Air Quality Task Force
February 27, 2004
Meeting Summary

Chairman Bruce Traughber opened the February meeting of the Louisville Metro Air Quality Task Force (Task Force). Fifteen Task Force Members were present, and Kate Hanratty, a University of Louisville student and intern for Representative Reginald Meeks, attended for Representative Meeks. A quorum of the Task Force was present. Chairman Traughber announced that Mary Ellen Kinser, Oldham County Judge/Executive, had been added as a member of the Task Force.

The next court hearing on the lawsuit to reinstate the Vehicle Emissions Testing (VET) Program would be on March 8. Judge Heyburn has indicated that he would make a ruling shortly after this hearing. The District has reached agreement with four Rubbertown Companies regarding voluntary reductions of 1,3-butadiene from three of the companies and chloroprene from the fourth. Mayor Jerry Abramson recently met with citizen advocates for a stronger air toxics program in Jefferson County. Chairman Traughber emphasized that both the VET shutdown and air toxics issues are being addressed by the Louisville Metro Air Pollution Control District (District).

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has indicated that the final portion of the 8-hour ozone implementation plan rules will not be available until June. It was suggested that major source permitting for the 8-hour ozone nonattainment area might be a problem during the next few months because the permitting requirement would not be known.

The Commonwealth of Kentucky has recommended that Jefferson County be designated as nonattainment for PM2.5. However, controls that are put into place to address the 8-hour ozone issue may help to reduce monitored levels of PM2.5.

Tim Hagerty, chairman of the committee to develop agendas for Task Force meetings (the committee also includes Dr. Larry Palmer and Arnita Gadson), said that it is important to start with a solid foundation of information, understood by all of the Task Force members, upon which to build the recommended 8-hour ozone attainment plan. He suggested, and the Task Force members agreed, that the following foundation pieces were important:

1. History and structure of the federal Clean Air Act
2. Regarding the 8-hour ozone and PM2.5 standards:
   1. What are the standards and how were they set?
   2. The health problems caused by these pollutants
   3. How economics come into play
   4. What needs to be done to meet the standards
3. History of compliance for the Louisville area with the federal standards, and what worked and what didn’t work to meet the standards
4. Good sense of local emissions inventory, including, for each VOC, the relative reactivity in creating ozone, whether the compound is toxic, and whether the compound is involved in the formation of fine particulates
5. What are the emission reduction options and what are other communities doing to reduce emissions?
6. What are the requirements for developing an attainment plan and what are the penalties for not meeting these requirements?

It was recognized that there may be disagreements on what emission reduction options make sense for the Louisville area, but it is important to start from the same understanding of the issues. While the Task Force has been asked to move expeditiously to develop a recommended attainment plan, it was agreed that the process should not move faster than the knowledge base of the members.

The Task Force members discussed the appropriate time and mechanism for seeking public input and participation in the Task Force process. It was agreed that the public should be encouraged to submit written or e-mail comments to the District which will be summarized and evaluated for the Task Force and the public. The District will add a mechanism to the Task Force portion of the District’s web page for seeking public input and recommendations on issues for education and discussion and providing information from the Task Force to the public, including feedback on issues raised by the public. The Task Force will allow 10 minutes at the end of meetings for public input. The Task Force will develop other mechanisms to allow the public to interact with the Task Force members.

Chairman Traughber reminded the Task Force that separate committees would be set up to provide focused information and discussion on various technical issues. It was also suggested that District staff be made available to Task Force members to provide information on specific technical issues.

The Task Force members agreed that Janet McCabe from the Indiana Department of Environmental Management should be invited to meet with the Task Force to provide the Indiana perspectives on the Louisville area issues. Likewise, John Lyons from the Kentucky Division for Air Quality should be invited to the same meeting to provide the Kentucky perspectives on these issues. The Task Force members also agreed that involvement with the Task Force by the EPA Region 4 staff should be requested.

Jon Trout, Assistant Director of the District, made a presentation on the history of the federal Clean Air Act (available from the District’s web site - see below).

The next Task Force meeting will be Friday, March 26, 2004, from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., in the District's Board Room, 850 Barret Avenue, Louisville.

See documents distributed at the meeting.