Marked Agenda
Commissioners' Work Session
February 24, 1997
8:30 a.m.
Room 201S, Building E, Park 35, Austin
Old Business
The following item was continued as old business from the February 19, 1997, Agenda Meeting.
- Docket No. 96-1373-WR. CITY OF SAN MARCOS seeks authorization (Permit No. 5539) to use the bed and banks of the San Marcos River, Guadalupe River Basin, to convey sewage effluent from the City's wastewater treatment plant to Cummings Lake in Hays County where 99% of the effluent is from the city's municipal use of Edwards Aquifer water and the applicant is requesting authorization to convey not to exceed 10,081 acre-feet of effluent per annum to the lake and divert and use not to exceed 9980 acre-feet of this effluent. The Commission will consider the application and the hearing requests that have been filed on the application. Geoff Connor (General Counsel) presented a revised draft order for the Commissioners' consideration. Commissioner Marquez moved to approve the order. The motion was seconded by Commissioner Baker and approved unanimously.
New Business
- Consideration of the Commissioners' priorities on rule and policy development. The Commissioners discussed this item in conjunction with new business item #11.
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Victoria Hsu (New Source Review), Dale Beebe-Farrow (New Source Review), Donna Cosper (New Source Review), David Duncan (Legal), Kerry Drake (Small Business Assistance Program), and Susan Blevins (Air Quality) presented items #2, #3, #4, and #5. The following is a breakdown by item of specific comments provided by the Commissioners to staff.
- Consideration of issues related to standard exemption protectiveness reviews. The Commissioners directed staff to -
- for exemptions that do not have a straightforward fix (about 12), set up a focus group to include all affected parties, including the Small Business Assistance Program and return to a Commissioners' Work Session in 3 months for discussion of these exemptions;
- for exemptions requiring minor fixes (about 10), solicit input on the proposed changes before proceeding with rulemaking;
- use monitoring and statistical approaches as required to help evaluate the protectiveness demonstration; the statistical approach can be extended to evaluate regulatory exceedences as well as ESL exceedences; however, when the statistical approach is used, receive sign-off from the Executive Director and the Chief Engineer; and
- make the information from the protectiveness reviews available to the public (staff stated that this information will be posted on the agency's website).
- Consideration of issues related to the standard exemption protectiveness review for concrete batch plants. The Commissioners directed staff to -
- work with affected parties at revising the exemption to specify a sliding production rate with a distance requirement and requiring that washed aggregate be used;
- have the focus group consider the issues (including the public involvement implications) of a facility which may qualify for the exemption at a low production level but then sells the facility or otherwise increases the production level);
- strike a balance in determining which modeling assumptions need to be included in the exemption rule language;
- for state regulatory compliance at a site, do not consider road emissions in the modeling assessment;
- for a facility's best management practices, consider the facility roads as part of the facility (the legislature may address this issue at some point); and
- return to a future Commissioners' Work Session (after the focus group has met) to discuss this exemption further.
- Consideration of issues related to registration and distance requirements for standard exemptions. Regarding registration, the Commissioners stated that there will be no across-the-board registration. Regarding distance requirements, the Commissioners directed staff to use distance requirements judiciously and to discontinue site approvals (sounds too much like zoning) however site approvals already required by an exemption do not need to be removed.
- Consideration of issues related to cumulative effects of standard exemptions. The Commissioners directed staff to develop a focus group comprised of affected parties to study comprehensive solutions and to make recommendations. The focus group should consider the possibility of including standard exemptions into the significance level determination that is evaluated during permit renewals.
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Herb Williams (Air Policy and Regulations) presented items #6, #7, #8, and #9. The Commissioners support "unbundling" the standards. That is, each standard should be dealt with individually based on the best scientific knowledge for each. The Commissioners authorized staff to send a copy of all of the public comments received on the standards to EPA and instructed staff to draft a transmittal to the Texas congressional delegation for the Commissioners' review. The following is a breakdown by item of specific comments provided by the Commissioners to staff. Staff will return to the March 6th Commissioners' Work Session with draft comments to EPA (on everything but the ozone standard) for the Commissioners' consideration.
- Consideration of the Commission's response to an interim implementation policy on new or revised ozone and particulate matter national ambient air quality standards.
- Consideration of the Commission's response to proposed national ambient air quality standards for ozone. The Commissioners provided staff with the following guidance on the proposed revisions to the ozone standard.
- A true national standard may not be the most protective.
- The existing 1 hour standard may not be the best option for the nation as a whole.
- EPA should explore other options, such as regional standards.
- If EPA decides to move on the 8 hour standard without further study of other options, the Commissioners will have specific comments on the 8 hour standard. However, the Commissioners prefer holding off on advocating a particular position until EPA conducts further study.
- Whatever the standard, the Commissioners support spatial averaging with some type of mechanism to mitigate "hot spots" on a case-by-case basis.
- Consideration of the Commission's response to proposed federal requirements for designation of reference and equivalent methods for PM2.5 and ambient air quality surveillance for particulate matter. The Commissioners feel that there is a body of evidence that raises concerns over particulate matter; however, not enough is known about PM2.5 at this time to warrant agency action. The federal government has a responsibility to study this issue further before adopting something that might do more harm. Staff should draft comments that reiterate the Commissioners' previous comments and should also work with the other states in developing a common front urging EPA to reduce the cost of PM2.5 monitoring.
- Consideration of the Commission's response to proposed national ambient air quality standards for particulate matter.
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- The Commission will consider in open meeting legislative matters related to its jurisdiction, including proposed legislation and related position papers, briefing materials, and status reports. The Commission may also meet in closed meeting to receive legal advice regarding these matters as authorized by Section 551.071 of the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Government Code. Any Commission action, decision, or vote on these matters will be made in open meeting in accordance with Section 551.102 of the Open Meetings Act, Chapter 551 of the Government Code. The Commissioners chose not to discuss this item at this time.
- Planning for the next Commissioners' Work Session. The next Commissioners' Work Session will be held on Thursday, March 6th, at 3:00 p.m. in E-201S. The following items are scheduled for consideration: the Clean Industries Plus Program, the federal ozone and particulate matter standards, and legislative issues. The Commissioners have canceled the March 20th work session.