow up and see if that board would address this issue at their next meeting. Ozone Strategy — Options for a North Front Range I&M Program The North Front Range MPO seeks input on the choice of a vehicle inspection/ maintenance program for the North Front Range. Lucinda Smith gave a presentation on the options under discussion and presented a hard copy of "Evaluation of North Front Range Vehicle Inspection and Maintenance Strategies." • Lucinda pointed out that guest John Schroyer had run the Fort Collins Emissions Technical Center and was here to help answer questions on this subject. • Lucinda stated that some issues of timing have changed and thanked the AQAB for putting this on the agenda with such short notice. She will email a copy of the presentation to the board members. The content of the presentation came from Garry Kaufrnan of the Air Pollution Control Division. • Her objective for the presentation is to see if the AQAB has any recommendations on what type of emissions testing program would be appropriate for the North Front Range if it becomes necessary to reinstate an emissions program. • Lucinda clarified tonight's discussion was about the Ozone State Implementation Program (SIP), not short-term ozone strategies. The goal is to have a draft plan completed in September, 2008. o The draft plan would then go to the Air Quality Control Commission in December and through the State Legislature approval process in January, 2009 with implementation some time in 2009 o The federally -mandated ozone program would be in place by May, 2010. • There are four strategies under consideration. o Fuel strategies ■ The fuel -related strategies can bring benefits more quickly than inspection/maintenance strategies because you don't have to go through a 2-year emissions testing cycle • Reformulated Gasoline (RFG) — 7.0 RVP (ReVapor Pressure) with a wavier — 8 RVP without wavier — 7.0 RVP without waiver — Ban ethanol waiver — Stage II Vapor recovery ■ Lucinda announced there will be a stakeholder meeting in Denver on June 4, where they will talk about these strategies in more detail. A white paper is being developed about each of the source - reduction areas. o Oil and gas emissions and stationary sources. (However, Lucinda does not have information regarding what stage of development these strategies are in.) • Dale Adamy stated he assumed oil and gas drill rigs will give us a better reduction than other sources. However, Lucinda thought they already feel they have been heavily penalized and is not sure how much reduction would be left in the oil and gas sector. • Dennis stated in his research on the internet he has learned that Wyoming has taken more aggressive steps than Colorado. o Inspection and maintenance ■ IM 240 and on board diagnostic (OBD) Lucinda pointed out the North Front Range MPO gave approval to consider all these strategies and will do a white paper on them. 2 The SIP planning process will be from now until end of June. o Complete 2010 base case modeling will be done by June 4. o The Health Department is developing white papers about these individual strategies. o The consultant will be doing sensitivity analyses on 10+ strategies to determine if you reduce by "X" amount, what will happen at the monitor. This will give an indication where to get the best benefit. ■ 20% reduction of mobile sources on road ■ 15% reduction in evaporative VOC ■ 30% reduction in oil and gas o They are simultaneously doing a source apportionment analysis to identify which sources contribute the most in the 2010 base case for VOC and NOx. Next Steps — compile strategies from gathered data and model the SIP to show how these things collectively will reduce ozone o May 30 the North Front Range Technical Advisory Committee meeting to provide recommendations o June 3 — Fuels Stakeholder meeting o June 4 —2010 base case modeling results released o June 10 and 17 — NFR stakeholder meetings in Fort Collins and Greeley o June 25 — Joint meeting between North Front Range MPO and RAQC in Frederick o July — complete package to be agreed upon by MPO and RAQC and consultants to do modeling There are several I&M options being considered: o I/M 240 — same testing Denver has. ■ 4 minute tailpipe test measuring hydrocarbon (HC), carbon monoxide (CO) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) on a grams per mile basis. ■ Centralized testing — done on a dynamometer. o On Board Diagnostic (OBD) w/ 2 speed idle ■ Set to trigger failure codes if any system is 1.5 times the original certifications of a new vehicle Trying to predict smaller failures than I/M 240. It will fail more vehicles but should prevent more future emissions A guideline program where they gather data and don't pass or fail vehicles. ■ Can be centralized or not centralized facilities. o Two Speed Idle — • Same test Fort Collins had before. ■ Measures HC and CO tailpipe emissions on a concentration rather than mass basis. ■ Not as effective or accurate is I/M 240 • More effective for older vehicles ■ Can be done at centralized or decentralized facilities. o Remote Sensing Technology Uses a beam from a van to measure tailpipe plume. Video camera collects license plate info. It's a pilot program in Denver, and if person doesn't come in for further testing, vehicle registration can be denied. John Schroyer stated this method is effective for determining clean vehicles. o Gas cap check ■ Can be added to any program ■ Pressurized check to see if it's leaking vapors which are a significant contributor of ozone, especially on hot days. Possible Strategies and implementation issues: o Expand the current Denver Metro Area (DMA) programs be used in the Northern Front Range area. ■ Minimum 120 days for AQCC process • Modify existing contract or new contracting process ■ Extensive infrastructure build out o On Board Diagnostic Program (OBD) ■ For 1996 and newer vehicles because the older ones don't have a proper computer for the test. ■ Significant regulatory development work ■ New contract needed if centralized. ■ Development of new equipment specifications. ■ Less infrastructure than IM 240 o Reinstitute NFR basic program • Reinstate prior regulation ■ No contract for decentralized facilities. ■ Less infrastructure than IM 240 o Mandatory remote sensing based high emitter program. • Has technical and administrative challenges. ■ Extend applicability of existing regulation. • Modify existing contract. ■ Some infrastructure for follow-up compliance testing o Voluntary remote sensing based high emitter program. ■ No regulation ■ Question regarding funding ■ Use existing infrastructure ■ Only viable option for 2008. Implementation issues: o Legislative authority o What kinds of regulations need to be developed and can they be done by 2010. o Finding a contractor willing to expand up here since there is an expensive infrastructure required. o Implementation by 2010 or before, depending on program. o Development of equipment specifications El I The AQAB discussed Lucinda's presentation and their recommendations: o Eric Levine felt it was a very short time period to get a good I/M program developed and implemented and that there could be some very long lines for vehicle inspections with the I/M program. o Dennis thought the challenge is getting enough feedback from the model to meet the standard plus or minus. He would prefer iteration in order to get feedback from the model so you can learn about it and have informed input. o Lucinda pointed out it is a very complex model and Katrina suggested it might be found on the EPA website. o Greg was concerned with who is overseeing and critiquing the model in first place and looking at the output. What happens if the model doesn't achieve the goal and will we always be behind? o Brian stated, because this is a federal requirement, the EPA is the ultimate overseer. There would eventually be an agreement between the federal government and the state government that the model is done correctly and will properly predict how to reduce the VOCs. o Lucinda stated there is some oversight by the State Health Department and RAQC and will ultimately be signed off by the EPA. o Eric Levine commented the three alternative methods don't seem to meet good compliance standards and felt there wasn't time to do a good job of providing input. o Dennis Georg asked if any of these measures would lead to more precise impacts in the future and what's going to motivate the industry to invest and upgrade the I/M 240 testing system. • John Schroyer stated the current EPA believes the OBD system more effective than the I/M 240. Even though the OBD would be less effective because there are many older vehicles here, we are in a transition period where OBD will most likely become the predominant testing system. ■ Lucinda stated Colorado is one of the few states with remaining I/M 240 testing. Most states have already adopted OBD. o Eric voiced his concern that OBD may miss significant numbers of high emitters in various tests. o In response to a question by Dennis, John Schroyer explained the OBD system is very precise and cannot be made less precise to be compared to the I/M 240 system. o Katrina Winbom wondered if the calculations were comparable. ■ Lucinda stated that the State Health Department and the RAQC had done an early assessment of OBD and seem to be in favor of the I/M240 because they felt the Mobil 6 Report underestimates the benefit of I/M 240 and overestimates the benefit of the OBD. However, there is no further information available to consider. EPA will make their decision on the model. ■ Lucinda stated I/M 240 is more effective in identifying cars that are repairable and the codes that OBD catches may not lead to 5 repairs that would reduce emissions, but are more preventative in nature. o John Schroyer pointed out that hydrocarbon reduction is what should be focused upon in this area, not NOx. NOx are hard to reduce. Hydrocarbon reduction is easier. o Dennis asked if any of these systems could be implemented by 2010. ■ Lucinda stated the I/M 240 has a physical infrastructure challenge and the OBD system also has a legislative challenge o John pointed out the OBD program is done at private repair shops and the money stays in the community with more ownership in the program by local repair shops. It's a relatively easy program for shops to learn. o Dennis stated he thought the volunteer program wouldn't work. He also liked the consumer administrative convenience aspect of the OBD. o Eric felt the high number of failures with OBD was unacceptable. o Lucinda asked the group if they felt this region should have the same type of program that Denver has. She also stated the RAQC thinks it is important to have a uniform program across the region. ■ Katrina thought two programs would increase the uncertainty of the calculations of emission reductions across the entire region. o Dennis cautioned the AQAB should focus on where this is going instead of what the current administration's standards are. o Greg questioned if the OBD or I/M 24 are equally uncertain, would it make any difference to choose one or other and wondered if there would be enough difference for the trouble. o John Schroyer pointed out if the AQAB has strong feelings for either they need to speak