VIDEOCONFERENCE MEETING AIR RESOURCES BOARD …ww3.arb.ca.gov/board/mt/2020/mt042320.pdf · Ms....

VIDEOCONFERENCE MEETING STATE OF CALIFORNIA AIR RESOURCES BOARD

CALEPA HEADQUARTERS BYRON SHER AUDITORIUM

SECOND FLOOR 1001 I STREET

SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA

THURSDAY, APRIL 23, 2020 9:02 A.M.

JAMES F. PETERS, CSRCERTIFIED SHORTHAND REPORTER LICENSE NUMBER 10063

J&K COURT REPORTING, LLC 916.476.3171

A P P E A R A N C E S BOARD MEMBERS: Ms. Mary Nichols, Chair Sandra Berg, Vice Chair Mr. Hector De La Torre Dr. John Balmes Mr. John Eisenhut Supervisor Nathan Fletcher Senator Dean Florez Assembly Member Eduardo Garcia Mr. John Gioia Ms. Judy Mitchell Senator Bill Monning Mrs. Barbara Riordan Supervisor Phil Serna Dr. Alexander Sherriffs Professor Daniel Sperling Ms. Diane Takvorian

STAFF: Mr. Richard Corey, Executive Officer Ms. Edie Chang, Deputy Executive Officer Mr. Steve Cliff, Deputy Executive Officer Mr. Kurt Karperos, Deputy Executive Officer Ms. Ellen Peter, Chief Counsel


A P P E A R A N C E S C O N T I N U E D

STAFF: Ms. Veronica Eady, Assistant Executive Officer Ms. Annette Hebert, Assistant Executive Officer Ms. Alvaro Alvarado, Manager, Health and EcosystemsAssessment Section, Research Division (RD) Mr. Jeff Austin, Air Pollution Specialist, Heath and Ecosystems Assessment Section, RD Mr. Michael Benjamin, Division Chief, Air Quality Planningand Science Division (AQPSD) Mr. Matt Botill, Assistant Division Chief, Industrial Strategies Division (ISD) Mr. Dave Edwards, Assistant Division Chief, AQPSD Ms. Ariel Fideldy, Air Pollution Specialist, South Coast Air Quality Planning Section, AQPSD Ms. Jennifer Gress, Division Chief, Sustainable Transportation and Communities Division Mr. Jim Guthrie, Air Resources Engineer, Emerging Technology Section, Industrial Strategies Section, ISD Ms. Bonnie Holmes-Gen, Branch Chief, Health and ExposureAssessment Branch, RD Ms. Alexandra Kamel, Attorney, Legal Office Mr. Jack Kitowski, Division Chief, Mobile Source Control Division Ms. Carolyn Lozo, Branch Chief, Oil and Gas and GHG Mitigation Branch, ISD Mr. Alexander "Lex" Mitchell, Manager, Emerging Technology Section, ISD Mr. Gabriel Monroe, Attorney, Legal Office Ms. Claudia Nagy, Senior Attorney Legal Office



STAFF: Mr. Cory Parmer, Manager, Off-Road Diesel Analysis Section, AQPSD Mr. Sam Pournazeri, Branch Chief, Mobile Source Analysis Branch, AQPSD Mr. Jordan Ramalingam, Air Pollution Specialist, Transportation Fuels Branch, ISD Ms. Rajinder Sahota, Division Chief, ISD Ms. Elizabeth Scheehle, Division Chief, RD Ms. Carol Sutkus, Manager, South Coast Air Quality Planning Section, AQPSD Ms. Sylvia Vanderspek, Branch Chief, Air Quality Planning Branch, AQPSD Ms. Fang Yan, Manager, On-Road Model Development Section, AQPSD

ALSO PRESENT: Dr. Roger Aines, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Ms. Shayda Azamian, Leadership Counsel for Justice and Accountability Mr. Will Barrett, American Lung Association Ms. Rebecca Baskins, California Advanced Biofuels Alliance Ms. Rebecca Boudreaux, Oberon Mr. Christopher Busch, Energy Innovation Ms. Jennifer Case, New Leaf Biofuel Mr. Todd Campbell, Clean Energy Mr. Jon Costantino, Trillium



ALSO PRESENT: Ms. Lauren Cullum, Sierra Club California Mr. Todd DeYoung, San Joaquin Valley Air Pollution Control District Mr. Raj Dhillon, Breathe LA Mr. Sean Ebnet, Orsted Mr. Stephen Ellis, Honda Mr. Bill Elrick, California Fuel Cell Partnership Mr. Joe Gershen, Encore BioRenewables Mr. Scott Hedderich, Renewable Energy Group Mr. Alexander Jackson, Natural Resources Defense Council Mr. Eric Kayser, Imperial Western Products Mr. Ryan Kenny, Clean Energy Mr. Thomas Lawson, California Natural Gas Vehicle Coalition Ms. Julia Levin, Bioenergy Association of California Ms. Janice Lin, Green Hydrogen Coalition Ms. Leah Louis-Prescott, Rocky Mountain Institute Mr. Bill Magavern, Coalition for Clean Air Mr. Kevin Maggay, SoCalGas Mr. Paul Mason, Pacific Forest Trust Mr. Patrick McDuff, California Fueling, LLC Ms. Yvette McDuff, California Fueling, LLC Mr. John McNamara



ALSO PRESENT: Ms. Jeanne Merrill, California Climate and AgricultureNetwork Ms. Diane Moss, California Hydrogen Business Council Ms. Urvi Nagrani Ms. Shelby Neal, National Biodiesel Board Ms. Michelle Passero, Nature Conservancy Ms. Kathryn Phillips, Sierra Club California Mr. Zorik Pirveysian, South Coast Air Quality Management District Assembly Member Bill Quirk Mr. Sasan Saadat, Earthjustice Ms. Brady Seals, Rocky Mountain Institute Mr. Harry Simpson, Crimson Renewable Energy Ms. Mary Solecki, World Energy Mr. George Sturges, BEST Corp Ms. Eileen Tutt, California Electric Transportation Coalition Mr. Vincent Wiraatmadja, TrueNorth Renewable Energy


I N D E X PAGE

Cal to Order 1 Roll Call 1 Opening Remarks 2 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards 10 Item 2-4-1

Chair Nichols 14 Executive Officer Corey 16 Staff Presentation 17 Mr. Magavern 30 Mr. Barrett 32 Ms. Seals 35 Ms. Cullum 37 Board Discussion and Q&A 39 Motion 59 Vote 59

Item 2-4-4 Chair Nichols 61 Executive Officer Corey 62 Staff Presentation 63 Ms. Boudreaux 72 Mr. Hedderich 74 Ms. Solecki 77 Mr. Gershen 79 Ms. Neal 81 Ms. Baskins 85 Ms. McDuff 88 Mr. McDuff 90 Mr. Simpson 92 Ms. Case 94 Mr. Kayser 98 Ms. Phillips 100 Board Discussion and Q&A 102 Mr. Sturges 108 Board Discussion and Q&A 110 Motion 120 Vote 122

Afternoon Session 126


I N D E X C O N T I N U E D PAGE

Item 20-4-2 Chair Nichols 126 Executive Officer Corey 128 Staff Presentation 130 Assembly Member Quirk 145 Ms. Levin 149 Mr. Barrett 152 Dr. Aines 155 Mr. Wiraatmadja 158 Ms. Phillips 161 Mr. Mason 163 Mr. Saadat 166 Mr. Busch 168 Mr. Magavern 170 Ms. Merrill 172 Ms. Lin 174 Ms. Louis-Prescott 177 Ms. Moss 180 Mr. Lawson 183 Ms. Azamian 184 Mr. Jackson 186 Mr. Ebnet 189 Mr. Elrick 192 Ms. Passero 194 Ms. Nagrani 196 Mr. Ellis 198 Board Discussion and Q&A 200

