ORCAA Board of Directors
OLYMPIC REGION CLEAN AIR AGENCY
2940 B Limited Lane NW
Olympia, Washington 98502
MEETING
December 12 , 2007
Members present:
Bob Beerbower, Grays Harbor County (Chair)
Ann Burgman, City of Lacey
Jeff Kingsbury, City of Olympia
Ross Gallagher, Mason County
Bob Macleod, Thurston County
Mike Doherty, Clallam County
Clay Harwood, Pacific County
Phil Johnson, Jefferson County
Members absent:
Grant Munro, City of Port Angeles (Vice Chair),
Legal Counsel: Mark Peternell, in for Fred Gentry, Bean, Gentry, Wheeler & Peternell
Staff Present: Richard Stedman, Executive Director, Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor; Mark Goodin, Professional Engineer; Lynn Harding, Administrative Services Manager; Dan Nelson, Public Information Officer, and Debbie Moody, Recorder
The meeting was called to order at 10:00 am.
Stedman introduced Mark Peternell of Gentry’s office. Stedman also noted Cece Clynch has left the firm and has taken a job with the legislature.
There were no additions or omission to the Agenda. Burgman moved approval of the amended Agenda. Harwood seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Harwood moved approval of the Consent Agenda. Gallagher seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
PUBLIC COMMENT
City of Hoquiam (possible)
Beerbower asked if there was anyone from the public to speak.
Tom Coyle, 2219 Aberdeen, Hoquiam, stated he would like to speak. He stated he has made comments with regards to Ocean Protein in the past. He wanted to let the Board know the city of Hoquiam has now banned all public comments during their public meetings, as of Monday night. Now the city is attempting to rezone the area to an industrial area. We see this as the city trying to get away from their responsibilities. Coyle wanted to let the Board know the October Minutes state he said ‘the Daily World refused to print....’ Coyle noted they didn’t print it; he didn’t mean to say ‘refused’ and wanted to make it clear. Coyle submitted letters (6 pages) between himself and the city for the record. The Board agreed to accept the letters.
Kingsbury asked if the city is refusing to allow all public testimony. Coyle stated that was correct. Coyle stated we can request to be added to the agenda, but they do not have to allow us to speak. Beerbower stated the public is allowed to comment at the county meetings if they so choose. Coyle then asked if Soil Key was shut down by ORCAA or the County. Beerbower stated Soil Key chose to shut down. Kingsbury stated Soil Key chose to shut down after pressure from both ORCAA and the County to comply with rules. Coyle stated it has never been their intention to close down Ocean Protein—but to have them comply as well. Currently we are not experiencing any odors; however it seems they are operating at night. The issue is we need the public to keep Ocean Protein on their mind—even if we don’t have odors today, in the spring when the fishing boom starts again it is likely we will.
Beerbower noted the Board is made up of elected officials and he believed none of the members are ever out to close a business down. We do expect them to comply with the laws and we do our best to work with them. As long as a business is willing to work with us and move forward to compliance, we will do what we can to keep them open. Ocean Protein made some promises to the public and we expect them to step up and abide by them.
Harwood asked if ORCAA has had any issues with the shellfish plant in Raymond. Stedman stated it remains to be seen. There are some issues and we have heard Ocean Protein has been taking some of their supply there. Harwood noted he has seen the trucks come through town and has seen spills now and again.
There was no further public comment.
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Compliance Update
Robert Moody, Compliance Supervisor, stated complaints continue to come in. We are working cooperatively with cities that have been impacted by the flood and storm debris. Moody also notes the final report for the EPA Audit is due to come out the first of the year. We have sent our comments to them, explaining our position; we’ll wait to see how they respond.
