Environment - Winter 2001
The Newsletter of the California Environmental Protection Agency
In This Issue
- ARB Adopts Diesel Emissions Reduction Plan
- Funding Available For Urban BrownFields Investigation and Cleanup
- From My Corner
- SWRCB-UST, State Water Resources Control Board
- Board Modifies ZEV Mandate, Air Resources Board
- Secretary's Energy Message
- Waste Board Steps up to Snuff Tracy Tire Fire
- Sierra Nevada Fish Advisory, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
- What Should You Know About Pesticides?
ARB Adopts Diesel Emissions Reduction Plan
On September 28, 2000, the Air Resources Board (ARB) adopted a comprehensive plan to reduce harmful particulate matter (PM) emissions from diesel equipment. The Diesel Risk Reduction Plan (Diesel RRP) proposes a strategy that would require the use of low-sulfur diesel fuel, retrofitting existing engines with PM filters, and setting an emission standard for new diesel engines that yields nearly a 90 percent reduction of PM emissions.
The plan, as approved, included no regulations. Over the next several years, ARB staff will develop about a dozen regulations related to diesel fuel and diesel engines for the Board to consider.
ARB Chairman Dr. Alan C. Lloyd said, "Full implementation of this plan means a reduction in health-damaging diesel PM emissions of 75 percent by 2010 and 85 percent by 2020. This plan will benefit the health of every California resident and every person who visits California."
Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox said, "This is an ambitious but necessary plan to reduce the public’s exposure to harmful diesel exhaust. As the ARB proceeds with specific regulations, I have communicated my desire that they look for solutions that properly balance the protection of public health with a sense of the economic consequence."
After an exhaustive 10-year scientific assessment, ARB identified diesel PM as a toxic air contaminant in 1998, citing its potential to cause more than 500 cancer cases per million persons. ARB began searching for means to reduce diesel PM; the Diesel RRP is the result of that search. Control proposals will also consider the feasibility of other technologies, such as compressed natural gas and electric motors, as possible alternatives to diesel.
The state’s more than 1.2 million diesel-fueled vehicles and engines contribute about 28,000 tons per year of PM to California’s air. In addition to the more than 1 million on-road and off-road vehicles, there are about 15,000 stationary engines and about 50,000 portable engines in California.
To aid in implementation of the Plan, ARB has formed a committee of more than 40 international experts to assess the best technology for reducing diesel PM. The Diesel Retrofit Advisory Committee held its first meeting in Los Angeles on November 3rd.
Funding Available For Urban BrownFields Investigation and Cleanup
California is preparing to chart new territory when it comes to the redevelopment of urban ‘brownfields" – abandoned, idled or underutilized properties where expansion or development is complicated by real or perceived environmental contamination. Cal/EPA Secretary Winston H. Hickox, in announcing the program, stated, "Brownfields cleanup is the single step we can take that illustrates the simple truth that you cannot save the environment without economic growth or sustain economic growth without a healthy environment."
The $85 million Cleanup Loans and Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods (CLEAN) Program, sponsored and signed into law by Governor Gray Davis in September 2000, leverages private investment capital through strategic loans and grants to characterize and clean up polluted properties in urban core neighborhoods. CLEAN provides important new financial assistance to help developers, businesses, schools and local governments accelerate the pace of cleanup and redevelopment at these sites.
Cal/EPA’s Department of Toxic Substances Control has begun implementing the program. Applications for the low-interest loan programs will be available in early 2001.
There are two main components. The first is the Investigating Site Contamination Program, which will loan up to $100,000 to finance preliminary endangerment assessments of urban brownfields. The second program, Cleanup Loans and
Environmental Assistance to Neighborhoods, will make loans up to $2.5 million to pay for the cleanup of hazardous materials at sites where redevelopment will have a beneficial impact on the quality of life and economic viability of a community.
Together, these new programs will make it easier and more economical for brownfields sites to be redeveloped, thereby turning today’s problems into tomorrow’s opportunities. For information: www.dtsc.ca.gov/docs/admin/uclp/index.html or (916) 324-0706.
