HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/07/1999, C2 - CENTRAL COAST OZONE STUDY council °�_q
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CITY O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O
FROM: John Dunn,City Administrative Officer
Prepared By: Mike McCluskey,Public Works Director
SUBJECT: Central Coast Ozone Study
CAO RECOMMENDATION: Appropriate$2,500 from the General Fund Balance to help
offset the cost of the Central Coast Ozone Study performed
by the Air Pollution Control District
DISCUSSION
The local Air Pollution Control District recently wrote the CAO about an upcoming Central Coast
Ozone Study (CCOS) that will collect data in an effort to evaluate ozone formation and transport
across most of central and northern California. San Luis Obispo County is a nonattainment area for
the State ozone standards(specifically north county)and the study will try to determine the source
of the ozone and how it affects our county.
The cost of the CCOS will be $6-$7 million dollars with the Californian Air Resources Board,the
California Energy Commission and a few air districts providing the bulk of the funding. The cost
to our local Air Pollution Control District is between $110,000 and $125,000 of which only
$56,000 is available. Therefore the District has requested that numerous agencies, including the
City of San Luis Obispo, contribute to funding of the study. The District has requested a $2,500
contribution. The CAO feels that the study will help in understanding the county's air pollution
and ways to improve our air quality;and as such recommends the financial contribution.
FISCAL IMPACT
Based on interim results for 1998-99, adequate resources are available to fund this additional
appropriation and retain fund balance at minimum policy levels.
Attachments
1. Letter to John Dunn from the Air Pollution Control District dated 9/24/99
2. Letter to Air Pollution Control District from Air Resources Board dated 6/28/99
I:admin/car/airpollution control district
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AIR POLLl1`
CONTROL DI. ATTACHMENT 1
COUNTY OF SAN LUIS
September 24, 1999 flD ,=- 57-9.79
E C E uUE
John Dunn, City Adm' NO
City of San Luis Obispo
990 Palm St. CITY OF SAN LUIS OBISPO
San Luis Obispo CA 9140RUBLIC WORKS DEPARTh1E4T
Dear Mr. Dunn:
I am writing to encourage the City of San Luis Obispo to play a key role in determining future
directions air quality management will take in San Luis Obispo County. As you know, San Luis
Obispo County is currently a nonattainment area for the State ozone and PM10 (fine particulate)
standards. Since adoption of our first Clean Air Plan in 1991, air quality at all of our coastal
fmonitoring stations has shown steady improvement. However, ozone air quality in the north county
has declined over the same period. California Air Resources Board staff have performed a
comprehensive analysis of existing monitoring data which indicates that transport of pollutants from
both the San Joaquin Valley and Monterey Countymay be a significant contributor to our north county
ozone exceedances. Unfortunately, existing monitoring data is not sufficient to provide a definitive
answer.
An extensive air monitoring and analysis study will take place during the summer of 2000 to gather
scientific information about.ozone formation and transport over a broad geographic region. The
Central Coast Ozone Study(CCOS) is a massive data collection effort to evaluate ozone formation and
transport across most of central and northern California. The study area covers nearly two-thirds of the
state and includes twenty-six air districts, extending from the Pacific Ocean to east of the Sierra
Nevada and from Redding to the Mojave Desert. We need your support to help assure that the data
collected is thorough enough to answer remaining questions about ozone transport and formation
affecting our County.
CCOS will piggy-back on the California Regional PM10/2.5 Air Quality Study(CRPAQS), an even
larger particulate monitoring effort that will be conducted concurrently over the same area CRPAQS
is being developed and supported by a large consortium of federal, state and local air quality agencies,
state and local government, and affected industry, and will cost over$28 million. Integrating CCOS
into the particulate study allows a significant cost savings. The total budget for CCOS is currently
estimated at$647 million dollars,with the California Air Resources Board, California Energy
Commission and a few air districts providing the bulk of that funding.
CCOS is directed by a public-private committee consisting of the major participants. District staff is
participating on the Policy Committee and the Technical Committee. The Study will provide many air
districts, including ours,with much better tools for understanding our air quality problems. In
particular, it will provide critical information that will be used to better determine the contribution of
pollution from outside the County, especially via Monterey County and the San Joaquin Valley.
