- Using 1 gas mower for 1 hour is equivalent to driving 1 car 140 miles.
CLEAN AIR MATTERS
Winter 2005 Edition
In this issue:
- Agency and its partners pursue cleaner cars, revised burn ban threshold
- Climate Protection: Begin now, and begin with determination
- Prosthetics maker increases production, reduces toxics
- Hundreds of diesel vehicles running cleaner
- New monitoring technology helps trace odor source
- Meet our Advisory Council: Steve Gerritson
- Clean Air Corner: Want to comment on air pollution permits?
- 2004 a banner year for Pierce Transit
Agency and its partners pursue cleaner cars, revised burn ban threshold
Clean-car standards and a revised burn-ban threshold are on the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency’s legislative agenda this session to better protect public health and the environment.
The clean-car standards were recommended by the agency’s Climate Protection Advisory Committee (see story page 2) as one the key strategies to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to global climate change. Known as California motor vehicle standards, they are stronger than the federal standards currently in effect and would also better protect public health by reducing toxic tailpipe emissions.
The agency is partnering with the non-profit Climate Solutions and others on the legislation, for which Rep. Ed Murray, D-Seattle, and Sen. Phil Rockefeller, D-Kitsap County, are the prime sponsors. The bill also includes a provision to continue funding for diesel retrofits statewide (see page 5) and the rescue tug at Neah Bay.
In addition, the American Lung Association of Washington, the Northwest Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, the Department of Ecology and other partners are joining the agency in proposing a change in the law that defines the threshold for calling winter burn bans.
Cleaner cars provide economic benefits
The clean-car standards will save consumers money through greater fuel efficiency. The California Air Resources Board calculates the fuel savings for the typical car buyer at about $11 per month. While the average car will cost about $325 more, the savings over the life of the vehicle can be more than $2,000.
Climate Solutions estimates that the clean-car standards
will benefit our state’s economy by racking up more
than $2 billion in fuel cost savings by 2020.
“That’s $2 billion that will go into our state's
economy instead of our gas tanks,” said KC Golden
of Climate Solutions.
“From a clean-air standpoint, the clean-car standards will ensure that we can reduce air toxics and continue to meet the federal air quality standards as our region grows,” said Dennis McLerran, the Clean Air Agency’s executive director.
Eight other states, including seven in the Northeast, have chosen clean-car standards to replace the weaker federal standards. Manufacturers already are producing cleaner cars, but they are only available in the states with the stricter standards.
“From Buicks to BMWs, clean cars are ordinary cars that have better pollution-control technology,” Golden said. “This legislation would mean that we could have access to these cars in Washington, too.”
If adopted, the standards would go into effect in 2009 and would include 15-year, 150,000-mile warranties.
New PM2.5 threshold offers better protection
The revised burn-ban threshold, recommended by another agency stakeholder group, is based on the national air quality standard for PM2.5, the fine particles that cause health problems for children, seniors and people with heart and respiratory ailments.
Fine-particle pollution reaches unhealthy levels sooner than the coarse-particle pollution on which the current threshold is based, so the agency is not able to call burn bans soon enough to protect those affected by rising pollution levels.
“Scientific studies show conclusively that fine
particles damage people’s health more than we realized
in the past,” McLerran said. “A revised burn-ban
law will better protect people’s health during
stagnant winter weather.” 
Climate Protection: Begin now, and begin with determination
That’s the direction from the Puget Sound Clean
Air Agency’s Climate Protection Advisory Committee
(CPAC) in its report presented to the agency’s Board
of Directors.
“The CPAC believes that global warming is occurring,
is largely triggered by human actions, and that human-induced
greenhouse gas emissions must be sufficiently reduced to
achieve climate stabilization,” the report says.
The committee, which included representatives from business, environmental groups, utilities and government agencies (see list on page 3), met regularly throughout 2004 to explore the impacts of climate change for the Puget Sound region and the state and to provide direction on climate protection strategies.
The priority recommendations include:
- Maximize energy efficiency and increase renewable energy in the region’s power mix.
- Reduce motor vehicle miles traveled.
- Protect natural landscapes and forest biomass.
- Develop and adopt a climate change policy framework.
- Promote public education and citizen/corporate/government action.
- Encourage local governments to act.
