ORCAA Board of Directors
October, 2005 - MINUTES
OLYMPIC REGION CLEAN AIR AGENCY
2940 B LIMITED LANE NW
OLYMPIA WA 98502
October 12, 2005
Members present: Bob Beerbower, Grays Harbor County (Vice Chair)
Ann Burgman, City of Lacey
Phil Johnson, Jefferson County
Bob Macleod, Thurston County
Mark Foutch City of Olympia
Annette McGee, for Tim Sheldon, Mason County
Grant Munro, City of Port Angeles – via phone
Members absent: Pat Hamilton, Pacific County (Chair)
Mike Doherty, Clallam County
Legal Counsel: Cece Clynch, for Fred Gentry, Bean & Gentry
Staff Present: Rich Stedman, Executive Director, Dan Nelson, Mark Goodin, and Debbie Moody, Recorder
The meeting was called to order at 10:01 am.
There were no additions or omission to the Agenda. Burgman moved approval of the Agenda. Johnson seconded the motion and it carried unanimously. Burgman moved approval of the Consent Agenda. Johnson seconded the motion, Beerbower called for a vote. Foutch abstained due to the fact that he had been absent at the previous meeting. The motion carried unanimously.
DIRECTOR'S REPORT
Personnel Update
Stedman explained we are currently in the midst of engineer recruitment. We have interviewed several candidates and have one final interview this coming Friday. We are hoping to make a decision by the end of next week.
Stedman announced the promotion of Lynn Harding from Accountant to Administrative Services Manager. This was a position we upgraded, put in the budget, and opened for in-house promotion. Stedman noted Harding has been performing the work already, so this promotion just reaffirms her position as Administrative Services Manager.
Port Angeles Office
Stedman stated our new satellite office is currently staffed and things seem to be working out. We have had some minor computer and telephone glitches we are working through, but we don't see it as being an ongoing issue. Stedman stated this is quite a milestone for our agency. It is great to have a presence out in the greater Port Angeles area. We will be making an announcement either at the end of October or first part of November. We are planning an open house, and of course, the Board is invited to attend.
ORCAA Permit Actions
Mark Goodin, Professional Engineer, stated he had placed a report in the Board packets. Goodin briefly summed up the report. Goodin did note Lakeside Industries has proposed a new asphalt plant for the Nisqually area. We are anticipating significant public concern. Quality Rock Products has recently gotten through the SEPA and appeal process, Goodin explained. They will now have to come back to us and re-apply for a Notice of Construction. We expect significant public comment for Quality Rock as well. Micromarine LLC, is a seafood waste processing plant located in Raymond. We have been receiving odor complaints, however the permitting staff is working with the applicant to get in a good application and assuring the prevention of odor issues in that area.
Nutriom, Goodin continued, is an existing egg drying facility near the waste transfer station in Thurston County. They are currently proposing to dry liquid fish. Goodin explained this is, or could be, a problematic situation. The source has control technology for the egg drying emissions, but not for fish. In this case, Goodin noted, we are approving a short-term test to allow them to dry the fish. Basically, Goodin explained, we are allowing a variance for this test. A variance requires 30 days public notice and a public hearing. We are hoping if we give the public notice and give them a chance to voice their concerns to the Board, we can allow Nutriom the temporary test time to try their equipment. Nutriom claims their controls are adequate, we are skeptical. Macleod asked where Nutriom would appeal to, if the test results were not to our satisfaction. Goodin stated they would have a 30-day window to appeal to the PCHB, however prior to the 30 day process, they would have the opportunity to make come to us with amendments to their application.
Stedman added that PCHB has already ruled on Nutriom, telling them to resubmit their original NOC due to concerns from the community. We did get them back into compliance and went through the process again. Foutch asked whether or not we needed to tell the public when the test would be taking place. Goodin noted our intent with using the variance process is staff felt it would be good to inform the public before the test, even though it is short term, but no, we do not have to give the date and time of the test.
Goodin stated we have a new source in Olympia, called Trimtek. It is a specialty door trim manufacturer. We have concerns with land use issues. Currently there is a martial arts school and daycare facility adjacent to Trimtek. The school has windows located on the second floor of their building and the stacks at Trimtek are at the same level. We have commented to the city of Olympia and made our suggestions and we are just waiting on the SEPA process.
We are anticipating an application from Northwest Fish Products, which is proposing a seafood biomass composting facility somewhere in Pacific County. The project entails taking seafood waste, bulking it up with biomass (wood chips and leaves) and composting it. Also in Pacific County, is Dungeness Associates, which is a proposed fish drying facility. In both of these cases, it's noteworthy that construction has not started on these projects. We are encouraging them to submit their applications and to commit to adequate controls so that we can approve their operations.
Macleod asked what the sequence of events is supposed to be. Stedman noted the facilities should contact all appropriate agencies, go through SEPA, and not start construction until they have all permits. It has been a challenge, particularly in Grays Harbor and Pacific County, because they have been told by others they don't need ORCAA permits. We end up finding out from the public through complaints. At that point we have to go into enforcement mode and issue a notice of violation for constructing without a permit. In some cases, Stedman noted, the facilities make a conscience decision to go ahead with their project, start production, and then just pay our fines. By doing so, some are able to save money. In one case, a source paid the $60,000 fine, however, they probably saved several million dollars by constructing early. Some discussion followed. There was no action required of the Board.
As a side note, Stedman stated, with regards to the Lakeside Industries and Quality Rock permits, staff is inclined to hold the public hearing in front of the full Board.
ORCAA Vehicle Auction Results
Stedman noted we were not as successful as we had hoped with our vehicle auction. We did sell the fuel efficient Cavalier, but the van and truck had no bids whatsoever. We are looking to buy a more fuel-efficient vehicle that can hold several passengers. We may trade in one of the vehicles, but it will depend on what the trade in allowance is.
