State of California
AIR RESOURCES BOARD
Supplemental Notice of Availability of Modified Text and
Availability of Additional Documents
PUBLIC HEARING TO CONSIDER ADOPTION OF AMENDMENTS TO THE CALIFORNIA REGULATIONS FOR REDUCING VOC EMISSIONS FROM CONSUMER PRODUCTS AND AEROSOL COATING PRODUCTS
Public Hearing Date : | November 21, 1996 |
Public Availability Date : | March 17, 1997 |
Supplemental Availability Date : | July 17, 1997 |
Deadline for Public Comment : | August 1, 1997 |
At a November 21, 1996 public hearing, the Air Resources Board (the "Board" or "ARB") approved amendments to the Regulation for Reducing Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) Emissions from Consumer Products (the "consumer products regulation"; title 17, California Code of Regulations (CCR), sections 94507-94517) and the Regulation for Reducing VOC Emissions from Aerosol Coating Products. As approved by the Board, the amendments to the regulations included a number of modifications to the originally proposed regulatory language. Pursuant to the Board's direction, ARB staff issued a "Notice of Availability of Modified Text", in which the modified regulations were made available for a 15-day comment period beginning March 17, 1997, and ending April 1, 1997.
During the 15-day comment period, ARB staff received several written comments relating to the proposed modifications to the definition of "adhesive" in section 94508(a) of the consumer products regulation. Among other changes, the proposed modifications specified the following definition for "aerosol adhesive": "..."Aerosol Adhesive" means an aerosol product in which the spray mechanism is permanently housed in a nonrefillable can designed for hand-held application without the need for ancillary hoses or spray equipment." Several commenters criticized this proposed definition as inappropriate and asked that it be deleted. Comments were also received stating that the definition had not been included in the draft language proposed by ARB staff at the November 21, 1996 public hearing, and that no rationale for the proposal had been articulated by staff. Finally, a comment was received which pointed out that staff had made a drafting error by broadly defining "aerosol adhesive" as an "aerosol product," since under this definition all aerosol products, including such products as hair sprays, could technically be considered "aerosol adhesives".
In response to these comments the staff is issuing this Supplemental Notice of Availability of Modified Text, which modifies the definition to correct the drafting error and provides the background and rationale for the proposed definition. By this notice, the modified definition is being made available for a supplemental public comment period prior to final action by the Board's Executive Officer. In addition, the staff has added to the rulemaking record, and invites comments on, the additional documents listed below. If you wish to obtain a copy of any of the following documents, please contact Mr. Jose Gomez at (916) 327-1502 or you may obtain copies of the district rules from our web site (http://www.arb.ca.gov/html/drdb.htm).
The background and rationale for the proposed definition is as follows. In 1996 the Legislature enacted Assembly Bill (AB) 1849 (Stats. 1996, Chapter 766) which made several changes to Health and Safety Code section 41712. One of these changes specified that the Board's existing 75 percent VOC standard for aerosol adhesives would apply, effective
January 1, 1997, to all uses of aerosol adhesives, including consumer, industrial, and commercial uses. AB 1849 further specified that any district regulations limiting the VOC content of, or emissions from, aerosol adhesives are null and void. This statutory change basically transferred authority for regulating aerosol adhesive VOC emissions from the local air pollution control districts and air quality management districts (districts) to the Board. Before this change, the ARB consumer products regulation had specified VOC standards that applied only to aerosol adhesives used by household and institutional consumers, while districts had authority to regulate nonconsumer uses of aerosol adhesives.
After the November 21, 1996 Board hearing, staff began preparing a 15-day notice to incorporate the changes to state law made by AB 1849. During this process staff became aware of certain pressurized adhesive products marketed in containers to which a separate hose with a spray nozzle is attached. These containers ranged in size from 10 to 400 pounds in weight, and were thus considerably larger than the typical aerosol spray cans familiar to consumers. Manufacturers of these products wished to know if they qualified as "aerosol adhesives" that would now be regulated by the ARB instead of the districts. Since the basic purpose of AB 1849 was to transfer authority for regulating "aerosol adhesives" from the districts to the Board, ARB staff examined the regulatory definitions of "aerosol adhesive" in the eight districts that had adopted adhesives rules. In all eight of these district rules, the definitions of "aerosol adhesive" describe these products as "hand-held," and "disposable" or "non-refillable" (i.e. the typical aerosol spray can familiar to consumers). In order to clarify the definition of this term for the purposes of the ARB consumer products regulation, ARB staff drafted a proposed definition incorporating these concepts, and made it available for a 15-day comment period. Comments were received from several districts supporting the ARB's proposed definition as consistent with the district rules, and further indicating that the districts have been interpreting their rules such that the larger products with attached hoses did not qualify as aerosol adhesives, and were instead regulated under other provisions of district adhesive rules.
To summarize, ARB staff believes that the proposed language is a common sense definition of the term "aerosol adhesive" that is consistent with the intent of AB 1849 and the past interpretation of district adhesives rules. Therefore, ARB staff is proposing to retain the definition of "aerosol adhesive" that was previously made available during the first 15-day comment period, with the addition of one minor change to correct the drafting error discussed earlier in this supplemental notice.
Attachment 1 to this supplemental notice is the modified text of section 94508(a)(1), title 17, CCR, showing the changes made to the definition of "aerosol adhesive." The public may submit written comments on the proposed language and on the additional documents that are being added to the rulemaking record. Written comments must be submitted to the Clerk of the Board, Air Resources Board, P.O. Box 2815, Sacramento, CA 95812, no later than
August 1, 1997 for consideration by the Executive Officer prior to final action. The Executive Officer will consider only comments relating to the modifications and information described in this notice. Following the supplemental comment period, the Executive Officer will adopt the modified regulations with such further modifications as may be appropriate in light of the comments received, or present the regulations to the Board for further consideration if he determines that this is warranted.
Attachment
For a copy of the strikeout and underline for Attachment 1, please select (WP6 - 18K) or (Acrobat - 8K)