MEETING MINUTES

April 23, 2019

Meeting Commenced at 10:04 a.m.

Present

Council Members:        John Hamon, Lynn Edmonds and Paula Perotte

Staff: Gary Willey, Mike Villegas and Aeron Arlin Genet

1. Election of Chair and Vice-Chair for 2019

A motion was made by Ms. Edmonds, seconded by Ms. Perotte to elect John Hamon as Chair.  The motion carried by the following vote:

Ayes: 3 –     Harmon, Edmonds, Perotte.

Noes: 0 –     None.

Abstain:  0 –     None.

Absent:  0 –     None.

A motion was made by Ms. Edmonds, seconded by Ms. Perotte to elect Paula Perotte as Vice-Chair.  The motion carried by the following vote:

Ayes: 3 –     Harmon, Edmonds, Perotte.

Noes: 0 –     None.

Abstain:  0 –     None.

Absent:  0 –     None.

2. Approval of Minutes of the August 22, 2018 Meeting

Since current BCC members were not appointed at the time of the August 22, 2019 meeting, the committee received and filed the minutes.

3. Public Comment Period

Received public comment.

4. SB 1260 Air District’s Role in Prescribed Burns

SB 1260 was promoted last year by Hannah-Beth Jackson and puts an emphasis on the role prescribed burns play in reducing the risk of wildfires.  The bill highlights the role of air districts and provides more resources for their activity.  The land managers, usually Cal Fire or County Fire, work to identify projects throughout the region and are required to submit smoke management plans to the air district.  The plan is reviewed to ensure there is an air quality prescription that meets certain criteria and then the district looks at PFIRS (Prescribed Fire Incident Reporting System), forecasting, local air quality conditions and pollution trends so the fire will not impede attainment status.  Additionally, districts work on messaging to the public and deploy E-BAMs (Environmental Beta-Attentuation Mass Monitor) to the affected communities.  All data collected is posted to the district website and reported back to CARB.

Districts are working on contracts with CARB to receive compensation for their efforts in the prescribed burn program.  Estimated compensation is $20,000 per district, per year plus additional monies for E-BAM deployment.

5. Update on AB 617 Implementation:

• Clean Air Protection Grant Program
• Best Available Retrofit Control Technology
• CARB Regulation for Criteria and Toxic Reporting
• Community Air Protection efforts

Landmark piece of legislation established to assess air quality and ultimately reduce exposure in disadvantaged communities.  It takes us from the regional view of air quality to more localized community views.  Districts are to report emissions from facilities in disadvantaged communities.  10 communities were identified by the CARB Board for the first year implementation (Bay area, San Joaquin, Southern CA, Imperial, San Diego and Sacramento).  Districts must assess the air quality impacts, criteria pollutants, toxics and then develop an emission reduction plan specific to that community.  The amount of resources needed to compile these plans are significant and additional funding and staff have been added to implement them.  Going forward, only 6 communities will likely be chosen at a time.

Additionally, this bill provides money for:

• Clean Air Protection Grant Program – Grants that focus on economically disadvantaged communities using the state AB 1550 map (low income). Districts create their own grant programs, which have included electric school buses, EV chargers, tractors, ag pumps, public education workshops and community surveys.
• Best Available Retrofit Control Technology (BARCT) – Component of AB 617 intended to provide benefits to residents living near industrial sources, especial in the disadvantaged communities. In reviewing their BARCT rules, VCAPCD and SBCAPCD adopted a BARCT rule development schedule and SLOCAPCD did not.  The facilities captured in the rule amendments must have the equipment in place by 2023 in order to meet the new criteria.
• CARB Regulation for Criteria and Toxic Reporting – Regulation to implement a statewide annual reporting of criteria air pollutant and toxic air contaminant emissions data from facilities. A 15-Day package is expected to be released in early May.  The biggest challenge will be reaching out to sources for additional information.
• Community Air Protection efforts – Public education, including working with Public Health regarding asthma in sensitive groups.

6. 2019 Legislative Update

SB 69 Ocean Resiliency Act – Would direct CARB to implement a vessel speed reduction program similar the “Blue Skies for Blue Whales” program that has been operating on a trial basis in the Santa Barbara Channel.  The 2018 trial program yielded a very cost effective reduction of approximately 200 tons of NOx.

AB 836 Clean Air Center Incentive Program – Statewide program to make clean air centers available during wildfires.

SB 633 Santa Susana Field Lab – Ventura County clean-up site from a 1950’s reactor meltdown.  The Woolsey fire recently burned through the area.  This bill would require a monitoring program be developed and implemented to collect data on contaminants that could migrate to and pollute surrounding areas.

Additionally, Senator McGuire is drafting guidelines intended to be used for schools regarding when to take action during air quality events.  CAPCOA is working on the coordination of uniform school messaging across the state.

7. Other Business/Confirm Next Meeting Date

No other business was discussed.  The next meeting is scheduled for July 24, 2019 at 10:00 a.m.

November 6, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. was tentatively scheduled as a follow up meeting.

8. Adjourn

Meeting was adjourned at approximately 11:41 a.m.