Item 20-4-3 Chair Nichols 226 Executive Officer Corey 227 Staff Presentation 229 Mr. Pirveysian 248 Mr. Kenny 251 Mr. Barrett 253 Mr. Maggay 256 Mr. Saadat 258 Mr. Costantino 260 Ms. Tutt 262 Mr. Magavern 264 Ms. Phillips 267 Ms. Nagrani 269 Mr. DeYoung 271 Ms. Azamian 272 Mr. Dhillon 273


I N D E X C O N T I N U E D PAGE

Item 20-4-3(continued)Mr. Campbell 274 Mr. McNamara 277 Board Discussion and Q&A 279

Public Comment 288 Adjournment 290 Reporter's Certificate 291


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P R O C E E D I N G S CHAIR NICHOLS: Good morning, everybody. The

April 23rd, 2020 public meeting of the California Air Resources Board will come to order. The Board Clerk will please call the roll.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you, Madam Chair. Dr. Balmes? BOARD MEMBER BALMES: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mr. De La Torre. Mr. Eisenhut? BOARD MEMBER EISENHUT: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Supervisor Fletcher? BOARD MEMBER FLETCHER: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Senator Florez? BOARD MEMBER FLOREZ: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Assembly Member Garcia? Supervisor Gioia? BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Ms. Mitchell? BOARD MEMBER MITCHELL: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Senator Monning? BOARD MEMBER MONNING: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mrs. Riordan? BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Supervisor Serna?


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BOARD MEMBER SERNA: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Dr. Sherriffs? BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Here BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Professor Sperling? BOARD MEMBER SPERLING: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Ms. Takvorian? BOARD MEMBER TAKVORIAN: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Vice Chair Berg? VICE CHAIR BERG: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Chair Nichols? CHAIR NICHOLS: Here. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Madam Chair, we have a

quorum. CHAIR NICHOLS: Great. Let me get started by

saying that it's just wonderful to see all of your faces here on the screen at one time. This is the first time that we've had a meeting since the virtual shutdown of the State as a result of the virus. And it's great to see people looking healthy, and well, and ready to get to work.

So we also, I feel, are doing well in terms of our State as a whole, so far. Although the news is certainly not good, I feel that the steps that have been taken, particularly by our Governor and by so many local agencies as well. And I want to particularly thank and


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commend the elected officials on our Board for the role that they have helped to play in making sure that California is ready and is responding as well as we possibly can be to this public healthy emergency.

Right now, we are doing our best to continue working at our assigned mission and using Zoom, as well as other platforms, for meetings at the staff level. I've personally participated in more team's meetings than I'd ever done before the last few weeks. But today's meeting is being used with this platform, because it seems to be the one that's the easiest for most people to master and certainly gives a good sense of the visual as well as the audio communication.

So we will proceed, as much as possible, to mirror our normal Board meeting, but understanding that there will be some differences. And because this is our first remote meeting, there may possibly be any technical problems that will arise. We've tested the systems and had walkthroughs a couple of times. And each time we've found new -- new and different issues, but we think we've got them all straightened out as well as having learned lessons from colleagues of ours who have tried this same method of doing public meetings and have shared some of their experiences with us as well.

So I'm now going to turn it back over to the


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Board clerk, who will provide more detail on the procedures for today's meeting.

Ryan. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you, Chair Nichols.

Good morning everybody. My name is Ryan Sakazaki and I am one of the Board Clerks as the Chair just mentioned. What -- I will provide some information on how public participation will be organized for today's meeting. If you wish to make a verbal comment on one of the Board items, of if you want to make a comment during the open comment period at the end of today's meeting, you must be using the Zoom webinar or calling in by telephone. If you are currently watching the webcast on CalSpan, but you do want to comment, please register for the Zoom webinar or call in. Information for both can be found on the public agenda on CARB's website.

To make a verbal comment, we will be using the raise hand feature on Zoom. At the beginning of each Board item, if you wish to speak on it, please virtually raise your hand to let us know you wish to speak. To do this, if you are using a computer tablet, there is a raise hand button. If you are calling in on the telephone. Dial star 9 to raise your hand. Even if you previously registered and indicated which item you wish to speak on, please raise your hand at the beginning of the item of


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which you swish to speak. If you don't raise your hand, your chance to be -- you chance to speak might be skipped.

When the comment period starts, the order of commenters will be determined by who raises their hand first. I will call on each commenter by name and then activate each commenter when it is their turn to speak. For those calling in, I will identify you by the last three digits of your phone number.

We will not show a list of commenters. However, I will be announcing the next three or so commenters in the queue, so you are ready to testify and know who is coming next. Please note, you will not appear by video during your testimony.

I would also like to remind everybody -- everyone, commenters, Board members, and CARB staff to please state your name for the record before you speak. This is important in this new remote meeting setting, and it's especially important for those calling in to testify on an item.

There is the normal three minute time limit for each commenter, though the time could change based on the Chair's discretion. During public testimony, we will see -- you will see a timer on the screen. For those calling in by phone, we will run the timer and let you know when you have 30 seconds left and when your time is


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up. If you wish to submit written comments today,

please visit CARB send us your comments page or look at the public agenda on our website for links to send these documents electronically. Comments will be accepted on each item until the Chair closes the record for that Board item.

I would like to give a friendly reminder to our Board members and CARB staff to please mute yourself when you're not speaking to avoid background noise. Also, when you do speak, please speak from a quiet location.

If you experience any technical difficulties, please call our helpline number at (805)801-3676 so an IT person can assist. Again, that's (805)801-3676.

Thank you. I'd like to turn the microphone over -- back to Chair Nichols now. Thank you for listening to my remarks.

CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you, Ryan. And thanks for the reminder about muting. I just had to unmute myself.

So before we move on to the first item, I do want to say that CARB has been affected, as everyone has, by the pandemic. I'm very proud of the actions that our organization has taken. People are responding appropriately and are working from home, and checking on each other. And we have been blessed to have no


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transmissions within our organization, as best we can tell. This is remarkable and we feel very fortunate about that.

But the fact is that the effects of pandemic on all Californians, as well as people across the country, are devastating. The toll that's been taken is staggering. And there isn't anyone who hasn't been impacted in some way as they struggle to care for their families and deal with the economic impacts. And as disruptive and unsettling as this is, there also are many among us who are on the front lines fighting to protect all of us as well. And that, of course, includes medical professionals, as well as our first responders. We're reminded that two of our Board members, Dr. Balmes and Dr. Sherriffs, have been involved in a very direct way using their professional skills as well.

But considering this and the sacrifice that so many others are making, it may seem that the sacrifice of having to work differently, or to not participate in our usual cultural and social activities, distancing ourselves may not seem like such a big deal. But, of course, it is a big deal and it's also incredibly important as we can see in the -- in the statistics, that the steps that we are taking as individuals are powerful and really demonstrating our values as people. And so it's, I think,


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appropriate for all of us to recognize that when we follow the rules, we're also saving lives.

As an organization that's focused on health and delivering clean air for everyone, this crisis underscores in new and dramatic ways something that we've known about air pollution for a long time, that those who are the least equipped to respond, including those who live in low-income communities and communities of color, are also the ones who are the hardest hit. The commitment to continue to drive down exposures in the State especially in the low income and impact -- most impacted communities has never been more significant. And we know that we have to make good on those commitments that we have made in the past.

We have also seen a rush of requests, some large and some small, to pause our efforts to reduce emissions due to the current crisis and the ensuing economic recovery. And, of course, we need to be responsive to the circumstances as we are in all of our activities where we are required, and as a matter -- as a matter of practice as well as of law, we do consider the economic impacts of all of our regulatory actions. And we are quite familiar over many years with the need to also on a case-by-case basis look at enforcement activities and see where there are circumstances that may call for a different approach


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than we might use under other circumstances. We will be responsive to the circumstances,

including extending comment periods, where necessary and appropriate. But we're not going into a shutdown of ARB activities. In fact, if anything, I would say the opposite is true, that this is a time to be thinking more creatively, and working towards a recovery in which we can drive down emissions further than we have been able to in the past, if only because we see the amazing results of a reduction in emissions, even though the cause is not one that we would ever wish to experience. Again, the fact is that people have had an opportunity to see the mountains here in Los Angeles and to enjoy clear skies. And they know -- they know what that means and people value it, and we want to make sure that we do everything we can to keep more of those clean-air days as we recover our economy as well.

