Region’s transportation agency forms climate committee
6/27/2008

The Sacramento Area Council of Governments has formed a Climate and Air Quality Committee to develop recommendations for its board regarding air quality, energy conservation, climate change, and related issues.

It’s a timely issue. California’s landmark AB 32 greenhouse gas law mandates GHG cuts to 1990 levels by 2020, and the state Attorney General’s office has explicitly stated the need to address greenhouse gas emissions within the context of SACOG’s new Metropolitan Transportation Plan and its environmental impact report.

SACOG may be well-positioned to advise state officials on AB 32 implementation given the relationship between transportation, land use patterns and greenhouse gas emissions. SACOG’s new $42 billion transportation plan adopted this spring is based on the region’s Blueprint smart-growth land-use vision, which reduces per-household vehicle miles traveled – a big air quality indicator – despite rapid population growth.

The committee will also continue addressing ozone and soot pollution issues.

First season passes for winter woodburning rule
6/27/2008

The results are in from the first season of restrictions on residential winter wood burning in Sacramento County communities – a measure the Cleaner Air Partnership endorsed to help our region meet new federal soot pollution standards.

Officials with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District said they discouraged or banned woodburning on a total of 26 days this winter, and made 21 visual smoke detections during eight no-burn days.
Under the new rule, residents are prohibited from using indoor or outdoor fireplaces, wood stoves, firepits and chimineas that burn wood, pellets, manufactured logs or any other solid fuel on days when air quality is forecast to be unhealthy due to high levels of soot or “particulate” pollution.

Residents are asked to call a toll-free number, visit the Web or check the news to determine if they can burn. Those in violation are subject to a $50 fine or must attend classes on acceptable burning practices.

Air district officials said surveys show increased public awareness that burning wood in residential fireplaces causes pollution. Awareness reached 82 percent in 2007 compared to 76 percent in 2006.

The district’s outreach campaign included radio and print ads, media coverage and outreach through 600 partners and businesses, including distribution of 57,000 brochures, among other measures.

Surveys indicated two-thirds of Sacramento County and City respondents recalled seeing or hearing an ad about the District’s new Check Before You Burn program telling them to visit a Web site or dial a toll-free number every day. Officials said they received 21,000 calls to a no-burn hotline in the first month.

Residential wood burning is indeed Sacramento County’s primary source of pollution during the fall and winter months. Particle pollution is linked to significant health problems including decreased lung function, aggravated asthma, development of chronic respiratory disease in children, irregular heartbeat, nonfatal heart attacks and even premature death in people with heart or lung disease.

Without the new rule, it was forecast we would not meet new federal standards for fine soot. Noncompliance can mean the threat of delayed transportation funding for the region.

November through February, it is the daily responsibility of residents to find out if they can burn by calling a toll-free number – 877-NOBURN-5 (877-662-8765), subscribing to Air Alert for daily e-mail notification, visiting www.SpareTheAir.com or www.AirQuality.org, checking the Sacramento Bee’s weather page or listening to local television weather reports.

Federal help for clean air, clean energy?
Sustaunable energy climbs to top of agends on 400-person D.C. trip
6/27/2008

Last year, roughly two dozen business, government and community leaders helped lobby federal officials about clean energy and air quality issues on the Sacramento Metro Chamber’s Capitol-to-Capitol lobbying trip.

This year, all of the trip’s nearly 400 participants became delegates for clean energy, clean air and regional sustainability.

The Metro Chamber made growing the region’s clean tech sector and market one of the four overarching policy goals on this year’s Capitol-to-Capitol trip. Community leaders representing everyone from universities to developers descend on the nation’s capitol on for three days to share our region’s economic priorities and needs.

A coalition of 35 regional economic stakeholder organizations known as the Partnership for Prosperity has identified the clean energy tech sector as the best way to diversify our local economy in their Business Plan for the Sacramento Region. It’s also an excellent way to clean our air of greenhouse gases, ozone and soot pollution.

The Metro Chamber encouraged all attendees on this year’s Cap-to-Cap trip to promote clean energy and sustainability investment at the start of every one of the 200-plus meetings with Congressional leaders and staffers. Every delgate on the trip received a two-page cheatsheet about our region’s unique clean energy advantages and accomplishments.

