CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Resources Agency Building
Auditorium, First Floor
1416 Ninth Street
Sacramento, CA
March 21, 1985
10:00 a.m.
(REVISED)
AGENDA
85-4-1 Report to the Board on the Air Resources Board Long
Range Research Plan.
85-4-2 Status Report on EPA Program to Insure All Reasonable
Efforts are Made to Attain National Ozone Standard in
California.
85-4-3 Public Meeting to Consider Approval of a Suggested
Control Measure for Control of Emissions of Reactive
Organic Compounds from Wood Furniture and Cabinet
Coating Operations.
Note: The following item has been DELETED from the March 21,
1985, Agenda:
85-4-4 Consideration of the South Coast Air Quality Management
District Request for Revisions of the Boundaries of the
South Coast Nonattainment Area for NO2.
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.: 85-4-1
Long Range Research Plan: Update.
RECOMMENDATION
Discussion only. No Board action required.
DISCUSSION
In March 1984, the ARB Board met in a joint session with the Air
Resources Board Research Screening Committee to review the
research program and approve 1984-85 fiscal year research
priorities. At the meeting the Board expressed a desire to look
in more depth at the ARB's overall research program goals and
plans. In response, the staff has developed a draft long range
research plan. In that plan the staff attempted to provide the
Board with the additional information desired and requested by
the Board during the past year.
In November of 1984, staff presented the overall goals and
objectives of the ARB's plan. The Board indicated general
concurrence with the goals and objectives of the plan but
directed staff to provide additional detail after the
finalization and submission of the Governor's Budget for the
1985-86 fiscal year.
SUMMARY OF THE PLAN
The Board's research plan is intended to serve as guidance to ARB
staff, to the RSC and to all persons interested in ARB-sponsored
research. The plan outlines the Board's general research
priorities and its goals and objectives relative to each. The
plan also identifies a sequence of candidate research projects
that are intended to help guide Board staff and prospective
researchers.
The long-range plan will provide a clear direction for ARB
research. Staff anticipates that the long-range plan will be
reviewed annually by the Board and revised as required.
Major research problems identified are: diesel emissions, toxics,
crop damage and health effects, source/receptor studies (i.e.,
modeling and air quality studies), and emission reduction
technology. The first three of these have previously been
identified by the Board as having high priority. All five
problem areas, taken together, appear to satisfy the Board's
mandate pursuant to the Health and Safety Code (Section 39700 et
seq.) to carry out a comprehensive and effective research effort
that will be responsive to the Board's future needs.
ITEM NO.: 85-4-2
Status Report on EPA Program to Ensure All Reasonable Efforts Are
Made to Attain the National Ozone Standard in California.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Direct the staff to work with the EPA to carry out the Reasonable
Efforts Program.
DISCUSSION
On February 3, 1983, the EPA proposed to disapprove the
nonattainment area plans for Fresno County (CO and O3), the
Sacramento Air Quality Maintenance Area (AQMA) (O3), the South
Coast Air Basin (O3 and CO) and Ventura County (O3) because these
plans failed to demonstrate attainment of the applicable air
quality standards by 1987. At that time, the EPA also proposed
to impose construction bans and to withhold federal funds for air
quality planning and highway projects. Both the proposed plan
disapproval and proposed sanctions were consistent with the
requirements of the Clean Air Act as amended in 1977.
In response to the EPA's proposal, the ARB argued that
disapproval of the plans and imposition of sanctions would be
counterproductive to cleaning up the air. The Board proposed
that areas making good faith efforts should not be penalized, and
that a "reasonableness test" should be developed to judge whether
or not the state is doing everything technologically feasible in
each area. As a result, on July 30, 1984, the EPA withheld
action on the portions of the plans that could not be approved.
The EPA approved the remaining portions of the plans with the
understanding that a program would be designed to determine
whether or not the areas were making all reasonable efforts to
clean up the air.
No further actions were taken until November 1984 when a citizen
filed a lawsuit against the EPA alleging that the EPA failed to
meet the requirements of the Clean Air Act because it had not
disapproved the nonattainment area plans for Fresno County, the
Sacramento AQMA, the South Coast Air Basin, and Ventura County.
This provided the impetus for the EPA and the ARB to formally
begin work on developing the Reasonable Efforts Program.
ITEM NO.: 85-4-3
Public Meeting to Consider Approval of a Suggested Control
Measure for Control of Emissions of Reactive Organic Compounds
from Wood Furniture and Cabinet Coating Operations.
RECOMMENDATION
The staff recommends that the Board approve the Suggested Control
Measure.
DISCUSSION
In early 1983, the staff of the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (SCAQMD) developed a proposed measure for the
control of reactive organic compound emissions from wood
furniture and cabinet coating operations. That control measure
was subsequently adopted by the SCAQMD Board on September 16,
1983.
Prior to the SCAQMD Board adoption, the District staff evaluated
the emissions from wood furniture and cabinet coating operations,
evaluated emissions controls, conducted consultation meetings
(workshops) with the affected industry, and developed a staff
report on the wood furniture and cabinet industry. The staff
report addressed, among other subjects, emissions control
technologies, cost-effectiveness, and environmental and energy
impacts. A copy of that report along with a separate amended
report on the changes incorporated in the rule as a result of
cooperative efforts between the SCAQMD staff and the wood
furniture industry are appended.
Following the SCAQMD Board adoption of the control measure, the
staff report and measure were reviewed by the statewide Technical
Review Group (TRG) as a potential Suggested Control Measure
(SCM). The TRG approved the SCM and recommended that it be
submitted for approval to the ARB. If approved, the SCM would be
transmitted to other air pollution control districts for
consideration and adoption.
Wood furniture and cabinet coating facilities are located in many
APCDs. Several of these APCDs have indicated that they would
propose a wood furniture and cabinet coating rule for adoption.
The staff of the South Coast Air Quality Management District will
present the technical discussion on its report and the proposed
SCM.