State of California
AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Los Angeles City Hall
200 North Spring Street
Room 350
Los Angeles, CA
February 20, 1976
AGENDA
Page
76-4-1 Approval of Minutes of January 16, 1976 Board
Meeting.
VOL. I
76-4-2 Continuation of Public Hearing - Amendments 1
to Regulations Concerning Emission Standards
and Test Procedures for Motorcycles.
VOL. III
76-4-3 Public Hearing - Assembly-line Test Procedure 101
Regulations for 1977 and Subsequent Model Year
Passenger Cars and Light-Duty Trucks.
76-4-4 Public Hearing - Amendments to Certification 172
Test Procedure Regulations for 1977 and Subsequent
Model Year Passenger Cars and Light-Duty Trucks.
76-4-5 Public Hearing - Regulations concerning a 24-Hour 199
Sulfate Ambient Air Quality Standard or Significant
Harm Level.
76-4-6 Other Business 312
a. Executive Session - Personnel & Litigation
b. Research Proposals
76-4-7 Remarks from Audience.
NOTE: Due to the number and anticipated length of the public
hearings, agenda item 5 may be continued to 10:00 a.m.
on the following day, February 21, 1976, in the same
room.
ITEM NO.: 76-4-2
Public Hearing Regarding Amendment of Emission Standards and Test
Procedures for Motorcycles.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution 76-1.
SUMMARY
At the July 15, 1975 Board meeting, the Board directed the staff
to meet with the motorcycle manufacturers and consider changes to
the newly adopted motorcycle standards and test procedures in the
areas of useful-life definition and maintenance. The Board
further directed that the California procedures should be made as
consistent as possible with the proposed EPA regulations. The
staff met with the five major motorcycle manufacturers on October
23, 1975 and discussed the definition of useful life and
maintenance requirements. The staff also reviewed the October
22, 1975 Notice of Proposed Rule Making issued by the EPA
concerning motorcycle regulations. After a review of this
material, the staff substituted "total life" for "useful life"
and incorporated maintenance revisions, EPA revisions, and
clarification of some existing sections of the September 2, 1975
amended version of the California procedures into the proposed
January 15, 1976 version of the California procedures. At the
January 15, 1976 Board meeting the Board agreed to manufacturers'
requests for more time to study the revised procedures and
continued this item until the February 20, 1976 Board meeting.
The proposed February 20, 1976 version of the motorcycle
standards and test procedures is identical to the January 15,
1976 proposed procedure with the exception of the date amended.
ITEM NO.: 76-4-3
Public Hearing - Amendments to the Assembly-Line Test procedure
Regulations for 1977 and Subsequent Model Year Passenger Cars and
Light Duty Trucks.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution No. 76-7.
SUMMARY
Recent experience with 1975 production vehicles has prompted a
reevaluation of the assembly-line test procedures.
According to the present procedures, quality audit test results
are obtained on a 2.0% random sample of vehicles sold by
manufacturers and results are reported on a quarterly basis. In
some cases the Air Resources Board was unable to detect and take
prompt and effective action against excessive failures on the
assembly-line due to the limited number of vehicles tested and
the lag time built into the reporting period. The proposed
revisions deal with these deficiencies.
An optional quality audit test procedure, with evaluation of data
based on an averaging concept, is also proposed.
ATTACHMENTS: Resolution
Staff Report 76-4-3
Assembly-Line Test Procedures for 1977 and
Subsequent (Appendix I)
Proposed Revisions to Sections 2106, 2107, 2108,
and 2110 of Title 13 (Appendix II)
Assembly-Line Test Procedures for 1976 (Appendix
III)
Public Hearing Notices (Appendix IV)
ITEM NO.: 76-4-4
Public Hearing - Amendments to Approval Procedures for 1977 and
Subsequent Model Year Passenger Cars and Light-Duty Trucks.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt Resolution 76-6.
SUMMARY
Vehicle Manufacturers and regulatory agencies have been aware for
some time that vehicle exhaust contains varying amounts of
methane. Exhaust gas treated by oxidation catalysts contain a
higher percentage of methane than that from non-catalyst
exhausts. This issue has been raised again because of the
implementation of lower 1977 passenger car hydrocarbon standard
and because of the prevalence of oxidation catalysts in the
recent model years. With the 1977 hydrocarbon standard, a
correction for the methane content of exhaust hydrocarbon will
now be more significant. In this light, the Executive Officer
requested the staff to reevaluate this issue.
The staff evaluation revealed that there is sufficient
information available to establish a methane content correction
factor for application to the total hydrocarbon exhaust
concentrations determined for certification. Thus, cars equipped
with catalysts would receive credit for their preferential
treatment of hydrocarbon exhaust.
The staff proposes a correction factor be applied to the total
hydrocarbon emissions of emission data vehicles already adjusted
by the deterioration factor as follows:
(1) Catalyst equipped passenger cards--0.89 multiplicative
factor.
(2) Non-catalyst equipped passenger cars and all light-duty
trucks--1.0 multiplicative factor.
The attached staff report discusses the rationale for and
derivation of these correction factors.
ITEM NO.: 76-4-5
Regulations Concerning a 24-hour Sulfate Ambient Air Quality
Standard or Significant Harm Level.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the Recommendation of the State Department of Health to
establish a critical ambient value of 25 micrograms per cubic
meter of sulfate averaged over twenty-four hours, to provide a
basis for the development of control strategies.
SUMMARY
The rationale for establishing a significant harm level or an
interim standard for sulfates is to provide a guideline for
designing emission control strategies that will prevent further
aggravation of respiratory symptoms, prevent further damage to
materials and property and improve visibility in areas where high
ambient levels of sulfate aerosol regularly occur.
Emissions of sulfur compounds occur primarily from the combustion
of oil or gasoline that contains sulfur. Sulfur in the fuel is
oxidized to sulfur dioxide during the combustion process, and the
SO2 is gradually converted to sulfur trioxide (SO3) and
subsequently to sulfate compounds in the atmosphere. The
conversion of SO2 to sulfate takes place at a much more rapid
rate and much more completely in the South Coast air Basin than
in most areas of the U.S. The unique meteorological and
topographical features and high emission density in the highly
populated South Coast Air Basin have led to high concentrations
of sulfates and other secondary aerosols. The potential
curtailment of natural gas in the SCAB could lead to even higher
sulfate levels that present an unacceptable health risk for a
significant portion of the population. The State Department of
Health has recommended the Board take action to prevent this risk
from occurring.