The Chamber also launched a new team specifically to promote the cause. The Cap-to-Cap Clean/Green Technology Team worked in concert with other existing teams to promote clean energy funding, pilot projects and friendly policies such as the extension of consumer tax credits for solar panels.
They built in part on previous efforts by the Air Quality Team, which also carries clean energy issues such as promotion of clean fuels and electricity from biomass like forest and ag waste.

To prepare for the trip, we gathered 35 leaders and members from the Air Quality, Clean-Green Technology, Transportation, Workforce and Economic Development teams to share and coordinate their clean energy positions at our March Cleaner Air Partnership quarterly luncheon, hosted by the City of Roseville at its Utility Exploration Center.

It was a symbol that much like California’s AB 32 greenhouse gas law itself, growing our clean technology sector and sustainability requires an integrated approach that touches nearly all aspects of the economy and daily life.

Air and Clean Energy Teams

Sac Metro Air District chief Larry Greene, CAP Manager Bill Mueller and Teichert’s Becky Wood and John Lane co-chaired the Air Quality team and shared positions at the CAP luncheon. Clean Green Technology chairs included Julia Burrows from Roseville Electric, SMUD’s John DiStasio and PG&E’s Steve Nichols.

Gene Endicott of Endicott Communications and Granite’s Rachelle Burton also participated as liasons to the transportation and workforce teams.

In D.C., members of the two teams met variously with Sen. Feinstein as well as Reps. Herger, Doolittle, Lewis, Lungren, Matsui, Solis, Tauscher and Waxman.

We also met with U.S. EPA and Department of Energy officials, staff for the House Select Committee on Global Warming and Energy Independence, and Gov. Schwarzenegger’s office.
For information, visit www.metrochamber.org

From the Chairman
5/31/2008

As I write, we are seeing the emergence of beautiful spring weather. Sacramento County has survived its first season of no-burn days for home fireplaces. By all accounts, citizens responded well to the new regulations and understand the need for them. The Cleaner Air Partnership can be proud of its support for this progressive step necessary to help our region achieve the new federal “PM 2.5” standard.

Speaking of “PM 2.5,” that stands for particulate matter or soot smaller than 2.5 microns, so small you can’t even see it. But it can lead to uncomfortable breathing and missed school and work days, with ripple effects on our economy. The new standard is much tighter than the present one.

The air quality agenda can be hard to follow, but understand it we must if we are to do something about it and gain the broad civic participation necessary for change.

Most folks are used to thinking that tailpipe emissions, low gas mileage and the cumulative impact of so many cars on the road are responsible for air quality problems and “smog,” the atmospheric reaction of different gases such as nitrogen oxide or “NOx.” It may be new to them to think about “particulate matter” or soot, actual stuff that suspends in the air.

Small particles largely come from diesel engines, woodburning and other incineration. Scrubbers, though costly, can be installed in industrial applications but are not economic so far on trucks or home fireplaces, hence the restrictions. You may have noticed that Raley’s, one our CAP sponsors, is taking the lead in testing a filtration device on its trucks to remove most soot and smog-forming gases.

It is important to realize that we are fighting the clean air war on multiple fronts. We have to reduce NOx and particulates from both on the road (“mobile sources”) and at industrial sites (“stationary sources”).

Some folks are surprised that we have to restrict residential fireplace burning on certain winter days. They thought air pollution was primarily aggravated by our hot summer weather. Again, we are talking somewhat about apples and oranges. Hot weather does complicate our smog picture, but winter weather can also produce inversions that hold smoke close to the ground in those lazy, non-moving threads just above the home fireplace chimney.

This work is tough slogging, but we can be grateful for the dedicated professionals, volunteers and elected officials trying to identify and implement strategies that have the most cost-effective impact. This truly is an “all-hands” effort.

Tom Stallard

Air agencies release guide on climate change & land use
5/5/2008

The California Air Pollution Control Officers Association (CAPCOA) has released a resource guide to addressing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from projects subject to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

According to the association, the guide has been prepared to support local governments as they develop their programs and policies around climate change issues, and is intended to provide a common platform of information about key elements of CEQA as they pertain to GHG, including an analysis of different approaches to setting significance thresholds.

To download the report visit www.capcoa.org.

