21   I've talked to the people over there and they're just,

       22   like -- you know, they're due east of Hollywood.  And

       23   they -- all this stuff is just blowing over there.  So I'm

       24   talking to these people and they're like, "Yeah.  Well, you

       25   know, in the summer our eyes just tear and we cry a lot and

                                                                      73

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   our throats are sore and that's how it is, and then it gets

        2   better after the summer."

        3             And I'm like, "Okay.  That could be a place to

        4   live."

        5             Then, you know, there's the valley or Burbank at

        6   the top there starting to recede into the valley and I'm

        7   looking over there and I'm talking to folks.  They're like,

        8   "Yeah.  You know, it just sorta sits here, the smoke.  There

        9   is no way for it to go out, the smog."  So, you know -- and

       10   the thing of it is, is that when I'm checking my maps and

       11   trying to be health conscious, there's not even very much

       12   data on this.  You know, there's, like, three data points in

       13   all of L.A. where they have taken information.  So I'm like,

       14   "Okay.  I don't want to live here.  Don't want to live

       15   here."  Apparently Malibu has the same air as Culver City,

       16   which you know can't be true.  But there is not enough

       17   information out there about this.

       18             So in reading that they are trying to monitor

       19   freeways, I think that would be a lovely idea.  In the

       20   housing that I've seen, I mean, you know, the apartments are

       21   by the freeways, the poorer areas are by the freeways.  So

       22   if you are not a high-income person or if you're a person

       23   just starting out or, say, a young couple with a child, then

       24   you probably will be stuck next to the freeways or in some

       25   very smoggy area like the pits of, you know, downtown L.A.

                                                                      74

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   or Hollywood.  And I think that something should be done.  I

        2   think that, you know, 30 parts per billion and, for a year,

        3   50 parts per billion per hour would help that.  And I think

        4   that, yes, freeways should be monitored because we don't

        5   even know exactly how unhealthy it is.  First people are

        6   thinking it's 300 feet away that's bad.  Then it's a mile.

        7   I'm sure it's worse than we know.  I mean, reports show it's

        8   worse than we know, but we don't know very much.

        9             That and then just, like, living in USC housing,

       10   which is, you know, by the 10 and the 110 there.  I have

       11   friends who are living over there who just moved out of that

       12   area.  And people don't talk about this very much, but I

       13   have friends who had chronic cough when they were living

       14   there.  I had one friend, this guy named Tim moves out and

       15   he's over, you know, now north of some of that and in a

       16   better air quality.  And he's like, "Oh, my cough went

       17   away."

       18             I'm like, "Yes.  Of course it did, because you

       19   moved out."  You know, and there were people all in my

       20   building over there in USC on Portland in this particular

       21   area right by the freeway where everyone in that building

       22   was coughing.  But most of them were, like, foreign exchange

       23   students.  They're, you know, people from out of the country

       24   who I knew didn't even realize what was going on to them.  I

       25   have allergies so I'm more in tune with this sort of thing.

                                                                      75

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   And I do take medication.  So, you know, if I'm remarkably

        2   worse, I tend to notice it.

        3             I suppose that's really all I have for my

        4   anecdotal experience of smog and pollution in L.A.  But it

        5   is -- it's a thing and I feel like it should be enforced

        6   around the nation.  I know when I go home to Ohio and I live

        7   out in Kirtland in this area that is basically pretty

        8   pristine, your happier.  You're more productive.  You feel

        9   better.  You don't have headaches.  People around here have

       10   headaches and don't really think about why it is.

       11             And, also, people can't come in, you know, very

       12   often in the middle of their workday to come and share their

       13   experience.  So, yeah.  All right.  I'm done.

       14        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.  We do appreciate

       15   people coming in during their workday to share their

       16   experiences.

       17             Any questions?

       18             Thank you.

       19             Unless there is anyone waiting to speak, we'll

       20   take a short break.

       21             (Recess taken.)

       22        DAVID ORLIN:  Okay.  I think we'll get started.  Our

       23   next speaker is Katie Van Cleave.

       24        KATIE VAN CLEAVE:  Great.  Thank you.

       25             Good morning.  My name, as you already mentioned,

                                                                      76

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   is Katie Van Cleave.  I'm speaking today on behalf of the

        2   steering committee of the Asthma Coalition of L.A. County.

        3   I'm also the coordinator of Childhood Asthma Programs for

        4   the American Lung Association, and in this position I teach

        5   children how to manage their asthma because it is a disease,

        6   as most of you know, that can be controlled with proper

        7   management, including avoiding asthma triggers.

        8             As we heard earlier, air pollution is a serious

        9   trigger of asthma attacks and something that is obviously

       10   very hard to avoid in Southern California.  So today I'm

       11   going to discuss the health impacts of nitrogen dioxide,

       12   what's at stake, especially for our children, our

       13   recommendations for the standards, and our recommendation

       14   for a monitoring system.

       15             As you know, nitrogen dioxide worsens cough and

       16   wheezing, it increases the inflammation of the airways, it

       17   increases asthma attacks, and reduces lung function.  It

       18   also increases the likelihood of E.R. visits and hospital

       19   admissions.  It increases people's susceptibility to

       20   respiratory infections, including the flu.

       21             In addition, nitrogen dioxide also contributes to

       22   the formation of ozone smog and particulate matter.

       23   Nitrogen oxides are a building block of ozone smog, a major

       24   respiratory irritant that increases the risk of premature

       25   death and can cause something like a sunburn within the

                                                                      77

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   lungs.  Nitrogen dioxide also contributes to the formation

        2   of fine particles, which causes serious health effects

        3   ranging from respiratory problems to death.

        4             According to the California Air Resources Board,

        5   these pollutants cost the California economy $170 billion

        6   each year and the impacts also include 19,000 premature

        7   deaths.  Many of these lives are lost in Southern

        8   California.  According to a study from Cal State Fullerton,

        9   air pollution costs each Southern California person $1,250

       10   each year.

       11             The people who are greatest at risk are those who

       12   are the least likely to be able to protect themselves.  We

       13   have a great opportunity to save these lives and improve the

       14   economy by setting and achieving health-based standards.

       15   Millions of Americans today are unprotected by the current

       16   nitrogen dioxide standards.  Here in the L.A. region we are

       17   at particular risk.  Our region earned failing grades in the

       18   American Lung Associations State of the Air Report in 2009.

       19   Children, older adults, and people with asthma and other

       20   lung disease or heart diseases are the most vulnerable.  In

       21   addition, people who work, live, and play along major

       22   highways also face an increased risk.

       23             In Southern California we estimate that about 14

       24   percent of children have asthma, and that number can be as

       25   high as 25 percent among African-American children.  These

                                                                      78

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   numbers may seem extraordinarily high, but in many cases of

        2   asthma, especially in low-income and urban areas, the cases

        3   are underdiagnosed or misdiagnosed.  The L.A. County

        4   Department of Public Health states that 45 percent of

        5   children have had to limit their physical activities due to

        6   asthma symptoms.

        7             Ships, rail, trucks, and heavy machinery that

        8   support the goods movement system are key source of

        9   emissions that contribute to local and regional air

       10   pollution.  Hundreds of recent studies have reported

       11   associations between living near heavily trafficked roadways

       12   and the harm to the people's health living near those

       13   freeways.

       14             You can see in this graph it illustrates the

       15   elevated pollution levels that are found within a mile from

       16   the freeway.  Millions of people live much closer than a

       17   mile within a freeway.  This is another picture that

       18   demonstrates how community parks and schools are located

       19   within sources of air pollution.  Over here you can see

       20   Hudson School.  It's an elementary school down in Long

       21   Beach.  And this here (indicating) is a community park.

       22   It's just an example of how close people are living,

       23   working, and playing near sources of toxic air pollution.

       24             The American Lung Association supports the

       25   establishment of a one-hour daily maximum standard of 50

                                                                      79

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   parts per billion or lower.  The science is clear that the

        2   short-term standard at this level would reduce the

        3   likelihood that children with asthma would end up in the

        4   emergency room because of a serious asthma attack.  The

        5   American Lung Association also supports strengthening the

        6   annual average standard in order to protect against harm

        7   from long-term exposure, such as the stunted lung function

        8   seen in children tracked in USC's Children's Health Study.

        9   We recommend a tighter standard of 30 parts per billion or

       10   lower.

       11             And, finally, the EPA and the states need to take

       12   every opportunity to expand the monitoring of pollutants

       13   from traffic.  Evidence shows that our current pollution

       14   monitoring system does not accurately or effectively monitor

       15   traffic pollution among these major highways and trade

       16   corridors where millions of people are living.

       17             And here are just a few of the faces I'm asking

       18   you to consider when you make your decision.  These are all

       19   children living with asthma who also attended the American

       20   Lung Association summer camp for education programs.

       21             Thank you for your time.

       22        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

       23             Do you have a hard copy of this presentation you

       24   can give us?

       25        KATIE VAN CLEAVE:  I do.

                                                                      80

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1        DAVID ORLIN:  That would be great.

        2             Any other questions?

        3             Thank you.  We will take another short break.

        4             (Recess taken.)

        5        DAVID ORLIN:  We do have another speaker who is ready

        6   to talk, Mr. Jim Stewart.

        7        JIM STEWART:  This is a really great service.

        8        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you for coming today.  Just ask

        9   that you try to keep your comments to 5 minutes.

       10        JIM STEWART:  Oh, it's going to be very brief.  I'm Jim

       11   Stewart, and I'm representing Sierra Club, California's Air

       12   Quality Committee, and I just wanted to speak on behalf of

       13   the 200,000 members of the Sierra Club in California that

       14   this rule is long overdue and that we really appreciate the

       15   kind of things that you guys are doing now under the new

       16   administration to save our lives.  I mean, this is really

       17   important, important stuff, and I want you to know that all

       18   the million members of Sierra Club across the country are

       19   supporting this rule and let's make it happen.  And that's

       20   about it.  You guys know all the details of the rule and I

       21   don't.

       22        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much for coming.

       23        JIM STEWART:  Yeah.  Thank you very much.

       24             (Recess taken.)

       25        DAVID ORLIN:  We're going to break until two o'clock.

                                                                      81

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1             (Recess taken.)

