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8 TRANSCRIPT OF PROCEEDINGS

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10 PUBLIC HEARING FOR THE

11 ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY'S PROPOSED

12 CLEAN AIR ACT, PREVENTION OF SIGNIFICANT DETERIORATION,

13 PSD PERMIT, FOR THE PALMDALE HYBRID POWER PROJECT

14 PALMDALE, CALIFORNIA

15 SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

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 ATKINSON-BAKER, INC.

22 COURT REPORTERS

 (800) 288-3376

23 www.depo.com

24 REPORTED BY: CARRIE ANN PEREZ, CSR NO. 12979

25 FILE NO.: A5066E4
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1 A P P E A R A N C E S:

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3 BEATRICE WONG, US EPA, PUBLIC HEARING OFFICER

4 ROBERTO GUTIERREZ, US EPA, AIR PERMITS OFFICE

5 AMY PARSLEY, US EPA, AIR PERMITS OFFICE

6 GERARDO RIOS, US EPA, AIR PERMITS OFFICE CHIEF

7 LISA BECKHAM, US EPA, AIR PERMITS OFFICE

8 KERRY DRAKE, US EPA, AIR DIVISION ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR

9 SCOTT BOHNING, US EPA, AIR QUALITY ANALYSIS OFFICE

10 FRANCISCO ARCUTE, US EPA, OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

11 STEPHEN EDGERTON, ECR INC.

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1 PALMDALE, CALIFORNIA, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2011

2 7:10 P.M.

3 * * *

4 HEARING OFFICER: Welcome and good evening

5 everyone. The public hearing is now in session. My

6 name is Beatrice Wong. I am an acting public hearing

7 officer for the United States Environmental Protection

8 Agency for Region 9 in San Francisco, California. I am

9 the presiding officer for today's hearing.

10 The purpose of today's hearing is to accept

11 public comments on the Environmental Protection Agency's

12 Proposed Clean Air Act, Prevention of Significant

13 Deterioration, PSD Permit, for the Palmdale Hybrid Power

14 Project.

15 The permit would grant conditional approval

16 to the City of Palmdale to construct and operate a 570

17 megawatt electric generating facility. You can find

18 details about the proposed permit and the project at the

19 back of the room and also on EPA's Web site.

20 The proposed location of the project is at

21 950 East Avenue N in Palmdale, California, 93550.

22 And the address for the City of Palmdale is

23 38300 Sierra Highway, Suite A, Palmdale, California,

24 93550.

25 My role as the presiding officer is to
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1 ensure that the Environmental Protection Agency receives

2 your oral comments in an orderly fashion. I am not

3 involved with the decision-making process for the

4 proposed PSD permit in any way, other than to take your

5 comments today.

6 Before we begin accepting your comments,

7 I'd like to go over the ground rules for the hearing.

8 This hearing is a formal, legal proceeding and the

9 testimony offered will become part of the administrative

10 record, on which the EPA will base its decision.

11 Public notice of this hearing was given in

12 August of 2011 by publication in local newspapers, by

13 posting on EPA's Web site and by mail or e-mail to

14 individuals on EPA's mailing list.

15 This hearing is being recorded by a court

16 reporter, who is sitting next to me, who will be

17 preparing a verbatim record of the hearing. If you

18 present oral comments of today's hearing, please speak

19 clearly and slowly so that the court reporter can

20 understand you and the record -- and record your

21 comments accurately. I also ask that you refrain from

22 interrupting other speakers or asking questions during

23 any presentation. This courtesy will also help the

24 court reporter record your comments accurately.

25 Shouting, noise making and other disruptive
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1 conduct, which prevents speakers or the hearing

2 officials from being heard, or any other failure to

3 follow the rules of the hearing that disrupt this

4 hearing are not permitted.

5 Banners and posters will be allowed to be

6 placed in the rear of the room. However, banners and

7 posters that are attached to a stick will not be allowed

8 in the hearing room. If you wish to carry a banner or

9 poster with you to your seat, you will be asked to sit

10 in the rear of the hearing room so that you don't

11 obstruct the view of individuals seated behind you. Any

12 sign or banner can be excluded from the hearing room if

13 it's determined to be disruptive to the conduct of this

14 hearing.

15 There is a registration table at the back

16 of the room. If you'd like to make oral comments at

17 today's hearing, please fill out a speaker request form,

18 which is located at the registration table. We will

19 receive oral comments in the order in which the speaker

20 request forms are received. The English language

21 version of the speaker request form is printed on yellow

22 paper and the Spanish language version is printed on

23 green paper.