Raley's trucks testing new smog cutters
New device can cut NOx by 80 percent
3/26/2008

Raley's Fine Foods is partnering with the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District to test new emissions equipment on diesel trucks that can reduce nitrogen oxide emissions by 80 percent.

Nitrogen oxide or NOx is a precursor of ground level ozone or "smog."

Read more in the PDF link below.

Public transit ridership reaches highest level in 50 years
3/10/2008

Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation in 2007, the highest level in 50 years, representing a 2.1 percent increase over the previous year, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Public transportation use is up 32 percent since 1995, more than double the 15 percent population growth rate.

Light rail had the highest percentage of ridership among all modes, with a 6.1 percent increase in 2007, followed by commuter rail with a ridership increase of 5.5 percent.

For the Sacramento Regional Transit District, light-rail ridership was up 1.41 percent for the year to 14.9 million riders, from 14.7 million in 2006.

Bus ridership for Sacramento RT, on the other hand, was down 5.2 percent for the year to 16.5 million passengers in 2007, from 17.4 million in 2006.

Save the dates! 2008 Cleaner Air Partnership calendar
2/22/2008
[ Printable version of this article ]

Here’s our 2008 Cleaner Air Partnership calendar. We hope you can save the dates for our four quarterly luncheons and our monthly Technical/Legislative committees!

Also: please let us know if you see glaring conflicts with major regional events. Thanks!

Quarterly Luncheons
Quarterly, usually Fridays 11:30-1:30 p.m. *
Locations TBA
A box lunch is provided by a sponsor.
(* - Individual dates and times are subject to reschedule due to conflicts and/or current events)
Friday, March 7
Friday, May 2
Friday, Aug. 22
Friday, Oct. 31


Technical & Legislative Committee
Monthly, usually 2rd Friday of the month, noon-2 p.m.*
SMAQMD conference room, 777 12th St. 3rd Floor
Please bring your own brown bag lunch.
(* - Individual dates and times are subject to reschedule due to conflicts and/or current events)
Feb. 8
March 14
April 11
May 9
June 13
July 11
Aug. 8
Sept. 12
Oct. 10
Nov. 7
Dec. 12

Greenhouse law creates long list of decisions
Scoping plan underway
2/14/2008

Carrying out California’s landmark greenhouse gas reduction law AB 32 may be a long-term proposition, but important decisions and hearings are popping up seemingly every month about how to get it done.

At our September quarterly luncheon, the Cleaner Air Partnership invited Democratic state Assemblyman Dave Jones, Republican Assemblyman Roger Niello and Kevin Kennedy from the California Air Resources Board to update us on the status of AB 32 implementation and chat about issues and opinions surrounding it.

AB 32 mandates that California reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Long-term state goals call for reductions far under 1990 levels by 2050.

“One of the remarkable things about AB 32 is that it touches just about everything in the state economy,” Kennedy told us.

The air board is developing a scoping plan for measures aimed at larger sources of GHGs, and will begin holding workshops on it this November. This winter CARB is also expected to set the 1990 “baseline” of greenhouse gases to measure future reductions against, and to set mandatory GHG reporting requirements for some industry sectors, Kennedy said.

The air board has already adopted an initial list of “early action measures” designed to help begin reducing carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases while the agency works to finalize the core measures at the heart of AB 32.

Among the first list of early action measures, Kennedy said, are a new low-carbon fuel standard for autos, restrictions on some refrigerants, and techniques to improve the capture of methane from landfills.

Additions proposed this summer include measures affecting truck efficiency, green ports, consumer spray products, semiconductor manufacturing processes and a push to promote proper auto tire inflation.

Kennedy also outlined details and key questions about how his team at CARB will evaluate the possible role of market-based programs such as incentives, subsidies and carbon trading in AB 32. The law does not mandate market programs, but includes them as options. Kennedy said possible benefits could include lower implementation costs, early emission reductions and incentivization of new technology.

There is a long list of policy questions to consider in the analysis, Kennedy said, such as how to determine the price of carbon and how to harmonize a California trading system with other states and markets. The agency is studying lessons from similar programs in Europe, Southern California and the Northeastern U.S., he said.