        2        DAVID ORLIN:  Good afternoon, and thank you for

        3   attending the EPA's public hearing on the proposed rule for

        4   nitrogen dioxide.  I recognize that many of you may have

        5   traveled quite a distance and made significant efforts to be

        6   here, and I appreciate your efforts.  My name is David

        7   Orlin.  I'm an attorney-advisor for EPA's Office of General

        8   Counsel.  I will be chairing today's hearing.  We are here

        9   today to listen to comments on EPA's proposed revisions to

       10   the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards for

       11   nitrogen dioxide.

       12             As a reminder, this is a hearing, an opportunity

       13   for the public to comment on the EPA's proposed rule.  The

       14   panel members may answer questions that seek to clarify what

       15   we're proposing or ask questions to clarify your comments,

       16   but the purpose of this hearing is to listen to your

       17   comments, not to discuss or debate the proposal.

       18             I would just like to outline how today's hearing

       19   has been working.  I will call the scheduled speakers to the

       20   microphone in pairs.  Please state your name and your

       21   affiliation.  It helps our court reporter if you can spell

       22   your name.  In order to be fair to everyone, we are asking

       23   that you limit your testimony to five minutes each and to

       24   remain at the microphone until both speakers in a pair have

       25   finished.  After you finish your testimony, a panel member

                                                                      82

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   may ask clarifying questions.

        2             We are transcribing today's hearing and each

        3   speaker's oral testimony will become part of the official

        4   record.  Please be sure to give a copy of any written

        5   comments to our staff at the registration table.  We will

        6   put the full text of your written comments into the docket

        7   for you.  We are accepting written comments for the proposed

        8   rule until September 14, 2009.  We have a handout available

        9   in the registration area with detailed information for

       10   submitting written comments.

       11             We have a timekeeping system consisting of red,

       12   green, and yellow lights.  When you begin speaking, the

       13   green light comes on.  You will have five minutes to speak.

       14   The yellow light will signal that you have one minute left

       15   to speak.  We will ask you to stop speaking when the red

       16   light comes on.

       17             We intend to stay into the evening until everyone

       18   has an opportunity to comment.  If you would like to

       19   testify, but have not yet registered to do so, please sign

       20   up at the registration table.  Let us know if you need

       21   translation services, and we will do our best to accommodate

       22   you.

       23             Now I'd like to introduce the EPA representatives

       24   on our panel.  Scott Jenkins, with the Office of Air Quality

       25   Planning and Standards' Ambient Standards Group; Nealson

                                                                      83

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   Watkins, with the Office of Air Quality Planning and

        2   Standards' Ambient Air Monitoring Group; and Steven John,

        3   Associate Director of Region 9's Southern California Field

        4   Office.

        5             I would like to thank you all again for

        6   participating today.  Let's get started.

        7             Our first speaker this afternoon, Robina Suwol and

        8   Ryan Wiggins.

        9        ROBINA SUWOL:  Hi.  Good afternoon.  My name is Robina

       10   Suwol.  I'm the founder and executive director of

       11   California's Safe Schools.  We're a children's environmental

       12   health organization located here in Southern California.

       13   We're nationally and internationally recognized for

       14   spearheading the most stringent pesticide policy in the

       15   nation for schools.  The policy was the first in the United

       16   States to embrace the precautionary principle and right to

       17   know and today it's become a model for communities and

       18   schools internationally.

       19             I really want to thank you very much for holding

       20   the hearing today and allowing California Safe Schools and

       21   other members of the public and organizations to speak.  Our

       22   14th amendment promises that everyone is entitled to equal

       23   protection under the law, and I thank EPA for their

       24   diligence and their concerns about protecting human health

       25   and the environment of everyone in our ecosystem.  And I

                                                                      84

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   want to thank you for that.

        2             You know, most individuals are very highly

        3   conscious of protecting families, of course, and the

        4   elderly, who are the most vulnerable.  But while all members

        5   of the public are certainly vulnerable -- don't

        6   misunderstand me with that statement.  Everyone is.

        7   Individuals that reside in communities that are known as

        8   environmental justice communities are communities that

        9   oftentime are less affluent than other communities or may

       10   not have health care like other communities do, access to

       11   health care, are really far more vulnerable.  And this rule

       12   we are talking about today -- and we know that nitrogen

       13   dioxide is a dangerous, widespread pollutant.  And we're

       14   here to request that EPA, while this is certainly a step

       15   forward, that they go even further in protecting the health

       16   that's currently being proposed.

       17             One of the issues is that I think we all know that

       18   asthma, cancer, neurological disorders, birth defects are

       19   rampant.  In some cases, even epidemic.  And knowing that, I

       20   think that, you know, it's really important to move forward

       21   and look at any kind of areas where we can reduce threats to

       22   human health and the environment.

       23             Thank you very much for your time and, again,

       24   thank you, and I urge you to please create more stringent

       25   rulings on this particular rule.

                                                                      85

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

        2             Any questions from the panel?

        3             Thank you.

        4        RYAN WIGGINS:  Good afternoon.  My name is Ryan

        5   Wiggins.  I'm here today on behalf of End Oil.  We are a

        6   Southern California advocacy environmental group.

        7             We'd like to express our support for a strong

        8   nitrogen oxide standard -- nitrogen dioxide standard, excuse

        9   me, that protects the health of our communities and

       10   establishes a national network to monitor pollutant levels

       11   along highways.  This is a critical opportunity to

       12   strengthen the national standard that has not changed over

       13   three decades.  And while we agree with the EPA and the

       14   Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee that the current

       15   standard does not do enough to protect public health, we do

       16   not believe that the proposed standards go far enough.

       17   Specifically, we would request that the EPA establish

       18   respective one-hour and annual standards of 50 parts per

       19   billion and 30 parts per billion and establish a national

       20   monitoring network to gauge the effectiveness of the

       21   standards.

       22             We ask that the EPA recognize a body of studies

       23   and analysis that demonstrate a need for these more

       24   stringent standards.  Doing so will ensure that there is a

       25   margin of safety that will protect sensitive receptors such

                                                                      86

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   as children, the elderly, and existing conditions such as

        2   lung disease and asthma.  The EPA's only draft analysis

        3   establishes that an hourly standard of 50 parts per billion

        4   would be most effective in reducing the negative health

        5   effects resulting from NO2.  Additionally, a long line of

        6   peer-reviewed studies reaching back over the last decade

        7   have found evidence of significant impacts on health at

        8   levels below the current annual standard of 53 parts per

        9   billion.  Regarding the proposed range for the annual

       10   standard, studies have found that at 100 parts per billion,

       11   the top range, adults experience asthma symptoms that were

       12   raised levels.

       13             Almost assuredly, those with moderate or severe

       14   asthma would show symptoms at lower levels.  An annual

       15   standard such as the 30 parts per billion adopted by the

       16   State of California would likely ensure that populations

       17   would not suffer long-term damage as a result of exposure to

       18   NO2.

       19             Finally, we urge the EPA to establish a national

       20   monitoring network along our highways and major

       21   transportation corridors.  Throughout the country, heavily

       22   populated areas can be found concentrated around these

       23   areas.  In California, for example, approximately half of

       24   the population lives within one mile of a freeway.

       25   Monitoring the effectiveness of the newly established

                                                                      87

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   standards will be indispensable in ensuring that the

        2   communities, neighborhoods, and schools located in close

        3   proximity to these corridors are being adequately protected

        4   from the negative health effects of NO2.

        5             Thank you for the opportunity to speak here today,

        6   appreciate your time, and just urge you to establish very

        7   stringent standards.  Thank you very much.

        8        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you for much.

        9             Any questions?

       10             Thanks.

       11             Our next speakers are Martha Cota and Elena

       12   Rodriguez.

       13             The following comments were translated by the

       14   interpreter as follows:

       15        MARTHA COTA:  Good afternoon, everyone.  My name is

       16   Martha Cota, and I'm visiting here from the city of Long

       17   Beach, and this afternoon I will be briefly sharing with you

       18   why I'm here today.  I'm here to tell you about the pain

       19   that we feel as parents because we have children who suffer

       20   from asthma.  I have a son whose name is Jose Miguel, and

       21   since he was one year old he was diagnosed with asthma and

       22   many times he was close to losing his life because of the

       23   very severe asthma attacks that he suffered.  The memories

       24   that I have instilled in my heart and in my brain the most

       25   are watching him with purple lips and purple fingers, unable

                                                                      88

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   to breathe.

        2             And as Ryan and the other lady who spoke before us

        3   already stated, almost always it is low income families who

        4   suffer the most because of the highly polluted environment.

        5   In our case, because of emissions from ships from the Ports

        6   of Long Beach and the hundreds of ships that arrive at these

        7   ports.  These emissions come from burning diesel fuel, which

        8   is exposed to high temperatures contributing to higher

        9   nitrogen dioxide emissions, higher concentrations in the

       10   air.  And the saddest thing is that it gets worse in the

       11   winter for those of us that suffer from respiratory

       12   ailments.  And I'm not just referring just to children.

       13   Also adults.  It was only three years ago I was also

       14   diagnosed with asthma.

       15             Today I am also symbolically representing through

       16   this box -- in case you don't know what is here, inside this

       17   box is a representation of 35 families, each of them

       18   represented by each of these inhalers.  These are our

       19   families.  These are the families that you must, must

       20   protect and that you must help so that all of this can

       21   change.  You, as EPA, need to be aware that these represent

       22   35 families.  Each family may have as many as three or four

       23   children with asthma.  So each inhaler doesn't represent a

       24   single child, but a whole family.

       25             I also wanted to ask you as EPA to take these

                                                                      89

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   inhalers home in your minds.  And although I know you will

        2   be leaving later today, to take this message with you.  And

        3   I want to ask you on behalf of my community and my son.

        4   Because I don't think it's fair that our children and our

        5   families, our communities have to live with medication, that

        6   they have to use devices and medication in order to be able

        7   to breathe normally.  And I also want to ask you as

        8   representatives -- or tell you as representatives, excuse

        9   me, that we deserve better air quality and ask you that you

       10   set real standards, strict and transparent standards so that

       11   we, as a community, can continue believing in you.

       12             So once again, I call upon you to do this and

       13   please take these very seriously in your mind.  We represent

       14   a lot of families.  It's not just Teresa, who brought her

       15   son, and my son and Elena, myself, who came here.

       16   There are thousands of us.  And you are our bridge to convey

       17   this information to others.  Thank you.

