Title
Air Quality Management District (AQMD) recommending the Board, acting as the AQMD Board of Directors:
1) Approve and authorize the Chair to sign Resolution 141-2017, approving the Sacramento Regional 8-Hour Ozone Attainment and Reasonable Further Progress Plan (Plan); and
2) Direct staff to forward the Plan to the California Air Resources Board for transmittal to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a revision to the State Implementation Plan.
FUNDING: None required.
Body
DEPARTMENT RECOMMENDATION
AQMD recommends adoption of the Plan to satisfy the requirements of Clean Air Act (CAA) Sections 110, 172, 176, 181, 182 and Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulation Part 51. The Plan was adopted by the Sacramento Metropolitan AQMD on August 24, 2017 and will be considered for adoption by the other Sacramento Federal Non-Attainment Area (SFNA) air districts’ (Placer County, Yolo-Solano and Feather River) Boards in the coming months.
DISCUSSION / BACKGROUND
Ozone is created by a reaction between Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in sunlight. Breathing ozone has short and long term negative health effects. In 1997 a health-based National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) of 84 parts per billion (ppb), averaged over eight hours, was established. In 2008 the NAAQS was lowered to 75 ppb. The SFNA, including the western portion of El Dorado County, is in "nonattainment" of the 2008 federal 8-hour ozone NAAQS. Federal regulations require the adoption and implementation of a plan to meet “reasonable further progress” goals and achieve 2008 NAAQS attainment “as expeditiously as practicable.”
The SFNA was initially classified as a "serious" nonattainment area for the 1997 NAAQS and an attainment deadline of June 15, 2013, was established. On February 14, 2008, CARB requested a 1997 NAAQS reclassification to "severe." US EPA granted the reclassification and the attainment deadline was extended to June 15, 2019. US EPA has proposed to apply a 2008 standard reclassification to “severe” as well and establish a 2008 NAAQS attainment deadline of July 20, 2027. Attainment must be demonstrated with three sequential years of data.
Since 1990, the annual number of 8-hour ozone exceedance days has been trending downward an average of 1.5 fewer days per year. Photochemical modeling studies predict the SFNA will reach 2008 NAAQS attainment sometime between 2022 and 2026. Because CAA Sections 172(a)(2)(A) and 181(a) require nonattainment areas to meet the NAAQS “as expeditiously as practicable,” a predicted attainment year of 2024 was chosen for the Plan. This will provide a safeguard of two additional years should the region fail to attain by 2024 due to uncertainties in the modeling prediction.
The Plan has been prepared by the five SFNA air districts with active participation by CARB and the Sacramento Area Council of Governments. It is designed to meet federal requirements as part of California’s SIP update. It includes an updated emissions inventory, motor vehicle emissions budgets, reasonably available control measure analysis, and documents the photochemical modeling used to support the attainment demonstration. It descibes how the SFNA will meet CAA “reasonable further progress” requirements and attain the 2008 ozone NAAQS.
Continued implementation of current emission reduction efforts by the SFNA air districts and the state should be sufficient for the SFNA to attain the 2008 NAAQS by 2024. Therefore, no new control measures are recommended.
ALTERNATIVES
The Board of Directors may wholly approve, deny, or revise the proposed Plan.
OTHER DEPARTMENT / AGENCY INVOLVEMENT
County Counsel approved the Resolution
CAO RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the Board approve this item.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
No financial impact to AQMD or the County.
CLERK OF THE BOARD FOLLOW UP ACTIONS
1) Clerk to obtain the Board Chair's signature on three (3) original Resolutions, and
2) Clerk to provide AQMD with two (2) signed copies of the Resolution to be forwarded to the California Air Resources Board.
STRATEGIC PLAN COMPONENT
Healthy Communities
CONTACT
Dave Johnston
Air Pollution Control Officer