March 2000

• MATES II Study
• Draft Air Toxics Control Plan
• Rule 1402
• Fleet Rules

Following a landmark study on toxic air pollution in Southern California, the region’s air quality agency has adopted a comprehensive strategy to significantly reduce cancer-causing pollution.

Under the umbrella of a comprehensive draft Air Toxics Control Plan that sets the framework for additional toxic emission controls on vehicles and specific industries during the next 10 years, the South Coast Air Quality Management has:

• Strengthened the cancer risk limit for toxic emissions from major industrial and commercial facilities; and
• Proposed a series of fleet vehicle rules that would gradually shift public agencies and passenger airport operations to low-emissions and alternative fuel vehicles.

In March, AQMD’s Board received the final report on the Multiple Air Toxics Exposure Study II, the most comprehensive study ever of toxic air pollution in Southern California.

The two-year, $1.3 million study showed that motor vehicles and other mobile sources of air pollution are the predominant source of cancer-causing air pollutants in the Southland.

The study confirmed that the cancer risk from some air toxics in the Southland has declined by as much as 75% over the last decade. However, it also showed that based upon more extensive monitoring, the current cancer risk from toxic air pollution ranges from about 1,100 in a million to 1,750 in a million, with an overall regional risk of about 1,400 in a million. The higher risk levels were found in the urban core areas in central Los Angeles County.

The study showed that motor vehicles and other mobile sources accounted for about 90% of the cancer risk and industries and other stationary sources the remaining 10%. The study analyzed only cancer risk, though some of the pollutants cause other health problems too.

MATES II included a ground-breaking effort by AQMD to analyze the cancer risk from exposure to diesel particulate, which the California Air Resources Board listed as a carcinogenic air pollutant in 1998.

The research showed that diesel particulate posed the greatest cancer risk, responsible for about 71% of the total cancer risk from all toxic air pollution. The study showed the remaining sources of toxic pollution and their relative contributions to cancer risk are:

• Benzene, 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde, primarily from gasoline-burning vehicles, responsible for 18% of the cancer risk; and
• Hexavalent chromium, perchloroethylene, para-dichlorobenzene, methylene chloride, nickel, trichloroethylene and other compounds, primarily from stationary business and industrial facilities, responsible for 11% of the risk.

AQMD’s Governing Board ordered the study as part of the agency’s environmental justice initiatives adopted in late 1997. A panel of scientists from universities, an environmental group, businesses and other government agencies provided advice on the design and implementation of the study.

In March, AQMD’s Governing Board adopted a draft Air Toxics Control Plan outlining possible future actions to reduce toxic emissions. Staff plans to develop specific regulatory proposals that are under AQMD’s jurisdiction to implement the plan’s strategies. Elements of the plan include the fleet rules, amendments to Rule 1402, specific rules for the industries listed below and:

• Further reductions in diesel soot emissions by requiring cleaner fuel, cleaner engines and emission control devices; and
• New measures to reduce diesel emissions from truck idling, trains, ships and airports.

AQMD’s existing Air Quality Management Plan, designed primarily to reduce levels of ozone and other pollutants to federal health standard levels, will reduce today’s air toxic cancer risk by an additional 28% by 2010. But residents still will face an average cancer risk of 1,000 in one million with a risk up to 1,200 in one million in the urban core areas. The Air Toxics plan could reduce total cancer risk from toxic air pollution by an additional 31% beyond existing programs if all measures are implemented. Many of the measures will require actions by federal or state agencies.

In March, AQMD’s Governing Board also strengthened Rule 1402 – Control of Air Toxic Contaminants from Existing Sources.

The amended rule will better protect public health by:

• Reducing the maximum allowable cancer risk from an existing facility from 100 in one million to 25 in one million;
• Reducing the allowable non-cancer risk measured by a hazard index from 5.0 to 3.0;
• Cutting the time allowed to reduce toxic emissions from five to three years, while allowing extensions based on technical or economic criteria;
• Adding a new requirement for a maximum cancer burden of 0.5. The cancer burden represents the expected number of cancer cases that will result from the facility during a 70-year period.
• Establishing a process to reduce toxic emissions from eight specific industries; and
• Enhancing public notification and toxic emissions inventory requirements.

The rule may require almost 30 facilities, most of them in Los Angeles County, to reduce their toxic risk. The risk reductions would particularly benefit neighborhoods close to the facilities.

Facilities below the 100 in one million risk level may request renewable, two-year extensions to achieve the 25 in one million level if:

• No technology is commercially available to reduce their toxic emissions; or
• The cost to reduce toxic emissions exceeds $4 million per cancer case avoided and $18,000 per ton reduced if the toxic emissions are also smog-forming pollutants.

In addition to strengthening Rule 1402, AQMD plans to adopt specific technology-based rules within the next three years to reduce toxic emissions from up to 7,500 facilities. The industry categories and schedule for adopting rules affecting them are:

• Gas Stations
• Biomedical Sterilization
• Motion Picture Film Processing

• Aerospace Industry
• Dry Cleaning
• Metal Finishing

• Rubber Product Manufacturing
• Wood Furniture Stripping

If rules to regulate these industries are not adopted within three years, the proposed amendments to Rule 1402 would allow AQMD to request toxic inventories from facilities and possibly regulate them under the rule’s risk-based reduction requirements.

The measure also requires:

• More frequent progress reports and annual public notifications for facilities;
• Annual public meetings for facilities exceeding a risk of 100 in 1 million or a hazard index of 5.0; and
• Toxic emissions inventories for facilities that use specific cancer-causing chemicals but are not currently in the AB2588 Toxic Hot Spots Program.

Since 90% of the cancer risk from air pollution is due to vehicles and other mobile sources, AQMD has proposed a series of fleet rules to increase the number of low-emission and alternative fuel vehicles at public agencies and some private companies. In many cases, reducing emissions from mobile sources is more cost effective than doing so at industries and commercial businesses.

The primary target would be diesel trucks and buses, but the rule would cover passenger vehicles as well. Fleets of 15 or more government vehicles, transit and school buses, street sweepers, refuse trucks and taxis servicing airports would be required to purchase low-emission or alternative fueled vehicles when they choose to replace old models. The proposal does not mandate any schedule for vehicle replacement. Emergency and rescue vehicles operated by police, fire departments and hospitals would be exempted.

To implement the program, AQMD has proposed the following series of measures to be considered by the Governing Board during the next several months:

• Proposed Rule 1191 - Clean On-Road Light and Medium-Duty Public Fleet Vehicles
• Proposed Rule 1192 - Clean On-Road Transit Buses
• Proposed Rule 1193 - Clean On-Road Residential and Commercial Refuse Collection Vehicles
• Proposed Rule 1194 - Commercial Airport Ground Access
• Proposed Rule 1195 - Clean On-Road School Buses
• Proposed Rule 1196 - Clean On-Road Heavy-Duty Public Fleet Vehicles
• Proposed Amended Rule 431.2 – Sulfur Content of Liquid Fuels (to require a lower sulfur content for diesel fuel); and
• Proposed Amended Rule 1186.1 – Alternative Fuel Street Sweepers

AQMD is the air pollution control agency for all of Orange County and the urban portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.

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