Energy Improvement Financing Program to Launch in 2010
Green Capital Alliance facilitates regional AB811 effort
11/23/2009

The Green Capital Alliance (GCA), managed by Valley Vision, is a coalition of business, education, labor, utility and economic development organizations working on coordinated actions to strengthen the Sacramento Region's green technology sector. Since July, GCA has been facilitating a regional AB 811 Working Group focused on bringing AB 811-type property-tax-based financing programs to the Sacramento region.

AB811 permits the creation of assessment districts to finance installation of energy improvements which are permanently fixed to residential and commercial properties. This program removes up-front costs and associated financing as an impediment for property owners installing energy improvements. Financing for energy improvements through the AB811 program are repaid through property tax bills, with repayment obligations transferring with ownership.

Interest has grown quickly throughout the region with at least 12 jurisdictions moving forward with AB811 programs in 2010. These programs are win-wins for economic development and the environment by enabling a voluntary financing mechanism through property taxes for energy efficiency improvements.

Area Air Pollution Control Officers Share the "State of Air Quality"
Incentive programs provide a positive impact to air quality in 2009
11/23/2009

Air Pollution Control Officers (APCO) from three of the region's Air Quality Management Districts (AQMD) shared the "State of Air Quality" in their respective districts at the Cleaner Air Partnership Quarterly Luncheon on November 13th. Tom Christofk from Placer County, Mat Ehrhardt from Yolo-Solano, and Larry Greene from the Sacramento Metropolitan AQMD emphasized the importance of meeting State and Federal air quality requirements through locally generated solutions which meet the needs of our diverse region.

Incentive-based programs were noted by the panelists as key to improving air quality in 2009. Regional participation in activities such as clean engine conversions, funded by the Moyer program, demonstrates the collaborative efforts of the region's air districts. The APCOs also highlighted incentives such as wood-stove change-out, gas mower exchange, and "Check Before You Burn" type programs as meaningful in 2009. Tom Christofk commented "As a Pollution Control Officer I do not prefer air quality regulations; rather, I favor a focus on market-place mechanisms which provide environmental benefits."

The panelists recommended focus areas for 2010, which include:
• Quantifying Greenhouse Gas Mitigation impacts to support project analysis
• Supporting implementation of AB811, voluntary property tax financing for energy efficiency upgrades
• Installing additional real-time PM2.5 particulate matter monitors
• Linking health to land-use
• Meeting SB375 targets

Marty Tuttle shares strategies to bring transportation innovation to life
11/12/2009

Marty Tuttle, Deputy Director of Planning and Modal Programs for the California Department of Transportation, was the keynote speaker at the recent Cleaner Air Partnership Technical Advisory Committee (CAPTAC) meeting. Marty has over 25 years in transportation and innovative land use planning management experience at the local, regional and state levels of government. As the executive director of the Sacramento Area Council of Governments (SACOG) for six years, Marty led the 22-city/6-county metropolitan planning organization in to develop the nationally recognized "Blueprint" transportation and land use growth plan.

Since Marty joined Caltrans June 1, 2009, Caltrans has developed a California Interregional Blueprint proposal to enhance the scope of the existing California Transportation Plan (CTP) for 2035. The proposal, to be submitted for approval in August 2010, will be the first statewide effort to integrate propose rail, goods movement, interregional road and other strategic transportation projects into a single document.

In addition, this blueprint proposes improved modeling of transportation, land use and economic development statewide by basing the data on parcels rather than grids. Implementation of this proposal would allow development of a more robust modeling tool by December 2012, enabling scenario impact measurements on items such as vehicle miles traveled or greenhouse gases

Marty committed to keeping the Cleaner Air Partnership updated on outreach activities to support this proposal.

"Check Before You Burn" Season Begins November 1, 2009
Season runs from November 1, 2009 through February 28, 2010
10/27/2009

With the arrival of Fall and cooler weather, it's the time of year again to check the air quality forecast prior to burning indoor or outdoor fireplaces. The "Check Before You Burn" season runs from November 1, 2009 through February 28, 2010.

Air Quality Management Districts in the six-county Sacramento Region created "No Burn" programs aimed at keeping pollution levels of fine particulate matter (PM 2.5) below the health-based standards. Because of its size, PM2.5 can pass through the body's protective filters and enter deep into the lungs, increasing the risk of bronchial disease and lung damage.

Wood burning restrictions and voluntary programs are necessary to meet the federal government's health standard for PM 2.5 and help to avoid the need to adopt other more stringent and costly regulations that could affect homeowners, businesses, and agriculture.

See the below links for more information about no-burn programs in your county:
• El Dorado County - http://www.edcgov.us/emd/apcd/openburn.html

• Placer County - http://www.placer.ca.gov/Departments/Air.aspx

• Sacramento County: "Check Before you Burn" Program - http://sparetheair.com/burncheck.cfm

• Yolo-Solano Counties: "Don't Light Tonight" Program - http://www.ysaqmd.org/burn-dlt.php

• Yuba-Sutter Counties - http://www.fraqmd.org/Burn%20Info.htm

Wood Burning Rule Amendments Passed
Changes to Rule 421 will help improve winter air quality
10/2/2009

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District's (SMAQMD) Board approved changes to the Sacramento County wood burning regulations (Rule 421) at their meeting on September 24th. This rule restricts burning wood when air pollution levels are predicted to exceed federal health standards during the winter season.