There's also a tremendous opportunity with the economic stimulus packages that are being developed, if designed correctly, they can help California to leap forward in our efforts to eliminate combustion by electrifying the transportation sector, by cleaning up the way in which we produce and consume goods across our entire economy.

Doing so will help us to reach our clean air and


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climate targets, as well as further build on California's leadership as a hub for manufacturing and deployment of zero-emission technologies.

So we have to recognize that in this crisis, there is an opportunity for learning how we can all make better use of teleworking, reduce our vehicle miles traveled, address long-standing inequities and support a recovery that puts California on track to once again show the world how it can be done. And I do believe that CARB is up to the challenge.

Some individuals who have proven themselves in the past up to the challenges that they face, and this is not the first time we have been through an economic crisis, although it certainly is unique in its -- in its reach and in the terror that it's inflicted. But a number of those people are included in the Haagen-Smit awards for this year.

And I do want to make the transition here by a announcing a again the winners of the 2019 Haagen-Smit Clean Air Awards. We had scheduled the ceremonies for this month. But, of course, the award ceremonies and events will have to be postponed to a later time. We hope it won't be too long before we can welcome the winners in person. But I do want to take a couple of minutes to specifically acknowledge the individuals that we


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recognized with this award and call out their names and just say a word about their achievements.

Beginning with Dr. Stephen Andersen from the Institute of Governance and Sustainable Development for his lifetime work in protecting the ozone layer and climate in the category of environmental policy. Dr. Andersen has devoted more than 40 years to protecting the ozone layer beyond his central role in establishing the Montreal Protocol's initial protections for the earth's stratospheric level. He demonstrated courage, foresight, and tenacity in realizing the treaty's potential to control climate change and air emissions as well. Dr. Andersen was a colleague and a mentor to me when I was at U.S. EPA. He really is a remarkable individual with a truly global reach.

I also want to mention Dr. John Birks from the University of Colorado, Boulder, and 2B Technologies for his atmospheric measurement instruments and development of portable air pollution monitors in the category of science and technology.

Dr. Birks has advanced our understanding of earth's atmosphere through more than 40 years of research, teaching, and technological innovation. His early work on the chemistry of chlorine helped to unravel the complex processes of stratospheric ozone depletion, and he also is


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the co-developer of the theory of "Nuclear Winter", a term that we now sort of take for granted.

Dr. Junji Cao -- I'm sorry, Junji Cao from the Chinese Academy of Sciences was recognized for air pollution and climate research, technology, and education in the category of international leadership. At a critical time in China's development, Dr. Cao was assessing and addressing aerosol pollution. And he continues to be a prolific contributor to clean air research, policy, science, technology, and education. His research focused on airborne particulates in major Chinese cities, and has helped to drive China's air quality programs.

Dr. William Demore, retired from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory and Caltech in Pasadena, for his work in atmospheric photochemistry is also recognized in the category of research. Dr. Demore is an elder statesman of atmospheric chemistry whose lifetime contributions to the measurement and modeling of atmospheric ozone cannot be overstated.

His comprehensive knowledge of chemical kinetics and his cool-headed scientific diplomacy were vital to the resolution of many important problems in analytical chemistry.

And I also want to mention Ms. Janice Nolen --


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Nolen, from the American Lung Association for her work in policy, health, and public education, including 20 years of publishing the State of the Air Report under the category of education. State of the Air Report is the report card that we get every year. Ms. Nolen is a committed educator and advocate for improving the health of all of Americans by implemented and enforcing the Clean Air Act and the creative force behind the American Lung Association's State of the Air Report.

Unfortunately, Ms. Nolen passed away very recently. We have -- CARB has recognized her work in a separate press statement that we put out. And I'm sure she will be remembered during the course of today's conversation as well.

Dr. Karl Taylor from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in the Bay Area for climate change research, and the development of an international climate modeling infrastructure in the category of climate change science. Dr. Taylor's contributions, both in building essential infrastructure to improved climate modeling, and through his own far-reaching research exposing differential forcing effects of human-made sulfate aerosols have helped to make it possible for the climate change science community to evaluate and improve climate modeling.


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Ms. Joy Williams from the Environmental Health Coalition is recognized for her work on community health and toxic emissions reductions in the category of community service and environmental justice. Ms. Williams has devoted her career to empowering residents of disadvantaged communities in Southern California to protect themselves and their environment from toxic pollutants.

These brief descriptions of the people certainly do not do justice to their contributions. I'm hoping that at a future meeting we'll be -- we will be able to recognize them in person and give a somewhat fuller description, as well as allowing them to speak.

But in a time when there's plenty of controversy, criticism, and blame to go around, it's also important that we take a minute to recognize the heroes among us. And these individual winners of the Haagen-Smit awards certainly meet that description and go beyond that it.

So I ask all of you to recognize these important -- important people and what they've done to help us achieve our goals.

And now I think it's time to move on to the regular order of business. The first item on our agenda is the health evaluation of air quality and climate regulations and programs.


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And to reiterate what Ryan said earlier, if you wish to comment on this item, please click the raise hand button or dial nine now and we will call on you when we get to the public comment portion of this item.

This report --BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Chair Nichols? CHAIR NICHOLS: Excuse me. Yes. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Apologize. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: The number is star nine,

if you're calling on a phone. I apologize. CHAIR NICHOLS: Oh, you're right. It's not just

-- no. No. It's quite right. There's a tiny little asterisk right there in front of the nine. Okay. Star nine, not just nine. So either raise your hand using the button or you dial star nine.

This item addresses the real core of our mission at CARB. By improving air quality and reducing the harmful effects of toxics and combating climate change, we aim to protect the public health of all Californians. Today, we're going to be hearing about, and have an opportunity to discuss, some new ideas for expanding the analytical basis for this work to provide a more comprehensive picture of the health benefits that we are achieving, and that we hope to achieve.

These ideas reflect health research that is --


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begins -- has been moving forward over the years since we first began this program to address national air quality standards and toxic air contaminants, and includes work on the interactions between climate change and air quality, and also helps to fully capture the effects on people at communities that have underlying health disadvantages.

So, Mr. Corey, would you please introduce this item?

EXECUTIVE OFFICER COREY: Yes. Thanks, Chair Nichols. AND as you noted, the approach staff follows to quantify the health benefits of CARB's programs has not substantially changed over the past decade. We currently account for only a limited number of health benefits related to reducing PM2.5, as well as NOx emissions. And given the expanding health research and CARB's critical mission to protect public health from multiple threats, we need to update our analysis, as well as the associated tools.

So today, staff will present some promising ways to broaden our health analysis to more comprehensively and accurately reflect the full scope of health benefits from our programs. I'll now ask Bonnie Holmes-Gen of our Research Division to give the staff presentation.

Bonnie. (Thereupon an overhead presentation was


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presented as follows.). RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF

HOLMES-GEN: Good morning. Thank you, Mr. Corey. And good morning, Chair Nichols and members of the Board. I'm Bonnie Holmes-Gen, Branch Chief for the Health and Exposure Branch in the Research Division.

I'm going to be presenting today on our current health analysis for CARB's Air Quality and Climate Programs and methods to expand our analysis to include a wider set of benefits, both direct and indirect. There are numerous benefits to reducing air pollution and they are sometimes difficult to quantify.

