Technical Committee May 17, Conference Call

Gerry Guay, AK Phil Allen, OR Jeff Gabler, WESTAR Ajith Kaduwela, CA Stu Clark, WA Kristin Gaston, WESTAR Marianne Rossio, HI Lee Gribovicz, WY Chris Hanson, SD Ken Rairigh, WY Brock LeBaron, UT Bud Rolofson, F&WS Mary Uhl, NM Dan Johnson, WESTAR John Coefield, MT Bob Lebens, WESTAR

Work Plan – feedback from business meeting. Gerry noted that the Technical Committee work plan approved by the WESTAR Council focused on two activities. One of the main purposes of the Technical Committee is to serve as a forum for information exchange among the Committee member. Another is to identify emerging air quality issues.

Data Management – Jeff Gabler talked about the progress to date on the development of a Data Management workshop to facilitate information exchange on data systems and discuss what states are doing to modify their systems. Jeff gave a brief overview of the workshop, which may include descriptions of state and EPA data management systems, improvements to them and opportunities for better integrating these systems.

PSD- Dan Johnson provided an overview of the PSD issues identified in a problem statement distributed to the Committee. The problem statement defines the PSD issue to be the establishment of the baseline area and increment tracking within the baseline area. At this stage, an ad hoc committee is being formed to work on this issue. The Planning Committee recently volunteered the following organizations to participate: Oregon (Sources Committee representative), South Dakota; Utah; Wyoming; and the Park Service. John Coefield offered to participate in the Committee, as did Mary Uhl and Bud Rolofson. Washington may also participate. Brock reaffirmed that Utah (either Brock or a permit modeler) will participate.

Fall Technical Conference- Bob Lebens gave an overview of the plans for this year’s technical conference on regional haze SIP planning to be held at Snowbird, Utah, Septeber 17-19. He noted that the WRAP regional modeling center would be available to participate in part of the meeting. Bob solicited agenda suggestions and asked for volunteers to give presentations. Brock said he is willing to report on what Utah is doing to work with the modeling data provided by UC Riverside. Bob noted that the modelers, along with the Planning Committee, had expressed an interest in jointly developing a technical support document template and this may be an appropriate agenda topic. Committee members should contact Bob with other suggestions and offers to make presentations. Bob will work directly with Ajith and Brock on the agenda.

Other Committee Business- The Committee discussed organizational issues including subcommittee conference call schedules. Lee Gribovicz noted he was unlikely to schedule a conference call with the Emissions Inventory Subcommittee in the near future. John Coefield said he intends to solicit suggestions from the Monitoring Subcommittee and offer a few suggestions for possible Monitoring Subcommittee involvement. The committee/subcommittee chairs will communicate monthly to discuss emerging issues that may be of interest to the their members.

Next Conference Call: August 23, at 1:30 Pacific time