The Cleaner Air Partnership supported the amendments to Rule 421, and thanks the SMAQMD Board for taking action to improve our air quality. These changes, which incorporated public and industry feedback, will add approximately 5 additional No Burn days to the 4-month season (on average there are 23 No Burn days per season), while giving residents cleaner air and avoiding 3 more federal health standard exceedances.

These changes are necessary to improve public health and help our region make progress toward the federal air quality standards during our 3 year review period beginning in 2010, and may avoid the need to adopt other more stringent and costly regulations that could affect homeowners, businesses, and agriculture.

We thank all who offered support for these important improvements to our region's air quality.

The Cleaner Air Partnership Supports Proposed Changes to Wood Burning Rule
Rule changes will improve winter air quality
9/21/2009

What's Happening:

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Board (SMAQMD) will consider changes to the Sacramento County wood burning regulations (Rule 421) at their upcoming meeting on September 24th. This rule restricts burning wood when air pollution levels are predicted to exceed federal health standards during the winter season.

The Cleaner Air Partnership is proud to support the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District's proposed changes to Rule 421. These changes will 1) Lower the pollution threshold for No Burn days and 2)Maintain the special provisions for EPA certified and pellet stoves

These recommended amendments to Rule 421 will add approximately 5 additional No Burn days to the 4-month season (on average there are 23 No Burn days per season), while giving residents cleaner air and avoiding 3 more federal health standard exceedances.

Why It's Important:

Exposure to air laden with smoke particulates worsens existing asthma, increases the likelihood of stroke and heart attacks in postmenopausal women, causes chronic bronchitis, and poses a particular threat to children, who take in more air in relation to their size than adults. Wood smoke and the Sacramento calm weather conditions contribute to unhealthy air days from November to February.

Changes to Rule 421 are necessary to achieve further reductions in fine particle concentrations so that our area can make considerable progress toward attaining the federal standard. The U.S. EPA examines 3 years worth of data to assess the attainment/nonattainment status of an area.

Implementing this change improves air quality, leading to better quality of life for area residents, improved public health, and may avoid the need to adopt other more stringent and costly regulations that could affect homeowners, businesses, and agriculture.

Action Recommendation:

Please join us in supporting these changes by contacting the Air District Board members, or joining the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District Board of Directors public hearing for adoption on September 24, 2009 at 9:30 a.m., 700 H Street, room 1450. Together we can proactively improve our air quality!

The Cleaner Air Partnership strongly supports Federal CARS program
Program benefits the environment, public health and the business community
8/7/2009

In keeping with a deep history of supporting actions which improve the Sacramento Region’s air quality, The Cleaner Air Partnership is proud to strongly embrace the federal Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS).

Thousands of Californians die prematurely each year due to cancer, respiratory diseases or other ailments related to breathing air contaminated by automobile emissions. The Cleaner Air Partnership believes the residents of our region benefit greatly when we work together to reduce the pollution emitted from cars, trucks and mobile sources, which make up 70 percent of our air problem.

The CARS program, also popularly titled “Cash for Clunkers”, provides $3,500 or $4,500 rebates to dealers for trade-in vehicles when consumers purchase or lease a new vehicle with improved fuel ratings. In addition to the environmental and public health benefits from replacing gas-guzzling vehicles with more fuel-efficient cars and trucks, this program is energizing the economy by boosting auto sales.

The Cleaner Air Partnership supports the $2 billion extension to this program because it is a win-win-win for the environment, public health and the business community.

Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails Evaluates 8 DRUM Monitor
BCSET compares 8 DRUM Data with California Air Resources Board FRM data at 13th and T Street Site
6/18/2009

Under the leadership of the Breathe California's Health Effects Task Force, this one year side by side monitoring study was sanctioned by the California Air Resources Board and conducted at its 13th and T Street site.

The study compares mass data collected by the U.C. Davis rotating drum impactor (8 DRUM) with ARB's standard mass monitoring measurements (FRM) required by law. The study showed that the 8 DRUM monitor proved to be a cost effective way to obtain important additional data for health and regulatory needs, while being accurately comparable to the ARB's mass measurements.

In particular, the U.C. Davis 8 DRUM provided vital new data about ultrafine particulate matter which research now confirms is capable of deep lung deposition, and heart and brain impacts.

Metro Chamber hosts advocacy day at State Capitol
Annual State Legislative Summit brings regional business leaders together
6/12/2009

On June 10th the Sacramento Metro Chamber's annual State Legislative Summit attracted more than 150 top business and civic leaders from the six-county region. In more than 80 meetings with senators, assembly members and top government officials, they gave voice to changes that will help their businesses towards more success.