From My Corner
Winston H. Hickox
Former
Agency Secretary
Commitment 2000
During this past legislative year, the California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal/EPA) was instrumental in the passage of several important environmental bills. The scope and content of these bills illustrates Governor Davis’ and Cal/EPA’s commitment to working with the Legislature and the citizens of California in pursuing legislation that will enhance the environment and protect the health of the people of this great state while preserving economic growth.
Working together, the 2000 legislative year brought us: business incentive programs to implement continuing air pollution reductions; loans and grants for the investigation and cleanup of urban brownfields; water quality regulations for on-site sewage treatment systems; regulations for large passenger vessel discharges; a program to ensure environmental justice for all citizens of California; creation of a fund to assist local government in addressing the environmental issues at our border; and a program for the safe management of pesticide use in California schools.
Many of these programs yet again place California on the leading edge of environmental protection for other states to follow. In fact, California has received national attention for Assemblymember Steinberg’s AB 2511, which enacts the Sacramento Emergency Clean Air and Transportation Program. This measure provides incentives for public and private heavy-duty diesel fleets to improve their emissions and is a positive step forward in the Sacramento region’s efforts to reduce and mitigate air pollution.
The health of California’s children is always a priority and with Assemblymember Shelley’s "Healthy Schools Act" (AB 2260), the state will implement effective, least toxic, pest management practices in all California schools. This measure sends a strong message that, while we carry out a most important responsibility as a society – educating our children – we must ensure that their learning environment is safe and healthy.
Cal/EPA is dedicated to ensuring environmental quality for all Californians, regardless of income or ethnicity. Passage of SB 89 by Senator Escutia is an important step in California’s efforts to guarantee the fair treatment of all people. Cal/EPA is pleased to champion this work to advance collaborative strategies to meet this objective.
Cal/EPA continues its efforts to reduce air pollution and AB 2061 (Assemblymember Lowenthal) creates a two-part grant program to reduce the incremental cost of new zero-emission vehicles (ZEV) and reduce the cost of alternative diesel fuel. The program provides $18 million over three years to provide grants of $3,000 per year to people who purchase or lease ZEVs in an effort to defray the cost differential between ZEVs and conventional vehicles, and encourage ZEV use.
California’s water quality laws are the toughest in the nation. However, contamination of coastal waters, and the closure of California’s beaches as a result, has become a chronic problem. Assemblymember Jackson’s AB 885 begins to address this critical problem by authorizing the State Water Resources Control Board to adopt statewide standards for the permitting and operation of onsite sewage treatment systems.
California is leading the nation in biomass utilization with the passage of AB 2514 (Assemblymember Thomson) which creates the Agricultural Biomass Utilization Account to fund grants to businesses that use rice straw for agricultural biomass projects. In signing this bill, Governor Davis stated, "This measure will help California utilize agricultural biomass as a means of avoiding landfill use, preventing air pollution, and enhancing environmental quality."
The Governor and Cal/EPA sponsored the Urban Cleanup Initiative, SB 667, authored by Senator Sher and Assemblymember Firebaugh. (Please see article on front page.)
This measure provides $85 million in low-interest loans and grants for investigation and cleanup of urban properties that remain idle or underutilized because of real or perceived environmental contamination. These properties are commonly known as "brownfields." The Initiative is the critical first step to removing obstacles to urban brownfields redevelopment.
Finally, AB 2317 (Assemblymember Ducheny) created the California Border Environmental and Public Health Protection Fund. This Fund will be available, upon appropriation, to the Secretary for Environmental Protection to assist local governments to identify and resolve environmental and public health problems that directly threaten the health or environmental quality of California residents or sensitive natural resources of the California border region.
I look forward to the legislative year ahead. Working together, we will continue our efforts to fully protect the public health of our citizens and enhance the quality of our environment. As I’ve said so often, protecting human health and the environment is a job that is never done.
Environment is published quarterly by the California Environmental Protection Agency at 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814.
Kathy Fletcher, Deputy Secretary for External Affairs
Edward Fong, Director of Communications
Cal/EPA includes the Air Resources Board, Integrated Waste Management Board, State Water Resources Control Board, Department of Pesticide Regulation, Department of Toxic Substances Control, Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment and State Regional Water Quality Control Boards.
