Here’s what you need to know:
- Several new state and federal initiatives provide opportunities for the Valley, including the Governor’s May Budget Revision to be released on May 13th and new federal infrastructure/clean vehicle funding.
- Although CARB has stringent mobile source measures in California, the measures have not reduced emissions from heavy-duty interstate trucks, locomotives, and other federal mobile sources.
- District’s local emission reduction efforts continue to be critical but cannot attain federal standards without significant mobile source reductions under federal jurisdiction (heavy-duty interstate trucks, locomotives, aircraft, etc.)
The Scene
According to its website, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District comprises eight counties in California’s Central Valley: San Joaquin, Stanislaus, Merced, Madera, Fresno, Kings, Tulare, and the San Joaquin Valley Air Basin portion of Kern.
The Valley Air District includes a fifteen-member Governing Board consisting of representatives from the Board of Supervisors of all eight counties, one Health and Science member appointed by the Governor, one Physician appointed by the Governor, and five Valley city representatives.
The district held a meeting on Thursday, May. 19, 2022, at 9 am.
Officials present:
- Chair and Vice Mayor at City of Porterville Monte Reyes
- Vice-Chair and Supervisor at Stanislaus County Vito Chiesa
- Supervisor at Kings County Craig Pedersen
- Vice-Chair and Supervisor at Merced County Lloyd Pareira
- City of Clovis Mayor Drew M. Bessinger
- Supervisor at Kern County David Couch
- Councilmember at City of Stockton Christina Fugazi
- Supervisor at Fresno County Buddy Mendes
- Tania Pacheco-Werner, Ph.D. Appointed by Governor
- Mayor Pro Tem at City of Avenal Alvaro Preciado
- Robert Rickman Supervisor, San Joaquin County
- Alexander C. Sherriffs, M.D. Appointed by Governor
- Supervisor at Tulare County Amy Shuklian
- Supervisor at Madera County Tom Wheeler
- Councilmember at City of Los Banos Deborah Lewis
- Executive Director and Air Pollution Control Officer Samir Sheikh
Others Present
- Connie Young
- Citizens Advisory Committee Chair Manuel Cunha
- Director of Air Quality Science Jonathan Klassen
- John Stagnaro, Manager – Central Region
- Senior Policy Advisor Tom Jordan
Discussions/Actions
Connie Young urged the Board to consider a carbon tax.
The Board (16-0) approved the consent calendar as follows:
10. Assembly Bill 361 And District Remote Teleconferencing Update
Starting in March 2020, amid rising concern surrounding the spread of COVID-19, California Governor Gavin Newsom issued a series of Executive Orders aimed at containing COVID-19.
These Executive Orders (N-25-20, N-29-20, and N-35-20) collectively modified specific requirements created by the Ralph M. Brown Act (“the Brown Act”), the state’s local agency public meetings law.
The orders waived several requirements, including requirements in the Brown Act expressly or impliedly requiring the physical presence of members of the legislative body, the clerk, other personnel of the body, or the public as a condition of participation in or to establish a quorum for a public meeting.
The orders also waived requirements for providing notice of teleconference locations, requirements that teleconference locations be open to the public, and requirements that at least a quorum of the members participate from locations within the boundaries of the local body.
On June 11, 2021, the Governor issued Executive Order N-08-21, which rescinds the modifications made to the Brown Act effective September 30, 2021.
On September 16, 2021, the Governor signed AB 361, providing local agencies additional flexibility to meet remotely beyond September 30, 2021.
11. Approve Action Summary Minutes For The San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District Governing Board Meeting Of Thursday, April 21, 2022
12. Receive And File a List Of Scheduled Meetings For 2022
The 2022 Schedule is as follows:
- June 16, 2022, No July Meeting, August 18, 2022, September 15, 2022, October 20, 2022, November 17, 2022 – Tentative, And December 15, 2022
13. Receive And File Operations Statistics Summary For April 2022
14. Receive And File Budget Status Reports As Of April 30, 2022
A. Report On District Citizens Advisory Committee Activities
Morgan Lambert, Deputy Air Pollution Control APCO, provided the CAC members with an update on the following item:
- The District Governing Board took action in April to launch a new solicitation under the Zero Emission School Bus Replacement and Fueling Infrastructure Incentive Program to replace existing diesel school buses with new, zero-emissions buses and associated charging infrastructure.
- The Board approved $30 million in total funding. $20 million would go to the school bus replacements and $10 million for charging infrastructure. The program will open in May 2022.
Tom Jordan, Senior Policy Advisor, provided an informational update on the state budget process and discussed the status of a series of bills of particular interest to the District that the Legislature is currently considering.
