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AQMD Boardmember Kuehl Proposes Amendments -- Favored By Enviro/Grassroots Groups, Opposed By Cargo Industry Interests -- To Regulate Indirect Sources Of Emissions At Ports, Airports And Warehouses If "Voluntary" Measures Don't Reduce Pollution As Promised In Agency's Draft Air Quality Management Plan; Board Defers Vote To March

Assembly Speaker Rendon says in submitted statements: "Voluntary efforts alone" aren't enough"


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(Feb. 3, 2017, 5:55 p.m.) -- The battle's outcome could impact residents in parts of Long Beach and beyond, where people in some areas breathe among the worst-polluted air in the country. And it could impact shipping and cargo industry interests that use the Ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, the government operated-facilities that together comprise for the region's largest stationary pollution source.

As seen LIVE on LBREPORT.com, newly installed SCAQMD Boardmember (newly-elected L.A. County Supervisor) sheila Kuehl declined to support an AQMD-staff drafted Air Quality Management Plan (AQMD) as written, and sought to strengthen the plan by proposing amendments -- favored by environmental, and grassroots residents, opposed by cargo and related industry interests -- that would instruct AQMD staff to draft a rule that could regulate emissions from some operations at the Ports, airports and warehouses if "voluntary" measures don't produce promised pollution reductions. Industry interests, and some SCAQMD boardmembers, implied the action could prove counter-productive, spawning litigation that might delay otherwise agreed measures...but the issue didn't come to a decisional vote.

Instead, the SCAQMD governing board voted 9-3 (1 absent) to continue (postpone) the item until March, citing the absence of one boardmember (due to a family funeral.)

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Boardmember Kuehl's motion, which followed nearly three and a half hours of polarized public testimony, would amend AQMD's staff-proposed plan by directing staff also to draft a rule encompassing the ports, airports and warehouses (stationary sources that AQMD can't directly regulate but, under a court ruling, can do "indirectly") if voluntary industry measures don't meet stated air pollution reduction goals.

Boardmember Kuehl: ...I like voluntary plans, but what I like most about voluntary plans is the 'or else' part at the end. And that's why I want to propose five amendments -- three about indirect sources and two about...our ability to regulate fleets. In terms of indirect sources, I wanted to propose an amendment to each of three sections related to the airports, related to the ports and related to warehouses that would direct the staff to craft a rule by two years from now essentially, beginning of 2019, to take indirect sources into account in these three areas. I want to add that we could tell the staff, and this would be my hope, that where these entities have entered into voluntary agreements that the trigger on the new rule would not be pulled until and unless the entity did not meet its voluntary cap. I think that would be fair, because the problem for me with the AQMP is that if they don't meet their don't meet their voluntary cap, if they don't make the reductions they agreed to, we do have the ability to go court for breach of contract or MOU but what's the remedy?...There doesn't seem to be, as my dentist would call them, teeth. I would hope that this would help but also to say this would not kick into place until and unless voluntary caps were not met. As to the airport, it was never our intention to include airplanes, so I want to assure anyone here from the airport, and we can certainly say that quite definitely...
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Public testimony opened a written statement (read by an aide) from Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon (D, Lakewood), stating in pertinent part: "The public health consequences of slowing our progress on air quality are too great to rely on voluntary measures alone" and adding that it "would also be extremely prudent to have discussions while simultaneously initiating the development of indirect source rules so if voluntary agreements aren't sufficient, rule development won't be unnecessarily delayed." A staffer Assemblymember Eloise Gomez-Reyes, who supports an indirect source rule on warehouses (which Rendon's statement indicated he supports.)

Various cargo industry and business interests, and ILWU labor reps, opposed any action by the board to amend AQMD staff's proposal to regulate "indirect" sources. The Port of Los Angeles' Executive Director, Gene Seroka, testified personally, cited PoLA's claimed emission reductions and urged taking no action on what he referred to as "MOB-01" (we presume an amendment.) The Port of Long Beach's Harbor Commission took no official position on the matter

However public speakers Rich Dines, a LB Harbor Commissioner and an ILWU Maritime Clerk -- who stated he was speaking in his personal capacity -- and said he was speaking on behalf of Vivian Malauulu, an LBCC Trustee who is also an ILWU-represented dockworker. Mr. Dines urged the board to adopt the AQMP without amendments.

  • For quick-launch audio of Mr. Dines' testimony, click here.

    Environmental groups (including NRDC), Sierra Club and residents impacted by port/cargo operations (from Long Beach to inland areas) urged tougher measures, calling AQMD's staff proposal inadequate, and some faulting the agency for failing to do more to clean the region's air..

    After Boardmember Kuehl signaled her upcoming motions, some boardmembers pushed back, defending the agency's record and supporting AQMD staff's proposal as written. One voiced concern that, if enacted, the amendments might trigger litigation that could delay clean-air measures.

  • For quick launch audio of all public testimony pro and con, followed by Board discussion and motions leading to the Board's vote, click here.

    To view the entire board item, click video embed below:

    The bottom line: the battle lines are now drawn for AQMD board action in March (via Boardmember Kuehl's desired amendments) on whether to include a rule that would include ports, airports and warehouses ("indirectly" regulated source) in the AQMP if industry's voluntary measures don't deliver reductions as promised.

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    The SCAQMD board consists of 13 members; four are county supervisors representing Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino counties; six are City Council members from cities within each county (Los Angeles County has two representatives); the remaining three Board members are appointed by the Governor, the Speaker of the State Assembly and the State Senate Rules Committee.

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    The AQMD's AQMP is supposed to provide measures to get the South Coast Air Basin and the Coachella Valley into compliance with federal 1997 and 2008 8-hour ozone standards, the revoked 1-hour ozone standard, and the annual PM2.5 and 24-hour PM2.5 air quality standards, to satisfy the federal Clean Air Act (CAA). In addition to human health impacts, there are potential fiscal impacts. If SCAQMD's plan doesn't satisfy the federal EPA, it could potentially jeopardize the region's access to certain federal transportation dollars. Under the new Trump administration, it's not yet clear how strict or flexible the federal EPA will be in allowing AQMD area to achieve or continue to delay "attainment" with federal standards.

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