Lee N. Smith of Coleman & Horowitt to Participate in Water Quality/Water Law Conference in Sacramento

Lee N. Smith of our office will be participating in a Water Law and
Regulations Conference in Sacramento on January 16, 2019. Mr. Smith will be discussing Water Quality issues in California. His talk will encompass the origins of water quality regulation, the relevant agencies, liability under the Water Code, and touch upon several of the emerging issues including the recent Basin Plan Amendment proposals, the Irrigated Lands Program, and C.V. Salts.

Issues in Air Quality

This memorandum was prepared for the 

Manufacturers Council of the Central Valley

Coleman & Horowitt, LLP

Attorneys at Law

                                                                

  M E M O R A N D U M

      

The following are the items that were identified that may be of interest to the MCCV Working Groups with respect to Air Quality Issues.

1.      AB 617

AB 617 is the statute that was passed last year along with the revisions to the Cap & Trade and emphasizes enhanced source monitoring in certain identified communities. With respect to the Valley, South Fresno and Shafter have been identified^.

http://www.valleyair.org/recent_news/Media_releases/2018/PR-AB617-Communities-Selection-9-27-18.pdf

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/index.php/our-work/programs/community-air-protection-program-ab617/events/carb-board-public-meeting-september

2.      Community Steering Committee Applications

https://d3n8a8pro7vhmx.cloudfront.net/bizfed/mailings/2589/attachments/original/AB617SteeringCommitteeApp-Interactive.pdf?1538520446

The SJVAPCD is considering hiring third party Service Providers to assist in developing the steering committees for the communities identified in the initial round. This is an exerpt of the related staff report:

To ensure that this new and extensive community engagement process is successful and meets your Board’s expectations, the use of services to assist the District may be necessary. Given the short timeframe under state law, District staff is seeking your Board’s approval to contract with experienced service providers to assist in the facilitation of these steering committees and with community outreach and participation.

http://www.valleyair.org/Board_meetings/GB/agenda_minutes/Agenda/2018/October/final/14.pdf

3.      CARB October Board Meeting- October 25-26, 2018

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/ma102518

In particular the cap and trade program is being considered, this is from a letter that was circulated to the business community urging participation at the CARB meeting and sign on to a group letter.

Last year, the California Legislature passed legislation (known as AB 398) to renew the state’s cap-and-trade program. The goal is to reduce carbon emissions, while also containing costs for California families. The California Air Resources Board (CARB) will be implementing the policy. To be sure that CARB follows the legislation passed, they are to “avoid adverse impacts on resident households, businesses, and the state’s economy.” There is an indication that CARB is ignoring this direction and proposing to increase the costs that will impact the economy. There is an effort by industry to get people to this meeting and sign on to the following:

California Air Resources Board

10001 I Street

Sacramento, CA 95814

Dear Board Members,

As a group of concerned businesses and consumers in California, we are united in strongly opposing specific provisions of the proposed amendments to the regulation for administering Cap-and-Trade for the period of 2020 to 2030. Specifically, we believe the proposed Price Ceiling would fail entirely at its statutory purpose of controlling costs that are placed on households, businesses, and the overall economy.

Assembly Bill 398 (Garcia, 2017) directs the California Air Resources Board (CARB) to include a Price Ceiling in the proposed regulation to control the prices of allowances. When setting the Price Ceiling, the legislation specifically directs CARB to “avoid adverse impacts on resident households, businesses, and the state’s economy.” This important and straightforward direction reflects a widespread and bipartisan recognition that the costs of climate regulations must be managed in order for the regulations to be successful and avoid driving California consumers, workers, and businesses into insolvency.

Unfortunately, CARB is proposing to set a Price Ceiling that is nearly twice as high as experts recommend. This proposal threatens to impose unaffordable, runaway costs on all Californians, and violates the legislative directions to “avoid adverse impacts.” This includes adding up to $1.08 to the cost of a gallon of gasoline, as well as potential cost increases on energy, food, and other necessities.

These cost increases will dramatically impact California consumers, workers, and businesses, who already contend with some of the highest costs of living in our nation.

For these reasons, we are in strong opposition to the lack of proper price-containment provisions in the proposed amendments. We ask CARB to consider an approach to cost-containment that is more aligned with the Legislature’s direction in AB 398.