Mark Montelongo, Program Manager, presented the District’s Annual Air Toxics Report for 2021.
Todd DeYoung, Director of Grants and Incentives, provided an update on the District’s Agricultural Equipment Replacement Program.
The District Governing Board recently accepted and allocated $168,425,600 from the state FARMER program to fund agricultural equipment replacement in the Valley.
DeYoung also updated the CAC on adjustments to the incentive levels in the District’s Agricultural Equipment Replacement Program to bring incentive levels back to Board-approved funding targets and adjustments to the program to provide enhanced opportunities for small agricultural operations.
Morgan Lambert, Deputy APCO, provided an update on the District’s efforts to respond to the CARB review of the District’s Emission Reduction Credits (ERC) and offset equivalency programs, including recent actions to ensure compliance with federal offset requirements.
The District plans to amend District Rule 2201 (New and Modified Stationary Source Review) to enhance the ERC and offset equivalency programs with an initial public scoping meeting held on April 15, 2022.
Jessica Olson, Director of Community Strategies and Resources, provided an update on the District’s ongoing activities related to AB 617 implementation.
The District has regularly met with all four Community Steering Committees (CSCs), South Central Fresno, Shafter, Stockton, and Arvin/Lamont, to design and implement the community-driven AB 617 process.
On April 27, the Arvin/Lamont Community Steering Committee became the first CSC in the state to meet in person, which the co-leads and the District felt was an important step ahead of taking the community emissions reduction program to the District’s board in June.
We strategically used our time to talk one-on-one with community members and walk the committee through an exercise based on earlier CSC to show support or ask questions on each proposed CERP measure.
We have a follow-up meeting tonight (held virtually) for that committee to summarize the results of last week’s meeting and make some final decisions with the community.
The South Central Fresno, Shafter, and Stockton committees have continued to meet monthly to work together to implement the many emissions and exposure reduction measures included in the community CERPs.
In Fresno, we’re holding our first in-person event for AB 617, similar to the one we held in November for Shafter, to exchange lawn mowers at no cost to community residents. In addition to CERP implementation, the community air monitoring plans have been underway in three communities.
In Fresno and Shafter, the community networks report real-time air quality information.
The District has successfully deployed five real-time monitors in the community-identified locations in Stockton, all reporting to the Stockton web page.
The District and the CSC continue working with landowners to deploy the entire network in Stockton. They will work with the Arvin/Lamont community to finalize monitoring in that community.
Brian Moore, Manager in the CARB Office of Community Air Protection, provided an update on efforts underway by CARB to implement AB 617.
At the May 2022 CARB meeting, the Board will discuss the AB 617 statewide strategy updates.
B. Discuss Advocacy For Reducing Mobile Source Emissions And Leveraging New Opportunities
The District has promulgated and implemented measures to reduce emissions from sources of air pollution under its regulatory authority.
The District has also deployed innovative measures to reduce emissions from mobile and indirect sources of air pollution that fall outside its traditional regulatory authority with stationary sources.
The attainment of the health-based standards established under the Federal Clean Air Act is not viable without significant reductions in emissions from mobile sources under federal jurisdiction, such as heavy-duty interstate trucks, locomotives, aircraft, and other mobile sources.
Several new state and federal initiatives provide opportunities for the Valley, including the Governor’s May Budget Revision to be released on May 13th and new federal infrastructure/clean vehicle funding.
Valley’s challenges in meeting federal air quality standards are unmatched due to the unique combination of topography and meteorology.
Valley has various challenges, including its role as a major goods movement corridor, high population growth, pollution transport from other areas, and wildfires.
Conditions require substantially greater emissions reductions in the Valley to meet clean air targets than other regions.
Since 1992, the District has adopted over 650 rules to implement an aggressive ongoing emission control strategy to meet federal mandates.
Through District and CARB efforts, Valley NOx emissions, a key precursor to the formation of both ozone and PM2.5, have been reduced significantly since 1980:
- Over 75 percent reduction in overall NOx
- Over 93 percent reduction in stationary source NOx
2018 PM2.5 Plan adopted in November 2018 to address the latest PM2.5 standards:
- Strategy for bringing Valley into attainment with 1997, 2006, and 2012 PM2.5 standards
The plan includes stringent stationary and mobile source control measures and incentive-based control measures to accelerate the deployment of new clean vehicles, equipment, and technologies across various sectors.
- New regulatory measures achieved most of the District’s emission reduction commitments.
Your Board has taken several recent regulatory actions to fulfill the 2018 PM2.5 Plan commitments.
