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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMemo - Read Before Packet - 11/2/2021 - Memorandum From Cassie Archuleta Re: Air Quality Monitoring - Current Offers And Additional Considerations 1 Environmental Services 222 Laporte Ave Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6600 970.224.6177 - fax fcgov.com MEMORANDUM DATE: November 1, 2021 TO: Mayor and Councilmembers THRU: Kelly DiMartino, Interim City Manager Kyle Stannert, Deputy City Manager Jacqueline Kozak-Thiel, Chief Sustainability Officer Lindsay Ex, Environmental Services Director FROM: Cassie Archuleta, Air Quality Program Manager SUBJECT: Air Quality Monitoring Current Offers and Additional Considerations The purpose of this memorandum is to respond to a Council request during the October 19, 2021 regular meeting to provide information for local and regional air quality monitoring regarding current budget recommendations and additional opportunities. BOTTOM LINE Increasingly, there is regional and local interest in enhanced air quality monitoring in order to better understand what is in our air, how we can reduce emissions, and how we can protect our health and environment. The 2022 Budget, which will be considered for first reading on November 2, 2021, includes air quality and action enhancements. Provided here is more information regarding (1) the existing air quality monitoring program, (2) current enhancement recommendations ($250K), and (3) additional options for air quality monitoring investments including increased regulatory monitoring, fenceline monitoring, and a regional air toxics study ($75-683K). BACKGROUND Air pollution is a complex issue with many contributing factors, and pollution does not follow jurisdictional boundaries. Pollution sources that affect outdoor air quality include those related to human activities, such as operating gas and diesel vehicles, fossil fuel-fired power generation and other residential, commercial and industrial activities. Pollution sources can also be naturally occurring, from sources such as wildfires and windblown dust. In Fort Collins and the Northern Front Range, air quality challenges are related to rapid population growth, erious ozone nonattainment status, air toxics from oil and gas development and other industrial sources, and increased frequency and severity of wildfires. While federal and state agencies have a critical regulatory role in maintaining clean air, action at the City level plays a vital role in promoting actions that can lead to protecting and improving air quality. In the City organization, air quality planning is coordinated through the Air Quality Program (Offer 48.3: Air Quality), which is a division of the Environmental Services Department in the Sustainability Services Area. In 2019, the City updated an Air Quality Plan which includes policies 2 and strategies to protect public health and the environment through improvement in outdoor and indoor air quality (fcgov.com/airquality/plans-policies). Policy ENV 4.7 in the Air Quality Plan, , includes strategies to monitor, characterize, track and report ambient air pollutant concentrations to increase awareness of air quality issues, better identify opportunities to reduce emissions, forecast future air quality impacts such as ozone alert days, and determine compliance with Federal and State standards. CURRENT MONITORING EFFORTS Air quality monitoring data, real-time visibility camera images and air quality alerts are available through fcgov.com/aqdata, as described below: Criteria Pollutants Federal air quality standards require monitoring of defined health-based limits. In Fort Collins, criteria pollutants monitored include ozone and particulate matter. While the State has primary responsibility of regulatory monitoring, the City works with the State to track and report air pollution data and provide recommendations for updates to State monitoring plans. Gardens on Spring Creek Ozone Bench In 2018, a new ozone monitoring and education exhibit was installed as a feature at the Gardens on Spring Creek. This site includes real time displays of ozone, particulates, and weather information such as precipitation, temperature and relative humidity. Visibility Monitoring Visual qualities of the atmosphere are some of the most obvious indicators of air quality, with haze which provides images showing the real-time visible impacts of smoke or haze at several sites throughout the City. Particulate Sensor Network The City operates four low-cost particle sensors located throughout the community, and there are several in the City that are privately owned. These types of sensors provide valuable access to real-time particulate concentrations, which can be variable depending on the time and location. ENHANCEMENT OFFERS Enhancement offers were previously described in a September 30, 2021 Council memo regarding Work Sessions on the 2022 Budget. In summary, the recommended budget allocates $250,000 in additional funding for monitoring in 2022, including the following air quality monitoring enhancements: Offer 48.13 - Local and Regional Air Quality Monitoring - Improved AQ Priority & Regionalism ($35K) and include a regional collaborative effort to improve real-time data displays. These types of dense particle sensor networks have been growing rapidly across the nation as a means to increase accessibility to highly localized information about particle pollution, especially during wildfire impacts. 