ORCAA Permit Actions
Mark Goodin, Professional Engineer, explained Amtech Corporation in Yelm was a manufacturing facility building fiberglass reinforced plastic vehicle tops for the military. They moved their operation to Yakima; however they had requested retaining their Yelm facility permit. We agreed to retain their permit. Recently they contacted us, requesting to use the Yelm facility for a boat manufacturing facility. In the Port Angeles area, Interfor Pacific is currently on hold. Interfor has decided to put more effort into expanding their California plant, rather than this one at this time. Sierra Pacific Industries Lumber mill, is also currently on hold. There are air toxic issues being reviewed by Department of Ecology. DOE has authority over Tier 1 and Tier 2 Toxic Analysis, while we have authority over Tier 3. The last noteworthy case is Grays Harbor Energy LLC. We will be entering into an agreement with Energy Facility Sighting and Environmental Council (on the Agenda), whereby we will take over the combined cycle power plant at the Satsop Industrial Park.
Harwood asked about the Lazy J Tree Farm in Port Angeles. Are they strictly wood product and manure, do we know? Goodin stated he wasn’t sure, but could get the information after the meeting. Goodin did add all composting facilities need carbonaceous materials as well as some kind of bio-organisms. Goodin stated he would guess manure was a part of the equation. Harwood stated his concern was another Soil Key. This facility is a smaller facility and does not involve bio-solids in their mix, Goodin noted.
Education and Outreach
Dan Nelson, Public Information Officer, welcomed the Board to woodstove season. Nelson noted he is currently working on production of wood smoke and public information pieces. We should have them available in a week or so. We did call a voluntary burn ban over the Thanksgiving weekend; we had good media coverage and good public response. Nelson noted we continue to work with the other agencies. Nelson attended the Northwest Air Quality Communicators meeting last week, where we continue to work on storm debris issues as well as a combined anti-idling and wood smoke (indoor wood burning) educational campaign. The outdoor burn campaign ads ran this fall and will run again after the new year.
As for the diesel projects, we have finally gotten the CCV issues worked out and have 15 school districts lined up to get the new retrofits. Most of them are lined up to make the change out over the winter break. We also have a couple projects for municipal fleets, some additional state funds for putting additional CCVs on at Mason Transit and also looking at DOC installations for their diesel fleets in Tumwater. Lacey and Olympia have already taken advantage of this.
Macleod asked what the anti-idling program comprised of. Nelson explained we have a current anti-idling campaign for the schools – there are signs at the schools reminding the bus drivers to turn off their engines. The new campaign will be targeting the rest of the communities. We will have advertisements reminding people to turn off their engines when they are sitting in ferry lines, or drive up windows. The message will basically state if you are going to idle longer than 30 seconds, turn the key. Nelson noted it isn’t just an air quality benefit, but a gas saver as well.
Storm Debris
Stedman stated after the latest storm we have had a considerable amount of wind blown vegetation, trees, etc. down. We have had a number of calls from elected officials wondering if they could burn it. Our message back to each area is to manage it as solid waste at this time, if there are staging areas, move as much debris as possible there to allow it time to dry out. Stedman noted Grays Harbor Paper has offered to take and pick up (to a limited extent) storm related debris and burn it in their boiler. An outfit in Vancouver has stepped up to the plate and offered to go to Pacific County to grind up the wood/storm debris as well. Pacific County will be offering, to the public, to pick up materials to get them to the landfill or grind them up. So far, it appears these systems are working. Stedman stated as an agency, we want to stay out of the way. We do not want to be an impediment in an emergency situation to any public agency/public health issues. We would like to get the word out to use burning as a last resort and in the meantime, allow the debris time to dry out as much as possible. We will continue working with the counties to get the word out to the public.
Beerbower stated there were several people in Grays Harbor that wanted the county to allow them to burn, but after talking to ORCAA we realized there were other options. We knew we wouldn’t be able to stop everyone from burning, but we could get the word out about the alternatives. Stedman reminded the Board the law does allow burning for storm debris, once an emergency has been declared. However, Stedman continued, it must be permitted and we have not issued any permits at this time. We are working with Forks currently. They are setting up an ordinance to take on permitting authority for storm debris from last year’s storm. Harwood stated they received requests from the mayors in the UGAs requesting a blanket permit. Harwood stated after speaking with ORCAA we realized we had alternatives as well. Currently in Pacific County we have two areas for storm debris collection. Harwood noted we still have a few people burning, but for the most part, the drop off areas seems to be working.
