BOARD MEETING 

 STATE OF CALIFORNIA 

 AIR RESOURCES BOARD 

 JOE SERNA, JR. BUILDING 

 CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY 

 BYRON SHER AUDITORIUM, SECOND FLOOR 

 1001 I STREET 

 SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA 

 THURSDAY, JANUARY 22, 2009 

 9:00 A.M. 

 TIFFANY C. KRAFT, CSR, RPR 

 CERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER 

 LICENSE NUMBER 12277 

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 APPEARANCES 

 BOARD MEMBERS 

 Ms. Mary D. Nichols, Chairperson 

 Dr. John R. Balmes 

 Ms. Sandra Berg 

 Ms. Dorene D'Adamo 

 Ms. Lydia Kennard 

 Mrs. Barbara Riordan 

 Mr. Daniel Sperling 

 Mr. John Telles 

 Mr. Ken Yeager 

 STAFF 

 Mr. James Goldstene, Executive Officer 

 Mr. Tom Cackette, Chief Deputy Executive Officer 

 Ms. Ellen Peter, Chief Counsel 

 Mr. Michael Scheible, Deputy Executive Officer 

 Ms. Lynn Terry, Deputy Executive Officer 

 Ms. Kathleen Quetin, Ombudsman 

 Mr. Albert Ayala, Chief, Climate Change Mitigation and 

 Emissions Branch 

 Mr. Tony Brasil, In-Use Control Measures SEction 

 Mr. Richard Corey, Assistant Chief, RD 

 Ms. Susan Gilbreath, Ph.D., Population Studies Section, 

 Research Division 


The following pages are the transcript of the 

California Regional Haze Plan hearing only.
 232 

 1 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All right, ladies and 

 2 gentlemen. I believe we have one more item. 

 3 The next item that's before us is the California 

 4 Regional Haze Plan. And this is a change of pace from 

 5 what we've been working on for a while here. Shows how 

 6 the State is going to improve visibility in California's 

 7 wilderness areas and parks. We have a number of them that 

 8 are of great value to not only Californians, but to people 

 9 all over the world. And the Federal Clean Air Act 

10 protects the visibility over those places. And so one of 

11 our obligations is to develop a plan for maintaining 

12 visibility. 

13 And now we're going to hear the staff's proposal, 

14 Mr. Goldstene. 

15 EXECUTIVE OFFICER GOLDSTENE: Thank you, Chairman 

16 Nichols. 

17 As you'll hear today, California has 29 

18 wilderness areas and National Parks which requires 

19 specific visibility protection. This plan lays the 

20 framework for what could be achieved in the next ten years 

21 on a long-term path towards reaching natural visibility 

22 conditions. It's been developed in conjunction with our 

23 partners in the neighboring western states. 

24 I'm pleased to report that we expect to improve 

25 visibility at all California areas by the first milestone 

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 1 year of 2018. This projected visibility improvement is 

 2 due to the actions that the Board and local air districts 

 3 have taken to meet health-based air quality standards. 

 4 I'll now ask Tina Suarez-Murias from the Planning 

 5 and Technical Support Division to present this item. 

 6 Tina. 

 7 (Thereupon an overhead presentation was 

 8 presented as follows.) 

 9 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Thank you, Mr. Goldstene. 

10 Good afternoon, Chairman Nichols and members of the Board. 

11 Today, I will present staff's proposed plan to 

12 improve visibility at significant parks and wilderness 

13 areas in California by 2018. 

14 This is the first step in a long-term national 

15 initiative to improve visibility in these special natural 

16 areas. Unlike State Implementation Plans, which require 

17 specific targets and attainment dates, this plan provides 

18 for a series of interim goals to ensure continued 

19 progress. 

20 --o0o-- 

21 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: I will review the 

22 requirements for this plan, summarize current visibility 

23 conditions and its causes, and discuss the existing air 

24 pollution controls in California that will improve 

25 visibility by 2018. I will also explain the context for 

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 1 future planning beyond 2018 and conclude with the staff 

 2 recommendation. 

 3 --o0o-- 

 4 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Very low concentrations of 

 5 particulate air pollutants that affect public health also 

 6 impair visibility. When we reduce man-made particulate 

 7 matter in the air, we also improve visibility. 

 8 The long-term national goal is to achieve 

 9 visibility reflecting natural conditions in the most 

10 treasured natural areas by 2064. The plan before you 

11 today sets California's visibility goals for 2018, the 

12 first milestone. 

13 The Regional Haze Rule specifies what elements 

14 must be in the plan and describes the process each State 

15 must follow to establish specific goals for improving 

16 visibility, both within the state and in neighboring 

17 states. 

18 Reducing haze is a regional issue. This plan 

19 sets forth California's visibility goals and represents 

20 our element of a broader western regional effort. 

