CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Lincoln Plaza
Auditorium, First Floor
400 "P" Street
Sacramento, CA
November 8, 1990
9:30 a.m.
AGENDA
Page No.
90-18-1 Public hearing to Consider the Adoption of 001
Amendments to Abrasive Blasting Regulations.
90-18-2 Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption of New 037
Regulations Establishing a Roadside Smoke and
Emission Control System Inspection Program for
In-Use Heavy-Duty Diesel and Gasoline-Powered
Vehicles.
90-18-3 Public hearing to Consider the Adoption of 072
Revisions to the Designation of Areas in
California as Attainment, Nonattainment, or
Unclassified for State Ambient Air Quality
Standards.
90-18-4 Public Meeting to Consider a Proposed Plan 126
for Approving Air Quality-Related Indicators.
90-18-5 Consideration of Research Proposals. 173
ITEM NO.: 90-18-1
Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption of Amendments to the
Abrasive Blasting Regulations.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the proposed amendments to the regulations as shown in
Appendix A to the staff report and adopt the proposed "Visible
Emission Evaluation Test Method for Selected Abrasives Used in
Permissible Dry Outdoor Blasting" as shown in Appendix B to the
staff report.
DISCUSSION
The "Abrasive Blasting Advisory Committee" is appointed by the
Air Resources Board in response to provisions in the Health and
Safety Code signed into law on October 1, 1973. The purpose of
the Committee is to recommend to the Board, for adoption,
regulations on sandblasting. The first standards were adopted in
1974.
Since 1974, the advisory committee has held numerous public
meetings to consider the effectiveness of existing regulations,
the certification test procedures, compliance methods, emissions
from abrasive blasting, problems with stucco and concrete
blasting, reuse of spent abrasives, blasting facilities and
alternate certification procedures.
In July 1986 the Abrasive Blasting Advisory Committee resolved to
initiate proposed revisions to the State's abrasive blasting
regulations. The intent of these proposed revisions was to
restructure the regulations to clarify and simplify restrictions
on the use of abrasives and to devise an alternative
certification test procedure which would allow certification of
very fine materials (which are low dust producing abrasives
during actual blasting) that can not meet current standards.
Public workshops were held on the proposed changes in August 1986
and September 1988. A final public workshop was held in May
1990. Staff incorporated appropriate comments and suggestions
received at the public workshops into both the regulation and the
alternative test method.
ITEM NO.: 90-18-2
Public Hearing to Consider New Regulations Regarding the
Implementation of a Roadside Smoke and Emission Control System
Inspection for In-use Heavy-duty Diesel and Gasoline-Powered
Vehicles.
RECOMMENDATION
The staff recommends that the Board adopt the proposed new
regulations to implement roadside smoke and emission control
system inspections for heavy-duty diesel-powered vehicles, and
emission control system inspections for heavy-duty gasoline-powered
vehicles operating in California.
DISCUSSION
Senate Bill (SB) 1997, as amended by Assembly Bill (AB) 1107,
added Section 44011.6 of the California Health and Safety Code,
which directs the Board, in cooperation with an ad hoc advisory
committee, to develop a test procedure for the detection of
excessive smoke emissions from heavy-duty diesel motor vehicles
that is feasible for use in an intermittent roadside inspection
program. This section also allows the Board to implement
inspections of heavy-duty diesel- and gasoline-powered vehicles
to determine the presence of tampering or defective emission
control systems. The Board may issue citations to the owner of
any vehicle in violation of regulations adopted pursuant to this
section of the Health and Safety Code. The Board is required to
notify the CHP if a cited vehicle owner fails to take corrective
action or to pay a civil penalty in a timely manner. In that
event, the CHP may require that the vehicle be removed from
service until the civil penalty is paid and corrective action is
taken.
This proposal establishes procedures for inspections of heavy-duty
diesel-powered vehicles for excessive exhaust smoke and for
tampering of emission control systems. Roadside smoke test
emission standards are proposed for heavy-duty diesel vehicles.
Procedures are also established for emission control system
inspections for heavy-duty gasoline-powered vehicles. This
proposal also includes the penalties for vehicles failing the
roadside smoke test, and/or the emission control system
inspection. Lastly, the proposal establishes the requirements
for demonstrating that vehicles failing these inspections have
had the deficiencies properly corrected.
The inspections would take place at highway weigh stations
operated by the California Highway Patrol, at fleet maintenance
facilities, and at random roadside locations. All heavy-duty
vehicles over 6000 pounds gross vehicle weight, including trucks,
transit buses, and school buses, will be subject to inspections
and possible penalties. Heavy-duty vehicles registered out-of-state
as well as in California would be subject to inspections.
The inspections may be implemented 30 days after filing the
approved regulations with the Secretary of State.
SUMMARY OF IMPACTS OF PROPOSED ACTION
The staff estimates that the proposed regulations will result in
a statewide emission reduction of 32 tons/day of particulate
matter (PM), 22 tons/day of hydrocarbons (HC), and 19 tons/day of
oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the year 1995. The cost
effectiveness will be $0.47 per pound of PM reduced, and $0.44
per pound of HC plus NOx reduced. In addition, staff estimates
that the number of excessively smoking vehicles operating in
California will be reduced by 57 percent in 1995.
ITEM NO.: 90-18-3
Public Hearing to Consider the Adoption of Revisions to the
Designation of Areas in California as Attainment, Nonattainment,
or Unclassified for State Ambient Air Quality Standards.
RECOMMENDATION
The staff recommends the Board adopt the proposed amendments to
Title 17, California Code of Regulations, section 60200 through
60209.
DISCUSSION
The California Clean Air Act of 1988 (the "Act") requires the
Board to identify and classify each air basin as attainment,
nonattainment, or unclassified for the state ambient air quality
standards. Furthermore, the Act requires the Board to review the
designations annually and update them as new information becomes
available.
At a public hearing on June 8, 1989, the Board adopted the
initial criteria for making area designations. The criteria
specify three possible categories of designation: attainment,
nonattainment, and unclassified. On June 9, 1989, the Board
approved the initial designations, based on these criteria, for
all areas of the state for each of nine pollutants for which
state standards have been established. These pollutants are
ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide,
suspended particulate matter (PM10), sulfates, lead, hydrogen
sulfide, and visibility reducing particles.
At a public hearing on June 15, 1990, the Board approved three
amendments to the designation criteria. One of these amendments
created a new designation subcategory, nonattainment-transitional, and
defined the conditions as area must meet to
receive this designation. A second amendment defined the
conditions under which a nonattainment area may be redesignated
as attainment when monitoring at the site with the highest
concentration is discontinued. A third amendment modified
procedures for identifying highly irregular or infrequent events.
Exceedances caused by highly irregular or infrequent events are
not considered as violations in making a nonattainment
designation.
The designation criteria require that the staff complete the
review of the area designations by November 15 of each year.
Based on the staff's 1990 review, the staff proposes changes to
the area designations for a number of specific areas of the state
for ozone, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, and
hydrogen sulfide. The changes are necessary because additional
air quality data were collected during 1989 and because
amendments to the designation criteria were approved since the
initial designations were made last year.