REPORT:
Stationary
Source Committee
SYNPOSIS:
The Stationary Source Committee met Friday, February 24, 2006.
Following is a summary of that meeting. The next meeting will be March 24,
at 10:30 a.m., in Conference Room CC8.
RECOMMENDED ACTIONS:
Receive and file.
Ronald O. Loveridge, Chair
Stationary Source Committee
Attendance
The
meeting began at 10:35 a.m. Present were Ronald Loveridge, Jane Carney,
Gary Ovitt and Dennis Yates.
INFORMATIONAL ITEMS
1.
Annual
RECLAIM Audit Report for 2004 Compliance Year
Pang Mueller, Engineering
and Compliance Manager, presented this item. For compliance year 2004,
aggregate NOx and SOx emissions from RECLAIM facilities continue to be below
allocations. NOx emissions were below allocations by 2,524 tons (20%) and
SOx emissions were below allocations by 712 tons (17%). However, the
Governing Board amended RECLAIM rules in January 2005 to reduce the RTCs
supply for Compliance Year 2007 and all years after. The amendment will
achieve a total of 7.7 tons per day reduction in NOx emissions within the
RECLAIM program when fully implemented in 2011. NOx allocations at that
time will be below the current NOx emission levels. With anticipated NOx
emissions from new and expanded facilities operating between now and 2011,
staff anticipates a corresponding reduction of NOx emissions through
installation of control equipment at existing RECLAIM facilities.
Annual average NOx and
SOx RTCs prices for all compliance years were below $15,000 per ton. Prices
for future year NOx RTCs, especially those traded in multi-year streams,
increased during Calendar Year 2005. Annual average prices for RTCs valid
for Compliance Year 2008 and after were at the highest level since the start
of the program. Compliance Year 2008 NOx RTCs were traded at an annual
average price of $9,730 per ton and NOx RTCs for Compliance Year 2010 were
traded at an average price of $10,193 per ton. RTCs were also traded as a
block of RTCs valid for all years after a start year at a single price per
pound for the whole block. Average prices for these Infinite-year RTCs
blocks were $10,678 and $6,084 per ton of NOx and SOx infinite-year RTCs,
respectively. In Calendar year 2005, mutual funds started to participate in
the market and option to sell RTCs appeared for the first time.
Compliance year 2004
concluded with high compliance with allocation limits. Ninety-six percent
of the NOx RECLAIM facilities complied with their Allocations during
Compliance Year 2004. Failure to obtain sufficient RTCs to reconcile with
emissions was the leading cause of exceedance. A list of facilities that
exceeded allocations is maintained and updated by staff, and is available to
the public. All SOx RECLAIM facilities complied with allocation limits.
Board Member Dennis Yates indicated that some of the smaller size RECLAIM
facilities that are structural buyers are not able to afford to purchase
RTCs if the cost keeps approaching $15,000/ton.
2.
Proposed
Amended Rule 1178 – Further Reductions of VOC Emissions from Storage Tanks
at Refineries
Larry Bowen, Planning and
Rules Manager, presented this item. Rule 1178 is the rule that requires the
doming of petroleum storage tanks at large petroleum facilities. AQMD is in
the process of implementing the rule and some clarification in the rule is
necessary. The proposal makes clear that equivalent control technologies
can be used for floating roof drain covers and that mechanical shoe seals in
internal floating roof tanks need to extend a minimum of 12 inches above the
tank instead of the 24 required of external floaters. Mandating the larger
shoes for the internal floaters may affect the structural integrity of some
internal floating roofs. These amendments do not affect air quality or
emission limitations. Board Member Jane Carney wanted to make sure that
this proposal is shared with the industry early enough to allow industry to
provide any comments they may have.
WRITTEN
REPORTS
(This item was
taken out of order while Board Member Jane Carney was still present)
Jane Carney had a question regarding the
Penalty Report in relation to penalties assessed to TWA.
Peter
Mieras was not present at the meeting, but will be contacting her in the
near future regarding her concerns.
All
written reports were acknowledged by the Committee.
PUBLIC
COMMENTS
(This item was taken out of order while Board Member
Jane
Carney was still present)
There
were no public comments at this meeting.
“Committee
Member Jane Carney left the meeting for
agenda #3 due to a possible conflict of interest. Ms.
Carney announced that Inland Concrete Enterprises, Inc., Delilah Properties
and Maruhachi Ceramics of American, Inc. are sources of income for her.”
3.
Update of
Rule 1157 – PM10 Emission Reductions from Aggregate and Related Operations
Lee Lockie, Director of
Area Sources, presented this update. A Settlement Agreement in the Rule
1157 litigation was reached in early September 2005. In that agreement,
staff committed to meet with industry representatives on a number of issues,
including the emissions inventory, high wind exemption, opacity measurement,
use of chemical dust suppressants, and 100 foot plume restriction. Efforts
thus far have been focused on the emissions inventory, opacity monitoring,
and high wind exemption.
Staff has met with
industry representatives on a number of occasions (~10) thus far regarding
the emissions inventory. These meetings have been very productive and
valuable information was exchanged between the parties. However, staff and
industry are still not in agreement on several key issues, those being
throughput, hours of operation, and control efficiencies; however,
discussions are continuing. Staff has been working to refine the emissions
inventory. Additional data recently submitted by industry may be very
helpful in defining the material throughput.
Staff has conducted
several meetings regarding opacity monitoring and the validity of making
observations, including the use of the new, EPA approved, AQMD Method 9B in
determining plume opacities. These meetings have been beneficial relative
to understanding how the method is employed for compliance purposes. Field
visits to evaluate the effectiveness of the method, and its application to
aggregate and mining processes are being planned for next month.
The proposed rule
amendments regarding the high wind exemption provisions of the rule are on
track for a June 2006 public hearing.
Mr. Malcom Weiss,
representing the industry, expressed agreement with Ms. Lockie’s statement,
but did express concern over the amount of time that has been necessary to
attempt to resolve the technical issues related to the emissions inventory
and the use of exemption provided in the rule. He presented a handout with
a chronology of events and emissions inventory data.
The
meeting was adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
Attachment(s) (DOC
51 KB)
February 24, 2006 Committee Agenda (without its attachments)
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