MEETING

STATE OF CALIFORNIA

AIR RESOURCES BOARD

BYRON SHER AUDITORIUM

SECOND FLOOR

1001 I STREET

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 95814

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2013

9:15 A.M.

TIFFANY C. KRAFT, CSR

CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER

LICENSE NUMBER 12277

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APPEARANCES

BOARD MEMBERS

Ms. Mary Nichols, Chairperson

Dr. John Balmes

Mr. Hectar De La Torre

Mr. John Eisenhut

Mayor Pro Tem Judy Mitchell

Mrs. Barbara Riordan

Supervisor Phil Serna

Dr. Alex Sherriffs

Dr. Daniel Sperling

STAFF

Mr. Richard Corey, Executive Officer

Mr. Alberto Ayala, Deputy Executive Officer

Ms. Edie Chang, Deputy Executive Officer

Ms. Lynn Terry, Deputy Executive Officer 

Ms. Ellen Peter, Chief Counsel

Ms. La Rhonda Bowen, Ombudsman

Mr. John Ellis, Manager, OBM Implementation Section, 

Engineering Studies Branch, MSCD

Ms. Jennifer Gress, Legislative Director

Ms. Elizabeth Melgoza, Air Pollution Specialist, Air 

Quality Data Branch, AQPS Division

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APPEARANCES

ALSO PRESENT

Mr. Louie A. Brown, Jr., Kahn, Soares & Conway, LLP

Mr. Tim Corcoran, Bureau of Automotive Repair

Mr. Casey Kramer, California Cotton Ginners and Growers 

Associations, Western Agricultural Processors Associations 

Mr. Bill Magavern, Coalition for Clean Air

Mr. Kevin Messner, AHAM

Mr. Sayed Sadredin, SCAQMD

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INDEX

PAGE

Consent Items 

13-10-1

Motion 5

Vote 6

13-10-2

Motion 6

Vote 6

13-10-3

Motion 6

Vote 7

13-10-5

Motion 7

Vote 7

Item 13-10-6

Chairperson Nichols 7

Executive Officer Corey 8

Staff Presentation 9

Mr. Sadredin 17

Mr. Kramer 22

Motion 23

Vote 23

Item 13-10-7

Chairperson Nichols 23

Executive Officer Corey 25

Staff Presentation 27

Mr. Brown 37

Item 13-10-8

Chairperson Nichols 38

Executive Officer Corey 40

Staff Presentation 41

Mr. Magavern 60

Mr. Messner 62

Adjournment 74

Reporter's Certificate 75 

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PROCEEDINGS

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Good morning, everybody. 

The November 21st, 2013, public meeting of the Air 

Resources Board will come to order. And I guess we'll 

begin as usual with the Pledge. 

(Thereupon the Pledge of Allegiance was

Recited in unison.)

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: The Clerk will please call 

the roll. 

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Dr. Balmes? 

BOARD MEMBER BALMES: Here. 

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Ms. Berg? 

Mr. De La Torre? 

BOARD MEMBER DE LA TORRE: Here.

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Mr. Eisenhut? 

BOARD MEMBER EISENHUT: Here. 

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Supervisor Gioia?

Mayor Pro Tem Mitchell? 

Mrs. Riordan?

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Here. 

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Supervisor Roberts? 

Supervisor Serna?

BOARD MEMBER SERNA: Here. 

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Dr. Sherriffs? 

BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Yes.

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BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Professor Sperling?

BOARD MEMBER SPERLING: Here.

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Chairman Nichols?

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Here.

BOARD CLERK JENSEN: Madam Chair, we have a 

quorum. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Great.

The usual announcements. Anyone who wants to 

testify should fill out a card and turn it into the Clerk. 

We will impose our usual three-minute time limit. 

The emergency exits are to the back of the room 

and to either side of the podium. And I think that's all 

I need to do by way of official announcements. 

Before we get to the consent calendar, I thought 

it might be a good idea actually to give a brief report 

since several of us were at the Los Angeles Auto Show 

yesterday and had an opportunity to see the fruits of some 

of our work in the form of some very attractive and 

desirable cars that are available for sale or lease. But 

particularly interesting that this year the focus is on 

the fuel cell vehicles. And there was one in particular 

very exciting announcement yesterday. I will to leave 

before the press announcement, so Dr. Albert Ayala was 

there. I'm going to ask Dr. Ayala to give us a brief 

summary of what was announced. 