       18        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

       19             Are there any questions from the panel?

       20             Thank you.

       21             The following comments were translated by the

       22   interpreter as follows:

       23        ELENA RODRIGUEZ:  Good afternoon.  My name is Elena

       24   Rodriguez, and I'm here from the Long Beach Alliance for

       25   Children with Asthma.

                                                                      90

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1             I live in West Long Beach, close to the freeway

        2   where there are six different schools.  We have the Cabrillo

        3   High School with approximately 4,000 students enrolled,

        4   Hudson Elementary, Stephens High School, Webster Elementary,

        5   John Muir Elementary, and Garfield Elementary.  All of these

        6   schools have an average of 600 to 1200 students each.  Near

        7   these schools are freeways 710 and 103.  And highway 103 is

        8   merely steps away from Hudson and Cabrillo Elementary

        9   Schools.  And when the children go out to play, they're

       10   playing right by the heavy-duty trucks.  If you go out there

       11   and you take a picture or just look around, you'll be able

       12   to see that the children are playing practically next to

       13   these heavy-duty trucks.

       14             West Long Beach has a very high percentage of

       15   children diagnosed with asthma as well as a high percentage

       16   of visits to the E.R. because of asthma attacks as well as a

       17   lower attendance to school.  One of these children is my

       18   daughter who has the beginnings of asthma.  All of these

       19   children are breathing these pollutants every second, every

       20   minute, every hour, and every day.

       21             So on behalf of my daughter, my family, and my

       22   community, I support installing nitrogen dioxide monitors

       23   along the highways and freeways with the highest traffic and

       24   also support establishing national ambient air quality

       25   standards to protect us against a pollutant as dangerous as

                                                                      91

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

        1   nitrogen dioxide.  Thank you.

        2        DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.  We appreciate you

        3   coming and sharing your experience.

        4             Any questions?

        5             Thank you.

        6             We'll take a short break right now.

        7             (This concludes the portion of the proceedings

        8             taken by J'nel Erskine, CSR No. 11746.)

        9

       10

       11

       12

       13

       14

       15

       16

       17

       18

       19

       20

       21

       22

       23

       24

       25

                                                                      92

                       Century Court Reporters<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  (The hearing resumed at 2:32 p.m.)

            2           DAVID ORLIN:  We're ready to get started again.

            3                  Our next speakers are Erin Huffer and Ian

            4   MacMillan.

            5                  And I will ask you to come up to the

            6   speaker's table, spell your name for the court reporter,

            7   and try and limit yourself to five minutes.

            8                  Thank you very much for coming.

            9           ERIN HUFFER:  Good afternoon.  My name is Erin

           10   Huffer and I am the program manager for the Long Beach

           11   Alliance for Children with Asthma.  We are a partnership of

           12   hundreds of community members, parents, and mothers of

           13   children with asthma, and over 45 organizations working to

           14   improve the health and well-being of children with asthma

           15   in Long Beach and surrounding communities through improved

           16   health care delivery, outreach, education, support systems,

           17   and changes in policy at all levels.

           18                  Through our Community Health Worker Program,

           19   we provide in-home case management services to families to

           20   help them improve and control their child's asthma.  Our

           21   program has had numerous successes, including the provision

           22   of services to over 1,000 families and witnessing a

           23   significant reduction in the amount of emergency room

           24   visits, missed school days, and asthma attacks among the

           25   children we serve.

                                                                           93

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  Nearly 10 years into our program, we are

            2   still seeing an overwhelming need for services for children

            3   with asthma.  Our dedicated staff of community health

            4   workers, outreach liaisons, community members, and

            5   coalition partners work tirelessly so the kids with asthma

            6   in our community are able to enjoy the highest possible

            7   quality of life by teaching and supporting them in efforts

            8   to control and reduce triggers in their immediate

            9   environment.

           10                  Unfortunately, we can only do so much

           11   through our case management and outreach programs as the

           12   majority of asthma triggers in our community come from the

           13   quality of the air we breathe outside.

           14                  Long Beach has some of the highest rates of

           15   childhood asthma in comparison to L.A. County, California,

           16   and the nation as a result of its proximity to major

           17   sources of pollution:  Ports, major roadways, railroads,

           18   and refineries.

           19                  I am asking you today to take an important

           20   step towards ensuring the children of our community are

           21   able to live, learn, and play in an environment with clean

           22   and healthy air by supporting stronger national air quality

           23   standards to limit exposure to NO2 in our community.

           24                  Specifically, as the manager of a children's

           25   asthma program, I support:

                                                                           94

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  The recommendation that the EPA set the

            2   one-hour standard at 50 parts per billion to provide the

            3   margin of safety needed to protect the health of those most

            4   at risk, including children with asthma;

            5                  The recommendation for a tighter annual

            6   standard, such as the State of California adopted, of 30

            7   parts per billion or lower to provide protection from

            8   long-term, day-in and day-out exposures to NO2;

            9                  Lastly, the proposal for a roadside

           10   monitoring network.  Many of our community members live

           11   near major roadways and that is why this is important.  The

           12   proposed roadside monitoring network should be installed

           13   regardless of the level of the standard selected.

           14                  I ask that you take our concerns, and

           15   especially the stories from our community members that

           16   you've heard and may hear some more from today, into

           17   account when considering updating NO2 standards.

           18                  Thank you.

           19           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           20                  Any questions?

           21                  Thank you.

           22                  Mr. MacMillan?

           23           IAN MacMILLAN:  Good afternoon.  My name is Ian

           24   MacMillan, and I am here on behalf of the Office of

           25   Environment Health & Safety within the Los Angeles Unified

                                                                           95

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   School District.

            2                  The LAUSD, as you may or may not know, is

            3   the second largest school district in the nation.

            4   Currently, there are approximately three-quarters of a

            5   million students with about 80,000 employees.  Within the

            6   school district, there are in fact probably about 90

            7   schools located within about 500 feet of a freeway.  Of

            8   those 90 schools, many of those were actually built before

            9   the freeways and some were actually built before cars.

           10                  The air pollution issue that surrounds L.A.

           11   is something we've been grappling with for a long time, as

           12   you can imagine.  There's been a number of initiatives that

           13   the school district has employed to try to address air

           14   pollution.

           15                  One of them, for example, about a year and a

           16   half ago, the Board of Education prohibited siting any new

           17   school within 500 feet of a freeway, as well as to tighten

           18   up the state regulations, which had a little loophole in

           19   it.  And the main concern was for obviously air pollution

           20   reasons, for regulating contaminants like NO2, coarse

           21   particulate matter, fine particulate matter.  There was

           22   also concern about unregulated pollutants, like ultrafine

           23   particles.

           24                  And so there's a number of initiatives like

           25   this where the LAUSD has tried to be a leader in addressing

                                                                           96

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   air pollution.

            2                  What's really become apparent -- and it's

            3   not really a surprise -- is that the majority of these air

            4   pollution issues are something that the school district

            5   needs to address because the children are there and they

            6   are receptors, they are receiving all the pollution.  But

            7   there's only so much a school district can do.  They aren't

            8   the source of the pollution, they are the receptors.

            9   Really what we need to do is work with our regulatory

           10   partners to address the source of the pollution.

           11                  Because of that, we really appreciate what

           12   EPA is doing with its proposed regulation to tighten up the

           13   standards on NO2 and to further increase monitoring near

           14   the sources of the pollution, which we all know are a major

           15   concern.

           16                  We look forward to continue to work with you

           17   all and we are planning on submitting some more formal

           18   comments, as well, in a written brief.

           19                  Thank you.

           20           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           21                  Do you have any further breakdown on the 90

           22   schools within 500 feet?  How many are within 50 meters

           23   versus 100 meters versus?

           24           IAN MacMILLAN:  We do actually have that kind of

           25   information and I can provide you with that offline.  I

                                                                           97

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   don't have that off the top of my head right now.

            2           DAVID ORLIN:  If you have a chance.

            3           IAN MacMILLAN:  We have all the information,

            4   absolutely.

            5           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

            6                  Any other questions?

            7                  Thank you.

            8                  Our next speakers are Teresa Trujillo and

            9   Jesus Trujillo.

           10                  (The following comments were

           11           translated by the interpreter as follows:)

           12           TERESA TRUJILLO:  Good afternoon.  My name is

           13   Teresa Trujillo and I am here from the Long Beach Alliance

           14   for Children with Asthma.

           15                  I have a boy, who is the boy that is

           16   standing to my left, he was diagnosed with asthma from

           17   birth and shortly thereafter he had to be admitted into ER

           18   three different times.  During that time, he developed

           19   bronchopneumonia and pneumonia.  As he grew up, he had

           20   complications with his asthma and allergies.  His asthma

           21   causes coughing and constant and copious nosebleeds.  I am

           22   concerned that his health will get worse because of the

           23   constant pollution that we are breathing in.

           24                  My son attends the Cesar Chavez Elementary

           25   School, which is located between the on and off ramps of

                                                                           98

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   the 710 freeway.  We are also very close to the port where

            2   we can see the large number of heavy-duty trucks that load

            3   all of the imports that come from the hundreds of ships

            4   that arrive every day polluting our community with fuels

            5   that are hazardous to our health.  Many times, my son has

            6   had to miss school because of these reasons.

            7                  I am a very concerned mother because of this

            8   serious issue, asthma, as well as other mothers who are

            9   going through the same thing.  So I beg and plead with you

           10   to join with all other mothers who suffer because they have

           11   a family member with asthma.

           12                  Nitrogen dioxide is a very hazardous air

           13   pollutant and, as you can see, it is causing very serious

           14   damage to my family.  I therefore strongly support national

           15   ambient air quality standards to protect us against this

           16   pollutant.  And I also support the establishment of a

           17   nitrogen dioxide monitoring system along highways.

           18                  Thank you very much.

           19           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           20                  Any questions?

           21                  (The following comments were

           22           translated by the interpreter as follows:)

           23           MARIA DE JESUS "CHUY" TRUJILLO:  Good afternoon.

           24   My name is Chuy Trujillo.  I am a Long Beach resident and I

           25   suffer allergies and asthma.  My seven-year-old grandson

                                                                           99

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   also suffers from asthma and so he cannot enjoy playing

            2   sports or other games like other children.