Thank you for your consideration.

4.      SJVAPCD October Board Meeting- October 18, 2018

http://www.valleyair.org/Board_meetings/GB/agenda_minutes/Agenda/2018/October/agenda.pdf

5.      CAC Meeting

A.     PM 2.5 Plan

http://www.valleyair.org/pmplans

i.                     District’s Summary

Update on District PM2.5 Planning Efforts – Sheraz Gill, Deputy APCO, provided an update on the status of the District’s PM2.5 planning efforts. For the past three years, the District and the California Air Resources Board (CARB) have led an extensive public process to develop an attainment strategy to address multiple federal PM2.5 standards. This public process has included multiple workshops and public meetings, Public Advisory Workgroup meetings, and regular discussions at Citizens’ Advisory Committee and Environmental Justice Advisory Group meetings. Through the public engagement process, the District and CARB have identified a comprehensive list of potential new regulatory and incentive-based measures to achieve significant emissions reductions from both stationary and mobile sources. Modeling conducted by CARB as part of the SJVUAPCD Governing Board planning process demonstrates that the Valley will attain all three PM2.5 standards by their respective deadlines. The District posted the draft plan for public review on August 31, 2018. The District and CARB are working to finalize the remaining elements of the plan prior to posting the final draft of the plan for public comment ahead of the November 2018 Governing Board meeting where the plan is scheduled to be considered for adoption.

ii.                   Recommendations to the Board from Subcommittee

Due to the breadth and complexity of the plan, CAC members felt additional time to review and analyze the plan was necessary prior to making any recommendations to the Governing Board. To allow for this time, the CAC voted to convene a meeting of the full committee on November 6, 2018, to consider adopting recommendations for the Governing Board on the District’s 2018 PM2.5 Plan. To facilitate an enhanced review of the plan, CAC members voted to create an ad hoc subcommittee which will meet in October 2018 to review the plan further and report back to the CAC at the November 2018.

6              Additional Issues of Interest

A.     Dairy Sustainability Summit

Showcase California’s world-leading achievements in sustainable dairy farm practices and the role dairy plays in the global food system Explore new ways for dairy farmers to continue improving environmental sustainability, develop new business opportunities, and reduce on-farm costs Highlight information, technology, and services that can support dairy farmers’ efforts to meet continuing challenges, further improve efficiency, and ensure economic and environmental sustainability. https://www.cadairysummit.com/.

B.     SNAPS

Excerpts from an Industry Email, this may be a foreshadowing of the AB 617 program.

https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/our-work/programs/study-neighborhood-air-near-petroleum-sources

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) is developing a project to better characterize air quality in communities near oil and gas operations. The Study of Neighborhood Air near Petroleum Sources (SNAPS) includes limited-term, intensive air quality monitoring with a particular focus on production facilities. This project can also provide valuable information to support the Community Air Protection Program (CAPP), formed pursuant to AB 617.

Under SNAPS, candidate communities for monitoring are identified based on their proximity to oil and gas wells, and from public suggestions. CARB staff will locate stationary trailers equipped with state-of-the art monitoring technologies in communities for up to four months to determine air quality. The trailers are capable of measuring toxic air contaminants (TACs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), particulate matter (PM), metals, and criteria pollutants. An analysis of available air pollution measurements, local characteristics, public input, and potential partnerships in each candidate community will help to prioritize trailer deployment. Staff will analyze the air quality measurements obtained through trailer monitoring to characterize exposures to measured pollutants. Where appropriate, the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA) will perform a more in-depth health analysis, potentially including risk assessment. Some air monitoring data will be posted in real-time and CARB will publish a complete analysis of results in separate reports for each site.

Current Agricultural Environmental Issues

 This article which ran in the Central Valley Ag Supplement of the Fresno Business Journal provides a summary of the areas of water quality and water supply issues that are the most compelling.

I.                    Basin Plans

The state Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act requires the adoption of water quality control plans (Basin Plans) that provide the outline for managing water pollution in California. The plans incorporate the beneficial uses of water in that basin and then provide objectives that maintain and protect these uses. Many of the State’s current policy changes are implemented through amendments of the existing Basin Plans, including the Irrigated Lands Program, the Salt and Nitrate Management Plan that was developed under the CV-Salts program, and the proposed changes to the Bay-Delta Plan.

