Minutes of the Steering Committee Meeting

Attendees

The SIP Guidebook Steering Committee held its first meeting on February 12-13 in Denver, Colorado. (The Steering Committee held earlier conference calls in December and January.) Attending the meeting with Steering Committee Chair Jeff Burks (Utah Office of Energy) were Steering Committee members: Anna Garcia (Global Environment & Technology Foundation); Van Jamison (DOE-Denver); Brock Lebaron (Utah DEQ); John Nielsen (Land And Water Fund of the Rockies); Cynthia Praul (California Energy Commission); Edgar Mercado, (EPA Headquarters) and Art Diem, (EPA State and Local Capacity Building Branch); and Rita Trujillo (New Mexico Environment Department). Also attending the meeting were Glade Sowards (UT Office of Energy); Sara Laumann (EPA Region 8); and Jeff Houk (EPA Region 8). Doug Larson, Alison Wilson, and Dale DeCesare from the Western Interstate Energy Board and Rich Halvey from the Western Governors’ Association also participated in the meeting and are providing technical support to the Committee.

Summary of Discussions

The Steering Committee discussed the role of the Committee, what will be accomplished in developing a guidebook, and what resources would be useful in drafting the Guidebook. The Committee agreed that: (1) it will provide direction to the project; (2) all Committee members will be responsible for reviewing work products; (3) individual Committee members may contribute by drafting and editing sections of the report; and (4) subgroups of the Committee may work on specific sections of the Guidebook.

A tutorial on state implementation plans was provided by Jeff Houk (EPA Region 8).

A discussion followed comparing how traditional, criteria pollutant SIPs are prepared with the requirements of the regional haze rule. The Committee also discussed the types of information on EERE resources that need to be included in the Guidebook. The Committee then examined, discussed and amended a draft annotated Guidebook outline.

The Committee agreed to initially focus on requirements under Section 309 of the regional haze rule then shift to requirements under Section 308. The Committee discussed in depth the link between the work of the Air Pollution Prevention Forum of the Western Regional Air Partnership and the Guidebook and how best to synchronize the scheduled work of both projects. As a result, the Committee adopted the following schedule and directed staff to seek necessary approvals from DOE to adjust the timeline for deliverables to meet the synchronized schedule. Related assignments for specific actions are noted in CAPS.

Project Schedule

February 2001: Seek contract timeline amendments to allow for the AP2 Forum to finalize its energy efficiency recommendations.

February-March 2001: Review/provide input to the AP2 Forum on recommended energy efficiency measures (CYNTHIA PRAUL/ART DIEM)

March 2001: Distribute copy of contractors’ report regarding the 308/309 inventory baseline –– (RICH HALVEY)

April 13, 2001: Pieces of first draft of SIP Guidebook submitted to the full SIP Guidebook Steering Committee for review

May 1, 2001: Steering Committee conference call to discuss progress to date, including pieces of first draft of SIP Guidebook submitted in April.

May 15, 2001: First draft of Guidebook completed (without list of recommended EERE measures and quantification numbers)

June 2001: AP2 finalizes EE recommendations

September 2001: AP2 has EERE recommendations modeled (using a model such as the ICF Integrated Planning Model)

October 2001: Second draft of SIP Guidebook Completed

January 2002: SIP Guidebook completed.

March 2002: Workshop for state air quality and energy officials on incorporating EERE into state regional haze SIPs.

Action Items and Assignments from the Meeting

• The Steering Committee agreed to a Vision Statement to guide the project (click here for the Vision Statement)

• Several Steering Committee members agreed to help the work of the WRAP Air Pollution Prevention (AP2) Forum in developing a list of recommended energy efficiency “best practices.” Cynthia Praul agreed to provide information on energy efficiency programs have been implemented in California and to provide available two page summaries of these programs to WIEB staff (dlarson@westgov.org). Art Diem agreed to look at the energy efficiency efforts undertaken by other states around the country and to be the conduit for this information to the Steering Committee. Diem also agreed to provide any appropriate two page energy efficiency best practice summaries to the AP2 Forum. Both Cynthia and Art agreed to review the list of energy efficiency “best practices” developed by the AP2 Forum.

• Anna Garcia agreed to provide the Committee with information on the types of measures which have been considered to be “beyond compliance” by EPA in the past.

• The AP2 Forum’s renewable energy recommendations are available on the Internet at http://www.wrapair.org/CommForum/group16/group_reports/FinalDraftRR.PDF

• The AP2 Forum web site is located at: http://www.wrapair.org/CommForum/group16/PREVENT.HTM

The Committee also agreed to the following outline for the SIP Guidebook. The Committee made assignments for developing specific sections in the Guidebook outline.  Persons assigned specific sections under the outline are listed in parentheses:

Revised Outline for Guidebook to Incorporate EERE into Regional Haze SIPs

(The Committee determined that the audience for the Guidebook is state energy and air quality officials)

I. Introduction (RICH HALVEY)

    a. General explanation of regional haze rule

II. Why incorporate EERE into regional haze SIPs (RICH HALVEY) - (ANNA GARCIA will provide boiler plate language from trading rules)

    a. Addition: vision statement - (RICH HALVEY)

    b. Co-benefits of these measures - (WIEB)

III. How to incorporate EERE into 309 SIPs

    a. Specific EERE requirements in 309 - (WIEB)

    b. Menu of potential EERE programs (reference to detailed work of the WRAP Air Pollution Prevention (AP2) Forum –– (CYNTHIA PRAUL, ART DIEM, JEFF BURKS)

            i. RE programs from AP2 Forum in first draft

            ii. EE programs to be developed by AP2 Forum by 6/01

    c. How states quantify energy savings from measures

    d. Building the energy savings/renewable energy production into the IPM model to identify emission reductions. These emission reductions are to be utilized by the WRAP Modeling Forum to provide estimates of resulting visibility improvements (JOHN NIELSEN’S AP2 FORUM QUANTIFICATION WORK GROUP)

    e. Reporting progress toward 10/20 goal –– WIEB (SEE AP2 FORUM WORK ON APPORTIONING GOALS AMONGST STATES)

IV. How to incorporate EERE into 308 SIPs (procedures that can be used to incorporate EERE measures beyond what is required under section 309 of the Regional Haze Rule). (ANNA GARCIA and EDGAR MERCADO)

V. Coordination of air and energy agencies in responding to 308/309 (e.g., agencies providing and receiving data) –– (ANNA GARCIA will provide information from trading program guidance. VAN JAMISON will provide information from NASEO work)

VI. Policy recommendations for expanding the role of EERE in air quality in the future (SEE ECOS/NARUC/STAPPA/NASEO work)

    a. EERE measures beyond the AP2 Forum recommendations for regional haze (placeholder to cover items omitted by AP2)

    b. Incorporating EERE in non-regional haze SIPs

Appendices

• Quantification work from modeling

• Checklist of steps to assure compliance with 309