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Environmental Investment
Programs in the California
SCAQMD:
The South Coast Air Quality Management District
(SCAQMD) has taken a leading role in cleaning up the air and working
with the industry to help them achieve compliance while promoting
cleaner technologies. The RECLAIM program has set an example in
how the industry could meet compliance goals cost-effectively if
given the right tools and the incentive. In the recent years the
SCAQMD has embarked on several new initiatives to help create a
more dynamic Reclaim Trading Credit (RTC) market. The ERC market
is also going through an overall modernization. Recommendations
to modernize the ERC system include the following options:
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Use of Short-Term
Credits
Expand the use of short-term credits such as MSERCs, ASCs,
and ERC shares, by allowing sources to combine short-term
credits together to create a stream of credits. Also, expand
the applicability of existing mobile and area source pilot
credit generation rules and develop new mobile and area source
credit generation rules that can be approved by CARB and EPA.
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ERC Sharing
Allow a facility that is holding onto a stream of unused ERCs
to split the stream and sell the first few years of the ERC
stream to another facility. The shared portion of the ERC
stream can be used as a short-term credit. The remaining portion
of the ERC remains as a stream of ERCs, at its original value.
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SIP Offset Budget
Create a set-aside emission account in the SIP that can be
used for compliance with Regulation XIII. SIP Offset Budget
will provide a safety net ensuring the availability of emission
reductions for Regulation XIII compliance purposes. Sources
that elect to use ERCs from the SIP Offset Budget must pay
a fee, that will be used to replenish emission reductions
in the SIP Offset Budget. To ensure emission reductions are
replenished, another feature of the SIP Offset Budget is backstop
reductions.
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Additional Enhancements
In addition to the three major elements recommended to modernize
the ERC system, the following enhancements are also recommended.
- Issue all new ERCs in units of pounds per
year instead of pounds per day;
- Extend the ERC application filing period from 90 to 180
days
- Lower EIP environmental discount for mobile or area source
projects that reduce diesel particulate;
- Standardize interpollutant trading protocols; and
- Discourage use of ERCs for non-Regulation
XIII compliance purposes.
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To provide RECLAIM facilities with Reclaim
Trading Credits, the following programs have been recommended:
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SCAQMD AQIP Program
The purpose of this program is to create a reserve of real,
quantifiable, enforceable, permanent (for the duration of
the emission reduction activity), and surplus emission reductions
that can be used to provide a voluntary alternative compliance
option to sources subject to specific District rules.
The Air Quality Investment Program will
produce equivalent or greater emission reductions of VOC,
NOx, SOx, CO, or PM10 in the South Coast Air Basin and advance
air pollution control technologies to achieve the Basin's
clean air goals identified in the District's AQMP.
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Transportation Programs
The purpose of transportation program is to reduce air pollution
from on-road mobile sources. On-road mobile sources of air
pollution are the cars and trucks we see every day on the
road, the largest source of air pollution in many regions.
The program focuses on the reduction of
air pollution through use of alternative fuel vehicles or
other clean engine technologies.
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In SCAQMD this is accomplished through
the implementation of:
| Rule
2202 |
Road Motor Vehicle Mitigation Options, and
Regulation XVI, Mobile Source Offset Programs including the
following rules |
Mobile Source Offset Programs including
the following rules:
| Rule
1605 |
Credits For The Voluntary Repair of On-Road
Motor Vehicles Identified Through Remote Sensing Devices |
| Rule
1610 |
Old-Vehicle Scrapping |
| Rule
1612 |
Credits for Clean On-Road Vehicles |
| Rule
1612.1 |
Mobile Source Credit Generation Pilot Program
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| Rule
1613 |
Credits for Truck Stop Electrification |
| Rule
1620 |
Credits for Clean Off-Road Mobile Equipment |
| Rule
1623 |
Credits for Clean Lawn and Garden Equipment
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| Rule
1631 |
Pilot Credit Generation Program for Marine
Vessels |
| Rule
1632 |
Pilot Credit Generation Program for Hotelling
Operations |
| Rule
1633 |
Pilot Credit Generation Program for Truck/Trailer
Refrigeration Units |
| Rule
1634 |
Pilot Credit Generation Pilot Program for Truck
Stop Electrification |
To learn more about Environmental Investment
Programs please Contact
Us.
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