State of California
AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Bonaventure Hotel
5th and Figueroa
San Diego Room
Los Angeles, CA
January 23, 1979
10:00 a.m.
AGENDA
Page
79-1-1 Approval of Minutes of December 13, 1978 001
79-1-2 Public Hearing on the petition of the South Coast 004
Air Quality Management District for Consideration of the
Decision of the Air Resources Board On the Petitions of
Southern California Edison and the Los Angeles Department of
Water and Power to Rescind the
District's Rule 475.1 (Oxides of Nitrogen)
79-1-3 Special Notice: 11:00 a.m. Joint Public Meeting 070
of the Air Resources Board and California Energy Commission
to Receive Comments Regarding the Proposed Joint Policy
Statement on Compliance with Air Quality Laws by New Power Plants
79-1-4 Other Business -
a. Executive Session - Personnel & Litigation
b. Research Proposal No. 808-68 083
c. Delegations to Executive Officer
ITEM NO.: 79-1-2
Public Hearing on the petition of the South Coast Air Quality
Management District for Reconsideration of the Decision of the
Air Resources Board on the Petitions of Southern California
Edison and the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power to
Rescind the District's Rule 475.1 (Oxides of Nitrogen).
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution 79-2.
SUMMARY
The SCAQMD has petitioned the Board: (1) to rescind the Board's
action on August 7, 1978 by which the Board adopted a new power
plant NOx rule for the SCAQMD; and (2) to direct the SCAQMD to
hold a public hearing to consider the adoption of a new power
plant NOx rule which would incorporate some of the features of
the rule adopted by the Board, but which would not allow system-
wide averaging of emissions and reinstate sections of the SCAQMD
Rule 475 dealing with emission limits for new power plants.
The issues raised in the SCAQMD Petition, and the staff's
responses are summarized below:
(1) The district claims that the Board-adopted rule requires
actions by the SCAQMD in Ventura County, which is outside of
the SCAQMD's jurisdiction and that inter-district averaging
of emissions would permit under-control in the SCAQMD. The
staff contends that the rule does not require actions by the
SCAQMD outside of the SCAQMD's boundaries and that the
Executive Officer of the SCAQMD can reject a plan that would
allow under-control in the SCAQMD.
(2) The District claims that the Board-adopted rule would allow
"hot spots" (much higher-than-average concentrations of NOx)
to occur because of system-wide averaging. The staff
contends that the Executive Officer of the SCAQMD could
reject a plan that would be submitted that, if implemented,
would result in hot spots.
(3) The District claims that the least-NOx-dispatch requirement
of the Board-adopted rule is not enforceable. The staff
contends that such requirement can be enforced by an
intermittent review of the sequence in which power plants
have been brought on line. Furthermore, evidence that such
a requirement is feasible is that SCE has been operating on
least-NOx-dispatch under an order from the PUC for seven
years.
(4) The District claims that the Board-adopted rule leaves the
Southeast Desert Air Basin portion of the SCAQMD without
power plant NOx controls. The staff believes that because
there are no power plants in the Southeast Desert Air Basin
portion of the SCAQMD and because neither the utilities nor
the SCAQMD staff mentioned the Southeast Desert Air Basin,
such an omission is understandable.
The staff recommends that the Board should remand to the SCAQMD
the authority to adopt a NOx rule for the Southeast Desert Air
Basin portion of the SCAQMD.
ITEM NO.: 79-1-3
Joint Public Meeting of the Air Resources Board and California
Energy Commission to Receive Comments Regarding the Proposed
Joint Policy Statement on Compliance with Air Quality Laws by New
Power Plants.
Scheduled for Consideration: January 23, 1979
ITEM NO.: 79-1-4b
Research Proposal No. 808-68, an amendment to Air Resources Board
Contract no. A7-170-30 entitled "A Study of the Origin and Fate
of Air Pollutants in California's Central Valley".
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution 78-27a approving the research listed in Research
Proposal 808-68 submitted by the California Institute of
Technology for funding in an amount not to exceed $33,105 for
this amendment and $302,991 for the entire study.
SUMMARY
The Air Resources Board staff is developing documentation to
support the central valley sulfur dioxide control program.
Analyses performed by the staff of the Technical Services
division indicate that, during the late winter and early fall,
stagnant meteorological conditions result in high sulfate levels
over large portions of the San Joaquin Valley. The precursors to
this sulfate are believed to originate in the Kern County and
drift slowly northward over a period of several days. This
amendment, to a contract for a two-year study in the Central
Valley now in progress, would provide for additional two SF6
tracer releases under meteorological conditions specified by the
ARB staff. The results and an accompanying analysis by staff
meteorologists will be issued as an ARB report.