Jones said Democrats are concerned there’s not enough funding to research carbon trading in the depth needed considering the problems that emerged in other programs. Incorporating land use into AB 32 is also “critical,” he said.
“I’m concerned we’re not putting enough time and resources there,” he told us.

But some believe the state should proceed more carefully in light of contrary opinions and doubts about climate change’s causes, Niello said. Overemphasis on prevention could leave few resources for mitigation, he said.

“We should be moving extremely cautiously,” he said.

Renewed emphasis on improving Smog Check
Bill would increase inspections for older cars
2/14/2008

Enhancing the state’s Smog Check program has long been a priority for the Cleaner Air Partnership, and we continued that work last year by endorsing a bill that increases frequency of inspections for older cars.

The Partnership endorsed and actively supported AB 616 authored by Sacramento Assemblyman Dave Jones, which would require annual Smog Checks for vehicles 15 years old and older instead of the biennial checks required now.

Smog Check enhancements are a tried-and-true method to help reduce our region’s largest source of pollution while also protecting the economy. Although cars and other mobile sources make up the bulk of the Sacramento region’s air pollution problem, influencing driving habits and other personal behaviors is a big challenge with results that are difficult to quantify.

Smog Check effectively reduces emissions from these sources without major impacts to the economy, one reason that enhancing the state’s program has long been a central theme of our Partnership’s actions.

The older vehicles targeted in AB 616 are especially prime targets because they tend to fail inspection a whopping 27 percent of the time on average.

“Older vehicles pollute disproportionately, impacting both our air quality and public health,” Assemblyman Jones told us. “Annual inspections of older vehicles allow us to target the dirtiest vehicles and more effectively reduce pollution.”

Annual checks for older cars are part of the California Air Resources Board’s long-term Smog Check strategy, and are a longstanding recommendation of the Inspection and Maintenance Review Committee that advises the state on Smog Check. Fourteen other states like Texas and New York already require annual checks of some kind.

Under the terms of AB 616, the Bureau of Automotive Repair would exempt classes of vehicles with historically high pass rates. Cars older than 1976 would still be exempt from the Smog Check program, and existing exemptions for classic cars would also remain.

Proceeds from the program would go to bolster repair assistance for low-income drivers.

The bill passed the Assembly but was delayed in the Senate Appropriations Committee, shifting our focus to 2008.

NorCal air quality challenges as diverse as the landscape
Bay Area, San Joaquin, Sacramento compare notes
2/13/2008

Northern California air quality advocates and regulators face widely different geographic and political landscapes, but still have plenty of useful lessons to share about cleaning the air.

That was a takeaway from our July Cleaner Air Partnership quarterly luncheon, when we invited leaders from air agencies in the San Francisco Bay Area and San Joaquin Valley to discuss their unique challenges, current activities and lessons learned.

The San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District is the nation’s largest in area with eight counties and 25,000 square miles, said the district’s Special Projects Administrator Tom Jordan. Yet, it’s home to just three million people.

While emissions-per-square-mile there are lower than in the Bay Area, nasty inversion layers trap smog and soot in the valley in both summer and winter, Jordan said. The Valley’s level of nonattainment with federal ozone smog standards is classified as the most severe “extreme” level.

“Because of our climate and geography, we have a challenge unmatched by any,” Jordan said.

That doesn’t mean there isn’t good news. The district has greatly reduced pollution since 1990, Jordan said, and will soon comply with federal standards for large soot or particles. And while the district recently pushed its official target for attainment with ozone smog standards to 2023, many areas of the district will be in compliance much sooner, he said.

A key to meeting the ozone smog standards, Jordan said, will come in the form of clean-air incentive programs that help reduce pollution from mobile sources. Vehicle emissions are regulated by state and federal agencies rather than local districts.

The district banned residential woodburning on bad-air days to reduce lung-damaging fine soot.

The Bay Area Air Quality Management District will also begin focusing on fine soot because it’s not expected to meet new federal health standards, said the district’s Deputy Air Pollution Control Officer Jean Roggenkamp.

Although it has more than twice as many residents as San Joaquin, the Bay Area is only in borderline or “marginal” nonattainment with federal ozone smog standards, partially a function of temperature and breezes. (Sacramento is rated at an in-between “serious” level).