This is shown in preliminary studies on COVID-19 that suggest exposure to air pollution can make individuals more vulnerable to other respiratory illnesses. Our current analysis does not address these types of health linkages.

--o0o--RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF

HOLMES-GEN: California has made tremendous progress in reducing pollution and improving health over the past 50 years of CARB's history. Our state's dramatic 50 percent reduction in PM2.5 concentrations over this time period and the 80 percent reduction in diesel-related mortality over the last 30 years are strong -- strong


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examples of that success. For each regulation and program, CARB staff

analyzed health benefits expected from reduced criteria, toxic, and greenhouse gas pollution.

However, as CARB's responsibilities and programs have grown over the years, it's now clear that our health analysis methods needs to be updated and expanded as well.

This presentation will explore approaches to build on existing quantification methods and develop expanding approaches that can provide a more full and complete picture of the health benefits.


HOLMES-GEN: For the past ten years, since the development of our diesel Truck and Bus Regulation in 2010, CARB has focused health analysis on calculating air pollution related cases for three health outcomes Linked to one pollutant, PM2.5.

The key outcomes include mortality from heart and lung causes, hospitalizations, and emergency room visits. We've used a methodology that translates the pollution concentrations and exposure of PM2.5 together with an estimate of effects into number of cases of illness and death. Then we use the number of cases to calculate costs saved from reducing air pollution impacts. We have used


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this calculation in the plans and strategies that are pictured in this slide.


HOLMES-GEN: While those outcomes are important, we're missing a long list of additional benefits from reducing air pollution exposures. There is a growing body of research providing new linkages between air pollution exposure, and a number of additional health outcomes. Just to touch on two listed in the slide, air quality has been linked to brain wellness and conditions with brain function decline like dementia and Alzheimer's, as well as delayed cognitive development in children.

Another important outcome we will touch on later is the burden that air pollution exposure puts not only on individuals but on the healthcare system. Additional examples of benefits we could include are: additional respiratory benefits from reduced asthma cases, exacerbations and medication use, reduced cases of low birth weight babies and the opportunity for people to live longer lives.


HOLMES-GEN: CARB's current analysis uses a streamlined version of the U.S. EPA's open source software tool,


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BenMAP, to calculate the reduced cases of illness and reduced economic costs of pollution. CARB also utilizes the social cost of carbon to monetize climate impacts. Both of these quantitative methods are helpful, but also have limitations that can be addressed with updates and expanded data.

For example, you approved a research project in December that will look at additional health benefits outside of the social cost of carbon, like regional air quality impacts.

In addition, we need to consider new metrics of health in communities, including resilience, mobility, physical activity, quality of life, and health equity. These health indicators are well accepted, but not as readily quantified. Community resilience, for example, cannot be calculated in numbers of reduced illnesses, but we know the factors that lead to increased resilience, both for an individual and for the whole community.

These factors include increased daily amount of physical activity and physical structure, such as compact communities and bicycle infrastructure that encourages mobility and social cohesion.

Such indicators are very important to consider as we move forward with community-based programs, such as AB 617 and SB 375, because traditional quantification methods


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do not capture all these benefits. --o0o--

RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF HOLMES-GEN: We are pursuing expanded approaches to provide a more well-rounded and complete picture of health benefits going forward. These approaches will include updating and expanding existing quantification methods and going beyond them. We'll be looking at a number of important areas of potential improvement indicated by the different colored circles on the slide.

These areas include adding more pollutants shown in the yellow circle, more health outcomes shown in the blue circles, impacts in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities shown in the green circles, and additional indicators of improved health that go beyond traditional air pollution benefits shown in the pink circles.


HOLMES-GEN: The next series of slides shows the advantages of expanded approaches. For example, we can capture more pollutants and calculate additional benefits. As mentioned earlier, our current analysis has focused mainly on directly emitted PM2.5, but other pollutants can be included, such as ozone and pollutants contributing to secondary PM2.5 formation, as well as toxics.


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Beyond the calculation of mainly PM2.5 benefits, the analysis can capture more of these pollutants and associated benefits in the lower three tiers of the pyramid on the slide, for example, lost work, and school days, additional respiratory symptoms, and asthma outcomes.


HOLMES-GEN: Incorporating additional health outcomes into CARB's analysis is an important next step that can help reflect more real-world benefits. CARB has research underway on several health outcomes that can be incorporated into our health analysis, including asthma exacerbations using GPS inhalers, work loss days linked to PM2.5 and smoke exposure, and birth outcomes near busy roadways.

In addition, the EPA Integrated Science Assessment has found a likely causal link between air pollution and brain function decline, based on multiple studies. Additional research could be initiated by CARB to estimate the economic value of avoided cancer risk.


HOLMES-GEN: As we expand our health analysis, we will be able to better connect CARB's air pollution and climate


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strategies to an expanded set of health indicators, including sustainability, physical activity, green space, resiliency, equity, and quality of life. We need to incorporate emerging research on these health indicators into our analysis and we may also consider new goals for some of them.

As we expand our analysis, we will be able to broaden our communication and messaging to capture this expanded set of indicators and tie them to our current rules and programs.


HOLMES-GEN: As we work to reduce the impacts of climate change and protect all communities from the many climate impacts pictured here, we can focus more attention on equity. We can evaluate which communities are on the front lines for climate impacts and we can find ways to address and lessen inequities.

For example, extreme heat can worsen pollution and undercut efforts to meet air quality standards. Recent research calls this a climate penalty. Understanding where vulnerable communities will be most affected by rising temperatures, in combination with other stressors such as possible smoke impacts, will be important to future planning efforts.


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HOLMES-GEN: CARB has a strong commitment to improve health in disadvantaged communities. In order to assess the benefits of our rules and programs in these areas, we can update information on exposures and pollution sources in disadvantaged communities, so that we can calculate more accurate benefit -- benefits estimates. We can study the sources of highest pollute -- we can study the sources of highest impact compared to other areas of the state, so we can target reductions to those key sources.

We can also consider the higher susceptibility of some groups to pollution effects from a range of factors. CARB has just completed research that can help us with this task.


HOLMES-GEN: Recent CARB funded research by Dr. Joshua Apte shows the top five sources of exposure disparities in disadvantaged communities for particle pollution. The far right bar on this slide shows that the most impactful sources statewide in disadvantaged communities are on-road, agriculture, off-road, industrial, and residential sources of pollution. The chart also shows the differences between average exposures by race and


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ethnicity to these top sources in California. CARB can use Dr. Apte's research methods to provide similar exposure footprints for regions and communities in California to better inform rule development and improve benefits assessment.


HOLMES-GEN: There are several new and emerging tools CARB can use to measure health benefits. Some of these provide monetized benefits. We've reported to you on the California ITHIM tool last year that we're now describing is Health Mobility Options. This tool easily translates increases in daily physical activity to chronic disease reductions.

Another tool under development here at CARB is the Natural and Working Lands Tool. CARB's contractor is reviewing research on the link between green spaces, mental health, and other health benefits to better define the value of our policies. Other tools are publicly available, including the Healthy Places Index that measures factors in communities contributing to increased life expectancy.

In addition, public health evaluations of policies called Health Impact Assessments provide another important example of new approaches that can inform CARB's


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analysis. --o0o--

RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF HOLMES-GEN: We are pursuing two key directions moving forward. First, we are moving forward to update and expand our current analytical approaches. This involves using existing and planned research over the next two years to expand the analysis of pollutants and health outcomes.

Second, we are pursuing a process of stakeholder and public outreach on expanded approaches. Following this outreach, we will have public workshops and incorporate results as feasible into regulatory development and analysis.

We will update the Board through regulatory and informational updates as appropriate. Our ultimate goal is expanded health analysis that can be incorporated into upcoming air quality and climate regulations and programs.


HOLMES-GEN: Before the end, we want to touch on the COVID-19 health crisis that we are living through today. We are all impacted by this pandemic. And it provides a case in point of the need for expanded health assessment. Air pollution is creating multiple threats to lung health


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and increasing vulnerability to lung infections and illnesses including COVID-19.