Comments, suggestions or address changes can be made via fax at (916) 445-5563 or e-mail at cepacomm@calepa.ca.gov.
Go Paperless
Save paper by viewing this newsletter at www.calepa.ca.gov. If you don't need a printed copy, please let us know.
State Water Resources Control Board
SWRCB-UST
California motorists have a thirst for gasoline. Drivers in the Golden State consume about 1 billion gallons of gasoline each month, and almost all of that fuel is stored in underground storage tanks (USTs). By ensuring that these tanks have been replaced with new, double-walled tanks, or that existing, intact tanks have been upgraded, California has significantly reduced the chances of motor vehicle fuel leaking from USTs and contaminating groundwater.
It has been two years since the December 1998 deadline passed for tanks to be replaced or upgraded. Compliance is now in excess of 90 percent of all tanks. State regulators are now focusing their efforts on cleaning the sites where the older tanks leaked.
Since the 1998 deadline, some 20,000 tanks have been taken out of service and removed from the ground. The older tanks were usually single-walled and made of metal. As the tanks aged, many leaked. Unfortunately, the leaked fuel has contaminated groundwater in numerous places across the state.
Replacement tanks are non-metallic (typically fiberglass) and are double walled or have a containment system surrounding them. A leak detection system is also required. The plumbing that runs from the tank to the pump must also have a containment system. Tank owners who opted not to change the older tanks were able to use a bladder-like device inside an intact tank to meet the requirements.
Of the total 48,452 active underground tanks in operation today, more than 90 percent meet California upgrade requirements.
Board Modifies ZEV Mandate
The January 25 ARB Board meeting brought several significant changes to the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate. While holding to the requirement that automakers put more ZEVs on California’s roads by 2003, the Board made changes giving auto manufacturers additional flexibility in how they meet their ZEV requirements.
The number of ZEVs in 2003 will vary from approximately 4,450 to 15,450, depending on the type of ZEVs the individual automakers choose to bring to market. ZEVs that qualify to meet mandate requirements range from larger autos such as the General Motors EV1, the Honda EV Plus and the Ford Ranger pickup truck, to smaller neighborhood electric cars, such as the THINK!™ Extra credits can be earned for ZEVs that have extended range and for vehicles introduced prior to 2003.
In addition to pure ZEVs, the Board’s action also requires about 100,000 highly clean vehicles that earn partial ZEV (PZEV) credits in 2003, with that PZEV number rising to as many as 400,000 vehicles by 2006.
The Board also decided to begin including in 2007 heavier sport utility vehicles, pickup trucks and vans in the sales figures used to calculate the number of ZEVs each automaker is required to offer to California consumers. This will increase the number of vehicles used to calculate ZEV requirements from just fewer than 1 million to more than 1.5 million. "More SUV sales will mean more ZEV sales," said ARB Chairman Dr. Alan Lloyd.
Noting that automakers are being offered incentives for early ZEV introduction, Dr. Lloyd said: "We could start seeing new ZEVs on California’s roads as soon as next year."
The ARB’s January 25 meeting saw a major automaker for the first time voice acceptance of the ZEV mandate. A spokesman for Ford told the Board his company is prepared to fulfill its share of the ZEV requirement in 2003.
January 24, 2001
Dear Fellow Californians:
The energy challenge facing California is real and affects all of us. Its potential to affect our environment is real as well, and that is one reason our immediate action is important.
In the long run, we will solve the problem of cleanly generating plentiful electricity. In the short term, the smartest and most environmentally sensible plan is conservation. That is why I am asking you to join me and millions of Californians in cutting our energy use.
California continues to experience electrical shortages that have resulted in rolling blackouts throughout the State. To reduce the risk of power outages, the most important action we can take is to use less energy.
The Governor and leaders of the California Legislature are working with utility companies, power suppliers and consumer groups to fashion long-term solutions for reliable and affordable electricity. The State has already implemented a program to reduce energy consumption by a minimum of eight percent (8%).
You have an important role at your workplace and in your home.
California has the power of nearly 35 million people. By reducing our electricity demand, we can reduce prices, avoid shortages and lower energy bills.