However, rising temperatures and more “extreme heat days” from climate change could threaten to erode progress, which is one reason why the district launched its own climate change program two years ago, Roggenkamp said. An environmentally aware business community was a help, she said.

“There will be heat impacts,” she said. “It’s important to get started now and do what we can.”

PHOTO BY Rich Niewiroski Jr.

Report: regional blueprint helps fight climate change
Study calls Sacramento region's plan a national model
2/13/2008

A new report on climate change praises the Sacramento region and its award-winning Regional Blueprint Transportation and Land-Use Study as a tool to reduce greenhouse gases.

The Urban Land Institute/Smart Growth America report “Growing Cooler: The Evidence on Urban Development and Climate Change” cites the importance of land use in combating climate change, and cites the Blueprint as a model for local governments.

Nearly every city and county in our region endorsed the results of the Blueprint, a voluntary land-use plan created by the Sacramento Area Council of Governments with help from Valley Vision and input from 5,000 citizens.

The plan emphasizes “infilling” vacant or under-used land within existing cities to accommodate population growth, stresses locating jobs closer to homes and envisions more transportation options.

If our region heeds its principles, the Blueprint is projected to help lower per-household vehicle miles traveled — a key air quality indicator — below current levels despite 50 percent population growth.

Tackling barriers to smart growth together
2/13/2008

Traditionally, cleaning our air has meant reducing pollution from mobile sources like diesel trucks and cars, or stationary sources such as power plants and industry.

Over the past few years, a third pollution-fighting strategy has emerged — “infilling” housing development within the borders of existing communities, creating less need for car trips and shorter trips when they occur.

With a million people expected to move to our region in the next few decades, it’s no small matter. And we’re pleased to be tackling an exciting new project designed to help promote this style of development.

Our six-month Infill Barriers Assessment project first seeks to identify barriers to infill development within Sacramento County and the cities within it. We’ll then prioritize the barriers that are suited for local action and develop strategies to help remove those at the top of the list. Finally, we’ll share these strategies and our research with key decision-makers in our region.

We’re incorporating the views and opinions of a diverse sampling of more than 20 stakeholder organizations from the public, private, health and environmental sectors. They range from city and county governments and local agencies to builders with infill experience, the building industry association and environmental groups.

Our project grew from a request by the North State Building Industry Association and Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails to seek and share greater consensus on what is needed to promote infill development in the Sacramento area.

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District is providing major financial support for the project, which is being coordinated by Valley Vision.

Please check back for updates!

From the Chairman
2/13/2008

My wife and I recently hiked the beautiful Mt. Theodore Judah Trail, accessed from the Pacific Crest Trail above Sugar Bowl. We met a middle-aged pair, she from Nevada City and he from Auburn. During our chat they expressed their appreciation for the clean Sierra air and their outrage for the dirty air in their foothill communities.

This reminded me that in our “severe non-attainment” region, not all air is equal. In Woodland, we enjoy daily Delta breezes that keep our air fairly nice. Yet, while I may not always breathe that polluted air that sits at the foothills with nowhere to go, I do have to look at it. Headed towards Sacramento, I am occasionally dismayed at the brown haze blocking the Sierra. This does not enhance our mental outlook, or make our region as attractive to new business. Once again, we realize that we are all in this together. We have to keep working towards solutions, and we all have to do our part.

At a recent Cleaner Air Partnership luncheon we hosted representatives of the San Joaquin and San Francisco Bay Area air districts. We felt the need to reach out to our neighbors to become better informed of their issues and find ways to work collaboratively. As we expected, we learned that our problems pale to some extent in comparison to those in San Joaquin, home to the nation’s largest air district, Bakersfield, and some of America’s worst air. We can envy the situation in the Bay Area. Despite occasional days where air quality dips below federal guidelines, the Pacific is ready to blow the foulness elsewhere (including here).

Actually, our local air districts and CAP partners have already worked with these neighbors. When we initiated the SECAT program to help replace old truck diesel engines, San Joaquin was included because of their needs. And the Bay Area adopted an enhanced Smog Check, which helped reduce the amount of pollution that blows here. They did this at the urging of Sen. Dianne Feinstein, who announced her position on the Sacramento region’s annual Capitol-to-Capitol trip.

