Minutes
Regular Meeting
of the
Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board

April 16, 2003

The regular meeting of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board was called to order April 16, 2003, at 9:06 a.m. in the Board Room of the Air Pollution Control District, 850 Barret Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky, by the Acting Chair Karen Cassidy. Lewis Hammond, Lee Howard, and Barbara Sexton Smith were present. A quorum was present.

The following Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (District) staff members were present: Art Williams, Jon Trout, Jesse Goldsmith, Mitzi Powell, Bruce Gaylord, Art Chang, Marty Layman, Bob Dorzback, Phyllis Fitzgerald, T.J. Jessie, Tom Pinto, Mike Brown, Martha Gammons, Doug Spillman, Diane Hazellief, Eva Addison, Sam Bate, Rebecca Stutsman, and Irene Stephenson.

The following guests were present: Paul Howard, Tetra Tech EMI; Regina C. Henry, Cemex-Kosmos Cement; Mike DeBusschere, Kentuckiana Engineering Company; Jonathan D. Miller, DuPont Dow Elastomers, L.L.C.; Robert Gioffre, Gordon-Darby; Pat Moran, Stites & Harbison; Carolyn Embry, American Lung Association of KY; Sarah Scheetz, Louisville Gas & Electric Company; and Brad Dillon, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald.

Approval of Minutes

Mr. Trout said that the District requested that the Board not take action on the minutes of the Regular Meeting of March 19, 2003, to provide additional time for the Board members and the public to review the draft minutes and submit any suggested additions, corrections, or deletions to Mr. Trout. The District wants to ensure that the minutes accurately reflect the comments made and the discussions that occurred at the March Board meeting.

New Business

1. Amendment to Regulation 6.43 Volatile Organic Compound Emission Reduction Requirements

   Mr. Trout said the District recommends that the Board adopt amended Regulation 6.43 Volatile Organic Compound Emission Reduction Requirements, Version #4, Draft #3 - Proposed, February 12, 2003, as proposed.

   Motion: Mr. Hammond moved to adopt amended Regulation 6.43 as recommended by the District.

   The motion passed unanimously.

Committee Reports

1. Policy Committee - met Wednesday, April 2, 2003

   As requested by Policy Committee Chairman Lewis Hammond, Mr. Trout explained that three draft regulations were reviewed by the Policy Committee on Wednesday, April 2, 2003. These three draft regulations are part of the District’s Focus 2003 recommendations.

   1. Regulation 6.51 VOC Emission Reduction for 2003 would be a new regulation that would apply to the 21 stationary sources that are currently in operation that had reported the emission of more than 50 tons per year of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) for calendar year 2001. The goal of this draft regulation is to reduce, over the three-month period from June 16, 2003, to September 15, 2003, the equivalent of three percent of the 2001 summer weekday VOC emissions for the operating days for these stationary sources. Three percent of the total 2001 summer weekday VOC emissions for these 21 stationary sources was 1367.1 pounds. The draft regulation would allow the substitution of oxides of nitrogen (NO_x) emission reductions for VOC emission reductions, on a 1-for-1 basis.
   2. Regulation 6.18 Standards of Performance for Solvent Metal Cleaning Equipment is an existing regulation. The purpose of the changes is to reduce VOC emissions from cold cleaners by way of additional requirements for the cold cleaning equipment, work practice standards for the use of the equipment, and, to the extent that the owner or operator determines a change to be feasible for the period of June 15, 2003, to September 15, 2003, the use of lower VOC-containing or non-VOC solvents.
   3. Regulation 6.52 Standards of Performance for Solvent Cleaning Operations Associated with Commercial Surface Coating and Printing Processes would be a new regulation that would reduce VOC emissions from solvent cleaning operations associated with commercial surface coating and printing processes during the critical portion of the ozone season for the summer of 2003. The VOC emissions reductions would result from restrictions on solvents used for cleaning; the reduction in solvent usage; storage requirements for solvents and solvent-laden materials; and work practice requirements for solvent hand-wipe cleaning, spray gun cleaning, flush cleaning, and purge processes. As with Regulation 6.18, this draft regulation has a mandatory requirement for the companies to determine whether there are alternative, lower VOC-containing or non-VOC solvents that are feasible to be used during the 2003 ozone season. Also, as with Regulation 6.18, the companies should consider safety issues in determining feasibility and the District would waive the requirement for permit changes unless required by the Title V or PSD permit programs.