This connection highlights another benefit from strong air pollution controls and an important reason to keep pushing forward on clean air progress as quickly as possible.


HOLMES-GEN: A nationwide Harvard study released this month shows that even tiny increases in particle pollution over the long term are associated with a 15 percent increase in the death rate from COVID-19. While this study is preliminary, it shows a strong connection between living in areas with elevated levels of air pollution and COVID mortality across the U.S. Air pollution appears to be an additional vulnerability factor in the COVID pandemic.

Based on the results of this study, the authors conclude that a failure to enforce existing air pollution regulations can potentially increase the COVID-19 death toll and hospitalizations further burdening our healthcare system and drawing resources away from COVID-19 patients.

Another study released this month finds that long-term exposure to higher levels of nitrogen dioxide may be a contributing factor in COVID-19 fatality in


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several European regions. --o0o--

RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF HOLMES-GEN: CARB is ramping up its own research effort on air quality and health during the COVID-19 pandemic. Currently, staff is collecting data on changes in air quality, traffic counts, VMT, and freight activity since the COVID stay-at-home orders commenced and comparing this to data from earlier months and years.

We know that vehicle trips and emissions have reduced substantially, due to the societal and economic shifts we have been experiencing. The image on this slide -- the image on this slide shows reductions in nitrogen dioxide levels in the San Francisco Bay Area after the Governor's stay-at-home order was announced.

Staff is also planning one or more health studies going forward to address the COVID situation. One study we are investigating is a California-specific version of the Harvard study I just described, considering the role of air pollution in COVID health outcomes.

While the Harvard study looked only at PM2.5 and associated mortality, we are working with contractors to develop a study that goes beyond mortality to also look at the role of air pollution in increasing the rates of COVID-19 deaths and illnesses, as well as looking into


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demographic and socioeconomic status differences. We are expecting this study to be completed within the next six months.

There will be many lessons learned going forward from the COVID-19 experience after the stay-at-home order is lifted. And we expect that some of the new tools we have learned for telecommuting, as well as online meetings and gatherings will help us step up our work to address air quality and climate challenges.


HOLMES-GEN: In conclusion, we are pursuing new approaches to provide a more well-rounded and complete picture of health benefits from air quality and climate programs. These approaches will include expanding and updating existing quantification methods and going beyond them to consider more pollutants, more health outcomes, impacts in vulnerable and disadvantaged communities, and additional indicators of improved health that go beyond air pollution benefits.

We have circulated a resolution for your consideration. And I'm happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you, Bonnie, for that

excellent presentation. I can't resist mentioning,


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because I think this is the first time that you've presented to the Board --

RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF HOLMES-GEN: Yes.

CHAIR NICHOLS: -- that Bonnie joins us after a long and very distinguished career in California with the American Lung Association. So she is an expert on the topic of which she is speaking as an educator as well.

So I would like to now invite the clerk to call on the members of the public who've signed up to speak to us on this item.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you, Madam Chair. We currently have five commenters who wish to speak at this time. If you wish to verbally comment on this Board item, please raise your hand now. And I apologize in advance if I mispronounce your name.

The first three speakers are Bill Magavern, Lauren Cullum, and Will Barrett.

Bill Magavern, I have activated your microphone, if you'd like to unmute yourself.

MR. MAGAVERN: Good morning. First, I want to thank the Board and the staff for carrying on your work during these difficult times. And I thought the Chair's comments at the outset on the importance of equity, and health, and reducing emissions, and our economic recovery


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were absolutely right on. So we see, and Bonnie's excellent presentation made this so clear, that this is a time when public health is more important than ever, and particularly when our respiratory health is under attack from the COVID-19 infection.

So it really reemphasizes to all of us how crucial the work is that the Air Resources Board is doing. And we strongly support this current effort to have a more complete assessment of health benefits.

I thought the presentation really made it clear that the current methods are really not sufficiently accounting for all the health benefits of improving our air quality and preventing climate change. And so when we look at some of the upcoming regulatory proposals that you had been dealing with and will be addressing in the months to come, I think it's important to recognize that when we're looking at the efforts to control emissions from vessels at berth or from trucks, that the current methods really are undercounting the health benefits. And we look forward to the time when we do have a more complete capturing of all the benefits.

So I just want to endorse the work. And it's great to see Bonnie in her new role and carrying forward this important work that ARB is doing.

Thank you.


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BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you. Our next speaker is Lauren. Oh, sorry, Lauren, we have -- unfortunately, I

have an issue here that says you are using an older version of zoom. I recommend that you go to our public agenda and call in and dials star nine. That will resolve the issue. I apologize for that.

Our next speaker is Will Barrett. Will, I have activated your microphone. If you'd

had like to unmute yourself. MR. BARRETT: Great. Thank you, Ryan. I

appreciate it. And thank you, Chair Nichols, for your kind words about Janice Nolen this morning. Janice was a dear friend and colleague and she's already sorely missed. She was so appreciative of receiving the Haagen-Smit award as Haagen-Smit award as she guided, even in the last few weeks, our work on the State of the Air Report that we just released in her memory this week.

I'll share your thoughts with our team and really do appreciate your kind words. I know she meant a lot to so many people in the clean air world and a real hero. So I do appreciate that.

Moving into the topic at hand, I'm delighted really to speak to Bonnie's great presentation. She is another long-time mentor of mine and she really did a


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great job out of the gate with her first presentation. I wanted to say that in terms of the direction

that's been laid out, the American Lung Association has long supported this more comprehensive analysis of the health and air quality benefits of CARB rules and are very happy to see this conversation moving forward.

As noted in Bonnie's presentation, the policies that CARB develops provide a wide range of benefits that are not always captured in the formal analysis that go along with the final rules. One example of this is that we've discussed previously before the Board and we're very happy to see in the presentation is with the need for the greater sense of the scale of benefits for greater mobility, community resilience, active transportation, and VMT reductions.

We're very happy to see this work coming forward. Another example of this, as Mr. Magavern mentioned, is within the at-berth regulation that you'll be considering in the next few months, the health evaluation is thorough. No doubt. The benefits outweigh the compliance cost. But we know that the full suite of health impacts and costs are now captured in that -- in the current evaluation.

Just to pull a quote from that document -- the health document for that rule, the full health benefits are expected to be underestimated because all adverse


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health outcomes associated with air toxics are not monetized. A more robust evaluation of outcomes, including, but not limited to, pre-term birth, neural tube defects, non-fatal cancers and fatal cancers would provide a more complete perspective of the benefits from reduced air -- exposure to air toxics.

And again, as this carries through to all of the CARB regulations, we think we'll understand the greater value than we currently understand to these rules moving forward.

So in closing, we're very supportive of these efforts to develop the more robust health evaluation to capture that broader suite of harmful pollutants and their impacts, quantifying more health outcomes beyond the few that we do see now in the rulemakings, and providing more qualitative and directional information on the benefits of clean air rules and investments, and really to inform new goals for community health, especially in our most disadvantaged communities.

So thank you very much and we look forward to working with you on this.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you. Before we move on to our next speaker, I would like to just to announce the phone number and participant ID for those who may not be able to participate via Zoom. The phone number is


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(669)900-6833 and the code is 437 930 965. And with that, I will move on to our next

speakers. Oh, apologize. I'll repeat it one more time.

The phone number is (669)900-6833. And the participant ID is 437 930 965.

With that, I'll move on to our next two speakers. Our next speaker is Brady Seals and followed by a phone number ending in 643.

So Brady, I have activated your microphone, if you would like to unmute yourself.

MS. SEALS: Good morning. And thank you, Bonnie, for the great presentation. My name is Brady Seals and I work at Rocky Mountain Institute, an independent nonprofit working for the last 40 years to shift toward a low-carbon future.