            3                  What caused this illness for me was the

            4   pollution in this city since I live very close to the port

            5   and to the 710 freeway.  In addition, there are also two

            6   schools nearby, which are the Cesar Chavez and Edison

            7   schools.

            8                  So I ask you if there is anything that you

            9   can do for our community.  On behalf of all the members of

           10   our community, we ask to be taken into account.  I hope to

           11   get a good response from whomever is in charge of this

           12   problem.

           13                  I live very close to the 710 freeway and so,

           14   for me, it is very important that a nitrogen dioxide

           15   monitoring system is set up along highways and to establish

           16   stricter ambient air quality standards that can protect us

           17   against this very hazardous pollutant, which is nitrogen

           18   dioxide.

           19                  As you can see just now, there's already

           20   four children and I personally who have told you about

           21   suffering from this illness, so I ask again, how many

           22   thousands of children are suffering what I'm suffering,

           23   choking day after day like fish out of water?

           24                  Thank you.

           25           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

                                                                           100

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  Any questions?

            2                  If there is no one else waiting to speak,

            3   then we'll take a short break.  And I'd like again to thank

            4   everyone for coming.

            5                  (Break taken at 2:48 p.m.)

            6                  (Hearing resumed at 2:52 p.m.)

            7           DAVID ORLIN:  Our next speaker is Jennyffer

            8   Velasquez.

            9           JENNYFFER VELASQUEZ:  Hello.  Good afternoon.  My

           10   name is Jennyffer Velasquez.  I am a health educator with

           11   the American Lung Association.

           12                  As a health educator with the American Lung

           13   Association, I help kids with asthma manage their asthma,

           14   so I'm out in the community, in the schools, in parent

           15   centers, and I have the one-on-one encounters with people

           16   who have asthma and I have been there when they have an

           17   asthma attack.  Having said that, I have firsthand

           18   experience working with the kids who are affected with

           19   asthma and the air pollution.

           20                  According the CDC, there are approximately

           21   250,000 children living with asthma just in L.A. County

           22   alone, and there's 6.7 million children in the USA.  Asthma

           23   strikes hardest among minority and low-income populations.

           24   More than one in four African-American children in urban

           25   Los Angeles have probable asthma.  Latino children with

                                                                           101

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   asthma experience nearly twice as much activity limitation

            2   compared to white children with asthma.

            3                  An asthma attack can be a very frightening

            4   experience that can send a kid to a hospital and also

            5   drives up medical costs.  Over 50 peer-reviewed community

            6   health studies have been published since 1996 examining the

            7   effects of short-term nitrogen dioxide concentrations on

            8   the rate of hospital admissions and emergency room visits

            9   for breathing problems.  The studies found that these

           10   effects occur when daily pollution levels are well below

           11   the current annual standard of 53 parts per billion,

           12   meaning that the current nitrogen dioxide standard does not

           13   protect the millions of asthmatics.

           14                  The Lung Association strongly supports the

           15   EPA establishing a one-hour standard for nitrogen dioxide.

           16   But instead of the EPA proposal for the one-hour standard

           17   in the range of 80 to 100 parts per billion, we would like

           18   to see a lower one-hour standard.  Data from 19 controlled

           19   human exposure studies provided evidence that 100 parts per

           20   billion would not protect asthmatics.  An hourly standard

           21   of 50 parts per billion or lower would be more appropriate.

           22                  Secondly, the Lung Association urges the EPA

           23   to tighten the current annual standards from 53 parts per

           24   billion to 30 parts per billion or lower in order to

           25   protect from long-term, day-in and day-out exposure to

                                                                          102

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   nitrogen dioxide.

            2                  Finally, the Lung Association strongly

            3   supports the EPA's proposal for a roadside monitoring

            4   network.  In addition to not protecting asthmatics, the

            5   current standards does not protect the millions of people

            6   who live in pollution hotspots near freeways, rail yards,

            7   ports, and other -- and sources where there's busy

            8   boulevards.  I know that I've encountered a couple of

            9   elementary schools, especially Pacoima Charter Elementary,

           10   and their school is right behind the airport, so the

           11   incidents of kids with asthma is really high.  And even

           12   though they have medicine, the asthma attacks are very high

           13   there.

           14                  Hundreds of recent scientific studies have

           15   reported association between living near heavily trafficked

           16   roadways and harm to health, yet no national network exists

           17   for monitoring traffic pollution.  We need to know what's

           18   in the air that we breathe, not just the air for those who

           19   have the fortune to live far from freeways.

           20                  In conclusion, we need all three:  Stronger

           21   annual standards, a health protective one-hour standard,

           22   and a roadside monitoring network.  The health of our

           23   future generation depends on the air and air that we all

           24   breathe.

           25                  Thank you.

                                                                          103

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

            2                  Any questions?

            3                  Okay.  We'll take a short break.

            4                  (Break taken at 2:56 p.m.)

            5                  (Hearing resumed at 3:40 p.m.)

            6           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you for coming to today's

            7   hearing on the proposed national ambient air quality

            8   standard for nitrogen dioxide.

            9                  We will take testimony in pairs.  If you

           10   can, speak into the microphone and state your name for the

           11   court reporter.  And we're asking everyone to try to keep

           12   your comments to five minutes.  We're not enforcing it too

           13   strictly.

           14                  (Time lapse.)

           15           DAVID ORLIN:  So if you're ready, we'll have Juan

           16   Garibay and Sofia Carrillo come forward.

           17                  Who would like to go first?

           18           JUAN GARIBAY:  I will go first.

           19           DAVID ORLIN:  If you give us copies, then we'll put

           20   those into the record.  And then, obviously, your oral

           21   testimony will also be part of the record.

           22           JUAN GARIBAY:  Good afternoon.

           23                  My name is Juan Garibay.  I currently live

           24   with my family in Wilmington and I am the environmental

           25   justice campaign coordinator for the Coalition for a Safe

                                                                          104

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   Environment located in the EJ community of Wilmington in

            2   the city of Los Angeles.  The coalition has over 500

            3   members in over 25 cities in California.

            4                  I am here to support the U.S. EPA

            5   establishing a new NO2 one-hour standard, but not as

            6   proposed by the EPA.  A 50 parts per billion standard is

            7   not adequate to protect public health.  I support a NAAQS

            8   standard equal to that of California, which is 30 parts per

            9   billion.  I also request that a 15 parts per billion NO2

           10   standard be adopted by the year 2015.

           11                  Since 2001, the Coalition for a Safe

           12   Environment has been fighting air pollution from U.S. and

           13   international ships transporting cargo, bulk products, and

           14   containers in and out of the Port of Los Angeles and Long

           15   Beach.  Air pollution and NO2 in our environmental justice

           16   harbor communities has been increasing every year for the

           17   past 30 years.  Our communities are now facing a public

           18   health crisis caused by the international trade industry.

           19                  The international trade industry has failed

           20   to utilize the cleanest and most efficient technologies to

           21   protect public health and the environment because they want

           22   to make the maximum profit possible.  Our organization's

           23   research has disclosed that engine efficiencies, exhaust

           24   capture, and filtering technologies exist today to reduce

           25   NO2 by over 90 percent.  The problem is that polluting

                                                                          105

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   industries do not want to invest in the best technologies,

            2   the best clean technologies.

            3                  With the change in leadership this past

            4   year, our country has new goals specifically for our

            5   environment and education.  But even with the best

            6   educational policies, how can our children, especially from

            7   environmentally polluting communities, prosper in our

            8   schools when they cannot study comfortably and are missing

            9   classes due to health problems or, even worse, passing away

           10   prematurely.

           11                  The way I got involved with this

           12   organization was, coming from Wilmington, growing up in

           13   Wilmington, I experienced chronic nosebleeds.  I was a

           14   couple points away from being diagnosed with asthma.  And

           15   growing up, I never knew why.

           16                  And after getting involved with this

           17   organization and growing up and actually doing my own

           18   research and graduating from UCLA, I realized where that

           19   was coming from.  I used to think it was malnutrition or

           20   something I was eating or just that I was weak, but of

           21   course that wasn't it.  It was from the port industry's

           22   cargo, the trucks, trains, the refineries that exist

           23   everywhere in our communities and the lack of regulation on

           24   them.

           25                  The U.S. EPA has the authority and

                                                                          106

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   responsibility to establish standards necessary to protect

            2   its citizens', residents', and workers' public health and

            3   the environment.

            4                  Thank you.

            5           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

            6                  Any questions from the panel?

            7           SCOTT JENKINS:  I have one question.

            8                  When you said a standard of 15 parts per

            9   billion, I assume you're talking about an annual standard

           10   of 15 parts per billion, I think you said by 2015?

           11           JUAN GARIBAY:  Yes.

           12           SCOTT JENKINS:  Okay.  Thank you.

           13           VERONICA TRUJILLO:  Hello.  Good afternoon.  My

           14   name is Veronica Trujillo and I live in Wilmington with my

           15   family.

           16                  I believe that we need a more stringent

           17   one-hour daily maximum standard for NO2 to protect public

           18   health and our environment.  I support a minimum NO2

           19   standard equal to that of California, which is 30 ppb.  I

           20   would like to see the EPA also set a future second tier

           21   standard of 15 ppb by the year 2015.  I believe that we

           22   need to have monitoring at all major NO2 air pollution

           23   sources.

           24                  There are five oil refineries in Wilmington

           25   and many others in the Los Angeles area that release

                                                                          107

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   hundreds of tons of NO2 and other pollutants every day.

            2   Wilmington and other harbor communities are now in the

            3   middle of a public health crisis caused by the petroleum

            4   industry.  Thousands of diesel trucks transporting gasoline

            5   and natural gas are always traveling throughout the Los

            6   Angeles area.

            7                  I have attached some photos showing the

            8   clouds of pollution put out by refineries in my community.

            9                  The Port of Los Angeles is also in

           10   Wilmington and, every day, thousands of diesel fuel

           11   polluting trucks pass through our community, all the

           12   highways, freeways, and transportation corridors.  Every

           13   year hundreds of ships enter our port also causing more air

           14   pollution.  Port traffic has been increasing every year

           15   since the day I was born, and almost every family I know

           16   has someone sick with some type of respiratory health

           17   problem.

           18                  The U.S. EPA has the authority to establish

           19   strict standards necessary to protect the public, wildlife,

           20   and the environment.

           21                  Thank you.

           22           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           23                  Any questions?

