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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01/06/1998 Study Session Minutes PLACE AND DATE Marana Town Hall, January 6, 1998 CALL TO ORDER By Vice Mayor Sutton at 6:10 P.M. II, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE_ Led by Vice Mayor Sutton IH. ROLL CALL COUNCIL Ora Ham Bobby Sutton, Jr. Ed Honea Herb Kal Sherry Millner Michael Reuwsaat Roxanne Zieg)er Mayor, excused Vice Mayor Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member Council Member STAFF Hurv/e Davis Michael Hein Dan HochulJ Sandy Groseclose Jane Johnson Roy Cuaron Floyd Foster Town Manager Assistant Town Manager Town Attorney Town Clerk Human Resources Director Finance Director Water Operations Manager IV. APPROVAL OF AGENDA A motion was made by Mike Reuwsaat, seconded by Ed Honea, to approve the agenda as presented. The motion was carried 6/0. V. ORDER OF BUSINESS Presentation/Discussion on Proposed Stage I! Vegor Recovery - Presenters are Hank Eyrich, Physical Planning director and Jan Lesher Hurvie Davis: This item was placed on the Council agenda by Mayor Harn. Mayor Ham serves as the Town's representative on the PAG Regional Council. The issue of Stage II Vapor Recovery is an issue that has been before the Regional Council several times. We have discussed it briefly at our Council meetings when we discussed PAG items but the issue is coming down to where PAG Regional Council will have to take a vote. This being a major issue, Mayor Ham felt that we should have a study session to discuss it. I certainly could not do it justice under the PAG agenda item at a regular Council meeting. It is a very complex issue but, in a way, is also quite simple. We have experts here this evening. Hank Eyrich, Physical Planning Manager, PAG: The purpose for my being here is to try to give you information on what has transpired over the last thirteen months. This item is regarding the ozone standard and what the new standard would do as far as requiring any pro-active decisions on the part of the elected officials in the PAG jurisdictions. There were several things we had to wait on. The Phoenix area had just completed a fairly exhaustive study of control measures for ozone and other contaminants. We are about to go into a legislative session and enact some legislation pertaining to what they were going to do Jn the Phoenix area. It seemed like a good opportunity, in case we had something we needed to get done in hurry, to consider that down here. Two of the elected officials from the PAG Regional Council suggested that we take a real close look at vehicle scrapage and Stage II vapor recovery. At that time, we had already done a fair amount of research in the PAG environmental committees, looking at the possibility that the ozone situation was getting close to the standard (we had recorded levels up to 98% of the standard already). I am going to try to give you just the "bare bones" of where we have been and what sorts of things we have had to deal with. Please feel free to interrupt me. If I can not answer your questions someone else here may be able to. There are monitors measuring ozone in five different areas around town right now. We have met or exceeded the standard, not considering the averaging aspect, out at Sahuaro Park over the last two years. Pima County DEQ says we are currently at about 95% of the standard. There are two main precursors to ozone that we deal with. In this area we believe that VOC's are the most critical. Over the last two years Nitrogen Oxide has decreased and has had no obvious affect on the levels of ozone. The Stage II Vapor recovery deals with emissions released when you fuel your vehicle (the fumes released from the tank dudng fueling). We looked at the available measures, which are IM 240, Carb Phase II and Federal RFG. Voluntary lawnmower replacement is something that the legislature, in their wisdom, has let us participate in. They have given some funds that PDEQ will put into play this year or next year. It is a program that will have people bdng in commercial and residential lawnmowers that have the very inefficient, high emissions small engines. That has about a 1% emissions benefit potential. Stage II vapor recovery has a cost of about the $4500 per ton of VOC emissions removed. IM 240 is a little higher than Stage II vapor recovery. Voluntary lawnmower replacement is substantially lower. The pressure vacuum valve is exceedingly cost effective. Federal RFG is also fairly high, at about $25,000 per ton of VOC emissions removed. Hurvie Davis: Mr. Eyrich, is the Stage II vapor recovery we are talking about an attachment on the nozzle of the gas pump? Hank Eyrich: There are two methods of at-the-pump vapor recovery. One is the vacuum assist, which is the modern one you see in Phoenix. These create a vacuum in the annular place around the end of the nozzle which pulls the fumes back into the tank. The other is the passive system which is the "seal" idea with the elephant trunk type nozzle. The passive system is cheaper but has initiated a lot of complaints from the consumer. Stage I vapor recovery is in affect in Pima County and it deals with the transport of fuels from the tank farm. Another aspect of the problem is there is now a federal statute which requires that new light duty gasoline vehicles, built over the next six or seven years, are gradually phasing into on board vapor recovery systems. We have taken a look at how those compare. It will take some time for the on board system to get to the point where it will get anywhere near the emissions reduction. My concern is whether we fall into non-attainment within the amount of time (approximately ten years) it takes for this system to become the standard. An accumulative cost of some of the major contenders for reducing emissions of VOC's is in your packet. The cost of recovery rate is about two cents per gallon, assuming that this goes back into the capital cost of installing the Stage II vapor recovery system, which is paid over two years and then the cost is only about ¼ cent per gallon. The gasoline formulation rate is three cents per gallon. Even though the price per gallon is in the same general range to begin with, gasoline formulation keeps going up after two years instead of decreasing or even going away. This is sort of the basic technical argument. First you have to decide whether you think we have a problem, I can not make that decision for you. If you do decide we have a problem, then you have to choose a corrective measure. One other thing you might want to think about is that the only control measures we have discussed are Stage II vapor recovery and