The full report is available at:
http://www.pscleanair.org/programs/climate/default.aspx
One of the first actions coming out of the committee’s report is a request to the legislature to adopt clean-car standards for Washington (see story page 1). Under the energy-efficiency priority, the committee recommended reducing the greenhouse gas emissions of new vehicles sold by adopting the California Motor Vehicles standards, which will require stricter emission standards for new cars sold in Washington.
The committee reported that implementing its recommendations would result in a $1.4 billion to $2 billion boost to the Puget Sound region’s economy over the next 15 years and a reduction of regional greenhouse gas emissions back to 1990 levels. The majority of the savings would be from greater motor vehicle fuel efficiency and from increased use of renewable energy.
“People put in a year of effort with us, through many meetings and long hours,” said Dennis McLerran, the agency’s executive director. “They made sure the economic and technical analyses were accurate and helped us produce a truly remarkable product that is useful for us, for other agencies and organizations, and for the state.”
Four technical work groups representing each of the major sectors that emit global warming pollution – Energy Supply; Buildings and Facilities; Transportation; and Agriculture, Forestry and Solid Waste – also spent a significant amount of time providing analysis and support. The work groups included a number of the committee members plus representatives from Tacoma Power, the Port of Seattle, the Transportation Choices Coalition, Prometheus Energy Company and others.
At the request of former Gov. Gary Locke, the committee also offered recommendations for statewide action to inform the State of Washington’s participation in the West Coast Governor’s Global Warming Initiative.
“If you combine the greenhouse gas emissions from Washington, Oregon and California, we are the seventh largest global emitter of carbon dioxide,” said McLerran, who has been participating the West Coast initiative.
Climate Protection Advisory Committee| Rod Brandon | King County Executive’s Office |
| Karin Bulova | Snohomish County PUD |
| John CabanissKim Drury | Association of International Automobile Manufacturers |
| City of Seattle | |
| Gene Duvernoy | Cascade Land Conservancy |
| Jake Fey | WSU Cooperative Extension Energy Program |
| Stephen Gerritson | Commuter Challenge |
| David Goldberg | Mithun Architects + Designers + Planners |
| KC Golden | Climate Solutions |
| Wayne Grotheer | Port of Seattle |
| Frank Holmes | Western States Petroleum Association |
| Ken Johnson | Weyerhaeuser Company |
| Diana Gale | Cascade Center for Public Service |
| Bill Kidd | BP |
| Chuck Kleeburg | Pierce County Planning and Land Services |
| Bill LaBorde | NW Energy Coalition |
| Kelly McGourty | Puget Sound Regional Council |
| Dave Moore | The Boeing Company |
| Stan Price | NW Energy Efficiency Council |
| Carol Jolly | Washington State Governor’s Office |
| Robert Pregulman | Washington PIRG |
| Roby Roberts | PPM Energy Inc. |
| Steve Secrist | Puget Sound Energy |
| Gary Smith | Small Business Owner |
| Lucy Steers | League of Women Voters, Growth Management Chair |
Prosthetics maker increases production, reduces toxics
We’re proud of our products and proud of our environmental commitment” said Mike Aguiar with Seattle Systems. The Poulsbo-based manufacturer of lower-limb prosthetics recently re-engineered its manufacturing process to reduce toxic emissions by nearly 50 percent.
Seattle Systems, with 180 employees and manufacturing more than 30,000 prosthetic feet per year, is one of the five largest manufacturers of prosthetic devices in the world.
Prosthetic soft tissue is replicated by molding polyurethane foam. The foam injector heads are typically cleaned with methylene chloride, a compound that is highly regulated because of its toxicity. Over the past two years, Seattle Systems dramatically reduced its use of methylene chloride while also increasing production of prosthetic devises.
“In 2002, they emitted over 9,000 pounds of methylene chloride, but by 2004, annual emissions were down to 5,000 pounds,” Bob Booher, an inspector for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency, said.
“We were able to convert two of our production lines over to a water-based system,” explained Aguiar, the company’s facilities supervisor, “and we minimized the use of methylene chloride on the remaining two lines by installing a computerized control system.”
In addition to the polyurethane foam, Seattle Systems uses carbon fiber, aluminum, titanium, stainless steel and plastics to produce some of the highest quality prosthetic feet, legs, knees and orthotics in the world.
“What sets us apart from our competitors is quality
and particularly life-like appearance,” said Aguiar. “In
one particular product line we’ve duplicated the
look of a natural foot down to the veins and hair follicles.”