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DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER AYALA: Thank you. Good 

morning. 

It was, indeed, a good day. As the Board knows, 

hydrogen fuel cell vehicles are going to be instrumental 

in our ability to reach our goals, not only for air 

quality, but also our climate goals. And as the Board 

also knows, we are very lucky that -- very fortunate that 

we've had ongoing and very significant State commitment to 

electric vehicles both in the form of battery electric 

vehicles and fuel cell vehicles. And it's also the case 

that the car makers, the OEMs, have made significant 

investment in developing the technology and getting it to 

the point where they can actually start selling it. 

And one of the good news stories that we all 

heard yesterday was an announcement from specifically 

Hyundai, who is rolling out the very first mass-produced 

commercially available fuel cell electric vehicle starting 

in the spring of 2014. 

What is significant about the announcement is 

that the car manufacturer has actually stepped it up and 

is taking a bigger roll in the development and deployment 

of infrastructure. As you all know, we are working very 

hard to make sure that the stations get built, that they 

get built where they really need to be built, and that 

they stay in operation so that when consumers start buying 

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the cars, they can go and refuel. 

Hyundai is taking direct approach, and they're 

basically -- the plan they have is a lease agreement where 

the fuel is included, unlimited fueling, so the consumer 

will essentially get the vehicle and they will have access 

to all the fuel they need. And in my view, I think this 

is really the game changing strategy because it helps us. 

It helps all of us that are trying to deploy the 

infrastructure to really take it to in next level and the 

next step, because truly the way these vehicles are going 

to succeed is from the consumer standpoint, it's a 

completely seamless transition. They should be able to 

use these vehicles and refuel them the same way that we've 

been doing it with conventional technology. 

And I was very impressed. We stuck around for 

the announcement. I think it is commendable. Obviously, 

it's a great day because the race is on. The question on 

the table is what are Honda going to do? What are Toyota 

going to do? What are some of the other OEMs that are 

also planning to deploy a fuel cell vehicles, what is 

going to be their strategy? 

All in all, I think it was the kind of enhanced 

commitment that we were looking for. And it was 

essentially worth sticking around for that announcement. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Yes. So yesterday was the 

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day for Air Resources Board folks mostly touring the 

global manufacturers groups and the Japanese and Korean 

offerings in particular. Some of us are going back again 

next week to look at more cars. There are a great array 

of plug-in vehicles, too. It looks like it's quite an 

exciting show. But I thought it would be a good idea to 

share this with everybody, because it's nice to see the 

progress that's happening there. 

Okay. Let's move to the consent calendar. We've 

got several items that don't require a hearing unless 

anybody wants to. They will come off of consent if there 

are any witnesses who have signed up to testify or Board 

members who request they come off consent. 

So the first of these items is the greenhouse gas 

quantification determination for the Santa Barbara County 

Association of Governments' Regional Transportation Plan 

and Sustainable Community Strategy. 

Madam Clerk, have we got any witnesses on this 

item? Are there any Board members who would like to have 

the off consent? Okay. If not, then I will close the 

record and ask the Board members if they've reviewed the 

Resolution. And if I can get a motion and a second. 

BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: I'd be happy to move the 

motion presented by staff on this item. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Do we have a second? 

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BOARD MEMBER BALMES: Second. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All in favor please say 

aye. 

(Ayes) 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? Okay. That's 

Santa Barbara. 

The next one is the 2013 updates to the 2009 

Sacramento Metro Ozone Nonattainment Area State 

Implementation Plan for the 1997 8-hour ozone standard. 

Mr. Serna, I trust you're familiar with this one. 

BOARD MEMBER SERNA: I would be happy to move it. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Is there a second? 

BOARD MEMBER BALMES: I'll second. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All right. All in favor 

please say aye. 

(Ayes) 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? 

Great. 

The next one is a research proposal. We have 

just one research proposal for this meeting. And if 

there's -- if everybody has had a chance to look at it, I 

think that can also go on consent. 

Do we have a motion on that? 

BOARD MEMBER BALMES: I'll move. 

BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: Second. 

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CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All in favor, aye. 

(Ayes) 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? 

Abstentions? 

And then the last one on consent is the PM2.5 

area designation recommendation for the revised federal 

PM2.5 annual standard. Again, no witness has signed up 

for this one. So I think we can go ahead and close the 

record and move that one as well. 

BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: I'd move approval, Madam 

Chairman. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All right. Second? Do we 

have a second? 

BOARD MEMBER BALMES: I'll second. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All in favor, please say 

aye. 

(Ayes)

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? None. Okay. 

So that was simple. Now, we move on to a 

slightly more complicated issue, which is the San Joaquin 

Valley 2013 1-Hour Ozone State Implementation Plan. 

This one has frustrated many of us I think 

because of its legal complexity. And apparently it would 

seem to defy common sense assistance that although U.S. 

EPA revoked the 1-Hour Ozone Standard in 2005, never the 

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less, we still have to submit a plan for this revoked 

standard. The Valley's 2013 plan addresses the remaining 

planning requirements. 

Mr. Corey is going to explain this all to us, and 

then we will take action on it. 

DEPUTY EXECUTIVE OFFICER COREY: Maybe I'll just 

explain some of it. 

Thank you, Chairman Nichols. 

The San Joaquin Valley is nearing attainment of 

the Federal 1-Hour Ozone Standard. However, it did not 

meet its 2010 attainment deadline. Although the U.S. EPA 

revoked the 1-Hour Standard in 2005, the Clean Air Act 

does not allow states to set aside any of the 

requirements. One of these requirements is an attainment 

demonstration. Hence, the need to continue to develop a 

plan to meet the standard. 

The good news is that the strategies developed to 

meet the more stringent 8-Hour Ozone Standard are the same 

as those needed to meet the 1-Hour Ozone Standard. 

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control 

District prepared this 1-Hour Ozone Plan demonstrating how 

these strategies bring the area into attainment by 2017. 

I'll now ask Elizabeth Melgoza of the Air Quality 

Planning and Science Division to give the staff 

presentation. 

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Elizabeth. 

(Thereupon an overhead presentation was 

presented as follows.)

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: Thank you, Mr. 

Corey. 

And good morning, Chairman Nichols and members of 

the Board. 

Today, I will describe the San Joaquin Valley 

2013 State Implementation Plan for the Federal 1-Hour 

Ozone Standard you have before you begin today. 

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: I'll begin by 

providing background on the ozone air quality planning in 

the San Joaquin Valley, including why this plan is needed. 

Next, I'll describe attainment status with 

respect to the 1-Hour Ozone Standard and how close the 

Valley currently is to meeting this standard. 

Finally, I'll highlight ongoing 8-Hour ozone 

planning efforts in the Valley.

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: The Clean Air 

Act requires EPA to set air quality standards and directs 

areas that violate those standards to develop the State 

Implementation Plan, or SIP. The SIP documents how the 

area will attain the standard. 

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The San Joaquin Valley currently has planning 

requirements for both the 1-Hour and 8-Hour ozone 

standards. The Valley's most recent 8-Hour ozone SIP was 

approved by EPA in 2012, showing how they will meet the 

8-Hour Ozone Standard of 84 parts per billion by 2023. A 

more stringent 8-Hour Ozone Standard of 75 parts per 

billion was established by EPA in 2008, which requires a 

new SIP in 2016. 

Prior to establishing the 8-Hour Ozone Standard, 

the national standard was a 1-Hour Ozone Standard set at 

124 parts per billion. Although EPA revoked this standard 

in 2005, most of the Clean Air Act planning obligations 

remain, including the requirement that regions develop 

SIPs that show how they will attain the revoked standard. 

Therefore, the San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution 

Control District prepared the 2013 1-Hour plan to meet the 

remaining federal planning requirements for the 1-Hour 

Ozone Standard.

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: In 2004, the 

Valley districts prepared a plan to address the 1-Hour 

ozone planning requirements for extreme areas. That plan 

showed that the Valley would attain the 1-Hour Ozone 

Standard by 2010. Although the Valley is close to meeting 

the standard, the region did not attain the standard in 

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2010. This plan before you today is a replacement for the 

2004 plan and includes updated air quality modeling and 

emission inventories. 

This plan also includes all other applicable 

extreme area SIP requirements as specified in the Clean 

Air Act. This plan is based on the benefits of ARB and 

the district control measures adopted subsequent to the 

2004 plan, resulting in significant reductions of 

ozone-forming precursors which are predicted to bring the 

Valley into attainment by 2017, if not much sooner.