My comments relate to the new approaches to provide more complete evaluation of health benefits. And one of my specific areas of expertise is indoor air pollution and health impacts. I've spent the last 11 years working on clean cook stoves, primarily overseas. But I've realized that in this country, our work is not done to ensure that all families have a safe and clean way to cook their meals.

Forty-seven years of scientific study show that


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there is a health risk from exposure to gas stove pollution. Of the major gas stove pollutants, there are two of primary interest, nitrogen dioxide and carbon monoxide. Often, by simply cooking a meal, levels of these toxic gases can reach concentrations indoors that would violate outdoor standards.

In fact, stoves with a -- homes with a gas stove have nitrogen dioxide concentrations 50 to 400 percent greater than homes with electric stoves. But not everyone has the same risk of exposure to gas stove pollution.

Children are more susceptible to air pollution, and children living in a home with a gas stove have 24 to 42 percent increased risk of asthma. Lower income households and communities of color are also greater risk to exposure from this pollution.

And I want to commend CARB for setting indoor air quality guidelines in 1994. In 2005, in your indoor air quality report to the California Legislature, it was stated that action to reduce indoor emissions should be a major component of new efforts. In this report, nine general mitigation options were highlighted, including developing indoor air quality guidelines.

In the 15 years that have passed since this report, the only thing that has changed is the urgency to address indoor air pollution. If there were ever a time


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to redouble efforts to clean our air, to protect the public in the wake of this crisis, the time is now. So in your new effort to expand analysis and research to examine real-world benefits, I urge you not to overlook how California policies and programs such as those focusing on decarbonization can improve indoor air.

Canada has recently strengthened their indoor air quality guidelines. It's not unprecedented. They've also strengthened their outdoor nitrogen dioxide standards, making them the strictest in the world. And they've done this based on the latest science.

These figures are important and perhaps not well known. But current modeling done for the California Energy Commission setting ventilation standards is not currently using the most protective health standards or the latest science. We know air pollution is preventable and my ask to you is simple. We need your leadership in setting health protective indoor guidelines.

Thank you. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you. Our next speaker is a phone number ending in 643.

I've activated the line, please state your name for the record.

MS. CULLUM: Hi. This is Lauren Cullum. Sorry about having an outdated Zoom. I'm a policy advocate with


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Sierra Club California representing 13 local chapters in California and half a million members and supporters across the state.

Thank you so much, Bonnie, for the excellent presentation about public health and air pollution. And as Brady, from RMI, was just touching on this area as well, one area of air pollution that we really believe needs more attention right now is air pollution from the use of gas for space heating, cooking, and water heating in residential and commercial buildings.

Right now, more than 90 percent of California households use gas appliances for at least one purpose. And these gas appliances emit dangerous levels of a wide rang of air pollutants, including carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxide, and fine particulate matter.

These pollutants are linked to chronic health effects, including respiratory, and cardiovascular illness, and premature death. Health impacts from burning gas in our homes are exacerbated by other environmental health and economic burdens especially suffered by vulnerable and front-line communities.

Sierra Club commissioned a report by the UCLA School of Public Health that will be released on April 28th on the air quality impacts, both indoor and outdoor, from residential gas appliances and the benefits of


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building electrification. According to that report, replacing gas with

advanced electrical appliances will result in over 350 fewer deaths and safe Californians over $3.5 billion in health benefits annually. California needs to take steps to more effectively protect the public from pollution emitted by gas appliances.

Therefore, we respectfully ask that the Board request of staff to present the Board with an update on air pollution associated with gas-powered residential and commercial appliances with recommendations for how to curb this pollution. We also ask that the Board consider available regulatory opportunities to control this pollution more effectively, such as through a model NOx rule that air districts can implement as part of their State Implementation Plan, and new guidelines for indoor air quality.

Thank you, again, and we look forward to working with CARB on this issue.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you. Madam Chair, that concludes our list of speakers. CHAIR NICHOLS: Great. Thank you. Now, of course, there's an opportunity for Board

members to speak. And I expect we will have a number of comments. I'll start with Dr. Balmes.


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BOARD MEMBER BALMES: Thank you, Chair Nichols. First off, I want to echo your comments about Janice Nolen and Will Barrett's as well. I won't spend a lot of time about it, but I have worked with Janice for many years in my leadership roles in the American Thoracic Society, a professional organization for lung health. And as you noted, she's -- the State of the Air report was her baby.

And she was working on it as late as late March when she was actually quite ill, because she was asking me to review what she had written. And I just -- she is one of the true public health heroes in this country with regard to both air quality and climate change mitigation at the national level. So I'm pleased that we were able to give her the Haagen-Smit award.

I also want to second your comments about it's great to hear Bonnie making a presentation to the Board. But I also want to recognize other leadership on staff, including Elizabeth, Kurt, and Richard for allowing this -- or supporting this movement into a greater -- a broader, more comprehensive look at health benefits of our policies.

I feel like we've been concentrating appropriately on both diesel particles and greenhouse gas emissions over the last years, in terms our research portfolio. And I really welcome us moving into the 21st


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century with regard to health outcomes as well. So I could talk on and on about the various

aspects of Bonnie's presentation, but I want to focus just on a couple. And one in particular, Bonnie talked about the non-air pollution factors that contribute to health disparities in our disadvantaged communities.

I just want to amplify on her comment, not only do we need to try to quantify these -- the impacts of these various risk factors in our analyses of the associations between air pollution and the various health outcomes, we actually have to realize that these psychosocial and economic risk factors directly impact health in a -- in interaction with air pollution exposure.

It's not just that they have to be considered in an analysis. They actually part of the mechanism of the health impacts. So we have to be, I think, a bit more sophisticated in terms of our understanding of the interaction between psychosocial stressors, economic factors, and air pollution effects. And this is an area of active research that I myself am engaged in, including in a study in Supervisor Gioia's jurisdiction.

So I want to move on to another point, which is one that I know Bonnie knows about, but didn't touch on, wildfire smoke. And wildfire smoke, not only is it a potential major health impact on its own, but interaction


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with the COVID-19 pandemic is an important one to consider. I actually was on a webinar that the U.S. Forest Service put together, because the Forest Service is concerned both on the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to fight fires and to do prescribed burns, because they --you know, they normally fight fires -- wildfires, especially catastrophic ones, with large groups of firefighters that, you know, that doesn't allow social distancing, especially in California, where we use prisoners for a lot of the grunt work.

And they're concerned about being able to do prescribed fires because of a smoke impact on the health of individuals, and especially COVID-19 patients who have recovered from the illness but may still be at increased risk for health problems in communities, where there may be both wildfire smoke exposure, and prescribed burn exposure. So I think we have to pay attention to the potential interaction between COVID-19 and wildfire smoke.

I also want to highlight what the last two speakers discussed, indoor exposure to especially nitrogen oxide from gas appliances. As many of you know, various local jurisdictions have already started banning gas appliances for new construction. And that's the case in Berkeley, where I'm talking from.

But I'm actually directly involved with research,


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again in Supervisor Gioia's jurisdiction. He's actually helped with this research. We just got funded from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences to actually study a randomized control trial, where we would be putting in range hoods to reduce exposure to both PM2.5 and NOx from cooking emissions.

And I agree with the speakers that now that we're stuck indoors with our shelter-in-place for COVID-19, it's all the more important to recognize that not only are their climate change benefits from moving to electrification of home appliances, but there actually are health benefits as well.

So I'll stop here and give other Board members a chance to speak. But I'm really very pleased with Bonnie's presentation as representing a new direction for our research efforts.

Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you. Next, we have Dr. Sherriffs. BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Thank you. Dr.

Sherriffs here. Amazing I agree entirely with Dr. Balmes. This is terrific.

Bonnie, thank you for your presentation. I heartily endorse moving in this direction. I think it's very timely. I think it represents a maturing of our


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understanding of the impacts of air quality, the breadth of that recognizing the broader impacts. And obviously our current accounting underestimates the impacts and the benefits of our work.