"The Legislative Summit mirrors the Metro Chamber's Cap-to-Cap effort," said event chair Bruce Starkweather of Lionakis. "For our region to succeed in receiving its fair share of state funds, we have to make our case more strongly than the state's more populated areas. Thankfully, our region has a core of committed, hard-working business and civic leaders willing to prepare for this one day of advocacy that requires many hours and meetings preparation."

For more information regarding the policy papers from this event, please contact the Metro Chamber Public Policy and Advocacy Team at policy@metrochamber.org.

Results for the 2008 - 2009 Season Check Before You Burn Program
Program brings improved public awareness and air quality, falls short of the federal health standard
5/1/2009

The Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District's Check Before You Burn program ended its second season on February 28. This regulation prohibits wood burning throughout Sacramento County and its cities including Citrus Heights, Elk Grove, Folsom, Galt, Isleton, Rancho Cordova, and Sacramento from November to February on poor air quality days.

Thanks to partnerships with community groups and local weathercasters, tremendous public awareness and support has been achieved in a short time - 92 percent of those surveyed knew about burning restrictions and up to 52 percent reduced burning when required. These efforts achieved significant air quality benefits - reducing fine particle pollution up to 23 percent, with the greatest benefits in the evening hours.

While those reductions are impressive, they're not enough to achieve the federal health standard. In particular, on days when EPA certified devices and pellet stoves are exempt from burning restrictions the benefits are 13 percent lower, and 84 percent of owners didn't use the exemption. The AQMD plans to workshop rule changes in July 2009 and seek board approval in September.

Placer County updates the Cleaner Air Partnership on the Tahoe Biomass Facility
The Placer County Story: A presentation regarding Forest Health, Biomass technology, and Air Quality
4/17/2009

The Placer County Air District shared an update on the Tahoe biomass facility and Roseville rail yard mitigation plans at the April 17th Quarterly Luncheon. The Cleaner Air Partnership is analyzing the data contained in the presentation.

Regional Air Quality Plan Adopted
Area Officials Approve New 8-Hour Ozone Standard
2/20/2009

The Board of Directors of the air districts in the Sacramento Federal Nonattainment Area have adopted the Sacramento Regional 8-Hour Ozone Attainment and Reasonable Further Progress Plan (Plan). The Plan will reduce emissions at the required rate of 3% per year and help us reach the 8-Hour Ozone standard by 2018. This Plan, after two years in development, was approved by air quality officials in the El Dorado, Feather River, Placer County, Sacramento Metropolitan and Yolo-Solano Air Quality Management Districts.

In addition to the Plan adoption, the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District certified the Plan's Environmental Impact Report, which addresses the potential environmental impacts associated with the Plan.

Congresswoman Matsui Speaks at Quarterly Luncheon
Legislation Targets Air Quality Improvements
2/18/2009

Congresswoman Matsui spoke to the Cleaner Air Partnership quarterly meeting February 17, 2009 presenting legislative activities at the Federal level, including the federal economic stimulus bill. Larry Greene, Air Pollution Control Officer for the Sacramento Metropolitan Air Quality Management District, presented state legislative matters of importance in the air quality arena.

Though it is uncertain how much funding the federal economic stimulus bill will provide to the Sacramento region, Rep. Matsui assured the Partnership that legislators are looking closely at ready-to-go project funding, stating that Sacramento is "ahead of the game" with the Sacramento Area Council of Governments' smart growth Blueprint and Metropolitan Transportation Plans. "We know that land use can reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and with the Blueprint, Sacramento is prepared," Rep. Matsui told the Partnership, "For solutions nationally, Sacramento is a laboratory. We have an opportunity to play a leadership role in climate change."

Larry Greene briefed the partnership on significant state legislation including the status of The Global Warming Act (AB 32), which sets to reduce California's greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Other state activities this year include landmark legislation with the passing of Senate Bill 375, which incents smart and conscientiously-planned growth patterns in exchange for environmental streamlining.

Landmark Breathe California air quality study now underway
1/29/2009

On January 5, 2009 an important new air quality study began with the placement of 8 DRUM Samplers at five sites along California’s Central Valley, in Redding, Chico, Sacramento, Fresno and Bakersfield. This landmark study, sponsored by Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails (BCSET) under the volunteer leadership of Dr. Thomas A. Cahill, PhD, University of California, Davis, will record levels of pollutants along the Valley in 8 size modes, including ultra fine particulates, which, if inhaled, can evade the lung’s defenses to enter the bloodstream, raising the risk of cardiovascular disease and damage to the brain, as well as lung disease.

Part of an ongoing effort by BCSET to better understand the nature of particulate air pollution in our region, this pioneer study marks the first research effort ever to simultaneously capture levels of ultrafine particulate pollution along the entire California Central Valley.

This study is just the first to take place in 2009. A second study on the health benefits of vegetation appropriately placed adjacent to freeways, will begin at the end of January.

For further information contact Kori Titus at (916) 444-5900 or by email at ktitus@sacbreathe.org.

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.

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.

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.

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.