up, otherwise leave it in the hands of the Health Dept. o Eric stated the AQAB seemed to be in agreement that voluntary testing is not going to work. o Lucinda stated that a joint meeting of MPO and RAQC will be June 25, and she thought it would be helpful to communicate to Ben Manvel or the MPO prior to the meeting. She also stated she thought there is a strong feeling from the RAQC that the I/M240 program is the way to go. o Eric asked if there was a contingency program. Lucinda will find out. o Katrina wondered if you reduce both NOx and CO2 equally, if that is a problem. Lucinda thought under certain conditions it could be. o In summary, the group realized they don't have enough information to determine which method would be best, but will weigh in on it to help the MPO and RAQC make their decision. Making a more precise recommendation should be made by technical people o The group decided it would be important for each of them, individually, to contact City Council with their recommendations. Nancy York moved and Greg McMaster seconded a motion that the AQAB recommends required emissions testing in Fort Collins. The AQAB rejects voluntary testing and prefers whatever other method encourages the highest rate of emission reduction with money being spent locally and with methods reflecting the rising cusp of technology. Motion passed 6 —1 Eric Levine objected that the motion does not address the high failure rate of the OBD testing system. Brian Woodruff will write up the motion as a letter to Council and will send it also to the MPO. AQAB periodic review The AQAB discussed the July 8, 2008, review of the Air Quality Advisory Board. • In response to a suggestion by Greg McMaster, Brian Woodruff will go back through the last several months of minutes and capture the items they had previously discussed that they would like to be in the review. Brian will put a draft in the June Packet. o Eric suggested Items #2 and #6 are probably the most important ones to discuss with Council. Dennis pointed out the AQAB bylaws are vague and the AQAB could take this opportunity to clarify with Council. Greg felt it would be helpful to determine the most effective things they could add to the AQAB work plan. Brief updates Greg McMaster gave a brief update on the West Nile Virus committee with discussion. • Next and last meeting is May 29, and the packet goes to Council for the June 10, study session. The meetings have been approximately once a week and it was hard to keep up with all the material. • There is still some uncertainty what is being presented to Council. • There was a lot of discussion and inertia to keep the program as it was and not enough transparency regarding the decision making process. • The recommendation for adulticizing spraying still will come from the county health director. However, the City doesn't have to follow that recommendation. Because of that, Greg has pushed for an advisory panel for adulticizing. • Because there are lots of pros and cons of adulticizing, Greg feels Darin can use the advisory panel as a final sounding board to make the final decision. • Eric thought some decision makers would like the additional Fort Collins advisory personnel wrapped into people who are already making the decisions. • Eric also thought another good thing is that the horse and bird triggers are gone. The virus index will be the main trigger. • Greg pointed out there needs to be more acknowledgement of reasonable uncertainty in the projections to reflect nature, rather than straight line graphics. People should also be encouraged to take personal responsibility for preventative action. • Greg also stated it is unclear if the program is beefed up from last year and what the exact costs would be. • Eric stated one of the options is to have educational programs, and would like the AQAB to weigh in on it. • Greg stated the committee members were very knowledgeable and praised Tess Heffernan for doing a great job as moderator of the WNV Committee. • Eric will send the final report out when it becomes public. Mason Corridor Brian will bring some information to June Meeting for group discussion. o Types of new busses being considered and the air quality issues related to each. o Dennis would like to see information on the air quality impact — emissions per mile traveled and the cost of each vehicle, because that would be the basis the AQAB would consider to make a recommendation. Downtown parking structure • Nancy York stated she went to Transportation Board meeting the previous week where they discussed the possible new river district which would have large parking structures. She conveyed her dismay with the high expense of parking structures that would double the budget for Transfort and the focus on the automobile which is detrimental to air quality. • Eric suggested they discuss mobility at the July meeting. New Business • Dale Adamy asked that a New Business section be added to future agendas. • Dale pointed out the Planning and Zoning Board agenda addressed a land use code change and asked the AQAB if they shouldn't be more in tune with how land use codes change and how they affect air quality and suggested it be put on a future agenda. • Greg agreed that the more interface the AQAB had with other boards, the more the other boards might think of how their board decisions affect air quality. Nancy York moved and Greg McMaster seconded a motion to adjourn. The meeting was adjourned at 8:40 pm. Submitted by Alexis Hmielak, Administrative Secretary I Approved by the Board on lr��eu )- � , 2008 Signed //`` 7f j '�L / Administrative Secretary I Extension: 6600 Date