24 You do not need to register at the

25 registration table to attend the hearing. However, if
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1 you are not already on our mailing list for this project

2 and would like to receive direct notification of EPA's

3 final decision on the proposed permit, please sign in on

4 one of the sign-in sheets located at the registration

5 table and check the box on the sign-in sheet to be added

6 to the mailing list. For those who are providing oral

7 comments tonight, the speaker request form includes a

8 space for you to provide your contact information and a

9 box to check to be included on our mailing list.

10 Written comments submitted through the U.S.

11 Postal Service must have been postmarked on/or before

12 today, September 14th, 2011. Written comments submitted

13 by e-mail must be received by 11:59 p.m. tonight,

14 September 14th, 2011. You can also submit written

15 comments to us tonight on a comment card or other paper.

16 There is a comment bin at the back of the room at the

17 registration table where you can leave those written

18 comments.

19 There are handouts also at the back of the

20 room that describe the project and permit, as well as

21 the public involvement process for EPA's PSD permit

22 decision. These documents are available in Spanish and

23 in English.

24 If you've submitted written comments, it's

25 not necessary for you to give the same oral comments,
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1 though you may do so, if you wish, by submitting a

2 speaker request form. Written comments and oral

3 comments receive equal consideration by EPA in making

4 the final permit decision.

5 The oral comments received at this hearing

6 and all written comments received by EPA today,

7 September 14th, 2011, by the deadline, will be reviewed

8 and considered by EPA in preparing its final permit

9 decision. It is important for you to know that we are

10 here only to take comments on EPA's proposed Clean Air

11 Act, PSD permit, for the construction and operation of

12 the City of Palmdale's Hybrid Power Project.

13 EPA will not consider comments related to

14 EPA's proposed PSD permit action -- will only

15 consider -- I'm sorry. EPA will only consider comments

16 related to this proposed permit action for the project

17 in making its final permit determination. So I ask that

18 you refrain from making comments that are not related to

19 this specific action.

20 EPA's decision on the clean air permit --

21 on clean air permits are typically made with the

22 participation of a number of people within the

23 organization. EPA staff cannot commit to any specific

24 decision related to the permit -- proposed permit today.

25 The purpose of this hearing is for EPA to
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1 listen to your comments, therefore EPA will not be

2 providing responses during the hearing; rather, EPA will

3 prepare a written summary of the comments it receives

4 and EPA's responses. The response to comments will be

5 available at the time EPA issues its final permit

6 decision. EPA will not make a final decision on the

7 proposed permit until all comments submitted during the

8 public comment period have been considered.

9 EPA's notice of final decision on this

10 permit will be sent to each person currently on EPA's

11 mailing list for this action as well as to each person

12 who has submitted written or oral comments and provided

13 contact information or who has signed up at the

14 registration table to receive notice and provided an

15 e-mail address or a mailing address to us. This

16 information will also be available on EPA's Web site.

17 A copy of the transcript of today's hearing

18 will be available for inspection at EPA's office in

19 San Francisco as well as at the Lancaster office of the

20 Antelope Valley Air Quality Management District. If you

21 wish to purchase an official copy of the transcript,

22 please make arrangements directly with the court

23 reporter following the hearing. EPA also intends to

24 make this transcript available on our Web site.

25 When EPA issues a PSD permit, it becomes
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1 effective 30 days after the notice of the decision

2 unless, one, a later effective date is specified in the

3 final notice; two, no comments were submitted requesting

4 a change in the proposed permit, in which case the

5 permit is effective immediately or, three, a petition

6 for review of the permit is filed in a timely manner

7 with the EPA Environmental Appeals Board, the

8 regulations concerning, which are found at "40 CFR,

9 Part 124." Petitions for review must be filed within 30

10 days of the notice of decision.

11 In a few minutes, I'll begin calling on

12 speakers who have filled out and submitted a speaker

13 request form. Speakers are called in groups of five in

14 the order in which they are received.

15 There is a speaker table in the front of

16 the room with the microphone. And we'll have the person

17 who's speaking speak at the table and the other members

18 who are awaiting to speak sit in the front row right

19 behind the speaker table.

20 If you're making your oral comments in

21 Spanish, a translator will be available to translate

22 what you state. Please pause after you finish each

23 sentence to allow the translator to translate into

24 English what you said before continuing to speak. If

25 you are not in the room when I announce your turn to
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1 speak, I will re-call you after all the speakers have

2 made their oral comments.

