The regular meeting of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board was called to order June 18, 2003, at 9:45 a.m. in the Board Room of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District, 850 Barret Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky, by the Chairman Joe Vibbert. Karen Cassidy, Lewis Hammond, Barbara Sexton Smith, and Sandra Withers 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, Terri Phelps, Cynthia Lee, Arthur Chang, Bruce Gaylord, Eva Addison, Martha Gammons, Diane Hazellief, Marty Layman, Rebecca Stutsman, Doug Spillman, Gary Flispart, Phyllis Fitzgerald, Bob Dorzback, Dee Lynch, Nancy Kottak, Jeani Bryant, Kelley Bennett, and Irene Stephenson.
The following guests were present: Jonathan D. Miller, DuPont Dow Elastomers, L.L.C.; Leslie Barras and Meme Sweets Runyon, River Fields, Inc.; Martin Luther, KY Division for Air Quality; Robert Gioffre, Gordon-Darby; Sarah Scheetz, Louisville Gas & Electric Company; Dave Newman, KY Motorcycle Association; Pat Moran, Stites & Harbison; Randy Simon, Kentuckiana Regional Planning and Development Agency; Cheryl Fisher, DuPont; Brad Dillon, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald; Bob Ehrler, Frost Brown Todd; and Carolyn Embry, American Lung Association of KY.
Chairman Vibbert introduced and welcomed new Board member Ms. Sandra Withers. Ms. Withers said that she was pleased to be appointed to the Board and was looking forward to working with the Board members for the betterment of the community.
Ms. Fitzgerald said that because of the length of the public hearing, Barbara Stallard and Glenda Sims, Lawn Care for Cleaner Air Award recipients, were not able to stay for the award presentation. Ms. Fitzgerald presented a Lawn Care for Cleaner Air Award to District staff member Kelley Bennett.
Chairman Vibbert noted that the Regular Meeting minutes of April 16, 2003, incorrectly listed him as Chairman, when in fact he was absent that day; Dr. Cassidy had chaired that meeting. The minutes of the Public Hearing and Regular Meeting of April 16, 2003, with the one noted correction, and the Special Meeting of May 9, 2003, were approved and filed.
Jonathan Miller, Environmental Specialist for DuPont Dow Elastomers L.L.C. - Louisville Plant (DDE), noted that DDE recently replaced four solvent cold cleaners with four water-based parts washers. The new parts washers were delivered and installed on Thursday, June 5. He said that the finishing area mechanics were very pleased with the results of the new parts washers. Mr. Miller showed pictures of the old and new cleaners. He said that the new parts washers did the job in one-third the time and required significantly less effort. DDE has already granted a request from another company to test-clean some parts. Mr. Miller indicated that DDE would honor similar requests from other local companies.
Ms. Phelps said that the October 2002 Agreed Board Order (ABO) with Akzo Nobel Chemicals included a settlement amount of $222,700 for alleged violations of its Title V operating permit. The ABO required the company to pay $55,700 to the District and allowed the company to satisfy the remaining $167,000 of the settlement amount by implementing one or more District-approved supplemental environmental projects (SEPs). The ABO provided a 180-day time frame for SEPs to be proposed and approved. The District has approved a total credit of $158,855 for six of the proposed SEPs. Each of the six projects is expected to reduce the emission of volatile organic compounds from this facility. The District will continue to track the implementation of these projects over the next several years. The remaining balance of the settlement amount, $8,145, was paid by the company in April.
Mr. Trout said the District recommends that the Board recommend to the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet that the request to modify the Kentucky portion of the Louisville 1-hour ozone maintenance plan and the revised regional motor vehicle emission budgets, as proposed with the minor editing changes as requested by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), be formally submitted to the EPA.
Motion: Mr. Hammond moved to make the recommendation to the Kentucky Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet that the request to modify the Kentucky portion of the Louisville 1-hour ozone maintenance plan and the revised regional motor vehicle emission budgets, as proposed with the minor editing changes as requested by the EPA, be formally submitted to the EPA.
The motion passed unanimously.
