Metro Area Now in "Attainment"

Today, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced their acceptance of a 10-year Maintenance Plan for the Tacoma-Pierce County Fine Particle nonattainment area (aka “Smoke Reduction Zone”), and announced the area will be re-designated to “attainment” with the daily federal air quality standard for fine particle pollution. 

Thank you all for your contributions to get Pierce County to this healthy air milestone.   Some of you may recall that attainment is a long process, including two 10-year maintenance plans.  While this milestone is important, there is still have more work to maintain clean, healthy air in Pierce County and prevent backsliding.  For wood smoke, this work includes the actions identified:  ensuring old, uncertified wood stoves are removed from the area, and enhancing both the education and enforcement of air quality burn bans so that more people follow them. 

Below is a joint statement from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency and the Department of Ecology that addressing questions about EPA’s announcement.  If you have any questions about the redesignation or 10-year maintenance plan, please feel free to contact Craig Kenworthy at (206) 689-4004 or Kathy Strange at (206)689-4095. 

EPA’s redesignation of the area will be effective next month.  We would like celebrate together, and recognize your contributions to this milestone at an informal March gathering.  Please stay tuned for an email invitation soon.

HEALTHIER AIR: PIERCE COUNTY REACHES MILESTONE

EPA Updates Smoke Reduction Zone Designation

TACOMA, WA – Efforts to reduce unhealthy fine particle pollution in the Tacoma/Pierce County Smoke Reduction Zone area reached a milestone today when the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) approved a 10-year action plan and announced the area will be re-designated as in “attainment” with federal air quality standards.  In 2009, the EPA listed the Smoke Reduction Zone as a nonattainment area for violating health-based federal air quality standards for fine particle pollution in colder winter months, mostly due to wood smoke. Nonattainment carries economic, business and health impacts.

“This is an important step, but our work is not done,” said Craig Kenworthy, Executive Director of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency. “We must continue to maintain healthy air quality in the area in order to stay in federal attainment.”

A task force made up of Tacoma and Pierce County leaders, wood burners and community members assembled in 2011 to develop a roadmap for returning the area into attainment. Their recommendations became the action plan for Puget Sound Clean Air and other local agencies:

●     Use incentives to help residents replace their polluting, uncertified wood stoves and inserts.

●     Increase overall compliance with burn bans by enhancing and increasing enforcement.

●     Implement a Stove Rule prohibiting uncertified wood burning devices after September 30, 2015, in the Smoke Reduction Zone only (residents who qualify may obtain an exemption if their uncertified wood stove is their only adequate source of heat).

●     Execute an ambitious outreach and education campaign to help the public comply with burn bans and remove old, polluting uncertified devices.

“The removal of old, polluting, uncertified wood stoves is part of the EPA-approved plan,” continued Kenworthy. “Without it, we run the risk of returning to levels of fine particle pollution that are above the health-based standard.”

The Washington Department of Ecology worked in partnership with Puget Sound Clean Air Agency to submit a plan to the EPA that outlines how to keep the area in attainment for the coming 10 years.

“Meeting air quality standards is vital to public health,” said Stu Clark, air quality program manager for the Washington Department of Ecology. “We’ll continue to remain focused on air quality and meeting the federal standards.”

Multiple local agencies and jurisdictions came together to implement the recommendations of the task force. “Ultimately," concluded Kenworthy, "re-designation was possible because Pierce County residents followed burn bans and removed their old uncertified stoves.”  

Cleaning the Metro's Air

We are well on our way to removing approximately 1,000 old, uncertified wood stoves and inserts from the Tacoma-Pierce County Smoke Reduction Zone! 

 

The wood stove program officially launched last week and we will hold the first drawing this Friday to select our first round of lucky winners to receive replacement funds.

 

What:  Wood Stove Program Replacement Drawing

• 5 free-replacement grand prizes
• 50 $1500 discounts
• 100 $1000 discounts

When:  Friday, 11/30, 11 a.m. to noon

Where:  PSCAA Tacoma – 747 Market Street, Suite 1520, Tacoma, 98402

 

Tom Pierson, Tacoma-Pierce Co. Chamber, and Frank DiBiase, Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department, will be drawing the grand prize winners.  

 

If you’d like to be a part of this process, please RSVP to Melissa Paulson, Communications Specialist, Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, by noon on Thursday.  Although this is a relatively informal event, it’s also a reflection of your months of effort and input.  We plan to showcase the wood stove program’s success in the future, as well, and a second drawing will be held in mid-February.

 

Please feel free to contact Melissa with any questions you might have.  More information about wood stove program details and Tacoma-Pierce County outreach is available online at www.airsafepiercecounty.org.

