MINUTES

REGIONAL AIR QUALITY COUNCIL

Thursday, November 2, 2000
Town of Castle Rock

MEMBERS PRESENT:

Dennis Arfmann, Holme Roberts & Owen
Theresa Donahue, City & County of Denver
Jane Norton, Colo. Dept. Public Health & Environment
Tom Norton, Colo. Dept. of Transportation
Don Parsons, City of Northglenn / DRCOG
Dave Sladek, The Clayton Group
Melanie Worley, Douglas County

MEMBERS NOT IN ATTENDANCE:

Jim Scherer, CHAIRMAN
Sharon Votruba, City of Thornton

OTHERS PRESENT:

Ken Lloyd, RAQC; Misty Howell, RAQC; Laura Hagg Nelson, RAQC; Gerald Dilley, RAQC; Shirleen Tucker, APCD; Jim Ives, City of Aurora; Steve Boand, CATCO; Les Lilly, CATCO; Toby Sprunk, Douglas County Open Space; Carol Maclennan, Tri-County Health Dept.; Carole Murray, Douglas County; Don Moore, Douglas County; Mayor Al Parker, Castle Rock; Mike Silverstein, APCD; and Bob Lowdermilk, AQCC.

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The meeting was called to order by Vice-Chairman Don Parsons at 3:00 p.m. A quorum was present.

Council and the audience introduced themselves.

Approval of the Agenda

Theresa Donahue moved to approve the minutes. Seconded by Jane Norton. Motion passed without objection.

Approval of the Minutes

Vice Chairman Don Parsons asked if there was any additions or changes to the minutes. Seeing none the minutes stand approved as presented.

Informational Items

Vice-Chairman:

None.

Executive Director:

Ken Lloyd informed Council that the Ozone Maintenance Plan was proposed to the AQCC on October 19. The AQCC has set a hearing for January 11, 2001.

Ken indicated that he, Melanie Worley, Dennis Arfmann, Dave Sladek, and Don Parsons met with the AQCC to discuss the I/M Report. The AQCC has asked the APCD Mobile Sources Division to provide them with additional information and options regarding some of the RAQC’s recommendations.

Ken reminded Council that the next meeting is on Wednesday, December 13, 2000 at the Denver Chamber Building.

Members:

No Reports.

Committees:

No Reports.

Local Community Presentations

Mayor Al Parker welcomed Council to Castle Rock. Commissioner Melanie Worley also welcomed Council to Douglas County.

Steve Boand, Clean Air Transit Company, gave Council an overview of the Clean Air Shuttle program. He explained that the Clean Air Transit Company (CATCO) is a private non-profit corporation funded by the Town of Castle Rock with direct participation by local citizens in the design and operation of the transit system. The goals of CATCO are to provide a local transit alternative and promote the utilization of “Clean Air” fuels to protect air quality.

CATCO’s buses use compressed natural gas (CNG). Because of the distance some of the buses travel they are currently duel fuel vehicles. Mr. Boand indicated the buses are 60% full on all routes. There are eight routes that run six days a week. Currently, this is a free service. CATCO estimates its service saves 225,000 local vehicle miles annually.

Toby Sprunk, Douglas County Open Space, presented Douglas County’s approach to open space. The Douglas County Open Space program was created in 1994 with the passage of a six tenths-of-a-cent sales and use tax. This tax will generate over $6 million in 2000. Approximately $4.1 million of the total revenue is specifically allocated toward conservation of open space. Douglas County has also issued $25 million in bonds to raise funds for open space acquisitions. Every dollar spent by Douglas County for land acquisition has been matched by more than three dollars in partner contributions.

Douglas County seeks to improve the quality of life for residents by protecting wildlife habitats, agricultural lands, scenic vistas, community buffers, recreational opportunities, and historic resources. To maximize the impact of limited funding and to enhance the effectiveness of the program, the County focuses acquisition efforts in four priority areas throughout the County, including the Chatfield Basin, High Plateau, Cherry Creek Corridor, and South I-25 Conservation Corridor. Currently, the program has protected 37,000 acres. Land is protected in three different ways: purchase of the land; conservation easements which give the County development rights; and development review process.

Commissioner Melanie Worley added that while Douglas County is one of the fastest growing counties, they are taking steps to limit growth to certain core areas and to protect open space.

Public Comment

None.

Results from 2000 Voluntary Ozone Reduction Program

Laura Hagg Nelson gave Council a summary of the 2000 Voluntary Ozone Awareness Campaign. Laura reviewed the annual 4th highest maximum for the 8-hour standard and the historical 8-hour levels. She reminded Council that values were exceptionally high in 1998.

Activities during the season included: ozone action day alerts; reid vapor pressure reduction; local government participation; “Stop at the Click” sticker program; presentations; targeted outreach to Building Owner & Management Association (BOMA) and Associated Landscape Contractors of Colorado (ALCC); “Put a Cap on Ozone” program; Smart Sign distribution; and media coverage.