3 Offer 48.15: Air Quality Monitoring Fund ($100K) Monitoring technology has advanced in recent years, and more and more local jurisdictions are engaging in large scale and complex monitoring studies and projects. As currently proposed, this air quality monitoring. Initial efforts would include additional community engagement to better define objectives for enhanced monitoring, with a goal of aligning interests with regional partners and research institutions to determine what the City could best do independently, and what might be best implemented in alignment with regional partners. Regional partners, including Larimer County, the Colorado Department of Health and Environmental, and Colorado State University, have all signaled initial interest in collaborating to prioritize opportunities and seek additional funding where necessary. Offer 48.16: Education and Outreach ($115K) Enhanced education and outreach will indirectly support monitoring as it is an important aspect to ensure that the data is used to promote air quality awareness and opportunities for emissions reductions. Having dedicated resources will also support engagement of community members and increased coordination with local businesses and the Poudre School District. ADDITIONAL MONITORING OPTIONS Based on discussion at the BFO public hearing on October 19, staff has committed to exploring additional funding opportunities outside of the further build upon monitoring efforts. If Council is interested in further investments via the 2022 Budget, options include further increasing funding and/or earmarking to support specific monitoring enhancement options. To date, the following additional monitoring enhancement opportunities have been identified for potential consideration: Regulatory Monitoring: ($150K/one-time + $40k/year) While the City currently has two regulatory ozone monitors, and one regulatory particulate monitor, a 2017 evaluation of the regulatory network conducted by the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) recommended additional regulatory pollutants (e.g., oxides of nitrogen) be monitored, and that be relocated to better represent population exposure. In support of this: In 2020 and 2021, the City collaborated with the Colorado Department of Health and Environment (CDPHE) to temporarily locate two additional ozone monitors in Fort Collins. These data will be used to evaluate potential locations for additional regulatory monitoring. The City has also worked with CDPHE to scope costs to procure monitoring equipment for a full site that includes ozone, oxides of nitrogen and meteorological parameters (~$150K/one- time). If funded, the State would support annual audits of the site and the City would need to support ongoing operation and maintenance costs (~$40k/year). Oil and Gas Site Fenceline Monitoring: ($75k/year) Undetected or unaddressed gas leaks (called fugitive emissions) can be of concern for any industrial process. Specifically, air quality impacts related to oil and gas development are often cited by community members as one of the highest priority concerns. Fenceline monitoring, or monitoring at a property edge, can be used to better detect leaks in real time. Related to this: City staff are currently drafting updated regulatory requirements for oil and gas operations in Fort Collins, to be considered at a March 2022 work session. 4 The draft proposal of required Best Management Practices (BMPs) is expected to include ongoing requirement for leak detection, including continuous air quality monitoring. If adopted, these new requirements would likely not apply to existing wells but would apply for new wells or changes to existing wells. For existing wells, the City has explored an option in collaboration with Colorado State University (CSU) that would include continuous detection of leaks, paired with off-line analysis of specific compounds related to oil and gas development (total cost of ~$75K/year includes sampling, analysis and reporting). Regional Air Toxics Monitoring Study ($418/one-time) Transported, regional impacts from large scale oil and gas development east of Fort Collins has been demonstrated through monitoring and modeling studies to be one of the major contributing sources to local ozone formation (along with transportation and other combustion sources). Additionally, there is public concern about specific compounds related to oil and gas, including methane (a greenhouse gas), other components of natural gas (e.g., propane and butane), air toxics (e.g., benzene) and other pollutants. Related to this: Staff has worked with CDPHE, Larimer County and CSU to develop a proposal that would better characterize the regional distribution of these types of pollutants using several sites with a combination of continuous monitoring, and canister samples (418K for a 2-year study, including analysis and report). Some pollutants would be available in real-time (e.g., total volatile organic compounds), and other parameters (e.g., benzene) would be analyzed off-line in a laboratory. This study could be used to inform the future location of a single, more complex and comprehensive monitoring site that includes real-time reporting of additional pollutants (similar to current monitoring in Boulder, Longmont and Broomfield). NEXT STEPS Enhanced monitoring, community engagement and regional collaboration are critical to taking informed action to improve our air quality. The City is participating in a local, regional and state dialogue in support of further innovation and collaboration in air quality monitoring, and exploring new grant opportunities for air quality monitoring that are coming available through programs like the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). Additionally, City and County staff are exploring potential to form a regional community advisory group specifically related to air quality monitoring. Air quality related offers, as recommended or augmented, would be leveraged to support local and regional monitoring priorities as identified by Council and/or through additional regional and community collaboration and engagement. For any air quality monitoring priorities that remain unfunded in 2022, staff would commit to developing additional enhancement offers for 2023-2024 budget considerations.