Here are easy ways to cut energy use at home by at least five percent (5%):
-
If possible, turn your thermostat down to 68° F degrees or lower during the day, and 55° F at night. You can save five percent (5%) on heating bills for every one degree you lower your thermostat.
-
Use lower washing temperatures and line dry clothes whenever you can. Take a short shower instead of a bath.
-
Turn out lights in empty rooms. Cut the use of non-essential appliances. When not in use, turn off computers and other electronic equipment completely. Unplug electronic chargers when not in use (e.g., cell phone chargers).
-
Refrigerators use one-sixth of a home’s energy. Dusting coils and checking door seals can help save electricity. You can set the temperature as high as 38° without spoiling food.
At work
-
Minimize energy usage during the peak demand hours of 5:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m., and 4:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (If possible shift high energy use tasks to non-peak hours.)
-
As at home, lower your thermostat to 68o F or less.
-
Turn off unneeded lights and equipment, especially in unused offices and conference rooms. Turn down other lighting when possible.
-
Turn computers, copiers and other office equipment to low-power standby mode. Turn equipment off at the end of the workday.
-
Use inkjet printers rather than laser printers to save up to 90 percent on printer energy costs. Use laptop computers if possible. Laptops use significantly less energy than typical desktop models.
-
Buy ENERGY STARTM equipment, products, and lights.
Thank you for doing your part to conserve energy.
Sincerely,
Winston H. Hickox
Agency Secretary
Integrated Waste Management Board
Waste Board Steps up to Snuff Tracy Tire Fire
The last flickering flames of the 1998 inferno that transformed an illegal 7 million tire scrap heap near the Central Valley community of Tracy into pyrolytic oil and ash finally will be extinguished thanks to a $364,000 allocation from the Integrated Waste Management Board.
"This operation has been a long time coming," said Waste Board Chair Linda Moulton-Patterson, whose tenure with the agency began after the Royster tires had already burned for nearly a year. "We hope to finally put this major environmental tragedy behind us once and for all by putting out the remaining fire and getting on with efforts to remediate this site."
Known as the "Royster Waste Tire Site," after the property owner, Silas F. Royster, battled in court for years to exempt his tire collection from State tire storage permitting regulations, the site was one of the largest illegal scrap tire piles on the West Coast before catching fire in 1998.
Like all tire fires, but especially large ones, the Royster tires burned fiercely after sparks from brush clearing equipment apparently touched off the blaze in August 1998. Because of the site’s topography –– a deep, natural trough –– authorities allowed the fire to burn down, rather than risk personnel and potential groundwater contamination. Officials feared that the volume of water and foam needed to suppress the blaze in its early stages would have left behind a "sea" of toxic chemicals in the basin.
Although the pile still smolders, flames are limited to a part of the site where tires are buried the deepest. A Waste Board contractor will haul away the remaining tires and tons of ash and melted metal tire belts so that the site can be analyzed, and, eventually, remediation can begin.
In the wake of the Royster fire and another fire nearby that burned 7 million tires, California recently enacted major reforms to its waste tire laws. Legislation signed by Governor Davis, SB 876 (Escutia/Cardoza), boosts the State tire fee from 25 cents to $1 for every new tire sold in the state for the next six years and creates a manifest system that tracks tires in California virtually from "cradle to grave." SB 876 also requires the expenditure of $6.5 million annually to clean up illegal tire piles and report to the Legislature how the additional funding made available through the bill is being spent.
Royster Judgement
A recent San Joaquin County Superior Court judgment awarded the IWMB a $7 million civil penalty against the estate of Silas F. Royster, on whose property an unpermitted pile of 7 million tires caught fire in 1998. Although open to appeal by attorneys for the estate, the judgment nonetheless underscores the applicability of regulations to illegal waste tire piles that existed in California before the current State regulations.
In rendering the judgment, the court found that the Royster Waste Tire Site intentionally violated State Cleanup and Abatement Orders and knowingly operated as a major waste tire facility without the necessary State permit from the IWMB.
Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment
Sierra Nevada Fish Advisory
Scientists from the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) have worked with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and health officials from three foothill counties in developing the first-ever public health notice concerning contaminants in fish in the Sierra Nevada.