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: As mentioned 

in the prior slide, the Valley is close to meeting the 

1-Hour Ozone Standard of 124 parts per billion. A 

violation of the 1-Hour Ozone Standard occurs when there 

are four or more exceedances at any monitoring site in a 

three-year period. 

In the 1990s, ozone exceedances in the Valley 

occurred more than 50 days a year. In 2012, the number of 

exceedance days dropped to three, with none occurring in 

2013. As a result of this progress, only one location, 

the Fresno Drummond monitoring site, violates the 

standards. 

The district is preparing exceptional event 

documentation for one of the exceedances in 2012 and will 

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send the evaluation to ARB and EPA sometime next year. An 

exceptional event is an exceedance due to a source such as 

a wild fire that is beyond an agency's control. If EPA 

approves the exceptional event, Fresno Drummond would then 

be considered in attainment. 

Despite the improvement in 1-Hour ozone air 

quality that has occurred since the 1990s, the Valley is 

still significantly over the 8-Hour Ozone Standards. This 

past summer, the Valley exceeded the 8-Hour Ozone Standard 

on more than 90 days. Therefore, attaining the 1-Hour 

Ozone Standard is a milestone in the long-term goal of 

attaining the more stringent 8-Hour Ozone Standards in 

2023 and 2032. 

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: Examining the 

nature of the Valley's 1-Hour ozone problem in more detail 

shows that historically 1-Hour ozone exceedances occurred 

throughout the Valley, but were more common in Fresno and 

Bakersfield regions. 

In Fresno County, there are seven ozone 

monitoring locations. Over the years, two of these 

locations, Clovis and Fresno Drummond have alternated in 

recording the highest one-hour ozone concentrations in the 

Fresno area. Ozone concentrations at the Clovis site have 

declined over the years, and this location attains the 

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1-Hour Ozone Standard as of this year. The Fresno 

Drummond site is now the only remaining site violating the 

standard in the Fresno area.

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: Moving to the 

south, in the Bakersfield-Arvin area, there are six 

monitoring locations. Two of these locations, Arvin and 

Edison, have alternated in recording the highest 1-Hour 

ozone concentrations in the Bakersfield area. 

Concentrations have declined throughout the region, and 

Edison attained the 1-Hour Ozone Standard in 2011. 

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: In addition to 

the exceptional event analysis I mentioned earlier, a 

determination of attainment will require resolving air 

quality monitoring issues in the Arvin area. 

ARB maintained an air quality monitoring station 

at the Arvin-Edison water storage district facility from 

1989 through 2010. At times, the site measured the 

highest ozone levels in the Valley. 

After ARB lost its lease for the site, located on 

Arvin Bear Mountain Boulevard in Arvin, a new site about 

two miles to the north near an elementary school was 

established. 

Before the old site was closed, we were able to 

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monitor at both the old and new Arvin sites during the 

summer of 2010. However, to further evaluate variability 

in ozone concentrations in the Arvin region, this past 

summer the district conducted a special saturation 

monitoring study.

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: The saturation 

study consisted of 23 ozone monitors set up in 21 

different locations as shown on the map on this slide. 

These monitors will provide information on the 

relationships between ozone concentrations at the new 

monitoring site, the prior Bear Mountain site and other 

locations within the town of Arvin during the peak ozone 

season. 

We anticipate the study report will be finalized 

by the end of the first quarter of 2014. In addition, as 

part of ongoing work, ARB staff have developed a 

statistical method to account for missing air quality 

data. The results of this work, along with the saturation 

study, will provide the information necessary for ARB, the 

district, and EPA to evaluate the near-term attainment 

status related to the 1-Hour Ozone Standard as well as 

determining longer-term monitoring needs for the 8-Hour 

Ozone Standard.

--o0o--

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AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: The 

significant progress in reducing 1-Hour ozone levels in 

the Valley has occurred as a result of ongoing reductions 

in NOx emissions. The chart on this slide shows the 

downward trend of NOx emissions from 1990 through 2020. 

These emission reductions are due to control measures 

adopted by the ARB and the district that are bringing the 

Valley into attainment of the 1-Hour Ozone Standard. 

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: The Clean Air 

Act requires the use of air quality modeling to relate 

ozone levels to emissions in a region and simulate future 

air quality based on changes in emissions. Modeling uses 

emission inventories with measurements of meteorology and 

air quality to establish this relationship. 