21 California has therefore worked closely with our partners 

22 in the other western states to develop this plan through 

23 the Western Regional Air Partnership. 

24 --o0o-- 

25 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: As I noted in the previous 

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 1 slide, particulate matter pollution is the main 

 2 contributor to poor visibility. The sources that we are 

 3 addressing in PM non-attainment areas are the same ones 

 4 that we also impact visibility: Nitrates, sulfates, and 

 5 directly emitted particulates. Thus, the control programs 

 6 that are providing emissions reductions for these 

 7 non-attainment areas will also provide visibility 

 8 benefits. As such, our ongoing health-based control 

 9 program will continue to address needed incremental 

10 visibility improvements as we proceed towards the 

11 long-term goal of natural conditions. 

12 --o0o-- 

13 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: This slide shows the impact 

14 of extreme visibility impairment. Both photos were taking 

15 from the same spot on different days in the same year. 

16 While these photographs were taken a number of years ago, 

17 they are still representative of the types of very good 

18 and very bad visibility days that we still see today. 

19 Most days fall in between these two extremes. 

20 The day on the right represents the very low particulate 

21 matter concentrations that can occur after a rain storm, 

22 resulting in pristine vistas. 

23 In contrast, the day on the left illustrates how 

24 the view of Half Dome can be significantly obscured when 

25 smoke from wildfires is overlaid with transport of PM from 

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 1 upwind urban areas. 

 2 The rule requires California to improve 

 3 visibility on worst days and to assure that current 

 4 visibility on the best days can be maintained. 

 5 --o0o-- 

 6 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Yosemite is one of the 156 

 7 parks and wilderness areas throughout the United States 

 8 selected by the Federal Land Management Agencies and 

 9 designated by Congress as deserving special visibility 

10 protection. These are known as the Class 1 areas. 

11 California has 29 Class 1 areas, more than any 

12 other state. They are distributed throughout the state 

13 and are managed by either the US Forest Service or the 

14 National Park Service. Staff worked closely with 

15 representatives of these agencies while developing the 

16 plan components. 

17 --o0o-- 

18 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: These pictures of five Class 

19 1 areas in California highlight the diversity of 

20 locations. They include coastal sites such as Point Reyes 

21 National Seashore and Redwoods National Park; locations in 

22 the far northern high plateau such as Lava Beds National 

23 Monument, and Lassen Volcanic National Park; areas in the 

24 Sierra Nevada such as the John Muir Wilderness and the 

25 Sequoia and Yosemite National Parks; and in southern 

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 1 California, places such as the Joshua Tree National Park 

 2 in southern desert. 

 3 --o0o-- 

 4 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: The Regional Haze Rule 

 5 establishes the key elements required for a statewide 

 6 Regional Haze Plan. 

 7 Current visibility for best and worst days at 

 8 each Class 1 area must be established for monitoring data 

 9 during the baseline years 2000 through 2004. Natural 

10 visibility conditions to be achieved by 2064 are 

11 determined by the U.S. EPA. 

12 The plan must contain a control strategy to 

13 reduce haze pollutants in the first ten-year planning 

14 period ending in 2018. States must evaluate large, older 

15 stationary sources with high emissions and affirm that 

16 they are being controlled with best available retrofit 

17 technology. The plan explains how California's reasonable 

18 progress goals for 2018 for each of the Class 1 areas are 

19 appropriate. 

20 Finally, the plan must be developed in 

21 consultation with the appropriate federal agencies and 

22 other states in the region. 

23 --o0o-- 

24 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Although California's Class 1 

25 areas are diverse in landscape and subject to different 

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 1 meteorology and pollutant influences, we do see similar 

 2 patterns emerge. These are related to the proximity of 

 3 natural and man-made emission sources impacting each of 

 4 the areas. 

 5 Class 1 areas in the northern Sierra Nevada and 

 6 far northern California currently have the best visibility 

 7 in the state. In contrast, the poorest visibility occurs 

 8 in the southern Sierra Nevada Class 1 areas and at those 

 9 in the southern California which are downwind of the San 

10 Joaquin Valley and the South Coast. 

11 However, these two areas are the key focus of 

12 ongoing control efforts to attain federal PM and ozone 

13 standards and therefore will see significant future 

14 emission reductions. 

15 The good news is that visibility is already 

16 improving at many Class 1 areas in California due to 

17 ongoing reductions in man-made emissions. However, 

18 current visibility at California's Class 1 areas is still 

19 1.5 to three times above natural conditions on worst days, 

20 hence the need to set further visibility improvement 

21 goals. 