Hundreds of diesel vehicles running cleaner
Almost 700 school buses are running cleaner as they carry students to schools in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties.
They have all been retrofitted with emission control devices that reduce toxic tailpipe emissions, and many are running on ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, the cleanest available. Emissions are reduced by as much as 90 percent on retrofitted buses burning the cleaner fuel.
“That’s great progress in our region a year and a half into the Washington Clean School Bus Program, but lots remains to be done both here and statewide,” said Dave Kircher, Air Resources manager for the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency.
Almost 1,000 more devices are on order, with a goal of more than 2,500 total retrofits for the school districts already enrolled in the program – 18 in King County, all five in Kitsap County, 17 in Pierce County and 14 in Snohomish County.
“We’re actively recruiting additional school districts and expect to involve all of them before the five-year program is finished,” Kircher added.
The program is funded by the 2003 Legislature and was launched during the summer of 2003. The funding, which comes from a vehicle license transfer fee, provides about $5 million per year statewide. The funding is dedicated to school bus retrofits to better protect the health of students riding the almost 9,000 school buses in the state.
The Clean Air Agency and various partners, including the American Lung Association of Washington, hope to persuade the 2005 Legislature to continue the funding beyond 2008 and expand its use to municipal and other public fleets, such as garbage trucks, public works vehicles and state Department of Transportation vehicles.
So far, almost 650 diesel trucks and transit buses have been retrofitted under the agency’s Diesel Solutions program, which started in 2001. They belong to fleets operated by The Boeing Company, King County, the City of Seattle, Waste Management in Kirkland and Redmond, Community Transit, Kitsap Transit, Tacoma Solid Waste, to name a few.
Many others have expressed interest in the program, including Pierce and Snohomish county public works departments. But it all takes money. So far, the agency has been able to obtain grant funds to help support the projects.
“However, grant funding is getting harder to come by,” Kircher said. “That’s why we hope the legislature will continue funding diesel retrofits beyond the five years of the school bus program to continue this work that has such tremendous public health benefits.”
More information about the both the school bus program
and Diesel Solutions can be found at: www.dieselsolutions.org.
New monitoring technology helps trace odor source
South Seattle residents started noticing a stink in the air in Spring 2001. Many described the odor as “chlorine-like,” “acrid” and “caustic,” and some said it affected their breathing.
The complaint locations varied from the South Park and Georgetown neighborhoods to West Seattle, Beacon Hill and Highland Park. But with so much industry in the vicinity, where was the bad smell coming from? And was the odor coming from just one source or a combination?
A needle in a haystack
Clean Air Agency records show over 200 businesses registered as active sources of air pollution in the Duwamish Valley, an area of mixed industrial and residential land use. Agency staff investigated by looking at various industries and utilities that use or store chlorine or chlorine-like compounds or emit nitrogen oxide (NOX) and sulfur dioxide (SO2).
This search was inconclusive, but circumstantial evidence pointed to the Lafarge Cement plant, located a few miles north of where the odor complaints were generated. While not accepting responsibility, Lafarge agreed to look for ways to reduce its emissions. Meanwhile, the agency wanted better information to substantiate the source of the odors.
Technology to the rescue
The agency purchased and installed a new technology called “open path” monitors at South Park and Highland Park. These monitors, sampling the air several times per minute, can detect NOX and SO2 at much lower concentrations than more traditional monitors.
From summer into fall 2004, real-time pollutant measurements
were documented and compared with odor complaints reported
to the agency by South Seattle residents. In the end, the
agency determined the odor came from the Lafarge Cement
plant.
What’s causes the odor?
Cement is made by mixing ingredients such as limestone, sand, clay, iron and other materials in a kiln and heated up to 2,600 degrees F. At this stage “clinker” compounds form, which are later cooled and ground into fine cement powder. During the extreme heating of the raw ingredients, the chemical reaction releases carbon dioxide (CO2).
The emissions from burning the fuel to heat the kiln include NOX and SO2, which cause a distinct odor when released into the air. And if the wind blows from the north, the odor complaints start ringing in from around South Seattle.
What’s the solution?
Lafarge has installed a new computer system with sensors throughout the plant. The system integrates all steps from feeding in raw materials to closely monitoring the air, temperatures and chemistry within the kiln to prevent or stop upsets. Although not yet fully automated, since its installation, the plant’s NOX emissions are down. The system will be totally in place by the end of 2005.
