Air Quality Update

April 8, 2002

State, Environmental Advocates Discuss NYC Waiver
MTBE to Survive Another Year in California
Rail Association Calls for More, Better Defined CMAQ Support

State, Environmental Advocates Discuss NYC Waiver

New York state officials and environmental advocacy groups are locked in discussions over a transportation conformity waiver for the New York City metropolitan area. The possible reprieve from the Clean Air Act requirement is in response to massive disruptions in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

The region's environmental groups have voiced some level of support for the waiver concept. However, the details are of considerable concern as representatives continue discussions with Empire State officials over the conditions and length of the possible waiver.

Both EPA and New York state officials suggested late last year that some form of regulatory relief for the metropolitan area should be considered. The attacks disrupted several hubs in the Manhattan transportation network in addition to destroying key offices of the Metropolitan Transportation Council, the primary planning agency for the region.

New York Governor George Pataki (R) supports a conformity waiver that would extend to 2005. On the Congressional front, Rep. Vito Fossella (R-NY), representing Brooklyn and Staten Island, has introduced legislation that would establish an exemption from the rules for that length of time.

Environmentalists are most concerned that the waiver could be drafted with few limits and could be viewed as an opportunity to push "regionally significant" projects that would otherwise meet a difficult path of approval under normal circumstances. One environmental advocate noted that the waiver "can't be a free pass" from the air quality considerations weighed under the normal conformity process.

While the area's environmental advocates have registered limited support for such flexibility in New York City, they are concerned that a sweeping waiver could open the door to wider Clean Air Act changes. One of the topics on the agenda with state officials is a proposal to assure at least some reductions in motor vehicle emissions regardless of the waiver's details.

MTBE to Survive Another Year in California

California's much debated and much anticipated ban on MTBE will be delayed for another year. Use of the controversial fuel oxygenate--methyl tertiary butyl either--can continue until January 1, 2004 under an executive order issued by Gov. Gray Davis (D).

Conjuring images of last year's electricity supply shortages and the chaos that followed, the governor issued the one-year delay to safeguard the supply of gasoline. With the supply and logistics network supporting ethanol still in question, Davis announced that depending on this renewable oxygenate was ill timed. Other than MTBE, ethanol is the only commercially viable additive that refiners can use to meet the federal oxygenate requirements for reformulated gasoline.

The executive order supersedes Davis' 1999 directive that called for an end to MTBE by January 1, 2003. The Golden State took the lead in banning MTBE due to widespread contamination of groundwater with the oxygenate, due largely to leaking underground storage tanks. Several other states have made similar moves to bring MTBE use to an end.

Rail Association Calls for More, Better Defined CMAQ Support

Clarify freight rail project eligibility and bolster the program's overall funding level. These are just a few of the suggestions from the Association of American Railroads (AAR) focusing on changes to the CMAQ program via TEA-21 Reauthorization.

The association cited a number of suggestions across the board for Federal officials to consider during the reauthorization process. For the Congestion Mitigation Air Quality Improvement (CMAQ) program, the AAR acknowledged the program's support for public transportation and other emissions-reducing strategies. The group also acknowledged the eligibility of freight rail projects for CMAQ funding in a point paper released last month, but maintained that some transportation planners are unaware of this inclusion for railroads. Hence, the AAR paper calls for an "explicit acknowledgment of freight railroad eligibility." The paper also listed a number of rail projects already supported by CMAQ, including efforts in Illinois, Maine, and New Jersey.

The association also recommended an expansion of the program's funding to support an increase in worthwhile projects. Other suggestions outside the CMAQ arena included tax breaks for freight rail investment, an increase in low-interest financing, a challenge to metropolitan planning organizations to consider freight more closely in the planning process, and others.