           24                  Thank you for coming out today.

           25           SOFIA CARRILLO:  Good afternoon.  My name is Sofia

                                                                          108

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   Carrillo.  I live in Wilmington and I am a community

            2   organizer for the Coalition for a Safe Environment.  I'm

            3   here to support the adoption for a new more stringent

            4   one-hour NO2 standard.

            5                  Every day I work with Los Angeles harbor

            6   area families who are suffering from numerous respiratory

            7   health problems caused by air pollution and NO2 emitted by

            8   construction equipment, diesel trucks, ships, port

            9   vehicles, port equipment, goods movement transportation

           10   corridors, and oil refineries.

           11                  The ports, transportation companies,

           12   shipping companies, and retail stores are not paying the

           13   medical costs for the public health.  They do not care.

           14   They are only interested in making high profits.

           15                  The U.S. EPA now has the opportunity to

           16   adopt stringent regulations that can prevent thousands of

           17   innocent premature deaths and thousands of families from

           18   suffering respiratory problems.

           19                  I support:

           20           1.  The U.S. EPA adopting the most stringent NO2

           21   one-hour standard legally allowable and as necessary to

           22   prevent and eliminate significant public health impacts.

           23           2.  The U.S. EPA, as a minimum, adopt a standard

           24   equal to California at 30 ppb.

           25           3.  The U.S. EPA adopt a 15 ppb NO2 standard by the

                                                                          109

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   year 2015.

            2           4.  The U.S. EPA require both NO2 and PM 2.5

            3   monitoring along highways, freeways, and port goods

            4   movement transportation corridors.

            5                  The U.S. EPA must base its final decision on

            6   adopting the most stringent standards to protect the public

            7   health.

            8                  Thank you.

            9           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           10                  Any questions?

           11                  Mr. Marquez?

           12           JESSE MARQUEZ:  My name is Jesse Marquez.  I am

           13   executive director and founder of the Coalition for a Safe

           14   Environment, which was founded in the year 2001.

           15                  So that you know, Wilmington is a community

           16   in the City of Los Angeles.  Seventy percent of the Port of

           17   Los Angeles is physically in Wilmington.  The other

           18   30 percent of the Port of Los Angeles is in the Los Angeles

           19   community of San Pedro.  Bordering Wilmington is the Port

           20   of Long Beach.  The Port of L.A. is the No. 1 air pollution

           21   source in Southern California.  The Port of Long Beach is

           22   second largest air pollution source in Southern California.

           23                  There are five oil refineries in Wilmington.

           24   There's at least another four oil refineries bordering or

           25   near Wilmington.  In addition to that, there are field

                                                                          110

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   storage tank facilities that are also within three to four

            2   miles of Wilmington.  Because of the ports, there's also

            3   bulk loading terminals that are there.

            4                  Over 40,000 truck trips are made every day

            5   going out of the Port of L.A. and the Port of Long Beach.

            6   It is projected that the volume of the ports will triple in

            7   the next 15 to 20 years, which means that if there is 40-,

            8   45,000 truck trips a day now, it will easily exceed 120,000

            9   truck trips a day in the future.

           10                  Because of the refineries there, we have

           11   manufacturing going on.  And what happens is that, in

           12   addition to the normal everyday manufacturing process that

           13   goes on, there are numerous problems that occur at

           14   refineries.  Almost every week, one of the oil refineries

           15   has some type of a breakdown or malfunction so flaring

           16   begins.  As you saw with Veronica, those color photos

           17   there, show you the type of flaring that occurs.  You've

           18   seen what a sunset looks like in Wilmington by looking at

           19   the flaring there.

           20                  Our organization is in support of the U.S.

           21   EPA adopting a new, stricter NO2 one-hour daily maximum

           22   standard.

           23                  We also support the U.S. EPA in adopting

           24   what we are requesting to be a Tier 1 and a Tier 2, Tier 1

           25   adopting the national standard to be 30 ppb and a Tier 2

                                                                          111

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   standard to drop even further to be a 15 parts per billion

            2   by 2015.

            3                  We are asking that the U.S. EPA require

            4   roadside monitoring of NO2 and its partner PM 2.5 at all

            5   major diesel truck routes, highways, freeways, and

            6   transportation corridors that border residential

            7   communities and sensitive receptor areas.

            8                  We're asking that the U.S. EPA establish new

            9   compliance monitoring guidelines and requirements to assure

           10   compliance to the federal Clean Air Act NO2 and other

           11   criteria for the national ambient air quality standards.

           12                  We ask that the U.S. EPA conduct an audit to

           13   determine what industries have in fact been increasing in

           14   NO2 and other criteria emissions.

           15                  In the process in the last 12 months, we

           16   have been involved in reviewing oil refinery Title V

           17   permits in the South Coast AQMD District.  What we

           18   discovered is that many of the refineries have actually

           19   been increasing in their criteria pollutants.  In the

           20   handout that I've given you are two of the refineries.  You

           21   will see ExxonMobil.  You will also see Chevron.  And if

           22   you look at the NOx, which is the No2, you'll actually see

           23   that it's been going up.

           24                  What you will also see is that in some of

           25   the other criteria pollutants, there has been no

                                                                          112

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   significant decreases.  We, the public, are being misled

            2   that our regulatory agencies are, in fact, decreasing

            3   significantly air pollution and protecting our public

            4   health.  However, the data is showing that that is not

            5   true.

            6                  But we've also learned that when a permit is

            7   issued by the South Coast AQMD, they are claiming that they

            8   are using the best available control technology.  Well,

            9   guess what we found out?  That's not true, also.  What

           10   we've actually done is look at some of the best available

           11   control technologies.  It is possible -- and I'm going to

           12   give you an example -- Tesoro Oil Refinery in Wilmington

           13   chose to use a dry scrubber technology.  ConocoPhillips in

           14   Wilmington decided to use a wet scrubber technology while

           15   the wet scrubber is about 25- to 30-percent more efficient

           16   in its scrubbing capabilities and efficiency.

           17                  So the question and challenge that we have

           18   for the AQMD, how can you claim that two technologies that

           19   vary by as much as 20 or 40 percent in their efficiency be

           20   both the best?  So we no longer have confidence in our

           21   South Coast AQMD in claiming that they are in fact using

           22   the best available control technology.  What we are now

           23   asking for is MACT, the maximum achievable control

           24   technology.

           25                  Now, what else have we learned about air

                                                                          113

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   pollution?  Well, we've learned that by studying equipment

            2   manufacturers and different types of air pollution control

            3   technologies that all air emissions -- that includes your

            4   NOx, that includes your SOx, your carbon monoxide, carbon

            5   dioxide, and your particulate matter -- can be reduced by

            6   over 90 percent right now today with existing technology.

            7   The petroleum industry is choosing not to do it, not to

            8   invest the money.

            9                  We've also done a study looking at the net

           10   incomes of refineries.  It ranged anywhere from 10 billion

           11   to 40 billion over the last five years.  They have the

           12   money.  The only problem we have is there is no regulation

           13   forcing them to utilize the best technologies.  There are

           14   no regulations requiring them to reduce their pollution

           15   levels to a safe level.  So they are not meeting the

           16   thresholds that we want to have.

           17                  We, the public, also depend on medical and

           18   scientific studies to help us evaluate the impacts, so I've

           19   also turned in -- I didn't give you a copy, but it was

           20   turned in right here -- a 14-page document that has 158

           21   medical and scientific and government studies and reports

           22   that show the impact of air pollution and NOx on public

           23   health that we would like to submit for the record so that

           24   you do know that we are trying to do our best in

           25   researching those technologies.

                                                                          114

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  And so I'd like to thank you for this

            2   opportunity and we will be submitting some additional

            3   written comment before the deadline.

            4           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

            5                  Any questions?

            6           SCOTT JENKINS:  The studies that you're talking

            7   about, do you know if any of them actually looked at health

            8   effects within the port communities, the Long Beach

            9   community, or any communities in port areas?

           10           JESSE MARQUEZ:  Well, actually, yes.  There have

           11   been two major port areas studied.  The South Coast AQMD in

           12   2008 completed what is called the MATES II study, M-A-T-E-S

           13   II, and in 2000, they released the MATES I study.

           14                  Now, what got us upset and what got my

           15   organization founded was, in the year 2001, when the Port

           16   of L.A. hired a PR firm to announce that the port was going

           17   to build a wall 20 feet tall, 1.4 miles long, to separate

           18   the Wilmington community from the port activities.

           19                  Well, we didn't quite trust what they were

           20   up to, because why build a wall now?  But the first

           21   reaction had nothing to do with public health impact.  The

           22   first reaction from the community was, "Ah, we don't want

           23   that, that will be the biggest graffiti magnet on the

           24   planet, a 20-foot tall wall that long."  And so they said,

           25   "Well, maybe we can do something else, we can make it a

                                                                          115

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   berm."

            2                  "Well, what is a berm?"  "Well, we can put

            3   dirt up against the wall and we can plant ivy."  "Oh, no,

            4   we don't like ivy, we don't want that."

            5                  So, anyway, you've heard the expression "You

            6   can't squeeze blood out of a turnip" and "You can't crack a

            7   coconut with your bare hands"?  Well, we did.  We asked

            8   them, "You bring some port officials next month for another

            9   meeting because we want to learn more, why do they want the

           10   wall now?"  They also used the word, because it was like a

           11   sound wall like on the freeways for mitigation.  Well, in

           12   2001, none of us knew what the word mitigation meant.  And

           13   then we learned shortly after what it did there.

           14                  So what happened, at the next meeting, and

           15   until the public hearings, a fellow suggested to ask them

           16   about the MATES II study.  So I rose and raised my hand,

           17   "Can you tell me about the MATES II study and did it have

           18   anything to say about Wilmington?"  Well, then the

           19   representative pointed out that they did -- it was a

           20   multiple air toxic study done in the Port of L.A. and the

           21   Port of Long Beach area, and it showed that Wilmington, San

           22   Pedro, and West Long Beach were at the highest risk of

           23   cancer due to diesel fuel emissions.

           24                  Now, they just completed in 2008 the

           25   MATES II, which was the repeat, with some more testing.

                                                                          116

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   And then if you read the reports, it said, well,

            2   regionally, the air pollution decreased in the South Coast

            3   District, which it did, but you had to read the fine print

            4   to find out that it went up 17 percent in the port

            5   communities and along transportation corridors.  And that's

            6   where we have concerns.