This clearly is extra work for staff. A new challenge to bring these measures into -- into our work, but I think -- I'm confident we're up to that challenge, because certainly it's going to be more complexity in of an analysis. But I also -- I would highlight the opportunity for a much better, as well as we being better informed in terms of our policy. I think the importance of a better informed public.

And this really falls under the rubric in medicine of informed consent. We want people to understand the risks and benefits of decisions. And I think one of the lessons we are learning with this COVID crisis is that, in fact, I see reinforcing that a better informed public, in fact, makes better decisions. When people have better information available, they -- they do a better job of managing this. So I think this is -- is one example of how that works.

I certainly endorse and I look forward to hearing more from staff and moving forward on the issues of indoor air pollution. So thank you to the commenters who brought that to our attention.


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Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: John Gioia. BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Thanks. And let me first

start by welcoming the presenter. Bonnie has been a great advocate with the Lung Association. And it's great having you on the CARB team. So thanks. I just wanted to welcome you officially. And, of course, this was a -- this presentation was a result of a whole team, and I want to acknowledge that.

So this is great. We need to be going in this direction. And it reminds me of the discussion we had when we were doing our scoping plan update. And I remember at that time also raising the issue of how we have a more expanded quantification in terms of dollar amount of the health benefits under our scoping plan. And I think we had a lot of discussion with our economist about this.

So it's -- I'm really anxious to see this incorporated into the new scoping plan. I still have a question about how we can quantify the qualitative aspects that you've talked about. I think it is really great that you're expanding the quantitative factors and that you're including qualitative.

But we always hear from -- from those who talk about the burden and the cost of our regulations. And


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unfortunately, we're not able to quantify many of the great qualitative aspects. So while it may be helpful to have a qualitative discussion of the benefits, I'm still interested in understanding how we can best quantify those qualitative factors, because when you compare costs with benefits, the only way we're going to be able to, I think, be more effective is to put a dollar amount on those qualitative factors.

So I'd like to hear more from staff how they would think about doing that, because it creates a better sort of more accurate assessment of the benefits of everything that we're doing, as opposed to just a description of them.

So what's staff -- staff's thought about that? Is somebody going to respond? RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF

HOLMES-GEN: Sorry. Pulling myself off of mute. Apologies.

I would just start off and say that, yeah, we recog -- we recognize that we need to look to both expanding our quantitative methods and going beyond quantitative, where we don't have quantitative methods and tools developed yet. There's a lot we can do right now to build -- to build more evaluation into our current health calculations. We can address elevated exposures in


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disadvantaged communities and include more information on increased exposures and susceptibilities in disadvantaged communities into our health calculations. We can include physical activity benefits and monetized calculations of reduced chronic illnesses from increased physical activity. We can include additional monetization beyond particle pollution and include evaluation and quantification benefits from additional pollutants. So there's a lot that we can do and that we're intending to do as we move forward in the next year or two.

In addition, we want to look at additional ways to incorporate some of these additional factors and we are planning to develop some robust analysis proposals for how to incorporate these additional factors, such as increased resiliency. And increased sustainability and quality of life (inaudible) may want to.

BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: So, Bonnie, when you listed, for example, community resilience, mobility and physical activity, better health equity and quality of life as qualitative, you're saying that we will attempt to put a quantitative economic value, or dollar value, to these things in the -- in our analysis? Is this -- is that what you're saying that we -- that understanding that maybe it's not an exact dollar amount, it's more of a range that we can attempt to quantify the value of those factors?


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RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF HOLMES-GEN: I'm saying that some aspects of these may be -- we may be able to address quantitatively, but we also want to look at emerging research, which is showing us directionally how increasing resiliency, sustainability is improving health, and look at new research that's better -- better explaining the connections --

BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Right. RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF

HOLMES-GEN: -- between air pollution and health in these areas. So we think that we can develop some robust proposals to bring back to you as we go forward.

BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Okay. RD HEALTH AND EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT BRANCH CHIEF

HOLMES-GEN: Elizabeth, do you have some comments? RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF SCHEEHLE: Oh, I was just

going to add it's -- it is also a timing. There are things in the near term that we may be able to qualitatively talk about, and then as that goes forward, it becomes more quantitative. Because I think there's things that in the past we didn't think we would be able to and now there is a point in research where we're able to quantify things that we didn't think we'd be able to in the past.

BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Right. But I think what


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happens, right, is sometimes some of the great health benefits aren't able to be quantified, or societal benefits, in ways to show the value. And then we're put at a disadvantage when those who oppose a regulation say, well, look at the cost. And we're -- and it's great to be able to offset the cost that they argue exists for these regulations with the cost benefit, right, on our side. That was the point I know we had a lot of discussion about when we were doing the last scoping plan update. And I remember our economist, CARB economist, was saying, yeah, the problem often is it's harder to quantify these really tangible very good benefits.

And I'm just trying to put us in a position to be able to counter those who talk about the negative cost with what we can -- so to the extent we can continue to quantify these qualitative benefits, like health equity or community resilience, helps us in getting a true measurement in comparison of the value of all of these regulations.

BOARD MEMBER BALMES: If I could jump in just for a second. You know, I've been pushing our Research staff for a while in this regard, John. And I'm really -- there are some things that -- that they will be doing already. For example, the ITHIM - what do we call it, Healthy Mobility Option now - that can quantify health benefits,


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which then could be monetized. And the same thing with the new tool with regard to the health benefits of green space, that also could be quantified and monetized. So I think over time, we're going to be able to do more of what you're asking for.

BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Thank you, John. And thanks for your great research in Richmond.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Excuse me. This is Ryan, the Board Clerk. Just one second. I wanted to say for the record that our -- the staff was Elizabeth Scheehle who answered Supervisor Gioia's original question.

Thank you. BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: We know Elizabeth, yeah. CHAIR NICHOLS: I think because we're recording

this, we have to make sure that everybody is identified and Board members all have our names right under us. And, of course, Ryan is calling out the names of the members of the public.

Okay, I have Bill Monning, you're next. BOARD MEMBER MONNING: Thank you, Madam Chair and

appreciate all the staff's support for this meeting, as we all learn new technologies.

I had a -- I want to than Bonnie for the report and all the staff that have worked on that. And I think there's going to broad agreement that expanding the scope


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of looking at both risks and benefits related to air pollution and air quality will benefit all of us in our work and all the residents of the state of California.

I want to add on to both Johns' comments. I think when you look at some of the specific areas that you've identified for review, including loss days of work, or increased hospitalizations to cardiovascular disease, those should lend themselves to some back-of-the-envelope quantification of either lost cost to employers, or the public, or savings.

And I think I just want to echo those strong recommendations that, to the extent we can quantify even as estimates, it does help in the public policy debate and discourse the utility and value of regulations and enforcement that we can translate to both public savings and cost, employer savings and cost, in addition to the qualitative health benefits to individuals.

A question to Bonnie or any of your team. When we see the circles on the charts and often referenced to disadvantaged communities, I was glad to see the concluding slides looking immediately at COVID-19 impacts. We know -- we're learning greater adverse health impacts to people with respiratory illness. But in the collection of data, we've had some problems in my district with local health officers either not collecting or not sharing


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ethnic and racial data in the collection of COVID-19 positive and negative testing.

And I'm wondering perhaps it's inherent in the work that you will do in looking at disadvantaged communities and broader communities. But will your work collect and prioritize both ethnic and racial identification, obviously protecting HIPAA and confidentiality? But I think currently some of the data collection happening with COVID-19 by public health officers around the state it hasn't been uniform. And as we rely more and more on testing moving forward to try to slowly reopen our economic engines, I think this data that is being collected by public health officers would be a natural feeder to the research that you're going to be doing moving forward.

