In this issue:

• Stop by the EcoExperience at the Minnesota State Fair
• EPA Proposes Clean Power Plan to Cut Carbon Pollution
• Reminder: Small Business Grants to Clear the Air – Apply Soon
• MPCA Awards $200,000 for 11 Clean Diesel Projects
• Update on Voluntary Efforts to Reduce Ozone and Fine Particles
• Measuring Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Air
• EPA action on Minnesota’s 2008 Lead Infrastructure State Implementation Plan
• MPCA’s Community Air Monitoring Project moves back to Minneapolis for next quarter
• Regulatory updates
• In the news

Stop by the EcoExperience at the Minnesota State Fair

Don’t forget to visit the Eco Experience at the State Fair, August 21-September 1, 2014! The 2013 winner of the State Fair People’s Choice Award for Best Attraction, the Eco Experience is filled with hands-on activities, demonstrations, and resources to help Minnesotans become more knowledgeable about the environment and about ways of acting to support healthy ecosystems. The Eco Experience’s air quality exhibits feature: Electric vehicles (EVs) including a Tesla Model S and a Nissan LEAF, along with info about public EV charging stations and details about the how and why of recharging EVs with renewable energy, such as solar. EV owners will be on hand to tell you about their experiences with a variety of models. Free tire gauges will be available at an exhibit about the Living Green tire-check promotion that runs through September 30. Take a photo of yourself checking your tire pressure, post it to Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter between August 21-September 30, and you’ll be entered to win a $100 gas card donated by Holiday. Information about the pollution impacts of urban back-yard campfires Sign up online for the MPCA’s Air Quality alerts To find out more, visit the Eco Experience website. See you at the Fair!

EPA Proposes Clean Power Plan to Cut Carbon Pollution

On June 2, 2014, the EPA proposed the Clean Power Plan, a rule aiming to cut carbon dioxide emissions from existing power plants – the single largest source of carbon pollution in the U.S. – by 30% from 2005 levels. The rule is also projected to reduce the pollutants that contribute to soot and smog more than 25% by 2030. The proposed rule sets state-specific carbon dioxide emission targets and requires each state to submit a plan for meeting its target. States have flexibility in developing plans and can consider conventional control strategies as well as renewable energy and energy efficiency approaches to achieve the necessary reductions.

The MPCA is currently reviewing the EPA’s proposal to ensure Minnesota’s targets are equitable and achievable and to assess potential pathways for compliance. Although considerable reductions will still be needed once the rule is finalized, Minnesota has been a leader in reducing carbon emissions and appears to be well situated to meet the proposal’s requirements while continuing to support reliable, affordable power for all Minnesotans. The MPCA is reaching out to stakeholders to ensure the opportunity for public participation as we develop our comments on the proposed rule and, eventually, compliance strategies. State plans are expected to be due by June 2016.

The EPA’s proposed plan has attracted considerable interest from news media, with many outlets contacting the MPCA to ask about how it would affect Minnesota. A reporter from the New York Times traveled to Minnesota in June to talk with the MPCA, utilities, and other sources involved in achieving the state’s standout reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. The resulting story ran July 17 and is available here.

For additional information, please visit the EPA’s Clean Power Plan website. To stay informed of any MPCA Clean Power Plan rulemaking developments, sign up for email notices through Gov Delivery.

Reminder: Small Business Grants to Clear the Air – Apply Soon

Small businesses in Minnesota can still apply for grants up to $100,000 to reduce use of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), with only a 10% match required. Auto body shops, printers, dry cleaners, platers, and gas stations have a high potential for reducing emissions. You may recognize VOCs as fumes coming from coatings, inks, solvents, adhesives, gasoline, and other everyday products in your business.  The deadline for grant applications is August 13, 2014.

Reducing VOCs in your business can save money by reducing hazardous waste disposal fees, lowering regulatory obligations, and using fewer chemicals. It also can provide a healthier environment for your employees and community. For more information, please visit our website or contact Eric David at 651-757-2218.

MPCA Awards $200,000 for 11 Clean Diesel Projects

Thanks to EPA’s Diesel Emission Reduction Act (DERA) Grant funding, the MPCA recently awarded close to $200,000 for five grants to reduce emissions from 11 heavy-duty diesel engines. Modern diesel engines and retrofit equipment can drastically reduce emissions of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) as well as vibration and noise. Retrofits, upgrades, and replacements protect the health of operators as well as public health and the environment. Grantees provide matching funds, but the improvements are well worth it. This year’s grant projects alone reduced PM2.5 emissions by 2.3 tons. Three of the projects helped replace old, dirty heavy-duty trucks by providing 25% of the cost of the purchase. Highland Sanitation will be using the grant to purchase two new garbage trucks; their project alone is responsible for a reduction of 1.53 tons of PM2.5. Action Moving will be getting a new moving truck and the Elk River School District will be purchasing a new snowplow truck.  Two of the grant projects (Randy Eich and Pat Fruth Trucking) involve retrofitting pre-2007 long-haul trucks with diesel particulate filters. Eich is retrofitting one truck and Fruth is retrofitting six. Each of them matched the 50% grant for their projects. Past grants have included replacing engines on construction and marine equipment. Through a variety of grants and loans, the MPCA and partner-organization Environmental Initiative have reduced annual fine-particle pollution in Minnesota from diesel engines by 42 tons, which is the equivalent of removing 750,000 cars from the road. Reducing PM2.5 from diesel trucks helps Minnesota maintain federal air quality standards and avoid stringent and costly regulations on the state’s businesses. In addition to pollution reductions, some past projects have provided economic and operational benefits for grantees, including repowering five 100-ton cranes (see photo) from the 1980s with new clean engines, which reduced the potential for operator health impacts from equipment emissions, vibration, noise. A rock- crusher engine repower done last year resulted in a 50% improvement in fuel economy. A two-year project replacing 11 late-1990s diesel beverage delivery trucks with diesel-electric hybrids resulted in a 25% fuel savings. The MPCA will be accepting proposals for funding more clean diesel projects this fall. Please spread the word about our DERA grants and go to our Clean Diesel Web Page for more information. To sign up for the MPCA’s email list to hear about clean diesel grant opportunities go to the Clean Diesel Webpage and click the red envelope icon in the upper right-hand corner. For more information, contact Mark Sulzbach at (651) 757-2770 or mark.sulzbach@state.mn.us.

