| Sept. 21, 2007
Measures to Reduce 76 Tons per Day of Oxides of Nitrogen
State and Southland air quality officials have announced an historic
agreement to reduce pollution from diesel trucks, commuter trains,
construction equipment and the ports to meet a federal health-based clean
air deadline in 2015.
“This agreement signals the dawn of a new day in cooperation between
state and local air quality agencies that will result in cleaner air,” said
Mary Nichols, chairman of the state Air Resources Board.
“Two of the most innovative air quality agencies in the world have joined
forces to mount some of the most aggressive measures ever proposed in order
to address the Southland’s air quality needs,” said Roy Wilson, Governing
Board Vice Chairman of the South Coast Air Quality Management District
(AQMD).
The two agencies, along with leaders of the Southern California
Association of Governments (SCAG), have reached agreement on measures to
reduce 76 tons per day of oxides of nitrogen (NOx), a building block to fine
particulate pollution. The reductions are essential to meet the federal
government’s 2015 deadline for achieving the health-based standard for fine
particulates, known as PM2.5.
“This will provide a rapid response to the many adverse health impacts
caused by today’s level of air pollution,” said Gary Ovitt, president of
SCAG’s Regional Council and an AQMD Governing Board Member.
The pollution cuts will be achieved by stringent mandatory regulations as
well as incentive programs. The agreement calls upon federal, state and
local governments to do their part in cleaning the Southland’s air.
The programs will include:
- ARB strengthening its control measures by requiring a comprehensive
modernization of private and port heavy-duty truck fleets in the region.
The measures will reduce 27 tons per day of NOx by 2014, equivalent to
replacing all pre-2006 trucks with those meeting stringent 2007 standards;
- The region asking the federal government to reduce locomotive
emissions prior to 2014 or provide funding for California air quality
officials to achieve equivalent reductions. This item calls for NOx
emission reductions by 10 tons per day;
- An AQMD measure to control pollution from commercial charbroilers and
wood burning to reduce particulate pollution by an amount equivalent to 11
tons per day of NOx;
- The region requesting local governments to dedicate about 40 percent
of vehicle registration fees they receive for air pollution-related
programs – about $10 million per year – specifically to reduce pollution
from heavy-duty trucks and other equipment. It would reduce NOx emissions
by about 4 tons per day;
- ARB and AQMD seeking $50 million in additional incentive funds to
retrofit Metrolink commuter locomotives with pollution control devices and
to further reduce emissions from port-related and other mobile sources.
It would reduce NOx emissions by 6 tons per day;
- AQMD achieving an additional 12 tons per day of NOx reductions by
opting in to a more stringent version of a statewide ARB rule reducing
pollution from construction and other off-road equipment;
- ARB achieving 3 tons per day of NOx reductions from measures
principally designed to reduce greenhouse gases under AB 32; and
- AQMD recognizing an additional 3 tons per day of NOx reductions from
funded Carl Moyer projects.
ARB’s Board will meet on September 27 at AQMD headquarters in Diamond Bar
to consider approving the new measures as part of AQMD’s 2007 Air Quality
Management Plan and ARB’s State Implementation Plan.
The Southland has the worst PM2.5 air pollution in the country. The
pollution is comprised of microscopic particles at least 30 times smaller
than the width of a human hair – some so small they pass from lung tissue
directly into the human bloodstream and circulate throughout organs in the
body. ARB estimates that PM2.5 pollution in the Southland is responsible
for as many as 5,000 premature deaths per year.
The measures agreed on this month by the agencies’ staffs provide the
missing piece of the puzzle in an overall plan to meet the federal PM2.5
standard by 2015. The federal government requires that reductions be in
place by 2014.
Regulations already adopted will reduce NOx emissions from about 1,000
tons per day today to 654 tons per day in 2014. AQMD’s 2007 Air Quality
Management Plan calls for a further 200 ton-per-day reduction to a final
level of 454 tons per day in 2014. Until this month, air quality officials
could only identify about 137 of the 200 tons of needed emission reductions.
AQMD is the air pollution control agency for Orange County and major
portions of Los Angeles, San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
The Air Resources Board is part of the California Environmental
Protection Agency. ARB's mission is to promote and protect public health,
welfare, and ecological resources through effective reduction of air
pollutants while recognizing and considering effects on the economy. The ARB
oversees all air pollution control efforts in California to attain and
maintain health based air quality standards.
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