Regs Against Wood Smoke Moving Forward

The Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) is in the process of revising the Agency’s regulations to help implement the Clean Air Task Force recommendations to meet the requirements of our non-attainment area. The proposed changes to its regulations will make burn ban enforcement more effective and also set the date by which all uncertified wood stoves need to be removed.

 

They’re starting the public comment process today, which will culminate in a public hearing at its September Board of Directors meeting.

 

Regulation update

The proposed amendments to PSCAA’s wood smoke regulations are drafted and out for public comment.

 

The key revisions include:

·         Clarification of the definition of “adequate source of heat” and adding a requirement to obtain an exemption from the Agency to use a solid fuel burning device during burn bans if it is the only adequate source of heat

·         A requirement to remove uncertified wood stoves and coal-only heaters from buildings in the Tacoma, Pierce County nonattainment area by September 30, 2015

·         Clarification of fuels allowed to be burned and prohibited from being burned in a solid fuel burning device

·         New language prohibiting the installation of unapproved devices

The public notice period will last from August 28 to September 26, 2012, and PSCAA will have a public hearing on September 27 at the Board of Directors meeting.

 

Details:

Where?   Tacoma Municipal Building | 728 St. Helens Ave |Tacoma, Washington 98402

When?     September 27, 2012 | 8:45 AM

 

For more information on the proposed changes, and how to comment, visit PSCAA’s website. The proposed changes are to Article 13 (Solid Fuel Burning Device Standards).

 

Other updates

PSCAA is working full-tilt to launch its enhanced burn ban enforcement effort as well as the wood stove removal and replacement program. Both programs will be ready to launch this fall, in time for the start of the wood-heating season.

 

Here is an overview of where these efforts are:

 

Increased and enhanced enforcement of wintertime air quality burn bans:

·         PSCAA is forming agreements with local governments to train and employ their staff as inspectors during burn bans. This will allow PSCAA to substantially increase the number of inspectors on the ground enforcing burn bans. Participating municipalities include Pierce County and the cities of Tacoma, Lakewood, University Place and Puyallup.

·         PSCAA is developing a better process for enforcing burn bans when it’s dark (evening and early morning).

·         Starting this burn season, PSCAA will lower the trigger levels for calling burn bans as allowed by the new state law.

·         To get the word out about burn bans, enhanced enforcement practices and consequences of violating burn bans, PSCAA’s  will launch an awareness campaign this fall.

Wood stove removal and replacement program –

·         Development of the 2012-2013 wood stove removal and replacement program is well underway. PSCAA has approximately $1.5 million this year to help people get rid of their old, polluting wood stoves and inserts and replace them with cleaner heating devices.

·         The program will offer full cost assistance to income-qualified wood burners and a lottery and bounty for all others meeting eligibility requirements.

·         Details of the program will be available by October.

Drafting on the Highway (Options)

The Chamber's Board of Directors adopted a policy statement addressing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Transportation 2040 plan currently available for public review.

You may review the Chamber's comments on the enclosed copy of the letter sent today.

The DEIS analyses six plan alternatives (a baseline and five alternatives). In addition to how planned investment can be sustained, Puget Sound Regional Council provides how the alternatives would impact congestion and mobility as well as air and water quality.

The deadline for comments on the Transportation 2040 Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been extended until July 31, 2009. To view the Draft EIS document and for information on how to comment please visit the PSRC website . Point of contact is Sean Ardussi, fax at 206-587-4825.

EPA Confirms FINAL Action

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has finally made it final what was a predetermined action. The EPA has notified our Governor that most of the Tacoma-Pierce County metro area is in non-attainment for air suspended PM (particulate matter) 2.5 (microns).

Despite only a single air quality monitor exceeded the newest federal standard, action by the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, the Washington State Department of Ecology and now the U.S. EPA has encumbered the bulk of the metro area including its economic engine, the port-industrial area (although that area's monitor continues to show compliance with air quality standards). Now comes a deliberate process of planning and implementation that will include most of the metro rather than focusing on the cause, fireplace and old wood stoves in the South Tacoma area.

A Huff, A Puff, A Blow Down the Door

The US EPA has notified the Governor that it intends to adopt boundaries that encompass most of the Tacoma-Pierce County metro area. The target date: December 18.

We've not seen much initiative to take advantage of the runup to the issue of what will be the Wapato Hills Puyallup River Valley Nonattainment area for PM-2.5. The primary exception has been DOE/PSCAA's funds for replacement of woodsmoke sources, as woodsmoke is the acknowledged violating pollutant. Even that meager source is shared with other areas, like Marysville, that are close but not yet in nonattainment.

