Minutes
Regular Meeting
of the
Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board
March 16, 2005
The regular meeting of the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control Board was
called to order March 16, 2005, at 9:23 a.m. in the Board Room of the Louisville
Metro Air Pollution Control District, 850 Barret Avenue, Louisville, Kentucky,
by the Chair, Dr. Karen Cassidy.
The following Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (District)
staff members were present: Art Williams, Jon Trout, Lauren Anderson, Scott
Wegenast, Jesse Goldsmith, Terri Phelps, Cynthia Lee, Eva Addison, Stacy Fritze,
Martha Gammons, Marty Layman, Doug Spillman, Phyllis Fitzgerald, Ron Jacobs,
Terry Carby, Steve Taylor, Nancy Kottak, and Irene Stephenson. Shannon Tivitt,
Assistant Secretary, Cabinet for Community Development, was also present.
The following guests were present: Paige Mosser Theriac, Theriac
Environmental Consultants, Inc.; Paul Smith, Trinity Consultants; Rich Robinson
and Ron Musgnug, American Synthetic Rubber Company; Barbara Hall, Ford -
Kentucky Truck Plant; Jim Wade, Engelhard; Steve Euerod, American Synthetic
Rubber Company and Michelin; Regina Henry and Edmo Gutierrez, Cemex-Kosmos
Cement; Don Haynes, Earth Resources Management; Susan Logsdon, Caldwell Tanks;
Tim Duncan, Rubbertown Emergency Action Education and Defense, Inc. (REACT);
Paul Holliger, Southwest Community Association of Neighborhoods (SCAN); Tom
Herman, Zeon Chemicals; Dorothy Finley, Citizen; Dennis Conniff, Frost Brown
Todd and Greater Louisville Inc. (GLI); Ray Pierce, Flowervale Leemont Pierce
Neighborhood; Tim Corrigan, GLI; Jim McDonald, URS Corporation; Brad Dillon,
Greenebaum Doll & McDonald; Rachael Hamilton, Frost Brown Todd; and Winnie
Hepler, Justice Resource Center and REACT.
Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the February 16,
2005, Special Meeting were approved as distributed.
Public Comment
Chair Cassidy noted that the formal public comment period for the STAR
Program has ended and any comment regarding the proposed STAR Program will not
be considered as part of the official record. She noted that the formal public
comment period for Maverick Tube Corporation has likewise ended and any
comment regarding that proposal will not be considered as part of the official
record.
Paul Holliger, Vice President, Southwest Community Association of
Neighborhoods (SCAN), said that the neighbors are greatly concerned about the
emissions that Maverick Tube is going to put into their community. He said
that if Jefferson County, Kentucky, has an air pollution issue regarding
ozone, then the Maverick Plant, according to statistics, is going to add 10%
more of what we already have. This translates into putting 41,580 additional
cars on the road. According to the Air Quality Data report, the Louisville
area is still in moderate non-attainment.
Tom Herman, Environmental Manager, Zeon
Chemicals, and member of GLI’s Air Toxics Task Force, said that GLI’s written
comments addressed concerns over how provisions under the Strategic Toxic Air
Reduction (STAR) Program would manage constituents such as acrylonitrile. The
EPA is currently reviewing 14 of the 18 Category 1 chemicals, including
acrylonitrile, for possible revision of the Integrated Risk Information System
(IRIS) reference value. This emphasizes the need for the STAR regulations to
somehow comprehensively address the constant change of reference
values.
Dennis Conniff, Chair, GLI Air Toxics Task Force, said that despite the
offer he made at the formal hearing conducted in February to hold meetings
with other stakeholders to discuss and explain the GLI proposed revisions to
the STAR Program, he has not yet had a request that resulted in a scheduled
meeting to provide that opportunity. He reiterated that the members of the GLI
Air Toxics Task Force remain willing to do so if there is interest from other
stakeholders in taking advantage of that opportunity. Mr. Conniff requested
that the Board give consideration at some point to holding a meeting at which
the GLI Air Toxics Task Force could have its issues leaders present to the
Board the basis for their proposed revisions. At that time, they would be
willing to take questions from the Board members as well as any other
stakeholder member of the public. In addition, because of the extensive
comments that were submitted during the formal comment period, the GLI Air
Toxics Task Force requests that the response to the formal comments, the
revised Regulatory Impact Assessment, and any proposed revisions to the STAR
Program regulations are made available to the Board and the public at least 10
days prior to any meeting at which those are to be discussed.