3433 Roberto Court • San Luis Obispo.CA 93401 • 805-781-5912 • FAX: 605-761-I�921_�y
deanair@sloapcd.dst.ca.us ❖ www.sloapcd.dst.ca.us 1.6� Ls
printed on recyded paper
Central Coast Ozone Study
September 24, 1999
Page 2
This information will help the District and Air Resources Board during the next Clean Air Plan update
to determine what additional control measures may be needed to achieve and maintain the health-based
air quality standards for ozone. It is my belief the study will show that there is significant transport
from both Monterey and the San Joaquin Valley, and that we will not be required to place heavy new
burdens on our businesses and citizens to meet the ozone standards. Additionally, measures may then
be taken in those upwind areas that will improve air quality in our County.
The District will be expending significant resources on the study, but we just don't have the funding
necessary to provide all of the monitoring needed. What we do need is an atmospheric profiler which
will provide data on winds aloft, allowing us to determine periods of transport into the County. The
cost of leasing this equipment for the period of the study is $90,000; we hope to split the cost of this
item with the Monterey Bay Unified Air Pollution Control District. We also need to establish a new
air monitoring station in the northeastern part of the County to track pollutants entering from the east.
This will cost between$55,000 and$60,000. Operational costs will probably run between$10,000 and
$20,000,not including District staff time.
The CCOS Technical and Policy Committees agree that the data gaps which currently exist require at
least this much additional monitoring(data from the existing District and ARB stations will be used in
the study)to allow assessment of ozone formation in San Luis Obispo County. The APCD Board has
identified up to $56,000 that may be available for the study. The total estimated cost for our
participation in CCOS ranges from$110,000 to $125,000,not including in-kind services. We plan to
maintain control of most or all of the local funding to assure that it is used for the local need, and the
East County Monitoring station will be retained and operated by the District for some time to come.
Because of the large size of the study area and the cost of such an intensive data collection effort,the
currently available fending for CCOS is not adequate to provide comprehensive data collection in all
areas. While our needs are viewed as important by other study participants, there are many competing
interests for where the available monitoring resources will be placed during the study. For San Luis
Obispo County to command the attention needed to have equipment placed where it will,give us the
information we need, we must come to the table with additional resources. I hope you will join us in
this effort by making a contribution to the District of$2,500 or whatever other amount you consider to
be appropriate.
Enclosed is a letter from the Executive Officer of the California Air Resources Board with a map of the
study area and brief description. Please call me,Larry Allen or Paul Allen at 781-5912 if you would
like additional information.
ASincer , i. Carr, APCD
c: Councilperson John Ewan
C2-3
Air Resources Board �.
Alan C.Lloyd,PhM. :>
Chairman
2020 L Street P.O.Box 2815 • Sacramento,California 95814 www.arb.ca.gov Gray Davis
.aston H.Hickox Governor
Secretary for
Environmental
Proterlion
June 28, 1999
ATTACHMENT 2
Mr. Robert Carr
Air Pollution Control Officer
San Luis Obispo County Air Pollution Control District
3433 Roberto Court
San Luis Obispo, California 93401-7126
Dear Mr. Carr:
I am writing to encourage your district to take an active role in both the design and
implementation of the Central California Ozone Study(CCOS) scheduled for the summer of
2000. The study domain will cover most of Northern and Central California, as shown on the
map in Attachment 1. The CCOS will take advantage of equipment already in the field for the
California Regional Particulate Matter Study(CRPAQS) to gather scientific information about
ozone formation and transport in a broad geographic domain. Data from CCOS will form the
foundation for ozone plans in 2003 —helping districts within the study area to prepare attainment
demonstrations for both the federal and State ozone standards. Because of the intensive resource
outlay required for a large-scale field study, CCOS will likely be the only opportunity to collect
the ozone data needed for attainment demonstrations for the next decade. Attachment 2 provides
a finther description of the ozone study.
Both the CRPAQS and the CCOS are guided by a Policy Committee composed of
representatives from local, state, and federal agencies, as well as the private sector. The Policy
Committee approves the recommendations of a Technical Committee and guides the overall
direction of study. It is important to have Policy Committee participation from districts that will
depend upon study information to develop future control strategies and attainment
demonstrations. At its May 21, 1999 meeting, current Policy Committee members discussed the
need to involve all affected air districts in the design of the ozone study. We strongly encourage
your district's participation—whether as a fimding sponsor, a contributor of in-kind resources, or
through active involvement in the Committee meetings.
The next meeting of the Policy Committee is scheduled for July 16 from 10 am. to
12:00 p.m. The meeting will be a teleconference with sites available at the ARB offices in
Sacramento,and at the San Joaquin Valley Unified Air Pollution Control District offices in
Modesto,Fresno and Bakersfield. The meeting will focus on the draft CCOS workplan which
can be downloaded at the following address: www.arb.cagov/ccags/CC08/ccos.htin. To obtain
a copy of the meeting notice or if you do not have web access and would like a copy of the draft
CCOS workplan,please contact Ms. Susan Paul at(916)322-6048.
