CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Red Lion Inn
Kern River/Buena Vista Rooms
3100 Camino Del Rio Court
Bakersfield, CA
August 22, 1986
9:00 a.m.
AGENDA
86-10-1 Consideration of a Petition from Ecology Action
Educational Institute, the League of Conservation
Voters, and the Valley Protection Committee Regarding
the Modesto Energy Company's Proposed Westley Tire
Incinerator.
86-10-2 CONTINUATION OF Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption
of a Regulatory Amendment Identifying Chlorinated
Dioxins and Dibenzofurans as Toxic Air Contaminants--For Adoption
of Resolution Only.
86-10-3 Public Hearing to Consider a Revision to the State
Implementation Plan for Kern County.
Other Business
a. Closed Session
1. Personnel (as authorized by State Agency Open Meeting
Act, Govt. Code Sec. 11126(a).).
2. Litigation (Pursuant to the attorney-client privilege,
Evidence Code Sec. 950-962, and Govt. Code Sec.
11126(q).).
b. Research Proposals
c. Delegations to Executive Officer
ITEM NO.: 86-10-3
Public Hearing to Consider a Revision to the SIP for Kern County.
RECOMMENDATION
That the Air Resources Board find that the 1986 Kern County Plan
adopted by the Kern County Air Pollution Control Board does not
fulfill the requirements of the federal Clean Air Act.
That the Air Resources Board revise the Plan to make it fulfill
the Clean Air Act requirements.
DISCUSSION
The Environmental Protection Agency has required a revised air
quality plan for Kern County because the 1979 version of the Plan
did not bring about attainment of the ozone standard by December
31, 1982, as predicted. On March 31, 1986, the Kern County Air
Pollution Control Board adopted the 1986 UPDATE TO THE KERN
COUNTY NONATTAINMENT AREA PLAN FOR OZONE AND CARBON MONOXIDE in
response to the requirements of the EPA's SIP call.
Extensive cooperative discussions among staffs of the ARB, the
EPA, and Kern County led to the preparation of an earlier draft
of the 1986 Kern County Plan for consideration by the Kern County
Board. While the draft Plan could not demonstrate attainment of
the ozone standard by December 31, 1987, as required by the SIP
call and the Clean Air Act, it did contain the other elements
required of this plan.
After a series of public hearings in January, February, and
March, the Kern County Board adopted the draft plan with major
changes which, in the opinion of ARB staff, considerably weakened
it. The two major deficiencies in the adopted 1986 Kern County
Plan are: 1) it does not contain all reasonably available
measures to reduce emissions of reactive organic gases and oxides
of nitrogen, and 2) the District's permit program does not ensure
a net reduction of ozone precursor emissions from the
construction and operation of new and modified major sources of
ozone precursors.
Because of these deficiencies, the Kern County Plan does not
provide for progress toward attainment of the ozone standard as
required by the Clean Air Act.
The Kern County Board submitted the Plan to the Air Resources
Board on April 21, 1986, and requested that it be submitted to
the EPA as part of the State Implementation Plan. The Air
Resources Board is designated by state law as the air pollution
control agency for all purposes set forth in federal law, and is
responsible for preparation of the State Implementation Plan
(SIP) required by the Clean Air Act. The ARB must adopt a plan
approved by the local air quality planning agency (in this case,
the District) unless the Board finds at a public hearing that the
plan will not fulfill the requirements of the Clean Air Act. If
after a public hearing the Board finds the locally adopted plan
to be inadequate, it may adopt such revisions as necessary to
comply with such requirements.
Failure to submit an adequate plan to the EPA may result in the
imposition of sanctions and a construction ban for new major
sources.
The alternatives available to the Air Resources Board concerning
the 1986 Kern County Plan are: 1) find that the Plan does not
meet the Clean Air Act requirements and revise it to include
commitments to correct specific deficiencies prior to sending it
to the EPA as part of the State Implementation Plan, 2) find that
the Plan does not meet the Clean Air Act requirements and direct
the staff to schedule a public hearing for the Board to consider
amending the Rules and Regulations of the Kern County Air
Pollution Control District to correct deficiencies described in
this staff report and to insert such adopted rules into the 1986
Kern County Plan prior to sending it to the EPA, 3) find that the
1986 Kern County Plan does not comply with Clean Air Act
requirements and return the Plan to the District with a request
that it be revised to comply with such requirements, or 4) find
that the 1986 Kern County Plan complies with the Clean Air Act
requirements and sent it to the EPA as part of the State
Implementation Plan.
The staff recommends that the Board pursue the first alternative
and amend the 1986 Kern County Plan prior to sending it to the
EPA as a SIP revision. The staff believes this is the most
reasonable alternative in that the Board will be acting to carry
out its responsibility to provide the EPA with a SIP which meets
both Clean Air Act and EPA requirements as quickly as possible.
This alternative will provide the District the opportunity to
adopt the necessary rules and regulations to implement the Plan
as amended by the Air Resources Board. In this way, only if the
District fails to adopt appropriate revisions to its rules and
regulations will the staff recommend that the air resources board
schedule a public hearing to consider adopting such rules and
regulations for Kern County.