   Mr. Trout said that the Policy Committee approved these regulations to go out for the formal Public Review process. The legal notice was published in The Courier-Journal on April 3, 2003. The written comment period will end at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, May 2, 2003. A public hearing for these proposed regulations has been scheduled for Wednesday, May 7, 2003, at 9:00 a.m. With the Board’s approval, the District scheduled a Special Board Meeting to consider these proposed regulations for Friday, May 9, 2003, at 10:30 a.m.

   Mr. Trout noted that the Policy Committee’s action to undergo the formal Public Review process does not necessarily indicate that the Policy Committee members believe that these proposed regulations should ultimately be approved. This action would allow the Board to take formal public comments, evaluate the comments and the District’s responses, and then determine the appropriate action to take on the proposed regulations. Mr. Trout indicated that the District intends to recommend that the Board adopt the three proposed regulations at the May 9, 2003, Special Board Meeting, pending evaluation of any comments made during the formal Public Review process.

   The Chair noted that the Policy Committee meeting minutes distributed today were draft minutes from the March 13, 2003, meeting. The District is providing additional time for the Board members and the public to review these draft committee meeting minutes and submit any suggested additions, corrections, or deletions to Mr. Trout. The District wants to ensure that the minutes accurately reflect the comments made and the discussions that occurred at this committee meeting. The District is still working on the April 2, 2003, Policy Committee meeting minutes.

Staff Reports

1. Director

   Mr. Williams said that at the national level, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has not yet published its proposed 8-hour ozone standard implementation rules. The District has not heard whether the federal Office of Management and Budget has completed its review of the EPA’s draft rules. This was expected to have occurred several weeks ago.

   The EPA has released updated information regarding the PM_2.5 standard indicating that the agency intends to publish implementation rules for the PM_2.5 standard by the end of this year and that the States will be required to propose attainment/nonattainment area designations by February 2004. The EPA would publish final PM_2.5 area designations by December 2004.

   This week, the EPA proposed a significant rule affecting off-road diesel engines, which include engines that power farm and construction equipment. This rule addresses both sulfur standards for diesel fuel and required emission control technology for these diesel engines. Diesel fuel for off-road equipment contains sulfur at levels as high as 5,000 parts per million. The first phase would require sulfur levels to drop to an average of 500 parts per million by 2007 and the second phase would require additional reductions to meet a final level of 15 parts per million by 2010. The required emission control technology on these diesel engines would be phased in from 2008 to 2014.

   Mr. Williams mentioned that yesterday he made a presentation to the Metro Council’s Transportation Public Works Committee on the state of air quality in our community. This committee is chaired by Tom Owen. The program will be replayed today at 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. on GLTV Cable Channel 25. The District will provide the Board with a copy of the tape.

2. Lawn Care for Cleaner Air Awards

   The list of this month’s Lawn Care for Cleaner Air Award recipients was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.

3. Air Quality Data

   Mr. Williams said that the ozone season is under way and the District will continue to provide the Board with a monthly ozone report. The same format will be used as has been in the last several years. Table 1 of the report shows the significant monitored ozone concentrations up through Monday of this week. This table includes, for each monitor, both 8-hour and 1-hour maximum daily ozone concentrations. In general, the New Albany monitor has experienced the highest concentrations of the seven ozone monitors in the Louisville area. However, on April 14, the Bates monitor recorded an 82 parts-per-billion 8-hour ozone concentration and a 93 parts-per-billion 1-hour ozone concentration, the highest concentrations recorded in 2003 to date. Table 2 gives the historical exceedance summary for the 1-hour ozone standard. Table 3 gives the historical exceedance summary for the 8-hour ozone standard. So far in 2003, there has been no exceedance of either the 8-hour or the 1-hour ozone standard. Table 4 lists the fourth-highest 8-hour ozone concentrations for each monitor for the last four years. This fourth-highest concentration for each year is used in calculating the design value for each monitor. The greatest 8-hour design value for the 2000-to-2002 three-year period, thus the controlling design value for the Louisville area, is the 90 parts per billion for the Charlestown monitor. The regular monthly PM_2.5 report shows a monthly average of 15.0 micrograms per cubic meter for March.

   The air quality monitoring reports were submitted for filing. A copy of each report is attached to the original minutes.

4. VET

   The VET report was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.

5. Enforcement Status

   The APCD Enforcement Status 04/08/2003 report was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.

Adjournment

The meeting adjourned at 9:22 a.m.