Stedman noted if we do see people burning prohibited materials, we will be writing Notices of Violations. Also, we will really be watching if we go into a stagnant condition—we’ll have to enforce burning a bit more thoroughly. There is a market for a lot of this material, we just need to get the word out to the right people, and we have Nelson working on that as well.
Doherty asked if any of the cities do anything with Christmas trees. Burgman noted Lacey will pick them up. Johnson stated Port Townsend picks them up as well. Doherty asked what happens to them after that. Both Johnson and Burgman stated they are composted.
Gallagher noted FEMA would be underwriting Mason County’s debris. Stedman explained the Governor had stated the state will be offering assistance as well.
Port Townsend Paper Tour
Stedman attended a tour of the paper facility in Port Townsend, along with Munro. The concern of Port Townsend Paper Mill was that ORCAA was going to step in and start enforcing. We have signed a memorandum of understanding with DOE that allows us to read opacity if we were in the area. We would then make DOE aware of any potential violation and pass it on to them. We did explain to the mill that we would also be there to verify when they were running well with no problems. After our tour and discussion, the mill was confident we were not out to get them. We do continue to receive complaints. However we do not anticipate any major problems. The mill is committed to doing things right.
Preliminary SAO Audit Results
Stedman reminded the Board we went through an SAO audit last month and were verbally told things looked good. The only ‘issue’ they noticed us on was prevailing wage. It appears that pretty much any work we have done must be done by a vendor that pays prevailing wage. What this means to the agency is it’ll triple our costs. Or, Stedman continued, we have employees doing some additional maintenance work for the building. We have a scheduled exit interview on January 3rd and we would like to have a couple of Board members attend if possible (we can not have more than 4). Stedman asked the members to let him know if they could attend. Harwood asked if the agency can establish a small work roster under $20,000. It was noted it would be allowed. Stedman noted we could also hire a “handyman” to staff.
Kingsbury stated the Board is comfortable with the Auditor’s comments, we should be paying prevailing wage. If there is a way to establish a roster for small projects, we would be supportive of that as well.
Select Committee on Environmental Health Testimony
Stedman stated he recently testified at the legislature regarding an issue in Yelm. The situation entails an individual who claims there are mysterious clouds, odors, asbestos, and other various issues out near his property. We have been doing what we can to respond to his complaints, and have yet to verify any problem. Stedman further explained some of the issues out in the area. Stedman stated we would continue to investigate complaints as time permits. The Board questioned why staff would continue to investigate if there is nothing to find. Stedman noted staff feels there may be an issue out there, we just haven’t found it. There was no action required of the Board.
Air Quality Summary
Stedman, noting the AQS charts, stated we had several moderate days in Lacey as well as one day at unhealthy for sensitive individuals. In most of the other areas, things look good. We are anticipating exceeding the standard in the near future. As you are aware, the standard has been reduced from 65 micrograms per cubic meter to 35 micrograms per cubic meter. This has consequences—in fact Tacoma has been declared non-attainment for PM2.5. They aren’t pleased about the declaration and are gearing up for a large woodstove replacement program. Unfortunately they aren’t sure woodstoves are the real issue. They may spend a lot of money replacing woodstoves only to find out they are not the problem. The standard is getting so low it may be approaching background during the winter. This is a concern for Lacey and Port Angeles in our area.
Burgman noted the problem is in Lacey because that is where the monitoring station is located. Stedman explained the station located in Lacey represents the entire county of Thurston. We came into compliance for PM10 in 2000 which is a result of improved automobile emissions and replacement of woodstoves. Burgman noted we were in attainment prior to 2000; we had to wait for paperwork and the declaration. Burgman recalled the extensive woodstove buy back program, and all the work staff did on a maintenance plan to become attainment in the late 90’s. Stedman noted we had applied for additional grant monies for the Port Angeles area, however we were denied. We hope to try again and institute a woodstove change out program up there in the future.