The Chamber has recommended both to the City of Tacoma and Pierce County that they begin now an advocacy effort to redefine the transportation prioritization dollars to include mitigation for air quality nonattainment. PSCAA, DOE and EPA all seemed determined to include the port-industrial area in the boundaries even though that area's monitors continue to evidence air quality within defined federal standards.

The federal processes allow communities two years to plan to achieve attainment and one or more years to achieve it. Yet, so far, our region is ignoring the impending regulatory burden, mayhap because it hasn't actually happened yet.

As EPA will join the Federal Transportation Administration and the Federal Transit Administration in overseeing any federal grants, it is more than timely to begin the planning processes so as to most urgently return healthy air to our metro and avoid the unintended consequences to our economy by a bureaucracy most interested in regulating rather than actual air quality.

Wait or Wade In?

The EPA has signaled its intent to Gov. Gregoire and the Washington State Department of Ecology that EPA will accept the recommendations and boundaries for PM 2.5 non-attainment areas in the state.

Posted with several earlier stories on this blog, the Chamber has been active and partly successful in the public debate of this issue.

With it all but a fait accompli for the designation of the "Wapato Hills-Puyallup River Valley" (as a nom de guerre for the heart of the Tacoma metro) non-attainment area, it is time for the community to begin now to take advantage of what should be opportunities to be first in line for curative or restorative fixes.

Already, the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency (PSCAA) received $650,000 in funds from Ecology provided to replace old, high-polluting wood-fired stoves with new, cleaner one in non-attainment communities. That's in addition to earlier $175,000 funding, too much of which went to the Marysville community. Marysville has documented problems, but not severe enough or documented enough to qualify for non-attainment designation.

We note that the PSCAA and the Port of Tacoma are already working to reduce pollution from Port operations (although port-area monitors have not exceeded the new federal standards).

It is likewise time for our public leadership to begin an advocacy for prioritization of public projects (road and transit) that will cure the public health concerns raised by the non-attainment designation. With the impending EPA ruling expected December 18, there is no reason for waiting before we begin a two-year planning effort, then a subsequent fixing period.

Now is the time to start!

What Will EPA Decide by When

Now that it's clear the State of Washington has made its recommendation to include the bulk of the metro area into a Wapato Hills-Puyallup Valley Non-attainment Area for PM2.5, the questions are what will EPA decide to do and by when?

EPA is required (Section 107(d)(1)) of the Clean Air Act to notify states no later than 120 days prior to the signature date for designations if it will modify the states recommendations. Signature on final designations is due by December 18, 2008. Therefore if the Agency (Administrator) modifies designation recommendations, it will send letters to those states where it intends to modify in July of 2008.

States will then have an opportunity to explain why they think EPA's modification is not appropriate (has been by letter, informally in the past). EPA is saying it will not be publishing a proposed notice and soliciting comments. The administrator's signature will be on its final action.

EPA will publish a final rule soon after the Administrator's signature (expect in January 2009 or late December 2008 depending on when the designations are signed). That rule will be effective 90 days later, likely in March 2009.

The Next Stage to DC

Susan Gordon, The News Tribune's environmental writer reports that the Washington State Department of Ecology has made its determination of the non-attainment boundaries within the metro area. Now named the Watapo Hills-Puyallup River Valley Nonattainment Area, a few minor revisions were made that differed from the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency's recommendations.

The Chamber observes that:

• The Chamber is pleased that DOE accepted PSCAA's determination that the military installations should not be in the nonattaiment area. PSCAA determined the installations had low density, few sources and aggressive environmental programs.


• The exclusion of Point Definace Park and the northeast Tacoma residential area do not bring any value to the issue. Probable programs to address the cause of the non-attainment would not address northeast Tacoma, and the area is not suspected of being a contributor to the problem.


• The Chamber is disappointed that the port-industrial area is retained within the non-attainment area. The port-industrial area continues to be below the allowable limits for particulate matter of 2.5 microns (PM2.5). What goal must be achieved for the port-industrial area to comply with the standard and remove itself from the designated area?

EPA's federal standard for daily fine particulate matter (PM2.5) requires a 3-year average of 98th percentiles (called 'design values') to be compared to the daily standard of 35 micrograms per cubic meter (ug/m3). The most recent 3-year time period available is 2005, 2006, and 2007.

PM2.5 98th percentiles at Alexander Avenue are:

2005 30.0 ug/m3

2006 36.5 ug/m3

2007 33.9 ug/m3

This calculated to a 2005-2007 design value of 33.5 ug/m3 - which according to EPA rounding conventions gets rounded up to 34 ug/m3. The next stage for the decision of what will be declared as a non-attainment area will be by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, in Washington, D.C.