- Exceed total District emissions reduction commitments from Plan
The district continues to pursue additional reductions from industrial and other sources:
- Enhanced limitations to address leak emissions from oil and gas operations
- Enhancements to Conservation Management Practice requirements (fallowed lands, conservation tillage)
- Enhancements to under fired charbroiler emission reduction strategy (large near-sensitive receptor operations, new large operations)
- Enhancements to residential wood smoke reduction requirements that build on existing requirements
- Ongoing evaluation of emerging alternatives to open burning through the adopted phase-out strategy
Current state and federal actions affirm the stringency of the District stationary source regulatory program.
In response to the challenge to EPA’s approval of the 2018 PM2.5 Plan, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld EPA’s conclusion that District is implementing Best Available Control Measures (BACM) and Most Stringent Measures (MSM)
- District emissions limitations are more stringent than the recent EPA proposed interstate transport Federal Implementation Plan (e.g., Valley flat glass melting furnace limits 80% lower than EPA’s proposed limits)
Permitting and enforcement programs enforce District regulations.
The enforcement program conducts inspection and compliance assistance activities to ensure compliance with District, state, and federal rules and regulations.
- Federal and state law outlines program objectives.
- Inspections of over 14,800 permitted facilities to ensure compliance with applicable local, state, and federal requirements included in operating permits
- Annually inspect 30,000 emission units, respond to 3,200 public complaints (bilingual 24/7 complaint system available via web, app, phone)
- Inspections to ensure compliance with agricultural burning restrictions, residential wood burning restrictions, and other applicable regulations
- Collaborate with CARB, EPA, and other local, state, and federal agencies, including providing stationary source expertise
Inspectors are on-call 24 hrs/day and use automated voicemail and computer systems to facilitate timely response to complaints to abate potential public impacts.
The enforcement program emphasizes compliance assistance as an integral component of the educational approach to help residents and businesses comply with regulations.
Over 3,000 enforcement actions each year to address non-compliance with rules or regulations.
Following enforcement action, the District’s top priority is to work with entities or persons responsible for violations to ensure a prompt return to compliance and ongoing education to prevent future violations.
In many instances, efforts result in entities returning to compliance on the same day a violation is discovered, enhancing their comprehension of the District’s rules and regulations.
Enforcement of various local, state, and federal oil and gas requirements (including state oil methane requirements on behalf of CARB).
The District utilizes the latest technologies and equipment to conduct inspections (e.g., FLIR cameras and toxic vapor analyzers).
They work with communities on understanding and responding to concerns (e.g., asthma intervention & mitigation program serving Arvin/Lamont area)
The District partners with other agencies to support enforcement efforts and provide technical expertise/in-field training.
They continue to enhance leak/repair/inspection and other requirements, and rule development is currently underway (reviewing recent federal guidance, working with CARB).
The district operates amongst the nation’s most cost-effective and comprehensive emissions reduction incentive programs.
- Accelerates mobile source reductions and achieves community-level benefits through clean air grant funding for a variety of projects
- An effective way to accelerate emissions reductions and encourage technology advancement, particularly from mobile sources under state/federal jurisdiction
- Given over 80% of NOx emissions in Valley come from mobile sources, these successful voluntary incentive grant programs help Valley achieve cost-effective emissions reductions that are a surplus of regulatory emissions reductions.
Valley’s air pollution levels declined significantly, and air quality has improved.
Valley has already attained several key health-based federal air quality standards, including:
- Federal NO2, SO2, CO, lead standards
- Federal PM10 standard
- Federal 1-hour ozone standard (first and only region to attain after classified as extreme nonattainment)
- Federal 24-hour PM2.5 standard of 65 µg/m3 (EPA action in 2021)
- Significantly improved air quality trends for PM2.5 and ozone (2021 data promising in meeting remaining 1997 ozone/PM2.5 standards and progress towards other standards)
Spotlight on Public Engagement: 2018 PM2.5 Plan
- Extensive public engagement process over three year period (10 public workshops) – Worked closely with CARB and EPA, residents, advocacy groups, and other Valley stakeholders.
- Public Advisory Workgroup including EJ/affected source representatives)
- Regular updates at Board, Citizens Advisory Committee, and Environmental Justice Advisory Group
District’s local emission reduction efforts continue to be critical but cannot attain federal standards without significant mobile source reductions under federal jurisdiction (heavy-duty interstate trucks, locomotives, aircraft, etc.)
South Coast air basin and other nonattainment areas find themselves in similar situations.