22 --o0o-- 

23 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Currently, visibility at 

24 California's Class 1 areas is impacted by both emissions 

25 transported from upwind urban areas as well as wildfire 

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 1 smoke and biogenic emissions from natural vegetation. 

 2 On the worst days, transport of nitrate and 

 3 sulfate in southern California is the key driver of haze 

 4 in this sub-region of the state. 

 5 In the Sierra Nevada mountains, both wildfire 

 6 smoke and transported nitrates are the major causes of 

 7 haze on worst days. 

 8 In far northern California, wildfire smoke 

 9 emissions are the predominant cause of haze on the worst 

10 visibility days. 

11 Finally, along the coast, natural sea salt along 

12 with off-shore shipping emissions are some of the key 

13 contributors. 

14 --o0o-- 

15 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: California is required to set 

16 reasonable progress goals for the first milestone year 

17 2018. The plan shows that the extensive controls that 

18 California has already adopted will improve visibility at 

19 all of the California's Class 1 areas. 

20 These controls will also have a beneficial affect 

21 on Class 1 areas in other states. These goals reflect the 

22 combination of California's Emission Control Program, 

23 emissions from natural sources, and contributions from 

24 sources outside of California. 

25 --o0o-- 

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 1 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: As noted on the previous 

 2 slide, California's already adopted measures that are the 

 3 basis of the 2018 reasonable progress goals. And thus, 

 4 there are no new control requirements for regional haze 

 5 purposes. 

 6 California has a long history of air pollution 

 7 control to address federal and State air quality 

 8 standards, which will also provide visibility benefits. 

 9 This slide simply highlights many of California's key 

10 programs, such as the Mobile Source Control Program, Goods 

11 Movement, incentive funding, and local air district 

12 measures. As a result of these efforts, NOx emissions, a 

13 key PM and haze precursor, will decline by 40 percent by 

14 2018. 

15 --o0o-- 

16 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: One special requirement of 

17 the Regional Haze Rule is the application of best 

18 available retrofit technology, or BART, to older 

19 stationary sources. ARB staff worked closely with the air 

20 districts to evaluate current controls on these sources. 

21 After review and assessment of modeled visibility 

22 impacts, only one facility required a determination of 

23 whether additional controls were necessary for the purpose 

24 of the Regional Haze Rule. This facility is the Valero 

25 Refinery in Benicia, which has visibility impacts at Point 

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 1 Reyes National Seashore. 

 2 The Bay Area District conducted the BART 

 3 determination and concluded that the appropriate BART 

 4 limits should be based on a combination of the district's 

 5 existing federally enforceable rules and permit 

 6 conditions, as well as a U.S. EPA consent decree. 

 7 Since the release of the draft plan, the district 

 8 has clarified several aspects of the BART determination. 

 9 These include how the district rules and the consent 

10 decree are referenced, as well as a correction for the NOx 

11 limits. 

12 While further control of NOx from boilers at the 

13 facility may occur in the future under California's more 

14 stringent state requirements, the Bay Area clarified that 

15 the existing level of NOx control meets the national BART 

16 requirements. ARB staff proposes that the Board also 

17 approve these clarifications. 

18 --o0o-- 

19 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: The Regional Haze Rule 

20 requires a long-range planning process with plan revisions 

21 and interim mid-course reviews. The plan before you today 

22 anticipates a mid-course review by 2013 to evaluate our 

23 progress towards the 2018 goals, including reviewing the 

24 control strategy and the goals. We expect that we will 

25 coordinate this mid-course review with the new SIPS that 

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 1 will be due in this same time frame. 

 2 In 2018, a plan revision will be due with goals 

 3 for the next ten-year planning period. This cycle of plan 

 4 revision and mid-course review will continue until we 

 5 reach natural conditions visibility. 

 6 The Federal Regional Haze Rule also requires we 

 7 continue the consultation with the other western states 

 8 and the federal land managers. 

 9 --o0o-- 

10 MS. SUAREZ-MURIAS: Preparing this initial 

11 Regional Haze Plan has been a long but productive exercise 

12 in interstate and inter-agency cooperation for all of the 

13 states. California's control program will continue to 

14 provide new emission reductions each year between now and 

15 2018. As a result, the plan demonstrates progress at all 

16 Class 1 areas throughout the state. 

17 Ongoing technical work to improve our 

18 understanding of western visibility issues as well as the 

19 additional benefits of future control programs will all be 

20 incorporated into future plan updates. 

21 In summary, staff therefore requests that the 

22 Board approve the plan for transmittal to the U.S. EPA for 

23 approval, with the clarification provided by the Bay Air 

24 District. 

25 This concludes my presentation. 

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 1 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you. If there are no 

 2 immediate questions, I think we can proceed to public 

 3 testimony. We have two people who signed up to speak, 

 4 Chris Nota from Regional Foresters' Office and Kendra 

 5 Daijogo from the California Council for Environmental and 

 6 Economic Balance. 

 7 MS. NOTA: Thank you. Thank you, Chairman 

 8 Nichols. And thank you, Board members for the opportunity 

 9 to comment on this plan. 