Burn Ban Update
Stedman stated the burn ban in Thurston County is lifted as of the 16 th. We have already had several people come in to get burn permits so they are ready to light off their piles as soon as the ban is lifted. Thurston County is the last county to lift their ban and we have already seen an increase in emissions in other areas as the bans were lifted. We are considering doing some sort of allotment of permits to help decrease the emissions. Stedman did note that this is a better time to burn rather than waiting until late December or January.
Financial Status Report
Stedman noted this report is just a snapshot of where we are currently. We are doing quite well and are under budget in a few areas.
UNFINISHED BUSINESS
School Bus Retrofit Program Update
Dan Nelson, Public Information Officer, stated we did get the Laidlaw contracts completed and those buses have been retrofitted. We are virtually done with all buses in our jurisdiction. There are a few districts that had buses that didn't originally qualify but may qualify now.
The next stage is encouraging the districts to accept the crank case filters. There is some hesitation on the part of the districts due to the fact that there is a possibility of a slight increase in ongoing costs of maintaining the filters. Nelson noted he is working with the state to see if we can assist the districts by paying for the first years filter change along with the installation of the original filters.
Jefferson and Intercity Transit will be our next project, Nelson stated. We are trying to get a meeting set up to discuss the issues with them.
Shake Mill Update
Stedman stated we have not heard from anyone up in that area, so no news is good news. Stedman noted he had attended a global warming conference yesterday and was able to network with several people to discuss the issues with regards to the shake mills in our area. We are hoping to see a project proposed in the near future that would take care of the wood waste. Basically, the facilities are finding ways to get rid of the waste, without burning it.
Ocean Protein Enforcement Update
Stedman explained Ocean Protein has proposed a counter offer to the fines we have set. We will have to work with them on a mutual settlement. At this point, Stedman noted, they do not seem to understand that they do have a problem. Recently they did go through with some testing. During the testing we did receive a number of complaints. We did not write any violation notices since we knew that there would or could be odors during the testing. We are waiting on the test result report.
Separation from Thurston County Financial Services
Stedman stated he and Harding met with Representatives Sam Hunt and Gary Alexander to discuss separation from Thurston County Financial Services. They were both on board and felt that the other Representatives would be as well. They did note there is some resistance in Yakima. As you recall, Stedman continued, Senator Honeyford did not carry our bill forward. We are going to do the footwork now to make sure that we can get this through during the next legislation. Some discussion followed. There was no action required of the Board.
NEW BUSINESS:
Proposed ORCAA Burn Ban Trigger Level
This year, Stedman explained, new legislation passed establishing a burn ban trigger level at 35 micrograms per cubic meter. This was an attempt to have some health-based guidelines so when the levels or concentrations got up to these levels the agency can call a burn ban. Stedman did note that we do not see these levels very often. The previous trigger was based on PM 10 and we are more worried about the finer particles. What we would like to do is change our regulations to allow us to call a burn ban at a lower level. What we have found in the past is that once the numbers get up to 35, they continue to climb. We would like to set our trigger at 20 micrograms per cubic meter. Our plan would be to shut down outdoor burning at that level. People would be able to continue use of their woodstoves, unless of course, the levels continued to climb. Stedman noted we could bring a draft regulation change to the Board. The Board had no objections to the regulation changes.
Resolution 240 – Statewide Media Collaboration Project on Outdoor Burning
Stedman explained this resolution allows the agency to make a payment to Northwest Air Quality Communicators Group, in the amount of $10,000. This money will go toward an outdoor burning campaign. They are developing a media package to go out to television stations, radio, print, and other media. The entire package is between $90,000 and $140,000 and is being funded by other local agencies as well. We will be able to customize the message to fit our needs and cover our jurisdiction. Along with the current burn information we will be letting people know there will be a permanent burn ban affecting more areas in 2007. Some discussion followed.
Foutch moved approval of Resolution 240. Johnson seconded the motion and it carried unanimously.
Risk Assessment Project Results
Stedman noted we have a final copy of the Olympic Region Regional Modeling Health Risk Assessment. This is the risk assessment of air toxics emissions project we completed. Stedman note we do not have any additional copies at this time, as we want to be very careful in how we release the information. Stedman gave a brief overview of the report. Stedman wanted to point out that the assessment does show that it isn't facilities causing the risk, but it is in fact diesel emissions and woodstove smoke. The biggest health risk, with regards to these emissions, is cancer. Some discussion followed. There was no action required of the Board.
Tacoma Rail Project Update
Stedman stated the number of participants for this project has grown. The Tacoma Rail operates out of Tacoma however they have a station here in Thurston County where they sit and idle. During inversions we would get complaints. We weren't real sure about using our retrofit monies to assist Tacoma Rail, just to have them run only in PSCAA's jurisdiction. However, now PSCAA is joining forces and contributing monies toward the project and enough for two additional locomotives. The units we are assisting with are quick start units that quickly heat up the oil, or keep it up to temperature which allows the engineers to turn off the engines, rather than sit with them idling. Stedman stated a resolution would be forthcoming.
Beerbower asked if we could look into the port in the Elma area where the trains idle next to a retirement community. Stedman stated he would have staff look into that.
Tenant Lease Renewal
We are expecting a letter from Catholic Community Services stating they would like to renew their lease for another period of 3 to 5 years. Stedman stated he has already researched the market to find prevailing rates and it appears there will be an increase in rent. We do recognize they are a good tenant and we would like to continue having them in our building.
The meeting adjourned at 11:16 am.
PRESENTED BY:
Richard A. Stedman, Executive Director
APPROVED BY:
The Majority of the Board
APPROVED and SIGNED this 9 th day of November 2005