State of California
AIR RESOURCES BOARD
State Office Building
Room 1194
455 Golden Gate Avenue
San Francisco, CA
September 21, 1976
10:00 a.m.
AGENDA
76-18-1 Progress Report on Lake Tahoe Air Basin Activities
including ARB Air Monitoring and Vehicle Testing
efforts, development of a Bi-State Air Pollution
Control Program, and development of a Lake Tahoe Air
Basin Implementation Plan.
76-18-2 Report on Long Range Emission Standard Proposals for
Passenger Cars and Light and Medium Duty Trucks
76-18-3 Other Business -
(a) Executive Session - Personnel and Litigation
(b) Research Proposals
ITEM NO.: 76-18-1
Report of Activities in the Lake Tahoe Air Basin.
RECOMMENDATION
This is an informational report requested by the Board. No
specific action is required.
SUMMARY
(1) The ARB instituted a permanent monitoring network of three
stations at Lake Tahoe in the summer of 1975, to measure O3,
CO, NOx total sulfur and visibility. The local APCDs make
total suspended particulate measurements. Results of a
little one year's measurement show that the CO standard is
violated near heavy traffic in the winter and that the
oxidant standard is violated in the summer at the south end
of the lake. The 24 hour particulate matter standard is
also violated.
(2) The vehicle emissions test program at Lake Tahoe, to
determine the exhaust emission from representative vehicles
at 6,000 feet elevation has sampled approximately 2/3 of the
150 vehicle tests planned. The preliminary results show an
increase in both HC and CO emissions and a decrease in NOx
emission (18, 66, and - 32 percent, respectively), which is
in general agreement with previous EPA observations. If the
full study substantiates the preliminary results, the need
for a special program for emissions control for vehicles
used at high altitude may not be required.
(3) The Lake Tahoe Air Basin Coordinating Council has submitted
a basin plan to the ARB for approval. The plan falls short
of a long term or short term strategy for meeting the air
quality standards and is deficiency in some of its emissions
control requirements. The staff will transmit its comments
to the Coordinating Council.
(4) Progress toward a bi-state agency has been slow. Four
alternatives present themselves: a) Form a single purpose
bi-state air pollution agency; b) develop an air pollution
program in TRPA; c) agree to coordinate separate programs;
or d) have EPA designate the Tahoe Basin as an Interstate
Air Quality Control Region and set up an interstate program
under the Clean Air Act. The staff of ARB and the Nevada
Environmental Quality Commission are attempting to develop
coordinated programs with the same air quality goals and
similar emissions control regulations. The Nevada
Environmental Quality Commission will meet this month to
consider changing some of the state's air quality standards
to conform with California's.