Sierra Pacific Industries
Stedman stated there are some special issues at the SPI Lumber Mill. They have some emissions they will have to deal with. They bought out most of the neighboring properties, but there are still a couple of neighbors nearby. We continue receiving complaints regarding sawdust fallout and after having staff do an exhaustive survey of the facility, it is our opinion that they can do better. We will be working with them to reduce emissions. Any new permit they receive will include emission reductions and we will continue enforcing their current permits.
Westport Shipyard
Westport Shipyard (Westport Facility), Stedman explained, has some deficits in complying with their Title V Air Operating Permit. Staff has determined they have not been complying with federal standards. EPA will be watching the progress of our enforcement actions. If we don’t have the proper penalty, EPA can over file. The compliance issues we have identified are serious and have serious ramifications. We will update the Board, later, with regards to the penalty assessments. Our goal is to make sure they fix the problems they have in order to come into compliance in a timely manner. Jim Wilson, Emissions Data Specialist, Gordon Lance, Engineer, Mark Goodin, and Robert Moody, have been working diligently with them to bring them into compliance.
Flag Burning
Stedman stated there had been an article in The Olympian recently regarding flag burning. While it is proper flag etiquette to burn them for disposal, they are considered prohibited materials and we would not provide a permit to burn a flag. We would prefer people take the time to research flag recycling programs. We received a call from a gentleman requesting a permit to burn a flag at a protest on the Capitol steps. Stedman explained to him that we would not issue a permit for such activities. Stedman stated he told the gentlemen that we would not be out looking for him and explained why it was not a good idea to burn a flag, or anything, around a large crowd of people at a heated protest. The newspaper article stated ORCAA would cite the gentleman if he burned. Stedman wanted to make it clear that we did not state that and would not impede anyone’s first amendment rights. There was no action required of the Board.
PM Annex with Canada
Stedman stated there is an upcoming meeting regarding the Particulate Matter Annex. There is a Trans-boundary air quality agreement between the US and Canada—the idea is to reduce emissions and have fewer impacts across the borders. Canada does not have as stringent standards as the US. Stedman noted the meeting will be held in Ottawa and he is not planning on attending, however, he expects to be informed on the results of the meeting.
Doherty noted every two years, a trans-boundary group meets to look at the marine impacts. The next meeting will take place at Neah Bay.
Regional Air Directors Meeting
Each year the Regional Air Directors meet. The regional participants include directors from Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska. The message from this years’ meeting, Stedman stated, was to expect a decrease in funds from the President’s budget. Although congress brought the budget back up to 2006 levels, the President has asked for a reduction, across the board, of $35 million. Stedman stated he met with both Norm Dicks and Brian Baird’s office and let them know our concerns. We may want to remind them again this is still an issue.
WAQMG
Stedman noted at the last Washington Air Quality Mangers Group meeting, he was re-elected as Chair.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
Soil Key Update
R.Moody handed out photos of the Soil Key facility. Stedman noted, as is evident in the pictures, their building caught on fire. The fire department contacted us and wanted to know what we were going to do about it. In the end, one of the operators of the facility came in and punched a hole in the roof of the building. They did remove a lot of the material and spread it out on the property to assist in getting the fire out. Goodin has been working with the owner and his attorney and it sounds like their plan is to shut the operation down. We have several outstanding penalties and we have spend a lot of funds going to court, so we are holding fast at this point, hoping to collect some of the fines from the source. We have determined any future dealings with the owner must be in writing.
R.Moody noted we are still on PCHB’s agenda for a hearing in June. Prior to our hearing, Soil Key will be going up against Department of Ecology. Doherty asked whether or not we have a lien against Soil Key that would protect us. Burgman noted Soil Key does not own the property. Stedman stated we will do what we can to recover some of the costs we have spent on this source.