The easy solutions to improve our air have long been exhausted, but we are much the better for their implementation. Future enhancements are going to be harder, costlier, and impact our lifestyles. A tough step comes shortly, when the Sacramento air district will restrict recreational woodburning on smoky days.

As we consider this difficult step, we need to ask ourselves: what is clean air worth to us? Or will we all have to head to the peaks of the Sierra to see blue sky?

Tom Stallard

Praise for air-friendly workplaces
Metro Chamber press events an avenue of recognition
5/24/2007

Clean air is good business, according to Sacramento Metro Chamber President and CEO Matt Mahood.

That’s why the Chamber is challenging the region’s business to help spare the air through their business decisions and employee policies – and praising those that do, such as local environmental consulting firm Jones & Stokes.

With more than 61,000 businesses in our region, the business community – and specifically, employers – play a vital role in improving air quality.

The Chamber highlighted practices at Jones & Stokes – and challenged other businesses to follow step – at a press conference last year in advance of the summer smog season.

Jones & Stokes provides bikes for errands, bike racks, showers and lockers and reimbursement for transit on Spare the Air days. It also has a formal telework policy and a fleet of hybrid vehicles.

The Chamber also notifies member businesses about air alerts and reimburses employees for transit on those days.

UC Davis a national clean air leader
State air board member among national experts at February CAP event
4/21/2007

Did you know that on some days, nearly 25 percent of the airborne soot in the skies above Los Angeles floated across the Pacific Ocean from China?

Or that up to a third of the state’s biomass – paper and cardboard, food waste, used wood and other rubbish – is suited for producing renewable energy, green fuels and biobased products?

Or that California schools spend as much on energy as on textbooks?

These were some of the interesting facts learned at the Cleaner Air Partnership’s February quarterly luncheon, a panel discussion with leading UC Davis air quality and clean energy experts.

Approximately 50 stakeholders attended the event for overviews on UC Davis research and a question-and-answer session with directors of the school’s air quality and clean energy research and activity centers.

The event aimed to increase regional awareness, connections and support for the university, both as a regional air quality resource and as a major economic driver in the region’s push to build its clean-energy tech sector (see related article pp.6).

“You can actually do well by doing good, and UC Davis has shown that again and again,” said Cleaner Air Partnership Chairman Tom Stallard. “Our support is fundamental to the success of this institution and the good things it does.”

Social Benefits
While UC Davis gets high marks for academic excellence, it was also 10th in the nation in a recent Washington Monthly ranking of how U.S. colleges benefit the nation by fostering research, national service and social mobility.

Davis beat Harvard, Yale, Georgetown and Princeton.
Research money flowing into the school has increased by 82 percent in recent years, UC Davis Chancellor Larry Vanderhoef told the audience.

“We want to engage with you on what’s happening in the region,” Vanderhoef told attendees. “What’s happening in our society and what are we doing about it?

“That’s one of our charters.”

World-Class Experts
It’s not hard to imagine. With more than 60 faculty, the school’s Air Quality Research Center is one of the largest concentrations of air quality expertise at any university campus in the world.

Dr. Daniel Sperling, director of the UC Davis Institute of Transportation Studies, was appointed in February to a seat on the California Air Resources Board (see article pp. 5) and is helping to write the state’s new low-carbon fuel standard.
The institute studies travel behavior and transportation modeling, environmental vehicle technologies such as hydrogen and air quality and climate change.

The school’s Energy Efficiency Center works to bring new, more efficient technologies to the marketplace, while the California Biomass Collaborative works to increase recycling of waste materials for energy and products.

The University Transportation Center works to make transportation sustainable by minimizing environmental, social and economic costs, while the Environmental Justice Project researches how people engage in environmental decisions and what outcomes are for different groups

Regional Cooperation
The UC Davis John Muir Institute of the Environment hosted and helped coordinate the luncheon. The overarching research unit, led by Dr. Debbie Niemeier, helps coordinate campus environmental research and activities and conduct outreach linking it to real-world challenges.

UC Davis is already a member of the Partnership for Prosperity, a coalition of 34 organizations that forged a business plan for the region. Enhancing and promoting the region’s clean-energy tech sector is a cornerstone of the plan.