Unfinished Business
Update on STAR Program Comments
Mr. Williams said that the District is in the process of carefully
reviewing the comments received. It will be several more weeks as the staff
continues to go through that process carefully and very deliberately. The
comments have been posted on the District’s website. The District has not
identified a specific date or deadline by which the responses to the
comments are developed and any appropriate revisions are made to the
regulations and the regulatory impact assessment.
Mr. Williams noted that he will be a guest today at 1:00 p.m. on the WFPL
89.3 FM State of
Affairs program that will focus on the STAR Program. The program will
be repeated at 9:00 p.m. and televised on
MetroTV Channel 25.
Chair Cassidy asked for elaboration on why the comments are taking so long
to review and the process being used. Mr. Williams responded that each comment
is identified and a response developed and discussed to ensure an appropriate
response. If a change to a regulation is deemed appropriate for recommendation
to the Board, then the revised language is developed. A change would include
revising the existing language or developing new language. Changes then need
to be reviewed to ensure consistency wi
th the rest of the District’s
regulations. Likewise, if there are any recommended changes to the preliminary
regulatory impact assessment, then those changes have to be drafted and
reviewed.
New Business
Agreed Board Order with Kosmos Cement Company
Ms. Phelps said that the District recommends that the Board adopt the
Agreed Board Order with Kosmos Cement Company as proposed.
| Motion: |
Mr. Howard moved to adopt
the Agreed Board Order with Kosmos Cement Company, as recommended by
the District.
The motion passed by unanimous consent. |
Committee Reports
March 2, 2005, Public Hearing on the Construction Permits for Maverick
Tube Corporation
Mr. Williams said that a public hearing was held on March 2, 2005, on the
set of 22 proposed construction permits for Maverick Tube. Fifteen people
presented comments at the public hearing. There were 22 sets of written
comments received during the public comment period, which ended March 11,
2005. The District is now in the process of reviewing the comments and will
determine appropriate changes to be made to the proposed permits.
Ms. Embry stated that she had seen some inaccurate information in materials
submitted by one of the speakers during the public comment period. She had not
contended that Maverick would increase emissions to our air by 10% and said
that she is not convinced that this is an accurate statement. Mr. Williams
responded that he did not have with him the countywide emissions inventory for
the ozone precursor emissions, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and oxides of
nitrogen (NOx). However, the total allowed emissions of the proposed
Maverick permits are 99.67 tons per year of VOC and less than 40 tons per year
of NOx. This is a small fraction of the total emissions in Jefferson County,
which include what is transported from outside the county boundaries, biogenic
emissions, and emissions from mobile sources, stationary sources, and area
sources.
Ms. Embry requested that the District report back to the Board on the
amount of increased emissions allowed from the Maverick plant.
Staff Reports
Director
Mr. Williams indicated that last week the Senate Environment and Public
Works Committee deadlocked by a 9-9 vote on the President’s Clear Skies
legislation that would have reduced sulfur dioxide (SO2)
and NOx emissions over a time frame out to 2018. As a result of the failure
of this bill to be approved out of the committee, the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) proposed the Clean Air Interstate Rule
(CAIR).
This is an effort to accomplish by administrative regulation much of what Clear
Skies sought to accomplish by legislation. The CAIR rule establishes a time
frame for SO2 and NOx reductions by the electric utilities over a
ten-year time frame out to 2015. The CAIR rule, which includes two phases of
required emission reductions, is referred to as a “cap and trade” program
because companies are allowed to trade credits for excess emissions so that
an overall cap in emissions is achieved.
With respect to local ozone air quality, the EPA’s modeling has
shown that the Louisville area will comply with the 8-hour ozone standard with
programs already in place, and the additional reductions resulting from the
CAIR rule will provide further improvement in ozone concentrations. With
respect to local PM2.5 air quality, the
EPA’s modeling has shown that the CAIR rule will reduce fine particulate
concentrations, but not enough for the Louisville area to attain the PM2.5
standard. Because the CAIR rule would operate primarily at the national and
state levels, the District does not expect that a local regulation would be
needed. Kentucky may adopt the national cap and trade program, but has the
flexibility to develop a different approach to effecting the required emission
reductions.