            7                  Even right now, the Port of L.A. and the

            8   Port of Long Beach have been leery about coming out with

            9   their EIRs because we the public have been challenging

           10   them.  So what they did is they passed it to Caltrans in

           11   California for a new Heim Bridge SR47 highway expansion.

           12   So the little street that comes off Henry Ford Bridge, they

           13   now want to make it an SR47 highway.

           14                  Well, the highway passes fenceline to

           15   residents.  And, actually, I'm going to leave a brochure

           16   here, I forgot I have our latest news bulletin, where we

           17   had a class for residents where we got a tape measure to

           18   measure from that street, which becomes Alameda corridor,

           19   over the railroad tracks to the fence and people's houses.

           20   And we found out that the recommended safe distance was

           21   500 feet from a pollution source to be a new highway.

           22                  Well, over 100 families live within

           23   500 feet.  In fact, the Wilmington Park Elementary School

           24   public school was within 1,000 feet.  There was another

           25   private little school that was within 700 feet.  So now our

                                                                          117

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   recommendation for a safe distance from any highway,

            2   freeway, or transportation corridor, is 1500 feet or

            3   500 meters.  We figure that's the best.  And even looking

            4   at some of the studies that have been done by USC and UCLA

            5   and some of the others where they're showing 500 feet and

            6   more, we have now come to the conclusion that the 1500 feet

            7   is the best way to go for a safe distance.

            8                  Now, do we really need to have that highway

            9   corridor built?  Well, again, we're talking about

           10   efficiencies and technologies.  Well, the pride of our

           11   organization is that we research the technologies.  We

           12   would not have to build that highway corridor right there

           13   if they were, in fact, maximizing their use of the Alameda

           14   corridor.

           15                  If you talk to the ports right now, they'll

           16   tell you, "Oh, it's only being utilized about 35 percent,

           17   40 percent.  It's open for 60 percent more expansion."

           18   Well, that's not acceptable to us.  It should be maximized

           19   now.  Because what's happened is that there is no

           20   requirements for the shipping and transportation industry

           21   to use the Alameda corridor, so they're not.  So now we're

           22   putting the burden of truck traffic, diesel traffic, on the

           23   pubic by building more highways and freeways or allowing

           24   them to go on our highways and freeways at the expense of

           25   public health when, in fact, we need to use technologies

                                                                          118

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   that reduce the pollution.

            2                  We suggest using Magna trains.  We suggest

            3   using electric trains.  Even right now on the ports when

            4   they talk about -- we're now winning on one little aspect

            5   about having on-dock rail.  Yes, we support it, so now

            6   they're building on-dock rail on all new port terminals.

            7   But guess what?  They're not building the on-dock rail

            8   dockside to where the ships dock.  So when a ship arrives

            9   and has to unload the container, it has to be dropped to a

           10   truck or dropped to the ground and picked up by another UTR

           11   or vehicle and then moved to a staging area.

           12                  Well, we the public -- you know, it doesn't

           13   take a high IQ to figure what's the best way to do it.  You

           14   build the rail dockside to the ship so that it goes

           15   immediately to the rail and not have to be moved two or

           16   three times on the ground.  So in our public comment, we

           17   are challenging that theory, as well.

           18                  Now, does everything have to be electric?

           19   Well, at least for now, we feel that in high-density, urban

           20   communities, yes.  Why?  Because we have too much.  The

           21   Port of L.A. and Port of Long Beach right now do a little

           22   over 30 percent of the national container volume.  So we

           23   need to look for solutions and we the community and

           24   community-based organizations, we have now gotten involved

           25   in that type of thing to find out what is the best

                                                                          119

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   available technologies.

            2                  And we do know that there are vapor recovery

            3   systems that can be put on storage tanks.  We do know there

            4   are various types of emission control technologies that can

            5   be placed on any type of exhaust system.  There is a new

            6   company right now, Miracle Mile Solution, which has just

            7   designed two things.  One is that they've built a new

            8   device that goes onto basically like the carburetor and it

            9   offers a high combustion efficiency for any type of diesel

           10   engine.  Well, we're embracing that technology.

           11                  The Port of L.A., the Port of Long Beach,

           12   we've been supporting a new company, also, a few years ago

           13   that came up with another idea, which was put a sock on the

           14   smokestack.  Back a few years ago when Rubin Garcia and his

           15   company showed up at the Port of L.A. and showed a

           16   presentation of a technology which is basically a vacuum

           17   the size of a house that has a hose and a hood or bonnet

           18   that would go over the smokestack of a ship or over a

           19   locomotive train.

           20                  They laughed at him.  If you had been there,

           21   you would have seen all staff, board of harbor

           22   commissioners, laughing their heads off, you got to be

           23   crazy.  But I walked up to him and introduced myself to him

           24   saying, "I like that technology.  I think it's feasible."

           25                  Well, guess what?  The EPA, AQMD,

                                                                          120

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   contributed for them to do a prototype.  Last April, the

            2   report for Roseville Road Yard was published.  It showed

            3   that that sock/bonnet/capture technology was 92- to

            4   97-percent effective in capturing all NOx, all SOx, and all

            5   PM.

            6                  Last July, it was demonstrated on an oil

            7   tanker ship at the Port of Long Beach.  It was 92- to

            8   98-percent effective in capturing all NOx, all SOx, and PM.

            9                  Not only is it effective in doing that, when

           10   you do a cost-effective analysis, it is more cost-effective

           11   than the ships running on their bunker fuel.

           12                  So, yes, there are alternatives.  We're only

           13   asking that when you do these type of assessments, you

           14   realize that there are many organizations and individuals

           15   and new emerging companies that have solutions.  And we

           16   feel that you can adopt a standard that is doable and that

           17   can be met.

           18                  So all we're asking is that you listen to

           19   our comments, receive the information, take it into

           20   consideration, and realize that if we the public know

           21   90-percent efficiency is available, then, yes, we can meet

           22   the new standards.

           23                  Thank you.

           24           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

           25                  Any further questions?

                                                                          121

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1           NEALSON WATKINS:  You mentioned flaring at

            2   refineries and you mentioned the frequency of occurrence.

            3   Can you repeat that?  And did you measure it?

            4           JESSE MARQUEZ:  Okay.  What is happening is that

            5   due to AB-2588 in California, it is required that all

            6   refineries have their annual emissions reported.  So the

            7   South Coast AQMD every year posts on its Web site the

            8   reporting.

            9                  So what I did was actually print out for

           10   every refinery the year 2000, -one, -two, -three, -four,

           11   all the way up to 2007, the spreadsheet or the data.  And

           12   then what I gave you are two examples where I take the data

           13   from each year and put them in a criteria column, and

           14   that's how I'm able to look at what that is.

           15                  Now, in addition to that, they also have

           16   flaring reporting.  So when I looked at the flaring

           17   reporting, another thing came up.  Right now, based on the

           18   first four months of this year, the number of flare events

           19   at every -- of the top five oil refineries will already

           20   exceed last year's.  And that's why we're able to now

           21   analyze the data and be able to make a public comment that

           22   it is increasing.  The other thing that we noticed is that

           23   they have categorized it as planned and unplanned.

           24   Unplanned typically is your malfunction, your breakdown,

           25   and then your planned.  Well, another strange thing

                                                                          122

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   occurred.

            2                  When looking at ExxonMobil, for example, the

            3   number of planned flare events was almost every four or

            4   five days.  So what is our evaluation assessment of that?

            5   They're gaming it.  They know they want to flare, so

            6   they're just reporting it as a planned event in order to do

            7   it and, therefore, already exceeding what would be last

            8   year's annual amounts of flare events.  And, again, in our

            9   Title V permit, those are part of the public comments we

           10   are making.

           11                  Now, I can also provide you every refinery's

           12   data of all that.  So I have like, for example, the

           13   criteria, I can give you all that.  I can give you all of

           14   the flaring data.

           15                  We also look at the top 10, 15 toxic

           16   pollutants.  Like your benzene, well, we did research and

           17   found out that benzene causes leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma,

           18   and anemia.  And where does it come from?  Well, if it's a

           19   refinery community, we found out that we were finding high

           20   incidents of those health problems in the residents that

           21   bordered the refineries.  So when I looked at the same data

           22   that was reported annually, in every refinery, benzene has

           23   increased every year for the last eight years.  It has not

           24   decreased.

           25                  So in my public comments where I ask you to

                                                                          123

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   do an audit of what's being reported, right now, you

            2   probably just look at the year that they sent in, but

            3   unless you look at the spreadsheet for the last eight

            4   years, you have no clue if it's going up or down.  And

            5   that's where we're now focusing.  It's in fact going up in

            6   many categories.  And in the few categories where it did go

            7   down, it did not go down significantly.

            8                  When I'm saying significantly, part of the

            9   problem is that there are no requirements that say it must

           10   be reduced by 50 percent in five, ten years, 75 percent

           11   within 15, 20 years.  Those are the type of regulations we

           12   want, whereby all pollutants over a specific period of

           13   time, be it 20, 25 years, will be reduced to insignificant.

           14   And we the public support that.

           15                  We've also done some analysis in terms of

           16   what does it cost to do some of these reductions?  Even if

           17   the public, in terms of, say, Cargo, Nike shoes and Levi

           18   jeans, and things of that nature, a few pennies on the

           19   extra retail price would be enough money to implement all

           20   these technologies where everything would be reduced by

           21   over 90 percent.

           22           NEALSON WATKINS:  Thank you.

           23           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           24                  Our next speaker is David Holtzman.

           25                  If you could state your name for the court

                                                                          124

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   reporter.

            2           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  I will do that.

            3                  Good afternoon, Mr. Hearing Officer and

            4   Panel and EPA.

            5                  My name is David Holtzman, H-o-l-t-z-m-a-n.

            6   I am a resident of Los Angeles.  I am here as a private

            7   citizen.  I have some credentials in the field, however.  I

            8   just ask that you not take them too seriously, because I'm

            9   really not up on the health effects today of NO2.

           10                  I got a public health degree from the

           11   University of Michigan.  I worked in the pesticide program

           12   while I was studying there.  I worked for about a dozen

           13   years in the air pollution program of the State of

           14   California in the Office of Environmental Health Hazard

           15   Assessment and its predecessor agency there.  And I

           16   currently work as an environmental consultant for a project

           17   in Santa Monica, but I took some vacation time this

           18   afternoon.  I also have a law degree from UCLA's program in

           19   public interest law and policy, so I also hold a MPH/JD.

