ORCAA Board of Directors
OLYMPIC REGION CLEAN AIR AGENCY
2940 B Limited Lane NW
Olympia, Washington 98502
MEETING
September 12 , 2007
Members present:
Bob Beerbower, Grays Harbor County (Chair)
Ann Burgman, City of Lacey
Mark Foutch in for Jeff Kingsbury, City of Olympia
Ross Gallagher, Mason County
Bob Macleod, Thurston County
Mike Doherty, Clallam County
Members absent: Clay Harwood, Pacific County
Grant Munro, City of Port Angeles (Vice Chair),
Phil Johnson, Jefferson County
Legal Counsel: Fred Gentry, Bean & Gentry
Staff Present: Richard Stedman, Executive Director, Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor; Mark Goodin, Professional Engineer; Lynn Harding, Administrative Services Manager; and Debbie Moody, Recorder
The meeting was called to order at 10:05 am.
There was one addition to the Agenda; Odor Complaint Investigation Policy & Procedure, under New Business. There were no omissions. Burgman moved approval of the amended Agenda. Doherty seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Doherty moved approval of the Consent Agenda. Gallagher seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT
There was no public comment.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Compliance Update
Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor, explained he met with Hoquiam Fire Department to discuss their participation in assisting us with Ocean Protein. They have offered to respond to odor complaints and pass the incident report on to us. Staff provided training to the fire department and at that training, four OP employees showed up to hear what we had to say. So we are confident they are all on the same page. Outdoor burning and land clearing season is about to begin, so the compliance group will be busy.
ORCAA Permit Actions
Mark Goodin, Professional Engineer, wanted to go over a few permits. Capital Industrial Inc’s permit is final for installing a spray booth and abrasive blasting room. Interfor Pacific Inc is a lumber mill located in Port Angeles. They are on the verge of becoming a major source. We have requested they submit an application to set a voluntary limit under a Synthetic Minor Order. They will be able to change their status and move to the major source category. Olympic Panel Products is a plywood plant in Shelton. They are currently a major source and we are working with them on a voluntary limit as well. Limiting them will keep them out of the Plywood MACT. This will save them money and permitting time. They have agreed to do what they can to limit their production. The permit should be issued around October 1. Pilot Travel Centers is final. Sierra Pacific Lumber Mill is heading to public notice next week. This application is specifically for an increase in the drying temperature for their dry kilns. It has recently been found that lumber drying actually causes emissions of methanol, formaldehyde and a few other air toxics. SPI had a voluntary limit on their dryer temperature, to keep them as a minor source. Now that they have requested this increase, it will cause them to become a major source. Westport Shipyard in Westport may be going into enforcement mode. During the annual inspection, the compliance team found a new building and equipment that was not permitted through our agency. Weyerhaeuser Raymond’s renewal application (for their AOP) will be going to public notice in the next couple of weeks.
Stedman, noting this has no bearing on how we deal with SPI, wanted to alert the Board that they paid one of the largest settlements, ever, in the history of California Air Pollution Control. They settled out of court for several million dollars, dealing with falsification of records and inadequate monitoring and maintenance. They have paid us fines over the years and it seems to be their way of operating. We do continue to receive complaints regarding SPI and dust. SPI has made some claims regarding the complainants and we are waiting on documentation before we assess the penalties for any outstanding or upcoming Notices of Violations.
Education and Outreach
Stedman noted the tins of mints each of the Board members received. The mints are a promotional item we’ll be using during education and outreach projects. We are still waiting for a press conference to announce the Tacoma Rail retrofit. We will let the Board know when we hear anything.
Macleod noted he has been meeting with the Transportation Policy Board and he asked about the growing number of controls on idling diesels. The staff noted there are complications in idling of diesel due to the different equipment each truck can have. They noted it is less than practical and Macleod stated he was discouraged. Stedman noted the belief that the different equipment is a problem, is incorrect. There is a lot of technology out there and they are able to be fitted to just about any equipment you’ll find on the market. There was some discussion regarding ORCAA joining the TRCP and the other county’s planning groups as well.
Beerbower asked if there is anything we can do now, for the private train in Elma. Stedman stated we may be able to help. Stedman explained we would need to talk to Ecology and see if we can get funds to assist them. There is approximately $100,000 in funds for retrofits.
Agency Audit Updates
Stedman stated the State Auditor has notified us and will be here for our audit in November.
Lakeside Industries
Stedman explained Lakeside has placed a state of the art facility in Nisqually. We tried to require, via their permit, a monitoring station, however our legal council explained we couldn’t do that. We talked to Lakeside and after some negotiations we agreed to partner with them. We have just received a $15,000 check to assist in the placing and start up of the monitoring station. They have agreed to send us $10,000 per year for the following two years. We do not expect to get a lot of “Lakeside” emissions; however we do expect to see a lot of woodstove problems. In the future we will have better information, from the data we gather, to do better modeling.
Woodstove Grant Update
Stedman reminded the Board that we had applied for a woodstove grant; unfortunately we did not receive any monies. Ecology Central Region and Puget Sound Clean Air received all of the funds. Staff is going to see what we can do, along the same lines, with our diesel monies. The plan was to have a buy-back program in Port Angeles. We would like to try to partner with woodstove manufacturers and Hearth Products lobby. Stedman stated he would bring a plan to the Board at a later date.