There were 27 ozone action alert days during the season. The alerts were faxed and e-mailed to over 250 entities or individuals. The five major refiners serving the Denver area participated in reducing RVP, which achieved an estimated reduction of 0.7 psi in 2000. Local governments participated in the program by including articles in newsletters to employees and citizens, e- mailing or faxing ozone alerts and re-arranging mowing and painting schedules during action alerts. The Air We Breathe cable show was also produced and run on local government cable access channels. Participation in the “Stop at the Click” program increased. Staff distributed an additional 4,700 stickers.

Staff made presentations to local governments, city councils, county commissions, CDOT, ALCC, BOMA, DRCOG and Transportation Management Organizations. The outreach to BOMA and ALCC was a new component to the 2000 program. Staff made presentations to both groups and also was able to reach their members through newsletter articles.

The “Put a Cap on Ozone” program was a joint effort with RAQC, CDOT, CDPHE, Envirotest and independent testing stations. More than 9,500 gas caps were replaced and nearly 1,200 coupons redeemed. Laura stated that during the summer 1 gallon of gasoline can evaporate every 15 days through a faulty gas cap. It was estimated that 660 pounds of VOCs were reduced by replacing faulty gas caps.

The Smart Sign was deployed around the metro area as a tool to create public awareness of the importance of vehicle maintenance. Of the 160,000+ cars measured for hydrocarbon emissions, 13% were found to be responsible for 70% of the pollution.

Laura indicated the ozone program received considerable media coverage throughout the summer.

There was discussion on quantifying reductions and benefits for each component of the program. Council asked Laura to add cost and benefits, when available, to the program highlight sheet.

Ken Lloyd informed Council that the Supreme Court will be hearing arguments on the 8-hour ozone standard on November 7, 2000, but will probably not render a decision until Spring 2001. He will keep Council updated.

Council received a draft copy of the 2000 Voluntary Ozone Reduction Program Summary for review. If Council has comments on the report, they should give them to Laura before Friday, November 10th.

Discussion o PM-10 Maintenance Plan

Ken Lloyd thanked Mike Silverstein, Kevin Briggs and Barbara MacRae from the APCD and Jerry Dilley, RAQC staff, for their work to expedite development of this plan.

Ken gave Council an update on the progress of the PM-10 maintenance plan. He indicated that staff is requesting direction from Council regarding several issues.

Ken reiterated the goals and process for development of the PM-10 maintenance plan. Ken indicated the following technical analysis has been completed:

Ken stated that the APCD is re-running the point source model with updated point source emissions. This is a wild card since we do not know its impact at this time.

Ken outlined potentially available measures for the plan. One measure is to include Regulation No. 16, regarding street sanding, in the SIP. This would make the current state-only requirement federally-enforceable. Mike Silverstein, APCD, stated that in order to get credit in the SIP for the sanding reductions, the regulation needs to be part of the SIP. Another measure is to include the conformity street sanding commitments. Council discussed the pros and cons of making Regulation No. 16 and conformity commitments federally-enforceable. Council members expressed concern about including a measure in the SIP that could potentially cause a burden on local governments’ budgets.

Ken reminded Council that the outlined approach is the fastest way to prepare the plan and meet Council’s schedule to get the plan to EPA by next summer. Ken emphasized that staff will be working with the individual local governments before including Regulation No. 16 in the SIP. The RAQC has a history of cooperation with the Public Works Departments on street sanding issues.

Council direction: Meet with local governments to make sure they are comfortable with the inclusion of Regulation No. 16 and DRCOG conformity commitments in the SIP. Make sure the local governments understand the federally-enforceable issue.

Another measure would be to include Public Service Company’s Voluntary Emission Reduction Program. This cannot become federally-enforceable without agreement from the source. Staff has had initial conversations with Public Service Company. Due to the flexible nature of the voluntary agreement this would be difficult to include in the maintenance plan. A final measure would be to include a diesel inspection/maintenance program in the SIP. Currently, the estimated benefit is small and difficult to determine.

After reviewing the alternatives, RAQC and AQCC staff recommend including the current Regulation No. 16 in 2005 and the 2011 conformity commitments as SIP measures, if there is agreement from implementing agencies.

Ken stated the default mobile sources budget for PM-10 is 55.4 and 87 for NOx in 2015. He explained that Council needs to decide if they want to apply an allowable “safety margin” to the budget, which would increase the budget numbers by 3-5%. Council discussed the perceptions of using a “safety margin”. Tom Norton stated he thought it would be better to include the “safety margin”. Alternatively, Theresa Donahue stated that not using the safety margin showed a larger decrease in the budget numbers, thereby validating the region’s progress against pollution. Mike Silverstein indicated the plan could be proposed to the AQCC without the margins. Then the APCD would have three months to look at the numbers with the margins and the AQCC could add the margins though their process if necessary. Tom Norton indicated it would be best for the AQCC to remove the margin instead of adding it. Dennis Arfmann suggested proposing the plan with the margins and then the AQCC could remove them if necessary.

Council Direction: Prepare the budgets with and without the margin of safety for Council’s review in December. Council will determine at that time which to include in the plan.

Ken outlined the next steps for completing the plan, which include:

The timing for the plan is outlined below:

There being no further business before the Council, the meeting was adjourned at 5:00 p.m.