Consistent with EPA guidelines, ARB modeled air 

quality to predict the future 1-Hour ozone concentrations 

at each monitoring site in the valley. The modeling used 

a base year of 2007 and a future year of 2017. The 2017 

attainment year meets the attainment time frame specified 

in the Clean Air Act. 

The modeling shows that all sites in the Valley 

will have attained the 1-Hour ozone standard by 2017 based 

on implementation of ongoing ARB and district control 

programs. 

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The 2013 addresses all applicable Clean Air Act 

requirements for an extreme nonattainment area, which 

includes a summer season emission inventory, a reasonably 

available control measure demonstration, an attainment 

demonstration for 2017, a rate of progress demonstration, 

contingency measures, provisions for clean fuels and 

technologies for boilers, and a vehicle miles traveled 

offset demonstration. 

The 2013 plan also includes a weight of evidence 

demonstration that examines air quality trends. These 

trends are consistent with the results of the modeled 

attainment demonstration that indicate the Valley will 

attain by 2017. 

--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: The Valley has 

made great progress in lowering 1-Hour ozone 

concentrations as well as progress towards attainment of 

the 8-Hour Ozone Standard by 2023. 

In 2016, we will be looking beyond 2023 with a 

plan to attain the revised 8-Hour Ozone Standard by 2032. 

In addition, next year ARB will update the air 

quality modeling as committed to in the eight-our ozone 

plan that was approved by EPA in 2012. This update will 

reflect the latest emission inventory estimates developed 

for the region.

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--o0o--

AIR POLLUTION SPECIALIST MELGOZA: That concludes 

staff's review of the 2013 1-Hour Ozone Plan. This plan 

is complete and meets the requirements of the Clean Air 

Act. 

Staff recommends that the Board approve the San 

Joaquin Valley's 2013 State Implementation Plan for the 

Federal 1-Hour Ozone Standard. 

Thank you. And staff is prepared to answer any 

questions you may have. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you. 

Despite the complexity of this, we are using this 

opportunity as a way to continue to move forward on one of 

our more challenging air quality areas. And I think it's 

great. Seems as though everything is on track. 

We do have two witnesses who have signed up, the 

first being the Air Pollution Control Officer from the San 

Joaquin Valley, Sayed Sadredin, and he'll be followed by 

Casey Kramer. 

Good morning, Sayed. 

MR. SADREDIN: Good morning, Madam Chair and 

members of the Board. 

First of all, I want to thank your staff, in 

particular, Lynn Terry and her staff for the great work 

they did in exercising their dual role of both helping us 

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with the modeling and some of the strategies that involved 

mobile source emissions reductions and also their 

oversight responsibilities and making sure that they hold 

our feet to the fire to make sure everything that we do 

satisfies the legal requirements. 

I may go a minute two or over the time allotted. 

I have one other staff member -- 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: We'll give you permission. 

It's a pretty short agenda this morning. 

MR. SADREDIN: I wanted to share some great news 

related to this item. Staff has alluded to performance 

that's been made. Last week in San Joaquin Valley, we had 

major celebrations up and down the Valley, which was 

extensively covered by the broadcast media, print media, 

and a really a sense of pride in San Joaquin Valley after 

years of having that black mark in terms of air quality to 

have the first sign of huge achievement doing something 

that none of us thought would happen in our lifetime. 

That was a great opportunity for the Valley to really 

reflect back on the efforts that have worked. 

Just to share some statistics with you, in 1996, 

we had 281 hours over the standard. In 2012, only seven 

hours. And 2013, as your staff mentioned, zero hours. 

We're not talking about days anymore of 

exceedance of the standard; we're talking about hours. We 

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might be one hour away, depending on what the sort of 

analysis you want to use from attaining the standard. 

And this wasn't just some lucky, you know, turn 

of events but climate or meteorology. We had strings of 

triple digit temperatures, huge wild fires, the Rim Fire 

you might have heard about that in the area. But in spite 

of that, we had zero violations. That's something that 

never happened in the recorded history of San Joaquin 

Valley. 

But really I want to take the opportunity to 

thank you for helping us to achieve that. I think this 

might be the first concrete evidence that your much talked 

about controversial truck rule may actually be paying some 

dividends because this is all about NOx in San Joaquin 

Valley. Fifty percent of our NOx emissions come from 

trucks. And there was no way that we could see this 

progress without significant reductions in NOx emissions. 