Update on Voluntary Efforts to Reduce Ozone and Fine Particles

The EPA periodically adjusts the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) to reflect science’s improved understanding of the health impacts of air pollutants. Minnesota currently meets the national standards for fine particles and ozone pollution, but EPA is considering tightening both those standards. More stringent NAAQS may put Minnesota at risk of exceeding allowable levels of air pollution.

Therefore, in 2012 the MPCA enrolled in EPA’s Advance Program, which is a voluntary effort to reduce emissions in areas that currently meet ozone and fine particle standards. As part of this effort, in 2013 the MPCA submitted the Final Report: A Collaborative Plan to Reduce Emissions from Minnesota’s Clean Air Dialogue as our path forward. Clean Air Minnesota – a partnership between business, government, and nonprofit air quality leaders – now serves as the stakeholder group to implement projects to reduce emissions of particles and VOCs that lead to the formation of ozone.

The MPCA submitted an annual progress report to EPA in June about activities by the MPCA and its partners to reduce emissions. The letter and attachments can be found on the EPA’s website. Several highlights from the past year’s work include:

• 55 Clean Diesel and 14 Project Green Fleet retrofits, saving saving a total of 1.8 tons of particulates and 15 tons of nitrogen oxides
• Legislative funding of grants to small and mid-size businesses for reduction of VOCs, with $320,000 available. The Request for Proposals for this grant closes August 13 (see article above).
• Installation of 92 new electric vehicle charging stations completed by June 30, 2014

Measuring Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Air

The MPCA, in collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Health and the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Department of Natural Resources and Environment, was awarded grant funding in 2012 from the EPA to measure PAHs in air. PAHs are air pollutants produced by combustion that are linked with respiratory health effects, including respiratory irritation and lung cancer. Prior to conducting this monitoring, the MPCA had to rely solely on modeling for information on potential PAH concentrations in ambient air. This grant will allow the MPCA to gather current direct measurements to better understand the concentrations of these pollutants in Minnesota’s air.   Monitoring is being conducted at 16 locations in the Twin Cities and one at Lake Mille Lacs. Two different types of monitors are being used: an active monitor, which uses an air pump to pull air through a filter and absorbent resin, and a passive monitor, which uses a resin that absorbs compounds in the air over time. There are hundreds of PAHs, but the project will monitor for 30 compounds chosen for their toxicity, air emissions source indicators, ability to be chemically analyzed, and inclusion in the EPA’s list of 16 priority PAHs. More information on this project, including a sampling site map, can be found on the project website or by contacting Kristie Ellickson at (651) 757-2336.

EPA action on Minnesota’s 2008 Lead Infrastructure State Implementation Plan

EPA approved most of Minnesota’s Infrastructure State Implementation Plan (SIP) for the 2008 lead National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). The Infrastructure SIP is intended to demonstrate the state’s ability to implement, maintain, and enforce the 2008 NAAQS for lead. The portions of the Infrastructure SIP that were disapproved are already addressed by a federally approved set of rules being administered by the state; therefore, Minnesota does not have any further obligations related to these disapprovals. The action can be found in the Federal Register.

MPCA’s Community Air Monitoring Project moves back to Minneapolis for next quarter

The MPCA monitors pollutants in outdoor air at over 50 sites around the state. About half of these permanent monitors are located in the metro area. To get a better picture of air quality in neighborhoods that might be disproportionally impacted by air pollution, the 2013 State Legislature provided funding for the MPCA to monitor air quality for short periods of time in some of these areas.

So far the Community Air Monitoring Project has monitored one site in Minneapolis and two in St. Paul. The monitor has moved back to Minneapolis’s East Phillips neighborhood for the next quarter, where it will measure common air pollutants that can potentially have negative health impacts. Pollutants include fine particles (dust and soot), VOCs, and metals. The project will monitor a total of seven neighborhoods before it concludes in 2015. For more information about this project, visit the MPCA’s website.

Regulatory updates

Do you purchase refrigerants, propellants, or other fluorinated chemicals?

If you purchase hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), or sulfur hexafluoride (SF6), you may need to report these purchases to the MPCA. These chemicals are most commonly used as refrigerants, fire extinguishants, foaming agents, insulators, aerosols, and in precision electronics manufacturing. Thresholds prompting reporting requirements vary depending on the chemical purchased. The thresholds are determined by the global warming potential (GWP) of each chemical. As little as 1,000 pounds of some high-GWP gases can have the same impact as 10,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide and can trigger reporting requirements. The reporting deadline for purchases made in 2013 is October 1, 2014. Visit our website for more information and a complete list of high-GWP chemicals and reporting thresholds.

In the news

New York Times covers Minnesota’s efforts to reduce carbon emissions from power plants

There has been significant public interest in the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan. The New York Times reported on how Minnesota has collaborated with utilities to become a leader in reducing carbon emissions.

Series on the history of air pollution in the U.S. and China

American Public Media’s Marketplace did a series of radio pieces, called We Used to be China, on the history of air pollution in the U.S. and how China’s current air pollution problems are reflected in that history.