Port of Olympia Grant
Stedman stated the Port of Olympia has applied for a couple of different grants. One grant would allow for the installation of a diesel oxidative catalyst on their log loader. The other grant is more innovative. They currently use old beat up pickup trucks to run back and forth on Port property. They have proposed to have us assist in funding the purchase of two Zap cars (electric cars). The Port will install the plug in stations for the cars, and the station will be available to the public. The Port has offered to allow us to use the Zap cars for display and they will send us regular reports on how they are working. This is a pilot project, so if they don’t work real well, we won’t want to repeat this type of grant. Burgman noted when Lacey does their expansion; they have plans to install a plug in stations as well. Stedman stated he has been talking to Phil Johnson, regarding Port Townsend. They currently shuttle people back and forth between county buildings and transportation building. They are looking at a four passenger electric vehicle and have requested our assistance. We did note they must decommission the vehicle they are currently using. We would also like to partner with Ecology regarding installing biodiesel tanks at the Port.
Legal Fees
Stedman wanted to let the Board know that we will probably be coming to the Board for an amendment to our budget. It is only 3 months into our new year and we have already spent 60% of the budgeted amount. We want to thank Gentry and his group for all their hard work and we have been prevailing in court, however we have spent a lot of time and money on them as well.
Annual Retreat
Stedman stated we have scheduled our staff annual retreat for October 12. We will be holding the retreat at the Alderbrook Resort in Union. Barb Mcallister will facilitate the retreat for us again this year. Our agenda will include team building exercises as well as celebrating our accomplishments.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Soil Key Update
Stedman noted he had received a call from a Soil Key attorney. Basically they requested an exit strategy due to Mr. Spoerer wanting to get out of the business. We explained we are only requiring what is in the Regulatory Order. If he would just hire the consultant and get a good operating plan, we’d like to see him operate and be a success. We then met with the consultant and outlined our Order, again. The consultant was supposed to meet with Mr. Spoerer, but unfortunately he was hospitalized. Spoerer has had some additional problems out at his site. Not only the odor issues we are dealing with, but one of his employees was recently killed in an accident out there and they are being investigated by Labor and Industries. On top of that, now DOE has some concerns about the way they are operating.
Stedman stated, this just goes back to how this all began. It makes our job easier if the Counties are on top of these tops of business. Here Soil Key went from a ‘mom and pop’ operation to the second largest composter, virtually over night.
Stedman noted Spoerer has also appealed all of our penalty assessments. We anticipate spending additional funds in upcoming court hearings.
Ocean Protein Update
Stedman explained we had received complaints about OP and subsequently we wrote several violations. At that point, Gentry sent them a letter requesting they shut down. Because they caused odors, they were in violation of their restraining order. We did receive a letter back from OP stating violations were a result of upsets, which are excusable under state law. The requested to meet with us so, Cece Clynch of Gentry’s office joined us up at the plant.
Since that meeting, it appears they have done something which has resulted in a substantial decrease in the number of complaints we have received. They have mentioned further improvements they plan to work on over the winter. We remain hopeful they have things figured out.
Stedman stated the city has finally contacted us about the $75,000. They suggested the money be used to hire a consultant to come out and do some surveying of the odors. Stedman stated he spoke with R. Moody and came up with the idea that the firemen could do it. R. Moody and Mike Shults, Air Quality Specialist, held training for the firemen. They went over how we enforce these types of situations, what an odor is to us and what makes the odor a violation. We feel we’ll get better response time and the fire department will bill us for their time and we’ll use the $75,000 to pay them.
Financial Services Update
Stedman stated we have received our new warrants. We are still considering whether or not we should move payroll in house. The charge from the county to do our payroll is minimal and we are seriously thinking we’ll let the county continue to issue payroll. We have not had the same problems from Thurston County with regards to payroll as we have had with accounts payable. We are still aiming for October 1 to begin issuing warrants.
Draft ORCAA Climate Change Principles
In the Board packets, Stedman explained, is a draft Climate Change Principles for ORCAA. Stedman noted he has documented what the agency is currently doing, as well as items we would like to do. There will be cost associated with some of the items we would like to accomplish. Stedman noted he has left areas open for each of our jurisdictions. Stedman stated it would be nice if each of our counties and/or cities had their principles listed in our document as well. Stedman noted the city of Olympia section, and stated if the Board could give him a contact name, we’d be more than happy to include more of our jurisdiction in our document. Kingsbury reported the city of Olympia has achieved, in all of operations, levels below 1990. Burgman noted the city of Lacey is 100% green. Stedman asked the Board to read the document and get comments and suggestions back to him.
Kingsbury stated there will be a Climate Change Forum at the Washington Center for Performing Arts, on October 2. The tickets are free, but you must have one to attend. Kingsbury stated that if anyone is interested to let him know and he would do what he could to get tickets. Otherwise, the tickets become available this Saturday—they will go fast.
Doherty stated the Governor has a climate advisory team and they have about half of their recommendations adopted to go to the Governor and Legislature. Some of the recommendations seem to fit our mission, Doherty noted, and if there is a way staff can monitor the process we might be able to help lobby the legislature. Doherty also felt the state should use Olympia’s success as pilot projects or demonstration projects. Doherty suggested staff write a draft letter for the Board to consider. The letter would request the state to fund Olympia to do more in the way of these progressive things.
Stedman noted we’ll be working with the City of Lacey to do some retrofits, similar to what we have done with Olympia.
NEW BUSINESS
Odor Complaint Investigation Policy & Procedure
Stedman explained we have had several conversations with Gentry and Clynch and decided we needed to re-write our odor policy. Stedman stated Gentry has reviewed the policy and we would like the Board to approve the policy. Gentry noted odors are subjective and this policy makes it more objective sounding and easier to establish before the PCHB.
Kingsbury moved approval of the odor policy. Doherty seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
The meeting adjourned at 11:22 a.m.
PRESENTED BY
Richard A. Stedman, Executive Director
APPROVED BY:
The Majority of the Board
APPROVED and SIGNED this 10th day of October 2007