This is -- again, I know the decline in the 

1-Hour Ozone Standard. But I think it's important as we 

reflect on this major historic achievement becoming the 

first region in the nation to go from extreme 

non-attainment to attainment of the standard that we 

should take some time and tank the people that made this 

possible. I think first and foremost the investment by 

the businesses, the farmers, the dairy families in San 

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Joaquin Valley. Our estimate is they spend over $40 

million in complying our regulations, modernizing their 

facilities. And without their investment and sacrifice, 

we could not see this achievement. 

And also the residents. Valley residents have 

historically listed air quality throughout the years 

through various economic cycles, with crime, immigration 

being a concern to them, they always ranked air quality as 

a top quality of life issue that they cared about. And 

that care really helped support some of the tough 

decisions we had to make in San Joaquin Valley to achieve 

what we had to do. 

So I want to thank the Valley residents. In 

recent years, we're actually asking them to do things 

themselves to reduce air pollution. Last year, for 

instance, we instituted the Air Alert Program, which is 

similar to our no burn day for fireplaces. We had days 

when the district was projecting based on meteorology 

potential exceedences of the 1-Hour Ozone Standard and we 

asked people on those days to do what they can to cut back 

on driving, idling and all that. And I think they 

responded to that. The last five or six stubborn hours we 

had over this 1-Hour standard, I think the public's work 

on that was crucial as well. 

And also on the 8-Hour Ozone Standard, which is 

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really one of the conclusions that we can reach from this 

whole exercise that we've gone through, our journey toward 

clean air is not over. We still have some ways to go. As 

you can see even for the 8-Hour Ozone Standard, there has 

been significant achievement both for the '97 standard and 

2008 standard. 2013 was the cleanest year on record. 

Thirty-three violations for the '97 standards and 91 for 

the 2008 standard. We still have a long ways to go and we 

really -- as we thank these groups that helped us get 

there, I have to tell them that we have to come back to 

them for more. Hopefully they have some confidence what 

we have asked of them to do and their investment and 

sacrifice has paid off, and that would be a good 

foundation for the more that we have to ask them. 

With that, I thank you for your time and 

attention and ask that you approve your staff 

recommendation. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you. 

And congratulations to you and your Board. I 

know it hasn't been easy for you all the time either. I 

understand sometimes your Board meetings can be even more 

contentious than some of ours. So I really want to thank 

you for your persistence. And the partnership has been 

great. 

Let's hear from Mr. Kramer, and then we'll go to 

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the Board for any discussion. 

MR. KRAMER: Good morning, Chair Nichols and 

Board of the members. 

Casey Kramer with the California Cotton Ginners 

and Growers Associations and Western Agricultural 

Processors Associations. 

We're a part of a group of other agricultural 

organizations that formed the Air Coalition Team Act that 

watched this progress that as happened in the San Joaquin 

Valley very closely. Some of the other members of 

Agriculture Coalition are the Rice Commission, rice 

industry, cotton, citrus, Neisi Farmers League, Grape and 

Treefruit League, and several of the valley farm bureaus 

all participating and seeing that progress is made in the 

San Joaquin Valley. 

I just want to highlight one of the things that 

Sayed did not highlight is that this progress happened a 

lot because of the incentives that were available in 

helping our farmers and ranchers replace a lot of 

tractors. It's achieving a lot of emission reductions 

prior to any regulation. And that I think helped San 

Joaquin in achieving that 2013 no violation. 

So I'm here today just to support your approval 

of this plan. And we look forward to working with you as 

things get even more challenging. Thank you very much. 

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CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you, Mr. Kramer. 

The agricultural industry has really pushed the 

incentives approach I think from the very beginning and 

obviously has had a lot of success with that. So 

congratulations to you, too. All right. 

Are there any questions of the Board members have 

on this item? If not, I'm going to ask Dr. Sherriffs to 

move it.

BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: With pleasure. So 

moved. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All right. Do we have a 

second? 

BOARD MEMBER SERNA: Second. 

BOARD MEMBER DE LA TORRE: Second. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All those in favor, please 

say aye. 

(Ayes) 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? 

Any abstentions? 

Great. Thanks. 

BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: It's a real pleasure to 

have this item. Congratulations, everybody note rear. 

CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: The next item on the agenda 

is the report to the Board on this year's air quality and 

climate legislative. And while Jennifer Gress, our 

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