           20                  Anyway, I wanted to just say one thing about

           21   the standards and one other thing in general.  Thank you,

           22   EPA, for considering adopting a one-hour standard for NO2.

           23   I really appreciate as a public health person your

           24   willingness to look at the issue and perhaps join

           25   California with an hourly standard.

                                                                          125

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  The one thing I noticed that I just wanted

            2   to point out is that you are proposing to adopt a standard

            3   that's based on the distribution of one-hour daily maximum

            4   concentrations.  And unless I'm reading it wrong, it sounds

            5   like you might be wasting a lot of data in doing so, the

            6   other 23 hours of the day.  I just don't see where an area

            7   that has an exceedance of your standard for eight or nine

            8   hours or four or five hours should be treated the same way

            9   as an area that only has an exceedance for one hour or two

           10   hours.

           11                  So I would like to just make as my formal

           12   comment that you should consider using all the data from a

           13   day's exposure to NO2.  And if you're not going to use the

           14   other 23 hours from some days, please explain clearly why.

           15   You should explain clearly why you are not using those

           16   data.

           17                  That's all I had to say.

           18           DAVID ORLIN:  So are you suggesting that we set a

           19   24-hour standard?

           20           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  I'm suggesting that if you are

           21   going to use a distribution of hourly concentrations, you

           22   should use all the hourly concentrations and not throw out

           23   the other concentrations from a day that may have a peak.

           24           DAVID ORLIN:  So then if we're using the fourth

           25   highest --

                                                                          126

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  It wouldn't -- yeah, I don't think

            2   it would end up being the fourth highest anymore because

            3   you'd have a lot more data points.

            4           DAVID ORLIN:  Okay.  So if we're doing

            5   99 percentile --

            6           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  Yeah.

            7           DAVID ORLIN:  -- it would be 99 percentile of all

            8   the data points even with --

            9           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  Correct.  That sort of thing,

           10   yeah.

           11           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

           12           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  You're welcome.

           13           DAVID ORLIN:  Any more questions?

           14                  Thank you very much.

           15           DAVID HOLTZMAN:  Thank you.

           16           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.  We'll be taking a break.

           17   We don't have anyone scheduled in the near future.

           18                  (Break taken at 4:15 p.m.)

           19                  (Steven John left the hearing.)

           20                  (Hearing resumed at 6:03 p.m.)

           21           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  My name is Faramarz Nabavi.  I'm

           22   a member of the Sierra Club, Angeles Chapter, and I am here

           23   to speak on the proposed changes to the national ambient

           24   air quality standard for nitrogen dioxide.

           25                  I am a person who had the misfortune of

                                                                          127

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   growing up with asthma and so, for me, the impact of air

            2   quality is a personal issue.  And I strongly support both

            3   the introduction of a higher one-hour level standard, such

            4   as 100 parts per billion for the measurement of nitrogen

            5   dioxide.

            6                  I would note that as someone who is a

            7   frequent user of public transit and uses my bicycle on

            8   public roadways for transportation that I am directly

            9   affected by the emissions of nitrogen dioxide by motor

           10   vehicles in a way that is probably greater and more

           11   immediate than someone who may even live in a home that is

           12   adjacent to a highway.  I am literally on it.

           13                  I would also like to encourage the

           14   Environmental Protection Agency to consider adoption of a

           15   more stringent annual standard, such as one to match that

           16   of the State of California at 30 parts per billion.

           17                  I also want to note that I appreciate the

           18   fact that the EPA is holding a hearing here in Los Angeles

           19   and also one in Wilmington, two communities that are

           20   particularly impacted by air pollution, and I would like to

           21   encourage you in the future when you have these types of

           22   proposed rule changes to continue to come to communities

           23   that are most heavily impacted by these issues.

           24           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           25           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  And I hope you enjoy your dinner.

                                                                          128

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

            2                  Any questions?

            3           SCOTT JENKINS:  I have one quick question.

            4           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  Sure.

            5           SCOTT JENKINS:  And this is just clarification.

            6                  Are you representing the Sierra Club here or

            7   is the position you're presenting a recitation of Sierra

            8   Club's position or are you presenting this as an

            9   independent person?

           10           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  I am presenting this as an

           11   individual.  However, it is my understanding that the

           12   Sierra Club is in support of this, and I did discuss my

           13   participation and comments to be presented here at a Sierra

           14   Club meeting on Monday.  So I'm not doing this

           15   independently, I'm doing this in consultation with both our

           16   chapter as well as the national organization.  To repeat, I

           17   believe the national Sierra Club staff in DC are or will be

           18   in touch with the EPA about this.

           19           SCOTT JENKINS:  Okay, thank you.

           20           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much for coming in.

           21           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  Do you have any other question?

           22           DAVID ORLIN:  I was going to ask you if you had any

           23   comments on the monitoring network?

           24           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  On the monitoring network?  Any

           25   particular aspect of that that you would be curious for me

                                                                          129

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   to comment on?

            2           NEALSON WATKINS:  What we proposed.

            3           DAVID ORLIN:  Yes, we proposed a new near road

            4   network.

            5           FARAMARZ NABAVI:  I'm strongly in favor of a near

            6   road network.  Thank you for asking that.  That was

            7   something that I actually did want to mention, and being

            8   out of breath running here from the train station across

            9   the street, I neglected to mention that.

           10                  As someone who uses bicycles and public

           11   transit, I believe that it's very important to have

           12   accurate measurement of the actual ambient air pollution

           13   near roadways and so the addition of that I think is

           14   beneficial.

           15                  Thank you very much.

           16           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.

           17                  And with that, I think we'll break for

           18   dinner and pick up again at 7:30.

           19                  (Break taken at 6:10 p.m.)

           20                  (Hearing resumed at 7:30 p.m.)

           21           DAVID ORLIN:  Good evening and thanks for coming to

           22   the EPA's hearing on the proposed rule for nitrogen

           23   dioxide.  This is our opportunity to hear public comment on

           24   our proposed rule.

           25                  My name is David Orlin.  I am an

                                                                          130

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   attorney-advisor for EPA's general counsel.

            2                  This is Scott Jenkins, who is lead scientist

            3   with the EPA's ambient standards group.

            4                  And Nealson Watkins with the EPA monitoring

            5   group.

            6                  So we'd like to invite you to join us and

            7   spell your name for our court reporter.  And we're asking

            8   people to limit their comments to five minutes of

            9   testimony.

           10           DAVID GREENE:  Hello.  My name is David Greene.

           11   Greene is spelled G-r-e-e-n-e.  And I am a resident of

           12   San Pedro.

           13                  And the reason I came is that I'm part of

           14   this group, the Coalition for Clean and Safe Ports, and

           15   we're trying to do something about air pollution,

           16   particularly diesel truck pollution, in the San Pedro Bay

           17   Area, which affects a good portion of Southern California.

           18                  And I don't really have a scientific

           19   background or anything along those lines, but I do know

           20   from my efforts with the coalition that there's an

           21   incredible amount of people that are affected by the air

           22   pollution in our area.  And also, particularly for the

           23   people in Long Beach, who are a little bit kind of windward

           24   of the port -- or leeward, I guess it would be, of the

           25   port, that asthma rates I think doubled the national

                                                                          131

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   average and things like that.

            2                  And what I did read about in some of the

            3   scientific studies and surveys and the like is that

            4   particularly people that suffer from asthma are

            5   particularly sensitive to the NO2.

            6                  And so basically I'm kind of here to support

            7   some of my friends that are advocating, like the Lung

            8   Association, that 50 parts per billion limit on the hourly,

            9   and then also to do more of the monitoring.  And I guess,

           10   yeah, that's basically what my position is and what I'm

           11   trying to say.

           12                  And I guess, too, my understanding is that

           13   the old standards have been in place nearly 40 years now --

           14   is that correct? -- and so there's something to be said

           15   for, okay, well, we don't want to make things too severe

           16   but, by the same token, how many more years would the

           17   standard be typed all the more.  And given where the

           18   standards are now, there's a lot of people that are

           19   suffering very much so from the air pollution and the

           20   effects of it.

           21                  So the very name, Environmental Protection

           22   Agency, I understand the need to protect the environment,

           23   but I think, at heart, it's to protect us and particularly

           24   those people that I spoke of, like the kids there in

           25   Long Beach.

                                                                          132

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  And I think what we want for all our

            2   children -- you spoke about teaching your daughter chess or

            3   whatever -- is we want the brightest future possible for

            4   our children.

            5                  And I enjoyed athletics in school and did

            6   fairly well in it, things like that, but somebody born in

            7   Long Beach just south of the freeway or so, even if they

            8   had the potential at birth, they might not have the

            9   potential when they come into their teens and the like.

           10                  And so, also, too, you know, it might be

           11   great to have rules, but if they're not enforced or

           12   measured, you might say, okay, you can't break into

           13   people's houses, but if nobody ever has a way to report

           14   that somebody broke in their house or something happened,

           15   then what good does that do?

           16                  So basically those two points, the points

           17   that the Lung Association is bringing up is let's make the

           18   standard 50 instead of the 80 to 100, and then, also, too,

           19   let's really do the monitoring, otherwise, everything is

           20   for naught.

           21                  So that's basically my take on things.

           22           DAVID ORLIN:  Great.  Well, thank you very much for

           23   coming out, sir.

           24                  Any questions?

           25           DAVID GREENE:  Well, can I ask questions of you?

                                                                          133

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   Is that permitted?

            2           DAVID ORLIN:  You can ask questions clarifying on

            3   the proposal if you have questions about the process or the

            4   details on the proposal.

            5           DAVID GREENE:  Okay.  I understand.  That's

            6   perfectly all right.

            7                  Well, I'm sorry there aren't more people

            8   here like myself.  I really appreciate you making

            9   yourselves available here in the evening, because with

           10   working full time, like most of us do, it's very hard to

           11   attend these things.

           12                  Thanks for all that you're doing and I hope

           13   that you will make the 50 rule and ensure monitoring.

           14           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.

           15                  (Break taken at 7:36 p.m.)

           16                  (Hearing resumed at 8:17 p.m.)