3 We want to make sure that everyone has an

4 opportunity to speak here tonight. To that end, I ask

5 everyone who speaks to please make your oral comments

6 brief. To assist in this effort, I'm asking speakers to

7 limit their comments to five minutes.

8 At the speaker table, there is a timer.

9 The timer turns green when you start speaking and will

10 turn yellow when you have one minute left of the five

11 minutes, so four minutes -- four minutes in and you will

12 have a one-minute warning. When the five minutes is

13 concluded, the timer will beep and let you know that the

14 five minutes have concluded.

15 Please note that after all the speakers

16 have had a chance to comment, and if time permits,

17 people who submit additional speaker request cards

18 can -- will be provided an additional five-minute

19 testimony time, if they haven't had the opportunity to

20 complete their comments in the first -- during their

21 first opportunity to speak.

22 Now let's begin the comment period. And I

23 don't have any -- currently have any speaker request

24 forms before me. If anyone would like to speak, they

25 can feel free to come to the speaker table.
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1 Please tell us your name and if you're

2 representing anyone.

3 SPEAKER: My name is Laurie Lile, L-i-l-e. I'm

4 representing the City of Palmdale. I want to thank EPA

5 staff for being here this evening and conducting the

6 hearing on our power plant. We appreciate the attention

7 that we've been given on our PSD application. The City

8 of Palmdale is very anxious that the PSD be issued and

9 we're available to answer any questions that EPA has

10 with respect to our application.

11 Our consultant did provide a letter

12 providing some comments on the proposed decision. And

13 we would request that EPA take a look at that and comply

14 with those changes that we're requesting.

15 Again, thank you very much for being here

16 and we hope our permit is issued quite -- very quickly.

17 Thank you.

18 HEARING OFFICER: Is there anyone else who

19 would like to provide oral comments at this point?

20 Okay. Well, then I'm going to put this public hearing

21 on pause -- on hold right now and we will see if there

22 are additional comments. Thank you.

23 (Off the record at 7:23 p.m.)

24 (Back on the record at 7:40 p.m.)

25 HEARING OFFICER: Hello everyone. I'm going to
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1 open up the public hearing again and see if there is

2 anyone who would like to make comments on the proposed

3 permit. Please come up and speak.

4 Okay. We'll put the public hearing on

5 pause again. Thank you.

6 (Off the record at 7:41 p.m.)

7 (Back on the record at 8:28 p.m.)

8 HEARING OFFICER: I'm going to reopen the

9 public hearing. Do we have any comments?

10 Okay. Then we'll go back off record.

11 Thank you.

12 (Off the record at 8:28 p.m.)

13 (Back on the record at 9:06 p.m.)

14 HEARING OFFICER: I'm going to reopen the

15 public hearing. Do we have any comments?

16 Okay. Then we'll go back off record.

17 Thank you.

18 (Off the record at 9:06 p.m.)

19 (Back on the record at 9:28 p.m.)

20 HEARING OFFICER: I'm going to reopen the

21 public hearing. Do we have any comments?

22 Then we'll go back off record. Thank you.

23 (Off the record at 9:28 p.m.)

24 (Back on the record at 9:59 p.m.)

25 If there are no further comments, I will
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1 conclude this public hearing. As a reminder, the period

2 for written public comments remains open for e-mail

3 transmittal until 11:59, pacific daylight time, tonight,

4 September 14, 2011. Thank you all for coming and

5 participating in this public hearing. EPA appreciated

6 you taking the time to participate in the public hearing

7 process. This public hearing is now closed.

8 (The hearing was concluded at 10:00 p.m.)

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1 STATE OF CALIFORNIA )

 ) ss.

2 COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES )

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5 I, the undersigned, hereby declare that said

6 TRANSCRIPT OF HEARING PROCEEDINGS was taken before me at

7 the time and place therein set forth and was taken down by

8 me in shorthand and transcribed into computer-generated

9 text under my direction and supervision; and I hereby

10 certify the foregoing transcript of my shorthand notes so

11 taken.

12 I further certify that I am neither counsel for nor

13 related to any party to said action, nor have any interest

14 in the outcome thereof.

15 IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto subscribed my

16 name this 16th day of September, 2011.

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19 _______________________________

 CARRIE ANN PEREZ, CSR No. 12979

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