CARB’s primary regulatory authority is the regulation of mobile sources:
- The largest contributor to criteria and toxic air pollutants in Valley and State
- In current attainment plans for PM2.5 and ozone, a large part of overall emissions reduction commitment comes from CARB mobile source measures.
- CARB’s progress in developing and implementing measures has contributed to substantial improvements in air quality and will continue to do so in future
Although CARB has stringent mobile source measures in California, the measures have not reduced emissions from heavy-duty interstate trucks, locomotives, and other federal mobile sources.
- Increasingly critical that the federal government reduce emissions from their sources
- Federal sources under the federal EPA now dominate mobile NOx emissions
- Ongoing emissions reductions from these sources will be key for Valley to improve air quality and meet the latest federal air quality standards
Under the Clean Air Act, local jurisdictions could be subject to devastating federal sanctions even though failure to attain standards may be due to emissions from sources under federal jurisdiction.
These federal sanctions include:
- Permitting barriers for new and expanding businesses (2:1 offset requirement)
- Loss of federal highway funds ($2.5 billion and numerous jobs lost in the San Joaquin Valley)
- Federal takeover and loss of local control
- Expensive federal nonattainment penalties
With stringent planning requirements and shortened attainment timeframes under Clean Air Act for PM2.5, additional NOx reductions from federal mobile sources are vital.
Several time-sensitive opportunities for achieving significant additional emissions reductions from mobile sources exist, including:
- New Federal heavy-duty standards (EPA proposed new heavy-duty truck standards on March 3, 2022)
- Federal infrastructure investments/Federal Budget
- USDA Climate-Smart initiative/Farm Bill investments
- State air quality/climate funding opportunities
The state is experiencing a record surplus in the funding of $97 billion.
Governor’s May Revision to Budget, released May 13th, includes significant clean air funding:
- $150 million statewide for the FARMER program (agricultural equipment)
- $260 million statewide for AB 617 Community Air Protection incentive funds
- $85 million statewide for the Healthy Soils Program – $85 million for the food processor incentive program
- $250 million for the new statewide Clean Cars 4 All program
- $50 million for local air district Clean Cars 4 All programs
- $6.1 billion statewide for zero-emissions vehicles/equipment (multi-year, builds on $3.9 billion in last year’s budget)
The district continues to advocate for increased funding to support sustainable agriculture, increased FARMER funding, and increased funding for low carbon clean vehicle and equipment technologies.
The Cap-and-Trade program provides an additional $100 million to the Budget.
C. Verbal Report On California Air Resources Board (CARB) Activities
The CARB Board heard an informational update on their and other State agencies’ infrastructure activities to support the roll-out of zero-emission vehicles.
The CARB Board heard an informational update regarding a technology review of Electric Vehicle Supply Equipment (EVSE) payment access and barriers users experience with public charging.
The technology review found inoperable stations, payment issues, and membership requirements as barriers or perceived barriers.
While multiple payment methods exist, most electric vehicle service providers rely on tap payments.
Tap credit cards represent a small segment of cards in use today.
CARB committed to tracking metrics for the availability and use of contactless technologies, developing metrics and a process for tracking station up/downtime with the California Energy Commission, and evaluating low-income drivers’ needs.
CARB will consider amendments to the Advanced Clean Cars II (ACC II) regulation.
Potential amendments include new requirements for zero-emission vehicles and preventing emission backsliding.
CARB will consider amendments to the medium and heavy-duty zero-emission fleet regulation to achieve a zero-emission truck and bus California fleet by 2045 everywhere feasible and significantly earlier for specific market segments such as last-mile delivery and drayage applications.
CARB will consider amendments to the Criteria Air Pollutant and Toxic Air Contaminants (CTR) Regulation. The amendments would expand the number and types of facilities subject to emissions data reporting.
CARB will hear a CARB staff proposal to adopt amendments to the Hexavalent Chromium for Chrome Plating and Chromic Acid Anodizing Operations (ATCM).
The proposal aligns the ATCM with federal requirements, the modified National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants for Hard and Decorative Chrome Electroplating and Chromium Anodizing Tanks, by revising surface tension limits and phasing out the use of certain fume suppressants.
CARB is developing an In-Use Locomotive Regulation to accelerate the adoption of advanced, cleaner technologies, including zero-emission technologies, for locomotive operations.
The regulation would be implemented statewide and include a pathway to accelerate the adoption of advanced cleaner technologies for locomotive operations.
The meeting of the governing board approximately ended at noon. The next meeting will be through Zoom on Thursday, May 19, 2022.
If you believe anything in these notes is inaccurate, please email us at Documenters-admin@fresnoland.org with “Correction Request” in the subject line.