           17           DAVID ORLIN:  Good evening.  And thanks for coming

           18   to the EPA's public hearing on a proposed rule for NO2

           19   standards and ambient air quality standards.

           20                  I am David Orlin.  I am an attorney-advisor

           21   for EPA's general counsel.

           22                  This is Scott Jenkins.  He's our lead

           23   scientist in the ambient standards group.

           24                  And also Mr. Watkins from the monitoring

           25   group.

                                                                          134

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1                  So, generally, we're asking for people to

            2   aim at about five minutes.

            3           DeANN McEWEN:  Okay.  Well, thank you.  I just have

            4   a prepared statement, so if you don't mind I'll just read

            5   from that and then leave a copy for you.

            6           DAVID ORLIN:  That's great.

            7                  And, actually, if you could spell your name

            8   for our court reporter.

            9           DeANN McEWEN:  Sure.  It's D-e capital A-n-n M-c

           10   capital E-w-e-n.  Thank you.

           11                       Good evening.  My name is DeAnn McEwen.

           12   I am a registered nurse and I am a member of the board of

           13   directors of the California Nurses Association/National

           14   Nurses Organizing Committee.

           15                  I currently work as a direct care registered

           16   nurse in the intensive care unit for a major health care

           17   system and trauma center based in Los Angeles County.  My

           18   career includes over 35 years of extensive experience

           19   treating infant, pediatric, and adult pulmonary diseases,

           20   such as asthma and bronchitis, and the sequelae of those

           21   diseases, which include respiratory insufficiency, acute

           22   pulmonary failure, and even death.

           23                  My very first code blue patient as a

           24   newly-minted RN was a young woman with asthma who had

           25   required emergency artificial ventilator support in the

                                                                          135

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   intensive care unit after becoming acutely ill with

            2   pneumonia.  She was progressed to the medical/surgical ward

            3   and was getting out of bed to use the restroom and I'll

            4   never forget a sudden look of panic on her face, the sounds

            5   of the gasping and wheezing and the extreme air hunger, her

            6   body weakening from the buildup of carbon dioxide and the

            7   lack of desperately needed oxygen.  The supreme effort as

            8   her throat tightened, her chest began heaving, every muscle

            9   in her body tried to force the air in that she desperately

           10   needed.  Her skin became pale and took on a bluish hue.

           11   She became drenched with perspiration from the effort, and

           12   I caught her as she collapsed and eased her to the floor as

           13   the tight high-pitched wheezing noises suddenly stopped.

           14   We began CPR and she did not survive.

           15                  In my experience, underlying chronic

           16   pulmonary disease is the most significant co-morbidity that

           17   is the ultimate predictor of mortality in medically fragile

           18   patients who may have multi-organ system diseases and those

           19   who require restorative, therapeutic, and surgical

           20   intervention.

           21                  Florence Nightingale and subsequent nurse

           22   scholars have written about the impact of the environment

           23   on human health.  Nightingale's attention to air quality

           24   represented some of the first modern thinking about the

           25   relationship of environmental conditions to human health

                                                                          136

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   status.  In her Notes On Nursing published in 1946, she

            2   discussed how in the 1800s, England was plagued with poor

            3   air quality from the heavy use of coal as a fuel for home

            4   heating.  She was concerned with indoor as well as outdoor

            5   air quality.  Nightingale was so adamant about the

            6   importance of air quality and ventilation that she

            7   prioritized it in Notes as the first canon of nursing.

            8                  Today, poor air quality is still a

            9   health-related concern.  In workplaces and in schools, poor

           10   air quality has been cited as a significant contributor to

           11   the increase in asthma, a disease that is a leading cause

           12   of absenteeism, according to the American Academy of

           13   Allergy, Asthma and Immunology.  While there are many

           14   factors contributing to the ups and downs of smog levels,

           15   such as weather, heat, and geographical features, the one

           16   factor we can control is the amount of smog-forming

           17   pollution we put into the air.  We may have to live with

           18   the heat and the geography we're given, but we do not have

           19   to live with this crisis, because we have pollution control

           20   technologies that can cut emissions to a tiny fraction of

           21   current levels if the political will is there to enforce

           22   the law.

           23                  It's time we begin to conserve and restore

           24   this planet's most valuable resource of all, the health of

           25   its people.  As advocates for the public's health, our

                                                                          137

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   primary focus should be prevention.  Not every event is

            2   preventable, but every event has a preventable component.

            3   Nitrogen dioxide is a particular problem in the Los Angeles

            4   region.

            5                  Cars, trucks, buses, emit much of the

            6   nitrogen dioxide.  Schools, urban neighborhoods,

            7   communities of color, and low-income communities are often

            8   found close to these highways, making their residents more

            9   vulnerable to this harmful gas.  People who have

           10   highway-based jobs, like truck drivers and police officers,

           11   are also highly exposed.

           12                  Millions of people are also at higher risk

           13   simply because of their age, children, teens, and older

           14   adults, or because they have asthma or other lung diseases

           15   or cardiovascular disease.  For all these people, we are

           16   calling on EPA to significantly tighten the standards of

           17   nitrogen dioxide and to increase the monitoring of this

           18   pollutant.

           19                  Research over the past 35 years shows that

           20   the current standard fails to protect public health and

           21   that a short-term standard must be added to protect the

           22   health of people who have lung diseases like asthma and

           23   children and older adults.  Nitrogen dioxide causes a range

           24   of harmful effects on the lungs.  This summary comes from

           25   the EPA's official assessment of research compiled in the

                                                                          138

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   integrated science assessment published in July 2008.

            2   Evidence shows that nitrogen dioxide causes worsened cough

            3   and wheezing, increased inflammation of the airways,

            4   reduced lung function and increased asthma attacks; also

            5   increased likelihood of emergency department and hospital

            6   admissions and increased susceptibility to respiratory

            7   infection, such as influenza.

            8                  Many of my colleagues and I have serious

            9   concerns about the declared pandemic influenza and the

           10   alarming rise in the number of critically ill patients with

           11   fatal and near fatal cases of pneumonia in the patients we

           12   have cared for here in California.

           13                  Clinical studies provide clear evidence of

           14   harm to people with asthma who breathed nitrogen dioxide

           15   for 30 minutes to one hour while they were exercising.

           16   Nitrogen dioxide enhances the responsiveness of the airways

           17   to allergens.  This airway hyper-responsiveness, a

           18   narrowing of the airways in response to various stimuli, is

           19   a hallmark of asthma.  Clinical studies typically include

           20   only mildly asthmatic adults.  In setting standards, safety

           21   factors must be incorporated to account for the potential

           22   effect on infants, children, and those with moderate or

           23   severe asthma or other respiratory disease.

           24                  Epidemiological studies provide convincing

           25   evidence that short-term nitrogen dioxide concentrations

                                                                          139

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   affect respiratory symptoms and increase the likelihood of

            2   emergency and hospital admissions for respiratory diseases

            3   at levels far below the current standard.  The California

            4   Childrens' Health Study found that long-term exposure to

            5   nitrogen dioxide was associated with stunted lung function

            6   and growth in children.

            7                  The California Nurses Association/National

            8   Nurses Organizing Committee supports the establishment of a

            9   one-hour daily maximum standard of 50 parts per billion or

           10   below.  A short-term standard at that level would reduce

           11   the likelihood that children with asthma would end up in

           12   the emergency room because of a serious asthma attack.

           13                  We stand together with the American Lung

           14   Association in support of strengthening the annual average

           15   standard in order to protect against harm from long-term

           16   exposure.  The California annual average air quality

           17   standard for nitrogen dioxide is 30 parts per billion as

           18   compared to the current federal standard of 53 parts per

           19   billion.

           20                  We agree that the monitoring of nitrogen

           21   dioxide must be adapted to capture information on pollution

           22   levels near highways and ports and other locations where

           23   high concentrations are likely to occur.  Nitrogen dioxide

           24   concentrations on roadways are on average 80 percent higher

           25   than concentrations measured at central site monitors, yet

                                                                          140

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   there are very few monitors located near busy highways.

            2                  Lillian Wald, the founder of Public Health

            3   Nursing, had a vision of nursing in the community, meeting

            4   people where their need is, based on the ideal of service

            5   to humanity.  She observed:

            6                  "Without claiming the gift of prophecy,

            7           one can foresee that our sins, political and

            8           social, must recoil upon the heads of our

            9           descendants.  We commit ourselves to any wrong

           10           or degradation or injury when we do not protest

           11           against it."

           12                  Nitrogen dioxide pollution is both dangerous

           13   and pervasive.  Do not sentence our children and

           14   grandchildren to a future of pain and suffering and the

           15   terror of suffocation as the result of preventable

           16   environmental contamination.

           17                  True responsibility for protecting and

           18   maintaining a healthy environment lies with each one of us

           19   and we are here today to hold our government accountable

           20   for protecting the quality of our common, vital asset, the

           21   air we breathe.  In 2002, the Supreme Court unanimously

           22   ruled that protecting the public health, including that of

           23   sensitive populations, is the sole factor the EPA should

           24   consider in setting the standards.

           25                  As a certified public health nurse and on

                                                                          141

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>

            1   behalf of over 80,000 direct care registered nurses, who

            2   advocate in the exclusive interest of public health and

            3   safety as members of the California Nurses

            4   Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee, we concur

            5   with the consensus of the scientific and medical

            6   communities that the EPA should strengthen the nitrogen

            7   dioxide standard to maintain the adequate margin of safety

            8   for public health as required by law.

            9                  Thank you.

           10           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you very much.  Can you leave

           11   us with a written copy and we'll put that in the record?

           12           DeANN McEWEN:  Yes.

           13           DAVID ORLIN:  Any questions from the panel?

           14                  Thank you very much.

           15           DeANN McEWEN:  Thank you for being here today.

           16           DAVID ORLIN:  Thank you.  Now we'll take a break.

           17                  (Break taken at 8:26 p.m.)

           18                  (Hearing resumed at 9:03 p.m.)

           19           DAVID ORLIN:  Okay.  It's 9 o'clock.  And without

           20   anyone else here to testify, we're going to close the

           21   hearing.  So thanks very much everyone who showed up and

           22   good night.

           23                  (Whereupon the EPA hearing was

           24           adjourned at 9:04 p.m.)

           25                               * * *

                                                                          142

                            CENTURY COURT REPORTERS<PHONE_NUMBER>