Mr. Trout gave a brief history of the EPA's efforts to develop and finalize an implementation plan for the 8-hour ozone standard. The major issue is whether the implementation requirements should be based upon Subpart 1 or Subpart 2 of Part D of the Clean Air Act. Subpart 1 is generic for any new ambient air quality standard and Subpart 2, enacted in 1990, specifically addressed the 1-hour ozone standard and contained very prescriptive requirements based upon the degree of violation of the 1-hour ozone standard. The options in the June 2, 2003, proposed implementation plan are very similar to the options contained in the draft implementation plan released by the EPA earlier this year and reported to the Board at the March meeting.
Mr. Trout indicated that the EPA is taking comment on many potential implementation options and then, after reviewing the comments, will decide what concepts should be in the final implementation plan and will then propose actual language for the required implementation plan. The EPA intends for the final implementation plan rules to be promulgated by the end of this year.
Mr. Trout explained that one of the anti-backsliding provisions discussed in the proposed implementation plan would prohibit the EPA from removing a control strategy that is currently in a state implementation plan (SIP) if removal of the control strategy would interfere with any applicable requirement concerning attainment and reasonable further progress or any other applicable requirement of the Clean Air Act. The EPA is interpreting this "any other applicable requirement" provision, which is found in Section 110(l) of the Clean Air Act, to include attainment of the new 8-hour ozone standard. This issue relates to whether the EPA will approve removing the Vehicle Emissions Testing (VET) program from the active portion of the SIP without a demonstration that the Louisville area will attain the 8-hour ozone standard without the VET program. Mr. Trout indicated that a copy of the slides of a presentation on the EPA’s proposed 8-hour ozone implementation plan are available.
Ms. Smith noted that representatives of industry had asked the Board members to trust that voluntary reductions would be made when the Board voted on proposed Regulation 6.51. She said that there is a distinction between trustworthiness and trusting. She further noted that the table of voluntary reductions submitted by Greater Louisville, Inc. (GLI) did not identify the individual companies that were going to voluntarily reduce emissions this summer.
Ms. Smith stated that she believed that it is both important and reasonable that the individual stationary sources submit to the Board in writing their voluntary emission-reduction plans for this summer. These plans should include their expected results that can later be evaluated against actual results, which should also be submitted to the Board at the conclusion of the summer.
Motion: Ms. Smith moved that the Board adopt Board Resolution Information Regarding Industry Voluntary Reduction as drafted by the District at her request.
Dr. Cassidy said that she felt that her comments in opposition to the adoption of proposed Regulation 6.51 might have been taken out of context; her opposition was based on timeliness. She said that it is not just the listed Title V sources in proposed Regulation 6.51 that contribute to our air quality problems. Dr. Cassidy suggested that other industries should undertake voluntary emission reductions and should therefore be included in the resolution.
Mr. Trout indicated that the resolution would direct the District to notify companies that they are required to submit the listed information to the District. To expand the number of companies to receive this notice, Mr. Trout indicated that, in increasing numbers, the list could, for example, include all Title V companies, all companies for which the District has issued a Federally Enforceable District Origin Operating Permit (FEDOOP), all companies that are required to report emissions annually pursuant to Regulation 1.06, or all permitted companies.
Ms. Smith noted that she did not want to leave the impression that the proposed Resolution was intended to blame the companies listed in proposed Regulation 6.51. She said that the purpose of the Resolution was to continue the discussions between the Board and the industrial sector so that both can move together in shared cooperation. She said that she believes that the citizens of Jefferson County are counting on the Board members to be trustworthy and they are trusting the Board to expect certain things from industry. She said that she is confident that the companies will do what they said that they would do. Chairman Vibbert said that he interpreted the proposed Resolution as encouraging those companies to identify the reduction measures that they are intending to employ and to then document to what extent those measures were successful.
Mr. Moran said that he supports Dr. Cassidy’s suggestion of increasing the number of companies that would be required to provide information. However, he said that he feels that the Board is introducing a bureaucratic step by adding the December reporting requirement. He explained that emissions have to be reported in April 2004 for 2003, so, rather than penalizing the companies that volunteer to make reductions this summer by adding another reporting requirement, the Board should just wait for the normal emission inventory submittals next April.