So I'll leave it at that. And again, thank you for the opportunity and we'll listen to your response. Thank you.

RESEARCH DIVISION CHIEF SCHEEHLE: Thank you. This is Elizabeth Scheehle. I'll start out with -- with responding to that. We are looking at the data that's being collected. We do have to rely on some of the data being collected through our current efforts. In the short-term, we'll look at what we're able to on disadvantaged communities on racial and ethnic information


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that has been collected. And there may be some -- some limitations to that. And moving forward, we'll consider those limitations, and when we look at the long-term analysis that we can do, are there ways that we can address that.

BOARD MEMBER MONNING: Thank you, Madam Char. appreciate that. And again, I think as we move forward statewide, California Department of Public Health perhaps could create some uniform requests of county public health officers, again immediate collection of data related to COVID-19. But maybe some other indicators that could be collected at the time of evaluation or treatment that would be harder to go back and get retrospectively.

Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you. That's an excellent

suggestion. Judy Mitchell is next. BOARD MEMBER MITCHELL: Thank you. And I will

echo the welcoming remarks of our -- my colleagues on the Board to Bonnie. Thank you for such an excellent report. And we are glad that you are on our CARB team now and we're very happy to be working with you with your many years of experience and expertise in this area.

I'm not going to repeat what my other Board members have said, but as I listened to the report, it did


I

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bring to mind the remarks that John Gioia had made when we were considering the scoping plan and how we can quantify the health benefits.

And that's -- we still need to be working on that, because I don't believe we're communicating it as well as we should be. But we also have a pretty heavy lift, when we think about how we can quantify those benefits. I mean, the loss days at work, the hospital visits, all of those things are hard to put in monetizing put in terms that -- that we could use to show the value of what we do.

At the districts, we're always familiar with the cost effective analysis that goes into a new regulation and it comes down to valuing certain -- putting a price on say NOx reductions by the ton. And it would be nice to have on the other side of that scale the monetizing and quantifying of the health benefits that -- that we're going to reap from the benefit of the regulation. So we've touched on that and others have explained it. Also, that we think we need to work on this area.

And I also want to mention that the COVID-19 virus has made it for us more important than ever to proceed with our various regulatory measures. We have been hearing from people that, hey, the economy is really bad, we need to pull back. But I think there's very


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important values on the other side as we recognize that many persons whose health is compromised by air pollution are the ones that have fallen victim to the -- to the COVID virus.

So I want to than my colleagues who have already mentioned this problem with quantifying and monetizing health benefits, because it is an area that is really important and shows the value of the work that we do.

Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: Sandra Berg next. VICE CHAIR BERG: Thank you, Madam Chair. I do want to join the welcoming group to Bonnie.

I had the pleasure of working with her on an interim position that she had with DTSC, actually being the manager and organizing the counter program for 617 for DTSC and so really excited that she has joined our team as well.

We had a robust discussion during my briefing. And so I thought it would be just a quick comment to thank Bonnie for this terrific report, and also just to encourage the tie of action to research. We have heard time and time again in the 617 communities that we've had a lot of research over the past, and how are we going to tie what CARB is doing to make a difference.

And I really encouraged Elizabeth and Bonnie to


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be bold. And as we are gathering this new data, presenting it, we know we have a problem, and how are we going to make a difference accelerating that making a difference.

So thanks again, Bonnie. Welcome. And Elizabeth, couldn't be happier you leading this team and congratulation to all.

CHAIR NICHOLS: Great. Diane Takvorian. BOARD MEMBER TAKVORIAN: Thank you. Let me add

my appreciation to Bonnie and to the entire team that worked on the report. I really agree that updating the health modeling is going to yield better information to support improved public health outcomes, especially for the more vulnerable environmental justice communities.

I wanted to, I think, follow up on something that Sandy just alluded to and the importance, and that you included in your report, and that is the utilization of this information in the 617 communities and in the community emission reduction -- reduction plans.

And I think the importance of this benefit quantification, as Judy was talking about, is really important and not often something that the air districts have the capacity to develop.

So I look forward to, and if you have comments about how those -- how that connection with the air


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districts could be made stronger, I'd be really interested in hearing more about that.

Also following up on something that John Gioia said. The scoping plan I noted the -- the natural gas impacts in the home that I think Lauren from the Sierra Club was talking about. You know, anecdotally, EHC has certainly documented these increases in pollutants in the homes with air monitors. And that's some of Joy Williams good work. And thank you, Mary, for recognizing her contributions to environmental health and justice in her Haagen-Smit award.

These are all -- these stoves are all in disadvantaged communities, gas stoves. And so I'm looking forward to hearing how that can be incorporated better into the scoping plan, because I know there's some concerns about recognizing or quantifying the benefits there that we had a conversation about. And I know that's upcoming later in our agenda.

I also would appreciate that inclusion of the COVID shelter-in-place and vulnerability discussion, and replication of the Harvard study for California would be phenomenal. I think one of the things that's happened as others have noted is we've demonstrated the significant gap in health care access that's demonstrated by COVID, and I'm hoping that we can really look at - we talked


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about this in my beefing - in asthma incidence and not only hospitalization and figure out ways that we can get more data, because we know it's so prevalent in disadvantaged communities.

And lastly, I just wanted to underscore the Chair's comments and those in the present -- presentation that we're really in an unprecedented moment that's demonstrating the vulnerability really of all of us, but particularly in disadvantaged communities and the real importance of reducing air pollution as it increases our vulnerability.

So happy to stay the course with all of you. And if Bonnie or Elizabeth you have comments on some of those questions, I'd be happy to hear those.

Thank you. CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you. I'm looking forward to the next steps in this

process and particularly for a research agenda that more accurately reflects the breadth and depth of our interest in this topic. The opportunity to build on what we've done in the past, but to recognize the latest in science and maintain California's demonstrated commitment to using the best new science is one that is not to be missed. So I think we're all excited about this and very much looking forward to the next steps.


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I am now going to officially close the record on this agenda item. We have a resolution before us, which was sent out to everybody. So if you're ready now, Board members, would someone give us a motion and a second.

BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Motion. Dr. Sherriffs. VICE CHAIR BERG: Sandra Berg, and I will -- (Laughter.) CHAIR NICHOLS: Don't all jump at once. BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: I'll second. I'll

second Sandra Berg's motion. CHAIR NICHOLS: Okay. That sounds --BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Dr. Sherriffs. CHAIR NICHOLS: That sounds perfect. And because

of this system, I guess the clerk has to actually call the roll for a vote.

BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you, Madam Chair. Before I do that, I just want to quickly note for the record that Mr. De La Torre and Assembly Member Garcia are present. They weren't there for the initial roll but they came in a few minutes late, but they are present now.

CHAIR NICHOLS: Thank you. Great. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: So now, I will call the

vote. Dr. Balmes? BOARD MEMBER BALMES: I wholeheartedly endorse


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the resolution. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mr. De La Torre? CHAIR NICHOLS: You need to unmute. BOARD MEMBER DE LA TORRE: Thanks. De La Torre

aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mr. Eisenhut? BOARD MEMBER EISENHUT: Aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Supervisor Fletcher? Supervisor Fletcher? BOARD MEMBER FLETCHER: Aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Thank you. Senator Florez? BOARD MEMBER FLOREZ: Aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Supervisor Gioia? BOARD MEMBER GIOIA: Yes. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Ms. Mitchell? BOARD MEMBER MITCHELL: Yes. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mrs. Riordan? BOARD MEMBER RIORDAN: Aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Supervisor Serna? BOARD MEMBER SERNA: Aye. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Dr. Sherriffs? BOARD MEMBER SHERRIFFS: Yes. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Professor Sperling? BOARD MEMBER SPERLING: Yes.


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BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Mrs. Takvorian? BOARD MEMBER TAKVORIAN: Yes. BOARD CLERK SAKAZAKI: Vice Chair Berg? VICE CHAIR BERG:

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