A.     Irrigated Lands Programs (“IRLP”)

 

The state IRLP regulates commercial irrigated lands, including nurseries and managed wetlands. Options for regulatory coverage include joining a Third-Party (coalition) group or obtaining individual coverage. The coalition groups work directly with members to assist in complying with requirements that include conducting water quality monitoring and preparing and filing regional plans and reports to address water quality problems. Growers who choose to obtain individual coverage must conduct their own monitoring and reporting and work directly with the Central Valley Water Board to address water quality problems. The coalitions are generally subject to adopted orders for the relevant Basins.

 

B.     CV Salts

A coalition of agriculture, cities, industry, and regulatory agencies worked for a number of years developing a plan for managing salts and nutrients. The Central Valley Salinity Alternatives for Long-Term Sustainability initiative (CV-SALTS) was initiated in 2006 to develop a management plan. This plan requires amendments to the Basin Plans for the Sacramento River and San Joaquin River Basins and the Tulare Lake Basin. The focal point for the amendments is the Central Valley-wide Salt and Nitrate Management Plan (SNMP). The SNMP provides a framework for managing salt and nitrates in the Central Valley and identified 11 proposed strategies, policies, policy changes or clarifications to the Basin Plans to facilitate the implementation of the proposed strategies and policies contained in the SNMP.  These amendments establish a three phase program that interfaces with the IRLP and includes permitting, further studies and provides specific recommendations for the control and permitting of salt discharges to surface and groundwater and of nitrate discharges to groundwater.

C.     Bay-Delta Plan

The State Water Board is considering the adoption of proposed amendments to the Water Quality Control Plan for the San Francisco Bay/Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta Estuary (the “Bay-Delta Plan”). The proposed amendments include new and revised flow objectives for the Lower San Joaquin River and its tributaries, the Stanislaus, Tuolumne, and Merced rivers, for the “reasonable protection” of fish and wildlife and beneficial uses and revised salinity water quality objectives for the southern Delta agricultural beneficial uses, as well as a program of implementation for these objectives. The current plan calls for 40 percent of the flow to be allowed to flow downstream unimpaired. It has been estimated that in a normal year, this would take 290,000 acre-feet of water from farms and cities, which is about 14 percent of the total amount they currently receive. The impact would be greater in a drought year in such conditions farms and cities could lose an estimated 673,000 acre-feet. Similar amendments will be proposed for the Sacramento River system as well.  It is believed that in addition to losses in water use from surface sources, the reduction could impact groundwater supplies as well as the recharge that could affect sustainable plans under the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act discussed below.

2. Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA)

On Sept. 16, 2014, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law a three-bill legislative package, composed of AB 1739 (Dickinson), SB 1168 (Pavley), and SB 1319 (Pavley), collectively known as the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act (SGMA). Under this statute, groundwater users in basins starting with those that are prioritized based on their level of overdraw, must organize into groups that will in turn develop a plan to balance the groundwater resources in that basin; the plans are due in January 2020.  This statute will affect the amount of water available to specific users creating effects on the operations and transactions involving all aspects of agriculture in the Valley. It is predicted that a considerable amount of land could be required to be fallowed under this statute to meet the requirements for a balanced groundwater system.

3.   1,2,3,-Trichloropropane (1,2,3 - TCP)

On Dec. 14, 2017, the California Water Resources Control Board -Division of Drinking Water adopted a regulation promulgating an maximum concentration limit (MCL) for 1,2,3 – TCP at the low level of 0.000005 milligrams per liter (5 parts per trillion). 1,2,3-TCP data has been compiled which shows statewide that 388 drinking water sources exceeded the 1,2,3-TCP MCL during the first quarter of 2018.  It is estimated that more than 2 million pounds of pesticides containing 1,2,3-dichloropropene were used in California alone in 1978. The new level of 5 parts per trillion has resulted, and will continue to result, in millions of dollars in new treatment units as well as triggering enforcement actions and lawsuits against the manufacturers and more recently claims against chemical distributors