the voluntary lawnmower replacement. Other measures would require some kind of legislation. The pressure vacuum valve may or may not require some additional legislature. It goes along with the Stage II vapor recovery because they are put on at the time of installation of Stage II. Vice Mayor Sutton: When you are showing the chart of the decline with the on board vehicle system that is coming, which is a gradual decent, and the Stage II vapor recovery, which is more abrupt and kind of fiat lines at the bottom, would you agree that the on board vehicle system would be acceptable? I have a little bit of a concern with the two cent tax because over the next ten years, most of the vehicles won't need it anymore. Hank Eyrich: Stage II would be fully implemented and effective after the rule making ends. We have given it two years so basically we will not have full benefit of Stage II until 2001. I have seen some estimates on the costs and, to me, the cost is not an issue. Keep in mind, however, that the two cents per gallon will go down to ~ cent per gallon after two years. Vice Mayor Sutton: I am going to rephrase some of my question. Without the Phase II, isn't it going to decline at a pretty good level, over the next couple of years, to help the emissions inventory? The next couple of years is the crucial time for non-attainment because once we get to a certain point, if we don't hit non- attainment, it is getting better all of the time. Hank Eyrich: Yes. I have not explained the cost of non-attainment. If we were able to wait another five years and someone asked me at that point if I felt we still needed Stage II, I would say probably not because we would be at 1/3 of the inventory. It is time and money, however. Mike Reuwsaat: Would you, for the record, define how many days of non- attainment would bring us into non-compliance. Also, what the consequences would be and to whom. Hank Eyrich: To fail the compliance test, you only need to have one occasion of one site out of compliance over a three year period. I believe the three year period they will look at is 1997-1999. Larry Hecker, Hecker Phillips & Zeeb, representing TOSCO Corp.: I am working with Jan Lesher from TOSCO as their attorney. I am not a chemistry expert so I would like to turn this over to Mr. Steve Smith, who is an expert. I would also like to introduce Mr. George Seitts, with TOSCO, who owns Circle K, as a major party in the proposed Stage II vapor recovery. Vice Mayor Sutton: We have to be out of here by about five minutes to 7:00, which gives you about ten more minutes. I am sorry to rush you that much but you will still be on the agenda, unless direction has to come from Council tonight. Hurvie Davis: This will come back to this Council as an item on the regular PAG agenda, which I believe will be this month. Steve Smith, Chemical Engineer, TOSCO Corp.: A real quick primer on ozone is that it is a chemical reaction in the atmosphere, which requires heat and sunlight, VOC's and nitrogen oxides. They tend to be highest in the summer months. If ozone is a concern, which we are not sure it is, then there are two measures of correction. On-board vapor recovery and station vapor recovery. EPA had the decision of Stage II vapor recovery, nationwide, or to recover vapors in the car. EPA made the decision to move to a national requirement for on-board vapor recovery in your car. The new cars, starting with this year's models, have vapor recovery on them. At least 40% of the 1998 models have it, 80% of the 1999 models will have it and 100% of the models in the year 2000 will have it. I think it is important to remember that Stage II is not a simple thing to install. You have to go in and dig up a lot of your underground piping to instaJl Stage II. That is why there is an average of $60,000, per station, construction cost, which totals up to $13,000,000 for all the stations in Pima County. In addition to that cost, there is an annual maintenance and repair cost for Stage II, about $5,000 per station. The bottom line is that, with the on-board vapor recovery, in time, Stage II will become obsolete. Hank Eyrich: in order to make this change, the station is required to shut down for 2-4 weeks. The station owners will also be impacted financially from the shut down. This will be especiaJly critical to the independent stations. Steve Smith: Stage II will take 2-3 years to be installed. That already gets you down the read on this non-attainment issue. I think the folks at weights and measures for the State really say that there is only about 75% efficiency instead of 90% efficiency. Is it really necessary to have both systems? On-board vapor recovery is here anyway. From our point of view, on-board vapor recovery is today's technology. This is the way EPA has chosen to go to get vapors from the refueling operation. It seems duplicative to require both, why should the people of Tucson have to pay a higher price for their vehicle and a higher price for their fuel? Roxanne Ziegler: The cost is going on the consumer. We are going to "eat it" when we buy a new car and then again on the two cents for gasoline tax. How can you control that? The cost to install and maintain these things is going to fall on the consumer, as well. This is another hit to the people to get taxes for something that they are going to be doing in the next few years. There is also the introduction to the electric car, now. Ed Honea: I agree with Councilwoman Ziegler, but I have one question. happens if we reach this non-attainment level, what are the consequences? 4 What Larry Hecker: You won't be able to sell businesses because they can not operate as long as you are not in compliance. Vice Mayor Sutton: When this is on the agenda and it comes to Council, I would like to have summaries on cost and non-attainment information in our packets. Mike Reuwsaat: Are there any other alternative measures? Are any of the public entities, Tucson or Pima County, going to monitor and, when it starts to get too high, recommend transit options and recommend not mowing? Hank Eyrich: As far as I know, no. You can shoot for effluents on those days but it won't be a very accurate indicator. This project will not go unless all jurisdictions vote for it. Because of the way the law is written, any jurisdiction cannot opt in on their own or opt out on their own. VI, ADJOURNMENT A motion was made by Ed Honea, seconded by Mike Reuwsaat, to adjourn. Motion was carried 6/0, Meeting adjourned at 7:05 PM. CERTIFICATION I hereby certify that the foregoing minutes are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Town Council held on January 6, 1998. I further certify that a quorum was present.