Mr. Williams explained that the emissions inventory contains information on emissions, not emission reductions. Further, there is not a requirement for a company to explain why the emissions for the last year were different than the emissions from preceding years. He said that his understanding of the purpose of the Resolution was to provide the Board with a better understanding of the specific measures to be undertaken this summer to reduce emissions and the level of success of those measures. This information is not obtained through the annual emissions inventory submittals.
Chairman Vibbert said that he had spoken with a representative of one of the companies listed in proposed Regulation 6.51. This company representative said that his company did not have a problem with the Resolution. Mr. Miller, of DuPont Dow Elastomers, confirmed that he was the individual who had spoken with Chairman Vibbert. The list of voluntary measures submitted by GLI included both emission reduction measures that the companies were planning on implementing this summer as well as measures that had already been accomplished since the end of the 2002 ozone season. Regarding the number of companies that would be required to submit information to the District, he said that he supports increasing the number of companies involved. He said that he agrees with Dr. Cassidy that it is the responsibility of all who live and work in this community to do what they can toward improving the quality of life for everybody in the community. This is a golden opportunity to increase the District’s outreach efforts to encourage pollution prevention measures and highlight the District’s and other agencies' ability to provide technical support to those companies that may not have the resources to develop their own pollution prevention plans.
Dr. Cassidy reiterated that she would like to have the Resolution include more companies.
Motion: Ms. Smith moved to amend the original motion to include the companies subject to the Title V operating permit program, the companies with FEDOOP permits, and the companies that are required to submit annual emission inventory reports pursuant to Regulation 1.06.
The motion to amend the original motion passed unanimously.
The amended motion, to adopt Board Resolution Information Regarding Industry Voluntary Reduction with the expansion of the companies to submit information, passed unanimously.
Ms. Smith said that the Strategy Committee had met this morning at 8:30 a.m. and discussed and approved draft Regulation 5.02 Adoption of Federal Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants, Version #13, Draft #2 - External, June 17, 2003, to proceed to the formal Public Review process. Mr. Trout indicated that the public hearing will be held before the August Board meeting.
Mr. Williams indicated that the District is making good progress in implementing the Focus 2003 measures that were approved by the Board. The majority of the voluntary measures are well under way and the remaining measures will be commenced by the end of the week. The District will report on the progress of each of the approved Focus 2003 measures at the July Board meeting.
Mr. Williams indicated that the lawn mower rebate program is going extraordinarily well. There have been over 100 gasoline-powered lawn mowers turned in at the Recycling C enters. The District has not started a significant public information campaign yet.
Mr. Williams noted that the new metro government is in the final stages of the budget development process for the next fiscal year. The Metro Council has held a series of hearings on proposed agency budgets, including the District's. The Mayor proposed a budget for the District that reflects a continuation budget. While the District will lose one vacant staff position, the District does not expect any decrease in services despite a reduction of $50,000, or about 10%, from the metro government general funds.
Mr. Williams announced that the District distributed to each Board member a copy of two video tapes. One is the Metro Council's Transportation Public Works Committee hearing on air quality issues that occurred about one month ago. The other is a recent speech given by Mayor Abramson as part of the KAIRE kick-off. In his speech, the Mayor comprehensively addressed a wide range of air quality issues, with particular focus on the ozone and air toxics challenges for Jefferson County.
Mr. Vibbert asked whether any Clean Air Commitment Forms, one for citizens and the other for businesses, that Dr. Cassidy handed out following the May Board Meeting had been returned to the District. Mr. Trout reported that one had been received from the Ford Motor Company. Dr. Cassidy mentioned that GLI will be including the information on the form in its newsletter, asking industry to participate.
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.
The air quality monitoring reports were submitted for filing. A copy of each report is attached to the original minutes.
The VET report was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.
The APCD Enforcement Status 06/10/2003 report was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.
The meeting adjourned at 10:38 a.m.
_______/signed/_______
Joseph D. Vibbert
Chairman
_______/signed/_______
Jonathan L. Trout
Secretary-Treasurer