“We have a tremendous amount of innovation and expertise right in our own backyard,” said Bill Mueller, Cleaner Air Partnership manager. “We want to make sure we’re all aware of the good things that are happening here.”

Print and save: Metro Chamber Spare the Air tips
Strategies help region retain transportation funding, quality of life
11/30/2006

Our region was near the bottom of the “place” category in last year’s Sacramento Area Trade and Commerce Organization comparison of 11 competing U.S. regions. A key factor: our low score for air quality.

It’s an important quality-of-life indicator for those who wish to attract and retain talented employees. According to the nonprofit CEOs for Cities, two-thirds of college-educated adults aged 25-34 decide first where to live, then where to work.

Some tips from the Sacramento Metro Chamber on how your business or workplace can help protect our economy by improving our air:

• Encourage employees to sign up for free AirAlert notifications via home email or text messages. Appoint someone to distribute through company email, break rooms or on the P.A. system.

• Link to www.sparetheair.com on your company home page and Intranet.

• Offer a work-at-home or “telework” option on Spare the Air days for employees who can complete tasks outside the office.

• Buy workers lunch on Spare the Air days. Regularly encourage employees to place lunch orders from the same restaurant or store, and send one employee to pick up.

• Promote carpooling. Sign up at www.sacregion511.org.

• Join a transportation management assocation (TMA) to for convenient commute options.

• Provide free or subsidized transit passes for employees.

Tiniest air pollution among the most harmful
Cutting-edge Breathe California research tracks "ultrafine" soot particles
6/9/2006
[ Printable version of this article ]

By Dr. Tom Cahill
UC Davis DELTA Group
Breathe California Board Member

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails is continuing independent research on particle pollution with a unique new study in Sacramento.

Dr. Robert Sawyer, chairman of the California Air Resources Board, has approved Breathe California’s proposal to initiate one year of sampling for tiny soot particles called "very fine" and "ultrafine" particles at the Air Resources Board’s 13th and T Street monitoring site.

Both are much smaller than the diameter of a human hair -- very fine particles range from 0.25 to 0.09 microns in diameter, while ultrafines are below 0.09 microns.

Both are also considered among the most toxic and damaging particles for lungs, but science is still emerging and neither is regulated by federal or state air agencies.

Researchers with the UC Davis DELTA Group will provide a new 8 DRUM sampler (on loan from Johns Hopkins University) to measure very fines and ultrafines and also identify traces for separation of diesel exhaust from wood smoke.

We will also solicit funds to identify the pollution contributions of diesels and smoking cars to the aerosols bathing downtown Sacramento.

The studies are an outgrowth of earlier Breathe California efforts such as the 2002-2004 Sacramento I-5 Aerosol Transect Studies that measured aerosols across Sacramento to the foothills.

To our knowledge, there is no equivalent study of size/time/and compositionally resolved aerosols. The data will help Breathe California develop its position on a new state standard for very fines and ultrafines that would allow much greater analyses on composition, mass, elements and the role of organic compounds.

This could lead to aerosol-control strategies that are far more protective of health than are current standards.

Yolo visit highlights freight's importance to economy, air quality
Threefold expansion of freight and goods transport here could affect local port, highways
6/9/2006
[ Printable version of this article ]

As part of our strategy to expand regional outreach, the Cleaner Air Partnership held a quarterly meeting last year in Yolo County with a special focus: the movement of freight and goods across the region.

It’s a hot topic around the state, in our region and in the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District, home to the Port of Sacramento and Interstate 80.

In fact, Sacramento is at the crossroads of California’s goods movement picture, resulting in economic benefits but also significant air quality impacts for our 2.8 million residents.

We found that there is strong attention being paid to goods movement and air quality – and that continued diligence is important to ensure good air quality and health are outcomes.

“The economic health of our region relies on the well-being of our people which means clean air to breathe, a free-flowing transportation network to provide for the movement of goods and people and the continued viability of our high quality of life,” said Tom Stallard, chairman of the Cleaner Air Partnership.

Interstate 5 and State Route 99 serve major north-south movement and Interstate 80 is a crucial east-west corridor serving the Bay Area and Port of Oakland. Our region is home to one of the West’s largest rail yards in Roseville, the Port of Sacramento and the Mather Cargo Airport.