Mr. Williams noted that House Resolution 178, sponsored by State
Representative Steve Riggs, commends Cinergy announcing plans to reduce
emissions from the Gallagher Plant. The resolution also urges Cinergy to
accelerate the implementation of those plans. Mr. Williams continued, however,
that the most recent information from Cinergy is that implementation of those
plans may be delayed because of opposition from rate payers to state approval
of a rate increase to cover the cost of the plans. Mr. Williams said that
Cinergy has kept the District informed about the rate case and they estimate
that the delay is currently in the range of 6 months, but could become longer.
Mr. Williams noted that the monitored February 2005 fine particulate
concentration, 17.1 µg/m3, is the
highest February value monitored since the District began monitoring fine
particulates in 1999, despite the overall downward trend experienced over the
last several years. The previous highest February reading was 16.4 µg/m3.
He indicated that there were elevated readings in February throughout the
Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Wisconsin region. To date, there
has not been an identified cause for these regionally elevated monitored
levels. In past periods of high regional fine particulate monitored levels,
there has often been a specific cause identified. Fine particles and precursor
emissions can be transported a very long distance, essentially
internationally. Mr. Williams said that there is not yet the level of
understanding about the interplay among meteorology, climate, and fine
particles that exists for ozone.
Mr. Howard asked, from a regional standpoint, whether the experts have
looked at the correlation between precipitation and fine particulates. Ms. Lee
responded that, for PM2.5, it doesn’t seem as if there is a correlation
regarding the amount of rain or the humidity levels. The biggest correlation
seen so far is where the air is coming from and how much pollution is in the
air when it comes into our community. During the early part of February, there
were several areas to the north, including Indianapolis, that issued air
quality alerts that lasted for three to four days.
Mr. Williams reported that on March 15, the EPA issued the Clean Air
Mercury Rule. The EPA was under a court-ordered deadline to promulgate a rule
to reduce mercury emissions. By 2018, coal-fired utilities are obligated to
reduce their mercury emissions from a current level of 47 tons per year to a
level of 15 tons per year.
An article in The
Courier-Journal
quoted an Louisville Gas and Electric (LG&E) official as saying that there is
no immediate effect on LG&E from this particular rule because LG&E’s mercury
emissions are currently meet the first phase requirements. The mercury rule,
much like the CAIR Rule, has two phases, calling for short-term reductions and
additional long-term reductions. A representative of the plaintiff that
brought the litigation that required the EPA to promulgate this rule, the
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), was quoted after the rule was
proposed as saying that the NRDC didn’t believe that the proposed rule
satisfies the legal requirements. Mr. Williams concluded by saying that there
is likely to be continued litigation on the mercury rule.
Mr. Williams noted that Senate Bill 213, Senator Seum’s proposal
relating to the Air Pollution Control District, was assigned to a Senate
committee but was not given a hearing by the committee.
Mr. Williams highlighted the accomplishments of the
Lawn Care for
Cleaner Air Program. From March 2004 through January 2005, the District
awarded 906 rebates to people who traded in gasoline-powered equipment for
cleaner equipment. This new equipment included 422 electric mowers, 88 push
mowers, 30 batteries for battery-powered equipment, and 362 electric string
trimmers and blowers. The annual emission reductions from that set of
equipment is calculated to be 6.1 tons of VOCs, 53 tons of carbon monoxide,
0.7 tons of NOx, 0.16 tons of particulate matter, and 54 tons of carbon
dioxide. The District plans to continue this program.
Mr. Howard asked the District to evaluate the feasibility of
sponsoring an incentive program that would include automobiles, such as
switching to hybrid electric vehicles. Mr. Williams responded that the funding
would be the limitation to such a rebate program. There have been discussions
whether the resources would be available for such more expensive vehicles. Mr.
Williams said that aspects of the District’s outreach programs encourage
people to purchase cleaner vehicles, maintain their cars well,
and maintain the correct tire pressure. He said
that the District will look into this suggestion as well.
Air Quality Data
The air quality monitoring reports were submitted for filing.
A copy of each report is attached to the original minutes.
Enforcement Status
The APCD Enforcement Status
03/07/2005 
report was submitted for
filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.
-
Startup, Shutdown, Malfunction, and Emergency Report
The Malfunctions, Emergencies, Startups and
Shutdowns received 02/08/2005 through 03/07/2005
report was submitted for filing. A copy is attached to the original minutes.
Adjournment
The meeting adjourned at 10:03 a.m. The next regular Board Meeting is
Wednesday, April 20, 2005, at 9:00 a.m.
________________________
Karen Cassidy
Chair
_______/signed/_______
Jonathan L. Trout
Secretary-Treasurer