10 I'm Chris Nota, and I'm with the Forest Service. 

11 I'm the Regional Forester's representative in Sacramento. 

12 And this plan is very important to us. Twenty of the 29 

13 Class 1 wilderness areas of part of the national forest 

14 system. Our precious treasurers. 

15 And on behalf of regional forester Randy Moore, 

16 I'd like to thank you for the opportunity we've had to 

17 work closely with your staff on this plan starting with 

18 the initial evaluation, the development, and now the 

19 subsequent review of the plan. 

20 Cooperative efforts such as these ensure that 

21 together we will continue to make progress on the Clean 

22 Air Act's goal of natural visibility conditions in our 

23 Class 1 wilderness areas. 

24 We particularly want to compliment your talented 

25 and dedicated staff. They have been great to work with. 

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 1 And I think they've done a wonderful job of technical 

 2 analysis and collaboration with other agencies. 

 3 We feel confident that the final plan presents 

 4 strategies that will protect these very special Class 1 

 5 wilderness areas. And we've also submitted a few minor 

 6 written comments. 

 7 So thank you again for the ability to collaborate 

 8 with you on this. And we think you've developed a very 

 9 effective plan. Thank you. 

10 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you. Nice to see 

11 you. 

12 MR. WRIGHT: I know I'm not Kendra. And I won't 

13 even try to pass it off. 

14 Chairman Nichols, I'm Mark Wright with CCEEB as 

15 Kendra is with CCEEB. She got called out on a conference 

16 call. 

17 We're very appreciative. Lots of our CCEEB 

18 members were able to work with your staff on the 

19 development of this proposal, and we're in wholehearted 

20 support. 

21 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Thank you. Nice to see 

22 both of you again. You're old colleagues from my 

23 Resources Agency days. Good to have a chance to work with 

24 you. 

25 Any comments, questions from the Board about this 

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 1 item? 

 2 BOARD MEMBER BERG: I would just like to thank 

 3 staff after reading the comments from the United States 

 4 Department of Interior, congratulations. It really 

 5 looks -- and the presentation was great. I know this has 

 6 been a lot of work. And I just don't want to not 

 7 acknowledge that at the end of this day. And so really 

 8 appreciate your work. 

 9 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: If you could have generated 

10 some more contention, you might have made it more 

11 exciting. 

12 But I agree with that comment that the fact that 

13 we're not jumping up and down should not be taken as a 

14 sign this is not an important milestone. It is an 

15 important milestone. Something that it always tends to 

16 get pushed to the back because it's not public health. 

17 And most of the things that you do to achieve this 

18 standard are things you would be doing for reaching public 

19 health standards anyway. 

20 But it has a whole separate life and constituency 

21 of its own, as well as the legal requirement. In fact, I 

22 think probably many of you know that our founder, our 

23 original Chairman, Dr. Haggen-Schmidt, was a great 

24 advocate of visibility. Because he said that that was the 

25 thing that people actually thought about when they thought 

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 1 about smog. And it was actually a lot more important to 

 2 most people than the health effects which they didn't 

 3 really understand. But when they saw it, they knew there 

 4 was something bad going on. So that's been an interesting 

 5 relationship from the very beginning of our program. 

 6 But this is a real milestone. And I, too, want 

 7 to congratulate everybody who worked on it. 

 8 I think we just need a motion. 

 9 BOARD MEMBER KENNARD: I will move it. 

10 BOARD MEMBER BALMES: Second. 

11 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: All in favor, signify by 

12 saying aye. 

13 (Ayes) 

14 CHAIRPERSON NICHOLS: Any opposed? Great. Thank 

15 you. 

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 1 CERTIFICATE OF REPORTER 

 2 I, TIFFANY C. KRAFT, a Certified Shorthand 

 3 Reporter of the State of California, and Registered 

 4 Professional Reporter, do hereby certify: 

 5 That I am a disinterested person herein; that the 

 6 foregoing hearing was reported in shorthand by me, 

 7 Tiffany C. Kraft, a Certified Shorthand Reporter of the 

 8 State of California, and thereafter transcribed into 

 9 typewriting. 

10 I further certify that I am not of counsel or 

11 attorney for any of the parties to said hearing nor in any 

12 way interested in the outcome of said hearing. 

13 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand 

14 this 3rd day of February, 2009. 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

21 

22 TIFFANY C. KRAFT, CSR, RPR 

23 Certified Shorthand Reporter 

24 License No. 12277 

25 

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