In addition, the Seattle plant will be rolling out Lafarge’s NewCem® product this spring. The product requires fewer raw materials, so emissions are dramatically reduced during the high-heating process.
“This is a big deal from a climate change standpoint and for overall air quality,” says Jim Nolan, agency compliance director. “Because Lafarge will be firing its kiln less, the NewCem process will reduce CO2 and NOX emissions by half when they make this product.”
Meanwhile, the agency plans to gather and compare data
from the South Park and Highland Park monitors again this
summer and encourages residents to report odor concerns
by calling
206-343-8800.
Meet our Advisory Council: Steve Gerritson
How does one become an environmentalist? For Steve Gerritson, the environmental representative on the Clean Air Agency’s Advisory Council, it was a childhood experience.
“I grew up on the coast of southern Maine,” he explained. “It was an ideal situation for kids. We could swim, fish, dig clams, whatever. Then one day there were signs posted everywhere: No digging clams or taking mussels because of pollution.”
A dry cleaner had been emptying waste water and chemicals into the river, causing some people to get sick and forcing the state to close everything down.
“That’s when I became a convert,” Gerritson said. “I was 12 years old.”
As an adult, the environment has been his profession as well as his passion. Since last March, Steve has been the executive director of Commuter Challenge, a small non-profit that works to promote alternatives to driving alone.
“This is the future of environmental improvement,” he said. “Technology fixes are fine, but the real key is behavioral change. Until people realize that what they do has an impact on the environment, we’re always going to be playing catch-up.”
Before coming to Seattle, Gerritson led a four-state effort to bring the Chicago-Milwaukee region into attainment for ozone.
“Getting the states to work together was a real challenge,” he said. “Illinois and Wisconsin were suing each other, and everything we recommended had to go through everyone’s attorneys.”
The organization was able to get beyond the legal issues to conduct field studies, develop new computer models and put together an air quality improvement plan that all the states could agree on. As a result of his work, he was appointed to the US EPA’s Clean Air Act Advisory Committee in 1993.
In 1998, he became director of Seattle-based Pacific Rim Enterprise Center, a non-profit group that brought new technologies to environmental problems. The center had a role in the Hanford clean-up, partnered with the Clean Air Agency on Diesel Solutions, managed a national teleworking pilot program and worked with a local refinery to give away hundreds of low-emission gas cans.
In 1999, Gerritson was elected to the Executive Committee of the state chapter of the Sierra Club, and served as chapter chair for two years. Under his leadership, the chapter was actively involved in energy, toxic and hazardous waste, urban stream restoration and air quality.
He also has participated in agency stakeholder processes,
including the CO and Ozone plan updates, the PM2.5 plan,
and the Climate Protection Advisory Committee. He also
co-chaired the Department of Ecology’s Task Force
on Area-wide Soil Contamination.
Clean Air Corner | Want to comment on air pollution permits?
Perhaps you have a particular interest in air pollution emissions from a certain category of business. Maybe you are impacted by industrial emissions. Or maybe a large new facility is planned for your area.
We’ve made it easy for you to read and comment on permits that businesses in our area have applied for. Just sign up for e-mail notifications of all proposed permit actions posted on our Web site. Go to www.pscleanair.org and click on “Sign up for e-mail news” on our home page. From there you have a menu of six items you can sign up for, including “Permit actions.”
Will you be inundated with e-mails if you sign up? No, because we generally post only one to five permit actions per month. The e-mails we send you will include information on how to submit comments.
2004 a banner year for Pierce Transit
Pierce Transit received an international award for design excellence and finished converting its entire fleet to clean-burning compressed natural gas (CNG) in 2004.
The agency’s Tacoma Dome Station development project received the “Best Parking Structure Design” award from the Post-Tensioning Institute in October.
And in December, the agency completed its 18-year transition from an all-diesel fleet to all CNG. Recognized as an alternative-fuels pioneer, it was the country’s first transit agency to experiment with CNG.
About the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency
The mission of the Puget Sound Clean Air Agency is to ensure that people in King, Kitsap, Pierce and Snohomish counties have clean, healthy air to breathe. Our job is to provide air quality management services on behalf of cities and counties for their citizens. We do this by adopting and enforcing air quality regulations, sponsoring voluntary initiatives to improve air quality, and educating people and businesses about clean-air choices. To learn more about our work, visit us at www.pscleanair.org.