California Environmental Protection Agency G2 4Printed on Recycled Papa
Mr. Robert Carr - 2 - June 28, 1999
In addition to the Policy Committee,the CRPAQS/CCOS organizational structure
includes a Technical Committee that oversees the research plans and recommends contracts to
the Policy Committee. The membership of the Technical Committee is similar to that of the
Policy Committee. We have also established workgroups to address specific topics, for example
Emission Inventory Coordination,Data Analysis and Modeling, and Meteorology. District
participation has been valuable in past technical workgroups, and we welcome your participation
at the Technical Committee and in individual workgroups. The next Technical Committee
meeting time and location will be posted on the website(www.arb.ca.gov/ccaqs/CCOS.)
To provide additional information about the CRPAQS/CCOS goals, outline the impact
the field study results will have on your district, and discuss how you can most effectively
participate in the design and implementation of the CCOS workplan, we have scheduled an
informational meeting for local air district planning staff. If you or your staff plan to participate
by conference call,please notify Ms. Kellie Williams at(916) 322-0285 so we can arrange
enough lines.
Thursday, July 8
10:00 am. - 11:30 am.
Air Resources Board, Second Floor
2020 L Street, Sacramento
Byphone
Call in number: (888)422-7109
Participant code: 375311
If you have any questions about the ozone study or the meeting,please contact
Ms. Lynn Terry,Deputy Executive Officer,at(916)322-2739.
Sincerely, A
Mich,/ae- 1 P. $ger n- e
Executive Officer
Attachments
cc: (with attachments)
Barbara Patrick, Chair of the Policy Committee
Stew Wilson, California Air Pollution Control Officers Association
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Attachment 2 +
CENTRAL CALIFORNIA OZONE STUDY
Most of central and northern California violates either the State or federal air quality standards for
ozone. The ozone problem is regional—precursor emissions and ozone are transported between
districts, in addition to being generated locally. The purpose of the Central California Ozone
Study(CCOS) is to better understand the nature of the ozone problem across the region, providing
a strong scientific foundation for the next round of State and federal attainment plans.
STUDY DESCRIPTION—CCOS is a multi-year study to examine ozone formation and
transport in central and northern California. It will provide emissions, meteorology, and air
quality data to use in grid-based photochemical models. The study area extends from
Redding in the north to the Mojave Desert in the south, and from the Pacific Ocean in the
west to the Sierra Nevada Mountains in the east. The study includes six main components:
• developing the experimental design of the field study(task is already underway);
• conducting an intensive field monitoring study scheduled for June-September 2000;
• quality assurance and quality control,plus data analysis;
• developing an emission inventory to support modeling;
• developing and evaluating a photochemical model for the region; and
• evaluating emission control strategies for the next ozone plans.
The field monitoring portion will update and refine previous work by capturing new air
quality and meteorological data using state-of-the-science monitoring equipment. Much of
this data will be collected continuously over the entire summer. However, to gain a better
understanding of the dynamics and formation of high ozone concentrations within the study
region, additional air quality data will be collected for up to 20 days during multi-day
ozone episodes. Aircraft and remote sensing instruments will measure special air quality
data at the surface and aloft during those episodes.
In addition to the air quality and meteorological data from the field study, improved emissions
estimates are a critical input for the photochemical model. An extensive effort is already
underway to improve the emission inventory within the study domain, and an Emission
Coordination Group has.been established to guide the inventory development. ARB, air districts,
the California Department of Transportation, and local transportation agencies are participating in
the group.
MANAGEMENT—CCOS is directed by the same public-private committee responsible for the
successful San Joaquin Valley Ozone Study and the planned California Regional PM10/2.5 Air
Quality Study. These studies are landmark examples of collaborative: environmental management.
The proven methods and established teamwork provide a solid foundation for CCOS.
BUDGET—At this time,about$5 million is available for the core field study—$2.25 million
from the ARB and$3 million from the California Energy Commission. The Policy Committee is
continuing to seek additional funding which would allow us to augment the study. CCOS is
integrated into the California Regional PM10/2.5 Air Quality Study which allows a significant cost
savings.
For more information, contact Terry McGuire, Chief Planning and Technical Support Division, at(916)322-5350
Carorma Emtvwn td Protection Agency 199
t$M1-3'h Air Resoumes Board