With goods movement expected to at least double through Pacific Rim ports such as Oakland, our region will be significantly affected by additional freight on trucks and trains, increasing the need for infrastructure to reduce congestion and pollution.

Yolo-Solano Air Pollution Control Officer Mat Ehrhardt warned it’s important to be cognizant of creating particle pollution “hot spots” from goods movement. He also expressed excitement about the recent formation of an air quality committee at the Port of Sacramento.

Renewed governance and a new operating agreement with the Port of Oakland could eventually increase traffic to the West Sacramento port.

“We look forward to working with the port to help make economic expansion as friendly as possible to air quality in the surrounding neighborhood and the region,” Ehrhardt said.

Jock O’Connell, an international goods movement consultant, explained the increasing importance of air cargo in the freight picture, as well as the local Port’s potentially expanded context in West Coast shipping.

Jason Crow explained how the region’s transportation planning agency, the Sacramento Area Council of Governments or SACOG, has launched a regional goods movement study to incorporate into the region’s Metropolitan Transportation Plan.

Cynthia Marvin and Kurt Karperos of the California Air Resources Board gave an insider’s outline of their agency’s Emission Reduction Plan for Ports and International Goods Movement in California.

The document is designed to accompany and help offset air quality impacts from investments in statewide goods movement that are a priority of the Schwarzenegger administration.

Sacramento Metro Air Pollution Control District Division Manager Karen Wilson also spoke to the “hot spot” issue, using expanded rail freight as an example.

Many thanks to the Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management District for sponsoring the meeting.

Placer County visit reveals unique air quality challenges
Regulators deal with three different air basins; also creative with solutions
2/15/2006

As part of our strategy to expand our regional outreach, members of the Cleaner Air Partnership Executive Committee decided to set our fall meeting in Placer County to discuss air quality concerns and build stronger ties with clean-air advocates there.

We learned that when it comes to air quality, Placer County has a unique set of challenges.

With its mix of valley flatland and foothills geography, the Placer County Air Pollution Control District is the only district in the state that includes parts of three air basins, said the district’s executive director Tom Christofk.

“We’re regionally connected and we want to do our part to provide and participate in air-quality solutions for the region,” Christofk said. “With the diversity of topography and emission sources here there are many challenges, including and beyond those faced within the valley.”

Prevailing winds push pollutants from urban Sacramento against the foothills. Placer’s own rapid growth is also a contributor: it’s one of the fastest-growing counties in the state and home to several fast-growing cities.

Extensive forestlands generate volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that mix with nitrogen oxides (NOx) from tailpipes to generate ozone.

The big diesel engines in the west’s largest railroad yard, Union Pacific’s J.R. Davis facility in Roseville, add their own NOx and particles to the mix.

The controlled burning that public and private forest managers use to help reduce wildfire danger also releases lung-damaging particulates – an issue that many air managers don’t face.

Placer County has also taken a leadership role in air quality matters through efforts such as Sacramento Ozone Summit, or SOS, and negotiations with Union Pacific. November’s meeting was an opportunity to explore possible solutions and areas for collaboration and partnership.

It’s part of CAP’s increased emphasis on regionalism in 2006.

“Air pollution doesn’t stop at political boundaries, and no two air districts are alike,” said CAP Chairman Tom Stallard. “We want to understand the unique challenges in each area so we can leverage our membership in the business, health and environmental communities to help address them.”

The more than 35 elected officials, regulators and clean-air advocates in attendance captured the following areas of common interest from the discussion:

• Work to renew AB 1221, a bill that would give the Sacramento region a permanent, dedicated seat on the California Air Resources Board. The air board or CARB regulates mobile pollution sources.

• Work to ensure the transfer point between the Port of Sacramento and rail/truck distribution lines has low air quality impacts;

• Investigate ways to expand air emission credits for Placer County business, possibly leveraging the Placer air district’s innovative work on technology that can help reduce pollution during locomotive maintenance activities;

• Support efforts to better identify and reduce pollutants from rail freight and rail yards, while making commuter rail to and from Placer County a more viable option;

• Investigate a potentially expanded Spare the Air model that forecasts and maps ozone precursors, besides forecasting ozone itself.

Granite Construction helped sponsor the event.

For more information call the district at (530) 889-7130.