• Orange County Supervisor Cynthia Coad Joins AQMD Board
• Record-Keeping Streamlining Task Force Launched
• Auto Scrapping Program
• Aqueous Cleaning Solutions Work on Trucks, Study Finds
• Electric Vehicle Booster Programs Backed
• Budget Forecast Points to Spending Adjustments
• Decision Postponed on Adding Nickel to New Source Toxic  Rule

• AQMD Reorganizes to Improve Efficiency
• Town Hall Meeting Set For L.A. Harbor City College

ORANGE COUNTY SUPERVISOR CYNTHIA COAD JOINS AQMD BOARD

Orange County Supervisor Cynthia P. Coad has joined the Governing Board as the new representative of Orange County. Coad -- who was elected last November to represent Orange County’s 4^th Supervisorial District -- replaces Orange County 2^nd District Supervisor James Silva, who stepped down last month.

Coad has a long career in education, including 26 years as a teacher at the University of Phoenix and in the North Orange County Community College District, where she also served as a trustee and president and was active on several committees.

She is active in several other arenas too. In 1996, California Assembly Speaker Curt Pringle appointed her to serve on the Committee of California Bar Examiners. She serves as an educational consultant of World to Work Professional Training in Anaheim and as a trustee of the Orange County World Affairs Council and Independencia Community Center. Coad is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including the 1997-98 Catholic Charities Woman of the Year award and the George Washington Medal of Honor from the Freedoms Foundation of Valley Forge.

Coad has authored 15 books and articles and made 41 major national and international presentations and earned a doctorate in education from Nova University. She has been married to Tom Coad for 44 years and has seven children and nine grandchildren.

RECORD-KEEPING STREAMLINING TASK FORCE LAUNCHED

As the Board’s Permit-Streamlining Task Force winds up its work, Chairman William A. Burke today created a new Record-Keeping Streamlining Task Force.

Both AQMD staff and regulated businesses believe state and federal requirements for detailed daily record-keeping are excessive, time-consuming and an unnecessary burden that do little to reduce air pollution.

Chairman Burke’s charge to the new task force is to find ways to reduce AQMD record-keeping requirements and to work with state and federal agencies to ease their requirements while maintaining progress toward healthful air.

Next month, the Board’s Permit Streamlining Task Force will present its recommendations following a year-long review of the AQMD’s permitting process, the first such comprehensive review since the permitting process began 50 years ago.

AUTO SCRAPPING PROGRAM

The Board amended Rule 1610 to require complete destruction of the engine for all cars scrapped for air pollution control credits. The Board’s decision is intended to satisfy the federal Environmental Protection Agency, which requires destruction of the engines. Later this year, AQMD’s staff will propose further amendments to Rule 1610 that will make it consistent with the California Air Resources Board’s recently adopted statewide rule, which requires destruction of the whole vehicle – with no parts recycling. For further information, see the Board item or contact Laki Tisopulos at (909) 396-3102.

Non-polluting aqueous cleaning solutions required under AQMD’s Rule 1171 work as well or better than their polluting counterparts when it comes to cleaning parts on trucks and other heavy-duty equipment, according to a study received today by the Board. The study also found that mechanics generally preferred the water-based solutions because they smelled better and caused less skin irritation than petroleum-based solvents. However, the study noted that conventional solvents work better on laminated transmission parts, such as clutch pads, that contain paper and adhesive. Based on the study results, AQMD will support a group variance for Rule 1171 for cleaning laminated transmission parts but otherwise will seek compliance with the rule’s requirements. The study was conducted in cooperation with the California Trucking Association. For further information, see the Board item or contact Fred Minassian at (909) 396-2641.

AQMD’s Board approved two programs to boost public acceptance of electric vehicles, including support for further development of the region’s network of public electric vehicle charging stations and rental of electric vehicles at several area Budget Rent-a-Car sites.

The Board approved the Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee application package for a program that will provide matching funding for new or updated electric vehicle charging stations at public locations throughout the area. Under the program, some 165 charging stations are expected to be funded, with a funding match of 70% for major destinations, 40% for workplace and fleet vehicle garages, 70% for expansions of existing charging sites and 50% for municipal sites. Proposals for funding will be accepted until Aug. 31. A public workshop on the program will be held at 9:30 a.m., Wednesday, March 31, in Conference Room CC6 at AQMD headquarters, 21865 E. Copley Drive, Diamond Bar. For further information or a copy of the application package contact Stephanie Robinson at The Planning Center at (714) 966-9220, or see the Board item.

The Board also approved $200,000 in support for the electric vehicle rental program being carried out by EV Rental Cars. Under this program, the company will make a variety of electric vehicles available for rental to the public at $39.95 a day. The vehicles will be available at Budget Rent-a-Car locations at Los Angeles International Airport, Ontario International Airport, John Wayne Airport, Burbank Airport, Sacramento International Airport, downtown Sacramento, Burbank, Beverly Hills and Anaheim.  For more information, see the Board item.

AQMD staff presented the Board with its three-year budget forecast as part of the annual budget process. The detailed one-year 1999-00 budget will be published by April. Public workshops are being scheduled and will be announced on fee adjustments in March and the budget in April. The Board will hold a public hearing on the budget on May 14. For further information, see the Board item or contact Rick Pearce at (909) 396-2828.

DECISION POSTPONED ON ADDING NICKEL TO NEW SOURCE TOXIC   RULE

The Board today postponed action on including nickel plating facilities under AQMD’s Rule 1401 – New Source Review of Toxic Air Contaminants, which sets health risk limits for new, modified or relocated facilities that emit toxic air pollution.

The Board voted 6-1 to add nickel to the rule, but the action required seven yes votes. The matter was carried over to the March 12 meeting. For further information, see the Board item or contact Jill Whynot at (909) 396-3104.

In Other News:

AQMD REORGANIZES TO IMPROVE EFFICIENCY

AQMD is reorganizing to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of its staff, including an innovative community-based deployment of inspectors. Executive Officer Barry R. Wallerstein said the community-based deployment, an outgrowth of the Governing Board’s environmental justice initiatives, will allow inspectors to get to know both the businesses and the public’s air quality concerns in their assigned communities.

Other changes include re-establishing separate rule development and permit processing groups and a new unit focusing on area sources. Area sources -- such as water heaters and small engines -- collectively produce significant air pollution but are too small and numerous to regulate through traditional permitting methods.

The reorganization will create:

• An office of Planning, Rule Development and Area Sources, which will include the existing planning functions and the new rule and area source groups, along with the agency’s health effects officer;
• A revamped Stationary Source office that will include: permitting groups for coating operations and chemical-mechanical facilities; two combined permitting and compliance teams for energy industry sources, such as refineries and power-plants, and facilities that emit toxic pollutants; an operations unit for Title V, RECLAIM, new source review and support activities; and two community-based compliance groups: one covering Los Angeles County and the other Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties;
• A new office of Science and Technology Advancement that will combine the Technology Advancement Office with Monitoring and Analysis (formerly Applied Science and Technology);
• A combined Public Affairs and Transportation Programs office; and
• A new office of Administrative Services that will include Administrative and Human Resources and Information Management.

TOWN HALL MEETING SET FOR L.A. HARBOR CITY COLLEGE

As part of a continuing series under its Environmental Justice Initiatives, AQMD has set a Town Hall Meeting for 6:30 p.m., Wednesday, March 3 at the Los Angeles Harbor City College’s Music Recital Hall in Wilmington. The meeting will give residents of Wilmington and the surrounding communities the opportunity to meet with top AQMD staff members and voice their concerns about issues in their neighborhoods.

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