The notice, issued in October by Nevada, Placer and Yuba counties, recommends limits on the consumption of bass and several other species in some reservoirs and streams in the watersheds of the Bear and Yuba Rivers due to elevated levels of methylmercury, the form of mercury most commonly found in fish.
Mercury levels in the fish are most likely the result of mercury use in gold-mining activities dating as far back as the Gold Rush. USGS sampled fish in the area in 1999 as part of a screening study on the prevalence of mercury on federal lands in the Sierra Nevada. USGS sought OEHHA’s assistance in reviewing the sampling results to determine if consumption of the fish might pose a health risk.
OEHHA’s review found that methylmercury levels in the fish were not alarming but were high enough to merit limiting consumption of bass in the region to one meal per month, and other species listed in the notice to one meal per week. Pregnant women and children under age six are particularly sensitive to the toxic effects of methylmercury, which can harm the central nervous system. The water in the reservoirs and streams is not contaminated, as mercury settles in the underlying sediment and can then gradually bioaccumulate in the fish.
OEHHA assisted the three counties in preparing their public health notices. OEHHA has previously issued fish advisories for a number of water bodies in the Coast Range, where mercury ores and mines are prevalent. In contrast, naturally occurring mercury in the Sierra is rare.
Department of Pesticide Regulation
What Should You Know About Pesticides?
"What You Should Know About Pesticides" is the theme of a series of newly redesigned handouts developed by Cal/EPA’s Department of Pesticide Regulation (DPR).
The colorful, two-page "Pesticide Info" fact sheets address a number of consumer pesticide safety topics. There are a dozen in the series, plus an additional leaflet describing the Department and its mission. The handouts will also be available in Spanish.
Targeted at consumers, the flyers give tips on safe pesticide use and disposal. Another key message is to reduce pesticide use and encourage the use of less toxic chemicals when pesticide use is necessary.
The handouts include:
• What is a pesticide? The word "pesticide," often equated with "insecticide," also encompasses herbicides, rodenticides, disinfectants, and many other pest-controlling chemicals.
• Pull welcome mat in, keep pesky guests out. Explains that the best way to control home and garden pests is to avoid them in the first place, and gives tips on how.
• Emergency! What to do when accidents happen. How to recognize if you have been overexposed to pesticides, and basic first aid measures.
• Don’t drop the ‘bomb’ without a safety check. A guide on how to use insect foggers.
• Don’t play around with children and pesticides. Tips on how to keep your children safe from poisonous materials, including pesticides.
• Monitoring protects us and our environment. How and why DPR monitors for pesticides in air, soil and water.
• Pesticides and food: How we test for safety. Discusses DPR’s 75-year-old program of monitoring fresh produce for illegal pesticide residues.
• Read the label first! A guide to what’s on a pesticide label and how following label instructions can ensure safe pesticide use.
• Itching for a repellent? Follow these safety tips. How to choose and use insect repellents, and how to avoid ticks and Lyme disease.
• Pesticide complaints? You have the right to... How to report complaints about illegal pesticide use and how your complaint will be investigated.
• Think before you spray, read all labels and obey. How to use pesticides safely to avoid problems.
• Buy less, lock it away, and dispose with care. Safe storage and disposal of pesticides.
Each handout sports a colorful bug cartoon drawn by Craig Martinez of Martinez-Hardy Design Communications of Sacramento. The firm also developed the new design.
Single copies of each handout may be requested by calling the DPR Communications Office at (916) 445-3974, or via e-mail to dfisher@cdpr.ca.gov. They can also be downloaded from DPR’s Web site www.cdpr.ca.gov and are available from many county agricultural commissioners’ offices.
Note: Reference to Cal/EPA Permit Assistance Centers, Ombudsman Directory, Important Numbers, and Cal/EPA Board & Department Web Sites were removed due to information being displayed was old.
Newsletters Home | Publications Home
California Environmental Protection Agency, http://www.calepa.ca.gov/PressRoom/Newsletters/
General Public Contact, cepacomm@calepa.ca.gov (916) 323-2514