Ocean Protein Update – Hoquiam Meeting
Stedman noted there were several emails between city employees and the mayor that were captured via public records request. Basically the city is trying to make our agency look bad. They claim we have not really helped the facility and that we pulled the fire department support even though it was working for the city. The emails suggested the city would be rezoning the residents’ properties to industrial and force them out. There were numerous other claims. Stedman contacted the city and stated there were obviously some misunderstandings. Stedman explained he and Beerbower will be meeting with city officials at the end of this week. We want to reestablish good communication and let them know we would appreciate working together with the city and Ocean Protein. Stedman stated he would update the Board at the next meeting.
NEW BUSINESS
Upcoming AQS Interview
Stedman reminded the Board we were advertising for an Air Quality Specialist. We didn’t receive as many applications as we had hoped, but of the ones we received we have identified five potential candidates we will be interviewing. Our interviews are scheduled for this coming Monday.
Service Recognition Awards
Stedman wanted to recognize Cece Clynch for her contributions to our agency. We will be presenting her with a plaque. Cece did an incredible job for our agency, most recently with the Soil Key and Ocean Protein cases. Staff will miss her.
Stedman noted he attended Mark Foutch’s recent retirement. Stedman stated he recognized Mark for his 15 years of service to our agency. Stedman stated Mark was a class act and will be missed as well. Kingsbury stated that Mark enjoyed being a member of the Board and was reluctant to give up his seat. He stated he had been Foutch’s alternate and after attending a couple of meeting requested the placement.
Contract – EFSEC
Stedman stated he did not include a copy of the contract in the Board packets due to size; however Peternell has taken a look at it. The contract is between the Energy Facility Site Evaluation Council and ORCAA. ORCAA will provide air quality services for EFSEC out at the Satsop Industrial Park for the Grays Harbor Energy LLC facility. The services we will be providing will be similar to what we do for our Title V sources. The difference being, if we have non-compliance or an enforcement issue, we document it and pass it on to EFSEC for follow-up.
Kingsbury moved the Board instruct the Executive Director to sign the EFSEC contract. Harwood seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Biomass Fuels/Cogeneration
Stedman attended a meeting in Port Angeles last week, regarding Forks. Forks is currently applying for a grant to build a wood boiler to replace an existing oil fired boiler in a school. They are proposing to use the wood waste that is currently generated by the shake and cedar mills in the area, to power the boiler. We would like to support them in this endeavor due to the fact they are replacing petroleum based fuel. They have stated they would like to appeal to other counties and cities to see if they would support going to the legislature to provide funding as a demonstration for other schools, that would replace oil fired boilers. We are waiting to see what the city comes up with. We will work with them and are committed to assisting them through the application process for the new boiler.
Forks is also contemplating building a 2 megawatt wood fired cogeneration facility, Stedman stated.
Beerbower asked if there was anything further to bring before the Board.
Gallagher noted Mason County signed an agreement six years ago regarding burning. We feel we are the only county doing this and we would like to rescind it. What do we need to do? Stedman stated there are provisions in the Memorandum of Understanding to opt out of the agreement. Doherty quickly looked over the document and noted either party can terminate the agreement with a 10 day notice, by letter, to the Director. Stedman stated we would like to have a clear understanding and reason as to why it will be terminated. Stedman invited Gallagher to stay after to discuss the issue.
Johnson asked Stedman if the correspondence we have been receiving regarding Port Townsend Paper is stating they want the mill to shut down. Stedman stated it is basically one individual complaining about odors.
Doherty stated Clallam County has a NASA grant to look at watershed management issues and they are calling for more proposals. If staff could come up with projects that might tie the Cheeka Peak monitoring station to anything that sensors or satellites can detect—such as China dust coming to the US—you may be able to get funds. Stedman stated he would look into that.
The meeting adjourned at 11:40 a.m.
PRESENTED BY
Richard A. Stedman, Executive Director
APPROVED BY:
The Majority of the Board
APPROVED and SIGNED this 9th day of January, 2008